Ireland: Like them or not, you simply can not deny that Jedward were an unstoppable force at Eurovision. Even if they didn't take top honors this year with "Lipstick", they were really the talk of the Press Center. From their knee-high Converses to their now-iconic hair, you couldn't resist this year's Irish entry. Even I fell victim to their charms:
But despite the Grimes Brothers' popularity and infectious energy, they only made it to Düsseldorf by the slimmest of margins; only two points separated them from runner-up Nikki Kavanagh's R&B ballad "Falling":
Nikki sang backup for last year's Irish entry, and "Falling" was written by a team that included Jonas Gladnikoff, who was the composer of "Et Cetera" and "It's For You", Ireland's 2009 and 2010 Eurovision submissions. Sadly, Jonas and Co. were unable to pull off the three-peat, but who knows what 2012 will bring?
As anticipated, Israel has released a new version of Dana International's self-penned entry for Eurovision, "Ding Dong".
I was never fully sold on "Ding Dong" to begin with. It paled in comparison to "Diva" and the rest of Dana's solid catalog of work. Unfortunately, this new version doesn't inspire me to change my mind. It will most likely be a hit at the Euroclub, but I'm underwhelmed as I listen to it at home. It feels like the producer decided to throw every audio trick in the book at it, and it makes it feel somewhat dated.
On the bright side, though, Dana and the rest of the Israeli delegation has decided to put one major decision in the hands of her fans: her onstage ensemble. She has picked a series of off-the-runway designs from renowned couturier Jean Paul Gaultier, and the public is invited to choose their favorite. (The site is in Hebrew, but it's still pretty intuitive. Just scroll down to see the eight options, and vote for the one that flips your switch! I was a fan of the green woven number, personally...) Fans might remember that Dana has worn Gaultier designs earlier in her Eurovison career; she famously delayed her victory reprise in 1998 as she changed into a fabulous feathered number:
No matter how the song turns out, Dana will definitely bring a great show to the ESC this year, and letting the audience determine a major factor in the performance just goes to show how much the fans matter to the artists that perform at Eurovision. Todah, Dana!
Hold on to your hats, people...the Diva is coming back! The Kdam, Israel's national selection, was held this Tuesday, and the competition was pretty fierce. However, it might be physically impossible to "out-fierce" Dana International, who won Eurovision back in 1998. As I mentioned in my post about Israel last year, Dana is possibly the world's most famous male-to-female transsexual, and her career has extended far beyond her Eurovision experience. She has released 8 albums, a few "best-of" collections, and was even one of the judges on Kokhav Nolad, the Israeli version of the "Idol" franchise, for two seasons.
Going up against nine other songs, Dana's song "Ding Dong" won the ticket to Germany:
This will actually be Dana's third trip to Eurovision, as she was the author of Boaz Mauda's 2008 entry "Ke'ilu Kan". I have an immense amount of respect for Dana, not only as a former Eurovision champion, but also for having come through the personal struggles that faced her as she made her physical transition. That being said, I don't think that "Ding Dong" makes as much of an impact as "Diva" or "Ke'ilu Kan" did back in 1998 and 2008. The song is fun, and she will definitely garner votes for simply being the ESC legend that she is , but I don't think that Dana International will become the next Johnny Logan (the only two-time winning singer in Eurovision history).
(As for the other songs in the Kdam, my personal favorite was the folksy, yet funky "Tu Du Du", by Michael & Shimrit Greilsummer!)
You would think that after a massive weekend like the one we just had, Eurovision nations would let a poor blogger have a break, right? But noooooo...
In the past half-day, we've had two official songs revealed (Cyprus and Belarus), one Preselection lineup released (Israel), rumors in Russia, and major shakeups in Georgia and Ukraine. I'll get to Cyprus and Belarus in depth as soon as I've written my pieces on Slovenia and Macedonia, who picked their entries on Sunday, but I can definitely give you the latest news on the Russian, Georgian, Ukrainian, and Israeli news.
