My final entry of 2012 is to induct another member into the ranks of Eurovisionaries--Lisa Andreas.
In Eurovision, with all the pyrotechnics, writhing dancers, and thumping beats, sometimes the simplest song and production stands out even more.
This was never more noticeable than during the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest, when Cyprus sent this song.
Lisa Andreas "Stronger Every Minute"
"Stronger Every Minute" was a contrast to the winner of the contest, with the winner being the ur-type of the pyrotechinc dance numbers that ruled the song contest in the period:
Ruslana "Wild Dances" Ukraine
But for me Andreas' understated number has much more impact that the frenzied gyrating of the winning entry. And for once, a lot of people agreed with me. Andreas placed fifth in the final that year, garnering 170 points, the most the country has ever received in the contest.
What amazes me more is that Andreas was sixteen years old at the time of her performance. Her ability to give a mature, nuanced performance at an age where I could barely differentiate my head from a hole in the ground is impressive.
Sadly, her performance on the stage in Istanbul was the high point of her career. Other than making her way to the second round of the fourth season of the UK X-Factor, her post-Eurovision information is sadly lacking, just the basic CV information.
But she is still out there performing, as of 2011 in a group called The Harmonics.
Lisa Andreas, Josh Roots, Samuel Paul Jacques "Ain't Nobody"
She's still a good singer, and were I living in Kent, I'd definitely be searching her out at one of her gigs.
It's a blustery, warm day here in Anchorage, and all the snow has a coat of ice on it. So instead of going out and risking falling down on ice (yet again) this year, I've decided to stay home and catch up on some of the national finals that have already been broadcast.
The Ukrainian national final was held back on December 21st, with twenty different acts vying to represent their country in Malmö, Sweden. It was, in my opinion, a glitch filled, self-serious event, lacking the fun and showmanship of the Belorussian final. But as Ukrainian Eurovision finals go, it appears to be above board, with only one act withdrawing after their performance and apparently no ill will from artists after the show.
Which means, good job NTU. It looks like you're able to run a successful national final.
The Winner
Zlata Ognevich "Gravity"
Ognevich won on her third attempt to represent Ukraine and I have to say Ukrainians made a very sensible choice with sending her to Sweden. She's got a clear, powerful voice--well suited to the ballad she's singing. She was also on key the entire time, which is not something that could be said about some of the other acts. It also doesn't hurt that Ms. Ognevich is pretty easy on the eye, which will likely go over as well.
The only criticism I have is with the harmonies. The balance between Ms. Ognevich and her backing singers is out of whack, but I'm certain that this will be fixed by the time May comes around and this song will do very well.
Should Have Won
Usually this section is reserved for the song that was better than the one that actually one the contest. And "Gravity" is a well crafted Eurovision pleaser. So this time I'm using this to highlight a singer instead of the song.
Tetyana Shirko "Feeling Like A Sir"
Ms. Shirko came in a credible fourth with this rather weird song about making someone "feel like a sir". I had to go to the Internet to figure out what "feeling like a sir" meant, and that's a really bad sign for a song lyric.
(For those of you who are interested "feeling like a sir" means feeling elegant and refined. Follow this link for more information on the etymology.)
However, I can only compare Ms. Shirko's vocals to Minnie Riperton, one of my favorite soul singers ever. I hope Shirko comes back in future years with better songs...
My Favorite
Hmm. I don't necessarily have a favorite, none of them made me want to jump out and embrace the singers whole-heartedly, like Jamala did in 2011 and Gaitana did in 2012, but I'd like to highlight a couple of other songs that were interesting if nothing else.
DiO.Filmy "Medlyak:
If I were choosing a song to amuse my friends at my Eurovision party, "Medlyak" would be the obvious choice. They're the only performer to have quirk in spades.
Matvey Vermiyenko "Otkryvay menya"
I'm also impressed by the performance of Matvey Vermiyenko. Vermiyenko's genderfuck, much influenced by David Bowie circa Ziggy Stardust, is not something I particularly expected. He came in dead last, but his performance was surprising in a very conservative country. I'm not a fan of the song or performance, but I admire him trying to win a place in the Eurovision Song Contest.
And that's Ukraine's national final in a nutshell. Now to tackle Festivali i Këngës, the Albanian selection show...
Belgian chocolates, perhaps the most famous in the world.
(It was either that or Belgian waffles...)
And finally my top five Eurovision songs from Belgium:
Starting with number five:
Kate Ryan "Je t'adore" 2006
Before I sat down and actually watched this performance, I had written this one off as a a typical dance song performed poorly and hadn't given the song a second thought.
I was wrong, Ryan comes off admirably and the harmonies with the two backup singers is superb. The only quibble I have is with the choreography. Everything that the dancers do distracts from the song (like the fluorescent mike stands) and combined with the lack of friendly countries in the contest didn't put it into the finals. Shame. It's a great song and Ryan gave a solid performance.
