The World of Eurovision

The Aftermath

2007-05-13T10:16:00.000-07:00

It's all over. All those months of preparation and... it's all over. Serbia won with "Molitva" and, I must be honest, I didn't think it would be quite strong enough to be the winner. But it even overcame Verka and scored rather well from the west (not the UK, although we did give it 5 in the semi-final!). Let's see what I said about "Molitva" when I first heard it...

"...a very nice song indeed with a beautiful melody [but] the weakest of that three [FYR Macedonia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia]"

Again, a really accurate point from me. And talk about misreading Bulgaria, I can't believe they came in 5th! Every year there's always one that takes me by surprise.

Still, there's a lot of happy fans because Serbia won. Simply because it shows that a non-English ballad can still win in the televoting era which was beginning to look impossible! It's not as good as Lejla or Lane Moje though is it? Still, she did well last night. As for the west, well... Big 4 in the bottom 6 wasn't good. And highly political voting too. Although there was some very bizarre votes last night! My favourites being...

12 from Ireland to Lithuania
0 from Andorra to Spain
12 from Albania to Spain
5 from Albania to Ireland
12 from Georgia to Belgium (in the semi final!)
0 from UK to Ireland

And of course let's not forget the 12 points from Malta to UK. That absolutely made my YEAR! It was worth coming 22nd for. You don't often see many 12 points come our way these days so thanks Malta! And Ireland of course, shame it wasn't reciprocated. Although everyone I spoke to was amazed at how spectacularly awful Ireland was.

Just listening to the UK Top 40 - Scooch are #5! So there's some justice...

Congratulations to Serbia, we all thought Ukraine were robbed, and this is my 100th blog post. What a centenary. What a Eurovision!

MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLITAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!

2007-05-12T15:53:00.000-07:00

Aah, well done old Marija Serafovic. It proves that a ballad CAN still win Eurovision these days. Even if you're not the prettiest girl in the class.

I will write a more indepth blog entry tomorrow - still reeling for the fact that the UK scored our first 12 points for 5 years :-)))))

Oh, and to Sasa, who told me about three months ago that Bulgaria would go top 5... I've started eating my hat already x ;-)

Vampires Are Dead

2007-05-11T11:14:00.000-07:00

So, yeah, western Europe aren't very happy with last night's results. Apparently there's a very nasty atmosphere in the air in Helsinki with fans and delegations from a lot of countries rather angry that no western country qualified. I hope Svante is in some sort of safehouse.

I did, however, get 7 out of 10 right. Lucky I played that FYR Macedonia card, I'm starting to think they are invincible. Did NOT expect to see Moldova, was surprised to see Georgia and laughed when Bulgaria qualified. I must say I was told on this very blog that Bulgaria would do well while I was too busy slagging 'em off. Well, you can't get it right all the time.

But did they deserve to go through? Well I'm sad that Israel didn't make it, I'm very sad Malta didn't (great song!!) and was a tad surprised that Switzerland didn't go through, but it was one of the weakest performances of the night. Denmark - well, not much to say except THEY WOZ ROBBED!

On the other hand, Hungary thoroughly deserved to go through, as did Slovenia, Latvia and Serbia. Turkey also, even though a lot of people still aren't keen on this. And Belarus was brilliant, best performance last night.

Now just in case I can't blog again before the final tomorrow, I will make this prediction now.

- At this moment in time, 19.22 on 11/5/07, if I had to say a name to win I would say Ukraine. I'm thinking it could be a direct Balkan fight between Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Latvia.
- Serbia won't come much higher than 5th.
- Ireland, UK, Spain and France will not do very well. Germany will probably come about 16th.

And so finally - who do I WANT to win? Well... my fave song tomorrow will be Belarus. Good luck to Koldun and good luck to Scooch. As someone said today, could a western win save this contest? Because right now something needs to save it. I tell you, it's being killed... :-(

On the brightside, it's The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 tomorrow!!! So bring on that block voting, in the words of Wogan - "we'll show Johnny Foreigner what for!"

Kiss of Death...

2007-05-10T07:40:00.000-07:00

This will be my last post before this evening's semi-final. It's hard to believe that I started blogging about Eurovision 7 months ago. And here we are, semi-final time again. Ay, ay, ay...

Anyway, from all the stuff I've read, heard and seen, here are the ten countries I predict to qualify tonight...

Israel
Belarus
Switzerland
Denmark
Serbia
FYR Macedonia
Hungary
Slovenia
Turkey
Latvia

Of course, this will be the closest semi-final ever, so my predictions may be wrong. I'm unsure about Israel, but if they pull it off it could do well. I'm also playing the safety card of FYROM, but this could also not happen. Some people have been saying Croatia's started looking good! Madness.

I got 9/10 in 2004, 7/10 in 2005 and 9/10 last year. 10/10 this semi-final? I doubt it. There are loads of other countries - Bulgaria, Norway, Andorra, Malta to name a few - that could qualify just as easily. Let's see what happens.

Good luck, Europe!

The Finishing Touches

2007-05-09T11:18:00.001-07:00

Apologies for not blogging on yesterday’s second finalist rehearsals. From the sound of it, not much change. Ireland’s backdrop is now a flower (much better) and Scooch have dropped the gigantic union jack that was flying behind them. Instead it’s now polka dots in the colours of the flag which is a bit more subtle, and doesn’t shout UK ARE THE BEST to all of unimpressed Europe.

Today, the first dress rehearsals took place for the semi-finalists, the first time the “general public” were let loose! So what went down well?

- It seems the biggest cheers of the evening were for Bulgaria and Latvia! Now I slated that Bulgarian entry and said it would flop… hmm. Time for hat eating perhaps?
- Belarus didn’t go down as well as Cyprus. Interesting.
- Edsilia Rombley turned in a very good performance.
- Everyone couldn’t wait til Albania finished, and Croatia got the quietest applause of the show.
- Serbia was “very good” but not blow-your-head-off-this-could-win “very good”.
- Norway went bigger than Portugal and could qualify. Malta could also qualify. Things are also looking good for Andorra and Hungary.
- Dark horse alert! Belgium went down very well and could really come through on Thursday.
- Austria got an OK response. Mutton dressed as lamb, methinks, but the audience are no fools.

There’ll be another rehearsal this evening, AND tomorrow. As if you couldn’t get enough semi-final action.

Meanwhile, Svante Stockselius has been outlining some admin for the Eurovision winners. They’ll get to go on a winner’s tour of Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Spain, Germany and Greece! They will also have their footprints set in Helsinki as a sort of shrine.

In the show itself this year, the voting will be FIFTEEN minutes long, not ten! Also there will be two reprises just in case you miss one.

And of Eurovision in the future well… big news. Eurovision Song Contest 2008 will carry the same format as this year, but from 2009 there will be TWO semi-finals. It was rumoured that this would happen and that the two semi-finals would be regionally based, i.e. western and eastern Europe. However, this will not happen, the countries taking place in each semi-final will be determined by a draw. Which is unlucky if Netherlands come up against all the Balkan countries for example. It’s unclear whether the Big 4 will automatically qualify in 2009 :-/

Oh, and next year’s Eurovision will take place on Saturday May 24th with the semi-final on Thursday May 22nd.

*Phew*. Well I think that’s it! Oh, except one thing…

NERLY EVERYONE IN HELSINKI IS SAYING THAT VERKA’S GOT IT IN THE BAG. SHE WILL WIN BY AN ABSOLUTE MILE. THERE IS NO CHANCE FOR ANYONE ELSE.

Be afraid Europe. Be very afraid.

The Eurovision Flight Takes Off!

2007-05-07T12:29:00.000-07:00

Today, the 14 qualified finalists rehearsed for the first time, the UK being among them! So what's it like? Well, the backing singers don't appear on conveyer belts (boo) but they are prominent in the performance which features airline metal detectors, airline seats as well as the trollies! The backdrop may be their downfall though... a G-I-A-N-T union flag, dispersed with aeroplanes flying in all directions. It's certainly patriotic.

Conflicting reports about it though - some say it was fantastic, some say it was awful! Some say it'll get 0 points, some say it'll win! I've seen the vid of the rehearsal and it sounded OK to me. I just don't like the backdrop - when it's not the union flag, it's just white planes on a black backdrop. However, this will certainly look effective and I'm now very excited about it all! They're doing tongue-in-cheek but they're doing it well.

And as for the other finalists today...

Bosnia&Herzegovina kicked off rehearsals. It's safely in my top 5, but a lot of people can't see past this just being 'nice'. Starting the show is a difficult draw cos there's nothing to contrast it to. However, I think it's great and vocally it's brilliant. It will get votes, but it's not a winner
D'NASH of Spain also sounded good today but it's typical boyband fodder in the cursed 2nd place. Not even the backing singers drumming upside down Cornettos could turn this one round I don't think. Contender for bottom 5.
Ireland has been well received with some people very enchanted by its performance! They're playing up to the instrumental, Cathy's vocal are sounding fine (by her standards anyway) but the backdrop, a sort of orange honeycomb, has not been so well received by everyone.
Finland passed without any sort of interesting note. This is going to bomb.
Lithuania are sticking with a winning formula with their infamous screens silhouetting the instrumentalists as they did in the national final. It's a nice classy performance but perhaps a bit too subtle for the Eurocrowd.
Sarbel still can't dance, which is unfortunate for Greece because they've given him a head mic (no no no...). It's like Martin Vucic all over again! However, I still think it'll do well, but his lanky figure is not helping the highly choreographed piece.
The Ark are glamming it up for Sweden with, again, mixed reports. The stage is black and white with a bit of purple, and apparently the spinning disc works a treat it seems. Some say this'll do well, others say it'll just get lost in the mix.
The French song is coming across as very strange. And it is strange. It's a strange song being performed in a tongue-in-cheek manner. The flower backdrop is nice. I just don't get it.
Russia got mixed reactions with some saying it was very strong, and others saying that its rather static performance lets it down - the three are standing behind mics simply belting it out. But I'm glad they're not trying to ruin it with any gimmicks or breathless choreography! This could pay dividends. Serebro performed well though today, it bodes well
Roger Cicero was dressed all in white for Germany with their jazz entry going down well! It's pretty much as it was in the national final but the last chorus is now in English as 'Guess Who Rules The World'. Vocally sound, performance good, not much to improve on.
Verka Serduchka is convincing more and more people that he/she/it could win - and I'm amongst that number! Ukraine haven't changed much from the national final performance - he's in the same sparkly silver outfit and the Dancing is still as silly as ever. He missed a few camera shots but people don't generally care. This could be the winner. Holy moly.
There's nothing about the Romanian rehearsal anywhere. This is because everybody at all Eurovision websites, including eurovision.tv, buggered off to the Welcome Party! Not only this but UK, Romania and Armenia had their press conferences cancelled because of this! I did read about Armenia though. Their stage presentation looks beautiful. Two trees are onstage, meant to be giving the impressin of burning, and people are on the floor playing instruments. I still think this is a dark horse, it's a great moody ballad.

So that sums up today. Same countries rehearse tomorrow - hopefully a bit more info on Romania and Armenia and we'll see what Scooch have to say in their press conference! Something to mull over, Sir?

Bits And Bobs

2007-05-06T10:19:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd just do a bit of a tit-bit stream as the rehearsals seem to be overshadowing the important issues...

- bonoparti.lv have turned up safe and well! It transpires that their absence was due to them going to sing at an international flower festival in Estonia. But slapped wrists for not telling the Latvian delegation where they were.

- Teapacks probably won't pull out. It does seem that all their suggestions were ignored though, and most people are on their side! It seems the YLE bigwigs may have a part to play in not listening to the Packs of Tea...

- Scooch have said their bon voyage after a barnstorming gig at G-A-Y, and a performance on The National Lottery People's Quiz with Michael 'the ball' Ball.

- Guri Schanke has been speaking about her striptease and her endless practising of it to avoid her boobs popping out. I don't know why she's trying to avoid it, it might get her some points from the 'Dad vote'.

- Olivia Lewis has revealed her dress for the semi-final; a yellow floating number which looks rather good. Fans are also in full play in the Maltese entry. As they are in the Danish and Portuguese performances. Fan-daby-dozy.

- Anonymous are just winning more and more support to suggest that they may be anything other than anonymous come Thursday.

- Marija Serafovic admitted today that her song, Molitva, was a prayer for everything in the world and sex. Jeez...

- Nobody could give a flying Fabrizio Faniello about Czech Republic.

Not much else happened today - Belgium was looking a bit stronger, Turkey was looking good... in fact most songs seem to be coming across as solid. Quite who will qualify on Thursday is still very much a mystery.

But from tomorrow we need to put our mind forward to the Grand Final as Bosnia&Herzegovina-Armenia rehearse tomorrow! How will Ireland transfer to the ESC stage? Will The Ark glam out the stadium? And just HOW will Scooch get on? All shall be revealed in about 24hrs time...

Missing: 6 Latvians In Top Hats

2007-05-05T10:27:00.000-07:00

In a bizarre stunt, and we're all hoping it IS a stunt, bonaparti.lv have gone "missing".

All press have been given a MISSING poster containing the faces of the six Latvian rascals and there is a reward (an a capella sonata perhaps?). Now this may just be a stunt but it's been reported that eurovision.tv ARE taking this seriously - it even appears on their website! All that we seem to know so far is that Roberto was seen stumbling out of Montenegro's party last night and this morning none of them were in their hotel rooms. To put this in perspective, the Latvian delegation have no idea at all where their act is.

Obviously we hope for their safe return. It's a shame that Kabat didn't go missing instead. And didn't come back. Ever.

Storm In A Tea Cup?

2007-05-05T10:21:00.000-07:00

Third day of rehearsals began today with the first fourteen semi-finalists going again. Iceland turned up though this time, Eirikur donning a full head of hair sadly. The biggest drama of the day, though, came from Teapacks of Israel who have threatened to disqualify themselves unless someone does something about the way the song’s presented. This is odd as I heard there was lots of crazy camerawork going on making it a manic onscreen performance. Apparently though, Teapacks weren’t happy and expressed so in today’s Israeli press conference. I doubt they’ll pull out at all and suspect it’s for publicity. But they don’t need to worry about presentation ‘cos it’s very popular in Helsinki! Ah well, let’s see what comes of it. In the meantime, here’s what else happened today…

- Bulgaria’s apparently pretty solid and safe now and not much more can be done.
- Cyprus has a good performance, not being helped by Evridiki appearing to have been possessed by someone who makes her do very strange jerky leg and arm movements. Could be distracting.
- Belarus’s wall trick is looking very good I hear and everyone is saying that this will definitely qualify.
- Eirikur’s singing and performing well for Iceland, but the song’s a bit pants.
- Georgia, like Bulgaria, seem to have their performance nailed, but people are still unsure whether this will go through. The swordfighting is getting mixed reactions.
- Montenegro’s still Montenegro. Faddy is now going to go into the audience in his performance, no doubt to drum up some support! Must be a Scottish thing.
- The vampires are still alive, the vocals are still a bit ropy, the jury’s still out on Switzerland. The models are also in a bit of a better position today, less distracting, but the stage does still look rather busy.
- Moldova is still very strong. Apparently Natalia’s vocals are still very strong and this is a real contender.
- Netherlands is getting more and more support but nearly everyone is saying that the song just isn’t good enough! Still, Edsilia’s pleased, she said that she had a beautiful “butt” today at the press conference. It may be her only consolation.
- One website reported that Albania’s backdrop is a ‘river of tears’. How appropriate. Good vocals but this will not qualify at all.
- Denmark have dropped the white fans for now and only have purple ones which means that the stage is coming across as PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE. Camp indeed. He’s looking very nice in his dress too so I hear.

- Croatia is just a big load of rubbish really with a soft effect on stage to make it even more forgettable…
- Poland is supposed to be getting stronger and stronger and is looking rather good with its cage and backdrop of blood red chains. It’s getting to be a borderline qualifier, although many worry that they could be 11th place in the semi-final for the third year in a row which would be rather upsetting…

Serbia-Latvia again tomorrow. Well if they can find bonaparti.lv that is...

Rehearsals Day 2

2007-05-04T06:32:00.000-07:00

Things roll on in Helsinki...

Serbia got a very big applause from fans and journalists alike I believe! She's backed up by five ladies in what appear to be black dungarees and white shirts underneath, or something like that anyway. Simple performance, vocally strong, a serious contender for the title now it seems. 'Shivers' and 'goosebumps' are words I've seen describing this one.
Nothing unexpected from the Czech Republic. Rock performance of a rock song, but it doesn't float my boat.
Portugal seems to have gone up in people's estimation after today. A light breezy performance with fans and a touch of Strictly Come Dancing! Yep, clever choreography and she's not singing badly either. This is a definite splash of fresh air and could contrast well to the noise that precedes it.
FYR Macedonia will qualify for a few reasons. 1) She's got a wind machine. 2) She's singing well. 3) There's some "moody business with chairs. 4) It's FYROM.
Norway have decided to use the old Eurovision stripping technique that faired Buck's Fizz and Marie N so well! Lots of moving and a nice build-up of the performance. But alas people still think this song isn't strong enough to qualify. Hmm, still unsure.
Malta also has fans on stage, a very active and topless fiddler and a gong! It seems they're going for the full dramatic effect. I've heard good reports about Olivia's vocals but having heard it all it sounds very messy to me. I'm worried that all the action on stage will make it look messier! Hope this one doesn't implode on itself.
And now onto two real dark horses. Andorra apparantly went down a storm with the Busted like Anonymous doing a simple, teenage-like performance of their song. Their backdrop is numbers which cleverly coincide with the '54321' countdown in the song -clever! For the first time, Andorra look like being serious contendors.
And as for Hungary, well I saw the video clip and her vocals are amazing. This could do really really well. Simple performance, she's standing by a bus stop with a suitcase and the song tells a story which is conveyed truthfully onstage. Sounds impressive, this could qualify.
Estonia is much of a muchness really...
Belgium was getting an OK reception, but I think that the general consensus is that it needs a bit more improving. The vocoder was a problem apparantly. I really want this one to do well and it needs to bring that 'fresh' feel that Portugal seems to be doing at the moment. Vocally he sounded OK, but I think there's room for improvement.
Alenka Gotar of Slovenia apparantly went down a storm being vocally perfect and entering the stage with arms upraised to suggest "yes, I am here, Slovenia will qualify"! And they may just do that you know! Simple back drop of purple bars, backing singers become more prominent as the song builds, looks good!
The main complaint with Turkey was that Kenan didn't engage enough with the camera. Otherwise a very good performance I hear with good vocals but perhaps missing some spark?
Austria is ridiculous. A massive red feathery AIDS ribbon in the centre of the stage lying upon which are backing dancers (also in red feathers) and in the middle of it all, Eric wearing a silver baby boomer. It looks silly. Surely this won't qualify, although it was said to be a strong and memorable show!
Latvia has not changed much since their national final. Coming on one at a time in their top hats, the singers appear on the stage to give a solid performance although very cheesy so I've heard. I would still think this should go through...

So biggest surprises of the day seem to be Hungary and Andorra, whose odds have now dropped massively! Serbia disappointed some with its simple stage performance and I'm hoping for better things from Belgium on Sunday. But now that all 28 have rehearsed... anyone want to call a top ten? Cos I don't!

Rehearsals Day 1

2007-05-03T08:06:00.000-07:00

It seems all go in Helsinki as today the semi-finalists began rehearsals! One minor change was that Estonia was rehearsing instead of Iceland cos Eirikur Hauksson was busy apparantly, hopefully getting his haircut. Nevertheless, I've been reading loads about the acts today and seen little video snippets too, but before I comment, here are three things I'd like to say...

- The stage is awesome
- The sound quality actually sounds good
- The stage is really awesome

Yup, the stage with its ability to morph into anything you want thanks to those massive and crystal clear screens is looking to be the best stage ever! But what of the 14 countries today? Well...

I've slagged off Bulgaria a lot but it looks and sounds pretty good. The stage is dark blue with lightning bolts which really suits the song and her singing, which could've sounded awful live, is alright! Maybe I should watch this one closer. I still don't think it's got that appeal though.
Israel's stage looked super - a blue neon skyline and globe. Their rehearsal apparantly went well and is the stuff of Eurovision novelty songs of years past. Novelty dancing, lots of shouting, sounds like it could do well.
Evridiki's back for Cyprus with guitarist and drummer on a red stage. The instrumental bit in the middle will allow us to see Evridiki in slow motion which sounds very exciting. Luckily she can still sing 15 years on. It looks like the semi's got a strong opening set of three.
Belarus has a lot of trickery with walls in which the backing dancers seem to mould themselves into. It starts with a trick with Koldun appearing from behind the screens and ends with a firework. From the video, it doesn't look like he was straining himself and there were some very dodgy notes so I hear. Hmm, mixed reviews on that.
Estonia is alright. Nothing special. But we knew that.
She's dumped the blancmange! Sopho from Georgia is sounding good but looks like she's doing some very bizarre choreography, reminiscent of hopping. Her backing dancers also have swords! Maybe they misheard, 'Sailing through my sword-y'. They also broke the stage in true Ruslana fashion - an omen perhaps? Still, it's not bad but may be too shouty.
Montenegro is supposedly a bit stationery, and Stevan Faddy sounded a bit off at some points on the video I saw. Close but no banana so I hear.
The anticipated vampires from Switzerland! Bobo and Co's vocal abilities have been criticised and praised. They sounded OK on the video I listened to, but maybe the frantic choreography is putting them off. Some say it will qualify, some say it's missing something. One thing's for sure, I was confused when the photo appeared to show about 12 people on stage, but apparently, there are dummies around the stage. Lord knows why.
Moldova has a fiddler and three dancers doing things with red handkerchiefs, no doubt dumped by Ledina Celo two years ago. More pyros here on a red stage, she's giving a good vocal performance, this really could be a dark horse but I'm still unconvinced.
Netherlands performance is like the song - good, but ordinary. There's a podium involved, lots of dancers, but not much spark. She is singing as good as in 1998 though, so there's a bonus! Eddy's admitted that she's singing in English cos she wants more points! Someone should've pointed out that this hasn't worked for the UK of late.
Albania all looks a bit static - even the backing singers have microphones! But there does seem to be a fiddler on his knees so there's obviously high drama here. Water is on the backdrop for this.
DQ has not let Denmark down. A very camp performance which starts with him in a black cloak before revealing a very short pink sequinned dress! Lots of dancing, lots of pink and a massive crown onstage behind him. Vocally OK I hear, I think this could qualify!
Croatia is apparantly very stilted, but no surprise there. Boring song, boring performance!
Poland involves a lot of moving. Firstly, our singer is trapped in a cage before being released and entering into a lot of moody business with chairs! It all sounds good fun to complement the song nicely, but I'm still not convinced it's a qualifier.