Russia has been one of the major Eurovision players over the past decade, not only because of the quality of its songs, but also due to the fact that they are the absolute fulcrum of the Post-Soviet Voting Bloc. Votes from all over Eastern Europe often go to Moscow, due to a shared sociolinguistic history and culture (not to mention the omnipresent allegations of political voting). But despite the massive weight of the Russian Bear on Eurovision, we haven't heard much in the way of their Eurovision plans for this year...until yesterday. According to rumors, we'll hear about Russia's official plans sometime this week. It seems that it will either come down to an internal selection or a small-scale National Final, with certain artists having been approached to submit entries for consideration. One of those artists, much to my delight, are the Buranovskie Babushki! Some of you might remember these singing and dancing grandmas from last year's National Selection, where their performance (in Udmurt!) of "Dlinnaja-dlinnaja beresta i kak sdelat' iz nee aishon" made my list of favorite Preselection entries. If they end up going to Germany, I will definitely be making a beeline for the Russian delegation's cocktail party...instead of vodka and blinis, will they be serving cookies and milk? I just want to hug them all!
Anyway, from Russia, we jump over to Ukraine, who, as per usual, has decided to scrap their preselection after allegations of corruption. Some of you likely remember last year's fiasco, when an internally-selected singer and publicly-decided song was retracted after a political transition, and the winner of the subsequent preselection was rejected due to an early release. (It all turned out ok, though, as Alyosha's "Sweet People" ended up in 10th place in the Final.) Confused yet? Anyway, after a juror on this year's panel stated her dissatisfaction with the results, and Eurofans from all over the country have called, written, and petitioned in complaint, a second National Final will be held on March 3, with original winner Mika Newton, runner-up Zlata Ognevich, and fan favorite Jamala to compete against each other. Furthermore, the decision will be made only by a televote, and only one vote per phone number will be allowed. Let's hope that that puts an end to this madness, or else I will personally go to Ukraine, grab the Head of Delegation by the ear, and make him pick a random name out of the Kiev Telephone Directory. (UPDATE!: Jamala has suddenly withdrawn from the second National Final, citing her unwillingness to be associated with a possibly fraudulent selection. Excuse me while I bang my head against a wall.)(ANOTHER UPDATE!: And now Zlata Ognevich has withdrawn, too! So, by default, Mika Newton will represent Ukraine in Düsseldorf...it's still unknown if she'll sing "Angel" or a replacement entry, but I assume the news will come soon.) Next, we've got a shake-up in Georgia! For reasons still unknown, winning band Eldrine has decided to change their line-up. Lead singer Tamar "Tako" Vadachkoria has been replaced by Sopho Toroshelidze, who sang backup for last year's entry, "Shine". According to my calculations, three quarters of all Georgian Eurovision participants have been named Sopho...is there some sort of regional law mandating this? Are little girls named Sopho magically imbued with musical ability? Do Georgian men even sing?! Anyway, they'll be filming the music video for "One More Day" next week in Tblisi.
Finally, we've got the official line-up and songs for Israel's 2011 preselection, "Kdam", scheduled for March 8. Ten artists will duke it out for the ticket to Düsseldorf, including Eurovision legend Dana International. The songs represent a number of genres, and almost all of them are bilingual (either in Hebrew/English or Hebrew/French). The candidates are:
Adi Cohen - "Al Ahava"
KNOB - "Ohev et ze"
Chen Aharoni - "Or"
Idit Halevi - "It's My Time"
Hatikva 6 - "Hakol Sababa"
Niki Goldstein - "Amri itach"
Sivan Bahnem - "Kach Oti"
Michael and Shimrit Greylsummer - "Tu Du Du"
Dana International - "Ding Dong"
Carmel Ekman - "El Gagoai"
More about Slovenia, (FYR) Macedonia, Belarus, and Cyprus shortly!
Continuing on where I left off...
From Russia: "Senza Respiro (Without Rest)" by Antonello Carozza
Remember what I had said earlier about Eurovision fans practically begging Italy to come back into the fray? Well, every once in a while it seems that an Italian artist will take the initiative and apply for another nation's Preselection (or, alternately, a country will sing in an entry in Italian, even if there's no real reason to. I'm looking at you, Romania!). This happened in Russia this year, with singer Antonello Carozza (who I really can't find much more information on, other than a 2006 San Remo Festival performance) coming in a respectable 8th place with his fun, bouncy, sexy, half-spoken, half-sung pop number about the fickle nature of fame and celebrity. Can you imagine if this song had made it to Oslo? Between the catchy song, cute singer, the former-Soviet Bloc voting that somehow propelled "Lost and Forgotten" into 10th place in this year's Final (yeesh...), and the desire to see Italy return to Eurovision...we could have had a major ESC hit on our hands with this one.
