Pink Martini has twelve instrumentalists (and sometimes travels with string sections), and performs its multilingual repertoire on concert stages and with symphony orchestras throughout Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Northern Africa, Australia and New Zealand and North America. Pink Martini made its European debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 and its orchestral debut with the Oregon Symphony in 1998 under the direction of Norman Leyden. Since then, the band has gone on to play with over 30 orchestras around the world, including multiple engagements with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the Boston Pops, the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center and the BBC Concert Orchestra in London. Other appearances include the grand opening of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s new Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, with return sold-out engagements for New Year’s Eve 2003, 2004 & 2008; two sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall; the opening party of the remodeled Museum of Modern Art in NYC; the Governor’s Ball at the 80th Annual Academy Awards in 2008; and the opening of the 2008 Sydney Festival in Australia.
Lauderdale met China Forbes, Pink Martini’s lead vocalist, at Harvard. He was studying history and literature while she was studying English literature and painting. Late at night, they would break into the lower common room in their college dormitory and sing arias by Puccini and Verdi – and the occasional campy Barbra Streisand cover –thus sealing their creative collaboration. Three years after graduating, Lauderdale called Forbes who was living in New York City, where she’d been writing songs and playing guitar in her own folk-rock project, and asked her to join Pink Martini. They began to write songs together for the band. Their first song “Sympathique”– with the chorus “Je ne veux pas travailler” (”I don’t want to work”) – became an overnight sensation in France, and was even nominated for “Song of the Year” at France’s Victoires de la Musique Awards. Forbes, though fluent only in English, sings in 15 different languages.
Pink Martini’s debut album Sympathique was released independently in 1997 on the band’s own label Heinz Records (named after Lauderdale’s dog), and quickly became an international phenomenon, garnering the group nominations for “Song of the Year” and “Best New Artist” in France’s Victoires de la Musique Awards in 2000.
In October 2004, the group released its second album, Hang on Little Tomato.
In May 2007, it released its third album, Hey Eugene!.
A fourth studio album, Splendor in the Grass, followed on October 27, 2009.
Sympathique, Hang on Little Tomato and Hey Eugene! have all gone gold in France, Canada, Greece and Turkey; collectively, Pink Martini's records have sold more than two million copies worldwide.
On New Year's Eve 2005, Pink Martini performed live at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall in Portland, Oregon. This performance was aired live on National Public Radio's Toast of the Nation, and in partnership with Oregon Public Broadcasting was recorded for a live DVD and later broadcast on US public broadcasting and French television.[citation needed] The DVD has been rereleased to retail as Discover the World: Live in Concert, featuring not only the full concert, but several vignettes and a short documentary of the band's history.
The band has collaborated and performed with Jimmy Scott, Carol Channing, Henri Salvador, Jane Powell, Chavela Vargas, Georges Moustaki, Michael Feinstein, DJ Dimitri from Paris, clarinetist and conductor Norman Leyden, Hiroshi Wada, DJ Johnny Dynell and several drag queens from New York City, among others. On June 1, 2007, the band appeared on the long-running BBC Two Later with Jools Holland TV music program. On June 14, 2007, Pink Martini performed on Late Show with David Letterman, performing "Hey Eugene".
Pink Martini played Walt Disney Concert Hall on New Year's Eve for the first two years it was open (2003/4 and 2004/5). They returned to play NYE there again in 2008/9.
In May 2009, the band recorded three concerts with the Oregon Symphony under the direction of Carlos Kalmar for the band’s fifth album … a symphonic record which is slated for a 2011 release.
Pink Martini songs appear in such films as In the Cut, Nurse Betty, Josie and the Pussycats, Tortilla Soup, Shanghai Kiss, Mary and Max, and Mr. & Mrs. Smith and have been used on television shows such as Dead Like Me, The Sopranos and The West Wing, among others.[citation needed] Their song "Una notte a Napoli" is an integral part of the Italian movie Mine Vaganti (2010), by the Italian-Turkish director Ferzan Özpetek. The song "No Hay Problema" is included as background/setup music for Microsoft's Windows Server 2003 and was also used as the background/setup music for an early build of Windows Longhorn, now known as Windows Vista.[citation needed]
In February 2011, the group's lead singer, China Forbes, recorded a video greeting to the European Space Agency's Italian astronaut, Paolo Nespoli, and Russian cosmonaut Aleksandr Kaleri, on board the International Space Station. The astronauts were preparing to oversee the docking of ESA's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) cargo vessel, Johannes Kepler, which took place at 17:08 CET on 24 February. The greeting was set to the sound track of Dosvedanya Mio Bombino - one of Pink Martini's signature songs - and was mixed with footage of the actual docking.
In November 2011, they played at the Balboa Theater with the Bonita Vista High School band, Club Blue.
