Singing Nun Wins Italy The Voice - Sister Cristina Scuccia

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Over a month ago we warned you about Sister Cristina Scuccia, the worldwide sensation from Italy who already had over 50 million views before the finals last night in Rome.  Well if The New York Times does a major story on a Catholic nun that is news.  So here is a reprint of the NYT report on the singing sensation from Italy. You have got to watch the video.  (Be sure to click or double click on the video for larger screen.)   

Singing Nun Wins Italian TV Talent Show

By ELISABETTA POVOLEDOJUNE 6, 2014

ROME — She trilled and thrilled millions of YouTube viewers with songs by Alicia Keys, Cyndi Lauper and Bon Jovi. She belted out a duet with Kylie Minogue, both of them clad in black, albeit with vastly different approaches to style.

And just after midnight Thursday, Sister Cristina Scuccia, the Sicilian singing nun who has become a worldwide sensation, won the second edition of the TV talent competition “The Voice of Italy” after singing a rousing version of “What a Feeling,” the Oscar-winning song from the 1983 film “Flashdance,'’ accompanied by a chorus line of dancers dressed as monks, who threw off their habits to reveal pastel-colored suits.

“My dream is to recite Our Father together,” she said upon winning, intoning the Lord’s Prayer, while the show’s judges shuffled their feet and mumbled, visibly embarrassed. The show’s host noted her “very original way” of accepting.

On the wave of the global success of her video singing Ms. Keys’s “No One,” viewed online by 51 million people since it was posted in March, Sister Cristina’s victory — with more than 60 percent of the votes cast — came as little surprise, even as Italian media unfailingly jibed that she may have had a little help from above.

The bigger question mark in a country where some polls suggest that a majority of Italian women aspire to television fame is whether success will go to the head of the 25-year-old nun, possibly leading her astray from her calling. Winning the competition, after all, comes with a recording contract.

“There are plenty of people guiding her who will help organize her artistic activity. I think she has a lot of support,” said Claudia Koll, an actress who enrolled Sister Cristina at the drama school she runs at a nunnery in Rome after hearing her perform. “She is supported by prayer and by people, so she’s not as much at risk as people think,” Ms. Koll said in a telephone interview.

At a news conference on Wednesday with the finalists of ‘'The Voice,'’ Sister Cristina said that she would follow the orders of her superiors regarding her future, which could include tours or recording contracts. She said that if asked to, she was ready to return to the church choir where she sang before becoming a sensation.

A spokesman for the show said Friday that Sister Cristina would not be giving interviews.

Sister Cristina beat out four rivals on Thursday to arrive at the title, and the final came down to the diminutive nun and a 28-year-old rocker channeling a 1970s heavy metal look.

“I want to thank everyone who has helped me during this difficult period, thanks for having protected me many times, " Sister Cristina said after winning, citing her fans; the middle-aged nuns who have religiously followed her performances in the audience; and her coach J-Ax, a 41-year-old rapper. The odd couple was redubbed “the devil and the holy water,” an Italian idiom for a most unlikely alliance.

“I hope you can make a change out there, and be an example,” said J-Ax, although he professed that he remained an atheist.

In an interview in the Milan daily Corriere della Sera, J-Ax expressed his hope that Sister Cristina would make a record. “It’s a great opportunity,” he said. “But the earnings, all the earnings have to be earmarked to build a hospital or an orphanage in Brazil,” where Sister Cristina worked with poor children. “No one can earn a penny from it,” he said.

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Music - the gift from God - the People's Choice

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Throughout time there has always been something God gave us to lift spirits, inspire, bring change or just make us forget.  The light from music can always penetrate the dark no matter how bad things get.  In this time music is more important than ever because the world has been lulled to sleep by technology, empty promises and misplaced priorities.  For a few minutes let some bright new artists take you away.

First there is Sister Crisrtina from Italy who literally blew away the judges on the Italian Voice competition. This singing nun is a real pint-size nun with the voice of an angel, or perhaps many angels.  She is living proof that not all heavenly music can be found in the choir book.

Second from Britain and the Britain's Got Talent show this year comes a group called Collabro that had been singing together for just a month before the competition.  Not enough time to be good? Just watch.

  

 
And now for the show...

Over 47 million people had watched Sister Cristina and several million had watched Collabro.

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Obama's ‘il dolce far niente’ - the sweetness of doing nothing

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Leave it to the Italians to define the Obama presidency.  Of course in Italy "doing nothing" means taking the time to enjoy life unlike the Americans who are supposed to be so motivated in life they are not capable of doing nothing, and that includes being happy, less stressful and having time for your family.

 

With over half our population on prescription drugs for stress, I think the Italians just might have something.  When I worked for the governor in New Jersey I had an Italian secretary, a true Joisey girl, who introduced me to the wonderful world of ‘il dolce far niente’ through her immediate and extended family in the Ironbound section of Newark, New Jersey.

