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Amigos Para Siempre
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Wikipedia article
"'Amigos Para Siempre (Friends for Life)'", also called "'Amics per sempre'" in Catalan, is a song written for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. The music was composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The lyrics, written by Don Black, are in English, except for the title phrase which is repeated in English, Spanish and Catalan.
Original version
British soprano Sarah Brightman and Spanish tenor Jos Carreras performed the song during the closing ceremony of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games. The duet was also released worldwide as a single to coincide with the Games, peaking at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart and reaching number one in Australia for six weeks. It was one of two musical themes for the event. The other, simply titled "Barcelona", was sung by Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caball, and reached number two in the UK. Both appear on the compilation album 'Barcelona Gold', released to coincide with the Games.
A remixed version of the original, with less vocal reverb and modified balancing, was included on the compilation album 'Andrew Lloyd Webber: Now and Forever' (2001).
Critical reception
Larry Flick from 'Billboard' described the song as a "Spanish-pop ballad" and noted its "stately performances" by Carreras and Brightman, and the "dramatic orchestral arrangement". He also added that the Spanish-language version has lyrics co-penned by Cuban-American singer and songwriter Gloria Estefan.Track listing
# "Amigos Para Siempre"# Live Opening Ceremony Barcelona Olympic 1992 Games
# "Amigos Para Siempre" (Spanish version)
# "Amigos Para Siempre" (Seat Anuncio 60 aniversario) Marujita
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Cover versions
In Spain, the most famous rendition of this song was made by Spanish group Los Manolos with rumba arrangements and Spanish lyrics, except for the chorus. It reached number 3 in the Spanish charts.[http://www.ventilador-music.com/pagArtistas.asp?Artista=LM VENTILADOR MUSIC Artistas] In September 1996, it was later covered by Effie and Norman Gunston and reached the top 30 in Australia at the time.
In one of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group's concerts in Beijing, China, a Chinese version of this song was performed with approximately half of the lyrics in Mandarin and half in English. In this version, 'Amigos Para Siempre' was replaced by "", which is "Friends Forever" in Chinese. A fully Cantonese version ""(literally "eternal friendship") was sung by George Lam.
This song was also used for the Shanghai 2007 Special Olympic Games, performed again by Jos Carreras and a Chinese soprano.
On Sunday, 17 August 2008 at the Don Black 70th birthday tribute concert 'Lyrics by Don Black', 'Amigos Para Siempre' was performed by Jonathan Ansell and Hayley Westenra. The evening took place at the London Palladium featuring performances of Black's songs by a selection of guest artists, hosted by Michael Parkinson and was recorded by BBC Radio 2 Friday Night is Music Night and broadcast on Friday, 22 August 2008.
It was the favourite song of Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Committee from 1980 to 2001, and was played at his funeral in Barcelona in April 2010.:es:Samaranch
In 2014, Katherine Jenkins and the Viennese tenor LASZLO[http://laszlo-music.com/ 'LASZLO'] (Viennese opera and crossover tenor) (Also known as Laszlo Maleczky) covered the song on the album "Katherine Jenkins" that was only released in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
In 2016, Marina Prior and Mark Vincent covered the song on their album 'Together'.
In 2017, G4 covered the song on their latest album "Love Songs".
In 2020, La Poem covered the song on their first mini-album "Scene#1" and performed it at the opening of the 35th Golden Disc Awards.
References
Category:Songs about friendship
Category:1992 songs
Category:1992 Summer Olympics
Category:Polydor Records singles
Category:Olympic theme songs
Category:Official championship anthems
Category:Malefemale vocal duets
Category:Macaronic songs
Category:Songs with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Category:Songs with lyrics by Don Black (lyricist)
Category:Sarah Brightman songs
Category:Number-one singles in Australia
Category:Song recordings produced by Nigel Wright (record producer)
Category:1990s ballads
Category:Pop ballads
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