Candidate Songs for Theme Song of 2008 Olympics

As the Beijing Olympics Games is coming closer, worldwide solicitation of the theme song for the Games is working on an even busier schedule. The Beijing Organizing Committee for the 2008 Olympics Games has now collected over 50,000 songs, and people are wondering who will stand out to be the composer, lyricist, and performer standing on the grand stage.

In today's program, we'll select a few of the candidate songs to share with you, and hopefully our selection will wrap you up more with the atmosphere of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

This song, named Forever Friends, is co-composed by famous Italian composer Giorgio Moroder and Chinese pianist Kong Xiangdong. Moroder is known for his achievements composing for Olympics theme songs. His works include "Reach out," for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, "Hand in Hand," for the 1988 Seoul Olympics, and "The Summer of Italy" for the 1990 FIFA World Cup. In the eyes of his long-time friend, Kong Xiangdong, Giorgio is really a genius.

"We have known each other for about 14 years. At the very beginning, I was very surprised that he had never received academic education on music. He just taught himself. However, to some extent, this missing of academic knowledge relieved some burdens on him, which do hinder the creation of the musicians. He had no difficulty with his imagination at all."

As a good theme song requires traits of being catchy yet easy to learn, in his new works, Moroder continued his simple style; at the same time, he added some typical Chinese elements so that it will be widely accepted in the host country.

"This song is obviously written for the Olympics in Beijing, therefore we have some traditional sounds in Chinese music from the beginning and in the middle section."

With the help of Kong Xiangdong, Moroder borrowed rhythms and basic melodies from the folk song "Liuyanghe" from southern China's Hunan Province. Kong says his work was to make sure the Chinese musical elements tailored carefully into the international style of the song.

"My job is to ensure this song is Chinese enough. Certainly, the five-tone scale of Chinese traditional music is a very significant signature in this piece. The five-tone scale belongs to China. We want to make a strong statement. You will never confuse this music with any other Olympics songs."

Michael Kunze from Germany penned the lyrics and Coco Lee from Hong Kong and Sun Nan from the Chinese mainland interpret it in a duet.

Both singers are proud to sing this song, and hope to perform it at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics.

"I was impressed and inspired by the lyrics like "forever friends" and "peace and harmony." I can feel the Olympics spirit in these words. I hope friends from all around the world will like it."

"When I first heard the song, I felt the tune perfectly reflecting the Olympics spirit, which is optimistic and energetic."

A music video of Forever Friends was shot in English last year, and the song's audio file has reached even more listeners on the Internet. Although it's too early to tell if this song will reach the stage of the 2008 Olympics, Kong Xiangdong says he doesn't care much about the result.

"It's just like the Olympics itself. It's not a sporting event. It's an event for human beings. The song 'Forever Friends' was composed for the Olympics Games, The song will retain popularity well beyond the Olympics Games."

Other musicians and artists also show their interest in the creation of Olympics songs.

As the Goodwill ambassador of the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, Hong Kong veteran artist Andy Lau presented a song named "Every One is Number One", which expressed his admiration and support for the Paralympics athletes. The song depicts a story of an athlete who unfortunately lost one leg, but held on to his dreams for the Olympics.

Andy said for the "Paralympics, the most important thing is to be part of it. If you have a chance to watch their competitions on the field, you will be touched by their physical and mental strength, which will always encourage you to move forward despite any difficulties ahead.

"Ignite the Passion, Share the Dream", a song for Olympics Torch Relay, was written by Chinese mainland musician, Huang Xiaomao, and Chris Babida from Hong Kong. Chris says his inspiration came from watching the Olympics documentaries.

"I bought the DVDs of every Olympics Games' opening ceremony. I was moved by how I felt for them. I see the athletes crying. I see them winning. I see more emotion than a celebration."

Hong Kong singer Wakin Chou also composed a song called You're the Star, especially for Olympics volunteers. With a strong chant starting off the song, it immediately leads you into the atmosphere the writer set up for the song.

"I wrote the song in a very easy way. It should be remembered easily and quickly. The tune should be simple and with a Chinese flavor." （ CRIENGLISH.com  ）