Well, after day one, plenty of mixed reactions! I think the best overall reaction seemed to go to Cyprus as there were critics of the favourites Belarus and Switzerland. I think the only really poor rehearsal seemed to be Croatia and Albania - too static - but this might change. This next batch of songs rehearse on Saturday.

Tomorrow, Serbia-Latvia!

Getting Close...

2007-05-02T06:35:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I've been slacking. But really not much has happened Eurovision-wise in the past week. All that's left to go now is rehearsals. Which start tomorrow!

Yes, the press centre is open for all delegations of the 42 countries, the stage is set (and looking fab, best since Riga by the looks of things) and tomorrow the first 14 semi-finalists will do their first rehearsals. Basically, there's nothing left to prepare. Just one week and one day til the semi, and only a week and a half until the final.

Scooch have been spotted in a photograph with Tony Blair which is nice. Of course, Katrina & The Waves won the contest just two days after he was elected. Wouldn't it be lovely if Scooch could win to round off his prime ministerial career and go full circle? We can only hope. The single's out on Monday, but can it sell more than the 50,000 copies that Daz sold of Teenage Life?

In other ESC related news the OGAE polls have continued from around Europe with much success for Belarus, Switzerland and Serbia. Not much success for Scooch though. Never mind. We're obviously the "dark horse".

So, from tomorrow's first rehearsals, I'll try and keep this blog up to date with my reactions to what I'm hearing from other sources around the internet. There's certainly some questions I want answering. Will Sopho Khalvashi perform again as if she's emerging from a blacnmange? How will the vampires look on stage? And just what is Belarus' gimmick?

Hopefully all these can be answered tomorrow. Let the good times roll!

UK The Vampire Players

2007-04-24T11:52:00.000-07:00

So the UK branch of OGAE voted this week and once again the Swiss entry received top support. Vampires Are Alive by DJ Bobo came top in the UK OGAE poll. Coming 2nd was Slovenia. Now here's a song that has grown and grown in support over the last few weeks. The dance-opera song Cvet Z Juga by Alenka Gotar has gathered a lot of fans, including me, of late and it is performing well in the OGAE polls. In third place was Russia's Song #1 by Serebro, Molitva for Serbia came 4th, and Latvia's Questta Note completed the top 5, doubling its cumulative score so far in the process.

Sad to see some of my favourites dwindling though! Armenia came last and Lithania, Finland and Ireland didn't do all that well either, all in my top half! And as my support for Bosnia & Herzegovina grows (currently placed 4th in my personal poll), it seems that the UK OGAE weren't all that fussed coming just 18th. Booooo.

If the UK were allowed to vote for their own country, then Scooch would have scored 1 point from us! Sadly, of course, Eurovision doesn't work like this and the UK remains one of 15 countries yet to score from the OGAE juries.

Oh well. At least the Scooch promo video came out today. It's absolutely fantastic. They even played it on BBC Breakfast. Things must be looking up after all!

Scooch Motivation

2007-04-16T11:40:00.000-07:00

So it seems that Scooch are eyeing up victory for the UK (hooray!!) and have decided to have some sessions with a life coach. His name is Steve Miller, but I'm not sure if it's the same one who sang such great songs as Abracadabra and The Joker. Either way, he's quite good at motivational speaking, is rather unforgiving, and is very good on getting people to lose weight. Whether he can bring the UK victory though is quite another kettle of fish.

It's nice that they're putting in the effort though, as Scooch's potential chance of victory isn't looking particularly high with most bookies quoting about 20/1, 25/1 for taking the title. Likewise, the UK are yet to score from the OGAE juries. Basically, each Eurovision country has an official fanclub, the OGAE, and they all vote on the songs every year. So far, France, Spain, Portugal and Turkey have voted and the UK are yet to score. Belarus lead with 31, Slovenia follow with 30, then Switzerland, Cyprus, Greece and Serbia.

It's quite a surprise not to see any points yet for FYR Macedonia who seem to be rather bizarrely finishing top on some internet polls. This all seems to have occurred after it was initially announced that Karolina was being made to sing Mojot Svet in English resulting in the fans causing a stir after hearing the English version. Indeed it seems their cries may have been heard as the Macedonian delegation are now possibly letting Karolina sing in Macedonian and English. Democracy rules again!

But I do prefer the Macedonian version I must say. And if Bosnia & Herzegovina go English, well... I might just need some life coaching myself.

Mmm, fishy

2007-04-13T10:11:00.000-07:00

What inspires a Eurovision stage? In 1994, it was very obviously an evening Irish skyline. 1996 may have been inspired by an oil rig. Last year, Greece went for the amphitheatre look. However, YLE have now revealed that this year's Eurovision stage has been inspired by the jaw of a fish.

It sounds unbelievable, but apparantly the jawbone of the 'hauki', or pike fish, is what the stage is based upon. So all acts will appear as if they are starring in a musical reconstruction of Jonah and the Whale.

Supposedly this is all very Finnish, and it has been said that the Finns want to show their quirky side - the postcards are going to show this apparantly, no doubt a riotous affair will be had. The interval act will mix hard rock mixed with circus, dance and tenderness so I've heard. Sounds good, but it's no Riverdance is it. The last interval act I enjoyed was 2003, I hope they make it a good'en!

And fear not - I believe Lordi will open this year's Eurovision final with their unbeatable Hard Rock Hallelujah. Hallelujah indeed.

Get The Garlic Out!

2007-04-12T10:12:00.000-07:00

"The Switzerland I know is one that isn't afraid of vampires".

These are the wise words of poor DJ Bobo, who's been rather upset by some silly Swiss people who say that Vampires Are Alive should be disqualified for being about, well, vampires.

It is ridiculous that anyone is kicking up a fuss. It is just a song! People are not going to go out and commit crimes of witchcraft simply because DJ Bobo's fun, cheesy pop song may well win the Eurovision Song Contest in May. And hello, Lordi anybody?!

Bobes rightly commented that the protesting is actually a step backwards - and indeed he's right! This is the Eurovision Song Contest for goodness sake, not to be taken seriously. And perhaps they'll dress up as vampires but so what?! I think it could be one of the best stage acts in Eurovision in May and of course it has a very good chance of victory, Switzerland's greatest chance since 1993 I reckon.

It's just a good job that transvestites, air hostesses and glam rockers don't cause such a fuss in their relevant countries isn't it! Let DJ Bobo and his great song be, maybe the vampires will fly on May 12th!

Haggis Kroce

2007-04-10T11:14:00.000-07:00

Excuse this excruciating pun, but it's just to highlight the fact that Montenegro are hoping to pick up Scottish votes in the semi-final due to the fact that singer Stevan Faddy has Scottish descendents.

In fact his family have a Scottish flag, coat of arms and other memorobilia. I wonder if he has a family tartan?

Anyway, whether or not he'll get a few points from the UK on the 10th of May all depends on whether the UK will take to the rather dated Ajde Kroci. It's like something your Dad would listen to in the car in the 1980s! Distortion guitar solos? Surely not...

It's a catchy affair but I think Montenegro will be showed up by their Serbian neighbours. Still, it's nice to build up some nationalistic pride and who knows, maybe the Scots will come out in force for Stevan McFaddy.

Doesn't he play Phil Mitchell in Eastenders?

Marija or Marija?

2007-04-10T11:04:00.000-07:00

As someone reminded me today that it's only one month until the semi finals, I thought it was about time I actually started writing about the songs proper. Topic one - Marija or Marija?

Both Bosnia & Herzegovina and Serbia have sent ballads sung by a girl called Marija. And how do you solve a problem like Marija? Well, not easily, as both songs are very good.

Bosnia & Herzegovina will open the final with Rijeka Bez Imena. This is a beautiful song just oustide my own top 5 at the moment and you can tell that it is inspired by the success of the similar Lejla which finished 3rd for B&H last year. Rijeka is sadly not as immediate, not that Lejla was either imo, so this will go against them. However, I'm hoping she does a killer performance, and maybe coming first will be an advantage of memory? Not a winner though, but possible top 10.

By contrast, the Serbian entry Molitva is a much more immediate, broad ballad, not quite so ethnic and with a catchier tune, although the chorus's contrived chord change does rile me so! This is a huge fan favourite and will no doubt breeze through the semi-final. In fact it'll probably do very well overall! But I really do prefer Bosnia & Herzegovina. It's so much more subtle, so much more beautiful - but if they sing it in English I won't be happy!

So Marija vs Marija - Marija Sestic wins for me, and I will be cheering Bosnia&Herzegovina on come May.

Get A Life!

2007-04-09T10:27:00.000-07:00

What comprises of "opulent costumes, an orgy of Swarovski crystals, spectacular pyrotechnics and an oversized red ribbon"?

That's correct, this year's Austrian stage show.

Get A Life - Get Alive is this year's lacklustre Austrian entry from Eric Papilaya and it's fair to say it's not a patch on such Austrian classics as Thomas Forstener or Alf Poier. I suspect that the Austrian broadcaster ORF are aware of this. Therefore they're going to put on a spectacular stage show for the song. All of it, I suspect, rather unecessary and distracting.

As Austria hosts the annual 'Life Ball', the event to highlight the effects of AIDS, they've decided to use their entry this year to spread the message. This involves a gigantic pink ribbon, the sign of solidarity for those with HIV, covered with 700 metres of feathers of which 4 dancers will emerge. On top of this there will be a guitarist onstage, and Eric will be wearing a Vivienne Westward suit with 2000 crystals on it.

Now I'm not knocking the message that Austria are trying to spread. But sometimes less is more and I fear that the rather flamboyant nature of the stage show will not send the Austrians to the final. The song is simply not good enough. Sometimes I think a big stage show can be a bad thing. The 2004 French entry, A Chaque Pas, was one of the stronger songs I thought that year and would have done better if a black bald lady in white dress wasn't tottering around on stilts (yes, stilts, in the middle of a ballad) making young Jonaton Cerrada look about 2 foot tall. It finished 15th.

I suspect that if Austria don't qualify then this could be the last we see of Austria as they're putting every available effort in to making this a memorable show. But I still fear the worst. I say, ditch all the glamour and perform it as a straightforward rock song. Yet I think that the Austrian's are concerned more about getting alive than getting a life.

Fools, Fools, FOOLS!

2007-04-02T10:11:00.000-07:00

You may have noticed the lack of recent posts and indeed there has been little important ESC news in the past week or so. Except some Swedish bird called Pandora claiming she actually wrote Flying The Flag and is possibly going to look into a plagiarism case against Scooch. Of all the songs to claim you actually wrote... To be fair, it does sound quite alike but I think that Scooch's Eurovision position is quite safe.

Yesterday however it was April 1st and so April Fools jokes ran riot on the Eurovision websites! Sadly there was nothing from esctoday.com this year who did actually have me fooled into believing that a score sheet had been found from Eurovision 1956. So gullible was I.

eurovision-croatia "announced" that their entry would be sung in French. A joke! Another one of my favourite fools from yesterday announced that the Royal Mail would be issuing a special set of stamps to mark the UK's 50th Eurovision entry. Sounds believable until you realise that on one of the stamps would be Nicki French. I mean would you lick the back of Nicki French. Actually, I would, Don't Play That Song Again was bloody robbed.

However, congratulations has to go to diggiloo.net who changed the titles of many of the entries to more comical names...

- Bulgaria's song became Vodka and Redbull
- Israel's was simply titled Disqualified Entry
- Denmark became Drama Queen Margarethe II
- Czech Republic turned into Dalai Lama
- Estonia had the topical Same-Sex-Partner In Crime
- France, in a tribute no doubt to Zdob Si Zdub turned into L'amour A La Moldavaise
- Scooch were Frying The Fag
- Armenia became Anytime You Need (Except Tuesday, I'm Busy Tuesday)
- And Latvia, taking influence from Italy of course, were singing Mamma Mia Dat's A Spicy Meatball

It's hard to beat that.

Swiss Cheese

2007-03-27T05:08:00.000-07:00

It seems that there is an ever growing popularity for this year's Swiss entry, Vampires Are Alive by DJ Bobo. It's coming up quite strongly in the fan polls and William Hill bookmakers this week have it as the favourite to win at 7/1. Indeed it seems to be the favourite of all bookies at the moment with Sweden dropping down.

So what are the chances of Switzerland winning Eurovision? Well, I'm beginning to think quite strong. It's a good little song, catchy and a lot of fun, and as someone said to me, "If Europe'll vote for monsters, they'll go for vampires". Certainly a vampirical stage act could work in their favour... a lot of people are predicting this to win now. It's almost a certain qualifier and a certain winner too? I think it could go rather big...

Switzerland isn't the only mover and shaker with William Hill this week. Bulgaria are up to 10/1 (I still don't believe this'll qualify), Malta are up to 25/1 (about time!) as are Turkey and the dark horses of Latvia - obviously plenty of bets were placed on this when it was 50/1! Bosnia & Herzegovina are up to 33/1, but the Netherlands stay at 100/1 - unfair!

So if the bookies are to be believed, Switzerland are going to be the champs this year. It's doing well in fan polls too, although Serbia's Molitva is the clear fan fave at the mo. Still, you can't deny the power of a gimmick, and vampires may be the way to go this year.

Leave Them Alone!

2007-03-25T09:56:00.000-07:00

No, this is not an entry about this year's Finnish entry (which, by the way, is proving spectacularly unpopular - obviously the kiss of death), but an entry in regards to Scooch. You see Charlotte Church has been slagging them off and calling them, and I quote, "absolute shit".

She's got a way with words hasn't she!

But why, oh why, doesn't she just leave them alone?! Scooch are just doing their thing for the old Eurovision, voted in by the UK public. If she doesn't like it, maybe she should enter MYMU next year! But the public have had their say, Scooch are going and I say we should support it instead of bad-mouthing it. After all, it's only a bit of fun isn't it.

Charlotte did however comment on Cyndi's voice being "good". Honestly, all this praise, Cyndi must be the most liked woman in the country at the moment! Unlike Charlotte Church and her horrible comments. You know watching her show makes "every pore in my body itch with embarrassment". Ironically, it's also "absolute shit". So, y'know... pot, kettle, black...

Odds On!

2007-03-21T11:13:00.000-07:00

UK bookmaker William Hill opened up the betting on Eurovision 2007 yesterday which is always rather exciting.

Favourites, by far, are Sweden at 4/1. Following behind them is the Russian entry, Song #1 by Serebro, which sounds like a good Sugababes song. Not many people have talked about it but it will probably do very well in the final, and so 9/1 odds have been placed upon it.

Sharing 12/1 are Greece, Belarus and Ukraine. I haven't actually written about the Ukrainian song yet because there aren't really any words. I'll just say the following - accordion, stupid, danzing, transvestite, Junior Eurovision Song Contest reject. That should just about do it.

Behind this load of three are another bunch at 14/1 - Cyprus, Serbia and Romania which I'm surprised about. It'll probably do well, but I'm surprised the Romanian song is so high up. Likewise, the UK at 16/1 is also rather optimistic. Imagine how good our odds are if we'd sent Cyndi! Rather obscenely, Bulgaria are also 16/1 to win which is rather hilarious.

What are the good bets then? Well a flutter on Germany at 25/1 I would say could pay off, as is 50/1 for Latvia. I also feel that Bosnia & Herzegovina is a bit misunderstood at 66/1.

So who's at the bottom of betting pile? Well five countries are currently sharing the 100/1 spot; Portugal and Albania are understandably at the bottom with both countries not having great reputations or indeed songs. Armenia and Lithuania could surprise in the final especially Armenia, I think it's a real dark horse. Finally, it's very sad to see Netherlands at 100/1. Either the bookies have caught on that no-one votes for the Dutch songs these days or this is a very unfair bet! That atrocity that was Amambanda wasn't as low down as 100/1! It's a bit harsh on the Netherlands as I think - and let's be optomistic - that it might squeeze through the semi-finals if it's lucky.

So yeah, if you're feeling lucky then I would say that a few quid on Latvia and Germany wouldn't go amiss! And if you fancy a flutter on the UK getting 'nil points', then 26/1 are the odds Will Hill are currently offering. Not as unpopular as Jemini then, but still less popular than Cyndi (let's not go there again).

MYMU Scandal Part 413

2007-03-20T11:21:00.000-07:00

So the MYMU scandals carry on in the UK - which is brilliant! All publicity is good publicity as far as UK Eurovision is concerened.

Today, Scooch were featured on the front page of the Daily Mirror with the marvellous pun "The Eurovision Song CONtest". This refers to Scooch having offstage backing singers. Apparantly they were "lying the flag" and they've been branded cheats and miming artists. There are a few flaws here though.

There is no rule saying you can't have backing singers offstage, it's perfectly legitimate.
Scooch didn't mime, they were singing too. You can tell because they were singing the verses.
All 6 acts at MYMU were offered the chance to have offstage backing singers. All declined.

So there you are, mountain out of a molehill, no rules were being broken. It's as if people are implying that they're not allowed to do the same thing at Eurovision - but they are, you can have offstage backing singers there too! So why the fuss!

Well, it's old Justin Hawkins getting on his high horse again. Brian Harvey also complained. If only backing singers had drowned him out, it might have sounded like he wasn't dying whilst singing his song.

In Wogan news, he WAS given the right name down his earpiece. He just either misheard or wanted to muck it all up. Maybe he needs his ears syringing.

Anyway, out of all this, Cyndi seems to be the only one with any dignity left. Are we sure Scooch really won? Is it too late to send her insted?! It is? Oh well. No doubt there'll be more gossip tomorrow.

I Believe In A Thing Called Racism

2007-03-19T12:55:00.000-07:00

Big bad loser Justin Hawkins has added to the controversey surrounding this year's MYMU by saying that by not choosing him, the UK public are either racist or stupid.

This is a very silly thing to say. Cyndi got to the superfinal because she was really good. Scooch got to the superfinal because, well... the UK public are a bit stupid when it comes to Eurovision. But the talk of racism is ridiculous. Get off your soapbox Hawkins!

Other MYMU news includes GMTV saying that the mixup on Saturday was on the same scale as the apocolypse, even though Cyndi was on their show and was all very lovely and modest about it. If anyone's got a reason to slag someone off it's her.

It seems that Wogan did get the name "Scooch" sent down his earpiece but the noise made him hear "Cyndi". Perhaps it was the voices in his head. The same one that said Birgitta Haukdal wrote Lane Moje and that the 2005 Croatian entry was a man called Boris Feat. On a more interesting note, he did apologise to Cyndi this morning on his Radio 2 show and then played her song, something I've never heard of before. And I was listening to it, I felt more and more sad that we didn't send Cyndi cos it was quite good wasn't it.

Still, we'll Scooch on and I'm sure they'll fly the flag for us in a lovely manner indeed.

Fly That Flag

2007-03-18T12:30:00.000-07:00

Well we all know what happened last night. Here are some of my personal highlights:

Liz's "dress"
Brian Harvey crucifying his entry whilst making a vein appear in the middle of his forehead. Let's hope that his bad result doesn't end in him running himself over again.
Mel Giedroyc referring constantly to the "Eurovish" - funny at first, not after 20 times.
John Barrowman's excitable dancing during Scooch.
Hawkins & Brown rocking out the place with their beefeaters
Noticing that Cyndi looked a bit like Katrina (of & The Waves fame)
Fearne Cotton's chest and Wogan's commenting on it
Wogan slagging off Mel's hat
Mel referring to Bobbysocks' song as what sounded like "Badet Svinger"
Wogan's constant racism - "we'll show Johnny Foreigner what for"
Justin Hawkins being a bad loser.

So altogether a rather memorable MYMU that has caused much debate on Eurovision messageboards all day long. But, hey ho, this is the UK entry after all. And all that's left to say is to wish good luck in Helsinki to Cyndi!!!!!

Oh no, wait, Scooch. Sorry.

Time To Make Your Mind Up...

2007-03-13T13:54:00.000-07:00

Well Making Your Mind Up this Saturday will officially shut the 2007 National Final season. As it's the UK, it will probably end with more of a bang than a whimper - an opinionated audience, six Eurovision hungry acts, an "expert" panel to whip the crowd up into a frenzy, and Wogan not really knowing what's going on. Sounds like a perfect evening's entertainment to me! But who should win? Well I've heard all the songs all the way through now, and here's my concise evaluation...

01. "DON'T IT MAKE YOU HAPPY" - Liz McLarnon
It's a 60s effort with more than a hint of "Song of a Preacher Man" by Dusty. It's sunny, summery, soulful and she sings it very well - she'll prob do a fab performance to - but it's not going to set the world alight.

02. "I CAN" - Brian Harvey
Rather nice ballad written by Connor Reeves and sung by Brian Harvey who DOES have a fantastic voice (cf. "If You Ever" by East 17). The ballad is rather pretty but I think the verses are stronger than the chorus so... If he does a mindblowing vocal performance of this it could do OK but no more I think. It may, likewise, bomb.

