Team Switzerland l-r: Francois Michel, Lake Geneva Region; Philippe Vignon, Geneva Tourism; Mirko Capodanno, Switzerland Tourism; Bruno Huggler, Valais Tourism; Ursula Beamish-Mader Switzerland Tourism; Dan Daniell, Entertainer from Zermatt; Matthias Kuehl, also from Zermatt
Ursula Beamish-Mader &
Chef Massimo Capra
Entertainer Dan Daniell, from Zermatt, sings for the crowd.
Singing our hearts out, ABBA's
I Had a Dream
Switzerland Tourism recently held a memorable event for their trade VIP’s in a distinctly odd location: a recording studio in Toronto’s Leslieville. The location should have been a heads-up, but like everyone else, I just shrugged and started dreaming about chocolate and cheese, giving the recording studio part of the invitation no further thought.
Indeed, the event started normally enough; we mingled with the friendly folks from Switzerland Tourism: Ursula Beamish-Mader and Mirko Capodanno from the Toronto office; Francois Michel, from Lake Geneva Region; Bruno Huggler, Valais Tourism along with Swiss VIP Dan Daniell, an entertainer from Zermatt.
There were also some local VIP’s - including Italian Chef Massimo Capra! I nearly swooned! We all enjoyed the fantastic Swiss wine imported just for the event and delicious appetizers (smoked salmon with cream cheese and dill on crispy rösti was particularly divine) as we watched a slideshow highlighting Switzerland’s many sights. Of course, we didn’t realize it at the time, but we were slowly being lulled into submission.
Following the slideshow, local Swiss celebrity chef and singer Dan Daniell took centre stage. He sang us a catchy new tune, and then a duet he had recorded with Anni-Frid, formerly of ABBA. The song was an updated version of one we all recognized – ABBA’s I Had a Dream. What we hadn’t realized was that we should have been paying closer attention: we would soon be expected to sing it!
Now, I’m an enthusiastic but talentless shower-singer, so I was only mildly disappointed that this would not be a solo performance and that we would all be recorded together. Almost the entire crowd of 35 travel execs came down with the giggles as we donned yellow headphones, gathered around 3 mics, clutched our ABBA lyrics, and with Dan Daniels’ expert conducting, recorded a song together.
It only took 2 takes, and surprisingly little wine. And although we probably won’t win a EuroVision Award any time soon, I think we sound pretty good under the circumstances. Check it out! It was a surprise, but we all ended up loving it. Ursula chuckled as she later told me, “Nobody expected they’d have to sing for their supper!”
