"Amigos Para Siempre (Friends for Life)", also called "Amics per sempre" in Catalan, is an official theme song of the 1992 Summer Olympics held in Barcelona, Spain. The music was composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. The lyrics, written by Don Black, are in English, except for the title phrase which is repeated in English, Spanish and Catalan.

Original version

"Amigos Para Siempre"
Single by José Carreras and Sarah Brightman
Released29 June 1992 (1992-06-29)[1]
Recorded1992
GenrePop
Length4:36
LabelPolydor, Really Useful
Songwriter(s)Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Black
Producer(s)Andrew Lloyd Webber, Nigel Wright
Sarah Brightman singles chronology
"Something to Believe In"
(1990) 		"Amigos Para Siempre"
(1992) 		"Captain Nemo"
(1993)

British soprano Sarah Brightman and Spanish tenor José Carreras performed the song during the closing ceremony of the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games.[2] The duet was also released worldwide as a single to coincide with the Games, peaking at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart and reaching number one in Australia for six weeks. It was one of two musical themes for the event. The other, simply titled "Barcelona", was sung by Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballé, and reached number two in the UK. Both appear on the compilation album Barcelona Gold, released to coincide with the Games.

A remixed version of the original, with less vocal reverb and modified balancing, was included on the compilation album Andrew Lloyd Webber: Now and Forever (2001).

Critical reception

Larry Flick from Billboard described the song as a "Spanish-pop ballad" and noted its "stately performances" by Carreras and Brightman, and the "dramatic orchestral arrangement". He also added that the Spanish-language version has lyrics co-penned by Cuban-American singer and songwriter Gloria Estefan.[3]

Track listing

  1. "Amigos Para Siempre"
  2. Live Opening Ceremony Barcelona Olympic 1992 Games
  3. "Amigos Para Siempre" (Spanish version)
  4. "Amigos Para Siempre" (Seat Anuncio 60 aniversario) – Marujita

Charts

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[14] Platinum 70,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Cover versions

In Spain, the most famous rendition of this song was made by Spanish group Los Manolos with rumba arrangements and Spanish lyrics, except for the chorus. It reached number 3 in the Spanish charts.[16] In September 1996, it was later covered by Effie and Norman Gunston and reached the top 30 in Australia at the time.[17]

In one of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group's concerts in Beijing, China, a Chinese version of this song was performed with approximately half of the lyrics in Mandarin and half in English. In this version, Amigos Para Siempre was replaced by "永远的朋友", which is "Friends Forever" in Chinese. A fully Cantonese version "友愛長存"(literally "eternal friendship") was sung by George Lam.

This song was also used for the Shanghai 2007 Special Olympic Games, performed again by José Carreras and a Chinese soprano.

On Sunday, 17 August 2008 at the Don Black 70th birthday tribute concert Lyrics by Don Black, Amigos Para Siempre was performed by Jonathan Ansell and Hayley Westenra. The evening took place at the London Palladium featuring performances of Black's songs by a selection of guest artists, hosted by Michael Parkinson and was recorded by BBC Radio 2 Friday Night is Music Night and broadcast on Friday, 22 August 2008.[18]

It was the favourite song of Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the International Olympic Committee from 1980 to 2001, and was played at his funeral in Barcelona in April 2010.[19]

In 2014, Katherine Jenkins and the Viennese tenor LASZLO[20] (Also known as Laszlo Maleczky) covered the song on the album "Katherine Jenkins" that was only released in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

In 2016, Marina Prior and Mark Vincent covered the song on their album Together.

In 2017, G4 covered the song on their latest album "Love Songs".

In 2020, La Poem covered the song on their first mini-album "Scene#1" and performed it at the opening of the 35th Golden Disc Awards.[21]

References

  1. ^ "New Releases: Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 27 June 1992. p. 21. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  2. ^ "Brightman & Carreras – Amigos para siempre, Friends forever – live". YouTube. Archived from the original on 13 December 2021. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
  3. ^ "Single Reviews" (PDF). Billboard magazine. 8 August 1992. p. 72. Retrieved 12 February 2020.
  4. ^ "José Carreras & Sarah Brightman – Amigos para siempre (Friends for Life)". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  5. ^ "José Carreras & Sarah Brightman – Amigos para siempre (Friends for Life)" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  6. ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 9, no. 33. 15 August 1992. p. 17. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  7. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Amigos para siempre (Friends for Life)". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  8. ^ "Nederlandse Top 40 – week 36, 1992" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  9. ^ "José Carreras & Sarah Brightman – Amigos para siempre (Friends for Life)" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  10. ^ "José Carreras & Sarah Brightman – Amigos para siempre (Friends for Life)". VG-lista. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  11. ^ "Top 10 Sales in Europe" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 9, no. 37. 12 September 1992. p. 13. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  12. ^ "José Carreras & Sarah Brightman – Amigos para siempre (Friends for Life)". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  13. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 30 October 2020.
  14. ^ a b "ARIA Top 50 Singles for 1992". ARIA. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  15. ^ "Year End Charts: Top Singles". Music Week. 16 January 1993. p. 8.
  16. ^ VENTILADOR MUSIC – Artistas
  17. ^ "Australian-charts.com - Norman & Effie - Amigos para siempre (Friends for Life)". Archived from the original on 2 November 2013. Retrieved 2012-10-27.
  18. ^ "Friday Night is Music Night". BBC. 22 August 2008. Retrieved 22 August 2008.
  19. ^ "Dignitaries attend funeral for IOC's Samaranch". ESPN.com. Associated Press. 22 April 2010. Retrieved 15 March 2023.
  20. ^ LASZLO (Viennese opera and crossover tenor)
  21. ^ Yun, Kiback (30 December 2020). "라포엠, 골든디스크어워즈 오프닝 무대 선다". 이데일리 (in Korean). Retrieved 23 January 2021.
Categories