03. "BIG BRO THANG" - Big Brovaz
The R&B/Hip Hop group hope to do a Love City Groove and bring modern music to Eurovision - but actually, this rap effort is rather credible, catchy and a very good example of UK contemporary rap music - maybe this is where Daz went wrong. A good performance could equal a good result and this would be the best R&B song at ESC this year. Shame they found it upon them to use the word "thang" in the title though.

04. "I'LL LEAVE MY HEART" - Cyndi
Well you could argue that this is the best song musically in the selection and it's a rather beautiful, powerful ballad. Remember - the UK have never failed with a ballad and as we're drawn between Ukraine and Romania, this could probably stand out. However there are two reasons why this will probably not win tonight:

1. The viewer will realise that it's a blatant rip off of You Raise Me Up and therefore not vote for it on principal.
2. She's French.

05. "FLYING THE FLAG FOR YOU" - Scooch
Wow. This is the most naff, cheesy song I've ever heard. But the thing is, they know it is. Full of innuendo, cheesy harmonies and possibly Nicki French on backing vocals, this actually has nul-points written all over it. But don't underestimate the UK televoter - this could be so camp that it could win MYMU. Of course, we'd come 24th in Helsinki, but maybe we'd expect it.

06. "THEY DON'T MAKE 'EM LIKE THEY USED TO" - Hawkins & Brown
Something rather different here. It's sort of glam rock, sort of pop but soulful too! Brown's powerful vocals contrast with Hawkins' falsetto rather nicely and I like the song - it's my personal favourite! But there is a chance that this could sound rather messy live, so it will all be down to the performance. Also, people have aired their worries that The Ark from Sweden will completely overshadow it. They're probably right. It's good though.

So my top six...
1 - Hawkins & Brown
2 - Cyndi
3 - Big Brovaz
4 - Brian Harvey
5 - Liz McLarnon
6 - Scooch

I'd be happy if any of the top 3 won! But I think it's between Hawkins & Brown, Scooch and Big Brovaz. We'll just have to wait and see though. Who will the UK pick as their 50th entry?! I can't contain myself any longer!

Good Draw, Bad Draw?

2007-03-13T13:38:00.000-07:00

The draw took place on Monday which nobody watched because YLE's webcast failed. Oh dear, not a good start.

Nevertheless, the draws have taken place and you can find them on the internet if you search hard enough! They're so long they'd eat into my blog if I published them, so instead I'm just going to highlight the main points that occurred

- Bulgaria will open the Semi-Final. This will doubtless scare the average televoter, but might scare them enough to vote for them.

- Cyprus and Belarus, both strong well-thought-of entries are on 3rd and 4th respectively. This won't help their cause.

- Portugal and Norway are not performing next to each other in the semi-final, but will be seperated only by FYR Macedonia which nobody will watch anyway cos they'll just presume it'll qualify (which it will).

- Four of the five wildcards chose postitions 25, 26, 27 and 28. Andorra, however, curiously picked position #21. This mere act of craziness just shows why they have picked up less than 50 points in three years.

- Latvia will close the semi-final and will probably qualify with knobs on cos Mums love opera.

- Bosnia & Herzegovina will open the final and will probably do OK from here, but not a potential winner. Spain are in the cursed 2nd spot and will probably come last.

- Potential winners Sweden will perform 12th, just before the break which isn't so bad, but it might have been better sandwiched between two poorer songs. Saying that, France were drawn 13th, which is probably about 11 places higher than it'll finish.

- Germany, Sweden and Armenia got the wildcards and chose positions 16, 18 and 23 respectively. That's a good draw for Armenia, a cunning choice from Germany (16 is a position songs do well from!) and 18... well that's late enough to be remembered. And Ukraine WON'T be forgotten anyway.

- Oddly, despite wildcards and all, final positions 21, 22 and 24 will be semi-final qualifiers. If Latvia are drawn 24th, run for cover.

- UK have been drawn 19th, and Wogan commented on this on his radio show this morning...

Wogan: "The UK have been drawn 19th, just behind the Ukrainian trasvestite"
Bruce: "Well, we'll all be behind that"

Comedy gold.

So that's it really. All the similar sounding songs have been set apart, and looking at the semi-final draw you can see just that all songs following on from the previous one are completely different from the one that's just preceded it. Lots of musical styles and all apart which is good. And the UK's draw of 19th isn't bad at all! Hooray :-)

Luck Of The Draw

2007-03-11T10:49:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow, the draw will take place for the Eurovision Song Contest Final and Semi-Final 2007. It’s always a good event which leaves fans full of speculation and thoughts on how the draw could shape the results. Generally, I don’t think the draw is overly important, but…

- A later draw does generally mean a better result, it has been statistically proven and everything.
- Last year, none of the first nine songs performed in the Grand Final actually finished in the top half of the table.
- A qualifier from the semi can reveal a lot about how influential the draw can be. In 2004, the Netherlands performed last in the semi-final and finished 6th. It was drawn to perform seventh in the Grand Final and, with it being a rather quiet song, it only came in 20th. Likewise in 2005, Latvia scraped through the semi-finals by 4 points starting in fifth position. It was drawn for twenty-third for the Grand Final and finished 5th, just 4 points off 3rd place.

So, what should we look out for? Well with the new rules this year which allows the first few names to be picked out of the hat to choose where they can perform, it is possible that some song-clashes may be avoided. There are certainly some similar songs in both the Final and Semi-Final, and some countries won’t want to be drawn by other countries. For example…

SEMI-FINAL
Norway & Portugal – both have similar style latino songs with similar titles.

Serbia & FYR Macedonia – both rather nice Balkan ballads that are likely to qualify, could both lose points if drawn together.

Netherlands & Belgium – will NOT want an early draw, they will want to qualify,
and with them both not being the most popular countries to vote for, they’ll be looking for late draws, especially as both have decent songs.

Croatia, Czech Republic & Iceland – a threesome of rock could be disastrous if drawn together!

FINAL
Armenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Ireland, Lithuania – all rather similar downbeat ballads. If drawn together, and then Serbia & FYR Macedonia qualify and get drawn by them, they will all get lost.

Romania, France – have similar entries by all male groups. If Israel qualify and get drawn with them too it could all get rather repetitive…

Sweden & UK – I’m only predicting here, but if The Ark performed against a MYMU-triumphant Hawkins & Brown I fear that both extravagant rock numbers would get lost.

So you can see how the draw could potentially affect things! There’s a lot of songs that could stand out, but also a lot of songs that could drown in a sea of similar genres… tomorrow’s draw might help us more at looking at the possible winners and losers.

Czech It Out

2007-03-11T10:48:00.000-07:00

Whilst last night may have seem overshadowed by the rather extravagant events in Sweden, it must not be forgotten that Czech Republic and Portugal were also picking their entries.

Czech Republic enter for the first time this year and will obviously be in the semi-final in Helsinki. Will they be able to get out of it? Surely not. They’ve chosen a rock (ooh, surprise) song called “Mala Dama” to represent them, sung by veteran Czech rockers, Kabat. When I first played it back, I thought there was something wrong with my speakers. For all I know there still might be. But from what I heard, “Mala Dama” is a dreadfully laborious song sung in a manner that can only be described as sinister and ork-like. It’s pretty bad. Not much hook and the vocals are just quite appalling. Whether it was coincidence that my laptop crashed soon after listening to it is another story. Either way, the debut Czech Republic entry leaves a lot to be desired.

Which reminds me, Portugal chose their entry yesterday. Portugal have been in Eurovision well over 50 years now and are still without a Top 5 finish. In fact, the last time they sent a decent song, and I mean *actually* decent, was in 1998. And it only came 14th. Since then, every year they’ve sent rubbish song after rubbish song. It’s beyond wonder. Anyway, last night there was a small glimmer of hope! Their song is actually… alright! “Danca Comigo” is the name of the song, and it’s a typically latino affair reminiscent of Spain 2001 I think. It’s sung by, what sounds like, a hapless lady called Sabrina or needs to work on her live vocals. But overall, it’s not a bad effort. I doubt it’s a qualifier, but at least Portugal won’t shame themselves (again) this year…

'Ark At The Swedish Result...

2007-03-11T08:59:00.000-07:00

Last night, Sweden held its annual Melodifestivalen and it had a unanimous winner… see the results:

01 “THE WORRYING KIND” – The Ark (248 points)
02 “A LITTLE BIT OF LOVE” – Andreas Johnson (189 points)
03 “CARA MIA” – Mans Zelmerlow (171 points)
04 “I REMEMBER LOVE” – Sarah Dawn Finer (122 points)
05 “TRYING TO RECALL” – Marie Lindberg (70 points)
06 “FOR ATT DU FINS” – Sonja Alden (62 points)
07 “VAGER DU, VAGER JAG” – Sanna Nielsen (44 points)
08 “WHEN THE NIGHT COMES FALLING” – Sebastian (39 points)
09 “SAMBA SAMBERO” – Anna Book (1 point)
10 “JAG TROR PA MANNISKAN” – Tommy Nilsson (0 points)

So, the glam rock wannabes of Sweden will be heading to Helsinki hoping to get the place boogalooing with the excellent “The Worrying Kind”. It’s really rather good and nothing else like it at Eurovision this year – I think it could be a hit!

Other MF results of note… sad to see 9th and 10th place pull in only 1 point between them. Anna Book deserved more! Tommy got what he deserved.

Marie Lindberg scored only 4 points from the juries (meanies) but 66 points from the public vote which brought her well up to a highly deserved 5th place.

Andreas Johnson loses again. He came 2nd in the jury vote and 3rd in the televote. “Cara Mia” came 2nd in the televote, gaining a further 110 points from the 61 he scored from the jury, thus swapping round Mans and Sarah Dawn Finer for the final result.

Well that’s about it for another year. The Ark is a great winner from Sweden and should be on for a good result from Helsinki. I don’t know why but I’ve always had a gut feeling that Scandinavia might win again this year… could Sweden be the ones to do it?

Swing A Song

2007-03-10T06:42:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday, Germany picked their Eurovision entry for 2007. After they went country last year, it seems only right that they should head in the direction of swing music for 2007. And it works an absolute TREAT!

Roger Cicero, jazz musician with wonderful Buble-esque voice, was chosen to represent them with "Frauen Regier'n Die Welt" (Women Rule The World), and it's, well, a straightforward swing song! It's an absolute joy to listen to and to watch to. Cicero knows how to work a hat, that's for sure. And if you wanna get a head, get a hat etc.

This song has a double bass, brass, piano, saxaphone, it's the whole works! So here's a question - can it win? Hmm... well I'll be intrigued to see the draw on Monday, but I think this could do brilliantly well in Helsinki. I know we all expected more from Texas Lightning last year, but this is better and very different! Max in 2004 entered a sort of laid back easy listening track in 2004 and that got 8th place, so maybe this could got a few better. I certainly hope so, it's one of the best of this year - it might have even pierced my Top 5. What a thought...

Is That A Whiff Of The Souk...?

2007-03-10T06:36:00.000-08:00

Ah, Wogan's favourite phrase to comment on anything sounding vaguely ethnic. He'll be using it plenty this year, not least on Turkey's entry, "Shake It Up Sekerim" which was finally revealed yesterday.

And it's really good!

Imagine if Justin Timberlake was Turkish and you're pretty much there. It's a very funky song, very contemporary with a fantastic chorus and there is much whiff of the souk about it still. Some have compared it to Sertab, and I suppose that's fair - it is sort of east meets west pop, but it works really well, and this should surely qualify if there's any justice.

Meanwhile, Serbia also chose their debut entry this week as a sole state. The question is, whose entry is better? Serbia or Montenegro? There's only one way to find out (in mock Harry Hill fashion)... and that's to listen to the songs. I would say that Serbia win this year.

"Molitva" is the Serbian song and will be sung by Marija Serafovic who sings like an angel and looks like Pink, a bizarre juxtaposition. However, despite "Molitva" being a very nice song indeed with a rather beautiful melody, it falls very much into the same category as Bosnia & Herzegovina and FYR Macedonia. All these songs are very nice on their own but they really cancel each other out - they're all rather similar Balkan ballads. Unluckily for Serbia, I'd say their entry was the weakest of that three.

It will probably qualify from the semi-final though (as will FYR Macedonia undoubtedly) and a draw that puts those three songs together would be disastrous. Still, it's not happened yet so we won't worry too much. But with so many Balkan ballads, the votes will probably be all split between them and they'll all finish mid-table. Which leaves perhaps a more funkier, Turkish effort to come through... maybe...

Melodifestivalen Tonight!

2007-03-10T06:30:00.000-08:00

Yup, it’s that time of year again. The biggest, best, most popular and most exciting national final will take place this Saturday night as Sweden choose their entry in the annual Melodifestivalen. After four semi-finals and a wildcard round, there are now 10 entries in contention for representing Sweden in Finland in May. After their 5th place finish last year, they will be looking for another Top 5 finish. Could they do it? Possibly! Here’s what’s on offer this year…

01. “A LITTLE BIT OF LOVE” – Andreas Johnson
Andreas makes his second consecutive Melodifestivalen Final appearance after finishing 3rd last year with Beatles-y “Sing For Me”. His song this year is not as good as last year, but it sure is a catchy affair. It’s a sort of sing-a-long pop rock song with all ladies guitarists a la Robert Palmer. It’s a nice sweet start to this year and he’s a popular singer but I don’t think this song is strong enough to go two better than he did last year.

02. “FOR ATT DU FINNS” – Sonja Alden
This came through the wildcard round, and it must be remembered that all wildcards should still be taken seriously – just look at Denmark! Anyway, this song is probably not going to do a DQ. It’s a pleasing but rather plain ballad with rather atmospheric sounds to it. It’s become a bit of a favourite, but I can’t really see this doing better than mid-table. Nice song, but that’s about all.

03. “SAMBA SOMBERO” – Anna Book
Now this song has taken some bashing amongst Eurovision fans, mainly because it did stop the absolutely magnificent “Move” going to the final (or even the second chance round!). However, this song is insanely catchy and the larger-than-life Anna Book performs this samba-schlager belter absolutely joyfully! It’s such a great song with such a great performer! It probably won’t win – if it does there’ll be riots – but it should do well hopefully. It’s like a fun version of Norway. What more do you need to know?!

04. “WHEN THE NIGHT COMES FALLING” – Sebastian
This is a sort of rock-meets-schlager kind of song and it breezes along rather nicely with Sebastian, who has a voice not too dissimilar to Andreas Johnson, taking the reigns. It’s a catchy chorus with descending melody, but there’s something about this that irritates me slightly… I’m unsure of what it is though! I can’t see this clambering right to the top of the scoreboard tonight.

05. “TRYING TO RECALL” – Marie Lindberg
Marie is a schoolteacher by day, but at weekends she likes to take part in Eurovision based competitions, hence her place in Melodifestivalen. “Trying To Recall” reminds me of Katie Melua doing Kings Of Convenience. It’s a gentle song with strumming guitar throughout. It’s very beautiful actually, folky, and this could be the surprise winner in Sweden. And if it pulled a good draw at Eurovision, it could do very well indeed. It would certainly deserve to. Very nice.

06. “CARA MIA” – Mans Zelmerlow
Well here’s your expected Swedish schlager-cheese. The very charming Mans sings this Mediterranean inspired “Cara Mia” with a HIGHLY catchy chorus. It’s not perhaps the most musically brilliant piece you’ll ever hear, but it’s got a good dance beat to it, and a good key change into the chorus. There’s just nothing particularly striking about the song – it IS good, but it’s not a Eurovision winner, and I’m unsure if it will win tonight.

07. “JAG TROR PA MANNISKAN” – Tommy Nilsson
Tommy is the singer of one of Sweden’s best ever songs, “En Dag” which finished 4th in 1989. This ballad here though is, I would say, the weakest song in this year’s Melodifestivalen and is the rank outsider. It’s just quite dull really and cannot stand out in a vibrant and exciting final such as Melodifestivalen. I predict last place for this rather drab affair. It’s a shame cos he’s got a great voice, but the song lets him down lots.

08. “VAGER DU, VAGER JA” – Sanna Nielsen
No one does Schlager like Melodifestivalen veteran Sanna Nielsen, and she’s here again with another cheesy, catchy pop song which I have rather a soft spot for! This is a bright, happy, cheery pop song that is clichéd in everyway possible and cheesier than a platter of brie, but it’s so cheesy that it gets away with it! I doubt this is going to be the winner tonight but it should clock up some points hopefully. Great stuff!

09. “I REMEMBER LOVE” – Sarah Dawn Finer
Well this is a rather nice ballad! Not the most exciting but it has a very nice, endearing tune. There’s something about the chorus that makes me think ‘Great British Song Contest’ but that’s not a bad thing! This is a very nice song but perhaps not immediate enough to clock up the big votes. Deserves to do well though and if it does win Melodifestivalen then it will be a nice and pleasant surprise!

10. “THE WORRYING KIND” – The Ark
And finally, the favourite! Remember Alvin Stardust? That sort of 70s rock and roll boogie? Well here it is in fine form! “The Worrying Kind” is a very fun song indeed and, I truly believe, would be in serious competition for the prize in May. The chorus is a very catchy affair indeed and it’ll get your mum and dad rockin’ around the room that’s for sure! Norway and Finland have both sent rocky songs of late – surely it’s Sweden’s turn! This would be a nice choice for Sweden and this really would stand out in this rather average year…

Well that’s the list, and here’s my own top 10 of how I would like to see things finish tonight…

01 “THE WORRYING KIND” – The Ark
02 “SAMBA SAMBERO” – Anna Book
03 “VAGER DU, VAGER JAG” – Sanna Nielsen
04 “TRYING TO RECALL” – Marie Lindberg
05 “CARA MIA” – Mans Zelmerlow
06 “I REMEMBER LOVE” – Sarah Dawn Finer
07 “FOR ATT DU FINS” – Sonja Alden
08 “A LITTLE BIT OF LOVE” – Andreas Johnson
09 “WHEN THE NIGHT COMES FALLING” – Sebastian
10 “JAG TROR PA MANNISKAN” – Tommy Nilsson

In all honesty, I’d be happy if ANY of the my top 6 won! So many quality songs, and this is why the Melodifestivalen is the most popular National Final around Europe. It’s looking very good for The Ark, but there may be a surprise tonight, who knows.

What must be said is that tonight is pretty much the end of the National Final season. After tonight, all that will be left is for Hungary and Russia to reveal their songs and for the UK to pick their song next week. So it’ll be a sad one tonight, but at least with MF we go out on a high!

Austria's Alive Again

2007-03-08T10:32:00.000-08:00

After taking a year out (or, more accurately, sulking ‘cos no one liked their Alpine inspired entry of 2005), Austria are back, ready to take on 27 other semi-finalists in Helsinki, looking for a Grand Final place on Saturday 12th May.

Sadly, I fear the worst.

One of their Pop Idol losers, Eric Papilaya, has the unenviable job of trying to reignite Austria’s Eurovision flame with a song called “Get A Life, Get Alive”. An interesting fact about this song is that it was not recorded by Anastacia, but could have been had she not become ill. So, strictly speaking, she did not reject the song as such. But if Anastacia had recorded it, I imagine she would have only used it as a b-side. It’s not very good.

It’s not overly forgettable but, at the same time it lacks ANY sort of spark. It’s rather dull, rather bland and – I’m afraid – Austria may sit out next year in the thought that nobody likes them. The truth is their song is no good. AND it was an internal selection. Tut tut indeed.

The glory days of Alf Poier, Thomas Forstner and Udo Jurgens seem very far behind. Good luck to Eric – but don’t expect to see Saturday 12th.

Catching Up...

2007-03-06T11:36:00.000-08:00

OK, OK, so many apologies for not updating this blog sooner but it seems that another entry is picked every six minutes! Here’s what’s been going on over the last few days…

Saturday night saw Croatia and Lithuania pick their songs for 2007. Croatia will be participating in the semi-finals with “Vjerujem U Ljubav” sung by the group Dragonfly and old rocker Dado Topic – he’s 57! Surely the oldest Eurovision participant for many years… This song was a surprise winner and it’s not hard to see why. It begins nicely and, y’know, seems to float along rather pleasantly. But I found it utterly forgettable even as I was listening to it! I know I kind of liked it but it’s impossible to recall. Croatia have a very impressive Eurovision track record, not missing a grand final since their debut in 1993 – the only non-Big 4 country to achieve this. They are a popular choice amongst Balkan voters but I’m not sure that this will make the Top 10 of the semi-final which is a shame.

Lithuania’s 2006 entry, “We Are The Winners”, assured them a place in this year’s Grand Final, and to represent them this year is an entry of completely different extremes than LT United last year! “Love Or Leave” is the gentle flamenco song that they send this year, sung rather beautifully by 4Fun. It’s a nice song with Spanish guitar throughout and a sweet bossa nova beat for the beat to breeze along to. Again, it’s a tad forgettable but it’s very different and a late draw could pay well for Lithuania. Not a winner I think, but it’s a nice entry and probably Lithuania’s best song to date.

After 3rd place last year, Bosnia & Herzegovina have a lot to top. That job goes to young Marija Sestic and her sweet Balkan ballad “Rijeka Bez Imena” (A River Without Words). It’s a typically ethnic affair with a similar structure to their entry last year, “Lejla”, but to make this song truly special it just lacks that beautifully powerful climax that “Lejla” had. It’s very nicely sung and it’s got some great moments but… ah, it just misses the mark. It could have topped “Lejla” but it’s just not strong enough. A Top 10 finish in Helsinki? Perhaps, but Bosnia & Herzegovina won’t improve on 3rd place. Very nice song, though, it seems Bosnia have found their niche.

