It seems that Ràdio Televisió d'Andorra are gonna bite the bullet and enter Eurovision for the 5th time in 2008. They probably reckon on balance that with the new two semi-final system they've got a better chance of qualifying. Fair play I say.
So, it appears they've recently been on the lookout for an act to represent Andorra in Belgrade and the name that keeps cropping up on the rumour mill is that of Gisela.
She's a young lass from Barcelona and took part in the first edition of Operación Triunfo in Spain in 2002. You know, the one that Rosa won, yeah remember that? Well Gisela actually also went to Eurovision then in Tallinn as well, albeit as one of Rosa's backing singers. It looks as though RTVA are actively courting her to be their representative in 2008.
The other day it was confirmed that AZTV (or Azerbaijani telly) won't be able to enter the 2008 Eurovision as they are too close to the Azerbaijan government. Thank fuck is all I can say to that. I mean their votes would be so predictable I can already give their top 5 without hearing any songs for 2008. Turkey (cultural), Georgia (neighbours), Armenia (Nagorno-Karabakh Armenian diaspora), Russia (history), Ukraine (history)!!!!!
So far the only other country that looks seriously likely to not take part in 2008 is Israel. The head dude of Israeli telly says that the Contest doesn't fit in with what he sees as his channel. It pretty much looks like he's gonna get his way and that Israel's about to do an 'Italy' or a 'Luxembourg'. Maybe one of the other Israeli TV channels will step into the void, but first they'd have to join the EBU so 2007 could see Israel's last participation for quite some time.
Other countries have said they're thinking of pulling out due to bloc voting:- Andorra, Denmark, Ireland, Malta. Of these Malta has now confirmed they'll definitely be in Belgrade.
I think Ireland will now look on balance and say ok we got top ten in 2006 so it's not impossible to do well... if Malta's taking part then so will we.
If Danish TV can get around their money issues then I don't really think they'll be wanting to spoil the party and will take part as well.
That leaves Andorra and I think if Monaco decide to come back in 2008 (which is pretty possible), then Andorra will enter again.
About Monaco, well they had a bit of a hissy fit last year and withdrew, but they screened the final live in 2007, which is the prerequisite to competing the next year so it seems they're keeping their options open. I really hope Monaco do come back as they've got such a great history in this contest.
It also seems that Slovakia might make a return in 2008 under pressure from Czech TV to rejoin. Slovakia last took part in 1998 and I guess the Czechs want them to rejoin the madness and swap 12 points!!
Countries that have confirmed they'll definitely be in Belgrade are:-
Serbia may have won Eurovision in 2007 on their debut as an independent country, but it wasn't the first time that Serbian singers have entered the contest. In fact the first time Serbia took part in Eurovision was as part of Yugoslavia, when a Serb sang the debut Yugoslav entry in 1961. Here's a look at Serbia's past attempts...
Ljiljana, who comes from Novi Sad, sang the first Yugoslav entry. She was 17 years old when she entered Eurovision gaining a respectable 8th place, with this traditional ballad. Today she's a bit of a recluse and doesn't perform in public anymore.
2) 1962 - Лoлa Hoвaкoвић - He Пaли Cвeтлa У Cyмpaк (Don't Turn On The Lights At Twilight)
Lola sang the second Yugoslav entry and came joint 4th with the United Kingdom. She was born in Belgrade in 1935 and was a popular singer in Yugoslavia during the 60's.
3) 1974 - Кopни - Гeнepaциja '42 (Generation '42)
The third Serb entry at Eurovision came in 1974 (the year ABBA won), when Korni represented Yugoslavia and came 12th. Unfortunately, the orchestra in Brighton virtually killed all the low-key charm of the studio version, by blaring out a load of brass, knocking out the moog that runs through the whole song. The song itself is about being born in 1942 during the hardest part of the Second World War in Yugoslavia (particularly in Serbia, which suffered extreme hardship during the years of the puppet Croatian nationalist government).
