Eurovision 2011: The Best of the Rest (Part 6)

The Netherlands: When the 3Js revealed the quintet of songs that would be vying for the ticket to Düsseldorf, in my mind there was no question that "Je Vecht Nooit Alleen/Never Alone" would take the title.  (The Dutch audience seemed to feel the same way; the song won with over 63% of the public televote!)  If there had to be a substitution, however, my vote would have gone to the upbeat "De Stroom (The Stream)", which was a more than worthy runner-up:

"De Stroom" is no slouch in itself; while "Je Vecht Nooit Alleen" topped the Dutch charts, "De Stroom" charted at a respectable #12 when it was released as a single in June, six months after the National Song Selection.

Follow Up Single Time, Part 2

As the weeks progress, more of Eurovision's Class of 2011 are continuing on with their careers and releasing their next singles.

Bosnia and Herzegovina's Dino Merlin has followed up his 6th-place finish in Germany with his new single, "Undo".  Despite the title, the song is in Bosnian, unlike his ESC-entry "Love in Rewind".  Dino is actively touring this summer, and will likely release his next album in early 2012.


Albania's preeminent diva, Aurela Gaçe, has collaborated with local rapper MC Kresha to bring the world their new single, "Cash".   It might not harness Aurela's epic vocal prowess in the same way that "Kënga Ime/Feel the Passion" did in Düsseldorf, but it's still a fun listen, and any video that has echoes of "Tron" gets a thumbs-up in my book:

New Videos from Norway and Finland

Norway's Stella Mwangi has just released the preview video for "Haba Haba" and, as expected, the fun, bouncy atmosphere in the song carries over perfectly to the parade-meets-beach-party setting in the clip:


Also in Nordic Eurovision news, Finland's Paradise Oskar has released a second video for "Da Da Dam" (granted, the first version wasn't bad!).

It's Stella Mwangi for Norway!

The last of our swing through the North this weekend comes courtesy of our friends up in Norway, who, as usual, pulled out all the stops for the Finale of their Melodi Grand Prix.  There were eight songs in this final round of competition, with two from each of the three semifinal heats and two songs from the Siste Sjansen (Last Chance) round.  From those eight performances, four would be selected to move on to a so-called "Golden Final", where jury and audience votes would determine the ultimate winner.

Making it to the Golden Final, ironically, were both of the two songs from the Siste Sjansen round, along with the two qualifiers from the third semifinal.  And the final tally, after all of the votes had been counted...

4th) Sie Gubba - "Alt Du Vil Ha (Everything You Want)"
3rd) The Lucky Bullets - "Fire Below"
2nd) The BlackSheeps - "Dance Tonight"
1st) Stella Mwangi - "Haba Haba (Little by Little)"


Despite her young age, this Kenyan-Norwegian performer has had experience and chart success performing all over Scandinavia and Africa.  In fact, only one day after "Haba Haba" took the MGP victory, it knocked Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" off of the top spot on the Norwegian iTunes chart.  Stella's high-energy performance and easy-to-remember hook made this song a no-brainer for the victory.  If she can keep this momentum up, she might end up as a front-runner for this year's ESC title...

And, as a point of trivia, "Haba Haba" will be the first time that Swahili will be heard on the Eurovision stage!  "Haba haba hujaza kibaba" is a proverb meaning "little by little fills up the measure".  According to Wikipedia, this will be the 53rd language heard at the ESC (52nd if you don't count imaginary languages).  Needless to say, this makes the linguistics nerd in me very happy...

The Weekend Preview, 2/10

We've got another busy weekend ahead of us, so let's dive right into what we can expect from all over the Eurovision world over the next few days!

On Friday, Azerbaijan will finally make their decision on who they'll send to Germany this year.  Their preselection process started back in mid-November with 77 candidates, and they've finally been narrowed down to five final performers: Aynishan Qulieva, Ilgara Ibrahimova, Eldar Gasimov, Ilhama Gasimova, and Nigar Camal.  It's still a bit unclear how the song will be selected; last year, the top three candidates sang three different songs, and while the winning performer was selected the night of the finals, the winning song wasn't confirmed until over two weeks later.  Considering Azerbaijan's penchant for flexibility on their preselection processes (their dates have been moved around many times, for example), who knows what answers we may find tomorrow night, or what questions will remain!

Also on Friday, Ireland will pick the artist and song that they hope will bring the nation to the top of the Eurovision heap for an eight year.  Brief snippets of the songs were released last week, but they were heard in their entirety for the first time just today.