Meanwhile, I’m very aware that I’ve not mentioned anything about the Andorran entry, despite being out for about a week. The song is called “Salvem A Mon” and is sung by Busted-a-likes Anonymous. If only they’d stayed Anonymous. It’s received a warm reception but, for me, Andorra have still yet to submit a good song to ESC. “Salvem A Mon” is a Son Of Dork / Busted / Avril Lavigne type song that really riles me up the wall. Not my cup of tea. I don’t think Europe will go mad for it either. Although they probably will score more than the 8 points that Jenny From The Blob managed to collect for them last year…

Go Georgia!!!

2007-03-04T06:50:00.000-08:00

Hurrah! Georgia did not fail last night and 51% of people chose "My Story" to be their debut Eurovision entry. Sung by Sopho Khalvashi, this is a song with a difference. It's bonkers, it's brilliant and it is my new favourite for 2007, just toppling Malta.

Sopho's performance of this song though was intriguing and it looked like she was engulfed by a large blancmange. Seriously, I'm not making this up.

The tragedy is that this performance looked very silly indeed. This is a song that has the potential to do very well but it needs to be performed well with a big light show, lots of frantic violining with lit-up bows and very intense dancing. In my opinion.

Sopho has the voice to carry this off live, let's just hope she gets the performance up to scratch. Some people can't see this qualifying from the semi-final, but then some people are saying that Bulgaria could win! If folk think Bulgaria could win, then this certainly has a chance... well done Georgia!

If Your Song's Latino, Use "Maria"

2007-03-02T12:09:00.000-08:00

This seems to be a nice philosophy to live by if you've been taking an interest in the Greek entry. They've chosen a song called "Yassou Maria" to represent them - as in the Santana song "Maria, Maria", and the Ricky Martin song "Maria". Blondie also sang a song called "Maria" but that's less relevant here.

Sarbel, our lanky male singer for Greece, appears to have gone to the Ricky Martin School of Pop Stars and performs like him. The Greek entry, "Yassou Maria" could in fact be a Ricky Martin song. The Greek entry - obviously highly inspired.

But, no, that's too harsh! It's not a bad latino pop song actually and in a year that, as time goes on, seems to be becoming more open, I think this could rack up quite a few points in the final. I don't think it's strong enough to be a winner but if we are to have a surprise winner then this could be among the candidates.

Oh, and it's probably worth mentioning here that Montenegro chose their first ever entry as a sole nation too this week!

It's called "Hajde Kroci", sung by a guy called Stevan Faddy, and is an 80s-rocky number with catchy chorus but that - ooh - uses distortion guitars. Ouch. 20 years too late.

Trouble a (He)brewing...

2007-03-02T12:02:00.000-08:00

Israel chose their entry this week. Teapacks, one of those "zany" type groups will sing Push The Button. No, not the Sugababes song, but a song about a much more relevant matter. Nuclear war.

Now it's a song with a difference a WORLD away from Israel's latest few entries and it has already caused controversy with its lyrics which talk basically about how some countries might 'push the button' and blow us all up to destruction. No countries are namechecked but coming from Israel, whose politics are rather colourful, it's obviously stirred up a bit of trouble.

Even the BBC have reported it! http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6405457.stm
That's a nice pic of Dana International too, even though I say so myself. Look at those thighs!

Anyway, there's talk of the Israeli entry being disqualified which it probably won't be. IBA have said that they aren't breaking any EBU rules with their lyrics and if this is true then there's no problem. It's just upset a few people.

It probably won't even qualify though. Cos a song about nuclear war sung in the styles of ska, rock and garage rap might be a bit too much for televoters to take in at once. Maybe.

My First Blunder

2007-03-02T12:00:00.000-08:00

Aha. So it seems I've made my first major blunder of the 2007 season by quite harshly (but nevertheless deservedly) writing off the Bulgarian entry, "Voda". Well it's only gone and won this weeks Eurovision messageboard poll hasn't it.

So it's the fan fave at the moment! Don't get me wrong - I stand by my words. It's a horrible mess. Europe will NEVER vote for this to qualify, it will scare the televoters. But, yeah, I just thought I'd let you know that I am once again not going along with the fans. Nothing ever changes.

Making Your Mind Up 2007 - The Announcement!

2007-02-28T10:44:00.000-08:00

Today, the six potential artists in line for 17th March's Making Your Mind Up were announced, and these are the six singers and songs that are in the running. Of course, the comments on the songs cannot be overly long because the BBC insist on only putting 30 second snippets on their website. Why, who knows.

Flying The Flag For You - Scooch
Scooch are a washed up boy/girl band from the early 00s who had a top five hit that I remember being quite bad. They've opted for an airline theme for their entry (it worked for Sestre) and they play upon their gimmick of the "3 minute Eurovision flight". The song is a typically cheesy affair with extra stilton.

(Don't It Make You) Happy - Liz McLarnon
Liz was part of Atomic Kitten (they can make you whole again) and she is friends with Jenny 'Precious' Frost! She's a good singer but this song, even in a 30 second snippet, is very much a rip off of Son Of A Preacher Man. But is this a bad thing?!

They Don't Make'm Like They Used To - Justin Hawkins & Beverlei Brown
Yes, that Justin Hawkins and some lady who can't spell Beverley properly. I had a lot of promise for this song but it doesn't seem to do very much in the 30 second snippet. But then YOU CAN'T TELL IN 30 SECONDS BBC!!! Idiots.

I Can - Brian Harvey
He ran himself over but he's back! This song is an RnB ballad written by Connor Reeves, a good fellow who had a few hits back in the late 90s. Sounds nice enough and Brian has a great voice. Mmm.

I'll Take My Heart - Cyndi
It says on the BBC website that this song is in the same style as 'I Will Always Love You'. If what they mean by this is that it's a ballad, they are correct. It's sort of gospelly, it goes nicely but it doesn't strike me as a killer Eurovision ballad. But UK ballads do always do well. So this could be an interesting one if picked.

Big Bro Thang - Big Brovaz
Big Brovaz are an urban RnB group and I tell you what, this song isn't bad. As in it passes as credible hip-hop, not that pap that Poland are sending. Ghetto-y, good bassline and catchy little chorus. Also it's very UK! Unlike when Javine went Turkish but, alas, we all thought it would be for the best...

So what to make of all this? Well yet again, another load of washed up names BUT vitally they're all good performers. Justin Hawkins and Beverlei Brown could be one to watch but their song does sound a bit weak to me. But it is hard to say after 30 second snippets what's good and what's not... I have however heard the Big Brovaz song all the way through and it's not all bad y'know.

Yeah, let's pick the Brovaz. It'll be like Love City Groove never happened.

And to the BBC - the six songs don't sound too bad. We've not got a winner I don't think, but we might get a good result. Interesting that we're the last country to pick our entry AFTER the draw takes place especially with that new you can pick where you go system (well, it's not quite that simple). Why they can't put the full songs on their website is an annoying mystery though...

So roll on 17th March when we'll find out who follows in Daz's footsteps! And anyway, back to business, Greece pick tonight...

Who K?

2007-02-27T12:41:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow, the finalists will be announced for Making Your Mind Up, the UK's annual trawl through the barrel of D-List celebrity stardom in order to find our Eurovision entry. It is always common for rumours to run rife on message boards, and who can blame people for speculating? After all Katie Price rather memorably took part in 2005 but lost. Ironically, it wasn't her that got her lals out. It was Javine, and she won. So maybe there's a lesson there.

Anyway, back to the point. Rumours are running wild even more so than ever. It's likely that there'll be six participants (but I must stress that this could be incorrect, cos the BBC like keeping you on your toes) and these are the names amongst whom people seem to believe will definitely be in the running...

Liz McLarnon (ex-Atomic Kitten, friend of Jenny Frost who was part of Precious)
Brian Harvey (ex-East 17 who, curiously, is remembered for running himself over 2 yrs ago)
The Puppini Sisters (cute little threesome of ladies singing in 1940s style)
Big Brovaz (popular UK R'n'B group about four yrs ago but are making a fighting comeback)

It's an interesting selection of names, but I wouldn't mind seeing them confirmed tomorrow - all acts are good performers. Let's not forget than Tony Christie and Emma Bunton hav also not been ruled out.

The outbreak of gossip was not helped today by one Eurovision website saying that the name of one act that will be confirmed for Making Your Mind Up has a connection with a child's toy. Who could this be? Here are some options...

Michael Ball... despite the fact he famously said he'd rather stick pins in his eyes than do ESC again.

Sandie Shaw... won with Puppet On A String. This would be her 40th anniversary of her win, she's recently said she's been cured of her hatred for ESC and she's just recorded a new version of her Eurovision winner. Could this be her comeback?

Neil Morrissey... voiced Bob The Builder. He's got a nice voice.

The Wombles... Eurovision interval act 1974. Could they be back as the real thing?!?!?!?

Dolly Parton... this is just getting silly now.

Anyway, there's been so much speculation that it's probably best to stop and wait until tomorrow when we'll finally know who's in contention to follow St. Daz in Helsinki.

What we do know is that Natasha Kaplinsky has been overthrown as presenter of MYMU by the lady who's springing up at the BRITs, Oscars, Comic Relief and now Eurovision too, Fearne Cotton. And all cos she did that 'hard rock' fist thing when she gave out the votes last year.

Announcement tomorrow! Expect outcy, there'll be some...

An Absolute Load Of Bull-garia

2007-02-25T12:12:00.001-08:00

Well. Oh my word. I had the pleasure of hearing the Bulgarian entry for the first time over the weekend and, goodness me, what a mesmerising listen. It is worth its very own blog entry.

I have never heard such noise in my life. There’s wailing, drums, club rhythms… it is just bizarre. There is no tune – it is merely three minutes of horrendous sounds coming out of some lady’s mouth. Too many drums, too much Eastern wailing and over the top of dance music?

It is a melting pot of shite.

It’s called “Voda” which translates as “Water” which, you would think, would mean the song was a nice, calming, serene number. Wrong. It is interpreted by one Stoyan Yankulov who stands around banging drums, and Elitsa Todorova who makes disturbing sounds that clash horribly with the backing track, and she also has a go at the old drum beating. Seriously, this entry is SO bad, it is almost funny.

Noise. That is the only word for it. It is just noise. And if it qualifies I shall eat my hat.

Worryingly, it has seemed to have caused a rather positive stir on Eurovision messageboards. Expect it to chart high this week in the polls! But it’s a truly awful song. Wow. It’s that bad.

A Busy Weekend (again)...

2007-02-25T12:10:00.000-08:00

There’s been plenty going on this weekend! I best fill you in…

In a relatively quiet national final from FYR MACEDONIA, the unanimous winner – in that she scored all the points possible – was Karolina Goceva, FYROM’s 2002 entrant. She returns five years on with “Mojet Svet”, a good song with lots of typical Eastern rhythms. It’s a nice listen, not overly memorable but I think it was amongst the better songs picked over the weekend. Annoyingly it’s in the 7/4 time signature that Tose Proseki used on “Life” is 2004 so it makes listening to it a bit awkward. Otherwise though not a bad effort. And as FYROM have qualified from every semi-final so far, I’d expect this one to go through to the final!

SPAIN’s very long and rather confusing selection process took place on Saturday with 25 performances! 5 singers, 5 songs, all possible combinations performed! What a marathon! At the end of it all, it was decided that the Boyband hunks, Nash, will go to Helsinki singing “I Love You Mi Vida”, typical boy band fodder. But, hey, they’re a decent boy band and they pull it off. It’s got a memorable hook to it this song AND it’s written by that pesky Swede Thomas G:Son, who has also written the Norwegian entry. He gets everywhere. But he knows how to write a good Eurovision song obviously. Not ground breaking stuff from Spain, but the boyband appeal may get them a few more marks than they have done of late.

Well, the Cypriot entry’s in French so why not have the LATVIAN entry in Italian?! They’re sending a group of male tenors and basses going by the name of bonoparti.lv and they’ll be singing the rather operatic “Questa Notte”. Sadly it’s a bit of a wet weekend in Wales. 2 years ago, the UK final had a great Il-Divo-esque song called “Brand New Day” in it, and it was MUCH better than “Questa Notte”. It’s such a great idea for an act, but the song just doesn’t cut it. It might qualify from the semi merely because the mums love a tenor, but the song is really not all that memorable. Bit of a letdown really. It’s nice but… it’s only nice.

So we like all the songs here. But still... will a standout song be chosen this year? Is there one on the horizon? Hopes still on Georgia... :-)

Comme Ci, Comme Ca...

2007-02-24T07:21:00.000-08:00

Last night, Cypriot superstar, 39-year-old Evridiki performed her 2007 Eurovision entry for the first time. Following on from 11th placings in 1992 and 1994, she's back with Comme Ci, Comme Ca. And firstly may I say... what an appropriate title!

It's neither here nor there, it's not good but not bad, it's so-so... it is indeed comme ci comme ca.

Firstly it's all in French - a shrewd move from the Cypriots, but will it pay off? It seems a little odd to me. The song is another sort of 90s club-dance song a little bit like Hooked On You from the Norweigan National Final and also like the Swiss entry Vampires Are Alive - but it's less good. I don't know it just lacks something. For me, I'm missing a hook. I just can't seem to find this song's strengths. Also I watched this lady perform it on YouTube and she's rather distracting when she performs this as if she's demented! I don't remember her being quite show manic in the 90s. She's obviously aged well.

So yeah, the Cypriot entry, very comme ci comme ca. Will it qualify from the semi-final? Well if Evridiki finishes 11th for the third successive time then not only will it be unfortunate that she's failed to hit the Top 10 AGAIN, it means she won't qualify. It'll pick up votes from Greece and perhaps France and other countries but I'm not sure this is a certain qualifier. But don't write it off!

To The Dancefloor!

2007-02-23T11:40:00.000-08:00

The Swiss and Belgian entries have been revealed midweek with interesting results...

It was revealed some time ago that DJ Bobo would be doing his stuff for the Swiss this year and he later announced that his song would have Balkan influences. It now seems that Bobo was lying because his entry "Vampires Are Alive" - yes, that is the title! - owes more to Ayia Napa than Bosnia & Herzegovina. It's a cheesy club dance tune that mixes his voice with some other bird's and, actually... it's not so bad! It's not a winner, and by no means a definite qualifier, but it's a bit different, cheesy tune with a good hook to it and with a good live performance this could become a competitor!

The weekly poll to find out fans' favourite Eurovision songs of the season so far hit its second week this week and Switzerland managed to gain a rather credible 5th place out of 15 songs! The poll was won for the second week by Belarus, with Iceland finishing runner up. Iceland!!! It's a terrible drog that Icelandic song!!! My favourite Norway has climbed up to 7th this week (whoop!) whilst my second favourite, Malta, came third bottom! Once again, I'm straying away from the collective fans favourites.

One country that revelaed their entry one day too late to be entered into this week's poll was Belgium. They will be represented by The Krazy Mess Groovers and their song "Love Power". Whisk yourself back to the 70s dancefloor and you're pretty much there! It's another cheesy 70s disco number, the sort of song you'd find on a 70s compilation CD that might fall out of your Sunday paper. Saying that, it's kind of groovy (they are Groovers, though) and I like that sort of stuff. So even though it is a bit limp, I think it's rather jolly all the same!

Next country to reveal is Cyprus, and in a year which is shaping up to be one of many just "average" songs, there's a lot of hope that Cyprus might come up with the biz. My hopes are still pinned on Georgia though - but more info on them in the coming week!

Loco To Todo... and more news!

2007-02-21T06:55:00.000-08:00

So yeah, Locomondo had to change their name in a sort of 'Liberty X' type situation and so their new name is... Todomondo! I'm guessing this is purely in tribute to the 1990 Italian Eurovision winner Toto Cutugno. It kind of makes sense cos when Toto infamously presented the show in '91 he insisted on announcing the votes in many languages, and Locomondo - sorry - Todomondo's song is also about saying "I Love You" in as many languages as possible. I suspect a conspiracy.

In other news, the BBC have said that - and it pains me to say this - Daz Sampson will NOT be representing the UK this year (boo!). The BBC said it would be too soon for him to return! Let's hope this thinking rules out Javine's comback. On a slightly bigger note, the Beeb also announced that Mozza will not have anything to do with UK ESC this year either. All that build up for nothing... looks like Tony Christie and Emma Bunton it could be!

Austria have announced that a man called Eric will sing for them in Helsinki. Apparantly he did well on their version of Pop Idol. It worked for Jessica Garlick.

Belgium will be represented by a band called The Krazy Mess Groovers. Apprantly they're "krazy". Their song Love Power will be debuted this weekend and is expected to be a jazzy/disco fusion type song. Sounds intriguing... it could be good!

Likewise, this weekend sees the debuting of the Cypriot song, the announcement of the Hungarian entry, the national finals of Bulgaria, Latvia, Spain, Armenia, Montenegro and we'll also find out the first semi-final qualifier as FYR Macedonia pick their entry!!!! LOL!!!!

So it's a busy old weekend with a potential EIGHT songs being confirmed this weekend. Crikey...

Rock On In Scandinavia

2007-02-18T06:07:00.001-08:00

Last night, Iceland and Finland chose their Eurovision entries for 2007. I've been following Iceland quite closely and there were a few decent songs in last night's final. However, as seems to be the trend this year, the underdog won, namely...

"Eg Les I Lofa Thinum" - Eirikur Hauksson

This song is a fairly bland number sung by old gravelly vocalist Eirikur who represented Iceland on their first attempt 21 years ago. He's a scary looking fellow and this isn't going to help matters that this song is instantly forgettable and rather out of touch with modern Eurovision flare. I don't think this is going to qualify at all and this is my second worst so far.

In Finland, the host country, they are still adamant that rock is king. Therefore, they will be sending this heavy rock song:

"Leave Me Alone" - Hanna Pakarinen

Hanna is a rock chick but unlike Gracia in 2005 she is a good performer and belts out this one with much conviction. It's received a lot of criticism from the fans and, even though it's not going to do the double for the Finns, I think this could still get a decent result. It's about halfway down my list at the moment. Good production, good sound to this and a great performer. Not a bad song either!

So a mixed bag from last night! Yet we've heard a third of the songs and still nothing stands out as winner yet... is it going to be a close affair this year? Or are the triumphant songs still yet to come? Let's hope for the latter. In the meantime, Norway's Ven A Bailar Conmigo still leads the pack for me!

Rock On In Scandinavia

2007-02-18T06:07:00.000-08:00

They Can't Stop The Irish

2007-02-17T06:21:00.000-08:00

Last night, Ireland chose their entry to this year's Eurovision Song Contest. After selecting the folk band Dervish to represent them a couple of months ago, it's not surprise that the song chosen is a very traditional Irish affair! The name of the song that will represent Ireland is:

"They Can't Stop The Spring" - Dervish

"They Can't Stop The Spring" is a lilting, Irish ballad with tin whistle, bodhran, violin, accordion - the whole works in fact! It's a very beautiful tune indeed, and the female vocalist Cathy Jordan sings it very well in a traditional style. One wonders whether it's too traditional to do well, but with the success of Eastern music in Eurovision of late, can traditional Irish music perhaps conquer all in May?

Ireland gain direct qualification for the Grand Final and so, along with Romania, we now have our second direct finalist. Two very different songs both set in tradition. A lovely choice though Ireland, very different and hopefully it'll get the points it deserves!

Luck of the Draw

2007-02-16T11:46:00.000-08:00

Just when you thought the EBU couldn't mess anymore with the way Eurovision works (the semi-final, the way that ALL countries vote, the way the votes now appear on screen etc etc), they've only gone and messed up the way the draw works too.

Next month, the draw for running order will take place for both semi-final and grand final. This year though, the first five countries drawn for the semi-final and the first three countries drawn for the grand final will get 'wildcard' status, i.e. they'll get to choose whereabouts in the draw they'll actually go.

This is the most ridiculous and stupid thing the EBU have done to Eurovision EVER.

Fans have already spotted many potential difficulties such as what if the one of the first three "countries" drawn for the Grand Final is an Automatic Semi-Final qualifier. Will they get to decide where they go in the draw as late as 11th May? It's also unfair as the first three countries drawn out for the grand final will most probably pick positions near the end of the running, so that the semi-finalists will nearly all get early draws. Which would be fine if they were drawn out that way, but this is giving countries some advantages over others and it just isn't fair.

And many fans are indeed right that all this "tweaking" is overlooking the real problem of neighbourly or political voting which needs to be looked at immediately. Never mind all this faffing about with the draw which, if anyone from the EBU is reading this, is totally unfair and is a ridiculous idea. I really wish that Svante and his team stop messing around with Eurovision because it's getting to a point where nothing is fair anymore. Very sad indeed.

Some random tit-bits

2007-02-16T03:08:00.000-08:00

There've been some interesting pieces of info flying around recently. Just thought I'd fill you in on some of them...

- The BBC have said that they'll announce exactly what's going to happend "around February 28th". This is very frustrating as this is most easily the latest that any broadcaster has revealed their plans. Apart from in 1956 when one country picked its entry too late. Guess who it was? Yeah, the BBC. God bless them.

- Billie Piper will NOT be representing the UK this year. A list was published this afternoon (a hoax, according to the Beeb) contatining the following names - Emma Bunton, Katrina Leskanich, Steven Scott-Lee, Ace of Base, Charlotte Church, Son Of Dork, Chico, Tina Cousins, Morrissey and 4Tune. The BBC called this list of names 'hilarious'.

- The Andorran entrants Anonymous have said that their song will "make the walls dance". If this is true of any Andorran song then it probably deserves some sort of rich reward.

- Romanian entrants Locomondo may have to change their name because some Greek group also possess it. Wonder what they'll call themselves?

