Bambi's Thoughts
Without being gushy, Bambi cannot help not to wonder:
Is there anything more beautiful in life than love?
Love in all its forms and shapes is the essence of life.
Thank you Ms. Talia Lahoud for sharing your talent on YouTube. Clearly, from their comments, your fans seem to love you. Please count Bambi among them :). Please keep spoiling us with your songs!
Especially coming out a country that has failed its citizens (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/4/29/thousands-stuck-lebanese-authorities-suspend-passport-renewals), it is always refreshing to hear the beautiful voices and music of talented artists.
Collectively, the moving voices of Lebanese artists remind Bambi that her historically pluralistic birth country, even when destroyed or paralyzed by sectarianism, is MUCH broader AND richer than any ruling mafia (or militia) bankrupting it. It is also hopefully more resistant to any external force, regardless of the source, wanting a piece of it, indifferent to it, or even engaged in sacrificing or selling it.
With such thoughts in mind, in the middle of the critical times Lebanon is going through, Bambi recently discovered the talent of Mr. Marc Hatem. If she may, she would like to share with you some of his performances in English, French, and Arabic.
Thank you Mr. Marc Hatem. Bravo… and please keep singing!
MANY thanks Ora (Itkin) for our inspiring conversation on teaching!
Before sharing the link of our interview with you, Bambi would like to begin with a few examples of student testimonials (https://www.oraitkin.com/home ). Bravo Ora!
“I’ve had the opportunity to take individual piano lessons from Ora, as well as be coached by her in a trio. I had played piano for many years before I ever knew Ora, but I never realized how many ways I could still grow as a piano player until studying under her now as an adult. Ora has pointed out techniques to improve my playing that no one else has in the past. She helps me find music that not only suits my own style but broadens my abilities. Thanks to Ora’s teaching and coaching, I have grown so much as a musician! —Tim Jacobson
Ora’s lessons are always energizing and empowering! She puts her soul into every lesson, choosing pieces that are both accessible and challenging, and taking care that the skills developed in each build intimately on one another. As an adult beginner, it can be hard to let go of inhibitions and self-criticism, but Ora breaks through this with her contagious energy and encouragement. She’s a fantastic teacher! —Ioana Vartolomei Pribiag
I had great interest in the piano when I was a little kid but my family could not afford to buy one. When I came to college, I received a scholarship that covered the costs of my piano lessons. When I started lessons with Ora, I was 19 year olds and had no music background. 9 months later, I was playing Chopin and Schubert for my first piano recital, which was beyond my imagination. Ora taught me to pay attention to not only technical detail but also to the emotion that each piece expresses. What I love the most about her is that she pushed me to play pieces that I thought were impossible. I will forever be grateful to her for having faith in me when no one else did and for teaching me that everything is possible. —Anh Do, PhD student, Duke University (Skype student)“
At the very end of this post, and if you wish, you can find the two older posts of Bambi featuring Ms. Ora Itkin as an interviewer. One of them shows one of Ora’s artistic performance. Of note, Ms. Itkin is not only a highly talented pianist. She is also a generous one with her public. Indeed, Bambi’s mother-in-law became a fan. The latter emailed Professor Itkin and inquired about a piece of Rachmaninov. Despite her busy schedule, very generously and kindly, Ora surprised Bambi’s mother-in-law by mailing her one of her CDs.
To conclude this post, thank you Ora for inspiring Bambi. It is always a pleasure and a source of inspiration to chat with you, whether you are wearing your hat of interviewee or interviewer. Please keep up your great and much needed work!
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Virtually, and along with your siblings and nephews/nieces in several locations across Québec, New Brunswick, and abroad, Bambi is honoured to have paid tribute to you Jean (Jean-Claude) or Mr. Béliveau.
While doing, she discovered in you a man even more inspiring than she has ever thought. A man described as having a big heart, a sense of responsibility, dignity in facing and embracing adversity, loyalty, creativity/humour, and family. All this in addition to being a man of a few yet loving words to his family, friends, and staff.
Bravo to you Jean (or Jean-Claude) for all your achievements in life, both personally (i.e., your loving family) and professionally (ie., your long-term business success). It seems that you loved your work so much that, even at the end of your life and with much morphine in your blood, you expressed your will to go to your office (your second home!). Your latest brainchild was your company Belitec:
This being said, Bambi would like to extend her heartfelt thanks to your devoted daughter Christine, to her beloved spouse Michel, and moving daughter Félixe for their tributes… and for choice of songs to celebrate your life, Mr. Jean Béliveau. Bambi would like to post these songs, as her own way to honour you (as she did in the older post shown below).
Thanks also to the priest who honoured you (Bambi is sorry as she cannot recall his name). He had beautiful words and a sense of humour. Indeed, he said, and Bambi will allow herself to borrow his own words: “last week we paid tribute to Mr. Guy Lafleur and years earlier to Mr. Jean Béliveau, the two hockey legends. Their T-shirts are hanging up high at the Bell Centre. Maybe we should also fly a T-shirt of Belitec”. What a great idea. Let’s do it, please :)!
