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Published: 2004
Category: Classical
"I got in on the ground floor of Tina Turner," a gent announced decades ago at a party. I was confused --- had the man, a Wall Street type, invested in "Private Dancer," Tina's new release? Not at all. He had, he explained, simply heard about the CD before the masses.
That proprietary sense of cultural knowledge baffled me. But now it's my turn to be on the ground floor of something --- and like a teenager who gets his mitts on the exam questions a week before the test, he's all puffed-up about it. And, of course, eager to share.
The CD in question is the recently-released soundtrack of a French movie --- not coming to the United States until the end of the year --- called "Les Choristes" ("The Choirboys").
A small "art" movie?
In fact, it's more popular in France than the latest "Harry Potter" movie. More than half a million soundtrack CDs have been sold in Europe. And all across France, kids are flocking to audition for....choirs.
In a time when Britney liplocks Madonna, this is hard to imagine --- but never underestimate the appeal of sepia-toned nostalgia. It's a formula. Take a French school in 1949 that's populated by unruly students and a pig of a headmaster. Add a music teacher who's an angel. Will the music teacher win the troubled kids over with music? Of course. And, naturally, there's one amazingly cute 13-year-old kid with a beautiful voice (whose picture is, by now, tacked on the bedroom walls of a gazillion French girls).
The CD? Twenty-one songs. The performances are not as polished as they might be. But a little sincerity goes a long way. Mark your Butler's words --- next winter, Time and Newsweek will be writing about the phenomenon of kids coming together to sing in harmony in praise of God. And this CD won't be ranked 39,296 on Amazon.
To order "Les Choristes" from Amazon.com, click here.