- There's a song in the Armenian national final called "My Story" which is also the name of the favourite to win the Georgian final. I doubt the Armenian "My Story" is quite as legendary as the Georgian song of the same name, as that particular song is fantastic but bonkers.

- The hosts of this year's Eurovision Song Contest have been announced as Janna and Mikko who look like a lovely young couple. They haven't got much to live up to following last year's Maria "amazing" Menounos and Sakis "69 69 69" Rouvas.

- DJ Bobo, the Swiss entrant, has said that his song will be a pumping disco tune with Balkan influence. If he is right about this, he could pull off a fantastic Swiss result. This is, however, the man who had a hit with the rather un-Balkan "Chihuahua" so I won't get excited just yet.

- "Work Your Magic" from Belarus is the first official fan favourite of 2007 following an annual poll that takes place amongst fans every year. Not a bad choice. Norway came 7th out of 11. Boo hiss.

Edsilia Picks Dutch Entry!

2007-02-12T11:46:00.000-08:00

Last night, the 2007 Dutch Eurovision entry was chosen. It had been announced some weeks ago that former participant Edsilia Rombley (4th in 1998) would take the responsibility of dragging the Netherlands out of the semis and into the grand final. In a rather bizarre nation final, Edsilia performed three songs and then SHE, not anybody else, chose which song she was going to have as her Eurovision entry. Ooh, the power.

Anyway, not wanting to upset the crowd in the studio, she chose the song that went down the best, and so the 2007 Netherlands entry is called…

“NOOIT MEER ZONDER JOU” – Edisila Rombley

It’s an upbeat song that starts slow (yep, one of those deceiving ones) and then breaks into a big chorus. But… it just doesn’t seem to be as big as it should, or indeed could be. I think there’s a big song waiting to get out here but, at the moment, its arrangement is not giving it enough power. It’s also already been likened to “One Day In Your Life” by Anastacia and, although the tune is different, the chord progressions are identical. “One Day In Your Life” though is one extremely powerful song! Edsilia should take some hints here.

So yeah, the Dutch entry as it stands is NOT BAD, and most certainly better than “Amambanda”, their entry last year, which was one of the worst Dutch songs ever. If they want to get out of the semis though, they need to rework the song because they won’t qualify if they don’t. And I fear that Netherlands are just one step away from pulling out of Eurovision if they don’t get the result they want this year. They haven’t finished in the Top 10 since 1999. Which is fair enough in some cases (2001, 2004, 2005), but not in others (Glennis Grace WAS ROBBED).

So good luck to the Netherlands – great performer. Just rework the song!!!

Come on, Liubi, do the Locmondo...

2007-02-11T06:23:00.002-08:00

Romania’s national final was of course thrown into a lot of trouble, with three songs disqualified for breaking EBU rules. As a protest, the writers of the song “Crazy” went and withdrew their entry, which is a shame because it was the best song of the selection! Therefore, my hopes were pinned on “No Podre Vivir” by Marcel Pavel, or “Time” by Ionut Unugureanu. Did either of them win? No. This did though…

“LIUBI, LIUBI, I LOVE YOU” – Locomondo

After two years of Romanian songs being dance orientated, they will this year send a sort of Eastern European gypsy folk number in a similar style to Poland 2005. This result for me was the most interesting of last night. Romania’s good result last year means they automatically qualify for this year’s final, and so Locomondo are the first act that we know are definitely in the Saturday final. But how will the voters of Europe take this song? I’m very undecided! It’s got a bit of a novelty value to it, which could help it bring in a few votes. Eastern Europe will love it! I don’t think it’s too bad at all, but it’s not a particularly conventional song. A good performance could pull it off, but it’s not perhaps to everybody’s taste.

This song has got me really undecided! It’s about halfway down my ranking list, which can now be turned into a top ten, as we know have TEN songs picked! And here’s my current order for the moment…

1 NORWAY – “Ven A Bailar Conmigo”
2 MALTA – “Vertigo”
3 BELARUS – “Work Your Magic”

4 ESTONIA – “Partners In Crime”

5 ROMANIA – “Liubi, Liubi, I Love You”
6 DENMARK – “Drama Queen”
7 MOLDOVA – “Fight”

8 POLAND – “Time To Party”
9 SLOVENIA – “Cvet Z Juga”

10 ALBANIA – “Balada E Gurit”

So as you can see, I have a definite top three at the moment, with Norway leading the way. More entries to be chosen tonight though… it’s non-stop fun!

Latinorway

2007-02-11T06:23:00.001-08:00

Oh, the Norwegian Grand Final! How it throws up some surprises! After the first part of the voting, the eight songs were whittled down to these four…

“CHICKEN RODEO” – Dusty Cowshit
“ROCKET RIDE” – Jannicke Abrahamsen
“WANNABE” – Crash
“VEN A BAILAR CONMIGO” – Guri Schanke

Yep, Infinity’s big club effort was eliminated, along with the mum pop of “Love On The Dancefloor”, the guitar riffs of “Maybe”, and (contrary to the bookies thoughts), the cheesy Eurovision pop of “Vil Du Ha Svar”. Of the four left, it seemed like “Chicken Rodeo” or “Wannabe” could win. But no. They finished 4th and 3rd respectively. Unlike Denmark, Norway didn’t make the wildcard entry their winner – that rules out “Rocket Ride”. Which means that Norway’s 2007 Eurovision Entry will be…

“VEN A BAILAR CONMIGO” – Guri Schanke

Good choice, Norway.

Even though this song is already loathed by many Eurovision fans, I think it’s fantastic! Especially to see the underdog come through too! “Ven A Bailar Conmigo” is a chirpy, upbeat, latino, flamenco song with a really, REALLY, memorable chorus. Musically, I don’t think this is going to be the best song of Eurovision 2007, but come May I think this could be a very dangerous song. I think it will qualify from the semi-final, and with a late draw and strong performance I really think this could challenge for the title! I could be showing some bias cos it really is my favourite song so far this year, but it’s so irresistible.
Maybe Dusty Cowshit lost out in the end, but well done Guri! I think you can do it!

Tran-tastic!

2007-02-11T06:22:00.001-08:00

Yesterday three more entries were picked for Eurovision, with surprises everywhere, not least in Denmark! In an amazing twist that a national final has never seen before, a song that was originally eliminated from the competition actually won a “second chance” round wildcard and went on to win the whole national final! That song in question is…

“DRAMA QUEEN” – DQ

Yep, despite being initially eliminated from the first Danish semi-final, it was lucky enough to be given a second chance by Danish voters, and then went on to scoop the prize of representing Denmark yesterday evening. My ultimate favourite, the sublime “Sa Naer Som Nu” by Stig Rossen finished 3rd, whilst the soul number “Say You Love Me” by James Sampson finished just 4 points behind the winner to finish 2nd. Me & My’s “Two Are Stronger Than One” may have been a big favourite, but it finished way down in 6th place.

So what’s “Drama Queen” like then for a Eurovision entry? Well DQ is a transvestite performer, of which the Eurovision Song Contest has seen surprisingly little of before! Both Norway and Sweden have tried to send drag acts in recent years but both have failed. Slovenia’s 2002 entrants, Sestre, were indeed a drag act but their song was rather drab. Despite that, they still finished 13th. This could be a good sign for DQ, as his/her song “Drama Queen” is a camp, glitzy big show-number, and has all the potential to get a lot of votes at Eurovision! I don’t think it’s a particularly brilliant song, but I should think it could pick votes up easily with a bit of a novelty vote. Denmark have to qualify from the semi final, i.e. finish in the Top 10 out of 28 countries, and although there’s a long way to go, it could be one to watch for qualification.

Alas, I’m rather disappointed that Stig Rossen didn’t win – I was hoping it would actually bring the ‘song’ element back to the Eurovision Song Contest. But “Drama Queen” should do well and DQ should give quite a show. An interesting decision from Denmark indeed!

Nor-way of Nor-wing who the winner is here!

2007-02-10T07:03:00.000-08:00

NOR-WAY OF NOR-WING THE WINNER HERE…

I always like the Norwegian national final, no idea why but there’s always a good selection of songs! Their final is called the Melodi Grand Prix, the MGP, which is the same name as Denmark’s final, also held on Saturday night – confusion will reign!

Anyway, last year Norway finished only 14th despite being represented by the brilliant “Alvedansen”, so they’ll be looking for a song to help them clamber out of the semi-finals and believe me, there’s a good possibility that there’s a song here that could do that!

The MGP works as follows – after the 8 songs are initially performed, the top 4 songs chosen by televoting and jury qualify to a “superfinal” where the voting is reopened and the winner announced. But the eight songs tonight are so different and strong, I’m not sure who’ll be in the “superfinal” let alone the winner! Here’s the songs in contention…

1 “HOOKED ON YOU” – Infinity
This song is reminiscent of hard early 90s dance music, “Hooked On You” being a catchy piece of retro pop sung by two people who appear to be the mum and dad of 2 Unlimited. There’s something about the age of these two people that disturbs me a little, not least the fact that the song is played out more like ‘Barbie Girl’ – he’s got a very gruff voice indeed! It’s a good fun song though, and is one to watch.

2 “VIL DU HA SVAR” – Jenny Jenssen
This is the most dated piece of Schlager pop you could possibly ever hear! “Vil Du Ha Svar” is cheesy, bouncy, poppy, and straight from Eurovision of the 1980s. It’s a very cute little song, but I fear that it’s perhaps a little too old-fashioned. If it wins, it may do well in Helsinki, but it’s perhaps a little too unfashionable to challenge for the title.

3 “MAYBE” – Trine Rein feat. Andreas Ljones
This is a slowed down, groovy song with a relentless guitar riff, also played on the violin which is a lovely touch! It’s got a great chorus on it, very strong and memorable but the song sounds very like something else! It starts a bit like “Miss Independent” by Kelly Clarkson, but it’s a bit rockier, a bit heavier. It’s groovy, I kind of like it, but I fear it’s not going to set the world alight.

4 “CHICKEN RODEO” – Dusty Cowshit
Well what can you say here? “Chicken Rodeo” is a country yokel masterpiece sung by of country folk armed with banjos, ukuleles and other country instruments. It’s a really catchy little song, and will doubtless win the novelty vote. This could well be the Norwegian entry by the end of Saturday and it would be thoroughly deserved. Great song!

5 “LOVE ON THE DANCEFLOOR” – Torhild Sivertsen & Funky Family
Imagine your Mum gets up at a party and starts singing some awful retro funk tune. Bingo. “Love On The Dancefloor” is a nauseating piece of Mum-pop, not helped by the fact that the “mature” Torhild is backed by a group called the ‘Funky Family’. Hmm. I’m really not a fan of this song, I don’t think this would be right for Norway at all.

6 “ROCKET RIDE” – Jannicke Abrahamsen
This is a great fun song! It sounds sort of intergalactic, and it’s got a bit of an outer-space theme to it, not least the gold and black outfits! It’s a very camp, fun, pop song that, on the video, seemed to stir the audience right up! It’s a bit Abba-like actually! I’m not sure if the chorus is quite strong enough to carry it to win this MGP, but it certainly adds a lot of fun to it!

7 “WANNABE” – Crash
Well I don’t think one national final in Europe will pass without *some* sort of guitar based song, and this is Norway’s attempt. “Wannabe” isn’t bad at all with its catchy melody driving through in the chorus. It’s more of a Busted song than perhaps a Lordi song, but it’s a great piece of pop and if Norway do want to go for guitars, then this is the very obvious winner. Not bad at all.

8 “VEN A BAILAR CONMIGO” – Guri Schanke
Arguably one of the catchiest songs of the NF season is the highly Un-Norwegian titled “Ven A Bailar Conmigo”. This is more like a Spanish entry than a Norwegian song, but who cares if genres get mixed up across Europe?! This is a really great song actually, rather clichéd, but it’s rather fun and, as I say, very catchy indeed. Very likeable!

Here’s my top eight:

1 “CHICKEN RODEO” – Dusty Cowshit
2 “VEN A BAILAR CONMIGO” – Guri Schanke
3 “HOOKED ON YOU” – Infinity
4 “VIL DU HA SVAR” – Jenny Jenssen
5 “ROCKET RIDE” – Jannicke Abrahamsen
6 “MAYBE” – Trine Rein ft. Andreas Ljones
7 “WANNABE” – Crash
8 “LOVE ON THE DANCEFLOOR” – Torhild Sivertsen & Funky Family

I must say though that apart from “Love On The Dancefloor”, I quite like all of these songs! I don’t think my personal ranking order represents my thinking of how successful they would do at Eurovision – I think “Wannabe” would do rather well. It’s a very open competition tonight, it could go anywhere. But, for me, any of the top four would be a great choice for me.
But you can’t say no to the rodeo!

Romania Pick Their Entry Tomorrow - No Fancy Headline Pun, Couldn't Think Of One

2007-02-09T12:15:00.000-08:00

Romania have had a superb couple of years in Eurovision, and they will hope to keep this record up in 2007. After a 3rd place in 2005, and 4th place last year, they’re on to be one of the most successful Eurovision nations this decade. Of course, due to last year’s fully deserved result for the highly popular “Tornero”, they automatically gain qualification to the Grand Final.

Their two semi-finals have been controversy-leaden however, with only nine of the twelve originally selected songs for the final going through. Three songs, including Rednex’s were withdrawn because they had all been performed in public before 1 October 2006, a violation of one of the EBU’s rules. Slapped wrists all round for removing three quite strong songs!

Anyway, these are the nine songs that we believe are going to be in contention tomorrow night!

1. “DULCE-AMARUIE” – Nico
This is a sort of modern ballad that, you know, goes. But it doesn’t really “go” very far particularly. Nico seems to have a very nice voice, and it does inkeep with that rather contemporary feel that Romania have been sending to the contest of late. Gentle chorus, lacking in ‘oomph’ though generally I would say. Don’t think this is the winner.

2. “DECI 20” – Trupa Veche
Not quite sure how this one made the Romanian final, but there you go! It’s a very nothing song, female vocal pop-rock song, but I’m not sure about her voice. It sounds a bit shaky on the recording, so not sure if she would pull this one off live. It’s really not a particularly great song, but nicely contrasts with the next song…

3. “CRAZY” – Morandi and Wassabi
This is a rather slick modern song with a nice retro feel to it, and it somehow gets away with not sounding too dated as well! Really catchy chorus and it’s a very well written upbeat song that would surely pull in some votes at Eurovision. Not easy to perform a dance track, but it was done rather well at the Romanian semi-finals, and this is most certainly one to watch.

4. “NO PODER VIVIR” – Marcel Pavel
Baldy Marcel represented Romania in 2002 with the rather operatic “Tell Me Why”. This year he returns with a sort of flamenco dance track with a great chorus! It sounds a bit more Maltese or Spanish than Romanian, but let’s not hold that against him because it’s not actually a bad song. It would probably do quite well at the main contest in Helskini I would think and he’s a fab performer too. Really good solid song this, could be one to watch out for!

5. “WHERE WERE YOU” – Desperado And Tony Poptamas
This song is sung by a man who appears to go by the name of Tony Hippopotamus, but that aside… this is like a song from the Icelandic semi-finals. It’s rather dull, MOR male pop-rock song. It sounds to me like a Michael Bolton B-Side of the early 90s. I mean it’s all very nice, and I’m sure this could pull in the ‘mum’ vote, but there are so many strong melodies in this final, I fear this one will get lost amongst them.

6. “NU POT SA UI” – Tibi Scobiola
This is a good little song, a male ballad (but not of pop-rock origin, thank goodness) that sees some very nice falsetto work from Tibi in the chorus. There’s a nice melody to it, but it’s a tad forgettable and there’s nothing really in this song to make it stand out. Although, as I’ve said already, that falsetto could work rather nicely in this if it can be pulled off.

7. “LIUBI, LIUBI, I LOVE YOU” – Locomondo
What can only be described as ska-brass here. This is a bit of a nonsense song with very odd lyrics, doing that very clever tactic of name-checking many places across Europe, which worked for Liam Reilly, but alas not for Nina Astrom. This can only be described as Eastern European gypsy music really and, after two big club anthems from Romania, this would be a rather severe change. The idea of the song is good, but they don’t really pull it off I don’t think.

8. “TIME” – Ionut Ungureanu
Whistling. Now there’s something a bit different in the introduction of “Time”, an odd song in a waltz time that breezes along very nicely and by the end of verse, the song turns into a rather classy, orchestrated instrumental break reminding me of perhaps a George Michael song! I’m worried that perhaps “Time” is a little too subtle for the Eurovision. It’s not a winner for me, but it’s a very mature, stylish song that deserves to do well.

9. “EUROPEAN – A BEAUTIFUL SIN” – Desperado and Tony Poptamas
Yes, somehow amongst all the Romanian kerfuffle, Tony Hippopotamus manages to get TWO songs in this final! This is a much better song than “Where Were You”, and despite the highly odd, and most probably controversial song title (are the EBU really going to allow the words European and Sin in the same title?) it goes along rather nicely. But it’s not going to win I don’t think because I just don’t know if Europe are going to unanimously vote for a song that’s reminiscent of something by Mike & The Mechanics.

So there’s a plethora of musical styles and genres to get your teeth into in this final, but what should win? For me, “Crazy” is the best song here, followed by “No Podre Vivir” and then “Time”, although as I say I’m not too sure if Europe will go for this sort of song. Good luck to those three though, one of them is the deserved winner! Shame about Rednex though.

Great Danes!

2007-02-09T12:11:00.000-08:00

Denmark will tomorrow night pick their Eurovision entry in their annual MGP. Last year, they chose the utterly awful “Twist Of Love” as their entry which rightfully finished a pitiful 18th place (but undeservedly scored 1 point more than the Daz Sampson). After a win in 2000, runner up in 2001, and a joint ninth spot in 2005, can Denmark pick another song to give them a good result and get them out of the semis?

Here are the songs that the Danes are pinning their hopes on…

1. “COPENHAGEN AIRPORT” – Annette Heick
Following on from the 1984 Irish entry, “Terminal Three”, and the 2002 Slovenian drag act Sestre who dressed as hair hostesses, here comes another flight-based song. Annette arrives onstage in a buggy, gets out and reveals that she is wearing an air hostess uniform which is far too short for her! Cover up love! This song is a rather dated upbeat dance song, but Denmark do dated rather well. Just look at all of their entries from the 1980s. This could do well – watch out for it.

2. “TWO ARE STRONGER THAN ONE” – Me & My
Pop is not dead in Denmark. This is a great pop song with a really catchy hook sung by two women, presumably Me & My, who for some strange reason are dressed as superheroes, no doubt coming to save Denmark from their Eurovision perils. This is apparently the favourite to win, and it’s no surprise cos it’s a great cheesy pop song, not typically Schlager (take note Sweden), that has a great hook and is performed really well. This could well be in Helsinki in May!

3. “FLY” – Annika Askman
Not A bad song at all, in the sort of Delta Goodrem vain really. It’s nice to see a talented young lady at a piano anyway! It’s a bit fancy-free though, and probably wouldn’t shake any windows across Europe, but it’s quite a nice song. If only she could incorporate a buggy into her performance, then it could almost become an episode of Challenge Annika in which she has to amend Denmark’s bad result from last year! Oh, imagine!

4. “IT’S A BEAUTIFUL DAY” – Katrine Falkenberg
A very winsome song, the sort of thing you’d sing at a picnic on a summer’s day. Not sure about the ‘Hey, hey, hey/It’s a beautiful day’ lyric either. It’s a country song really, and I find it quite irritating and dull, but whether these two things are related I’m unsure about. Hmm, I don’t think so – this is twee with a capital ‘tw’. And I’ve just realised what it sounds like – ‘Top Of The World’ by the Carpenters! But in a really bad way!

5. “LISTEN TO LOVE” – Jacob Anderson
‘Listen to Love’ orders Jacob Anderson, the pesky guy, when looked at from the right angle, really resembles Gaz Top from How 2 and other great kids TV shows. This is a sort of slow rock song, but is better than anything similar entered by Iceland as it does actually sound fairly modern. This could be in with a chance, the bookies have it as one of the faves I believe, but there are much catchier things on offer.

6. “VI ELSKER BARE DANSKER PIGER” – Jorgen Olsen
Jorgen Olsen is a bit of a Danish hero after winning the 2000 Eurovision Song Contest with his brother and their excellent “Fly On The Wings Of Love”. He’s having a stab on his own though this year, with a rather old fashioned song that isn’t really as good as some of his previous efforts. He’s got a great voice and is really likeable, and as nice as this song is, I fear that without youth on his side (he’s 57) he’s not got the winning package with this one.

7. “MEANING OF LIFE” – Danni Elmo
This is a sort of 90s boy-band rock pop song which bounces along rather nicely, but again I don’t think stands out too much from the crowd. A lot of people seem to like it, but I don’t think it stands out from the crowd at all, possibly the weakest song in the selection. Boring and a bit of a nothing song, building up nicely into song eight I find…

8. “SA NAER SOM NU” – Stig Rossen
Well I don’t want to big this one up too much, but it is the best song I’ve heard from Eurovision 2007 so far. It begins as a bit of a cheesy Disney-ballad, but builds up into the most beautiful song. Stig is not in his first flush of youth (well, younger than Jorgen Olsen) but he is an experienced singer and it shows. Magnificent song, brilliant performer, if I were Danish I would be phoning in trillions of time for this one – superb!!!

9. “SAY YOU LOVE ME” – James Sampson
Any relation to Daz? No? Well this is quite obvious, cos whereas Daz’s forte is rapping, James’s forte is pumping out some SOUL! “Say You Love Me” is a lovely summery bit of 60s soul pop. Very bright, very bouncy, and he’s a sterling singer too! Really good, and very different from usual Eurovision throwaway fodder, this could stand a real chance at winning the MGP this year. Very good indeed!

