All Things Eurovision

ONE thing is clear about this year’s Russian national selection at Oslo – the country is not willingly about to pick up another estimated 100 million Euro tab in 2011.

Why? Because it is unlikely it will ever better last year’s contest in Moscow which gave the event a world stage on which its divas and diehards could strut their stuff.

The bill was massive and it is unlikely that Norway or any other country will ever match the importance the Russian oligarchy placed on the 2009 contest in showing the rest of Europe it could still fleax its  financial superpower muscle.

However, as Ireland, and more particularly broadcaster RTE, nearly found to its cost in winning the contest in 1992/1993/1994 and 1996, one can have too much of a good thing, and in its case  was nearly left bankrupt. Russia has made its point and has moved on

This is best illustrated by its rejection of Dima Bilan in getting through into the final 25 songs at weekend.

THE announcement of basically six largely unknown acts to represent Your Country Needs You on Friday evening on the BBC seems to underline a more insurmountable problem.

At its heart is the continued perception by the British music establishment that the contest remains a fast track to oblivion.

One would have thought that given Waterman’s involvement, there might have been at least a few fading music artistes who would have been happy to represent the UK, even if it was just to help reignite their career.

That on top of the fact that last year’s successful performer Jade has now joined top group The Sugababes, suggests it’s not all downhill for those artistes prepared to put in the effort and on the night come up with the goods.

And although Jade was another relative unknown last year there is no doubt the involvement of Andrew Lloyd Webber helped enormously to give back some contest credibility to the UK as well as to the perception by foreign media that the UK was serious about the event.

However, apart from Waterman’s involvement in 2010, there is as yet nothing to suggest the UK will advance last year’s effort in Moscow when it goes to Norway in May.

One can only assume that staff employed at the BBC on Eurovision have done their level best to come up with a suitably well known act to match the Peter Waterman man inspired composition and have been turned down.

The BBC has six acts in Friday’s show, which include four solo acts and two groups, who will perform live in front of a panel of judges

The acts are: Esma Akkilic, Karen Harding, Josh Dubovie and Alexis Gerred will vie with trio Miss Fitz, and five-piece Uni5.

One suspects Waterman already knows which of the finalists he wants to perform his composition, but as ever, nobody dare place their trust in the British TV voting public, particularly,  after its equally many calamitous choices of the near past!

ONE would have thought the Irish would have moved on from the sort of balladry the likes of the Pogues railed against but there was no such luck at the country’s national final in Dublin.

Last night the Irish audience duly crowned the former 1993 Eurovision winner ‘has been’ Niamh Kavanagh, as its latest ‘lamb to the slaughter’ with It’s For Your’ in Oslo this May.

If anybody had an ounce of sense Ms Kavanagh would not have been there and given the very poor rendition, of what on the face of it, seems like a half decent song, she would have been beaten by some better songs including Eurovision River of Silence and Fashion Queen.

However, what one is dealing with is an audience who chose acts like Dustin the Turkey (2008) and Sinead and Black Daisy(2009) to bomb at previous Eurovisions. So it’s almost like a perverse death wish by TV viewers who will now only vote for a song which has no chance!

It’s not dissimilar to the way the UK behaves. but it just ensures Ireland will have yet another fallow year, and one wonders if RTE could give a toss!

This is how the MEN blog saw the final, act, song and comments:-

(1) Marko Vozelj – Moj Si Zrak – Good mid-tempo song - deserved to do better, but in the end not ethnic enough.

(2) Nuša Derenda – Sanjajva – Despite her fame, the song was sadly nothing special

(3) Langa – Roko Di Maj - Started okay and despite the additional backing singers went rapidly dowhill, although they did have a wind machine!

(4) Tangels – Kaj In Kam -  Okay, pleasant ditty but that was all. Good singers though.

(5) Brigita Šuler – Para Me – All it needed was a Mexican band – lively, good number.

(6) Anastazija Juvan – Nežna Izpod Prstov – Pleasant enough song but not suitable for Eurovision.

