JMF

7 minutes ago, Anna Ko Kolkowska said:

It was only the song Bougez.

 

 

For the whole concert see the link below.

 

 

Yes, that’s why I put it in the Bougez  thread. Thanks for the link to the concert, though!

6 minutes ago, JMF said:

In 4 minutes there is going to be a live session on YouTube with Mika premiering Bougez. I don’t know how to link to it here, but if you go to YouTube and put in Mika, it should be the first hit that comes up. It’s due to start in 2 minutes now!

Wow! That was quite something! Bougez is one of my least favourite tracks on the new album (for which I stayed up till 2 a.m. Kenyan time last night so that I could download it at midnight French time, then of course I stayed up listening to it!), but it’s amazing the difference it makes when you see Mika singing it rather than just listening to the track! 

In 4 minutes there is going to be a live session on YouTube with Mika premiering Bougez. I don’t know how to link to it here, but if you go to YouTube and put in Mika, it should be the first hit that comes up. It’s due to start in 2 minutes now!

On 11/6/2021 at 2:44 PM, Mikasister said:

 

If it's any consolation, I feel lonely here too. I don't see any active member from Spain.

¡Hola, Mikasister! I’m moving back to Spain (probably to El Campello, just outside Alicante) early next year, so the Spanish contingent will grow! 

Hi, everyone! Kenya isn’t even on the list, but I’m living in Kiambu, just outside Nairobi, and have been for almost 11 years, having found my way here after living in Lebanon, Spain and France, having started life in the UK. 

18 hours ago, SusanT said:

Have you seen the French video made some years ago where Mika is in Lebanon ( at least at the beginning)? You might also want to check out  his Sinfonia Pop concerts if you haven't watched them yet.

Hi, Susan! Yes, I have been catching up on all the missed years at a cracking speed! I’m a French and Spanish speaker, so I’ve been enjoying lots of the French output in particular. I have really enjoyed the orchestral concerts, which are amazing. There is just so much to watch and listen to! Luckily, I’m in the process of retiring, so once it’s all over I am going to have plenty of time!
 

I was living and working in Beirut for five years from 2008, so I had been gone for many years when the explosion at the port happened, but Lebanon has a very special place in my heart and I found the ‘I Love Beirut’ concert very moving. 
 

All the best, 

Janet

19 hours ago, silver said:

 

I'll keep my fingers crossed for you.  Mika's appearing in Morocco on 24th June, but most of his concerts this summer are in Europe.

Hi, Silver! Thanks for that. I’m in the process of retiring, so I’m in Kenya now until later this year, when I’ll be moving back to Spain. I’ve seen that he is doing a concert in Madrid at the end of September, but I won’t be back that soon. At least once I’m back in Europe I’ll be closer to many of the concert possibilities! 

On 7/29/2008 at 7:10 PM, A. Clay said:

Monkeys, plump ladies, and a four-octave range

Mika pops-up Martyrs Square with a show for all ages

By Eugene Yukin

Special to The Daily Star

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

 

Review

 

BEIRUT: Amid thousands of whispers and cheers of anticipation, a larger-than-life monkey holding a skull slowly steps out from behind the gigantic print of a clown's head and weaves to the front of the stage. Then it starts. Standing adjacent Beirut's Martyrs Square on Sunday night, international pop sensation Mika tries his hand at bringing his debut album "Life in Cartoon Motion" to life.

 

He does it well. In a concert that at times could have been confused with a circus show, Mika amused his fans with dazzling lights, huge multi-colored balloons, clowns and dancers in animal costume. Then, of course, there was the legendary four-octave range of Mika's voice.

 

The sold-out show (its tickets ranging from $33 to $200) lured thousands of people to watch the Lebanese-born pop singer kick off the Baalbek International Festival and with his first-ever Lebanon concert.

 

Starting off with "Relax, Take it Easy," Mika - resplendent in a white long shirt and tight black pants decked in multicolored glitter - works the crowd well, prancing around the stage, waving his hands and jumping up and down, only to run back to the piano to sing. With the first song finished and the crowd evidently pleased, Mika takes a minute to talk.

 

"Hello! I am very happy!" says the singer in accented Arabic, eliciting ecstatic cheers from the crowd.

