The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics have officially kicked off, and the opening ceremony on the evening of February 4 must have impressed everyone. Zhang Yimou, the general director of the opening ceremony, showed the world a gentle and peaceful Chinese romance.
Image source: Getty Pictures
Zhang Yimou, general director of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics
Perhaps in order to be as simple as possible, the opening ceremony of this Winter Olympics did not invite stars to sing live. However, before the flame was lit, followed by the slogan "Together to the Future", accompanied by a beautiful roller skating performance, a song "Imagine" resounded throughout the venue and detonated the circle of friends.
01 Olympic Repertoire
"Imagine", a song written and sung by English musician John Lennon, is the best selling single of his solo career and is considered by Rolling Stone magazine to be the third of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
Cover of the "Imagine" single
"Imagine" is the most sung song in Olympic history, except for Olympic songs. In addition to the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics, the song was sung at the closing ceremony of the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games, the opening ceremony of the 2006 Turin Olympic Games, the closing ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games and the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Through the lyrics, Lennon sang a world without the fire and estrangement caused by religious and ethnic boundaries, calling on people to abandon prejudice and material things and live peacefully on earth. Through this song, the IOC hopes to convey the vision of breaking down barriers and realizing the unity of the world.
02 Featured Olympic music
As an opportunity for a country to show itself to the world, the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games have always been highly valued, and music is one of the main ways to show the country's culture.
The 2012 London Olympics can be said to be a carnival for British rock fans, and the penultimate BGM used the famous song "Baba O'Riley" by the veteran rock band the who, and also used famous songs such as Sex Pistols "God Save The Queen", Pink Floyd "Time", And The Clash "London Calling". At the end of the opening ceremony, Paul of the Beatles appeared and sang "Hey Jude" with tens of thousands of spectators.
London Olympics opening ceremony Paul McCartney sings "Hey Jude"
Although the opening ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games was full of twists and turns, the game music used by the athletes when they entered brought a little comfort to the long-awaited "second dimensions". Songs such as Dragon Quest Prologue: ロトのテーマ and Final Fantasy 勝利のファンファーレ bring victory to athletes.
03 Opening Ceremony Classical Symphony Controversy
The choice of music for the athletes' admission at the Beijing Winter Olympics has also aroused discussion among netizens.
You can see the classical symphonic repertoire that most of the athletes choose when they enter. Some viewers believe that these repertoire lack national personality and are too cheesy, because the music director is lazy, while most people think that in the context of today's epidemic, the use of classical symphony is more calm and can show the style of a continental country.
It is indeed a pity that the music in the opening ceremony lacks Chinese elements, but I believe that there will be more surprises on the stage of the closing ceremony to bring to the audience, let us wait and see.
Source: Frontiers of Digital Music