4) 1982 - Acкa - Xaлo Xaлo (Hello Hello)
Serbia got their next attempt in 1982 at Harrogate, when the girl group Aska represented Yugoslavia and they came 14th. The song's asking about where the girls' lovers might be now and is a typical 80's schlager pop song. Again the BBC orchestra can't match the bounce of the studio version, but the three singers are so wooden and look like they really don't want to be there. Not Yugoslavia's finest hour!
5) 1991 - Бeби Дoл - Бpaзил (Brazil)
Baby Doll was unleashed upon the unsuspecting European public as Yugoslavia's 1991 entry. The Yugoslavs tried to turn Rome into Latin America for three minutes, with what can only be described as drag on acid (even though she's actually a real woman!). The song is about creating a new kind of dance, with the end result of the partakers getting naked!!! Thankfully the language rule in place at the time ensured most people didn't get this! The dancing is atrocious and Baby Doll herself is totally out of tune. The RAI orchestra didn't help matters and massacred the song completely (not the only time that night they did so) and turned the guitar solo into a joke. If anyone laments the loss of the orchestra at Eurovision, 1991 is a great year to show how bad some of the orchestras have been in the past. The camera director also thinks that half-way through the song's proceedings would be a great time to show off the Italian film set used as the stage!!! Yugoslavia came second last with 1 point! All in all, car crash telly at its best!
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA
1) 1992 - Eкcтpa Heнa - Љyбим Te Пecмaмa (I'm Kissing You With My Songs)
As Yugoslavia was haemorrhaging its constituent parts at an alarming rate and with the Bosnian War having broke out the previous month, JRT soldiered on regardless and kept its promise to enter the 1992 contest. When the deadline to confirm entry had been set in 1991, Yugoslavia was still intact, but even by the time they had come to their national final, Slovenia and Croatia had broken away. At the time of the contest, in May, both Bosnia and Macedonia had also declared themselves independent states. Extra Nena went to Malmö representing an area effectively the same as Serbia and Montenegro, but even though she sang well and the song was well arranged, there was no way on God's earth that the juries were ever going to let this song win, which is a shame as it's possibly the best song that Serbia entered to the contest, whilst they were a part of Yugoslavia. They came 13th with 44 points. As for the following year, well JRT was expelled from the EBU after the 1992 contest in protest of the wars in the former Yugoslavia and Serbia wouldn't be able to enter the contest until after the revolution, which ousted Milošević from power.
SERBIA & MONTENEGRO
1) 2004 - Жeљкo Joкcимoвић & Ad Hoc Orchestra - Лaнe Moje (My Dear)
Serbia returned to the Eurovision in 2004 with the introduction of the semi-final as a part of the new country of Serbia & Montenegro. Željko sang his heart out in Istanbul and won the semi-final, but was defeated in the final by some Ukrainian Miss Whiplash! They came 2nd gaining points from every other participating country. To me this is a better song than Molitva, which won for Serbia in 2007, but it obviously wasn't to be. Željko himself is a big star in his homeland and is famous across the former Yugoslavia. Serbia & Montenegro found themselves automatically in the 2005 final where they were represented by Montenegrin boyband No Name, who came 7th. Automatically qualified to the 2006 final, Serbia & Montenegro couldn't pick a winner of their national selection with the Serbs blaming the Montenegrins of vote fixing and demanding a re-run of the national contest. Despite appeals to the EBU, the deadline for 2006 came and went without an agreement on who should represent Serbia & Montenegro. They were disqualified from the 2006 contest, although still retained their voting rights. The day after the Athens contest, Montenegro held a referendum on independence, which agreed to the peaceful division of Serbia & Montenegro into two seperate countries.
SERBIA
1) 2007 - Mapиja Шepифoвић - Moлитвa (Prayer)
Serbia returned to the 2007 Eurovision semi-final as an independent country and proceded to win the entire thing. It's not my favourite song in the 2007 contest and not my favourite Serbian entry, but I can see it's appeal, even though Marija sounds a bit histrionic live. It's not the best winner ever, by a long shot, but at least it kept Ukraine's drag queen from winning, which is a good thing by me!!! It also goes to prove that a ballad can win Eurovision and that you can also win the contest by singing in your own language and not in English. Let's see what Belgrade has in store for us in 2008.