Don Mescall - Talking with Jennifer (written by Ronan Hardiman, Don Mescall)
Nikki Kavanaugh - Falling (written by Christina Schilling, Camilla Gottschalck, Jonas Gladnikoff, and Hanif Sabzevari)
Bling - Shine On (written by Patrick Mahoney)
The Vard Sisters - Send Me an Angel (written by Liam Lawton)
Jedward - Lipstick (written by Dan Priddy, Lars Jensen, and Martin Larson)

Ironically, "Lipstick" is the only song that has been removed from YouTube for copyright reasons.  Why ironically?  Well, first, as its considered the frontrunner in tomorrow's competition, and second, as a portion of the song was "accidentally" released on Amazon.com too early, prompting RTÉ to make the decision only one third in the hands of the audience's vote, rather than fifty percent.  The remaining part of the decision will be in the hands of regional juries throughout Ireland.

The Weekend Update, 2/6

Another weekend has come and gone, with tons of Eurovision news to report!

Norway:
The Second Chance round, or "Siste Sjansen", has wrapped up, with eight songs battling against each other in a series of tournament-style knockout rounds.  After all of the carnage subsided, we were left with two songs standing, and going to the finals next week.  And they are...
Sie Gubba - "Alt Du Vil Ha" and
The Lucky Bullets - "Fire Below"
Next week is the Norwegian Final...who are your favorites?

Croatia:
Yesterday, the top twelve contestants (including Daria Kinzer, selected as last week's Wild Card) returned to the stage, fighting for six places in the next round.  Five of those placements were decided last night, while the sixth will be announced on next week's show. Daria Kinzer, Mirko Švenda, Jacques Houdek, Katica Marinović, and Ana Eškinja.  Next week, those Top 6 performers will try to make it to the Top 4.

Lithuania:
The first round of Eurovizija 2011 kicked off this weekend in Lithuania.  A total of fourteen songs vied for only three spots in the final, and here are the victors:
Monika - Days go By
The Independent - 7th Bus
Sasha Song - The Slogan of Our Nation  (Eurofans might recognize Sasha from his beautiful, yet undervalued 2009 ESC entry, "Love")

The (Nordic) Weekend Update, 1/30

We've had a lot happen this weekend from all over the Eurovision world, so I'm going to break my Weekend Update up into bite-sized regional chunks.  And away we go!

Finland: 
The last Finnish Semifinal was held on Friday evening, with three songs qualifying for the final via viewer votes, and one song saved by a jury wildcard.  (Makes me feel a bit sorry for the fifth performer that night, as he was the only one not to qualify!)

Voted into the Final: 

Sami Hintsanen – Täältä maailmaan

Saara Aalto – Blessed with Love (Remember what I said about Iceland's Yohanna being the personification of a Disney Princess?  Forget it; this girl is so treacly-sweet that I became a diabetic just by watching her!)

Stala & So – Pamela (The lead singer, Sampsa Astala, is actually the former drummer for a certain well-known Finnish Eurovision legend...)

Image from http://metalshockfinland.wordpress.com/

(Sampsa Astala as "Kita" from Lordi...ain't he cute?)

Saved by the Jury's Wildcard: 

Eveliina Määttä - Dancing in the Dark

The Finnish representative will be ultimately determined on February 12th.

Iceland:

As expected, the Icelandic semifinal on Saturday was not only full of talent, but also highly emotional.  After the sudden passing of Sigurjón Brink about two weeks ago, there was a bit of doubt whether or not his song "Aftur Heim (Home Again)" would be performed.  Not only was it sung on Saturday night by a group of six of his personal friends, but it easily qualified for the final. 

Also qualifying:

Jógvan Hansen - Ég Lofa (I Promise) (This winner of Iceland's version of the X Factor is actually a native of the Faroe Islands, a Danish territory.  This is his third attempt to represent his adopted homeland in Eurovision.)

Magni Ásgeirsson - Ég trúi á betra líf (I Believe in a Better Life) (This rock ballad, written by an Icelandic/Maltese team, really impressed me.)

As in Finland, the Icelandic final will be decided on February 12th.  There has been a lot of momentum behind Yohanna, but between Jógvan's popularity and the sympathy vote behind Sigurjón's final song, the field is more open than I think people give it credit for.  We'll see in a few weeks!

Norway:

The last of Norway's semifinals happened this week, as well.  As per usual, two songs qualified directly to the final, and two will move on to next week's Second Chance round.  And the winners are...