(7) Manca Špik – Tukaj Sem Doma – Should have been a potential winner

(8) Hamo in Gal – Črni Konji Cez Nebo – Nothing special, although well sung.

(9) Martina Šraj – Dovolj Ljubezni – Nice singalong number.

(10) Stereotipi – Daj Mi En Znak – Not a bad song and well sung

(11) Nina Pušlar – Dež -  Men in Black and lots of la la la! And Slovenia may rue not selecting this song.

(12) Vlado Pilja – Tudi Fantje Jočejo – Cracking Michael Bolton sounding number!

(13) Anzambel Roka Žlindere & Kalamari – Narodno Zabavni Rock – Accordians, national dress and rock and roll all in one song. Too local to win at Eurovision!

(14) Lea Sirk – Vampir Je Moj Poet – Never got her teeth into this one!

THERE is seemingly little happening on the island of Malta at this time of the year if one takes account of the time it took to determine who it was going to send to Oslo.

In the end it was determined, Thea Garrett,  will represent Malta with the song My Dream, in Norway in May.

However, it took more than three and a half hours of Eurovision TV, mainly at its worst, to select Thea, which was enough for even the most ardent Eurovision fans to cope with.

It was not just that the 20 entrants could have easily been whittled down to a reasonable number ahead of last night’s show but the presenters of the programme were forced to advertise the likes of the Gozo jewellery outlet and some other such corner shops with regularity! Let’s be honest, while this might be a national final, reading out vital sponsors is not something an international audience watching on the internet has any interest in. And it tends to jar if it goes on for the length of time it did.

Aside from that the acts were mixed so here are the MEN blog’s summation of the acts with act, song and comments:

1 Dorothy Bezzina – Moments – Good ballad, if a little familiar

2 Foxy Federation – Fired Up – Four out of tune females who were not together

3  Lawrence Gray – Stories – Funereal

4 Eleanor Spiteri – Velvet Ocean – a little whiney, not a bad song

5 Claudia Faniello-Samsara - Dreadful

6 Thea Garrett – My Dream – Another pair of wings similar to Azerbaijan – Could do well

7 Priscilla & Kurt – Waterfall – Failed to sing together – screechy

8 Nadine Axisa & Clifford Galea - Once in a Lifetime – Old fashioned ballad, out of time

9 Glen Vella – Just a Little More Love – Okay

10 Audrey Marie Bartolo  – Good Intentions – Good song and singer. Poor staging, bad outfit, no need for male dancer

11 Klinsmann - Her Name Was Anne – Familiar sounding, cockney voiced sounding singer, who failed to hit right notes, but could get better.

12 Claire Galea – Ole Satchmo’s Blues – Nice accompaniment – not Eurovision though!

13 Wayne Micallef – Save A Life – Average song

14 Petra Zammit – All I Need – Great song, brilliant singer. Needs to take her voice Stateside!

15 Ryan Dale & Duminka – One 4 You – Started out well before enthusiasm got better of young Ryan and he began wailing. Puppet sounded better!

16 Eleanor Cassar – Choices - Charlie’s Angel lookalike with odd island hairstyle, dated!

17  Silverclash - Broken – Cats chorus!

18 Tiziana Calleja – Words Are Not Enough -  Some ’singers’ should be discouraged from participating!

19 Ruth Portelli – Three Little Words – NOT A WINNER!

20 Pamela – Hold On – Screechy!

AS most UK Eurovision fans will know the audacious bid by Justin Lee Colins has foundered in Ireland.

Collins, who seems to think he can sing, gave the impression to fans that entering the national qualification was a deadly serious effort by him based on his love of Eurovision.

However, the fact that a TV documentary which is due to appear before the finals in May, suggests Collins might be far more disingenuous about the contest than some fans were led to believe.

This blog would be more than a little bit surprised if it doesn’t show the comedian Collins trying to raise a few cheap laughs to confirm the UK’s view of the contest and those associated with it Only time will tell.

