Choirs, Music and Other Performances at Olympic Ceremonies

[Nacholympic]

Deep sea dreaming. OST . Sydney 2000 OC.

 

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Zeimpekiko - Athens 2004 OC

 

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Clepsydra OST - Athens 2004 OC

Excerpt 01

 

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Clepsydra OST - Athens 2004 OC

Excerpt 02

 

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Music for the lighting of the Olympic Flame in Athens 2004 OC

Pirogov - Dimitry Shostakovic

 

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Music of the entrance of the Olympic flame and lighting of the cauldron in Salt Lake 2002 OC.

Song of praise, Ode to Zeus - Mikis Theodorakis

 

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Music of the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron in Los Angeles 1984.

OST LA 84 - The Olympians - Phillip Glass

 

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Music of the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron in Barcelona 1992 - OST

The flaming arrow - Angelo Badalamenti

 

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Music performed in the segment "Innovation of the ideas" at Guadalajara 2011 OC.

OST - Nortec Collective - Polaris (Panamerican Games version)

 

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Music of Cortina-Milano 2026 handover, played at Beijing 2022 CC.

 

[AliciasBlade]

The handover ceremony from Tokyo 2020. https://youtu.be/Wykqg9712qI

[Olympics2028]

On 3/19/2022 at 10:53 AM, baron-pierreIV said:

And Sydney 2000 used the greatest amount of pre-recorded music (98%) due to acoustics of the venue.  

So it's really funny you scrutinizing every crick and croak when those are probably due to recording/reproduction glitches.   

 

Because pre-recorded music was used in 1984, look at how cheap this "choir" sounds. An obviously pre-recorded track gave this segment a discount-store quality:

However, the low-cost costumes at least didn't make the dancers look like they were space aliens from planet Cirque de Soleil.  

The real choir sort of saves the day by kicking in a few minutes later. But it shows how live versus pre-recorded does affect the quality of an event.

Side note: The broadcast flashed on a shot of one of the games' spectators, old-time actor Cary Grant. Hey, he ties in with the 1964 games.
He starred in a 1966 comedy based on Tokyo's 1964 Olympics.

Another things: Olympic ceremonies decades ago were actually more carbon neutral or environmentally friendly. The grass of the infield at least wasn't covered with a huge vinyl or plastic sheet. More carbon gas also wasn't expended creating material to lay above a stadium's running.track.

 

[Sir Rols]

Okay, two of my favourites from London 2012…

I’m not usually a fan of Russell Brand, but I am of the Beatles. So pleasantly surprised that it was “I Am The Walrus” that got picked from the Lennon-McCartney catalogue 

 

And then there’s The Kinks. “Waterloo Sunset” perfectly suited the wistful nature of a closing ceremony

 

 

[Nacholympic]

Song played at Sarajevo 1984 CC - OST.

I don't know the official name, but you can recognize it as "It was fine in Sarajevo, see you in Calgary"

 

[Olympics2028]

5 hours ago, Sir Rols said:

And then there’s The Kinks. “Waterloo Sunset” perfectly suited the wistful nature of a closing ceremony

 

I've never seen that segment of 2012's opening (or closing) before.

Whoa. Did the 2012 OOC use enough props for their ceremonies?

I like the big semis driving around the running track, the one covered to look like a two-lane highway. .

I just read that Sebastian Coe's current wife is a British-born woman who now operates out of LA. Coe also says he stays in close contact with Casey Wasserman.

The 2028 games may end up throwing in the kitchen sink too. Except it will themed to LA/America instead of London/UK.

[baron-pierreIV]

Oly2028, been there, done that.  I'm really not that vested into rehashing the old Ceremonies.  They're done with, I;ve analyzed them and placed them in their proper historic perspective in my book.  

I am looking forward to the upcoming shows.  

[Olympics2028]

21 hours ago, baron-pierreIV said:

been there, done that.

 

Speaking of which, there's Lennon's "Imagine." Some people have said using that tune at Olympic ceremonies is becoming too much a cliche.