From Finland: "Annankadun Kulmassa (On the Corner of Anna Street)" by Heli Kajo
Ok...if the French film character Amelie were a jilted lover in Helsinki, I imagine she'd be a lot like the impossibly cute Heli Kajo. The first line of the song translates to "Why do you pass out alone, on Sunday nights, pants down, on the corner of Anna Street?" Her pain and anger, blended with the innocent sweetness of the song as a whole, gives this fantastic contrast that I know I had to listen to a few times. By the time the tune builds to its understated climax, translated to "Why do you only say 'I love you' after a double whiskey?", you just want to give Heli a hug and tell her to kick her boyfriend's worthless ass to the curb. "Annankadun Kulmassa" came in 6th place in this year's Finnish preselection.
From Israel...the entire Kdam!
We all know how much I raved about Harel Skaat's "Milim (Words)" this year, and how I think he was basically robbed (although winning all three of the Marcel Bezençon Awards mitigates the blow a bit). In the Israeli preselection (or Kdam) this year, there were three other songs that could have easily gone to Oslo. The four tunes presented were all crafted for Harel, and there really wasn't a bad one in the bunch. I think I've already mentioned the gorgeous "Le'an (Away)" and its incredible final high note, but the ballad "Le'hitkarev (Closer)" and the more uptempo "Elayich (Towards You)" were also fantastic songs that really highlighted Harel's range and showmanship. Israel really has a tough act to follow for the 2011 event; they set the bar incredibly high with this past year's Kdam.
From Sweden: "Kom (Come)" by Timoteij
As I've mentioned before, bits and pieces of a previous year's winner often come through in the entries vying for the next year's Eurovision crown. In the case of Alexander Rybak, we were given a string-heavy, yet upbeat number that balanced folk and pop. One of the best examples of that in this year's Swedish Melodifestivalen was Timoteij's "Kom".
This fun, summery pop number only came in 5th place in this year's Melodifestivalen, but it was selected as the Swedish representative for the OGAE Second Chance Contest, where ESC fans from all over the world select their favorite "also-rans". "Kom" won by a pretty heavy margin. Considering that Sweden didn't make it to the Eurovision Finals this year for the first time since 1976, should Timoteij have represented them, instead?
What were some of your other favorite preselection entries? Let me know what you think!
Well, we finally have an answer! After months of speculation from fans and press alike, it seems that the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest will be held at the Esprit Arena in lovely Düsseldorf! This will be the first German-hosted ESC since reunification of the former East and West, and the third overall (after Frankfurt in 1957 and Munich in 1983). The arena will be able to hold about 24,000 spectators, which seems a bit strange, considering that there are only about 23,000 hotel beds in the city. However, it seems that riverboats on the Rhine will be employed as floating hotels during ESC Week, and the city is a major air and rail hub for the area. Knowing that Düsseldorf is a moderately quick train ride from Amsterdam, Cologne, and other cities in the region, I'm seriously pondering making my first official Eurovision pilgrimage! (Readers from Germany...what do you think of the news?)
In other news, Cyprus has kicked off their ESC pre-game. It had been decided that the winner of the "Idol"-like show "Performance" would represent the island nation in 2011 (although the song will be selected at a later time). After all of the votes had been cast, the winner was announced as Christos Mylordos, a virtual unknown. Here's his winning cover of Robbie Williams' "Supreme":
Frankly, after Cyprus's success with John Lilygreen and the Islanders this year, I'm somewhat disappointed in Christos. Granted, he's got until May to improve his stage presence, and he might be better served singing in his native Greek, so all is not lost!
Next topic: Austria is officially back in the game! We haven't seen participation from ORF since the 2007 Contest, where Eric Papilaya's HIV-awareness-anthem "Get A Life/Get Alive" came in a painfully undervalued second-to-last place. When they officially select their song, I'll do a full report on their history.
And, continuing on the theme of nations entering or withdrawing, we had a close call for next year. The 2011 Eurovision Song Contest's dated have officially been set for May 10, 12, and 14. However, there is a major Israeli holiday (Memorial Day) on May 9th and 10th, and performers would not be allowed to rehearse or perform on those days. So, in a special exception, the EBU has decided to allow Israel to have a reserved spot in the Second Semifinal (May 12) in order to avoid any scheduling conflicts that would result in their withdrawal.
All in all, it seems that things are progressing nicely for 2011; Albania, Switzerland, and Romania will decide their entries by the end of the year, and more plans are being revealed by the day. Record numbers of entries have been submitted in some of the public calls for songs...all in all, a good sign for what I'm sure will be a great year for Eurovision.
