Thriceland

On Saturday night, Iceland will host its third, and final, semi-final before their big National Final on February 17th. Last Saturday, they chose three more songs for their final which were:


“EG LES I LIFA THONUM” – Eirikur Hauksson
This bloke represented Iceland on their debut, as part of the group ICY in 1986. In 1991, he was a backing singer for Iceland. And now he’s back again in 2007, and it’s like he’s never been away. Mainly because “Eg Les I Lifa Thonum” sounds like something released about fifteen years ago.

“SEGTHU MER” – Jon Josep Snaebjornsson
This bloke has also done his stuff for Iceland before, representing them in 2004 with “Heaven”, positively the biggest DIRGEFEST ever to grace the Eurovision stage. It was really awful. This is a much better song, but not especially catchy.

“ELDUR” – Frithrik Omar Hjorleifsson
This is a positively cracking tune – yes, that distortion guitar introduction does make it sound like it’s from about 1991, but it’s a great lighter-anthem and Frithrik is a superb performer. It’s a very powerful song and thoroughly deserves its place in the final.


Gosh, I feel a bit funny after actually praising a song in this year’s Icelandic final! Go “Eldur” I say! Anyway, this Saturday, for the last time, eight more songs will compete for the final three places in Iceland’s national final. What are they like? How do they go? Are they really good? No, not particularly. But enjoy my review regardless!


1. “THIN LIGGUR HEIM” – Davith Smari Harthsson
Well this is like nearly all the other songs that have been featured in Iceland so far. Male vocalist performing dated soft-rock pap. This really isn’t very good.


2. “EG OG HEILINN MINN” – Ragnheithur Eiriksdottir
A female vocalist! A rare site in this year’s Icelandic semi-finals! Well this is a poppy little number that’s reminiscent of “Baby Love” by The Supremes. Interstingly, the title translates as “Me And My Brain”, which is perhaps a little more interesting than the song which, bubble-gum as it is, would certainly not beat a Silvia Night song in a fight.


3. “THU TRYLLIR MIG” – Hafsteinn Thorolfsson
Oh, it’s got a funky introduction – always a good sign. This is quite dancy and funky, very different from anything else in this year’s Icelandic finals (good!). However it’s not a particularly catchy melody and bears a hint of “Play My Game” the song that came last in Making Your Mind Up 2006 for the UK. It’s different but not groundbreaking.


4. “VILLTIR SKUGGAR” – Alexander Aron Guthbjartsson
Well here’s a soft rock song sung by a man. I’m so surprised I nearly fell of my chair. Bland.


5. “VETUR” – Helgi Rafn Ingvarsson
Yawn, yawn, yawn. Male vocalist sings over dreary piano. Yawn again.


6. “JUNINOTT” – Soffia Karlsson
This song begins with the sound of birds, with an introduction that reminds me of “Your Song”! Sweet female vocals… breaks into a pleasant bossa nova beat! Well this gets my vote simply because it’s not a rock song sung by a male. Very 60s, very sunny, very nice.


7. “ORLAGADIS” – Erna Hronn Olafsdottir
Female vocals here over the top of a sort of acoustic guitar song that builds up… and then doesn’t do anything very much. This is pretty dull I’m afraid. Actually, what am I apologising for? It’s Iceland’s reputation on the line! Bring back Stjorninn I say! Anyway, maybe song eight’s a good-en…


8. “BJARTA BROSITH” – Andri Bergmann
… or maybe not. This song pretty much sums up the Icelandic semi-finals – TOO MANY MEN SINGING TOO MANY BLAND SONGS!!! This isn’t the worst I’ve heard, but it didn’t exactly rock my socks off either.


Well, “Juninott” is most definitely the best song of this selection, and I suppose I would have to plump for “Eg Og Heilinn Minn” and “Thu Tryllir Mig”, but honestly I don’t think any of those three are anywhere near as excellent as Dusty Cowshit.

Will my three chosen songs for Saturday’s qualification get through? Or will more bland nonsense liberate itself into Iceland’s Grand Final? I’m positively bursting with excitement, but we’ll have to wait for Saturday to find out!

