Viva Il Divo

Once in a while, some genius comes along, and takes two of your favourite things, and combines them to produce something which is truly magnificent, like coconut ice-cream, or tequila-flavoured beer.
Well, this week it has happened again. I am currently listening, for about the twelfth time, to the latest CD by Il Divo, which unites a breathtaking musical talent, with the language of Spain.

For those of you unfortunate enough never to have encountered Il Divo, they are a group of four singers, three opera and one pop, hailing from as far afield as Switzerland, the US, France and, of course, Spain.
They are known world-wide as the masters of classic/pop crossover, mixing popular opera with reworkings of pop songs,translated or given new lyrics in Italian or Spanish.
The new album, Wicked Game, takes its title track from the 1989 song by Chris Izaak, rewritten in Italian as 'Melancolia' .
 The real bonus, for we Spanish fans, is that, along with five tracks in Italian and one in English, there are four tracks in Spanish.

Two are Il Divo versions of classic pop songs. Roy Orbison's  1960's ballad 'Crying' returns as 'Lllorando', and Shakespeare's Sister's 'Stay (with me)' becomes 'Ven a mi'.
The other two tracks are 'Falling slowly' (Te prometo) and 'Come what may' (Te amaré), which is one of several which showcases the blistering vocals of Carlos Marin at his best.

If you don't want tobuy the whole album, just click over to Amazon ( http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wicked-Game-Divo/dp/B005KDWUFA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323284599&sr=8-1  from the UK) and you can download individual tracks for 89p each.
You can listen to an extract from each song, but they really don't do them justice, as none of them feature the Guys at full volume, during one of their big finishes. There is a short video clip to view but, if you don't know Il Divo, you're better looking on YouTube to get an idea of what they can do.
There's a bonus, if you buy the physical CD, though, as the enclosed booklet has all the lyrics. Unfortunately this extra was slightly marred (at least in the version I have) as it was obviously typeset and proof read by non-Spanish speakers. All of the accents are missing, and there are two instances where the word 'hoy' has been printed as 'hot'!

Finally, before I head off to play Wicked Game for the 13th time, just a mention of one other of Il Divo's claims to fame . . they recorded the theme music to a Mexican soap opera called 'Sortilegio'.
You can find it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WXg9CGSoTY&feature=related and this version includes the lyrics.
¡Chévere!