10. “DRAMA QUEEN” – DQ
Considering what a camp event the Eurovision tends to be, it’s no wonder we don’t see more transvestites. Thank goodness for DQ! His/her song is a stereotypically glam and glitzy affair with a camp, catchy chorus that will probably whip the crowds up into a frenzy. It’s not one of the strongest songs in this selection, but it would do well at Eurovision ‘cause the televoters LOVE this sort of thing! Could be the dark horse…

As you can tell, I have one clear favourite of these ten songs. Stig Rossen would bring something rather different to the Modern Eurovision, and I believe that he would get votes because the song is SO good! However, I don’t think Me & My would shame the Danes either, their song is very good, and James Sampson’s soul-pop song would also bring something a little bit unexpected to Helsinki. Any of these three would suit me, but it has to be Stig Rossen for me!

Gerli Power

2007-02-04T12:55:00.000-08:00

Last night, Slovenia, Poland, Estonia and Malta all chose their entries for Helsinki. In a mammoth Eurovision evening where THIRTEEN countries were holding national finals of some sort (they say that’s unlucky y’know), four entries were picked last night, and they were…

ESTONIA
“Partners In Crime” / Gerli Padar

Good choice I say here, it was my third favourite out of the ten potential Estonian entries. It’s a Pink-like rock number performed by the very able Gerli Padar, brother of Eurovision 2001 winner Tanel. Talk about keeping it in the family. She’ll be pleased cos if she doesn’t win these things she can get quite bitter (see the 2002 Sahlene-gate lower down the blog).

SLOVENIA
“Cvet Z Juga” / Alenka Gotar

Fourteen potential songs were shown in Slovenia, and this was the winner, a sort of opera meets pop type dance song which I’m not convinced about yet. Nice soprano voice, nice idea, but it lacks a certain something – it feels like it should have more “oomph” than it actually does! I don’t think this will be seeing Slovenia through to the grand final, although there seem to be mixed feelings about this one.

POLAND
“Time To Party” / The Jet Set

Well I was a big fan of Moleda at the Polish National Final, but it was the contemporary R&B sounds of “Time To Party” that won in the end. Like Estonia, this was my third favourite from Poland to qualify, so not bad at all. Still not convinced it’s going to qualify from the semi-final though.

MALTA
“Vertigo” / Olivia Lewis

Thank GOD that Olivia Lewis won! After 10 years of hurt, she will finally grace the Eurovision stage in May with a song that has the potential to qualify. Fingers crossed anyway, cos it’s a great flamenco belter that deserves a good result in Helsinki.

Elsewhere in Europe last night, nine countries held national finals including Norway and Iceland (updates later this week!), and Sweden where the Melodifestivalen kicked off in, apparently, predictable Schlager-style.

But after last night, we now have seven entries chosen, one sixth of the total songs, and one quarter of the semi-final! It would be silly if I didn’t do a ranking list, so this is how things stand with me so far…

1 MALTA – “Vertigo”
2 BELARUS – “Work Your Magic”
3 ESTONIA – “Partners In Crime”
4 MOLDOVA – “Fight”
5 POLAND – “Time To Party”
6 SLOVENIA – “Cvet Z Juga”
7 ALBANIA – “Balada E Gurit”

I don’t think we’ve heard the winner yet, and I’m only sure about one of these songs being a potential qualifier! Still, we’ve got 35 songs left to be chosen yet with, I believe, Denmark, Romania, Norway and Georgia all picking their entries next weekend! Roll on next week already I say!

Malteasers

2007-02-03T07:19:00.000-08:00

Malta have a lot of pride to restore in 2007. After finishing 2nd in 2002, they did the same in 2005, with Chiara’s fabulous performance of “Angel” clocking up 192 points. Sadly, last year, they scored 191 points less with the fairly useless Fabrizio Feniello murdering “I Do”, which is a shame cos it could’ve done OK. Malta don’t finish at the bottom of the Eurovision table too often, so last year’s 24th placing was a bit of a shock – fingers were pointed, people were blamed and I believe that some people were even sacked. This is how seriously some countries take the Eurovision Song Contest.

This year, following a semi-final on Thursday which saw ten songs eliminated, six songs will compete for the chance to give Malta a decent result, and what a lovely mixed bag of songs they are. There’s something for everyone here, and here’s a lowdown of the potentials…

1 “WHENEVER” – Kevin Borg
Oh no, not The Borg! Yes, this is Kev Borg, who has a surprisingly feminine voice. But let’s not have that put you off the song, which is a slow piano-led ballad. It’s rather pleasant, has a nice tune, but it’s quite clichéd. I doubt that Malta will choose an American-style ballad, but stranger things have happened of course, this is the country that chose Lynn Chircop as a potential winner.

2 “SHE GIVES ME WINGS” – Klinsmann Coleiro
If McFly were Maltese… this begins very like the McFly hit “Obviously”, and actually it continues in a similar vain. In fact, the lead into the chorus is exactly the same. If you like McFly-type pop, perhaps opting for something along the lines of Son Of Dork, then this is for you. This would certainly score well from the UK if this won tonight.

3 “AS LONG AS YOU KNOW” – Scar
Oh more guitars here, the introduction is very like “Maria” by Blondie! It turns into a fairly nice piece of friendly guitar pop, inoffensive and lovely, but it doesn’t really do anything else, even though I’m a big fan of the rather great chorus. I doubt this stands much of a chance as being the winner tonight, but I wouldn’t complain if it was.

4 “VERTIGO” – Olivia Lewis
Olivia Lewis is the unluckiest person IN THE WORLD. She has been in Malta’s national final every year since 1997, and has finished 2nd in it for the past three years. Luckily for her, she enters this year’s Maltese selection as the favourite. “Vertigo” is a frantic, high-drama piece of music in a sort of Spanish American bull-fighting type genre that flows along dangerously in a highly unusual 6/8 time signature. It’s very much the favourite amongst fans to win tonight, partly because the song is very popular, and partly because everyone feels that it HAS to be Olivia Lewis’s turn to do her stuff for Malta. Oh, and “Vertigo” does involve good use of a fiddle too.

5 “ALL ABOUT A LIFE” – Pamela Bezzina
This is a rather pleasant piece of pop music, but after the dramatic heights of what’s just gone before, this is going to sound rather twee. In fact, this isn’t too bad a song, but it’s the sort of stuff that would have done well about 10 years ago, and perhaps not today. Pamela sounds like the third Mullan sister, except this song is much better than there song was. Very nice, but I don’t see this as a winner.

6 “STARLIGHT” – Trilogy
Well here’s different. This is another dramatic piece of music with a hint of classical music three very good vocalists, including a rather nice soprano, sing this dark Les Miserables type song. Of course, this is a nice idea and the end result is good, but I don’t think “Starlight” is anywhere near as instant enough as other songs in the Maltese national final. But it could win the “different” vote and still wouldn’t be a bad choice of entry – I think there’s better though.

So that’s the six songs, with my order of preference…

1 “VERTIGO” – Olivia Lewis
2 “AS LONG AS YOU KNOW” – Scar
3 “STARLIGHT” – Trilogy
4 “ALL ABOUT A LIFE” – Pamela Bezzina
5 “SHE GIVES ME WINGS” – Klinsmann Coleiro
6 “WHENEVER” – Kevin Borg

If there’s any justice, Olivia should win tonight. I don’t think any of these songs are potential Eurovision winners, but with Malta’s reputation taking a stumble last year, they’ll be looking for a good result. “Vertigo” could well provide it!

Twice In A Lifetime?

2007-02-02T04:34:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow night, Estonia will hold Eurolaul 2007, the competition to select their Eurovision Song Contest entry 2007. Since their win in 2001, they’ve not had much luck, not even being in the grand final since 2003. To be fair, their entries haven’t been all that groundbreaking. But will this year be any different?

These are the ten potential acts that are hoping to take the reigns for Estonia this year:

1. “SO MUCH TO SAY” – KRISTJAN KASEARU & PARADISE CREW
Hmm, they’re kicking off with sort of 90s boy-band rock which is all very well and good, but it hasn’t got any “oomph”. Nice melody and all, but I fear it will not be for Kristjan and his Paradise Crew. Sorry, “Paradise Crew”??

2. “SUPREME NATURE” – DEVA DEVA DANCE
Weird song about nature and the sea sung by what appear to be some druids in cloaks. Thoroughly bizarre, reminiscent of a piece of Modern Drama. This is the country that did send Neiokoso though, so let’s not discount this. It’s not so bad and there is a nice gimmick concerning a butterfly too.

3. “VEIDI VEEL” – KOIT TOOME
Represented Estonia 9 years ago in Birmingham finishing 12th with a song that was much better than this song, which is very obviously too high for him to give it any power, which is a shame ‘cos the verse builds up rather well and the chorus has a nice melody. He builds us up then breaks our hearts…

4. “SUNFLOWERS” – LAURA POLDVERE
This is a song asking you to “learn the secrets of flowers”. Curious. It’s a bit of a nothing song really and doesn’t go very far, although there’s a bit of a Cher-robotic-voice in the middle. Laura was part of Estonia’s 2005 entrants Suntribe, which does nothing at all to help her cause for getting me to like this song.

5. “PARTNERS IN CRIME” – GERLI PADAR
Rock chick has never really worked at Eurovision before, but this song is not bad at all, it’s got a good chorus on it. Not only this, but Gerli’s a good performer and, looking at her style, a big fan of Pink. This is her third attempt to represent Estonia at Eurovision, and if she doesn’t win she’ll sure be bitching about it, as she openly did on a TV documentary in 2002 when her song was beaten by one that was about 10 times better. She really should have got over the fact that her song was RUBBISH. She’s improved with this one.

6. “BIRDS OF PEACE” – VANILLA NINJA
These Estonian “Birds” represented Switzerland two years ago in the Swiss attempt to get a good result. It worked, they finished 8th. Now, Bangles-like Vanilla Ninja return with another big rock song. Maybe they shouldn’t have bothered. It’s a bit of a plodder, a bit of a slow heavy rock ballad, but it could well win Eurolaul cos it’s got a good hook, and they’re bloody big in Estonia. Bigger than Gerli Padar’s ego, I hear.

7. “ONE YEAR FROM NOW” – LINDA
Oh, it’s like a wet weekend in Skeg, except with a dodgy karaoke singer. This woman’s voice is shakier that Marie Myriam’s finale hands! It’s a bit of a shame, cos the song wouldn’t be so bad if you couldn’t hear pushing for those high notes. I don’t think this one’s going to win.

8. “MY PLACE” – SOUL MILITIA
Soul Militia are the Artists Formerly Known As 2XL and won the 2001 Eurovision Song Contest for Estonia along with, ho-ho, Tanel Padar – Gerli’s brother! No wonder she’s such a bitter lady! For this song though, basically think N*Sync, and you’ve pretty much got it. It’s very filthy too. One of them says “you make me horny” at one point. Eurovision just won’t condone this rudeness. But maybe they should give it a chance cos it’s very “street” and “hip”. Crap dance routine though.

9. “IN GOOD AND BAD” – INES
As if we need more ex-Eurovision stars, here rolls in Ines, taker of 4th place in Stockholm 2000, and winner of Estonian Woman Of The Year 2000 also. And guess what? She used to go out with Tanel Padar, sidekick of Soul Militia and brother of Gerli! Estonia’s obviously a very small place.

Anyway I’m meant to be talking about the song here which is not bad at all. There’s a nice bit of piano in the pop/rock song a la Embrace or Coldplay and it’s not a bad effort at all. Not good as her 2000 entry, but this sort of breezy pop is a nice dose of medicine after all the Chicken Rodeo / James Bond soundalikes we’ve experience so far. Nice also that in the preview video that she appears to have borrowed some clothes off Nusa Derenda. A joke there for the fans.

10. “ROMEO AND JULIET” – HELE KORE & KRISTJAN KASEARU
Hang on, is this the same Kristjan Kasearu who did Song 1? Is that allowed?! Well it doesn’t matter cos this ain’t going to trouble the judges. Heavy on musical drama, as one Mr Wogan may say, but sadly lacking in nearly everything else. Boo hiss.

So what’s the best song? Er… well that’s tricky, as nothing stands out as being particularly special. But if I had to construct a top 10, 1 being great and 10 being not so great, then it would look a little like this…

1 IN GOOD AND BAD – Ines
2 SUPREME NATURE – Deva Deva Dance
3 PARTNERS IN CRIME – Gerli Padar
4 MY PLACE – Soul Militia
5 BIRDS OF PEACE – Vanilla Ninja
6 VEIDI VEEL – Koit Toome
7 SO MUCH TO SAY – Kristjan Kasearu & Paradise Crew
8 SUNFLOWERS – Laura Poldvere
9 ONE YEAR FROM NOW – Linda
10 ROMEO AND JULIET – Hele Kore & Kristjan Kasearu

So it’s good luck to Ines tomorrow, and also to Deva Deva Dance, there’s not enough eccentricity in the Eurovision Song Contest (this fact has not been proven however).

Poled Over

2007-02-01T09:02:00.000-08:00

So Poland pick their entry this Saturday, with 10 songs in the running for the chance. Poland have had an irritating last few years at Eurovision. After achieving a 7th place in 2003, they only finished 17th the year after, and have been in the semi-final for the last two years finished eleventh on both occasions! Gargh! So hopefully, they’ll find a song that can get them out of the semi-finals and win them the contest for the first time.

Here are the songs in contention:

1. “OPEN YOUR MIND” – Ania Szarmarch
It’s funky, it’s hip, it’s contemporary – this wouldn’t sound out of place on US radio! Her voice is a bit odd though, and it’s not the catchiest of tunes in the world… however, if you’re looking for what one may call “street cred”, then this song could be for you! You don’t mind many songs like this in Eurovision pre-selections! Particularly in Iceland.

2. “EMILY” – Charizma
Now this sounds like more of the stuff that Iceland like, more’s the pity. It’s a rocky tune sung by a male, obviously, but it’s not bad at all, and the chorus is quite good. Reminds me a bit of Maroon 5 or Orson! But this is just not the sort of stuff that they go for in Eurovision usually. It’s perhaps not “stand-out” enough to win the Polish national final, but it’s a pretty good song all the same.

3. “ON MY MIND” – Button Hackers
This is a sort of lounge-funk based song (can’t believe I just described a potential Eurovision song as lounge-funk, but there you go). It’s got nice brass, tranquil twiddly bits and generally a nice vibe to it. Again, not your usual cup of Eurovision tea, but then again Lordi won the ESC didn’t they? Stranger things have happened… I’d chill out to this little tune!

4. “COME IN MY HEART” – Vino
Well this is very My Chemical Romance. It’s a dark gothic rock piece, but it’s gentle – I even heard a cello somewhere! It’s rather dull though and doesn’t go anywhere of particular interest. If you’re a fan of morbid guitar music, this is for you. Otherwise, I wouldn’t bother.

5. “NO SECOND CHANCE” –Moleda
Oh, it’s a lovely ballad! Now these are a rarity in modern Eurovision, but you only have to look at the 2005 results to see that they can still score exceedingly well. This is a male duo, two brothers I believe, singing a very nice song that I believe could score well at Eurovision. It reminds of 1990s Michael Jackson, and it’s very smooth, very soulful… yeah, I like this a lot, definitely my favourite so far!

6. “TIME TO PARTY” – The Jet Setters
R&B in Eurovision? The verses to this song are rather funky, very contemporary, sung by a female vocalist with some male rap thrown in for good measure. Reminds me of something by Nelly Furtado! The beat begins to swing in the chorus with a more 1940s sound. It’s a compelling mix, and is perhaps the dark horse in this competition. It’s very different, but it seems to work quite well. Perhaps they shouldn’t have rhymed ‘party’ with ‘party’ though.

7. “I LIKE IT LOUD” – Natasza Urbanska
This song’s first lyric is “Hey Mr DJ, have you got a record for me” – sounds familiar to me! Again, this is very contemporary, but I’m not finding it particularly brilliant I’m afraid. It’s sort of rocky and brassy, very inyerface, but I’d rather it got out of my face to be honest.

8. “REGROUP” – Hania Stach
This is a quirky little upbeat song with a cute little bassline and lots of little noises dispersing themselves throughout this track. There’s something odd about this, can’t put my finger on it though. It’s again very commercial summery pop, but it just lacks that hook that could make it just that little bit better.

9. “LOVE IN THE AIR” – Mikael Erlandsson
This guy has tried to represent Sweden before, but now he’s pinning his luck on the people of Poland. “Love Is In The Air” is a sort of 60s pop song in a modern style, lots of nice harmonies, and it’s a pretty perfect pop package – you can tell he’s had experience in Sweden’s Melodifestivalen, let’s put it that way! It even has a funky little piano break before the final choruses! A very enjoyable listen, reminded me of “Sing For Me” by Andreas Jonsson, third place in last year’s Melodifestivalen. Very good indeed.

10. “DON’T JUDGE ME” – Bikini
“Don’t Judge Me” is a pop/rock song with female vocals, sort of poppy Vanilla Ninja really. It’s not too bad, but it’s a bit shouty and is a tad forgettable. Also, calling your band Bikini, and then asking the public to not judge you seems rather a lot to ask.

So there’s my review. And don’t forget that, unlike many other Eurovision countries, this is the only show that Poland will have! 10 songs, 1 winner. And this is my ranking of the songs with 1 meaning ‘Lordi’, and 10 meaning ‘Arsenium’…

1 NO SECOND CHANCE – Moleda
2 LOVE IN THE AIR – Mikael Erlandsson
3 TIME TO PARTY – The Jet Setters
4 EMILY - Charizma
5 ON MY MIND – Button Hackers
6 OPEN YOUR MIND – Ania Szarmarch
7 REGROUP – Hania Stach
8 DON’T JUDGE ME – Bikini
9 I LIKE IT LOUD – Natasza Urbanska
10 COME IN MY HEART – Vino

I’d be happy with any of the top three to win, let’s just hope “rock” hasn’t got the better of the Poles and they pick Vino…

Thriceland

2007-01-31T08:33:00.000-08:00

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

2007-01-31T08:32:00.000-08:00

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

2007-01-30T06:51:00.000-08:00

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

2007-01-26T06:32:00.000-08:00

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...

2007-01-22T11:15:00.000-08:00

... 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

2007-01-21T09:29:00.000-08:00

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

2007-01-16T13:28:00.000-08:00

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

2007-01-16T12:34:00.000-08:00

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!

2007-01-16T12:33:00.000-08:00

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

2007-01-09T07:22:00.000-08:00

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.

The BBC are obviously taking 2007 even more seriously than 2006. Good.
In fact, by choosing a well-known star, it suggests that the BBC do care and want to win. Also good.
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.
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?

2007-01-07T06:50:00.000-08:00

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?

2007-01-06T11:46:00.000-08:00

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.

Albania ready to go!

2006-12-29T06:01:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday, Albania picked their entry for Eurovision 2007. This will be their fourth time participating in the contest, and they will begin the contest in the semi-final after Luiz Ejlli's "not bad" Zjarr E Ftoht failed to qualify from it last year.

So what's the song that Albania will pin their hopes on in Helsinki? Well, winning their national final well just 3 points is...

BALADA E GURIT
Aida & Frederik Ndoci

Balada E Gurit translates as 'The Stone Ballad', although a more appropriate name for this might be 'The Shite Ballad'.

No, maybe I'm being too harsh. On first listen, it's interesting to note that the song lasts for four and a half minutes, 90 seconds over Eurovision rules. Don't panic though! The song will be edited down into a three minute chunk, as have the last three Albanian entries which all won their national final despite being about four minutes long.

Perhaps it's just that four and a half minutes makes Balada E Gurit seem a little overlong. It begins (and continues) with a lot of ethereal wailing over the top of a rather ethnic beat. It's certainly common these days for Eurosongs to be quite ethnic, but Balada E Gurit goes all the way by including some eastern instrument that sounds quite like a sheep. You can hear it after about 30 seconds.

In fact, the whole song just seems to be a lot of ethnic noise. There's little tune and no hook. If this qualifies from the semi-final in its current state then I'm Celine Dion.

Songs like this do tend to win me over in the end though, but at Eurovision first listen is everything, so I don't think it's going to do very well. My current ranking list for Eurosong 2007 therefore stands as thus:

MOLDOVA - Fight
ALBANIA - Balada E Gurit

Hope you enjoy the little picture of Frederik that I've put up. The song may be a bit crap, but he's got great hair, you can tell.

UK OK

2006-12-20T11:24:00.000-08:00

Finally some news from the UK!!! And what shocks they are!!! It's been confirmed today that:

a) our entry will be picked in mid-March in a 'primetime special', and
b) Terry Wogan will be involved.

Wow. Groundbreaking news there. Although this 'primetime special' sounds interesting, as people are beginning to wonder if the current Making Your Mind Up formula will be used or not as the BBC didn't mention it at all. Could we have a brand new preselection show to finally get the UK's Eurovision record back on track? Possibly.

However, the most exciting things so far are the names that have been spreading around the internet that might be involved with the UK entry next year. It is rather traditional to see a lot of speculation regarding the UK's entrant, with names popping in the past such as Claire Sweeney, Jane McDonald, Cheeky Girls and, in 2005, Kym Marsh (although it turns out they were just one year early). In fact it's become traditional for bogus lists of artists and songs to appear on Eurovision messageboards. It's quite bizarre that the UK has that following but there you go.

Anyway, here are the names that have so far been popping up in the UK rumour mill...

MORRISSEY
The whining snivelling vegetarian bastard is apparantly tipped to be one of our hopefuls. Brilliant. Let's make Europe suicidal.

ACE OF BASE
Yes, the Swedish pop makers said that if they were going to represent anyone in Eurovision it would be the UK cos of the massive following they have. I'm unaware of this following, but they do write a good pop song.