In addition to the priest’s sermon, Bambi appreciated the professionalism of the funeral home, Centre Rousseau (https://centrerousseau.com/avis-de-deces/beliveau-jean).
Her heart now goes to our entire family, especially to you Christine et al., but also to you Claire, Bernadette, Robert, and to you Louis as well as to all your dear cousins wherever they are (all the Béliveaus, namely Simon, Diane, Richard, and Jimmy)!
May Mr. Jean Béliveau’s memory be eternal. May he be with “his” Liliane (spouse), Marie-Claude (daughter) as well as Maria and Arthur (parents) somewhere in this place called heaven… May his family, friends, employees/former staff (still on earth) find comfort in his love for them (and theirs to him). An inspiring love transcends death. Yes, it does, Bambi is convinced. How could it not to given Ms. Ginette Reno’s most beautiful song L’Essentiel c’est d’être aimé [“What matters is to be loved”]. The wise priest even added: “… and to love too“.
To conclude on a musical note, Bambi will share the three songs that were played at the memorial service. The first one is Ms. Ginette Reno’s song mentioned above (subtitled in English and Spanish). The second famous melody is My way (Bambi chose Mr. Omar Kamel’s version). Last but not least, the third melody is Mr. Nicola Ciconne’s beautiful French song for his late dad (with subtitles in French). For Bambi, it is always moving to hear the beautiful voice of Mr. Ciconne, especially in these sad circumstances. Indeed, she is honoured to have gone to graduate school with an artist of his calibre who is filled with humanity, not just talent. Bravo to the family for having chosen his song to honour its beloved dad and grandfather.
Au revoir, Jean (ou Jean-Claude ou Jack). Que votre âme repose en paix et que votre mémoire d’amour soit à jamais éternelle dans nos coeurs…
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Bambi was 12-year-old when she fell in love with this beautiful and joyful French love song (https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_va_s%27aimer_(chanson)). Even in middle-age, she still loves it. Bravo and thanks to the great Mr. Gilbert Montagné for his talent (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilbert_Montagn%C3%A9)!
Well tonight, while preparing the current brief post, Bambi learned of an English version of this song. It is entitled “Just for tonight”. Although perhaps as old as the original French version, it took the dinosaur, hidden deep inside the deer, almost 38 years to discover it. Thank Goodness it is never too late in life sometimes :).
Anyhow, Bambi does not know what you will think. However, for her, the English version is nice, but the French version remains something else… at least to her own ears :). Enjoy!
Doudou is Bambi’s brother (since she was 9 years old) AND brother-in-law. Well, not too many people have such a blessing in life!
Bambi et al. love you Doudou and wish you all the best ? .
Thank you for being who you are: An inspiring son, grandson, brother, husband, dad, son-in-law, brother-in-law, uncle, dog’s parent/owner, boss, colleague, citizen, man filled with psychological wisdom, a great human being, and… guess what? One day this list will become longer :)!
Happy Birthday Doudou. Have a wonderful time!
Bambi would like to thank her cousin Coco for explaining to her the most recent economic-related development out of Lebanon. The Al Jazeera brief news documentary shown below addresses the same topic.
How sad to see Lebanon in this situation since December 2019. What reform plan did its “leaders” put in place to get their country out of its economic collapse? Why is it taking so long? Why can’t the Land of Cedars act at least half as efficiently as other countries that managed to get out of their past financial troubles (e.g., Greece, Cyprus, etc.)? What’s next for the Lebanese people?
Given all the still unanswered questions above, it is not surprising that some residents of Tripoli (city in Northern Lebanon with a high rate of poverty) are escaping misery in dinghies under questionable safety conditions! Sadly, over six out of 60 people died recently, including a young toddler :(. Who knows? These desperate people may have perhaps been deceived into thinking that they will safely reach and be welcomed in Cyprus or the European continent (https://today.lorientlejour.com/article/1297595/search-continues-for-survivors-of-smuggling-vessel-that-sunk-off-tripoli-last-night.html).
Anyhow, Bambi will stop here. To conclude, she will now share the Al Jazeera short video mentioned above and conclude with a song-prayer, by Fairouz, entitled “Bayti ana baytak” [“My house is your house“]. She would like to dedicate this song to the grieving families… May God know how to comfort their aching hearts. If she may, by extension, she will also offer this same song to her birth country’s people at large who have been struggling to make ends meet.
If you are interested in the lyrics, here is a translation for you from Arabic into English (https://www.abcsonglyrics.com/fairuz/shayef-el-baher-shoo-kbeer.html):
شايف البحر شو كبير”
Do you see how huge the sea is?
