The singer Hayley Westenra enjoys Alicia Keys and Dreamcatcher
Oh so quiet
If I want to relax I’ll listen to Karl Jenkins’s Benedictus — it
has a quiet intensity to it and I let it conjure up pictures in my
mind. I can imagine it being used in a film — after a war,
perhaps, when everything is deserted and quiet. He has managed to
squeeze all kinds of different emotions into the piece, even though
it stays generally restful. One for an evening curled up on the sofa.
Owner of a lonely heart
One song that I can’t get out of my head at the moment is
Alicia Keys’s If I Ain’t Got You. It’s
about how nothing matches up to true love. I was playing it all the
time when I was driving around LA feeling lonely. It’s tough
enough being an outsider in LA, and the feeling is doubled when you
realise that the whole place is so spread out — all the shopping
places feel deserted.
A fine romanza
The first album I bought as a teenager was Andrea Bocelli’s Romanza.
I don’t know what made me pick it up, but I was drawn to it.
He has a strong voice, but it always sounds a little fragile and
I like that. Last year I performed with him on his New Zealand and
Australian tour. We sang Time to Say Goodbye, which he originally
recorded with Sarah Brightman, and I’m performing a duet with
him on my next album.
What Kate did
For my English GCSE exam a couple of years ago I studied Wuthering
Heights and it made me fall in love with Kate Bush’s
song of the same name, which is on my first album. My record company
advised me against recording it because it’s a song so closely
associated with her. But I got a huge popular response from it,
even though a lot of people my age hadn’t heard it before.
The write stuff
I haven’t written any of my own songs yet, but when I do I’d
love to be able to write like Heather Nova. It always takes a few
times before I can grasp what she’s writing about. I saw her
in concert last year, and when I met her afterwards I told her she’s
been an inspiration to me even though it always seemed embarrassing
to say that kind of thing.
Happy doze
In New Zealand, when I was doing my homework, I always used to put
music on in the background, and Dreamcatcher, a Norwegian duo, are
great for that. Their sound is slightly Celtic and folksy. I sometimes
use it to get to sleep as well, so you can draw your own conclusions
about me and homework! When I play it while I’m traveling
it always reminds me of home.
Hayley Westenra’s album, Odyssey, is out now.
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