El Niño Jesus │ A Very Special Holiday Presentation

In this very special edition of  Angelfire Love, I am presenting Tony Croatto's magnificent composition, "El Niño Jesus".  This song tells the story of the Boy Jesus visiting a party on Christmas Eve, playing his maracas.  At first He is rejected by the party-goers, but His true self is finally recognized, and He is accepted by them, and brought into the festivities.  It is a very moving story.  Tony Croatto, who was originally from Italy, made quite a name for himself in Puerto Rico, as an aficionado and promoter of Jibaro music. Tony Croatto passed away in Puerto Rico on April 3, 2005.  Please click on the video widgets below to watch three different videos of "El Niño Jesus".  The top-most video of Tony Croatto singing "El Niño Jesus" is extremely rare, and I had a very difficult time finding it on the internet.  The version of "El Niño Jesus" on the very bottom is sung by the great José Feliciano.  Please click on this link to purchase an MP3 of José Feliciano's version of "El Niño Jesus" from Amazon.com:  El Niño Jesus - José Feliciano

Happy Xmas (War Is Over) │ The Mini Beats

The Mini Beats from Germany, is a fantastic musical group that I discovered quite serendipitously, while I was browsing a little known music website located in Russia.  The Mini Beats specialize in performing covers of The Beatles' music, and they do an outstanding job of it.  The members of the group are:  Philip, guitar and vocals;  Andi, guitar; Markus, bass-guitar and vocals; Jonas, drums, vocals.  The Mini Beats was started by Jonas, who got the inspiration for it after watching "Help", and "A Hard Days Night", with his father one night.  In this edition of Angelfire Love The Mini Beats perform John Lennon and Yoko Ono's haunting Christmas anthem, "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", that was released in October of 1971.  It is my most favorite Christmas song in the whole world.  Incidentally, the melody is based on an old American folk song called "Stewball".  It is interesting to note, that Philip, the lead singer on "Happy Xmas (War Is Over), handles the English lyrics quite well.  His diction and pronunciation are perfect!  The original version of "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)", by John & Yoko and The Plastic Ono Band, is rather hard to find, actually, it has been always hard to find, but I did locate a copy of it on Amazon.com that can be purchased from this link: Happy Xmas (War Is Over) - John & Yoko And The Plastic Ono Band  Have a Merry, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, from Angelfire Love.

Razvan Dobai │ Recherché

 

Every once in a while an impressive young singer comes along that is far ahead of the pack.  Razvan Dobai, who is from Bihor, Romania is that singer.  I first wrote about Razvan on October 27, 2011 (see post Razvan Dobai - My Way),  and at that time I was impressed with his talent.  He also seemed to me to be a very hard worker who is perfecting his musical styles, and I do mean styles, because  Razvan sings all kinds of songs, and that makes him a versatile performer.  But I have to say this, when I heard him sing "Fairytale" I could not stop weeping.  First of all, I have Roma blood in my veins, and when I heard that soulful violin intro, I cried and cried, as that violin spoke deeply to me about my people.  It was so heartfelt and beautiful.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoy Alexander Rybak's original version of "Fairytale", but it does not have the emotional impact, honesty, and innocence of Razvan's cover.  Thank you Razvan for that incredible performance!  God bless you.  Razvan has a cool YouTube channel that can be found at this link:  Razvan Dobai - Official YouTube Channel