If you're seriously head-fucked then you can find the Ukrainian entry below in studio quality.
It's mental and hideously infectious... I'm having a bad feeling.... very bad.
The title change is to avoid the confusion that they had sung "I want to hear you say... Russia goodbye" in the national final version. Apparently they never did such a thing!
Oh they wouldn't have done that to secure a big vote from the anti-Russian lobby in Ukraine. Would they? Hahaha...
They've said "lasha tumbai" is Mongolian, but according to the Mongolian embassy in Kyiv it ain't!!! Who knows!
The British national final (and last one of this year) was held last night in Maidstone. Five of the six entries were well sung and whilst not all of the five would have been great ESC entries, I could have supported them.
Sadly the worst act won. For those that still don't know that was Scooch with their song Flying The Flag (For You).
They can't sing, they can't dance, they have zero song-writing ability. They have used every camp, gay innuendo in the book. They represent nothing of the current UK music scene. They are plastic pieces of nothing.
To say I'm embarrassed is an understatement.
I feel sorry for Cyndi (who sang her heart out) and what Wogan did to her at the end. He said that she'd won, when in fact she had come second... however we never saw the result of the televote and it all seems a bit suspicious to me.
I feel sorry for Big Brovaz (who were fucking excellent and took defeat graciously) whose career is now ruined by the idiotic British public.
I don't feel sorry for Justin Hawkins, who proved what an arrogant bastard he is by storming off the stage in a strop.
I feel sorry for the rest of Europe who will have to endure this nonsense on 12 May.
I feel sorry for the country that comes 11th in the semi when we have squandered our automatic place in the final with this.
Wogan should be sacked, how he decries "johnny foreigner" and makes people not take their opinion seriously is beyond me. The opinion of the 41 foreign countries was that Big Brovaz should be first with Cyndi second. Terry made people think that the opinions of the other 41 countries don't matter when ultimately that is ALL that matters. The BBC should pull out of ESC and give it to Channel 4 or take a year's break and evaluate the way they select the British entry.
We deserve nothing more than 0 points with this in my opinion.
And to all those Brits who will decry another abysmal UK result in Helsinki, they should take a look back at the MYMU on 17 March and think... well we only have ourselves to blame.
It's called On Top Of The World. Edsilia may end up being on top of the world as this sounds so much better in English and knowing she a can belt out a tune, she should be in with a fighting chance of qualifying.
So here's the 3 minute English version of Albania's Eurovision entry.
It's called Hear My Plea...
It's still shit.
It's quite a desperate plea n all and will no doubt fall on deaf ears as everyone'll've decided to take a toilet / coffee / beer / fag / magazine / pizza (delete as applicable) break within the first 2 bars.
After an internal selection, Russian TV has announced who paid the most money to represent the world's biggest country at Eurovision.
The winner of this dubious honour is a girl group called Serebro. They have little live singing experience, but that don't matter because they've got big financial backers.
To be fair to Channel 1 Russia, they do seem to be picking some decent commercial eurosongs of late and this one's no exception. It's a bit of a dance-pop crossover and reminds me a little of Ooh La La by Morandi.
Yeah this is pretty good and one of very few real pop songs in this year's contest, which'll help it to stand out... now let's just wait and hear how the girls are live.
The Icelandic song to be performed by Eirkíkur Hauksson will be performed in English in Helsinki and will go under the title of Valentine Lost.
Personally I'm not surprised this munter lost his valentine... I'm aghast he even had one to begin with, but there ya go, proof that there's someone out there for all of us!
Sweden's six week long national final came to end on Saturday night in Stockholm. Ten songs competed in what is known in Eurovision circles as THE selection show.
The winner was The Ark with their glam-rock-disco disaster The Worrying Kind. I guess it's fair to say that I loathe this kind of '70's retro stuff, but I bet there's tons of people, all over Europe, who will love this.
I just have to hope now that the UK don't select Justin Hawkins as I don't think I'd be able to cope.
The Czech national final took place in Praha on Saturday night as those Bohemians (and Moravians) selected their début eurosong.
Nine entries took part. The best one had earlier been disqualified, but I don't know why. All nine songs had previously been hits on the Czech charts so at least they have some measure of popular support.
The winner was the most well known act:- hard rock group, Kabát. They've been going over a decade and I guess it's fair to say they have some stage experience. The lead singer's voice reminds me of a lot of OI bands... especially Screwdriver.
It'll come as no surprise then that the song's a rock song. It's ok. I don't mind it for the 3 minutes it lasts.
Portugal's national final was held in Lisboa on Saturday night. Ten songs took part and the public voted for the winner. As ever in Portugal, it wasn't a very inspiring batch of songs.
The winner is by a young girl called Sabrina and she has a pleasant enough way about her, with a bit of a see-through skirt going on to entice the straights!
The song's basically a call for people to dance with her, and if she keeps opening her skirt like that she could well be inundated with menfolk... it's a typically Portuguese Eurovision entry, which means a) it's sung in Portuguese, b) it's about 100 rpm's too slow for what it needs to be, c) there's some heavy brass going on, d) it's all very sugary, e) it's really a bit naff.
However, if that's your idea of a wet dream then you're gonna love it!
Sabrina - Dança Comigo (Vem Ser Feliz) (Dance With Me (Come On Be Happy))
After holding an internal selection, here's the Hungarian entry.
Having taken a one year break from the mêlée last year, Hungary have returned with a load of old shite! It seems that they'll not be bettering NOX's 12th place in 2005.
I really don't get why they've gone for this gravel voiced woman singing something very worthwhile I'm sure, but instantly forgettable. The main criteria for a good eurosong, of whatever genre, is it MUST, MUST, MUST have a hook, otherwise how the fekk is anyone gonna remember it to vote for you?
Nah this ain't doing it for me. Not one iota.
Magdi Rúzsa - Unsubstantial Blues (which kinda says it all really!!!)
On Friday Turkish TV revealed their entry for Eurovision, which they'd chosen internally.
You'll remember that the singer Kenan Doğulu had already been picked some months back when I posted his most recent song of the time.
His Eurosong sounds nowt like that!!
Hahahahaha....
I'm torn on this one... it's modern yes and has a nice (subtle) Turkish element to it. Kenan's also doing his best to be Justin Timberlake, but I dunno... is it me or is the chorus like really really really really repetitive?
Listen and judge for yourself.
Kenan Doğulu - Shake It Up Şekerim (Shake It Up Sweetheart)
Last Thursday evening in Hamburg, the Germans chose their song for Europe and David Hasselhof was nowhere to be found!!
Three songs were in the running, but this swing-lite number swung its way into the public's heart and will be representing Europe's most unnationalistic country come May in Helsinki.
The singer's clearly very good at what he does, with a nice smooth voice that suits this kind of music really well. He carries it off well n all, making it all seem very effortless and he looks the part with his trademark hat. Yeah I quite like him.
The song's nothing original, but the style is very original for Eurovision and I reckon we could see Germany back in the top 10 this year. I think the style is too narrow in the audience it targets to make it the winner, although you never know. I predict a solid result, without setting the scoreboard too much alight.
Roger Cicero - Frauen Regier'n Die Welt (Women Rule The World)
Serbia held their Eurovision selection on Thursday night in Бeoгpaд. This is the first time Serbia will participate as an independent country after the last vestige of the former Yugoslavia, Montenegro, parted company with the Serbs last May.
Ten songs were in competition to be the favourite of both the public and a jury. The winner was this rather ugly duckling going by the name of Marija Šerifović. She's got a better voice than face thank God. The song's about a prayer and isn't quite as dull as it sounds. It's a bit of a big ethno power ballad and is likely to get all the ex-Yugoslavs wetting themselves to call in and vote for Serbia. As regards a Yugoslav peace anthem, I prefer Macedonia's effort... just the lyrics in that are a lot cleverer than in this, but I can sit through it happily enough.
You can watch the video below and work out why they decided to dress Marija as a Laura Ashley sofa.
You can then piss yourself wondering why they decided to decorate the act with all manner of nonsensical acts going on behind the poor woman. The camera operators are obviously having a laugh though as they try, but fail, to decapitate the dancers at various crucial points during the song's proceedings!
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