Dubai-based singer Celinedee Matahari has captured the attention of Canadian superstar Celine Dion with her stirring acoustic rendition of Edith Piaf’s classic "Hymne à l'amour," the very song Dion recently performed at the Olympic opening ceremony.
The queen of power ballads, who returned to the stage for the first time since revealing her battle with the serious health condition Stiff Person Syndrome, re-posted a video of the 16-year-old singing Piaf’s ballad on her Instagram story to her 8.3 million followers yesterday, August 8.
“Sixteen years after my parents met Celine Dion in Dubai and named their daughter Celine after that encounter, it is now the ultimate honor to have my acoustic cover of the Olympics opening song posted on the global star’s Instagram yesterday,” said Matahari in an exclusive interview with Gulf News. She described it as one of the most significant milestones in her budding career.
“This is the perfect conclusion of a musical connection that began in 2008 when my mother met Celine Dion in Dubai,” she added.
This isn’t the first time that Matahari's voice and enterprising nature has caught the eye of global superstars.
Earlier this year, Oscar-winner A.R. Rahman was impressed with the young French-Indonesian singer, and this afternoon she’s heading to record a song at his Firdaus Studio in Dubai as a part of their programme to encourage young artists to record in a professional enviroment. She has also performed with singer Shania Twain and opened for Jason Derulo at a concert in Dubai.
Often described as the "Indonesian Taylor Swift"—perhaps due to her commanding vocals, waif-like figure, and long hair with blue highlights—her voice was also a dominant one at the Indonesian pavilion at the now-concluded Expo 2020. She has performed privately on the QE2 and has an uncanny ability to sing in Hindi, Arabic, and English. Matahari is being home-schooled while her parents support her singing ambitions.
“I was around five or six when I first performed on stage… I feel I was born to sing. This is my true calling,” said Matahari in an earlier interview at the Gulf News office.
