1. Your new album is a collection of music that is literally from around the world, with songs from almost twenty countries. It's as though you' re inviting us to go on a world tour with you.

José Carreras: Yes, that's right. I have always been very keen to sing original music from many countries in the world. Not only the obvious countries like Italy, France, England, Germany, Austria, etc., but also more exotic countries. This is one of the reasons my record company and I decided to put together this project. This album is a collection of songs from around the world that is not necessarily the songs that everybody knows. And it gives me tremendous pleasure to be able to sing very different music and styles in the various languages, with the hope, of course, that the audience is going to enjoy it as much as I did.

2. There is so much repertoire available when you go around the world. Was it difficult to narrow it down to one album's worth of music?

José Carreras: Of course it's almost impossible to select the best song from each area, from each country. It's very subjective, but I think the selection at the end of the day is quite good. Plus the songs have to work together - each track has to fit with the next one on the CD. Therefore we had to work a lot selecting the right pieces, but I honestly believe that at the end of the day we have made a very, very good selection that reflects the spirit of this project.

3. In your performing career you must have been around the world many times by now, and in that time you must have seen many changes: new countries, new democracies. It must be a very different world from when you began touring.

José Carreras: Yes, I began performing around the world thirty years ago! And as you said, I have probably toured the world more than once, but travelling is so enriching. It is one of the privileges of being an artist, the possibility to get to know new cultures, new mentalities, new traditions. This is a privilege and I wanted to reflect this spirit of myself in this album. In singing these songs, I am paying tribute to each of the countries that (have) has given me so much.

4. There are almost a dozen languages on Around the World. We're used to hearing you sing in various European languages, but here you move into Chinese, Japanese, Korean, even Maori. This must have been a real challenge for you.

José Carreras: It certainly was and I hope that the standard of the way I'm singing these languages is acceptable because of course it's very difficult for me to judge. I also hope that there is a certain dignity in what I'm singing in Korean or in Japanese, languages that are not at all familiar to me. By singing in their own language, I love to make the effort to show people from these countries that I really care about them. I think this is important - It is why we decided not to translate songs from these areas but to keep them in the original language.

5. Paraules d'amor has been called the Catalonian anthem. What's the background to this particular song?

José Carreras: This is a song from a beloved singer-songwriter or cantautor, we could call it, from Barcelona. He was born a couple of years before me and just a couple of miles away from where I was born in Barcelona, so there is a certain link between us. His name is Joan Manuel Serrat and he is a hero in Catalonia. When he started his career at a very young age, under the dictatorship of General Franco, Serrat showed he had a lot of courage in trying to break the barriers of the dictatorship in addition to being a great artist and a very good composer. This is why he became very charismatic to the Catalonian society. I'm very pleased to sing Paraules d'amor, which in the last thirty years has been a very important song for my little country, Catalonia.

6. And there may be a few surprises for long-time fans in the form of a couple of very powerful pop ballads on the record as well, one of them being the powerful Quando sento che mi ami.

José Carreras: This is an American song, When You Tell Me That You Love Me, that I had the opportunity to perform with Diana Ross in a couple of concerts that we did together. But for this album we had the lyrics translated because English is not an exotic language as far as I know! Sometimes the way I speak it can sound exotic but I know it's not! I think that translating this song to Italian completely changes the power of the song and I think it's the best language for me to sing in. The arrangement is quite powerful too, quite up to date, and I'm very pleased with the result of Quando sento che mi ami, which means When You Tell Me That You Love Me.

7. Another powerful pop ballad is the song Wind of Change, the anthem by the Scorpions that became so closely associated with the fall of the Berlin Wall. You even invited Klaus Meine to sing this with you.

José Carreras: Yes, because Klaus has always been very generous to me. He's also the composer and the lyricist of the song, which I think is a great song. And one that has played, as you said, a very important part in the unravelling of the political processes of the ex-Soviet Union. But Klaus Meine has always been very generous to me, appearing anytime I asked him in benefit concerts to raise money for my charity to fight leukaemia and we became good friends. It's a privilege to have him as the composer, lyricist and singer of this song. He is the man who made this song popular with the Scorpions, and I am proud to sing it together with him. The song has a very strong, positive political meaning and I'm very happy that Klaus Meine agreed to sing it with me.

