Welcome to my Reviews and Giveaways page!

If you have a product that you would like to have reviewed, please contact me here (lollislife(at)gmail(dot)com). All pitches are welcome!

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Corneille CD Review & Giveaway

When I was asked to review a brand new CD, The Birth of Cornelius from an artist named Corneille, I had no idea what to expect. I love all kinds of music, but I rarely chose to listen to R&B and Motown. So it surprised me that I actually liked the music. I found myself choosing to listen to the CD again and again. And I found my kids moving along to the music. Corneille has an easy to listen to, soothing style. Click over to Amazon to listen to tracks from The Birth of Cornelius.

Corneille might be a new name in the music industry here in the US, but he has already had a remarkable career in Europe, with his albums reaching diamond-selling status in France. He has also led a very interesting life, and his thoughtful music and lyrics reflect that.

Corneille Nyungura was born in Fribourg, Germany, where his parents were students. At the age of six, his family returned to Rwanda, their country of origin. As a boy, Corneille began to develop an interest in music, and he credits his father for nurturing his interest. “I was singing something in my room,” he says, “and my dad heard me, and said, ‘That sounds good, it kind of sounds like Tracy Chapman.’ And I remember thinking, ‘Oh, It’s OK for me to make music.’ At age 16, he made his first recording, and was selected as a finalist in a music contest sponsored by the state-run television station.

But in 1994, Rwanda’s President Habyarimana was assassinated, and the largest, most horrific genocide in modern history claimed over 800,000 victims. Corneille’s parents and other family members were killed in the massacre. He alone managed to escape—first to Kinshasa, and then to Germany, where he was taken in by some family friends.

You can learn more about Corneille on his website, www.corneillemusic.com

Corneille says, “Music has been the place where I could go to hide and forget about the world. I couldn’t make sense of a majority of the things that happened to me, so I used music as a shield. But over time, music has become a vehicle to channel out everything that I’ve been keeping from myself for all these years. And the new album is definitely the most honest, real assessment of everything that’s happened in my life, because I’m not trying to hide as much.”

*****************************************************************************************
Would you like to own a copy of The Birth of Cornelius? I've got an AUTOGRAPHED copy to give away to one of my readers! All you have to do is leave a comment here telling me what music genre is your favorite. Easy peasy!

*****************************************************************************************
For extra entries, you can
*Follow me,
*Tweet about this giveaway (leave link please),
*Blog about it,
*Click any of my buttons at the bottom of my post (stumble, kirtsy, technorati),
*Post my button on your blog (Life is Sweet counts, too!),
*Add either Life is Sweet or this Reviews blog to your blogroll,
*Subscribe.
If you can think of another way to direct more people over here, do it and let me know!

Be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry, and make sure you leave a way for me to get ahold of you. This giveaway will run until Friday, March 27 at 10:00 pm Eastern time. I will pick a number with Random.org's widget and announce the winner the next day. The winner will have 48 hours to contact me or I will pick a new number. Good luck!

15 comments:

  1. Yes, I would LOVE to win this....R&B is my fave!


    yzgirl4[at]verizon[dot]net

    ReplyDelete
  2. subscriber


    yzgirl4[at]verizon[dot]net

    ReplyDelete
  3. follower


    yzgirl4[at]verizon[dot]net

    ReplyDelete
  4. love r&b. amsbolda@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. I'm a follower. amsbolda@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. I love Celtic Rock, groups like Wolfstone and Carbon Leaf are me and my daughter Melly's faves to jam to!

    My email address is TheMomDaily@gmail.com

    My blog is The Mom Daily at http://themomdaily.blogspot.com/

    Tweet me with Twitter @vanburenmom

    ReplyDelete
  7. I follow you on Twitter and I just tweeted about the contest. Original Tweet:
    http://twitter.com/VanBurenMom/statuses/1366058552
    My email address is TheMomDaily@gmail.com

    My blog is The Mom Daily at http://themomdaily.blogspot.com/

    Tweet me with Twitter @vanburenmom

    ReplyDelete
  8. I posted about your contest on my blog, The Mom Daily.

    You are under the entry titled: The Mom Daily Morning Report

    My email address is TheMomDaily@gmail.com

    My blog is The Mom Daily at http://themomdaily.blogspot.com/

    Tweet me with Twitter @vanburenmom

    ReplyDelete
  9. I have your button on my blog, on the lower right hand side under "sites I love"


    My email address is TheMomDaily@gmail.com

    My blog is The Mom Daily at http://themomdaily.blogspot.com/

    Tweet me with Twitter @vanburenmom

    ReplyDelete
  10. I like many music genres - my fave is probably classical music.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I like all sorts of music, as long as they suit my taste.
    Examples of what I like:
    New Age
    Pop
    R & B
    Classical

    aikychien@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  12. I tweeted here:

    http://twitter.com/aikychien/status/1382964693

    aikychien@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  13. I love R&B!
    Carla
    cpullum(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete