Australian golfer Karrie Webb won the Dinah Shore Classic in the US the
other day and in accordance with tradition, she and her caddie leapt
into the lake at the 18th green.  Celine Dion waded in to offer her
congratulations.  Dion was referred to in the newspaper as "diva Celine
Dion".  Apart from giving the opportunity for a bad pun (diver-diva),
I found this usage rather curious and looked up the word, as I did so
discarding its association with that wonderful French film, Diva, and
images of a motorbike rider in the Paris Metro.  I found "distinguished
female singer; prima donna".

Leaving aside the latter definition, which has taken on a pejorative sense,
I find it difficult to justify calling Dion a diva whereas I doubt that
anyone would quibble over, say, Renee Fleming or Cecilia Bartoli being so
described, whatever your opinions of their singing.  I have not listened to
pop music attentively for many years and must confess that I have not had
the opportunity to assess Dion's talent - or lack of it, as the case may
be.  Neither have I any idea of her standing among other contemporary
singers.  To take a few examples - and I know they're all jazz singers -
I would take notice if she could sing as seductively as Ella Fitzgerald in
Love for Sale, or as movingly as Billie Holiday in Strange Fruit, or as
exhilaratingly as Bessie Smith in Gimme a Pig Foot.  Fleming and Bartoli
can convey each of these qualities, as we know.  They and the jazz singers
are all, I'd suggest, distinguished by virtue of varied and high quality
bodies of work over an extended period.  Without ever having heard her, I
doubt that Dion cuts the mustard in this company.

I know there are listers who also listen to pop music and are thus better
qualified to comment.  I must stress that the point of my post is the
word "diva" and we must be careful not to stray into non-CM territory.
Whatever, I have the feeling that a fine old word has somehow been
devalued.

Richard Pennycuick
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