The Blacksheeps - Dance Tonight (This teen pop-rock group has quite a bit of experience on the song-competition front; they won the youth-based MGP Nordic competition back in 2008 with their song "Oro jaska, beana!".  Agnete and Emelie come from the extreme north of the country, and often mix their Norwegian lyrics with both English and Sami.)

Stella Mwangi - Haba Haba (Stella infuses this song with her Kenyan roots.  She's been active in the music scene in both Scandinavia and West Africa for a while, but this is her first venture towards Eurovision.)

Going to the Second Chance round are:

Susperia - Nothing Remains

The Lucky Bullets - Fire Below

More news to come, of course!

The Weekend Update, 1/23

Another day, another update...Semifinals have continued this weekend in Finland, Iceland, and Norway, and Croatia's preselection has kicked off, as well.  There are also further updates from Azerbaijan, Portugal, Moldova, and Malta!  And away we go...

Finland:
Three more acts have moved on to the Finnish Final after this Friday's semi.  After a public vote, this week's winners are:
Paradise Oskar - "Da Da Dam" (Reminds me a bit of Belgium's Tom Dice from last year, don't you think?  If Tom were a member of Greenpeace Suomi, this might have been the result.)
Milana Misic - "Sydämeni kaksi maata (Two Countries of my Heart)" (Milana is the daughter of a Croatian father and a Finnish mother who actually represented her nation fifty years ago in Finland's debut ESC entry.)
Father McKenzie - "Good Enough" (Yes, they're named for the character in "Eleanor Rigby"!)

Knocked out at this round of the competition were Jimi Constantine's "Party to Party" and Soma Manuchar's "Strong".  An interesting point of trivia, courtesy of reader Stefanos in Finland: Soma's outfit was designed by Mert Otsamo, a finalist on the first season of "Muodin huipulle", the Finnish version of "Project Runway".  According to Stefanos, "I liked his work on Muodin Huipulle more than I did Soma's outfit."  I haven't seen any of Otsamo's work, but after seeing Soma's outfit, I'd be hard-pressed to imagine I'd disagree.

Next, we move on to Iceland:
It's been a week of highs and lows for Iceland this week.  On Tuesday, we heard the sad and sudden news of the passing of Sigurjón Brink at the age of only 36.  He was supposed to sing in the third semifinal next week, and it has been decided by both the network and his family that his entry, "Aftur Heim (Back Home)" would be performed as a tribute by a group of his friends and fellow musicians, and will therefore remain in the competition.  Next week's semifinal heat is sure to be an emotional one.

In the second semifinal, which aired last night, we had five songs competing for two slots in the final.  The victorious tunes were:
Yohanna - "Nótt (Night)" (As I mentioned last week, Yohanna came in second place back in the 2009 competition with "Is It True?"  I try to stay as neutral and impartial as I can, especially during the preselection phase of the Eurovision year, but I honestly think that Yohanna might, in fact, be the personification of a Disney princess.)
Matthías Matthíasson & Erla Björg Káradóttir - "Eldgos (Eruption)" (I speak no Icelandic, but I'm pretty sure I recognized the word "Eyjafjallajökull" at the start of the song...is this a tribute to the epic volcano that covered half of Europe in ash last year?  Any Icelandic readers wish to comment?)

We've got more news after the break!

The Weekend Update

Well, another weekend has come and gone, and while we don't have any new songs added to the roster of Official Eurovision entries, we had a lot of activity over the past few days in the realm of Preselections, especially from the Nordic region.  Here's what went down up North!

Finland:
This Friday marked the first Semifinal in the Suomen Karsinta (Finnish Qualifier), with five songs battling it out for three places in the Final.  And the winners are:
Johanna Iivanainen - Luojani Mun (My Lord)
Cardiant - Rapture in Time
Marko Maunuksela - Synkän Maan Tango (Troubled Country Tango)

So, in the three songs listed above,  we've got a ballad, metal, and tango, and the rejected songs were pop and rock...you can't say that the Finns lack variety!  We'll see five more songs next Friday.

We've got more after the break!

ESC 2010 Reviews: Norway

After all of the entries I've written so far, we finally get to the reigning champions and current Host Nation, Norway.  They've hit the highest of heights, true, but they've also bottomed out more than any other nation in Eurovision history.  They've scored in last place a record ten times, with four "nul points".  Let's check out some of their greatest hits and most epic face-plants, shall we?

One of their earliest "huh?" moments was their 1968 entry, "Stress" by Odd Børre.  Yep, that's right, the man's name was Odd Børre.  His stuttering delivery and strange lyrics (translated example: Have a nice day, don't forget to take sleeping pills/Small doses are good, must relax a little/Turn on your radio, you have earplugs...") have made "Stress" a bit of a legendary performance in the ESC archives.

The first "nul points" recipient since the current scoring system was enacted was another Norwegian entry, 1978's "Mil Etter Mil (Mile After Mile)" by Jahn Tiegen.  This may have been one of those cases when a song was just way ahead of its time.  Tiegen's wailing about a minute and a half into the song may have freaked out a few jurors who were expecting ABBA or Cliff Richard, but I feel that if this song had been performed sometime in the mid-to-late 1980s, it might have had a bit more of a fighting chance.  Sad, really...

After twenty-five years, the Norwegians finally won their first ESC in 1985 with Bobbysocks's 1950's revival number, "La Det Swinge (Let It Swing)".  Their hair was epic, their outfits were epic, and their victory was epic: the seemingly impossible had been achieved, and Norway had gone from lovable loser to conquering hero.

Ten years later, they won their second gold with a song that was nearly wordless, Secret Garden's "Nocturne".  Written by Rolf Løvland, who had also composed "La Det Swinge", "Nocturne" was a new-age folk song with melancholy violins, a single sweet soprano voice, and traditional instruments (such as the Nyckelharpa, or keyed fiddle).  Despite the fact that it had the shortest lyrics in the history of the ESC, the song's mystic nature left an impact, and it won a resounding victory.

However, even more resounding than "Nocturne"'s win fifteen years ago was the phenomenon that was "Fairytale", last year's record-breaking winning song performed by the Belarus-born singer/songwriter/violinist/all-around cutie Alexander Rybak.



Rybak won the Norwegian Preselection with the highest vote-tally ever in that nation's history (over 715,000, beating the runner-up by over 616,000).  Even more impressive, he won Eurovision with the highest score ever (387 points, beating the record held by Lordi, 292).  Other records held by "Fairytale":
- Largest margin between a winner and runner-up: 169 points separated Rybak from Iceland's Yohanna.
- Most 12-point scores: 16 (Beating Greece's Elena Paparizou's 10)
- Points from the most nations: 41 (all nations competing that year, with the exception of Norway itself).
- Also, it is the first winner ever to have been in first place all the way through the scorekeeping (as the first nation to reveal their points gave Rybak the coveted Twelve, and no other song ever caught up to him).

Rybak had everything going for him with "Fairytale".  He wrote an instantly recognizable song with a great hook, a dynamic presentation, and "aw, shucks" good looks.  His dancers, from the local troupe "Frikar", are trained in traditional Norwegian folk dance "halling", so it included a regional touch.  Plus, Rybak was representing both the Scandinavian voting bloc as well as the Former Soviet bloc, as he was born in Belarus and speaks fluent Russian.  As the contest last year was held in Moscow, he was able to publicize himself well to the press and public.  It was universally adored, and Rybak skyrocketed to fame.  The single hit the charts all over Europe (including a rare Top Ten placement in the UK...the first for a non-British winner since Johnny Logan in 1987) and made it to #1 in Flanders, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the Ukraine.  Since last year, he's released his first full-length album, and has had hits in both English and Russian.  He even has a great cover of The Proclaimer's "500 Miles"! 

Ok, enough about Alexander.  But who's going to fill his shoes and compete on home soil?

This year, we've got Didrik Solli-Tangen singing "My Heart is Yours".  Interestingly, one of the composers of this song, Hanne Sørvaag, is also one of the co-writers of the Georgian entry, "Shine".  Even more interestingly, "My Heart is Yours" sounds oddly familiar...does anyone else hear this when listening to Didrik?

The song's good, but it doesn't have the same "oomph" that "Fairytale" had last year.  (Then again, few songs do have it...)  I can't imagine this placing in the Top Five, but appreciation for a host nation often boosts a score a bit, and if Didrik's voice is as strong in the Final (which he's automatically qualified for) as it was in the Preview video, he might shock us all a bit.

(Oh, and just as a point of fact...the composer of "You Raise Me Up" was Rolf Løvland, who wrote Norway's previous ESC winners "La Det Swinge" and "Nocturne".  Just sayin'!)

A Note on "Bloc Voting"

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...

(Graphic taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_at_the_Eurovision_Song_Contest )