 

 

The Ironbound is one of the most incredible pockets of Old World cultural preservation anywhere in America.  I know there are Italian and Portuguese sections but I never got beyond the Italian.  We had a governor's office in Newark, the main office being in Trenton, and for a time I was assigned to the Jersey Department of Energy located in Newark.

 

Over a period of six years I got to witness the art of sweet nothingness where you could drop into a dinner of 15 underway without notice and have plenty to eat.  At the table the language was more often than not Old World Italian yet you always knew you were welcome and appreciated.

 

 

As for topics discussed around the table, anything under the sun as long as you contained your passion out of respect for those who might disagree.  I was a very motivated and well-informed chief of staff so I was always prepared to talk about the state, the federal government or international affairs.

 

 

It seems the Italians had such few expectations for our governments they did not spend much time on the subject.  It was also a potential source for stress.

 

 

One time one of the many uncles around the table asked me what I did for the Energy Department and I said that week we were working on the clean up of Three Mile Island, the worst nuclear accident in American history.  He rolled his eyes and made some comment which I assumed meant "and that is another reason we don't talk about the government."

 

 

Makes sense.  Family dinners are no place to discuss nuclear catastrophes and TMI is a lot more likely to stress out someone than comparing pastas.  Everyone should have occasion to join an extended Italian family for a three hour dinner before they start taking those prescription mind benders.

 

 

In time I went to the marriage of my former secretary in the largest Basilica in America and to the wedding party where lobster was an hors d'oeuvre sitting on carts around the grounds of the party palace.  There is nothing like an ethnic Italian wedding.

 

 

As for Obama, well he has the "sweetness of doing nothing" down pat but it costs the taxpayer over a billion dollars a year for our president to do nothing.

 

In the process he continues to set back international relations week by week as all the "Arab Spring" incidents have backfired on America.  We can't even leave Iraq and Afghanistan behind after a decade of wars without alienating someone and leaving civil unrest in our place.

 

 

 

Forget about the two nations in the best position to help us with Syria, Iran or North Korea, our mortal enemies if you are to believe White House spin.  Russia and China are so put off by Obama that no problems between our nations have been resolved and they have blocked us from using the United Nations to punish the rogue trio.

 

Then there is the forever lingering "financial crisis."  Our greed seems to have spilled over to the rest of the world and we nearly brought down the global financial system in a series of amazing rip offs of government.

 

 

Anyone who believed the American financial system, the most powerful by a long ways in the world, ever intended to serve the public interest as opposed to their own selfish interest is obviously under-medicated.

 

As near as I can tell it costs us about $27 million a week for the president and his White House operation.  That is a lot to pay someone to do nothing.  Throw in the cost of congress and military protecting us around the world and we are suddenly paying about $19 billion a week.

 

 

The World Health Organization estimates we spent $8608 per capita on health care in 2011.  In other words, about $2.7 trillion, or put in other terms, another $50-60 billion a week.

 

I don't care how you cut it, we seem to be paying way, way too much for people to enjoy ‘il dolce far niente’ on a 24/7 basis.  People like that need a wake up call, like being dropped kicked through the end zone goalposts.

 

 

So health care prices including medication, treatment, hospitals and health insurance continue to increase and we have a long ways to go to even begin to implement the law.  Nowhere in the law do we address in a meaningful way the cost of health care although the law talks a lot about Medicare fraud.

 

Unfortunately, the biggest fraud in Medicare is not even addressed.  When it comes to diseases and drugs profit is the first consideration and there is no profit in getting you well.  Instead we get a battery of meaningless tests to prove what we do not have, all the while being given multiple prescriptions of dangerous drugs to keep us happy during the many tests.

 

There is nothing good about a system where healing comes way down the priority list.  Nor is there when a system can spend tens of thousands of dollars or more when cat scans or other exotic tests are given.

 

 

Our medical community lives in a constant conflict of interest and makes money off everything they do to keep you sick, keep you medicated and keep you believing that doctors and medical people are the most trustworthy people in America.

 

 

So maybe our president and congress can enjoy ‘il dolce far niente’ because they have conditioned us to accept nothing as good for the country.  Just think of how many things would be wrong if they actually passed more laws and did something.

 

 

 

One the other hand, we would all be a lot happier and better off spiritually and morally at least if we did follow the advice of our Italian friends,‘il dolce far niente’, enjoy the sweetness of doing nothing.  

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A Valentine's Day Message of Hope, Peace and Love

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Happy Valentine's Day

Bonne Saint Valentin

Feliz Día de los Enamorados

Buon San Valentino

Alles Liebe zum Valentinstag!

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