Just when you think the competition's over and done with...when all of the lights have gone down, the last bit of confetti has been swept off the floor, and the last fan has vacated the Telenor Arena...one of the quiet highlights of the Eurovision Song Contest takes place, unnoticed by many casual fans.
Every year since the 2002 ESC in Tallinn, Estonia, the three Marcel Bezençon Awards are presented to singers or songwriters who have made themselves and their nations proud. Named for the man who originated the Eurovision Song Contest, these awards are often awarded to songs were overlooked by televoters or juries. Although they might not have the flash or publicity that the Grand Prix gets, the fact that these awards come directly from the press, the composers, and past Eurovision royalty means just as much, if not more, to those who are lucky enough to receive them.
As I've mentioned, there are three awards given. The first is the Press Award, voted on by all of the accredited members of the media who gather to cover the ESC. In recent years, it's been given to Serbia and Montenegro for "Lane Moje", Finland for "Hard Rock Hallelujah", Portugal for "Senhora do Mar", and last year's winner, Norway, for "Fairytale".
The second award, the Artistic Award, was previously decided by a poll of previous Eurovision Winners. However, as time has passed, many past participants either were unavailable or unwilling to vote. Starting from now on, this prize will be decided by a vote from the individual networks' commentators, many of whom are rabid fans of the ESC, and have listened to the songs many times. Previous winners have included Ukraine's "Wild Dances" and "Shady Lady", Greece's "My Number One", Serbia's "Molitva", and France's "Et S'il Fallait Le Faire".
The final award, the Composer Award, is voted on by the individual composers competing in that year's competition. It's gone to Bosnia and Herzegovina for "Lejla" and "Bistra Voda", and Hungary for "Unsubstantial Blues", among others.
Until now, no single song has ever won more than one of these prestigious awards. This year, one song has taken all three of the Marcel Bezençon Awards, and it didn't even place in the Top Ten of this year's Eurovision Final.
Congratulations are in order for Harel Skaat from Israel and his song "Milim (Words)", a song that nearly made me cry when I watched it being performed live yesterday. Here's the live performance from the ESC Stage:
(Just to warn you all, this is going to be a long one...)
When I speak to people about Eurovision for the first time, and mention that one of the most consistently strong entrants to the competition is Israel, I generally hear a variation of the same reaction.
"Israel? That's not even in Europe!"
Well, geographically speaking, that's true. However, entry to the ESC is not actually based on location, but rather whether a nation is a part of the European Broadcasting Union. Morocco has participated in the past under this rule, and Lebanon nearly participated in the 2005 competition. However, Israel has been the only "non-European" nation to have a continued presence in Eurovision, with some major successes and some equally major controversies.
Israel made its debut in 1973, with "Ey Sham (Somewhere)" sung by Ilanit. Sounding like it could have been taken from the catalog of Carole King or Carly Simon, Ilanit took her country to 4th place during a highly-competitive year that saw ESC classics from Luxembourg, Spain, and the UK, among others. It didn't take long for Israel to reach victory; in 1978 Itzar Cohen and the AlphaBeta took home the crown with "A-Ba-Ni-Bi", a song whose chorus was basically in the Hebrew version of Pig Latin. The next year, Israel scored a rare second consecutive win with "Hallelujah" by Gali Atari featuring Milk and Honey, a song that I distinctly remember hearing back in Hebrew School while training for my Bat Mitzvah.
Granted, broadcaster IBA's sent some pretty crazy entries, as well. Check out 1987's "Shir Habatlanim"...also known as "The Lazy Bum's Song". When in doubt, try channeling the Blues Brothers, I guess. Supposedly, the Israeli Minister of Culture was so disgusted by the song that he threatened to resign if the network went through with sending the Bums to the ESC. I suppose a respectable 8th-place finish put him in his place, as there's no record of him leaving his post.
Even beyond the little tiff between the IBA and the humorless Minister of Culture, Israel is no stranger to Eurovision-based controversy. As I've mentioned before, many nations throughout the Middle East and North Africa are entitled to enter the ESC if they so choose. However, as many nations refuse to acknowledge Israel as an independent nation, and even go so far as to edit out the Israeli songs, many possible participants have refused to enter just on the grounds that Israel's there. In fact, when it became evident that Israel had won the 1978 contest (before voting had concluded, as it was a decisive victory), a Jordanian station showing the contest cut to an extended commercial break and eventually announced runners-up Belgium as the winner.
The topic of peace in the Middle East (and the lack thereof) has come up often in Israel's entries. In 2007, the entry "Push The Button" by Teapacks was nearly disqualified for alluding to the growing nuclear capabilities of Iran (sample lyric: "There are some crazy rulers/they hide and try to fool us/with demonic technologic/willingness to harm/They're gonna push the button"). Last year, IBA decided to approach the theme from a different direction, bringing Yemeni-Israeli singer Noa and Bulgarian-Arabic-Palestinian singer Mira Awad together to sing "There Must Be Another Way". For the first time, Arabic was sung alongside Hebrew and English in an Israeli entry, and the song had the unique ability to inspire some listeners and completely enrage others. On one hand, you had two wonderful performers from two different faiths, ethnicities, languages, and cultures singing a song of hope and empathy together. However, many hardliners on both sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict saw Noa and Mira as traitors, or at least overly optimistic during times of war. I personally was one of those inspired by the two women, and I wholeheartedly appreciated their efforts (and their song).
You can't mention the words "Eurovision", "Israel", and "controversy" in the same breath without mentioning Dana International, however. She took the 1998 ESC by storm with her disco-anthem "Diva", winning the first Eurovision decided by a public televote. She gave Israel its third victory, and sealed her own international notoriety. So, why all the fuss?
Dana was actually born male. Conservatives all over Israel and the rest of Europe were gobsmacked, but Europe embraced Dana, and the victory of "Diva" is considered one of the seminal moments of the Eurovision Song Contest.
So, after all of that, who's carrying the Magen David to Oslo?
This year, the honor goes to "Milim (Words)", performed 28-year-old Harel Skaat. A small preselection followed his internal selection by IBA, where Skaat sang 4 songs written specifically for the occasion (my personal favorite of the four, "Le'an (Away)", came in as runner up).
In a year full of ballads, "Milim" truly stands head and shoulders above the rest. Harel's incredibly talented, both in vocal ability and presentation. There are rumors that he might perform the song with a verse in either English or French, which may take away from some of the impact of using Hebrew, but it may also make the song more accesible to a non-Hebrew-speaking audience (which is, of course, the vast majority of ESC-viewers). However, Israel's 3 previous victories were sung entirely in Hebrew, so you never know. I can almost guarantee that this will not only qualify for the final, but it may be in the running for the win. I can't wait to see what Harel brings to the Eurovision stage in a few weeks!
I mentioned in my previous note that Croatia is in an advantageous position in the ESC, due to its location in a so-called "Balkan Voting Bloc". That sounds like a half-decent segue to get more into this topic!
As the Eurovision Song Contest has grown and expanded over the years, going from seven nations participating in 1956 to 42 in the 2009 contest, unofficial "alliances" have been established between nations, often due to shared linguistic, cultural, or geographical histories. For example, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Iceland, and Finland will often swap votes with each other, as do the nations of the former Soviet Union or Yugoslavia. More recently, current patterns of immigration have begun to influence expected voting patterns, with Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, and France often sending votes to Turkey or Armenia, or Spain and Portugal voting for Romania or Moldova.
For some nations, this is a massive boost. For example, last year's winner, Norway's "Fairytale", sung by Alexander Rybak, benefited from not just a strong presentation, but the fact that Norway is located in the heart of the "Scandinavian Bloc". Furthermore, Rybak was actually born in Belarus and speaks fluent Russian, so the "Former Soviet Bloc" also stood up and took notice. Granted, this doesn't take away from the fact that "Fairytale" was a great and charming song, but it makes you wonder what would have happened if it had been presented by a representative from, say, San Marino (who came dead last in their first and only participation, back in 2008, despite a well-produced song).
There are a few interesting anomalies to the voting bloc phenomenon, however. Since their first participation in 1973, Israel has managed three victories and 18 top-ten finishes total. So, although they share no borders with any other nation participating in the contest, have no linguistically similar voting partner to fall back on (all of their wins were sung in Hebrew), and many countries have even refrained from joining or continuing in Eurovision in the first place due to Israel's presence in the competition, over half of their 32 entries have merited Top Ten placements.
Malta has had similar success, despite being literally and figuratively insular. They've participated a total of 22 times since 1971, and have had 12 Top Ten finishes (no wins, but two silvers and two bronzes). Granted, Valletta tends to send songs in English, but they really have no official voting bloc to depend on.
Why do I bring this topic up now? Well, if I proceed alphabetically through our little tour of Eurovision Entries for 2010, the next stamp in our passports will be Cyprus, which has directly been affected by the benefits and drawbacks of bloc voting. But more on that in a bit...
