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My Gift To You (Hayley Westenra Album)
''My Gift to You'' is the second published album by Christchurch soprano Hayley Westenra. The album was released only in New Zealand and Australia. It was published by the Universal New Zealand label in 2001. Westenra chose favourite Christmas and seasonal songs in this album, featuring guests such as Annie Crummer and Hayley's sister Sophie. The album continued Westenra's commercial success in New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count .... For the first time in her career she had an album certified platinum in its first week of release. The album peaked at number four on the New Zealand Album Chart. Track listing References Hayley Westenra albums 2001 Christmas albums {{2000s-pop-album-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hayley Westenra
Hayley Dee Westenra (born 10 April 1987) is a New Zealand classical crossover singer and songwriter. Her first internationally released album, ''Pure'', reached number one on the UK classical charts in 2003 and has sold more than two million copies worldwide, making it one of the fastest selling albums in her country's history. She is one of the youngest UNICEF Ambassadors to date. Westenra has sung in English, Māori, Irish, Welsh, Spanish, Italian, German, French, Portuguese, Latin, Japanese, Standard Mandarin Chinese, Catalan, and Taiwanese Hokkien. Early life Westenra was born in Christchurch, New Zealand. Her parents, Gerald and Jill Westenra, have two younger offspring, Sophie and Isaac. Sophie is an academic and teaches law at Oxford. Westenra's grandmother Shirley Ireland was a singer, and her grandfather was a pianist who also played the piano accordion. She has Irish, Dutch and English heritage. She began performing at age six in the Christmas play at her school, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around the world. A Calendar of saints, feast central to the Christian liturgical year, it is preceded by the season of Advent or the Nativity Fast and initiates the season of Christmastide, which historically in the West lasts Twelve Days of Christmas, twelve days and culminates on Twelfth Night (holiday), Twelfth Night. Christmas Day is a public holiday in List of holidays by country, many countries, is celebrated religiously by a majority of Christians, as well as Christian culture, culturally by many non-Christians, and forms an integral part of the Christmas and holiday season, holiday season organized around it. The traditional Christmas narrative recounted in the New Testament, known as the Nativity of Jesus, says that Jesus was born in Bet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silent Night
"Silent Night" (german: "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht", links=no, italic=no) is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in the small town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. It was declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2011. The song was first recorded in 1905 and has remained a popular success, appearing in films and multiple successful recordings, as well as being quoted in other musical compositions. History "" was first performed on Christmas Eve 1818 at St Nicholas parish church in Oberndorf, a village in the Austrian Empire on the Salzach river in present-day Austria. A young Catholic priest, Father Joseph Mohr, had come to Oberndorf the year before. In the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, he had written the poem "" in 1816 at Mariapfarr, the hometown of his father in the Salzburg Lungau region, where Joseph had worked as an assistant priest. The melody was composed by Franz Xaver Gruber, schoolmaster ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Morning Has Broken
"Morning Has Broken" is a Christian hymn first published in 1931. It has words by English author Eleanor Farjeon and was inspired by the village of Alfriston in East Sussex, then set to a traditional Scottish Gaelic tune, "Bunessan". It is often sung in children's services and in funeral services. English pop musician and folk singer Cat Stevens included a version on his album ''Teaser and the Firecat'' (1971). The song became identified with Stevens due to the popularity of this recording. It reached number six on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, number one on the U.S. easy listening chart in 1972, and number four on the Canadian ''RPM'' magazine charts. Origins The hymn originally appeared in the second edition of ''Songs of Praise'' (published in 1931), to the tune "Bunessan", composed in the Scottish Islands. In ''Songs of Praise Discussed'', the editor, Percy Dearmer, explains that as there was need for a hymn to give thanks for each day, English poet and children's author Elea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gabriel's Message
"Gabriel's Message" or "The angel Gabriel from heaven came" ( eu, Birjina gaztetto bat zegoen) is a Basque Christmas folk carol about the Annunciation to the Virgin Mary by the archangel Gabriel that she would become the mother of Jesus Christ the Son of God. Text It quotes the biblical account of the Annunciation ( Luke, Chapter 1, verses 26–38) and Mary's Magnificat (Luke 1.46–55) with the opening lines: The angel Gabriel from heaven came, his wings as drifted snow, his eyes as flame; "All hail", said he, "thou lowly maiden Mary, most highly favoured lady." Gloria. A Basque folk carol, originally based on ''Angelus Ad Virginem'', a 13th or 14th Century Latin carol, it was collected by Charles Bordes and then paraphrased into English by Sabine Baring-Gould, who had spent a winter as a boy in the Basque country. The tune is called "Gabriel's Message". It is commonly performed in an arrangement by Edgar Pettman published in his 1892 book ''Modern Christmas Carols''. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Do You Hear What I Hear?
"Do You Hear What I Hear?" is a song written in October 1962, with lyrics by Noël Regney and music by Gloria Shayne. The pair, married at the time, wrote it as a plea for peace during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Regney had been invited by a record producer to write a Christmas song, but he was hesitant due to the commercialism of Christmas. It has sold tens of millions of copies and has been covered by hundreds of artists. Synopsis "Do You Hear What I Hear?" tells a story loosely based upon the story of the Nativity of Jesus as told in the Gospel of Matthew, incorporating fragments of the annunciation to the shepherds from the Gospel of Luke, though Jesus is never mentioned by name or explicitly identified. A "night wind" tells a lamb of a star, following which the lamb tells his young shepherd that he also hears a loud song. They are each led to a "mighty king," whom they tell of a child in the cold and ask to bring the child silver and gold (much as the Biblical Magi, which in tr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mary, Did You Know?
"Mary, Did You Know?" is a Christmas song addressing Mary, mother of Jesus, with lyrics written by Mark Lowry in 1984, and music written by Buddy Greene in 1991. It was originally recorded by Christian recording artist Michael English on his self-titled debut solo album in 1991. At the time, English and Lowry were members of the Gaither Vocal Band, and Greene was touring with them. The song reached Number 6 on CCM Magazine's Adult Contemporary Chart. Lowry would record the song several times himself, most notably with the Gaither Vocal Band on their 1998 Christmas album, ''Still the Greatest Story Ever Told''. The song has since gone on to become a modern Christmas classic, recorded by hundreds of artists over the years, across multiple genres. Several recordings have reached the top ten in the ''Billboard'' R&B and Holiday charts. The song encourages contemplation of the relationship between Mary and her son, although some religious commentators have criticized the lyrics for down ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire
"The Christmas Song" (commonly subtitled "Chestnuts Roasting by an Open Fire" or, as it was originally subtitled, "Merry Christmas to You") is a classic Christmas song written in 1945 by Robert Wells and Mel Tormé. The Nat King Cole Trio first recorded the song in June 1946. At Cole's behestand over the objections of his label, Capitol Recordsa second recording was made in August utilizing a small string section. This version became a massive hit on both the pop and R&B charts. Cole again recorded the song in 1953, using the same arrangement with a full orchestra arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle, and once more in 1961, in a stereophonic version with another full orchestra arranged and conducted by Ralph Carmichael. Cole's 1961 version is generally regarded as definitive, and in 2004 was the most-loved seasonal song with women aged 30–49, while the original 1946 recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1974. In 2022, the 1961 Nat King Cole recording wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
You'll Never Walk Alone
"You'll Never Walk Alone" is a show tune from the 1945 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical ''Carousel''. In the second act of the musical, Nettie Fowler, the cousin of the protagonist Julie Jordan, sings "You'll Never Walk Alone" to comfort and encourage Julie when her husband, Billy Bigelow, the male lead, stabs himself with a knife whilst trying to run away after attempting a robbery with his mate Jigger and dies in her arms. The song is reprised in the final scene to encourage a graduation class of which Louise (Billy and Julie's daughter) is a member. The now invisible Billy, who has been granted the chance to return to Earth for one day in order to redeem himself, watches the ceremony and is able to silently motivate Louise and Julie to join in with the song. The song is also sung at association football clubs around the world, where it is performed by a massed chorus of supporters on match day; this tradition developed at Liverpool F.C. after the chart success of the 1963 sing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
All I Have To Give
"All I Have to Give" is a song by American boy band Backstreet Boys, produced and written by Full Force, and released as the third and final single from their second album ''Backstreet's Back'' and the sixth and final single from their US debut album. The single debuted at number two on the UK Singles Chart and peaked at number five on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming their third top-10 single in the US, following "Everybody (Backstreet's Back)". Background Alongside working with Max Martin for their second album, ''Backstreet's Back'', the Backstreet Boys began collaborating with Full Force in late 1996 as a way to differentiate themselves from the pop and R&B genre. In a 2017 interview with ''Billboard'', Howie Dorough discussed how the song was particularly significant to him:My sound wasn’t exactly the lead-person sound for the group with these songs. "All I Have To Give" was me finally getting a chance to step to the plate and show the world who I am as a singer. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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