 

This pop sensation has often been compared to the late-Freddy Mercury, lead singer of the legendary rock band Queen. Others have drawn comparisons between him and Elton John, Robbie Williams and David Bowie.

 

Born to a Lebanese mother and American father in 1983, Mika (aka Mica Penniman) was evacuated to Paris with his family at the age of one to escape the Lebanese Civil war. Though he wasn't raised here, Mika has always expressed pride in his Lebanese heritage. In a press conference a day before this concert, he took the opportunity to emphasize his ethnic roots.

 

"Anyone who is any part Lebanese will always tell you the same thing," Mika said, "that the Lebanese part completely takes over.

 

"I was always very proud of where I came from and who I am, and being Lebanese is a big part of that."

 

After leaving Lebanon, Mika attended Paris' LycŽe Franais Charles de Gaulle, where he says he was often harassed and bullied by other kids. Adding to his hardships was severe dyslexia, which caused a lot of problems with his teachers. By age 11 Mika dropped out of school. It was during this time that he discovered music.

 

In an interview with "OUT" magazine this year, Mika recalled this period. "My life was kind of falling apart," he said. "I was a complete outcast freak. I got into trouble for everything that I said, so I stopped talking. I got pulled out of school [and] didn't go for about seven, eight months, and during that time I started to learn how to sing because I had nothing else to do."

 

Mika's family later moved to England where he enrolled in a music school and was trained by a Russian opera singer. As a teenager, he began to earn money singing a jingle for Orbit chewing gum and writing music for British Airways.

 

Just two years ago Mika was relatively unknown. In 2006 he released his first single, "Relax, Take it Easy" but it was his other single, "Grace Kelly," that earned him international fame. The single reached number one in the UK singles chart in January 2007. Since then, Mika has enjoyed a tremendous following in the United States and Europe, where his concerts draw thousands of music fans.

 

"Are there any big girls in the crowd tonight?!" Mika shouts at his Beirut audience. Then he bursts into a rendition of "Big Girl," a song about obesity and fat women, accompanied by an inflatable twenty-five-foot-tall woman, rising at the back of the stage.

 

The audience looks on as a group of large women in tight, brightly colored short dresses progress towards them, holding a huge inflated balloon in the shape of soda cup with a straw. Next comes the inflated pizza. Thrown down to the fans, the cup and pizza find themselves bouncing up and down across the whole venue for the next thirty minutes of the show.

 

"I don't speak Arabic very well," the performer says in Arabic, "but I'm trying as best I can." His fans cheer their appreciation.

 

Mika then performs some other pieces from his debut album, such as "My interpretation," and "Billy Brown," a song about a married man who has a gay affair, "Stuck in the Middle" and "Grace Kelly."

 

After hugging a tall skeleton figure, Mika stands with a pink umbrella while confetti pours down on top of him giving the stage an other-worldly feel. The crowd is electrified as he begins to sing "Love Today". Towards the end of the song, the performer whips off his shirt and begins a lengthy drum solo with his drummer, banging against various metallic cans.

 

Though the crowd was obviously pleased with the performance - at least if their shouting and jumping and waving of Mika posters is anything to go by - the singer sometimes seemed to struggle to engage the audience. It wasn't that audience members didn't seem to like him, it simply seemed many did not know his lyrics well enough to sing along.

 

For his last tune, Mika performed "Relax, Take it Easy" one more time and bowed with his band members before taking leave of the stage. No one seemed to care that much. Distracted from Mika, the crowd gasped as a flame shot up slowly into the night sky and exploded in a multi-colored display. The grand fireworks display continuing to dazzle the concert-goers for another seven minutes. The dramatic finish left Mika's fans with more than their ticket's worth.

 

The Baalbek International Festival continues on August 2 (in Baalbek) with Astrid Hadad's show "Bizarre."

I can’t believe that I was living in Beirut in July 2008, within walking distance of Martyrs Square, but only discovered Mika in 2023 after watching ‘The Piano’ on Channel 4 TV in the UK (although I watched it in Kenya, where I now live). To have been that close, yet not to have known about the concert or even to have been aware of Mika and his music, is awful. His music has lit up my life over the past few months (and driven my housekeeper crazy!). One day, somewhere else, hopefully, I’ll make it to one of his concerts!