Pink Martini is a 13-member "little orchestra" from Portland, Oregon, forme… Read Full Bio ↴Pink Martini is a 13-member "little orchestra" from Portland, Oregon, formed in 1994 by pianist Thomas Lauderdale. They draw inspiration from music from all over the world – crossing genres of classical, jazz and old-fashioned pop.

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.

Syracuse
Pink Martini Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

J'aimerais tant voir Syracuse
L'ile de Paques et Kairouan
Et les grands oiseaux qui s'amusent
A glisser l'aile sous le vent

Voir les jardins de Babylone
Et le palais do Grand Lama
Rever des amants de Verone

Au sommet do Fuji Yama

Voir le pays do matin calme
Aller pecher le cormoran
Et m'enivrer de vin de palme
En ecoutant chanter le vent

Voir le pays do matin calme
Aller pecher le cormoran
Et m'enivrer de vin de palme
En ecoutant chanter le vent

Avant que ma jeunesse s'use
Et que mes printemps soient partis

J'aimerais tant voir Syracuse
Pour m'en souvenir a Paris

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Pink Martini's song "Syracuse" speak of a desire to travel to different places and experience the beauty of nature, culture, and love. The opening lines express a longing to see Syracuse, an ancient city on the eastern coast of Sicily, followed by a desire to visit other exotic locations such as Easter Island and Kairouan. The mention of "grand oiseaux" or large birds gliding under the wind adds a touch of whimsy to the lyrics, indicating a desire to witness the beauty of nature.

The second stanza continues to speak of a longing for adventure, citing historical places such as the Garden of Babylon and the Palace of the Grand Lama, and even romanticizing about Verona's lovers at the peak of Mount Fuji. The third stanza continues this desire to experience new things and enjoy life, mentioning the country of "matin calme," which means "calm morning," likely referring to South Korea. The mention of fishing for cormorants and drinking palm wine while listening to the wind sing creates a vivid image of relaxation and appreciation for natural beauty.

The song's overall message is summed up in the final stanza, expressing a desire to see and experience all these things before youth and vitality fade away. The final line, "pour m'en souvenir a Paris," translates to "to remember them in Paris," indicating a longing to carry moments of joy and beauty throughout one's life.

Line by Line Meaning

J'aimerais tant voir Syracuse
I long to see Syracuse

L'ile de Paques et Kairouan
Easter Island and Kairouan

Et les grands oiseaux qui s'amusent
And the large birds having fun

A glisser l'aile sous le vent
Gently gliding their wings in the wind

Voir les jardins de Babylone
To see the gardens of Babylon

Et le palais do Grand Lama
And the Grand Lama's palace

Rever des amants de Verone
To dream of lovers in Verona

Au sommet do Fuji Yama
At the top of Mount Fuji

Voir le pays do matin calme
To see the Land of the Morning Calm

Aller pecher le cormoran
To go fishing for cormorants

Et m'enivrer de vin de palme
And intoxicate myself with palm wine