QUEENTASTIC
More Swedes here, the act that came 3rd in last year's Melodifestivalen. Unbelieveably, despite the UK constantly taking-the-Jemini out of Eurovision, we've never sent a drag act. Now is surely the time!

SCISSOR SISTERS
Now I think this may just be wishful thinking. To be fair, Eurovision is right up the Scissor Sisters' street, and I wouldn't put it past them to go for it. But after selling 1m copies of their new album this year, it would be an odd career move. But I hope they represent the UK cos we'd bloody win.

And finally, my personal favourite name out of all the rumours...

DAZ SAMPSON
All hail Saint Daz! He went to Athens last year convinced he was going to win and, alas, scored 25 points. Last year, we woz robbed. And Daz has said he feels he has some scores to settle. And I feel the same, cos last year, we should have won.

So he's teamed up with Carol Decker from T'Pau, and it's no secret that they've recorded a song called Goodbye, in memory of his dad, Alvin. Only Daz Sampson's dad would be called Alvin.

Either way, it seems that Daz has submitted his and Carol's song to the BBC and I wouldn't be surprised to see him doing the rounds in 2007. He was popular, charismatic and he actually wanted to do Eurovision because he liked it. Also, I think it would be incredible to see a UK national final where the Scissor Sisters were beaten by Daz, cos it would inevitably happen.

Anyway, the BBC are usually the last broadcaster to confirm anybody, so don't hold your breath. I'm sure there'll be an X-Factor/Ex-Blue/Ex-Hear'Say member in the running somewhere. But fingers crossed for Daz.

Christmas Turkey

2006-12-19T05:16:00.000-08:00

Well, they just keep on coming don't we. As well as Edsilia Rombley, Sopho Kalvashi, DJ Bobo, Natalia Barbu and Dervish, we now know another person who will grace the Eurovision stage, this time for Turkey.

Here he is on the right. He goes by the name of Kenan Dogulu, and what you don't know about him is he is one of the most influential Turkish artists of all time. At 34, he's achieved things that Daz Sampson could only dream about.

He's had a big number one in Turkey this year, Cakkidi, and now wants to boost his profile across Europe, hence Turkish broadcaster TRT's decision to let him loose upont he Eurovision stage. He is, in fact, the first solo male to take to the stage for Turkey in six years.

Turkey have not had a bad few years in Eurovision stakes. They won in 2003, hosted in 2004 where they came 4th, and came 13th and 11th in 2005-6 respectively. Their rather brilliantly performed Superstar from 2006 fell just 2 points short of qualifying for next year's final, and so Kenan will have the job of helping them reach the Saturday Showdown. However with plenty of experience behind him, the love of the Turkish people, and rather good looks to show off, it seems he may not have too much trouble in getting to the final.

His song will be chosen by televoting, with three songs for the Turkish people to choose from, although I can't find a date for this selection so I'll have to leave this post in a sense of suspense.

Dutch Courage

2006-12-18T11:22:00.000-08:00

As if we hadn’t already heard enough information about Eurovision 2007 while still in 2006, the Netherlands exclusively revealed this week who will represent them. And what a surprise they had in store. We thought last year was the year of the comeback as Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Israel, Malta and Greece all had artists representing them that had tried their luck at Eurovision before. This year, although we already know the Georgian, Irish, Moldovan and Swiss entrants, no returning artist had been selected.

Until now.

Ladies and gents, it’s time to welcome back that Dutch Eurovision heroine… Edisila Rombley!!!

This is very exciting although I’m not sure many of you will know who she is, so I’ll fill you in…

Edisilia (see the lovely pic) represented the Netherlands back in 1998, turning in a fabulous performance of the poppy Hemel En Aarde. It was a very strong song and could well have won had ’98 not been such a strong year. In the end, it finished 4th, although it did score a whopping 150 points and finished just 22 points behind Dana International and the winning Diva. Edisilia did however make a brief appearance giving the Dutch votes in the 1999 contest whilst quite obviously tipsy, one of the many comical moments of the ’99 show, but that’s another story for another time.

Anyway, emphasis must be paid though to just how good Hemel En Aarde actually was. It was hip, happening, and very modern, and it’s aged rather well. In fact, Sir Terry even questioned whether it was ‘too good for Eurovision? What a thought…’. What a thought, indeed!

So it’s no surprise that with not a lot of luck coming Netherlands’ way of recent times that they opted to bring back their most successful participant since their last win in 1975. Whether she’ll be able to get given a song as spot on as Hemel En Aarde is questionable, but she’s a great performer with a great voice and a very sunny personality. She’ll certainly have the fans on her side.

Welcome back Edsilia, our first returnee of the 2007 season! And, going on recent years, probably not the last…

A busy day! Switzerland and Moldova NEWS!

2006-12-14T12:47:00.000-08:00

And yes folks, that NEWS with capitals because A LOT has been going on in the World of Eurovision today with two more artists confirmed and (deep breath...) the first song!!!

Oh, let's get straight to it. After lying to you and telling you that Albania would be the first conutry to choose their entry, little old Moldova go and surprise us all. In the most bizarre selection for entries ever, 34 songs were whittled by an 'expert jury' down to 3, from which the winner was chosen...

FIGHTER
Natalia Barbu

Natalia is a big star in Moldova, and managed to beat 2005 Moldovan entrants Zdob Si Zdub into second place (although their song would have been disqualified anyway, has it had already been performed over the summer. Will anyone ever learn?). So what is Fighter like? Well, not bad actually! Traditionally, the first songs of the national final season are poor, but this isn't a bad start. It's all a bit up and ready, a bit Ruslana, a bit wild dances with a fiddle thrown it, and I don't think it's a bad effort. Probably Moldova's best actually, although not loads to choose from... it's only their third ever entry! Anyway, they'll be hoping that Fighter will pull them into the Final, but I'm unsure at the moment. But not a bad effort, and a strong song to open the 2007 season.

In other news, remember Chihuahua? That really annoying song by that really annoying guy DJ Bobo a couple of years ago?

Yeah, well he's representing Switzerland.

Seriously. Las Ketchup for Spain last year, now this. I'm assured that he's massive in Europe. We'll wait and see. His song's chosen in February by the way, I'm sure it'll be cheesenificent.

So, what an exciting day in Eurovision. What's more Monaco have revealed today that they didn't withdraw for financial reasons, but that they never stood a chance of getting through to the final. Now if only Belarus and Andorra follow suit, Eurovision might be going the right way again.

I feel I need to recap what we know so far...

IRELAND - Dervish

GEORGIA - Sopho Khalvashi

SWITZERLAND - DJ Bobo

MOLDOVA - Natalia Barbu / Fighter

Welcome Georgia - Sopho Kalvashi for 2007!

2006-12-13T06:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, debut country Georgia became the second country to announce who will be representing them in Helsinki and in turns out that it is (da-da-da!)... Sopho Kalvashi!

What do you mean who?

Sopho Kalvashi is one of Georgia's biggest pop singers, and was chosen especially by Georgia's broadcaster GTVR. She's 20-years-old and has won singing competitions in the past. So who better to represent this nation on their very first Eurovision outing?!

We will find out what song she's going to sing in February. But for now, why don't you enjoy this picture of the Georgian flag? I couldn't find a picture of Sopho, so this will have to do. It's different, isn't it?

Monaco-ver and Out

2006-12-13T06:21:00.000-08:00

Poor pun, but BIG STORY!!! It appears to have been confirmed that Monaco have withdrawn from the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest. After initially having their name upon the entrants list, they've now down a u-turn and, because it's before 15 December, no penalty will be incurred.

Monaco returned to the Eurovision in 2004 after a 25 year break, and have been in the semi-final ever since, their poor results no doubt playing a factor in their withdrawl.

In 2004, a girl in strange trousers called Maryon jumped around singing the rather weak Notre Planete. One year later they sent Lise Darly and her orchestrally-backed ballad Tout De Moi. Great song! What a performance! Came second bottom in the semi. And last year, there was much hope for the slightly tropical La Coco Dance until rehearsals began and it became apparant that the singer, Severine Ferrer, hot as she was (see the provocative pic), could not sing live. At all.

And so, Monaco will subtly slip out of Eurovision 2007, leaving just 42 countries now. Will any more countries follow suit? They have until Friday if they don't want to pay a penalty.

But for now we say Goodbye Monaco, maybe see you next year.

National Finals - the announcements keep on coming...

2006-12-10T10:03:00.000-08:00

Some more National Final lineups were announced this week and, like the ones already covered, there are many interesting names in plenty of them.

MALTA
Malta love Eurovision. They really do. And they want to win – they’ve finished twice this decade already. So imagine their annoyance when last year they scored a measly 1 point. I suspect they will be looking for a good result this year, and here are the 14 songs and competitors that will be going for the honour:

Places To Go – Tarcisio Barbara
Night Wish – Annabelle Debono
My Love – Isabelle
Whenever – Kevin Borg
L-Imhabba Ghamja – Claudio Faniello
All About A Life – Pamela Bezzina
Look At Me – Julie Pomorsky
Forever Mine – William Mangion
Little Islands In Your Heart – Daniela Delicata
She Gives Me Wings – Klinsmann Coleiro
Roller Coaster Ride – Rosman Pace
Starlight – Trilogy
As Long As You Know – Konrad Pule
Vertigo – Olivia Lewis

I know what you’re thinking. Little Islands In Your Heart?

Some interesting observations then. Nice to see an artist named after the footballer Jorgen Klinsmann and you don’t see the name Konrad with a ‘K’ very often do you?

So who are all these people? Well, if I was to list the amount of Maltese national finals these folks had previously appeared in, we’d be here all day, so let’s just say that they’re all rather established artists. Most interesting is Olivia Lewis. 2007 will see her THIRTEENTH attempt to represent Malta. Unlucky for some, but you can’t get much more unlucky than coming runner-up in their national final for the last three years. Now that is most definitely unlucky.

More lucky is William Mangion, veteran Maltese rocker who represented the tiny island back in 1993 finishing 8th with the rather bland This Time, of which the highlight was the backing singers. The most interesting thing about him was his bizarre slightly permed hair. These days he’s bald. Whether or not through choice is unknown.

ESTONIA
As if the plethora of former national final entrants in Malta wasn’t enough, then take a look at Estonia! Go on, look!

Artists confirmed to be competing in their NF include five acts who are no strangers to the Eurovision Grand Final. Koit Toome sang for Estonia in 1998 and finished 12th with his piano ballad Mere Lapsed and Estonia’s superstar Ines sang for them in 2000 finishing 4th. The group Soul Milita were the backup for Dave Benton and Tanel Padar when they won Eurovision in 2001, Laura Poldvere finished 20th in the 2005 semi-final as part of Suntribe, and Vanilla Ninja, who are Estonian, finished 8th in 2005 for Switzerland, who poached them as part of their ‘let’s get a good result’ scheme.

Nowadays, Estonia are looking for a good result after failing to qualify for the past three years. But with such experienced artists, they must be hoping for a good result.

DENMARK
Denmark’s recent Eurovision rollercoaster ride has been rather eventful. After finishing 1st in 2000, they came runner-up the year later, last the year after that and were subsequently relegated. They then failed to qualify from the 2004 Semi-Final but did in 2005 and finished 9th meaning automatic qualification for 2006. However, they picked the godawful Twist Of Love and, thus, they’re back in the semis for 2007.

Like Estonia, Malta and everybody else, the Danes have got their hands on some ex-Eurovision veterans to come and have another go. Here’s the list of the 16songs that Denmark will be choosing from.

Copenhagen Airport – Annette Heick
Fly – Annika Askman
Husker Du – Aud Wilken
It Ain’t For The Money – Cammille ft. DJ Mary
Paparazzi – Christoffer Broderson
Meaning Of Life – Danni Elmo
Flammer Inden I – Dariana & Olou
Drama Queen – DQ
On Top Of The World – Heidi Degn
Vi Elsker Bare Dansker Piger – Jorgen Olsen
Listen To Love – Jacob Anderson
Say You Love Me – James Sampson
Merhaba – Julie Lund
It’s A Beautiful Day – Katrine Falkenberg
Two Are Stronger Than One – Me & My
Sa Naer Som Nu – Stig Rossen

What an excitingly named collection of songs.

So who’s back? Well, Aud Wilken finished 5th for Denmark in 1995 with Fra Mols Til Skagen, a bizarre little song with banjos that I’m still not quite sure whether I like or not. She’s a strange woman, so it’ll be interesting to see if she’s retained her ‘pixie-like features’ that Wogan commented on twelve years ago.

Most excitingly though is the return of… Jorgen Olsen! He’s a Danish legend and usually performs as part of The Olsen Brothers with brother Noller. They won in 2000 with Fly On The Wings Of Love and they’ve been in the Danish music business for well over 30 years. They last attempted to enter Eurovision with the superb Little Yellow Radio in 2005 – it would have won if it had got through I *swear*! This year, Jorgen goes it alone with a song that translates as We All Love Danish Girls. If there’s any justice, it’ll win. Anything Olsen = something to smile about.

Oh, and I’m not sure if James Sampson is related to Daz, but I would love it if he was.

National Final season is soon upon us – isn’t it great!

Argh! Eurovision Ticket Frenzy!

2006-12-10T09:30:00.000-08:00

Today, the tickets for the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest Final and Semi Finals went on sale. And for those who think that Eurovision is an unpopular event, it’s worth saying that all 12,000 tickets for the grand final sold out in just 20 minutes.

As usual, the ticket buying was an absolute chaotic mess of internet buying, pages crashing, and general confusion. It seems that there are a few tickets left for the semi-final and rehearsals (yes, Eurovision’s so popular that rehearsals have tickets) but otherwise if you want to go to the Eurovision final but didn’t get your ticket today, then you won’t be going. You may well be looking like the picture on the right.

On the bright side, tickets will soon start appearing on eBay at astronomical prices. If you’ve got the money, go for it. Otherwise, I’d start planning your Eurovision party now and sit back in May while all the pissed revellers of Helsinki start waving their flags once more.

The 15 hopefuls of Belarus

2006-12-05T12:54:00.001-08:00

Today, the Belarussian broadcaster BRTC announced the 15 songs that will take part in their national final. It gets a bit complicated in Belarus – these 15 songs will take part in a national final in December, and the top three will then go to an internal jury where the winner will be picked. No wonder, they’ve never qualified from the semi-final. What a stupid way to pick your song. The biggest travesty was last year when the attitude-rock of Gunesh Abasova’s Connect The Hearts didn’t even make the final three. Instead, the song Mum was picked, which included the lyric ‘he’s an arrant liar’. God bless the free language rule – you don’t hear words like ‘arrant’ in songs normally do you? Anyway, it was stupid word to use and a rubbish song and it came second bottom in the semi-final.

This year, Belarus are hoping for 4th time lucky. Indeed, as presumed before, Angelica Agurbash was disqualified from the final 15, and she then withdrew two other songs it turned out she’d entered. Sulky cow.

Anyway, these are the final 15, which will be whittled down to 3 before the winner is decided:

Borneo – Fingertips
New Generation – Belarus
Diana Gurtskaya – How Long
Dimitry Koldun – Angel Mechty
Lena – Call Me (September 11th)
Natalia Tomelo – So Badly High
The Project – S.U.P.E.R.S.T.A.R.
Irina Yarina – Krotkiy Dozhd
Victor Pshenichniy – Sooner Or Later
Oleg Karpenko – I Feel Good Tonight
Dali – Mechtai So Mnoy
Svayaki – Saldoki Myodzik
Anna Sharkunova – Sorvatsa I Viniz
Litesound Band – Summer Trip
Natalia Lapteva – Tears

It’s always fun to make assumptions on Eurovision songs before you’ve even heard them, and here are some judgements of mine.

The song entitled ‘Belarus’ could well be a lovely slice of nationalist mockery, in which case, great. If not, it’s going to be awful. Equally, the song Call Me (September 11th) sounds so insensitive, it hurts. The Project’s S.U.P.E.R.S.T.A.R is obviously building upon Turkey’s success in 2006 with their super Superstar – the individual letters though would suggest a chant in the style of Har Mar Superstar. Great.

I like Irina Yarina ‘cos her name rhymes.

Litesound, Dali and Dimitry Koldun have all taken part in the Belarussian national finals before. What their songs must have been like, I don’t know.

So, the final three songs will be announced soon – lets hope Belarus are on to their first qualifier. I love them really. Despite their now assumed 12 points to Russia every year.

From Russia with Love

2006-12-03T03:50:00.000-08:00

Last night, the 4th Junior Eurovision Song Contest was held in Romania. I haven’t mentioned this event on my blog because it really isn’t worth a mention. It is possibly the worst TV show. Ever. As such, the UK didn’t even bother to take part this year. However, what you may lack in credibility, you can certainly make up for in comedy.

Yesterday’s event was won by Russia, a song called Vesna by the Tolmatchevy Twins. It had a 25-point clear lead over last year’s winners Belarus and was, therefore, a unanimous winner. Goodness knows why.

Imagine a cross between I Just Wanna Make Love To You by Etta James and the theme tune to The Addams Family. This is what Vesna actually sounds like.

Here’s a YouTube clip for those who are interested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba4KqEH4sMY

You see, even the UK refuse to take this event seriously anymore. Which is a shame, because the first Junior Eurovision in 2003 was great. It was won by a guy called Dino for Croatia with a cracking little song which he performed very well to. Since then, things have gone rather downhill. A personal highlight of mine was the 2004 Dutch entry, when I began to question why I wasn’t doing anything better with my Saturday night.

Imagine a cross between a midi-file and an explosion in a whistle factory. This is what the Netherlands’ entry of two years ago – Hej Is Een Kai – sounded like.

In fact, it's so bad, I couldn't even find a clip of it on YouTube.

Hmm.

If you do want a good laugh over the festive period, I’m sure you’ll be able to get your hands on a copy on eBay soon. Otherwise, it’s back to thinking about the big boys’ contest again – only three weeks ‘til Albania pick the first 2007 entry!!!

Please let it be better than Vesna.

N.B. Is ‘Vensa’ a Russian word for ‘Shit’?

43 countries too many? Nah...

2006-12-01T11:44:00.000-08:00

There has been much speculation over quite how many countries there will be in the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest, and it’s been confirmed by Svante Stockselius (the chubby bloke in the picture), head of the European Broadcasting Union, that the 40-country-limit has been broken as 43 countries have confirmed their entry into next year’s Eurovision! Alas, it seems the puzzle of Italy has been solved – although a lot of people wanted to see their return, it looks like someone at their broadcaster RAI decided to spoil the fun by saying ‘no’ (or whatever the Italian for ‘no’ is). So they’re not in next year, and neither are Azerbaijan, but then this is no big surprise.

The 43 countries taking part include all of the 37 taking part last year, the introduction of Serbia and Montenegro as different countries (wonder how many votes will be swapped there?!), the debuts of Czech Republic and Georgia, and the return of Hungary and Austria!

There are many downsides to having so many countries. Namely that the bloc-voting will probably be more prominent than ever with all of the debut or returning six countries likely to add greatly to eastern voting, and the voting procedure itself will probably end sometime near the start of the 2008 contest. Also, the semi-final could possibly have a maximum of TWENTY-NINE COUNTRIES.

This is a lot of countries.

Bear in mind that only ten countries qualify from the semi-final anyway. This is bad news for countries such as Netherlands and Belgium, who will not benefit very much from an influx of eastern voting countries. I demand a change in the voting system.

Does Mr Stockselius think that 29 semi-finalists is overdoing it? By the photo, it certainly looks like he’s pondering over whether it was a few too many.

The figure of 43 countries is not 100% confirmed yet, as each country will be sent the costs of entering the Eurovision and have two weeks to decide whether to withdraw or not; if they withdraw within this two week period, they will not be charged. However, if a country says they’ll take part and then pulls out later, they will be charged. Eyes are fixed on Moldova here, as it was unclear whether or not they had quite enough money to take part. They are on the list, however, but whether anyone will pull out is not clear yet.

On the bright side, us lucky Eurofans may have 43 songs to tuck into next year. Forty-three! It’s going to be a very busy national final if this is the case!

Meldoifestivalen Fever!

2006-11-29T06:15:00.000-08:00

Oh yes. Today, SVT, the Swedish broadcaster, announced the 28 songs and names for next year’s Swedish national final, the Melodifestivalen, the biggest national final there is. To explain just how big this event is in Sweden, it is watched by 75% of the nation.

That’s the equivalent of a show in the UK having 45 million British viewers (wow)

And so, this event is dragged out over five weeks, with four semi-finals, a second-chance round, and then the Grand Final, which is actually turning into a mini Eurovision itself. A lot of Eurovision fans attend this event from all over, including a memorable moment when an Irish flag was seen flying during S-Club-7-like Alcazar’s performance in the 2003 Melodifestivalen Final. This was blamed by some fans as being the reason why Alcazar were not chosen, although nothing’s been proved. It doesn’t matter anyway, as half of Alcazar are having another go at representing Sweden this year. As are a lot of former Swedish Eurovision and Melodifestivalen stars.

Here is the list of the 28 participants for Melodifestivalen 2007, split into their four semi-finals. Just to let you know that there will actually be 32 songs altogether, not 28, as SVT add one ‘wild-card’ entry into each semi-final. The crazy Swedes. Those four songs will be announced soon. But in the meantime, here’s the rundown of the 28, with a note on the more familiar names…

Semi-Final 1 (3/2/07)
Andersson & Gibson – Anything But You
Addis Black Widow – Clubbin’
Sofia Berntson – Hypnotised
Tommy Nilsson – Jag Tror Pa Manniskan
Elin Lento – Money
Andreas Lundstedt – Move
Anna Book – Samba Sambero

The most established artist here is Tommy Nilsson, who came 4th for Sweden in 1989 with the anthemically marvellous En Dag. That said, Andreas Lundstedt is no stranger to Melodidfestivalen, trying to compete as a soloist twice in the 90s, and twice as a member of Alcazar in the 00s. He failed every time (loser). He did, however, represent Switzerland last year as part of Six4One, a group comprising of six singers from six nations to grab as many points as possible. They grabbed 30, none of which came from Sweden funnily enough. Maybe people just don’t like him.