كبر البحر بحبك
I love you as huge as the sea
شايف السما شو بعيدي
Do you see how distant the sky is?
بعد السما بحبك
I love as distant as the sky
كبر البحر و بعد السما
As huge as the sea and as distant as the sky
بحبك يا حبيبي بحبك
I love you my love, I love you
نطرتك أنا ندهتك أنا
I waited for you, I shouted for you
رسمتك على المشاوير
I’ve drawn you
يا هم العمر يا دمع الزهر
You’re all what matters to me in life, you’re like a flower tears
يا مواسم العصافير
You’re like a bird in spring
ما أوسع الغابة
How wide the forest is!
وسع الغابة قلبي
My heart is as wide as the forest
يا مصور عبابي
Your picture is on my door
ومصور بقلبي
And also on my heart
نطرتك سني يا طول السني
I’ve waited for you a year, it was a long long year
واسأل سجر الجوز
Ask the nut trees
وشوفك بالصحو جايي من الصحو
I see you coming
وضايع بورق اللوز
Lost in nut trees leaves
ما أصغر الدمعة
How small the tear is!
أنا دمعة بدربك
I’m a tear in your way
بدي أندر شمعة
I’d light a candle thanking God that you came back to me
وتخليني حبك
And let me love you”.
First, who is Mr. Balarama Holness, for those who do not know him from neither the world of football nor the political Montreal municipal circles?
To answer the question above, here is Mr. Holness own promotional website: https://www.balaramaholness.com/
Now, you may wonder why is Bambi asking the same question raised by a sarcastic yet lucid journalist from Québec, Ms. Sophie Durocher?
Well, Mr. Holness recently created a new provincial party (not just municipal!). At first, he wanted his city Montreal (a metropole of Québec) to become bilingual. Now, his ambitions are wider: He seems to want the same for his province, imagine.
One one hand, Mr. Holness seems to prefer politics to football and, who knows, he may be as or even more talented in the former than the latter. Good luck to him in all his projects, including his politics that Bambi does not agree with.
On the other hand, he seems to think or wants us to think that he is defending the rights of anglophones. In reality, and according to Bambi’s humble opinion, his ideas are rooted in wokeism. The latter is incompatible with Québec as it is potentially destructive in the very long-term to the existence of his province: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/balarama-holness-creates-new-provincial-political-party-1.6424816. Why is Bambi saying so? She will explain her thoughts below.
Mr. Holness seems to have “regressive” ideas and aspirations for his province. He seems to want it to become bilingual. As a reminder, New Brunswick is the only officially bilingual province in Canada. This is fantastic for our province. However, Québec is not New Brunswick. As a reminder to Mr. Holness and all the woke forces in our country and in the world, Québec’s healthy nationalism is admirable because it has succeeded in moving from an ethno-religious nationalism to a language-based nationalism. Re-moving it back to an ethno- or identity-based nationalism is clearly a step backward in humanity and in Québec’s vision for its existence.
Indeed, languages are inclusive. Languages assemble people. Languages build bridge between people. They do not divide them. In other terms, a language is not sectarian, contrary to wokeism. Sadly, the latter seems to be obsessed with one aspect of an identity (race, gender, religion, etc.) and it aspires to impose it on all the others.
So, should Mr. Holness move to our beautiful New Brunswick, if he is so attached to bilingualism, as Ms. Sophie Durocher suggested? Well, Bambi’s answer is yes and welcome :). He would be much needed in our province if he sincerely pushes for the protection of the French language/culture and keeps our bilingualism vivid for real, not just on papers.
To conclude this post on a musical note, if she may, Bambi would like to offer Mr. Holness a song about the beauty of the French language.
Bambi woke up this morning to this sad news from Québec (https://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/nhl/guy-lafleur-death-reaction-1.6427532).
Mr. Lafleur is a Canadian and Québecker hockey legend.
A legend does not die. A legend will forever remain in the history of his nation.
Thank you, Mr. Lafleur and good-bye… Count on Bambi to remember ALL the GREAT TV (hockey or show interviews) and street moments.
She will also remember her mom’s teasing moments when she used to predict that her youngest daughter will fall in love with a guy from Québec… and his name will be “Lafleur“. Well, she was right… except for the last name :). The bottom line of this mother-daughter funny story is that, like her fellow Montreallers of the time, Bambi’s mom has been impressed and inspired by Mr. Lafleur. In addition, she liked his beautiful French-Canadian family name. Indeed, is there anything more beautiful in life than a flower?
In the end, even beautiful flowers have a short life. They fade. They die. However, the memory of their beauty, good smell, and nice touch transcends their death. Same for legendary humans, like Mr. Lafleur: Their achievements transcend death and time.
May Mr. Lafleur’s memory be eternal. May he keep inspiring younger generations postmortem… and may peace find its way to the hearts of his family members, close friends, and fans.
