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Home / Bay of Plenty Times

OUR VIEW: Sour grapes for Dame Kiri?

Bay of Plenty Times
20 May, 2010 01:15 AM3 mins to read

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WHAT'S eating Dame Kiri Te Kanawa?
This is the obvious question after media reported her latest public attack on a popular singer - this time against new singing sensation Susan Boyle.
Dame Kiri, one of New Zealand's most famous singers, described Boyle as a "whiz-bang" destined to fade into obscurity.
Boyle, as most 
Bay of Plenty Times readers will remember, shot to fame after singing her version of  I Dreamed a Dream on reality talent show  Britain's Got Talent.

Dame Kiri's attack on Boyle follows earlier controversial comments against other singers.
She described Charlotte Church and Katherine Jenkins as "the new fakes for the new generation" and even attacked our own Hayley Westenra.
"Have you heard Hayley? She's not in my world. She has never been in it at all."

In March 2007, she celebrated victory in a legal battle over her refusal to perform with John Farnham, an ageing Australian rocker, after she discovered that his fans threw underwear on to the stage.
Now, in an interview with  Radio Times magazine, she attacked blind singer Andrea Bocelli.
She was asked about music's crossover appeal and it was suggested to her that Bocelli had performed opera.
She replied: "He did. Once. He wants to be an opera singer, but he isn't.
 
"There's Angela Gheorghiu, Renee Fleming, Anna Netrebko performing serious opera without microphones. There aren't many of us."
Westenra's former manager Gray Bartlett says Dame Kiri is being silly.
"Susan Boyle has had huge success. She's outsold people like Kiri and others, in that same market and demographics. I would say it's sour grapes. She should just accept it."
Dame Kiri rejects the suggestion that she is a diva.
"I don't think I'm a diva. I'm just a human being with an opinion that I'm not allowed, at 66 years old, to select."

Herein lies the issue.
Everyone is entitled to express their opinion - including famous people such as Dame Kiri.
But many who have achieved greatness also practise humility and respect for others. Artists lashing out at other artists is still relatively rare.
Sure, there are many singers not in the same league as Dame Kiri - but is this alone a reason to publicly criticise them?
Dame Kiri loses some of her elegance by doing this and ends up appearing rather spiteful and bitter. She would earn more respect by seeing the good in others and encouraging younger and new singers.

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