My number four:
Dream Express "A Million In One, Two, Three" 1977
This one popping up in the top five shouldn't be surprising, considering I cited it in my review of the 2013 Belgian entry.
Bianca, Stella, and Patricia Maessen are no strangers to the Eurovision Song Contest, having represented the Netherlands in 1970, but here, along with Bianca's husband Luc Smets, they had one of my favorite Eurovision songs from the late 1970s. Sure, it's kind of a ripoff of Brotherhood of Man's Save Your Kisses For Me, but the infectious music and the personality of the singers just won me over and has won a frequent rotation in my own personal Eurovision mix.
Number three:
Sandra Kim "J'aime la vie" 1986
Belgium has only won the Eurovision Song Contest once, and even I can't deny that this is a perfect example of mid eighties Europop.
Sandra Kim was all of thirteen years old when she performed this song in Bergen, Norway, and comfortably won the contest, and it's understandable. The satin jacket with huge shoulder pads, acid pink pants and pink bow tie were adorable and perfect for the so-called fifteen-year-old, and her performance was flawless. And the song even ages well--it's good twenty six years later.
My second favorite:
Witloof Bay "With Love Baby" 2011
Even I'm shocked by how highly I rated this one. After going through all of the songs, I would thought I would have put this somewhere in the middle. But after watching their performance in Dusseldorf, I had a complete change of heart and put their performance above almost every other Belgian entry.
I must admit this is due to my own background in choral music. A capella music was always my Waterloo--I had a tendency to go flat and take down the rest of the group I was singing with, so the ability of the six singers of Witloof Bay to both stay on key and not be cringe worthy--another issue I have with a capella singers--puts "With Love Baby" above almost every other Belgian song.
And finally, my pick for best Belgian Eurovision entry.
Pas de Doux "Rendez-vous" 1983
When "Rendez-vous" was presented in 1983, it was radically different than anything else presented in Eurovision. The two singers only sing one phrase over and over again over some faux-Asian synth pop. It's pretty "out there" and it's fantastic risk taking--something that happens very rarely in Eurovision. And it's a risk I happen to like a lot, and that's why it's my personal pick for best Belgian Eurovision entry.
The Belgian city of Antwerp is famous for their diamond cutting, and Belgian
diamond cutters like Gaby Tolkowsky (pictured) are world famous for their ability.
Belgium is an interesting country because it is divided neatly in two into two regions---Wallonia, a French speaking region, and Flanders, a Dutch speaking one. Because of this, there are two national broadcasters and they swap the chore of organizing and selecting a song and singer between them each year.
Because of this language divide, Belgium has done something that no other country has done in Eurovision--sent songs in invented languages. The most successful of these songs is this number, from 2003
Urban Trad "Sanomi" 2003
It was successful, coming in second in 2003. It's not my type of song, but for sheer chutzpah it ranked highly on my list.
Belgium has also sent some rather avant garde choices to Eurovision, the most famous of which is this group
Telex "Euro-Vision" 1980
As for influential Eurovision contestants, Telex is probably second to ABBA for global influence. Their influence as one of the fathers of modern electronica and dance music has been wide reaching, and their acceptance of representing Belgium at Eurovision is pretty surprising. However, in my ranking they ranked so low because the song was built to provoke instead of actually win, which for me is unforgivable.
The rest of the songs in this group make it into this section with one real connecting factor, they put a smile on my face when I hear them. Take a listen to these and tell me you don't want to smile.
Lily Castel & Jacques Raymond "Goeiemorgen, morgen" 1971
Clouseau "Geef het op" 1991
My top five Belgian songs to follow soon.
6. Tom Dice "Me and My Guitar" 2010 Quality song.
7. Lily Castel & Jacques Raymond "Goeiemorgen, morgen" 1971
8. Vanessa Chinitor "Like The Wind" 1999 Enya anybody?
9. Ann Christy "Gelukkig zijn" 1975
10. Clouseau "Geef het op" 1991
11. Micha Marah "Hey Nana" 1979 This came in last in 79, and I don't know why.
12. Urban Trad "Sanomi" 2003
13. Telex "Euro-Vision" 1980
14. Lisa del Bo "Liefde is een kaartspel" 1996 Let's face it, I'm a sucker for a bouncy melody.
15. The KMG's "Love Power" 2007 I'm distracted by the lead singer's tan.
16. Liliane Saint-Pierre "Soldiers of Love" 1987 Cheesy, but in a great way.
17. Robert Cogoi "Près de ma rivière" 1964 The best of the early Belgian entries.
18 Jean Vallée "L'amour ça fait chanter la vie" 1978 A really solid song.
19. Bobbejaan Schoepen "Straatdeuntje" 1957 Schoepen is a Eurovisionary. Watch for a post on him.
20. Nicole & Hugo "Baby, Baby"I don't need to post this one. If you love Eurovision, you know this cheesy number by heart.
