Netherlands NF - Result

The Dutch representative, internally selected band 3Js, will perform the song "Je vecht nooit alleen"  in the second semi-final on the 12th May.  A half-jury / half televote selection process gave this song the nod ahead of 4 others.  It's an ok song, but not particularly outstanding, and I fear this will join the long, long list of Netherlands-Non-Qualifiers of recent years, indeed it was 2004 that they last figured on finals night.

All Rise - It's A Blue UK!

The BBC have finally announced their plans for this years Song Contest. It has been long rumoured that the performer would be internally selected for the first time for 17 years, but we also understand that the song has also been internally selected, in line with the last two NFs, so the British viewers will have no say in what is performed in Düsseldorf (I cannot be alone in feeling cheated slightly).


The act in question are re-formed early 2000s boyband Blue, meaning that Anthony Costa finally makes a contest proper after coming in 2nd behind Daz Sampson in 2006.


The news appears to be going down better with our European neighbours, who appear to be quietly impressed, than the UK EuroSong fraternity who are distinctly underwhelmed in the main.  My opinion?  It could have been worse, although only Simon Webbe has really had any solo success since they split.  I would rather wait until the song is released before passing proper judgement. 

Martins Freimanis 1977 - 2011

Unfortunately I'm reporting another yet more tragic news.  Martins Freimanis, who I recall as one 1/3rd of F.L.Y who represented Latvia in 2003 with the much under-appreciated "Hello From Mars"  (my favourite Latvian entry by some distance), and writer of "The World Is Not Over" a couple of years later, has passed away after complications following a bout of Infulenza.


In a sad co-incidence with Sigurjon Brinks recent passing, Martins also has an songwriting entry in his own countrys NF this season,  "Hop" by Blitze (and of course Lauris Reiniks also of F.L.Y  is represented in his own right with "Banjo Laura").


It's all terribly sad, RIP.

Ukraine To Pull Out????

I hope that this rumour doesn't turn out to be true.  Gossip doing the ESC rounds is indicating that Ukraine are so scared of winning in Düsseldorf that they would rather pay a fine to the EBU by pulling out after the cut-off point instead of appearing.  Please tell me this wont happen.


I did enjoy my Sunday afternoons before Christmas watching their qualifiers, including Jemchug (above), and am looking forward to their NF immensely.  It would be awful  if this was all for nothing.

More Qualifiers....

More pre-selection qualifiers have taken place over the last weekend again in Finland, Norway and Iceland.  The winners this week are:


Finland


Paradise Oskar (nothing special), Milana Misic (a clear winner for me, nothing will beat her surely), Father Mckenzie (average boy-band nonsense).




Norway


Hanne Sorvag (run of the mill NF fare, unoriginal and not sure about the guitar-as-a-prop), BabelFish (could see this winning, although not to my taste)




Iceland


Yohanna (see below), Matthias Matthiasson & Erla Bjorg Karadottir (EMO comes to Eurovision - this will not win).


***


Feel a little sorry for Yohanna, because in any other year (nothing to do with her previous ESC appearance) her entry would be more than good enough to secure the Icelandic nod.  However, this is no ordinary year in their pre-selection, with news arriving that the late Sigurjon Brinks entry will still be performed in the third Semi Final this weekend as planned by a group calling themselves "Sjonnis Friends". If "Aftur Heim" is moderately decent, then the sentiment factor should see it over the line (it would in any other country).  It would be a nice tribute, it remains to be seen whether the Icelandic televoters are swayed by such things.

EuroNite - Last Week 1997

Last Wednesdays offering took us to Dublin in 1997, although on this occasion my night was totally destroyed by my DVD skipping and freezing throughout the broadcast.  I have no recollection of this occuring last time I viewed this particular year, and as it is my favoutite contest of the 1990s I know for a fact I would have remembered.


I had to abandon "The Great British Song Contest" fairly hastily as it kept freezing and skipping all the way through Sam Blue, and then jumping forward to Katrina before freezing completely.  The wretched DVD then proceeded to continue its worst all through the contest proper.  Despite removing and inspecting said disc for fingerprints/damage, and only locating two barely-there surface marks that I thought I had polished away, the whole night was fragmented.  I did manage to get it to play for a large part of the contest uninterrupted, but as we got to the later stages of the contest (VIP for Hungary, see above) the freezing recommenced. I was tearing my hair out at this point.


Obviously apart from it being my favourite contest of the 1990s  it was all the more disappointing as I missed Katrina (including the reprise), Boyzone in the interval and the whole of the vote as Carrie Crowley remained completely frozen on my screen.  I had no choice but to bring the curtain down early. 


I have set about the faulty disc with one of my husbands hammers, and a replacement will be sought in good time before this year comes round again.

Sigurjón Brink 1974 - 2011

At the risk of this blog becoming one long obituary, I hate to have to being news of another tragedy to hit the ESC community.  Icelnadic NF entrant of last year, and of this years as well (he would have appeared in the Third Semi Final a week on Saturday) Sigurjón Brink has passed away from a heart attack at the age of 36.  This is awful news, and our prayers go to his wfe and his 4 children.


His entry in last years Icelandic NF was "Waterslide" (see below), and it was one of my most favourite non-qualifiers.


RIP.