3 Out Of 5 Ain't Bad

The competition to find this year’s Spanish entry has taken one step further with the final five songs being announced. They were whittled down from ten to five at the weekend, and three of my own personal favourite five qualified. They were:

“TU VOZ SE APAGARA”
“LA REINA DE LA NOCHE”
“I LOVE YOU MI VIDA”

Along with:

“BUSCO UN HOMBRE”
“UNA LAGRIMA”

To be honest, the 15 shortlisted Spanish songs did contain some stinkers, and the final five aren’t too bad at all. The best one? Probably “Tu Voz Se Apagara” would be my chosen favourite, but of course so was “Bailame”, knocked out in the first round.

I hear you asking in your masses, when exactly are Spain choosing their entry? Well, I haven’t got a clue, with their Mision Eurovision programme taking place over about 134 weeks. I think it’s in March though, but I will let you know what’s happening when it happens!

I Feel Like Chicken Tonight

After a busy Eurovision weekend, I did just what a Eurovision blogger should do and not report on ANY of it. Apologies. A lot of semi-finals and quarter-finals took place, but no entries have been picked so you’ve missed NOTHING! Finland, Romania, Lithuania and Latvia all progressed this week in finding their entries, as did Iceland, and I shall inform you about what they’re up to later in the week, you lucky Eurovision enthusiasts.

Anyway, the most exciting thing to happen this weekend was in Norway. Their national final competition, Melodi Grand Prix, is NOT letting me down! After two semi-finals, we already know four of the eight songs that will be in Norway’s national final a week on Saturday. Last week they chose the rather clubby “Hooked On You” and the greatly funky “Love On The Dancefloor”. This weekend they chose two stompers for their national final.

One of these songs is “Ven A Bailar Conmigo”, a highly un-Norwegian piece that is more suited to Latino Spain. But, by golly, it’s good. And it’s the catchiest song I’ve heard so far this Eurovision season. Great fun, great performance and a really great song. But it was the other song that qualified for the Norwegian Final this weekend that took the limelight.

Ladies and Gentleman, get ready for “Chicken Rodeo” performed by Dusty Cowshit.

Dusty Cowshit are a fabulous band, six country-men strumming fiddles, ukuleles and banjos whilst performing their best yokel anthems. “Chicken Rodeo” is one of those songs that you KNOW will be good before you actually hear it. But you really should anyway, because it’s truly magnificent. It’s funky, it’s country and I just love that repetition of “run chicky, run chicky, chicky, chicky, chicky, run”… it’s truly marvellous. We’ve had Alf Poier, LT United and now I think we may have found our novelty entry for 2007.

But don’t write it off! Cos it is actually brilliant! As much as I love some of the other songs in Norway’s national final so far (and I’ve not heard all of them yet), this has to be the winner! Norway gave us glam rock in 2005, ice dances in 2006, now surely it’s time for chickens? This could be the best song of the year!

The next Eurovision semi-final is on Saturday, where two more songs will qualify for the Norwegian final. The following Thursday, all the songs that came 3rd and 4th in the three semi-finals will compete to grab the final two places in the Norwegian final, to take place on 10th February. From what I’ve heard so far though, it’s got to be Dusty Cowshit for Norway. If not, it’d be FOWL play. Geddit? Fowl play? Well it made me laugh.

Spain - lost the plot years ago, Part II

The above comment of Wogan’s may now appear to have come true. Against all the odds – and I can’t believe it – the best song of the national final season I’ve heard yet, Bailame, has FAILED to make it to the next round of selecting the Spanish song. What’s more, I was incorrect in saying that only five made it through to the next stage of the process; the songs are whittled down to 10 and then to 5. Which means that Bailame, a song that could have brought Spain an excellent result, didn’t even make the Top 10.

This is the biggest injustice since Whitney Houston failed to get the Netherlands out of the semi finals in 2005.

And to top it all off, another one of my selected five, Ain Veri Japi Nau, also did not make the Top 10. Typical. I pick five songs out of fifteen, and two have failed to make the Top 10.

By the way, if you’re wondering which songs actually HAVE made the final ten, then here’s the list, followed by a one-word-comment from myself extracted from my previous review of the fifteen songs.

