Pink Martini

Photo cred to newraleigh.com

Oh I've been meaning to do this one for a LONG time now...
The story of how I met this band is a great one, a classic even! One afternoon about 4 or 5 years ago, I was sitting in a Second Cup with my family when I realized that I had tuned out of the conversation (...cuz this never happens on other occasions? lol) and was transfixed by the background music. After the song, my mom turns to me and we both agreed that the song was brilliant. So, up I go, off to the counter where I badger the barrista's until they are able dig up the track list to their mixed CD. And what was that song, you may ask? Why, none other than "Let's Never Stop Falling In Love" by Pink Martini!


Listen for yourself!

Oooo... even though I must have listened to it over 100 times, this video still gave me shivers! 

So, who or what exactly is Pink Martini?
Well, here's where my good pal Wiki. P. Edia comes to the rescue:

Pink Martini is a 13-member "little orchestra" from Portland, Oregon, formed in 1994 by pianist Thomas M. Lauderdale. They draw inspiration from music from all over the world – crossing genres of classical, jazz and old-fashioned pop. Band leader Thomas Lauderdale describes the band's sound as "music of the world without being world music. If the United Nations had a house band in 1962 hopefully Pink Martini would be that band." "My hope is that we’re creating exquisite musical wallpaper which can be turned up or down, and played on almost any occasion, from background music to a love affair to vacuuming around the house." (Pink Martini. (2009). Discover the World. [DVD]. Heinz Records.)

And then from there, I more or less fell in love with their quirky sound and the dulcet tones of China Forbes's voice...

Hang On Little Tomato

(a personal favorite ^ ^)

Amado Mio

 Can a song be sexy? Cause this song... dayyyuuumm!

Lilly

 Oh, Lilly... that poor guy :P

Ou Est Ma Tete?

MIMES! :DD I love miming!

Ninna Nanna

That guitarrr.... mmm!

Brazil

Alright, whose the lucky dude that got to play the whistle? XD

I always like to showcase a band/singer's live talents whenever I can but I also highly recommend that you also give a listen to the album versions of these songs!

Photo cred to www.fanpop.com

Here is a great bio straight from the band's website pinkmartini.com:

15 years ago in his hometown of Portland, Oregon, Thomas Lauderdale was working in politics, thinking that one day he would run for mayor. Like other eager beaver politicians-in-training, he went to every political fundraiser under the sun … but was dismayed to find the music at these events underwhelming, lackluster, loud and un-neighborly. Drawing inspiration from music from all over the world – crossing genres of classical, jazz and old-fashioned pop – and hoping to appeal to conservatives and liberals alike, he founded the “little orchestra”Pink Martini in 1994 to provide more beautiful and inclusive musical soundtracks for political fundraisers for progressive causes such as civil rights, affordable housing, the environment, libraries, public broadcasting, education and parks.

“Pink Martini draws inspiration from the romantic Hollywood musicals of the 1940s or ‘50s … with a more global perspective. We write a lot of songs … but we also champion songs like Ernesto Lecuona’s “Andalucia”or “Amado mio”from the Rita Hayworth film “Gilda”or “Kikuchiyo to mohshimasu (My name is Kikuchiyo)”made famous in the 1960s by the great Japanese group Hiroshi Wada & His Mahina Stars. In that sense we’re a bit like musical archeologists, digging through recordings and scores of years past and rediscovering beautiful songs.”
Lauderdale met China Forbes, Pink Martini’s “Diva Next Door” lead vocalist, at Harvard. He was studying history and literature while she was studying English literature and painting. Actually neither of them really studied, they socialized … and late at night, they would break into the lower common room in their college dormitory and sing arias by Puccini and Verdi – and the occasional campy Barbara Streisand cover –thus sealing their creative collaboration. Three years after graduating, Lauderdale called Forbes who was living in New York City, where she’d been writing songs and playing guitar in hew own folk-rock project, and asked her to join Pink Martini. They began to write songs together for the band. Their first song “Sympathique”– with the chorus “Je ne veux pas travailler”(”I don’t want to work”) – became an overnight sensation in France, and was even nominated for “Song of the Year”at France’s Victoires de la Musique Awards.

“Both China Forbes and I come from multicultural families,”says Lauderdale. “All of us in Pink Martini have studied different languages as well as different styles of music from different parts of the world. So inevitably, because everyone has participated at some point in the writing or arranging of songs, our repertoire is wildly diverse. At one moment, you feel like you’re in the middle of a samba parade in Rio de Janeiro, and in the next moment, you’re in a French music hall of the 1930s or a palazzo in Napoli. It’s a bit like an urban musical travelogue. We’re very much an American band, but we spend a lot of time abroad … and therefore have the incredible diplomatic opportunity to represent – through our repertoire and our concerts – a broader, more inclusive America … the America which remains the most heterogeneously populated country in the world … comprised of people of every country, every language, every religion.”
Pink Martini has twelve musicians (and sometimes travels with string sections), and performs its multilingual repertoire on concert stages and with symphony orchestras throughout Europe, Asia, Greece, Turkey, the Middle East, Northern Africa, Australia and New Zealand and North America. Pink Martini made its European debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 and its orchestral debut with the Oregon Symphony in 1998 under the direction of Norman Leyden. Since then, the band has gone on to play with over 25 orchestras around the world, including multiple engagements with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the Boston Pops, the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center and the BBC Concert Orchestra in London. Other appearances include the grand opening of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s new Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall, with return sold-out engagements for New Year’s Eve 2003, 2004 & 2008; two sold-out concerts at Carnegie Hall; the opening party of the remodeled Museum of Modern Art in NYC; the Governor’s Ball at the 80th Annual Academy Awards in 2008; and the opening of the 2008 Sydney Festival in Australia.

“The overarching goal is to create a cohesive body of beautiful songs with beautiful melodies. And then it all just extends outward from there. Because the interests of the band are so diverse – two percussionists who spend a lot of time in Brasil; another percussionist who grew up in Peru; a German speaking trombone player who studied with all the brass section of the Chicago Symphony and likes Miles Davis; a singer who studied French and Italian and sings in 15 different languages; a cellist who speaks Mandarin – because of this diversity inside the band, there are endless ideas. On a bad day it can just seem all too dizzying. But hopefully in the larger picture, it is a more accurate representation of America in 2009.”