法第一夫人獻聲曼德拉生日音樂會
French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy sang at a concert in New York to commemorate Nelson Mandela's 91st birthday -- the first time she has sung in public since marrying French President Nicolas Sarkozy.
Dressed in black trouser suit, Bruni-Sarkozy strummed guitar alongside former Eurythmics musician Dave Stewart as they performed a duet on Saturday night, singing a slower version of Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" while the French president smiled and clapped sitting in the audience.
"It's not very good for dancing but very good for dreaming," the 41-year-old former model said before launching into her French hit "Quelqu'un m'a dit" ("Someone told me") that left the crowd whooping.
The concert held at New York's Radio City Music Hall also featured such prominent artists as Aretha Franklin, Queen Latifah and disco queen Gloria Gaynor as well as African artists, including Baaba Maal.
Besides Franklin, some of the biggest applause came when Cyndi Lauper paired up with American rapper Lil' Kim to sing "Time After Time", while Alicia Keys and African artist Angelique Kidjo swirled their hips singing "Afrika."
Stevie Wonder was joined on stage for the finale by all the concert's performers and actors including Morgan Freeman, Forest Whitaker and Susan Sarandon singing Wonder's hit "Happy Birthday" while the Soweto Gospel choir sang throughout the three-hour concert.
Mandela, who is very frail, was not at the "Mandela Day" concert as he has been advised he should no longer travel internationally but he delivered a video message.
"Our struggle for freedom and justice was a collective effort. Mandela Day is no different," he said. "It is our hope that people will dedicate their time and effort to improve the conditions within their own community."
President Barack Obama also delivered a message via video, saying Mandela's life taught people to have courage.
"From New York to Cape Town, people are celebrating this extraordinary man," Obama said. "The story of his life can be summed up in Nelson Mandela's own words, 'It always seems impossible until it's done.'"
爲了慶祝納爾遜•曼德拉九十一歲的生日，法國的第一夫人卡拉•布呂尼-薩科奇在紐約的一場音樂會上大展歌喉，這是她與法國總統尼古拉斯•薩科奇結婚後第一次在公衆場合獻聲。
週六晚上，布呂尼-薩科奇身着黑色長褲套裝，一邊彈奏着吉他，一邊用慢版唱着鮑勃•迪倫的《飄在風中》。在她身邊和她一起表演的是舞韻合唱團（譯者注：該合唱團爲英國前衛電子合成音樂傳奇團體）的前樂手戴夫•斯圖爾特。法國總統薩科奇在觀衆席中向她微笑、鼓掌。
現年41歲、曾經做過模特的布呂尼在開始演唱她的經典法國歌曲《有人告訴過我》前說道：“這首歌雖然不太適合跳舞但很適合幻想。”她對這首歌的精彩演繹引起了觀衆的高呼。
此次音樂會在紐約無線電城音樂廳舉行，出席這次音樂會的還有著名的藝術家艾瑞莎•弗蘭克林、奎恩•拉提法和“迪斯科女王”葛羅莉亞•蓋羅等，非洲藝人巴巴•馬爾等也參與了演出。
弗蘭克林的出場引起了全場轟動，此外，辛迪•勞帕和美國說唱歌手莉兒•金同臺演唱的歌曲《一次又一次》也贏得了觀衆最熱烈的掌聲，阿麗西婭•吉絲和非洲藝人安潔莉克•琪蒂歐一邊唱着歌曲《非洲》，一邊扭臀舞蹈，令觀衆爲之傾倒。
最後出場帶出結束曲的是史蒂夫•汪德，包括摩根•弗里曼、福里斯特•惠特克和蘇珊•薩蘭登等著名演員在內的所有表演人員都站到了臺上一起合唱汪德的經典歌曲《生日快樂》。在三個小時的音樂會中，索韋託聖歌合唱團一直擔任伴唱。
由於曼德拉已經年老體衰，醫生建議他不能再做跨國長途旅行，因此未能出席“曼德拉日”音樂會，不過他通過一段視頻發表了簡短講話。
他說：“我們爲自由和公正所做的鬥爭需要我們共同的努力。不管是不是曼德拉日都是如此。希望人們能夠將時間和精力用於改進所在社區的條件。”
巴拉克•奧巴馬總統也通過視頻發表了講話，表示曼德拉的一生告訴人們要有勇氣。
奧巴馬說道：“從紐約到開普頓，人們都在爲這位傑出的人物舉行慶祝活動。納爾遜•曼德拉的人生故事可以用他自己的話來概括：‘很多事情在它被完成之前，看上去都是不可能完成的。’”
Vocabulary:
launch into: 開始
whoop: （激動、歡樂時的）高叫，高呼
feature: 由……表演、主演
finale: 終曲
