Songful September 2020 Exercise Challenge

[Twilight Sparkle]

40 minutes walking, and little yoga for stretching (70/600)

Love, love, love the clips from the Academy Awards! How Celine Dion has changed - luckily, not her voice! I saw the wonderful Jerry Ohrbach in 42nd Street on Broadway - what a consummate performer! He was terrific. I always felt Be Our Guest should have won - it's so much fun.
@sophy1996 - Yikes!!!!!!!! That's incredibly crazy. BTW - here in NJ, we had an earthquake during the night! The epicenter was about 4 miles away. It sounded like an explosion, not the usual rumbling. We jumped up from the concussion thinking the bed was collapsing! What a way to wake up! I'm chalking it up to 2020, Chapter 9 - lol!

The heart emoji was for seeing Jerry Orbach live on stage. Would have loved that!!!!

I need a different emoji for the earthquake bit! How scary!

 

[ljcrochet]

BTW - here in NJ, we had an earthquake during the night! The epicenter was about 4 miles away. It sounded like an explosion, not the usual rumbling. We jumped up from the concussion thinking the bed was collapsing! What a way to wake up! I'm chalking it up to 2020, Chapter 9 - lol!

My dad in Staten Island felt it as well.
2020 is a very strange year

Well, I admit I've been known to extend a walk by passing my house and going halfway down the block and back just because I needed a few more minutes. Motivation!

I didn't realize till I added up my minutes here.

 

[BonnieF]

40 minutes walking and free weights (110/600)

I'm really enjoying the clips of the songs - I love them all!

@Twilight Sparkle - Jerry O. was an old fashioned performer - he truly stole the spotlight. His rendition of the title song gave me goosebumps! Both he and the earthquake were incredible - in very different ways

@sophy1996 - I often do the same to get to a round number!

@ljcrochet - it was felt for quite a distance - amazing!

 

[sophy1996]

+150

440/1000

 

[sophy1996]

Congratulations to the TEAM for turning Out There Orange!

Our last look at Aladdin features the Genie's song, "Friend Like Me." It's another Ashmen/Menken tune, performed in the movie by Robin Williams. It also was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

Here's a mash-up of Robin Williams, Will Smith (the Genie in the recent live-action Aladdin), and Canadian musician Annapantsu:

And sadly, that brings us to the end of Howard Ashman's involvement in the Disney Renaissance. If you're interested in his work, though, you may want to search for Howard Sings Ashman, an album of his demos of various songs, including several of those we've been looking at this week.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Fri 9/11 - 25
Sat 9/12 - 25
Sun 9/13 - 0
Mon 9/14 - 40

New total - 240/500

 

[sophy1996]

30-minute walk

470/1000

 

[sophy1996]

Congratulations to PollyannaMom for turning Out There Orange!

In addition to the Aladdin parade, I think it was during my circa 1993 trip to WDW that I saw animators working on something involving jungle foliage and African animals at the studio that used to be at the park. It seems like that was The Lion King (1994)!

Sir Elton John and Sir Tim Rice co-wrote the songs, with prolific composer Hans Zimmer contributing a score. The movie continued Disney's string of having three songs nominated for the Oscar for Best Original Song. Do you know which three made the cut?

Spoiler: Three Nominated Songs

"Circle of Life," "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," and ""Hakuna Matata" were nominated.

(Edit: The article I first saw (and reported here) said the third song was "I Just Can't Wait to Be King," but it actually was "Hakuna Matata.")

Zimmer's score won the Oscar for Best Original Score.

Here's a short video about the music for The Lion King:

 

[piglet1979]

So work and life and been very busy lately. I think work will start to slow down soon and life will get back to a routine soon. Kids started school last week virtually and except for the first day (Blackboard crashed) it has been going pretty good. I didn't get many steps the first week of September. My grandfather passed away so i was busy with that. We bought a treadmill and we got it on Friday. This should help me get my minutes in since I can now walk at any time. I won't walk after dark if I am by myself. Even in my own neighborhood, though my area is safe you just never know. Plus I don't like walking outside when it gets cold.

