About 9 years ago, Brunei Darussalam was given the honour to host the SEA Games. It was an amazing feat for a small country with a population of less than half a million to host an event of that size.
One can imagine the pressure shouldered by the many people who were entrusted to see to it that the event was a big success. The reputation of the country was at stake.
During the opening ceremony, they had all those customary parades and fireworks etc. One of the events that evening was live singing by 2 famous local singers. They had those "hands-free" mikes on, so that they were able to dance while singing. But those "hands-free" mikes were only for show; if anything, they were put on only because Michael Jackson and Madonna made it the in thing back then. It was fairly obvious that those singers were miming.
I suppose those Bruneian singers were not taking any chances; in the heat of all those excitement anything could happen. They might have frozen due to stage fright; maybe might even forget the lyrics of their songs! So by making earlier recordings of their songs would help eliminate those possibilities.
I can only sympathise with those singers. Who wouldn't want to be perfect for such a big occasion? We all want to be beautiful and perfect in every sense. Some people might not have forgiven those singers for miming on stage. But then again, at least they were miming their own songs. I know those purist live-entertainment fans would not be happy anyway.
Almost 2 weeks ago, I posted an article entitled Natural Love Of Beauty. I wrote about our natural preference of beautiful people. In books and movies, it's always those with good looks that will sell.
It is no wonder that China has settled for a prettier girl to perform during their Olympic opening ceremony. But she was only miming the voice of another little girl who was unfortunate enough to have no good looks. Apparently, that was done "in the best interest of the country". It is sad that a lot of the times good looks are given priority over abilities. It's just us and our natural love of beauty.
Sigh.
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