Semi Final Draw News

The draw for the two semi finals, plus which of the "Big Five" get to vote in which one has been made in Düsseldorf. In a strange move no telecast was made available, with updates available via dedicated Twitter feed. The running orders are as follows:

Semi Final One 10th May Albania, Finland, Armenia, Switzerland, Norway, Georgia, Turkey, Serbia, Russia, Poland, Croatia, Azerbaijan, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, San Marino, Iceland, Greece, Portugal (voting rights - UK, Spain)


Semi Final two 12th May: The Netherlands, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Ukraine, Cyprus, Austria, Sweden, Moldova, Belgium, Slovakia, Israel, FYR Macedonia, Denmark, Belarus, Bulgaria, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, Slovenia, Ireland (voting rights - Germany, France, Italy)


The one thing that struck me straightaway was the face that yet again the UK will be unable to vote for Ireland  - lets hope their entry is strong enough to qulaify without our neighbourly help!

Augusto Algueró 1934 - 2011

More sad news reaches us with the death of the well known ESC Conductor of the  1960s/early 70s Augusto Algueró.  He conducted on a number of  occasions, including one of the joint-winners in 1969 "Viva Cantando", and he also composed the first Spanish entry "Estando Conigo" in 1961 and wrote the music for Jaime Morrey and "Amanece" in 1972 (see below) - this is one song I have always though would have made a great Bond Theme!

History

Spain 1961: Estando contigo (composer)

Luxembourg 1969: Catherine (conductor)

Spain 1969: Vivo Cantando (conductor)

Spain 1970: Gwendolyne (conductor)

Spain 1972: Amanece (Composer/Conductor)

Recent Qualifiers

3 countries have recently held pre-NF qualifiers, and the lucky participants are as follows:


Finland


Johanna Livinainen (I'm thrilled, her song is exquisite), Cardiant and Marko Maunuksela.


Iceland


Haraldur Reynisson (song reminds me of "Fly On The Wings of Love", except not as good) and Erna Hrónn Ólafsdóttir (whose song is lovely and must have every chance of winning).


Norway


Helene Bøksle (song was nothing special, there will be something to beat it) and  Åste & Rikke (cannot see what the fuss is with this one,  it's very modern but again nothing special (in my opinion).

Tonight - Finnish SF 1

The first of 3 semi-finals of the Finnish selection is broadcast this evening - watch it here from 8pm GMT (9pm CET):  Finnish TV


Automatic Eye, Jonna, Johanna Livanainen, Marko Maunuksela and Cardiant are up for the vote, with any 3 from the 5 going through to the NF.


I hope Johanna makes it through, it was one of the very few I thought stood out from the entries on offer.

EuroNite - This Week 1996

After a weeks gap, last Wednesday night saw our EuroTrip head to Oslo for the 1996 contest.  It was presented by Morten Harket (despite being of-age to appreciate A-Ha at their peak, was never a fan) and Ingvild Bryn (who comes third on my Most Annoying Female Presenters list, behind a certain German lady from 1983).  I wish I had written the line that contained the words "...vast amounts of money, thousands of man hours and many sleepless nights...".


The United Kingdom were in the graveyard Number Two slot.  Our NF took on a slightly different format that year, with the final 8 whittled down to 4 by listeners of Radio 2 before the qualifiers were put to the Televote.  It was a poor year, with not one entry outstanding.  It was fairly obvious that Gina Gs Euro-Disco song was going to win, and there are many who believe this effort was the UKs finest hour - not me (can tolerate it if played full blast in a club when I am the worse for drink) - it was a bit formulaic and lyrically challenged for me, certainly wasn't helped by a tuneless rendition on the night (don't start me on that dress, and Gina not having the legs to carry it off). We deservedly finished amongst the also-rans.


The winner that year was Ireland, for the 4th time in 5 years.  Eimear Quinn with "The Voice" for me capitalised on the popularity of Celtic music, fuelled by the phenomena of Riverdance,  I thought at the time (and still do) that it was quite exquisite, and felt it had a big chance.  That said, my 12 points that year would have gone to Estonia (above).  I simply loved Maarja Liis & Ivo Linna with "Kaaleke Haal", but suspect that many jury members may have been creeped out by a middle-aged man singing with a girl young enough too be his daughter, and handed there votes elsewhere.  Pity, as the song is light-years better than the one they eventually won the contest with several years later.


Two other performances of note - Elisabeth Andreassen for Norway (the host country could not be accused of not trying to retain the crown), and Maja Blagden for Croatia (if you ignore the high pitched screech mid-song).


All in all, an entertaining show!

Flemming Jorgensen 1947 - 2010

Flemming Jorgensen 1947 - 2010

Some very sad news to start the year with my ESC friends, with the death of Flemming Jorgensen, lead singer with Bamses Venner who represented Denmark at The Hague in 1980 with the delightful "Tænker altid på dig".  He passed away on New Years Eve following a heart attack.

A much underrated Danish entry in my opinion, but I always felt that the song itself would have fared a lot better had the language-rule not been in force back then, as the English language version "Miss You" is a proper heart-breaker.  That, and had he been a little more soberly dressed of course,  we are talking top 5 had that been the case.  To me the performance was always overshadowed by the choice of outfit, and the language barrier (unless you speak Danish I guess).

RIP Bamses.

Hotel FM Win In Romania

Happy New Year Everyone!!!

The year has got off to a great start for Hotel FM as their song "Change" is the Romanian representative in Dusseldorf.  I'm delighted, this was the only one of the Romanian Pre-Selection to make it on my IPod, the only one I wanted to listen to more than once.  I'm confident they will qualify, but feel there will be something better that will beat it on finals night.