Ojalá
Pink Martini Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Je reviendrais au printemps des fleurs
Quand tes yeux allumaient mes jours
Je l'imaginais pour toujours
Mes regrets sont comme des taches
Dans les rivages de ces temps que je cache
Je voudrais essuyer tes larmes
Te garder dans mes bras, oh la la
T'es partie la lune s'est effacée
Même les nuits sont plus foncées
Je m'inquiète de ce silence profond
Car sans toi il n'y a pas de chansons
Avec les yeux fixés sur mon rêve
A la fin do jour mes doutes s'achèvent
Avec mon cœur plein de lumières
On peut revenir en arrière
T'es partie la lune s'est effacée
Même les nuits sont plus foncées
Je m'inquiète de ce silence profond
Car sans toi il n'why a pas de chansons
Avec les yeux fixés sur mon rêve
A la fin do jour mes doutes s'achèvent
Avec mon cœur plein de lumières
On peut revenir en arrière
Ojala
Tu reviendras
Ojala
Pour me revoir
Ojala
J'aurai toujours
Un peu d'amour
The lyrics to Pink Martini's song "Ojalá" depict a lover who deeply misses their significant other. The first verse begins with the singer addressing their lover and expressing how they would go back to the springtime of their love if given the chance. They reminisce about the time their lover would light up their days, and how they believed it would last forever. However, the singer now carries the weight of regret in their heart, which seems like stains on the shore that they want to erase. They yearn to wipe away their lover's tears and embrace them once more.
The chorus consists of the singer confessing how their world has turned dark since their lover left. They worry about the profound silence that now engulfs them because, without their lover, there is no music left in their hearts. The second verse speaks of dreaming about their lover and how their doubts fade away with each passing day. The singer's heart is still full of love, and they believe they can go back to the past with its warmth and light. The song ends with the chorus repeating its plea for their lover to return, as the singer promises to hold onto their love forever.
Overall, the song is a poignant portrayal of the longing one feels for a lost love. The lyrics beautifully capture the emotions of a person who wishes for nothing more than to be reunited with their beloved.
Line by Line Meaning
Ma chérie si j'avais une heure
My love, if I had an hour
Je reviendrais au printemps des fleurs
I would return to the spring of flowers
Quand tes yeux allumaient mes jours
When your eyes lit up my days
Je l'imaginais pour toujours
I imagined it forever
Mes regrets sont comme des taches
My regrets are like stains
Dans les rivages de ces temps que je cache
In the shores of times that I hide
Je voudrais essuyer tes larmes
I would like to wipe away your tears
Te garder dans mes bras, oh la la
To keep you in my arms, oh la la
T'es partie la lune s'est effacée
You left and the moon disappeared
Même les nuits sont plus foncées
Even the nights are darker
Je m'inquiète de ce silence profond
I worry about this deep silence
Car sans toi il n'y a pas de chansons
Because without you there are no songs
Avec les yeux fixés sur mon rêve
With my eyes fixed on my dream
A la fin du jour mes doutes s'achèvent
At the end of the day my doubts end
Avec mon cœur plein de lumières
With my heart full of lights
On peut revenir en arrière
We can go back in time
Ojala
Hopefully
Tu reviendras
You will come back
Ojala
Hopefully
Pour me revoir
To see me again
Ojala
Hopefully
J'aurai toujours
I will always have
Un peu d'amour
A little bit of love
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Timothy Nishimoto, Daniel Lemay, Luisa Quinoy, China Forbes, Thomas Lauderdale
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@leongps
That's the lyrics. The translation: Well the sun's going down
With its deep amber light
Embracing the town as we fall into night
To the silvery sound as the birds fly away
Getting ready for love
Getting out of the day
It is the city of night
It is the city if night
Leave the worries of day behind
And dream a new dream tonight
All the lands are a glow
All the lids painted red
And you wish you could take
That last thing you said
Well the night is a drum
Singing songs of delight
But when dawn comes along
Love is lost in the light
But in the city of night
Oh, in the city of night
Leave the troubles of day behind
And dream a new dream tonight
@capitanostrita
Simplemente MARAVILLOSO tema, un cha cha chá en francés ❤️❤️❤️ gracias por compartir 🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶🎵🎶
@Misslotusification
" Ma chérie si j'avais une heure Je reviendrais au printemps des fleurs Quand tes yeux allumaient mes jours Je l'imaginais pour toujours Mes regrets sont comme des taches Dans les rivages de cette âme que je cache Je voudrais essuyer tes larmes Te garder dans mes bras en alarme T'es parti, la lune s'est effacée Même les nuits sont plus foncées Je m'inquiète de ce silence profond Car sans toi il n'y a pas de chanson.
Avec les yeux fixés sur mon rêve À la fin du jour mes doutes s'achèvent Avec mon coeur plein de lumière On peut revenir en arrière T'es parti, la lune s'est effacée Même les nuits sont plus foncées Je m'inquiète de ce silence profond Car sans toi il n'y a pas de chanson Avec les yeux fixés sur mon rêve À la fin du jour mes doutes s'achèvent Avec mon coeur plein de lumière On peut revenir en arrière Ojalá Tu reviendras Ojalá Pour me revoir Ojalá J'aurai toujours Ojalá Un peu d'amour"
@plainjayne1981
What is that in English tho
@leongps
That's the lyrics. The translation: Well the sun's going down
With its deep amber light
Embracing the town as we fall into night
To the silvery sound as the birds fly away
Getting ready for love
Getting out of the day
It is the city of night
It is the city if night
Leave the worries of day behind
And dream a new dream tonight
All the lands are a glow
All the lids painted red
And you wish you could take
That last thing you said
Well the night is a drum
Singing songs of delight
But when dawn comes along
Love is lost in the light
But in the city of night
Oh, in the city of night
Leave the troubles of day behind
And dream a new dream tonight
@Misslotusification
@Seng Leong Por Thanks, I didn't know the question was asked.
@mcfrdmn
Excellent musical performance !
@esun237
This is art and what we live for
@MatterhornVore
What a Great track!!!
@lyasb
absolut minunat!
@justanotherbohemian3827
Love this song!!!☺