There was a children's choir performing it in 2012. But it came off like a tribute to Lennon, not the Olympics and its participants. Even the choir wearing "Imagine" imprinted on their T-shirts made the segment seem like a commercial for Lennon's estate. And the fiberglass parts to create his face too.

Tokyo had another youth choir too. But it got pushed aside by some celebrities. Or at least 3 of the 4 are well known in the US and South America. All were pre-recorded, of course.

Even if the stadium were packed with spectators, that segment still probably would have come up as way too canned.

At the games in Beijing, they had some solo singer doing the piece. Pre-recorded too, no doubt. The visuals, however, at least were sports-oriented.

 

 

Some have described the 2022 ceremonies/games as soulless. Some of that may be due to geopolitics and an Orwellian-1984 culture. But in their own way, the 2012 and 2020/2021 openings/closings were not much less so-called soulless too.

The 2020 games had amazing drone technology. But Tokyo's second Olympics (pandemic or not) seemed to have less charm and prestige than the old-tech 1964 games did.

If all three had used large, on-site choirs, even "Imagine" wouldn't necessarily have come off as overused:

 

 

^ An unknown singer with a formal choir as back-up in Tokyo would have been more effective than Legend, Urban, Kidjo and Sanz combined.

Some of the background music at the next Olympics, the 2022 winter games, was very traditional and international. For instance, Beethoven's Ode to Joy. I think the Beijing 2022 OOC hired a director who had a fairly good sense of how an Olympic opening/closing should be. Or what it's all about.

 

[Nacholympic]

We have also the version of Lady Gaga at Baku 2015 OC...

 

 

...and Peter Gabriel ft. Yoko Ono in Torino 2006 OC

 

[Nacholympic]

Ah!!! I almost forget the PyeongChang 2018 OC version...

 

[Sir Rols]

IDK if anyone’s already posted this, but also at Atlanta’s closing ceremony

 

[baron-pierreIV]

/\/\ I had posted that in a previous thread about this same subject.  Why is Oly2028 always LATE to the party? With him, everything just seems deja vu.  

[Sir Rols]

8 minutes ago, baron-pierreIV said:

/\/\ I had posted that in a previous thread about this same subject.  Why is Oly2028 always LATE to the party? With him, everything just seems deja vu.  

I knew Imagine had a few outings at the games, but I never realised it had THAT many renditions. 

I’ve argued elsewhere that it’s an Olympic song par excellence. They might as well go the whole hog and just use it to replace that horrible dirge of an Olympic anthem they’d have. It sounds like a rejected tune by Verdi. I mean, who the hell wants to listen to some 19th century choral bombast these days  ?

Edited March 22, 2022 by Sir Rols

[Nacholympic]

28 minutes ago, Sir Rols said:

IDK if anyone’s already posted this, but also at Atlanta’s closing ceremony

 

I didn't remember that Imagine was also played at Atlanta's CC

[Olympics2028]

59 minutes ago, Nacholympic said:

...and Peter Gabriel ft. Yoko Ono in Torino 2006 OC

 

Holy sheet. Now I understand why some people have complained about "Imagine" becoming overused at Olympic ceremonies. lol.

Anyone of those performances would have had a big-sound ceremonial quality or hero-ized if a large back-up choir had been a part of the segment.

Notice the Olympic flag in the stadium in Torino was on a flagpole situated all by itself. Which is the way it should be.

[Olympics2028]

25 minutes ago, Nacholympic said:

I didn't remember that Imagine was also played at Atlanta's CC

Me too. That's the first I've even seen that.

At least Wonder had a bit of back-up from that small choir standing behind him. But they did mainly vocalise (or humming). But they were more active in that segment than the choir at the 2002 winter games were when Sting and Yo-Yo Ma were performing.

Even a piece as inappropriate for an Olympic ceremony as this can be given a heroic sound if a choir performs back-up and are orchestrated correctly.

I think I'd rather see this in 2028 than sit through another round of a single-solo version of "Imagine." lol.