8. You devote quite some time on the record to music from the Asia Pacific region, including songs from China, Japan, Korea and even New Zealand. Obviously you have a certain affinity for these very special melodies, which are quite different from other songs on the record.

José Carreras: Yes, I think that the songs we selected from Japan, Korea, New Zealand and China are very nice songs. What we were trying to do is not just to pick up songs that sound international but to find songs that are really from these different regions.

9. And we can also expect to find some old favourites on the record. I'm thinking of songs along the lines of Midnight in Moscow, Hymne à l' amour, Island in the Sun and Greensleeves. Very popular, recognisable songs but songs that are perhaps not sung so often any more.

José Carreras: Yes, I think that Hymne à l'amour, for instance, is a song that I have always wanted to sing and to record because I think that it's a lovely, lovely song and very powerful, both musically and from a textual point of view as well. It's a song from a superb artist, Edith Piaf, and I think it is very representative of the French musical background, so this was a must. In the case of Midnight in Moscow, I think this is also a very significant song from this region and the same goes for Greensleeves. And together with the exotic music from Asia and the Pacific, I think we selected melodies that everybody recognises after a few seconds. This is why I feel the combination of melodies in the album work very well together.

10. The Neopolitan song, Vurria, has a special touching story.

José Carreras: Yes, from the Italian repertoire there would be a few dozens of songs that that you could consider, what one could call the most significant songs from the Italian repertoire, from Modugno songs through to many, many songs from the Fifties and Sixties and even up to today. But it was my special wish to sing this song, Vurria, because of the story and because it's a very touching song with a bit of a classic touch.

11. Apart from the songs that we've spoken about, are there any others on the record that are particularly special to you?

José Carreras: There is a song that I feel very close to, Alfonsina y el mar, by Ariel Ramirez. I had a long professional collaboration with Ramirez because, as you know, he's the composer of the Misa Criolla and many other pieces I've been singing for a long time. This is a very emotional song, not only the song itself but also the text. I think it is one of the most beautiful songs on the whole album, and I'm very happy that I've been able to perform it on this recording.

12. You've collaborated with three different arranger/producers on Around the World: John Cameron, Christian Kolonovits and Frank Peterson. Each has a unique approach, and the result is a real variety of styles on the album. Was that important to you?

José Carreras: I think that was, in every sense, on the professional side and on the personal side, a great choice. These three different arrangers and producers give, as you say, a variety to the album that otherwise would not be there. I think that each of them did a great job. We have been working very hard, not only during the production of the album itself but prior to that, selecting the songs, selecting the keys, selecting the structure of each song, etc., etc. I have to say, and I'm very pleased to say, that I think the result is superb. In fact, I would like to take the opportunity to thank them for this beautiful, beautiful job that the three of them have done.

13. The album was recorded in your hometown of Barcelona. Is this where you feel most comfortable recording an album?

José Carreras: Every time I'm in Barcelona I feel comfortable. For this album I thought Barcelona was the right place because of this beautiful Catalan song and because Barcelona is a very cosmopolitan city, a city that is open to the rest of the world. It's a very modern city, even though we like to keep our traditions, our identity, our roots. Every time I go to Barcelona to work it's a tremendous pleasure for me.

14. And of course recording in Barcelona means you didn't have to miss any football matches!

José Carreras: Ha! Unfortunately, I have to say that there were some football matches during the recording period and just to preserve my voice I had to watch them on TV and well, this I can assure you is quite, how to say, quite a sacrifice for me. But anything for the result of a good recording. (laughs)

15. Thank you very much.

José Carreras: Thank you, it's been a pleasure, and I hope that in the near future we can talk about other projects.

Copyright © 2001 Time Warner Co.