Melanie visits Crumbly – I mean, Carnegie – Hall


My dream is to sing one day at New York City’s legendary Carnegie Hall, or “Crumbly” Hall, as I called it when I was a mere kidlet. Recently my author, Melanie Jackson, stopped by Carnegie Hall – can I be far behind? Not according to a mysterious, if slightly scattered, fortune teller named Madame Sosistris, who in Queen of Disguises definitely sees the famous performance venue in Dinah’s future.

Millionaire philanthropist Andrew Carnegie – Scottish-born, BTW, like Melanie – donated $2 million for the concert hall’s construction, finished in May 1891. Famous for its rich, precise acoustics, Carnegie Hall seats 3,000. Its début concert was conducted in part by none other than Russian composer Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, also a noted swan enthusiast. But the Carnegie Hall performance I like to hear about – and listen to – is Judy Garland’s, from 1961, called “the greatest night in show business history.”

Written in the stars, but sung from the heart

Melanie's and my good friend, Gianna Dassios of the Ontario Library Association, is even more talented than we thought. As well as being very literary and speaking several languages, she's a chanter of magic spells! Along with her mother Silvana, Gianna intones a traditional Italian spell in the background of Rita Di Ghent’s song Incanto, on Rita’s latest album, Sprawl Indigo: More Tales of the Inner City. Gianna says, “In the recording you actually hear my mother and I actually recite this spell in ‘Furlan,’ the spoken dialect of the Friuli Region in Northeastern Italy, north of Venezia.”

And what’s the spell for? Love. Wouldn’t you know? These women! Me, I’d prefer one that allowed me to fly or become invisible. Or win a free hour at Purdy’s Chocolates (swoon). Or else escape from the chilling Queen of Disguises (shudder).

Anyhow, here’s what Gianna and her mom are chanting:

Grande Diana, regina del cielo e della terra, io ti chiamo
E con il mio potere ti scongiuro di guarantirmi i favori che ti imploro

Translation:
Great Diana, queen of the sky and the earth, I call you
And with my power I charm you to guarantee me the favour I beg of you.