Chloe sings a Chinese song

Celeste · **Joined:** Sat Dec 08, 2007 4:32 pm **Posts:** 322

No, the subject line is not a misprint. It's true!

Chloe has, in fact, sung a song based on a Chinese melody.

Please listen to the following YouTube clip, and see if you recognize which song it is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxHNyZs1gvI&fmt=18

You don't have lo listen to the whole clip, if you don't wish to. The melody in question begins plays at 0:22 and 1:45 in the video.

Recognize it? I'll give you a hint: It's on Chloe's first solo CD.

And this Chinese song -- a 1952 composition entitled "Dance of the Yao People" -- is actually where the music originates, not the other way around.

Celeste · **Joined:** Sat Dec 08, 2007 4:32 pm **Posts:** 322

Okay, time's up.

The answer is..."When You Believe."

If you listen to the melody from the performance linked above, and then listen to the opening of "When You Believe," you'll see that the melody is identical.

Interestingly, "When You Believe" won the Oscar for Best Original Song, but as the above link proves (and as has been observed elsewhere) it wasn't genuinely original at all.

Bobby Howell · **Joined:** Sat Jan 03, 2009 3:56 pm **Posts:** 50

THE SONG,WHEN YOU BELIEVE IS ON CHLOE'S FIRST ALBUM. SIMPLY CHLOE DONE WHEN SHE WAS 14 YEARS OLD AND IT SOUNDS MAGNIFICENT.THIS ALBUM ALSO HAS CHLOE SINGING THE LAST ROSE OF SUMMER AND OTHER VERY IMPRESING SONGS.I HAVE THE ALBUM,I ORDERED IT FROM BEST BUY.THANKS'' BOBBY:------------------------------------

Scott · **Posted:** Tue Apr 14, 2009 11:07 am

I finally did listen to this one... I didn't think it sounded like "When You Believe" but apparently some other poster agreed that it does.

I never saw a Chinese orchestra before... I didn't realize that they used such different instruments compared to Western orchestras.

Celeste · **Joined:** Sat Dec 08, 2007 4:32 pm **Posts:** 322

Scott wrote:

I finally did listen to this one... I didn't think it sounded like "When You Believe" but apparently some other poster agreed that it does.

Well, the melody that begins at 0:22 (twenty-two seconds into) the Chinese clip is definitely the same sequence of notes that accompanies the first part of when you believe:

Many nights we've prayed
With no proof anyone could hear

Not that Wikipedia is infallible, but in the entry on this piece of music it notes this fact:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance_of_the_Yao_People

Quote:

In the late 20th century, the song was used as the basis for several pop songs, in both China and the United States. The first 18 notes of the 1998 song "When You Believe," as recorded by Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, are based on "Dance of the Yao People," although the Chinese composers of the original work were not credited.

Chloe sings a Chinese song

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