As will be seen, Ronan Keating, wrote the song for Collins, but it foundered behind closed doors in Dublin, after he was excluded from the final five acts chosen for the national final, which included ‘Saint’ Niamh Kavanagh. the winner for the Irish back in 1993 with In Your Eyes.

Wounded by two turkeys in the past two years at Eurovision, broadcaster RTE, can little afford another humiliating Eurovision. And any broadcaster worth its salt would suspect Collins might scupper the possibly serious chances of one of the island’s patron saints.

The final five are as follows:

Leanne Moore – Does Heaven Need Much More? (composed by Tommy Moran & John Waters)

Monice (Monika Ivkic) – Fashion Queen (composed by Marc Paelinck & Mathias Strasser)

Lee Bradshaw – River Of Silence (composed by Ralph Siegel, John O’Flynn & José Santana)

Michael Graham – Baby Nothing’s Wrong (composed by Michael Graham, Scott Newman & Yann O’Brien)

Niamh Kavanagh – It’s For You (composed by Niall Mooney, Mårten Eriksson,Jonas Gladnikof & Lina Eriksson)

The final five songs were chosen by a judging panel chaired by Eurovision Song Contest winner Linda Martin and included MD, Universal Music Ireland, Mark Crossingham, showbiz agent/choreographer, Julian Benson, RTÉ 2FM DJ andIrish commentator, Larry Gogan, and Diarmuid Furlong head of the Official Eurovision Song Contest Fan Club of Ireland.

The songs will be performed on a Late Late Show Eurosong special on Friday, March 5. The winner will be decided by 50 per cent regional jury vote and 50 per cent public tele-vote.

What do fans think of Niamh’s chances?

It might have not been the best song on the night but Iceland’s Hera Björk was fully deserving of her accolade to represent Iceland in Oslo.

Her marvellous singing pedigree saw her finish runner up last year for Denmark in its national final with possibly a better song Believe. However, she still managed to get to Moscow as a backing singer for Yohanna, who herself finished runner-up with Is It True in the song contest final. The year before Hera was also a backing singer for Euroband when the duo sang in the Serbian Eurovision final.

The first time this blog clapped eyes on Hera was at the country’s reception at the Icelandic Embassy in Moscow. There, she showed herself not just to be a good singer but one who was just as happy to stand in the shadow of the nervy Yohanna and lend her support.

The six competing artistes and their songs before the TV viewers cast their votes were at this year’s Icelandic final were:

Íris Hólm – The One
Matthías Matthíasson – Out Of Sight
Hvanndalsbræður – Gleði Og Glens
Jógvan Hansen – One More Day
Sjonni Brinck – Waterslide
Hera Björk – Je Ne Sais Quoi
Hera then beat the only remaining singer, Jógvan Hansen, in the super final.

Nice choice Iceland!

A FEW things concern me about Pete Waterman being drafted into to write the Beeb’s entry to Eurovision 2009

Firstly, it seems like the corporation has gone back to a minimum of effort this year to find a song which doesn’t get utterly drubbed in Oslo

Secondly, the BBC seems to be suggesting Waterman will be writing a song for a group or an artiste, which will go back to being performed late in the day, And given that many countries have already made their selections and those songs are now out there being heard, we are already at a distinct disadvantage.

And on the same point, while Waterman might be good at producing songs which got lots of airtime, and used to involve ex-Neighbours TV stars. How will he cope with producing a song which is likely to be heard by the majority of Europe for no more than 30 seconds before it is sung in the final, and still manages to hit the nail on the head?

Phil Parsons, executive producer of Eurovision for the BBC, said: “This year, with an extremely successful pop writer, the aim is to build on the UK’s success while moving on in style and doing something different.

“Pete Waterman has an incredible track record of hits that are known all around Europe so we’re thrilled that he has taken on Eurovision.”

As far as this blog is concerned, it’s far too early to call the outcome, but Parsons’ optimism and his suggestion to ‘build on’ the success of Jade, could prove hopelessly optimistic, given the seeming lack of urgency this time round.