Semi-Final 2 (10/2/07)
Lustans Lakejer – Allt Vi En Gang Trodde
Jimmy Jansson – Amanda
Svante Thuresson & Anne-Lie Ryde – Forsta Gangen
Jessica Andersson – Kom
Regina Lund – Rainbow Star
Malin Lindberg – Trying To Recall
Cosmo4 – What’s Your Name

Jimmy Jansson has entered Melodifestivalen three times, most recently in 2005 with the highly overrated Vi Kan Gunga, which came 6th in the Melodifestivalen grand final. Jessica Andersson has had more luck though, representing Sweden in Eurovision 2003 with the cheese-tastic Give Me Your Love as part of the duo Fame. Svante Thuresson has also represented Sweden before… in 1966. That year, Sweden finished 2nd (their best result ‘til Abba!) with Nygammal Vals, a song about a swineherd. I don’t know what Forsta Gangen translates as, but it best not be about pigs.

Semi-Final 3 (17/2/07)
Mans Zelmerlow – Cara Mia
MissMatch – Drop Dead
Sonja Alden – For Att Du Finns
Kapell Sheida – I Mina Drommar
Nanne Gronvall – Jag Maste Kyssa Dig
Magnus Carlsson – Live Forever
The Attic ft. Therese – The Arrival

Here, all eyes will be on Swedish superstar Nanne Gronvall, who enters the Melodifestivalen for an astonishing seventh time. Eighth if you count her attempt to enter for the UK in 2001 with the superb Men (it came last in our national final, no justice). It’s fair to say that, although the photograph doesn’t show it, Nanne Gronvall is utterly bonkers. She’ll don alien ears, sing in bizarre operatic styles and dress in period dress if she feels the need. It’s almost ironic that when she got picked to represent Sweden as part of the group One More Time in 1996, she sang the Enya-like ballad Den Vilda into 3rd place. Whether Jag Maste Kyssa Dig is a ballad or upbeat number, it’ll be one to watch for sure.

Elsewhere in Semi-Final 3, it’s nice to see Magnus Carlsson, the other bloke from Alcazar, have another go. This will be his seventh attempt to represent Sweden in eight years and, unlike Nanne, he’s never got through. Like Andreas Lundstedt, I fear that no-one likes him. Another performer to laugh at this year is Sonja Alden. Apart from entering Melodifestivalen last year, she was also a backing singer for Lithuania in 2005, where they finished last. In the semi final.

Semi-Final 4 (24/2/07)
Andreas Johnson – A Little Bit Of Love
Sarah Dawn Finer – I Remember Love
Verona – La Musica
After Dark – Ah, Nar Ni Tar Saken I Egna Hand Er
Caroline af Ugglas – Tror Pa Dig
Emil Azar – Vi Hade Nat
Sanna Nielsen – Vagar Du, Vagar Jag

Andreas Johnson was a big favourite to represent the Swedes last year with the Beatles-esque sing-a-long of Sing For Me, but only finished 3rd in the end. Sanna Nielsen is a big name in the Melodifestivalen, getting to the Melodifestivalen final three times, but scoring fewer points on each occasion. The act to watch in this semi-final though is After Dark, a transvestite duo who should have won the Swedish ticket to Eurovision in 2004, instead of Lena Philipsson and the drippy It Hurts. Hopefully there’ll be some justice this year.

Well, this is rather a long post, but the Swedish preselection is a long and lengthy process with lots of big names in it this year! And we’ve still got the wildcards to be announced… Carola isn’t out yet.

It all kicks off on 3rd February next year, and I, for one, can’t wait.

Nul Points, hopefully not!

2006-11-28T12:23:00.000-08:00

When France want to get it right, they can get it very right indeed. They may not have won since 1977, but they’ve had some corkers over the last 30 years. When France get it wrong, however, they can get it terrificly wrong. This is very true of the last four French entries, none of them finishing higher than 15th.

In 2003, the world-beats of Monts Et Mervailles failed to sway the judges. They had a good ballad in 2004, but its poor result could have been explained by the bald black lady on stilts tottering around the young, scared-looking Jonaton Cerrada. 2005 was probably the summit of their problems. Finishing 23rd, a young lady called Ortal walked about the stage whilst murdering Chacun Pense A Soi, the most upbeat song France had entered for ages. And last year, France had only 5 points to show for their rather dated ballad.

So what about 2007? France have already confirmed that they want to win it again, so their entry could possibly be the most enthused-over French entry for many years. Although it seems they’re going to have a national final, two names have come forward as possible French representatives. The first is 24-year-old female singer Najoua Belyzel (pictured).

She’s pretty, isn’t she.

Last year, she had a top three hit in France with the dance track Gabriel – it even went to #1 in Belgium! So she must be good.

The second name being thrown around is Les Wampas, a French punk rock group formed in the 80s. This doesn’t sound particularly promising, but bear in mind that their biggest hit of late has been Chirac en prison (Chriac in Prison), then you could be on to a winner.

I tell you, all France need is a strong ballad and they could easily go top five again. Let’s just hope they don’t stuff up again.

A true fantasy...

2006-11-27T13:07:00.000-08:00

It has become traditional that each Eurovision Song Contest should have a theme, provided by the host broadcaster. This nonsense began in 2002, when Estonian broadcaster ETV hosted 'a fairy tale', where the two presenters fell in love (as usual), resulting in a break between the songs to allow them to sing an operatic song about music making them "sometimes sentimental". Not wanting to break with this ingenious idea, Latvia, the hosts of the following year, saw the two presenters yet again fell in love, the twist being that they didn't want to (ho! ho!)

In 2004, the theme was 'Under The Same Sky', celebrating the fact that the contest was in Istanbul, the only city in the world bordering two continents. Ukraine's 2005 'Awakening' was in reflection of their coming out of the Orange Revolution, and last year Greece gave us 'Feel The Rhythm', providing Terry Wogan to remark, in one of his more brilliant moments, 'I don't know about you, but I'm certainly feeling it' during the Turkish song.

So what of 2007? Well, Finland have opted for the theme 'True Fantasy'. Why, you may ask? YLE, The Finnish broadcaster have said that this can help for Finnishness to be embraced. By this, they mean looking at elements such as 'light and dark' and beauties of Finland to help create a magnificent stage. Hopefully, the stage won't look like all the other stages that graced us between 2003-2005, and will work on becoming more unique from its predecessors, like Greece did with its 'amphitheatre' last year.

YLE have also said that they want the Eurovision 2007 to become a fantasy for its viewers too. But when you see songs performed by Mancunian rappers, Lithuanian football chanters and, of course, Finnish monster rockers, it's clear that the contest is quite a way from reality.

The build-up of excitement...

2006-11-26T09:58:00.000-08:00

It's the end of November, and as such, a lot of countries begin to confirm the artists and songs in the running for their national selections in 2007. Some with more success than others though.

Take Belarus for example. Their biggest pop star, diva Angelica Agurbash (see the lovely picture), submitted a rather Eurovisiony song called 'Miracle', hoping to improve on her 13th place in the ESC Semi-Final 2005. Hopes were high... until someone noticed that the song had been performed in public before, at a random Swedish concert. Alas, she's been disqualified as this is against the rules. This will make her sad, because when she didn't score enough points in the 2005 semi final with the equally Eurovisiony Love Me Tonight after telling everyone all week how she would probably win, she stomped off and sulked saying that the public didn't vote for the best vocal performances. If anyone remembers her performance of Love Me Tonight, then they will soon realise that this is bollocks. How she took this disqualification makes the mind boggle.

On the bright side, Poland seem to have got their act together with their 10 potential songs being announced this week. Acts include The Jet Set, who finished 3rd in their national final last year, and Mikael Erlendsson, who participated in the Swedish Finals of 2003. Poland came 11th last year in the semi final and must have been kicking themselves for failing to qualify by 6 points. When we will get to hear these songs is another matter, but I'm sure there'll be some good ones after such a close call last year.

In Albania, they're ahead of the game as always. For the fourth consecutive year, they'll pick their entry first, on December 23rd, five months before the ESC! It's a rather complicated procedure picking their entry, with 30 acts being spread out over two semi finals, ending in a final of 20 songs, picked by 50% televoting and 50% jury. With such a complex system, it's almost amazing that they haven't actually entered a decent song yet. They finished 14th in the semi-final last year and will be battling out for a final position on May 10th.

On Tuesday, 28 participants in the Swedish national final, the most prestigious of all the national finals, will be announced. It is more than likely that we will see many former Swedish Eurovision stars returning, so watch this space.

No news about the national final from the UK yet, although names that have circulated include Scissor Sisters, Ace of Base and... Daz Sampson. God bless his soul.

Ireland return to their roots - Dervish for 2007!

2006-11-14T12:11:00.000-08:00

And so the countdown to Eurovision 2007 can officially begin with the news that Irish broadcaster RTE have picked the traditional Irish band Dervish to represent them in Helsinki next year! Following the success of internally selecting Brian Kennedy last year – gaining 10th place and guaranteeing that Dervish will automatically perform in the final – RTE stuck with the same format of choosing an established artist. They will then perform four songs, written by songwriters from the general public, at the Irish national final in February, where the winner will be chosen.

So who are Dervish? And if they’re established, why have we never heard of them?!

Dervish are a six piece band, who formed in Sligo in 1989. They are made up of five men and one woman – the vocalist Cathy Jordan (although the picture shows seven members. Don’t know who the randomer is. But Eurovision rules only allow six performers onstage so one of them will have to go!). And it’s no wonder Ireland have chosen them to represent them; with instruments such as mandolins, flutes, whistles, fiddles, bouzoukis and bodhrans, it sounds like the Irish entry is going to be a rather ethnic affair, which proved rather well for Serbia & Montenegro in 2004 (2nd) and Bosnia & Herzegovina last year (3rd).

Of course, their entry sounds like it could more reminiscent of Sanomi, the traditional ethnic song that Belgium sent in 2003. Against all the odds it managed to finish 2nd, only two points behind the eventual winner.

So could Ireland, the seven time winners, be on course for their eighth in Helsinki? Either way, it sounds like the Irish entry is going to be quite a corker! Strike up the fiddle…

Who to follow in Lordi's footsteps?

2006-11-08T07:35:00.000-08:00

Yes, Eurovision 2007 may be six months away, but already the Finnish broadcaster YLE have announced the 12 artists that will compete to represent Finland on home ground next May. Unsurprisingly, about half of these twelve are ‘rock’ acts, with three appearing to be particularly ‘hard rock’ (‘hallelujah!’, I’m sure Lordi would say…). These three are:

Jann Wilde and Rose Avenue (left)...

and

Lovex (right)...

and

Thunderstone, described by wikipedia.org as ‘a melodic power metal band’… (below right)...

On top of these three, the other Finnish competitors include Humane, another rock band; Jani & Jetsetters, more rock guitar; and Katra, an 'unknown' rock act. That accounts for half the entrants! The other six performers are urban group Beats&Styles, schlager veteran Jukka Kuoppamaki, balladeer Johanna Kurkela, soft rock Finnish Pop Idol winner Hanna Pakarinen, soloist Kentala, and also Finland's 2002 entrant Laura Voutilainen, who finished (unfairly) in 20th position with Addicted To You.

But are Finland right to try and go for another rock entry? I'm very doubtful. Lordi was very much a one-trick-pony, and although I think it was fantastic, I think most televoters will think that any entry that bears a resemblence to Lordi will be just seen as copying - especially if that country is Finland! Let's not forget that when Turkey's ethnic song won in 2003, they entered a ska song the year after - Ukraine won in 2004 with a tribal song, and then entered a protest anthem - Greece's 2005 win with an upbeat eastern pop song was followed the year after with a big ballad.

Surely Finland wouldn't risk sending another rock song? And if Finland will do it, how many other countries will? Will 2007 just end up being Eurovision's arockolypse?! Only time will tell...

The Puzzle of Italy

2006-11-06T07:46:00.000-08:00

This week, Italy have got the fans hot under the collar as their national broadcaster, RAI, have announced that an Italian return to the Eurovision Song Contest is 'not impossible'. If they were to return in 2007, it would be their first entry in 10 years.

So why did Italy sit out in the first place? Well, it's all a bit of a case of sour grapes (a la The Austrian Situation). Italy were one of the seven founding Euro-countries and entered a song every year from 1956-1993, winning it on two occasions. However, Italy always thought of themselves as the 'Land of Song', and it's highly speculated that after Italy's 12th placing in 1993 (a fair position, Sole d'Europa wasn't spectacular) they had had enough of not doing well in the contest and left in a big sulk, possibly embarrassed that their songs were only finishing mid-table. I don't know why, they'd only won it three years previously!

Italy came back for one last time in 1997 with the rather excellent Fiumi Di Parole, a mid-tempo ballad with a good chorus. It was performed by the duo Jalisse (see the lovely pic) and was one of the favourites to win. It didn't of course, 'cos the marvellous Katrina and her Waves did. However, not only did Italy have to settle for 4th place, they had to live with the embarrassment of being beaten by the Turkish entry, Dinle. It has to be noted that up until '97, Turkey had only ever finished inside the top 10 once, and their entries hadn't been particularly brilliant. However, they decided in 1997 to send a brilliantly ethnic song with one of the most infectious clap-a-long choruses known to man. It finished in 3rd place, seven points ahead of Italy, and this was the last we ever saw of the 'Land of Song'.

Since then, times have changed. Smaller countries perhaps not known for their musical merits (Moldova anyone?) have been winning the contest, and Turkey won in 2003 with a polished bellydance number, not too unlike Dinle. So now that Italy may have accepted the change in Eurovision over the last 10 years (i.e. the top two don't usually consist of UK and Ireland anymore), it seems the 'Land of Song' may be returning to the world's biggest song contest. What's more they'd probably be given an automatic final place, making the 'Big 5' with UK, Spain, Germany and France.

So could the European Broadcasting Union be looking at a potential 45 countries at Eurovision 2007? Well, possibly not - Moldova's participation next year is looking doubtful. But a return for Italy would be welcome. They had some good songs, y'know...

HOW many countries?!

2006-10-29T09:02:00.000-08:00

This week, it was announced that Georgia (where?), a country just sitting south of Russia (oh…), intends to participate at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. Yes, it seems that Eurovision is so popular that everyone wants to join! Indeed, that’s why the Semi-Final and the 40 countries limit was introduced.

However, the way things are going the maximum 40 countries limit is going to be exceeded leaving quite a big problem for Mr Svante Stockselius, the Eurovision scrutineer – if you like he’s the Prime Minister of Eurovision (see the picture, he doesn't always look this happy), and a lot of the fans are questioning just how Eurovision can accommodate so many countries. Because at the moment there are up to FORTY-FOUR countries interested in entering the Eurovision (think of the length of the voting)! And they are…

- The 37 countries that participated last year…
(Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, FYR Macedonia, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom)

- 4 possible returning countries…
(Austria, Hungary, Montenegro, Serbia)

- And 3 possible debut countries…
(Azerbaijan, Czech Republic, Georgia)

So what are the options? Well it seems that one option is to stop the influx of new countries, although this seems a little unfair on those that want to join. So therefore, it seems that the relegation rule, that was prominent in 90s Eurovision, will come back into play where the each country will be assessed on its performance over the last five years, and the worst performing will be relegated. But of course the idea of the Semi Final was to get rid of the relegation process...

So a limit of 40+ countries, or the return of the relegation rule? All will be revealed very soon...

Democracy rules! Austria return!

2006-10-24T11:03:00.000-07:00

Thanks to an online petition from Eurovision fans, the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest will see the return of Austria after they sat out of the 2006 contest in a sulk. After only scoring 9 points at the 2004 contest with the drab boy-band ballad (understatment) Du Bist, they were relegated into the 2005 semi final. The band that were chosen to try and restore Austrian spirits were a traditional Alpen-pop group called Global.Kryner, with the song Y Asi, a genre breaking latino/alpen song about 'a girl from Cuba', surprisingly... Oddly, it worked very well.

It was rather well received by the fans and had the privilige of opening the 2005 semi-final. However, it was a rather long evening with a lot of better performances, and in the end it only managed to scrape 30 points, and 21st place out of 25. The Austrians were not happy. A statement released by their national broadcaster ORF announced that Eurovision could no longer help spread the joy of Austrian pop music and so they sat out last year.

But what about the Austrian eurofans? Well, devestated they were and rightly so. It was rather a case of sour grapes their sitting out (however, not so much as France's absence in 1982. Just five years after winning the contest for the fifth time, they sat out claiming that the contest was a 'monument to drivel' - they were just bitter because their big 'chanson' the year before had come in 3rd to the fun-loving skirt-ripping Eurocheese champions Buck's Fizz). Poor results can happen to anyone, and, although I loved Y Asi, its absence from the final did not surprise me.

So what did the Austria eurofans do? Set up an online petition, demanding Austria's return to the Eurovision fold. And guess what... ORF were so moved by this outporing of love for Austria's Eurovision return that they said hey, let's give it another try. And so, the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest Semi-Final will see the presence of Austria, as they aim to sing their way to the final, and maybe to victory.

Victory, of course, that would come 41 years after their first and only victory. Yes, Austria have a bad Eurovision record. It's no wonder that they thought Europe were against them after the poo-pooing of Austrian favourites Global.Kryner. After all, in the last 20 years, they've only finished above 10th twice. But, their excuse for sitting out last year was because of Eurovision's lack of interest to traditional Austrian music. Yet, the their two highest results since '86 were with Nur Ein Lied (5th in 1989), a song owing more to the synthesizers of the 80s than to the Alps and their entry in 2003, Weil der Mensch Zahlt by a certain Alf Poier. You can see his picture here. You may remember his song - silly nursery rhyme, stupid rapping, mental heavy metal, stuffed and cardboard animals, nonsense of the highest order... how very traditionally Austrian. I didn't hear them complaining when they scored 101 points with this...

Eurovision 2007: the lowdown

2006-10-23T11:38:00.000-07:00

I thought I best post a few facts about the next contest, so that if you're a random outsider who's happened to stumble across this very blog and haven't got the faintest clue what this Eurothingy is, you'll soon be able to amaze/delight/bore your friends with these slightly tedious, but very essential facts.

- The 2007 Eurovision Song Contest will take place on Saturday 12th May next year in Helsinki, Finland (for the first time!) thanks to Lordi's runaway win with 'Hard Rock Hallelujah' last year.

- The Grand Final will consist of 24 countries made up of the following:

The ten countries that finished with the highest scores last year (Finland, Russia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Romania, Sweden, Lithuania, Ukraine, Armenia, Greece and Ireland)
The four countries who financially contribute the most to the contest, formally known as 'The Big 4' (Germany, Spain, France, UK)
Ten qualifiers from the semi final...

- The 2007 Eurovision Semi-Final will take place on Thursday 10th May next year, also in Helsinki. There can be up to 26 countries taking part in the semi final (although this may change, watch this space...). For now though, those 26 countries will be made up of:

The ten countries that finished with the lowest scores last year, excluding the Big 4 (Turkey, Croatia, FYR Macedonia, Norway, Switzerland, Latvia, Denmark, Moldova, Israel, Malta)
Any other country that wishes to take part, either any of the 13 countries that didn't qualify from the semi-final last year, any returning countries or any debut countries.

This is where it all gets a bit confusing. At the moment, there is supposedly a rule that says that only 40 countries are allowed to take part in the Eurovision. But with the influx of new countries, old ones returning, and some countries dropping out, it's hard to know if a) the limit will be kept to 40, and b) who the heck will take part! Still, a definitive list is meant to appear in November, which should clarify matters.

Another few tit-bits for you...

All songs have to be under three minutes long.
There can be no more than six performers on stage.

And a question I'm always asked about...

You don't have to be an unknown artist to represent your country! In many European countries, they send some of their most established artists. Anyone can enter from the UK, even the Scissor Sisters if they wished...

But they're not British, I hear you cry!

Ah, well likewise, you don't have to be from a country to be able to represent that country. Gina G (Australian) and Katrina & The Waves (yanks) were both able to represent the UK because of the British writers of their songs. It can be the other way round to - national artist, foreign writers. As long as there's some link somewhere to that country, anyone can take part. Elton John could fobb off Bernie Taupin and exchange him for popular Balkan songwriter Zeljko Joksimovic allowing him to represent Serbia if he wished...

Well, I think that's pretty much it for now. Lots of tedious rules, but all vital to one's Eurovision knowledge.

Welcome

2006-10-23T11:28:00.000-07:00

Hello.

Firstly, let me introduce myself. My name is Chris, I am a student at the University of Sheffield, and you may or may not have guessed that I am obsessed/infatuated/addicted to Europe's finest musical competition, the Eurovision Song Contest (or to quote the 1992 male co-host Harald Treutiger, "The greatest gameshow in all the world").

So it's late October - why am I writing a blog about a competition that takes place in May? Well, there is a lot of preparation for the Eurovision Song Contest and so much happens that sometimes I forget about the things that happened along the way. So this little blog is a sort of diary for me, writing up the trials and tribulations of the next contest which will take place in seven months time. For you, you can see what it's like to be obsessed with something. And maybe I might educated you along the way about the world of Eurovision. There's more to this contest than Lordi, Daz Sampson and "We Are The Winners" you know...

So my first major post will appear soon. In the meantime... :-)