Rest in peace angel of Gaza

Today I was reading my Facebook timeline and I came across this sad story, another young man has committed suicide in Gaza. Reading stories like this breaks my heart. This young man from Gaza/Palestine killed himself. Look how young he is, he's really just a young boy. He is the second young man to kill himself in a week. So many people still don't understand how bad, difficult and hard life is in Gaza. There is a very high suicide rate in Gaza, I would say the situation is so bad it's an epidemic. Gaza is the place where hope dies!

Lots of Palestinians are leaving Palestine in search for a better life. A life that has hope, meaning and love. But sadly most of them are ending up stuck in countries like Turkey, Greece or Eastern Europe and they're finding a new hell!

I believe that there is a solution, why can't the EU / UN work together to find a safe haven for these people fleeing. Why can't they work with some African  (or other) countries, so you can make sure the refugees don't have to risk their lives desperately trying to get into Western Europe. Help them settle in a country that you're working with, to help them find peace, safety and dignity. Lots of countries could come together and fund this, and fund housing, educational and working projects to help the refugees. The refugees are some of the hardest working people you'll ever meet. They're leaving their place of origin, not to steal or sponge off other people. They're leaving to find work, to work hard to get themselves and their family out of poverty. They understand that you need to work hard to create a better life.

If there was a place that was a safe haven for them, you could make sure they had any medical help they needed. You could also help train people up for jobs that are needed in the West, make sure the children aren't missing out on their education or studies, help them build businesses up in this area (safe haven), this would also help build up the economy of whatever country they're in. These refugees might decide to stay where they are. By doing this you're keeping them safe, you're ending the human trafficking and you're building up a better, kinder world. Additionally you're not over stretching your own countries resources. Sadly something like this will only happen once man learns how sacred and precious life is. We all need to show more kindness, offer more help and give more love to each other.

Sadly this young boy will never be given a chance at a better life. He deserved so much more and as a world and society we have all failed him! May he rest in peace. And if you're religious do not comment saying suicide is wrong. Do not show more ignorance, if you believe in a God who punishes suicide you believe in a cruel God. This young man felt so empty, so unhappy, and he was in so much pain he ended it, because for him there was no hope and no way out. I believe in a God that is full of love, and He hates to see His people cry or be in pain. When we cry He cries with us. I believe God will understand this young boys pain and He will forgive him, and He'll embrace him and give him the love he needs. If you believe otherwise, keep your comments to yourself. My prayers are with him and his family. Rest in peace little Angel of Gaza ❤❤❤

Music

Justin Trudeau

Why do elections always have to be so nasty, vicious & personal? I feel sorry for the Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, why do the public expect their politicians to be saints all their lives. Look at his actions today, not his mistakes of yesterday. Every saint was once a sinner. I know that my Canadian friends might disagree with me, I can't comment on his politics or policies because I'm not Canadian or living under his government, but that's what the election campaign should be about. It shouldn't be personal attacks, unless its possibly a criminal act. We were all young once and we all learn from our mistakes.

When I see Justin Trudeau I always see the man who cried listening to the refugees stories, and the man who stood up to Donald Trump, and someone who got a trade deal with the EU (I think 😁), that's something no one in my country has managed to do (UK / Brexit). Look at who he is today not what mistakes he made yesterday, while growing up. Let's clean up politics and make it about policies and not personal attacks on people's past character. Everyone has a past.  #JustinTrudeau  And its completely fine if my Canadian friends disagree with me, or if they don't like his policies, you're free to vote as you see best.

YouTube - Copyright

On Sunday I posted a YouTube video of the audio of me singing the Lord's prayer in Romanian, and unusually I sang the aria in the range of a tenor. I rarely sing that low because its not the most comfortable, and I know that I'll get lots of hate and abuse off people. The song is called, 'Tatal Nostru' (Our father). The sacred aria was written by Anton Pann (1790 - 1854). Pann was a composer and Romanian language poet.

I first heard Tatal Nostru performed by the soprano Angela Gheorghiu, and I fell in love with the piece straight away, and it wasn't until later that I discovered it was the Lord's prayer sung in Romanian. As a singer I was mostly self taught, but this is frowned upon in the opera world, but I taught myself to sing by mimicking other singers, and I was good at it 😀 I always tell people I'm not a good singer, I'm a good impressionist  (of other singers). Most people don't get that that's what my music career is about, not how good my singing is, but how good my impressions of other singers are!

I naturally tried to copy the Angela Gheorghiu version, but her voice is too complicated for me to mimic, meaning her voice is far too superior. I just sound like a Russian singing, so I searched for another version to copy, and I found it. The aria was sung by a group of monks and it was so beautiful, and this one I could mimic. So I did a copy and posted it, but even though the song is in Public Domain because the composer has been dead for over 70 years, a publisher has claimed the copyright of the song.

The problem today with people who are releasing their music is they don't understand copyright and publishing laws. Nearly all of the songs I record are in Public Domain, but other singers are taking some of these 'PD' songs and releasing them, but they're claiming copyright ownership of them and this is wrong. Sometimes some people might slightly rearrange the aria and the big record companies will copyright it, lots of people in the music world don't believe they have the right to do this, but they've got lots of money and power, so no one can stop them.

I decided to delete my YouTube audio cover version because the publisher who claimed copyright over it, and the artist name was different from the one I heard and copied, so I have no idea who did that arrangement first. Once a song has been claimed by someone on YouTube, they make money each time its listened to; that's why I took my version down because I don't want the wrong person making money from someone else's hard work and arrangement.

After saying all the above, there is a problem on YouTube and its very easy for a big publishing company to claim copyright over your own music, I've seen it happen lots of times, publishers will come along and just claim music ownership and there's nothing you can do unless you have lots of money, and a legal team to challenge them. That's why I stopped writing music. There's a saying in the music business, 'A hit is always followed with a writ!' That's because there are so many greedy people out there who try to steal other people's hard work and money!

I would also warn people to be careful if you put out your own music, because I see lots of people doing cover versions and releasing them, but they claim they own the copyright, you don't, the publisher does! And if you do this you could get sued for thousands of pounds because you're stealing someone else's work. That's why nearly all the music I do is in public domain.

What I do is, if I like a particular arrangement of a song and I'm able to copy (mimic) it I will, to show people what I can do vocally; but if I find out that person has released the song commercially I usually take down my version/copy because I don't want people to credit me with the song or arrangement. I try to be fair; but the problem with YouTube and people who claim copyright to new arrangements of songs that are in Public Domain, is you could have a dozen or more people come up with the very same arrangement, because the actual song has already been written. The other problem is that you might have one hundred people record a rare classical aria, but if one of those one hundred people claims copyright on it, they take all the royalties off the ninety nine others and that's not right or fair. I strongly feel that all songs that are in Public Domain should not be allowed to be copyrighted, even if you change the original arrangement because its someone else's work you've altered.