You say goodbye, I say Hello...

Hello Hello!

Time for a little pre-trip fun...just to pass time before my flight in 5 hours.

While packing over these past couple days I have been playing my music on the computer as I went along just to avoid the silence. Yesterday, I became curious as to "what kind of mainstream music has come out of Switzerland"? So, being curious as I am, I decided to do a little research on the musicians that have become internationally famous and may have crossed over into American airwaves.

One of note...



Urs Buhler, tenor member of world famous opera group Il Divo.
My parents have the album, and I have to say it's not as bad as some would imagine it is to listen to. They all have beautiful voices. Check it out if the mood strikes ya!

And then there were these shockers!



Yep, Cyndi Lauper and Jewel, though not directly. Cyndi's father was Swiss-German, and Jewel's Grandparents were both Swiss, and immigrated to Alaska in 1941.

There is also some interesting American/British music history found in Switzerland. The rock n' roll legendary track Smoke on the Water found its origin in Montreux Resort on Lake Geneva.

On December 4th, 1971, during a concert given by Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, a rocket-flare was fired into the ceiling and the building was suddenly engulfed by flames. As clouds of smoke soared above the waters of the lake, Ian Gillan, of the band Deep Purple, who was watching from his hotel room, was inspired by the sight and wrote the song that became just about every beggining guitar player's first learned melody.

Also on that same lake, there is a statue of Freddie Mercury, lead vocalist for the band Queen. While not Swiss by any stretch of the imagination, he made his second home in Montreux, and was his final resting place when he passed away in 1991.

And so begins the sponging of info, hope you all find this stuff as interesting as I do!

More to come from a far away place!

Peacechops and applesauce,
B Ezie