Busco En Hombre, “brassy”
Ya Estas Aqui, “dull”
I Love You Mi Vida, “castanets”
Me Gusta Hacer Cancoines Con Un Hey “weird”
Una Lagrima, “ethnic”
Ley Le Lee, “pleasant”
Cuanto Amor Por Ti, “nice”
Destiny, “un-Spanish”
Tu Voz Se Apagara, “excellent”
La Reina De La Noche, “moody”


I must say that I am rather pleased that Cuanto Amor Por Ti qualified as I was unsure whether it was a bit to “nice” to get through. I’m now backing that one, along with Tu Voz Se Apagara and La Reina De La Noche which are still in the race. If I had to pick another two to complete a top five for the final, I guess I would have to plump for Ley Le Lee and I Love You Mi Vida. No doubt all of those songs will fail to qualify for the next round, but fingers crossed that some will make it.

If I’m being totally honest, I’m not completely sure when the Final 5 songs will be announced. What with separate competitions to find the singer AND song in Spain, I can’t keep up. Along with the fact that thirty-nine (wince) countries are also going to choose their songs over the next six weeks. Forgive me if not every country’s national selection process is mentioned in this blog. If every one was then I would probably spend from now until the middle of March in front of my laptop. And I’ve got lectures you know.

Matters are not helped by the fact that Sweden’s Melodifestivalen begins next week and this deserves much Blog attention due to its ability to stir up emotions in all Eurofans. It is the best national final though. I bet they’d have picked Bailame too.

And as if by magic...

... Belarus suddenly have the best song of Eurovision 2007 so far! Yes, tonight the Belarussian national final took place, and the song that will be representing Belarus this year - and hoping to get them out of the semis for the first time ever - is...

• WORK YOUR MAGIC
• Dmitry Koldun

Now, it's fair to say that Moldova and Albania haven't provided too much competition to the best song of 2007, but Belarus for me are now leading the pack. Work Your Magic starts like a James Bond theme (no, really) and it turns into a very catchy pop song reminiscent of the Russian runner up from last year. It's not as good as Never Let You Go, but it's got something.

Belarus first entered ESC in 2004, and have never reached the final due to the fact that none of their previous three entrants could hold down an English accent. The greatest example of this is their 2004 entry My Galileo - great song, but what the hell is she talking about? The live performance was worse. And last year, their entry Mum didn't sound very motherly to me - it was a rocky number sung by an excitable lady called Polina. What the heck she was on about is beyond me.

Work Your Magic however is different as I can understand what on earth he's talking about. That's a good start. It's a good song too. If there's any justice then I would say at this moment in time that this should qualify from the semi-final nicely.

Best song of the year so far for me - but three down, thirty-nine to go, there's a long way yet.

Scandinavian Saturday

It’s official – National Final season is most certainly here. Every Saturday from now until mid-March, some Eurovision national final will happen somewhere across Europe. Hurrah!

Last night it was all going off in Scandinavia, with Norway, Finland and Iceland picking their first finalists. So what happened?

ICELAND
I’m pleased to say that my support for Blomaborn worked! The sweet little pop number is through to their national final, along with Afram (which I did remark on its good chorus), and
Husin Hafa Augu (on which I did not once remark upon). The second semi-final is next Saturday, and the songs will be revealed this week.


FINLAND
It’s always a tough job following up a winner, and it’s a task that has seen mixed results in recent years. Who can forget Latvia scoring just 5 points on home turf in 2003? Yikes. I’m sure the Finns won’t want that to happen to them.

The Finnish finals work like this – twelve artists will compete in their national final and these were announced a few months ago. They’ve been split into four semi-finals, in which three artists will perform two songs each. It is up to the Finnish televoters to choose which song each act will perform in the final. Got it? Good.

Last night it was the turn of band Jani & Jetsetters, Finnish Pop Idol winner Hanna Pakarinen, and death metal band Thunderstone. Here are the three songs that they will take to their national final…

Jani & Jetsetters – Musta Sulhanen
Hanna Pakarinen – Leave Me Alone
Thunderstone – Face In The Mirror


NORWAY
The selection process in Norway works like this. There are three-semi finals in which six songs take part. After televoting, the top two songs with the most votes automatically qualify for their national final. The songs finishing in 3rd and 4th place go into a “Second Chance Round” in which two songs will be chosen. In the end, eight songs take part in the Norweigan Melodi Grand Prix.

Last night, the MGP kicked off in style (it’s one of my favourite national finals!), with the following two songs through to the final:

Infinity – Hooked On You
Torhild Sivertsen & Funky Family – Love On The Dancefloor


Finishing 3rd and 4th, and going through to the second chance round:

Stian Joneid – Are You Ready
Blue Moon Band – Goodbye To Yesterday


Next announcement – Belarus tomorrow!

Ice-bland

So it’s all kicking off in Iceland this weekend with the start of their selection process which goes thus – three semi-finals with eight songs in each with televoting deciding which three songs process to the grand final on February 17th, where nine songs will battle to represent Iceland in Eurovision 2007. Of course the song will begin in the semi-final due to Europe not voting the brilliant Silvia Night through to the grand final last year… boo!

So this weekend the first Icelandic semi-final will take place. RUV, the Icelandic broadcaster, have been kind enough to place this week’s set of eight songs on their website and let me tell you this – the drama, excitement and flamboyance of Silvia Night’s entry seems long forgotten. These are eight BLAND songs.

Well, they’re mostly all bland. Normally I would give a tiny review of each song, but most of them are so unremarkable that I’d be writing the same comment for each song. Six of the eight songs (that’s 75% folks!) are bland, male guitar ballads that are utterly forgettable – this is no exaggeration. Two songs do stand out though.

The best song of the lot is Blomaborn (Flower Children) which is sung by blond haired beauty Briet Sunna Valdemarsdottir. It’s rather reminiscent of fellow Scandinavian songbird Lene Marlin, and this song is rather sweet. It is by far the best song of the eight and if there’s any justice this will qualify.

The other song of interest is the final song, Enginn Eins Og Thu, which translates as Nobody Likes You. It’s sung by the only other woman in Saturday’s final, Adalheidur Olafsdottir, and is a weird, string orchestral piece that sounds like it’s plucked straight from a musical. It’s not your usual Eurovision song – it’s very strange! – but I bet it will appeal to people, and in such a bland Icelandic semi-final I should think that something as different as this would stand out.

Two other points of merit – the song Afram has a nice chorus, and song seven is sung by a bloke called Snorri Snorrason. Snorri Snorrason! What a comical name.

So the first of the Icelandic semi-finals will take place on Saturday, and the second and third the following Saturdays. After hearing this bunch of songs, I hope they’ve saved the best till last. Good luck to Briet though, it’s the only decent song in there!

Spain - lost the plot years ago

The above comment from Wogan regarding last year’s Spanish entry isn’t all that true. Up until 2005, Spain had had a good run of results. Then they entered Son De Sol (who appeared to be the mothers of Las Ketchup) and then Las Ketchup (the daughters of Son De Sol). They both finished a dismal 21st, and so something had to be done.

This year, Spain have transformed their selection process by having their entry chosen in Mision Eurovision, currently airing on Spanish TV. Curiously there’s two separate parts of this competition – one to find the singer and one to find the song. The singers competition seems a bit boring to me, but I have complete faith in Spain that they’ll probably choose someone good. It’s nice to see Spain’s 1988 entrants La Decada back for another go though – they made some great use of castanets back in ’88 and finished an unfair 11th. Unfinished business methinks.

Anyway, this week the song competition got underway. After receiving 1001 songs, TVE, the Spanish broadcaster, posted up their fifteen potential entries on their website. These songs are in demo form, so the singer on it may just be a studio sessionist, but they’re there to be heard and for the next week subscribers to the website can vote for their favourites. The Top 5 songs will go into the Spanish national final. I like this system and it’s interesting to see how big a part the internet and users from around Europe will play in the selection of the Spanish song.

So what are these songs like? Well it wouldn’t be me unless I did a mini-review of all the songs! This is what l’Espagne have to choose from…

1. Busco un Hombre
A big, brassy song about about men! Not bad, quite cheesy but not all that catchy. 6/10

2. Ya Estas Aqui
Why are all Spanish male singers hoarse (© Wogan)? MOR lift music, pretty darn dull. 4/10

3. I Love You Mi Vida
Sounds like a less sinister Ruslana with strings, guitars and castanets! Not bad at all, written by the Swede who was responsible for last year’s Swedish entry Invincible, by the equally invincible Carola. 7/10

4. Me Gusta Hacer Canciones Con Un Hey
Weird vocal harmonies, sounds like something from the 1960s country America! 5/10

5. Una Lagrima
Fairly impartial Ruslana-soundalike with a few ethnic rhythms thrown in. 6/10

6. Ley Le Lee
Pleasant summery pop that breezes along rather nicely. Not sure about the dodgy key change up to the chorus though… 6/10

7. Rienda Suelta A Mi Corazon
Boring Dad pop sung by somebody’s dad with an out-of-place English chorus. 4/10

8. Angel
More dad pop with jazz organ – sounds like a modern Christian hymn! 5/10

9. Cuanto Amor Por Ti
Nice sounds, reminiscent of When You’re Around from UK Song For Europe 2002! Anyone remember? No? Well it’s rather good acoustic pop I think, I do like it. 8/10

10. Destiny
This actually does sound like a poor version of last year’s Swedish entry and I’m not sure if they fully pull it off. Not bad, but very un-Spanish! 6/10

11. Ain Veri Jupi Nau
An utterly bizarre song with the title ringing bells of ‘I’m very happy now’… rather odd, but it has ska rhythms making it sound a little like Gogol Bordello! Spanish man with guitar too, could be the underdog if you like something a bit different. 7/10

12. Tu Voz Se Apagara
Very Spanish with a fiddle thrown in! More ethnic rhythms with a good beat and a great carnival feel to the chorus. This is rather excellent, one to watch I think! 8/10

13. Ven A Bailar
Yawn! Sounds like a cross between No Woman No Cry and Save Tonight by Eagle-Eye Cherry. Goes nowhere. 5/10

14. Bailame
Also written by last year’s Swedish writer. Stereotypically Spanish with a big chorus, wouldn’t be too out of place in the hands of Enrique Iglesias or Ricky Martin! Excellently poppy, big and it’s got a good hook too. 8/10

15. La Reina De La Noche
Begins like a moody Balkan ballad before a dance beat breaks in. A bit of a cliché melody but it pumps along nicely and I wouldn’t be surprised to see this in the top 5. 7/10


So what can we conclude from all this? Well firstly, I was surprised at how bland a few of the songs were – I thought Spain were trying to win the Eurovision, not take it back to the mid-90s! I was also surprised at how much English appeared in the Spanish songs – they’ve never sung a whole chorus in English and this year could be the first time they’ve done so. Even France has done this incredible feat.

For me I would say that Bailame would give Spain their greatest chance as it’s a really good pop song, not too dissimilar from those of Spain’s entries from 2001 and 2004 that both finished in the top 10. I think it’s even better than those though and with a brilliant singer and performance they could get a rather good result.

The five songs I would personally like to see qualify to the final five are:

14 Bailame
12 Tu Voz Se Apagara
09 Cuanto Amor Por Ti (although I’m not sure it will, I think this is my own personal taste)
11 Ain Veri Jupi Nau
15 La Reina De La Noche

It will be very interesting to see which songs make it, and I shall report on it when it happens!

Andorra save the world!

Well, not quite. However, cheeky little Andorra (© Paddy O’Connell) have announced that their entry is indeed called Save The World, or Salvem A Mon in Catalan. The song has not been placed on the net yet but I’m looking forward to hearing it as it’s performed by a three-piece punk band who take their influences from Blink 182 and Sum 41. Rocking.

Their name in Anonymous, which is odd as the band who represented the now defunct Serbia & Montenegro in 2005 were similarly called No Name. However, whereas No Name were a six-piece boy band who enjoyed jumping around and banging drums, Anonymous like jumping around with guitars and banging their heads (head-banging, that is). Anonymous are three guys, 18-19 years old and are quite popular amongst teens in Andorra and Spain. Sound more like Busted to me.

It will be their job to not only save the world, but to save Andorra’s Eurovision reputation. This will be their fourth entry following three very unsuccessful semi-final appearances. Last year, the voluptuous Jenny, who did some business on stage with some lingerie and a chair, finished bottom of the semi-final pile – the shame! And after three fairly bland songs, it seems that Anonymous may stir things up a bit for Andorra. Could they possibly even qualify for the final? What a thought… let’s hope the song’s out soon!

I Have Forgiven Daz Sampson

A while back I wrote that Morrissey was rumoured to be in talks of providing the BBC with this year's UK entry. We all laughed, of course, knowing that UK rumours are traditionally of the most absurd nature and they've never been right!!!!!

Until now.

Morrissey, Mozza, Moz, the Moz-Father, however you want to refer to him, is officially in talks with the BBC over the UK's Eurovision entry for 2007. Apparently, he was sad to see Daz finish 19th last year and believes that he can do better. In fact he's not too unlike Daz in that a) he's from Manchester and b) he's a genuine Eurovision fan - whether this is a good thing or not is debatable.

Despite me not being particularly thrilled about the vegetarian whiner being taken into consideration by the Beeb, it is quite an interesting development for a few reasons.

1. The BBC are obviously taking 2007 even more seriously than 2006. Good.
2. In fact, by choosing a well-known star, it suggests that the BBC do care and want to win. Also good.
3. The fact that Morrissey has been chosen to 'write' the song suggests that there will only be one song, perhaps hinting towards an internal selection. Good perhaps.
4. The news story has been covered everywhere - The Sun, BBC News 24, even American news stations! Since when have the press been so interested in our Eurovision entry? The hype is good!

After this news the BBC cannot turn back - it seems we are to expect something big, whether it's in Morrissey form or not. Either way I'm looking forward to the next announcement from BBC as a lot more will become clearer. In fact, I wish I could have the news now! But how soon is now?

Fancy a (he)brew?

You wait for something exciting to happen and then you get two announcements in two days! Today, Israel announced their artist for Helsinki and it turns out that it's the rather oddly named band, Teapacks.

Teapacks are a well-known band in their home country and were picked by a panel of bigwigs locked away in a room in Tel Aviv. The head of the Israeli deligation is Yoav Ginai, a bald man who wrote Diva, Israel's 1998 winner, and he said that Teapacks are "original" and "unique". They blend together traditional and western music and, after hearing one of their songs, it's quite a nice mix.

It's an interesting move for Israel who have not had bags of luck this decade so far. Ping Pong, the last group that entered for Israel, only picked up 7 points in 2000. After a series of average results, and not qualifying from the semi-final 2004, they managed to turn it all around in 2005 with Shiri Maimon's excellent performance of the equally excellent Hasheket Shenish'ar, surely one of the greatest ballads to ever grace the Eurovision stage. It finished 4th. Last year, they entered a the gospel ballad Ze Hazman. It was poor. It scored 4 points. And, alas, the semi-final awaits them once again.

So can the 'unique' sounds of Teapacks do it for them? We will have to wait and see. Let's just hope Shiri Maimon can give them some (PG) Tips about how to do well (chuckles).

Third time lucky in Cyprus?

Not much has happened in Euroland over the last week and with our surge of news at the start of the festive season, it seems that all has stood still in The World of Eurovision. Until this evening.

Yes, those pesky Cypriots have confirmed the artist that will represent them in the Semi-Final in Helsinki 2007 (which I can stop saying now because it is 2007 - woo!).

After the Netherlands brought back Edsilia Rombley, it's time for another comeback from... Evridiki! Yes, the moody lady of two of Cyprus's better 90s Eurosongs will return in May, hoping to catapult the tiny island into the grand final.

Evridiki was a backing vocalist for Cyprus in 1983, 1986 and 1987 before finally taking centre stage at Eurovision 1992 with Tariazoume. It was a senusous performance that Wogan quite rightly said would 'smoulder your TV screen'. It came 11th. Two years later she returned with the dark and dramatic (a little too dramatic for my liking) Ime Anthropos Ki Ego. Again, she finished 11th. Bad news for her - if she finishes 11th in the Semi Final she'll really start kicking herself as Cypriot TV will ask why they were foolish enough to overlook Constantinos Christoforou, a man who seems to have represented Cyprus 24 times in the last 10 years.

Another interesting fact about Evridiki is that everytime I see a photo of her she looks different. Between her entries in 1992 and 1994 I swear she had a face transplant and a voice transplant. In fact I'm not too sure it was the same person. This picture on the right could be of anyone.

And as if all that wasn't enough, it turns out that Cyprus's 1998 entrant Michael Hadgiyannis will be writing this year's Greek entry! The traitorous swine!

By the way, you can now witness the winning national final performance of the Albanian song Balada E Gurit at this YouTube link... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dyqG2xaVpTc. Be warned though! I nearly fell into a light coma whilst watching it.