September 1 -- 75
Sept. 2 -- 0
Sept 3 -- 34
Sept 4 -- 0
Sept 5 -- 76
Sept 6 -- 59
Sept 7 -- 52
Sept 8 -- 55
Sept 9 -- 37
Sept 10 -- 0
Sept 11 -- 85
Sept 12 -- 0
Sept 13 -- 60
Sept 14 -- 90

Total -- 623/1800

 

[ljcrochet]

9/12 63
9/13 80
9/14 60
total 963

 

[sophy1996]

30-minute walk

500/1000

 

[sophy1996]

Congratulations to piglet1979 for jumping to Out There Orange and to me for getting to Prince Ali Purple!

Today's song, "The Circle of Life," features one of the most well-known openings around.

The famous cry "Nants ingonyama, bagithi Baba!” (meaning, "here comes a lion, Father") was sung by South African musician Lebohang Morake, known as "Lebo M." A mixture of the South African languages Zulu and Xhosa, the line reflects a moment of inspiration at the start of the studio session.

Lebo M. has a fascinating personal history. Born in Soweto, South Africa in 1964, during the apartheid era, he was performing by age 14. At 16, he went to Lesotho (an independent country encircled by South Africa) to perform, but then the South African government wouldn't let him come back because he didn't have a passport or ID. He was able to come to the United States to study music through the influence of Lesotho's ambassador to the United States. He didn't return to South Africa until the Mandela era. Here's a Washington Post article about his history.

And here's a video of a concert in Budapest, where he performs "The Circle of Life."

Here's my "Circle of Life" story -- we were at Disneyland in January for the Star Wars race weekend a few years ago, and we were sitting out at the hub (towards Main Street) resting a bit and waiting for the parade. I absently heard Elton John's version of "The Circle of Life" playing. What we didn't know (it was really crowded) was that Elton John himself was filming a performance over in front of the castle!

 

[sophy1996]

@piglet1979, I'm so sorry to hear about your grandfather!

 

[piglet1979]

I am adding 117 minutes from yesterday. We walked outside at lunch time, went grocery shopping and I finished getting my 10,000 steps on the treadmill. I am really loving the treadmill at my house. It is so easy to get on and finish my time or steps in the afternoon.

Total 740/1800

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

420 minutes - horses, walking, weights

1290/2000

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

@piglet1979, I'm so sorry to hear about your grandfather!

Adding my condolences, too.

 

[Twilight Sparkle]

Congratulations to PollyannaMom for turning Out There Orange!

In addition to the Aladdin parade, I think it was during my circa 1993 trip to WDW that I saw animators working on something involving jungle foliage and African animals at the studio that used to be at the park. It seems like that was The Lion King (1994)!

Sir Elton John and Sir Tim Rice co-wrote the songs, with prolific composer Hans Zimmer contributing a score. The movie continued Disney's string of having three songs nominated for the Oscar for Best Original Song. Do you know which three made the cut?

Spoiler: Three Nominated Songs

"Circle of Life," "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," and ""Hakuna Matata" were nominated.

(Edit: The article I first saw (and reported here) said the third song was "I Just Can't Wait to Be King," but it actually was "Hakuna Matata.")

Zimmer's score won the Oscar for Best Original Score.

Here's a short video about the music for The Lion King:

I got 2/3 on the trivia question.

Very cool that you were able to see animators working on The Lion King. Between that and hearing Elton John perform live in front of the castle, you have some pretty neat ties to that movie!

 

[sophy1996]

30-minute walk

530/1000

 

[ljcrochet]

9/15 84
9/16 51

1098

 

[sophy1996]

Congratulations to Twilight Sparkle and the TEAM for turning Prince Ali Purple and to ljcrochet for being the first team member to reach Part of Your World Pink!

Two other popular songs from The Lion King are "Can You Feel the Love Tonight" and "Hakuna Matata."

"Can You Feel the Love Tonight" had two versions, one during the film (sung by Kristie Edwards (aka Kristie Murden), Joseph Williams, Sally Dworsky, Nathan Lane, and Ernie Sabella) and one during the end credits (sung by Elton John). The song reached number 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, sold 11 million copies worldwide, won the Oscar for Best Original Song, and earned Elton John a Grammy for Best Male Pop Performance.

Here's a version by a cappella group Pentatonix:

And as the song says, "Hakuna Matata" is a Swahili phrase that means "no worries" (or "no problems"). It was sung in the film by Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, Jason Weaver, and Joseph Williams.

Here's an interesting rendition, inspired by the recent live-action The Lion King: