A little Christmas music
I’m taking a little detour from my “Women in Rock” history series, to post some of my favorite Christmas songs. I do this each year, and some of the songs have appeared in previous years. But then that’s part of the point of Christmas music.
I once won a substantial bet with someone who could not believe Elvis had done a Christmas album (he actually did more than one). It seems she could not reconcile the bad-boy image and vulgar hip-thrusts with his doing anything holy. I didn’t have the heart to collect—it was, after all, Christmas. Here’s a great version of my favorite Elvis Christmas song. It’s a virtual duet—his partner in this, Martina McBride, was actually 11 when Elvis died.
There are three famous “Ave Maria”s—by Bach, Vavilov/Caccini and Schubert. Schubert’s is probably the most popular and (to most people) recognizable of the three. Ironically, it was not originally a religious song per se, but it has since been modified and re-interpreted hundreds of times and is now a Christmas staple. Here is one of my favorite renditions, by Finnish baritone (and world class metal bassist) Marko Hietala and my favorite vocalist of all time, the Dutch diva Floor Jansen:
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Every year, Finland hosts a rock Christmas festival. Here is Floor Jansen performing “O Holy Night” while more than six months pregnant. In Finnish. Why not? I’m not religious but this is when music almost makes a believer of me.
I guessed from your name that you are Finnish or Estonian--is that right? If so, or even if not, if you love music you have to know about Nightwish. They are, in my opinion, the best rock band founded between roughly 1980 and 2010--a period of 30 years--and one of the greatest bands ever. Here is a post I did on them awhile back--it gives some history and a little background, and includes two clips. They are both over 10 min long, so get some popcorn and settle in. https://zapatosjam.substack.com/p/greatest-voices-8-floor-jansen-goes-21-12-03
What a great Martina/Elvis vid undertaking! Fun to watch the editing (the girl appearing to weep in Martina's general direction!), and the fade-in focus of one and the other as the camera goes from focusing on foreground El and back to background McBride! She must've had a blast taping that (and using a full can of AquaNet)!