The Atomium, the main pavilion of the 1958 World's Fair,
is perhaps the most famous building in Belgium.
Typically, I'm extraordinarily enthused about reviewing a country's entries in the Eurovision Song Contest. But when I got to Belgium, I got stuck. I don't know if it was the sheer number of songs or the quality of songs, but I finally finished this list almost four months after I began.
Belgium has participated since the beginning--1956--and have only missed the contest when they were relegated for lack of success, so there are 55 songs to go through.
So like my previous posts on Austria, I'm splitting my analysis up into three different posts, starting with the the songs that ranked lowest on my list.
I would love to be able to write a lot on these songs, but for the most part they are nothing but pleasant, as the two songs below demonstrate:
Mélanie Cohl "Dis oui" 1998
Serge & Christine Ghisoland "À la foile ou pas du tout" 1972
They're nice but perfectly unmemorable.
And that the issue with many of the Belgian entries--pleasant music doesn't get you to the top of the heap come voting time.
However, I must admit that Belgium did provide two songs that are currently at the top of my list for different reasons.
The first is they entry from 1981:
Emily Starr "Samson" 1981
Risque isn't necessarily a bad thing come Eurovision time, but when risque tips over into vulgar, I have to draw the line, and Ms. Starr crossed that line with "Samson". Her vocal performance is perfection, but the staging and costuming is pretty horrible. The Belgian delegation wanted to go for sexy, with Ms. Starr in a high, double slit dress with dancers behind her. It was meant to complement, the song, but it doesn't work. Starr's desire to show off both of her shapely legs make her look like she's bearing down to give birth and combined with the Josephine Baker/Sally Rand shimmying fan dancers behind her--well, it makes it into something very special. And really vulgar.
But Starr's performance was the saving grace for the song as a whole, and it was ranked well above last place.
That dubious honor went to this song:
Claude Lombard "Quand tu reviendras" 1968
The mopey, somewhat out-of-tune music, Lombard's voice, and the glacially slow tempo make me want to pull my hair out. I can typically excuse all of these facts if there's any sort of levity, but Lombard makes this song seem as serious as nuclear disarmament talks. It's horrible, horrible, horrible, and without a question the worst song Belgium has sent to the contest.
And for those who are interested, here's my ranking from 21 to 55.
21. Ingenborg "Door de wind" 1989 Isn't Ingeborg adorable? Isn't the song weak?
22. Mélanie Cohl "Dis oui" 1998
23. Reynaert "Laissex briller le soleil" 1988 A nice song, but it is very much of the late 80s.
24. Pierre Raspat "Judy et cie" 1976 One more Judy and he'd be Cary Grant.
25. Louis Neefs "Ik heb zorgen" 1967 Seems like a song out of a musical never written.
26. Sergio and the Ladies "Sister" 2002 I wanted to rank this higher, but the vocals were weak.
27. Fud Leclerc "Ma petite chatte" 1958 My personal favorite of Fud's four entries
28. Barbara Dex "Iemand als jij" 1993 Her clothes were much more memorable than her song.
29. Jacques Hustin "Fleur de liberté" 1974 Poor guy had the flu, so that's why the lack of energy.
30. Lize Marke "Als het weer lente is" 1965 Another good singer let down by a dog of a song.
31. Jacques Raymond "Waarom?" 1963 Why indeed?
32. Phillippe Lafontaine "Macédomienne" 1990 Another good singer, but the song is very dated.
33. Stella "Si tu aimes ma musique" 1982 I love you when you sing with your sisters...
34. Iris "Would You" 2012 Poor girl. She was a nervous wreck onstage.
35. Tonia "Un peu de poivre, un peu de sel" 1966 The overemoting ruined the song for me.
36. Jean Vallée "Viens l'oublier" 1970 Nondescript.
37. Louis Neefs "Jennifer Jennings" 1969 Pandering to the English speakers, are we?
38. Serge & Christine Ghisoland "À la folie ou pas du tout" 1972
39. Ishtar "O Julissi" 2008 Sanomi did it much better.
40. Bob Benny "Sepember, gouden roos" 1961 It's perfectly OK.
41. Emily Starr "Samson" 1981
42. Patrick Ouchéne "Copycat" 2009 Seriously? An Elvis impersonator?
43. Frédéric Etherlinck "La voix est libre" 1995 I can't figure out if he blew out his voice...
44. Fud Leclerc "Mon amour pour toi" 1960 Overwrought.
45. Nuno Resende "Le grand soir" 2005 EMI, this song isn't work blocking in the US. Trust me.
46. Fud Leclerc "Ton nom" 1952 Fud swings. I fall asleep.
47. Nathalie Sorce "Envie de vivre" 2000 She's got a nice voice, it's just a shame she got off key.
48. Linda Lepomme "Laat me nu gaan" 1985 The song is pitched too high for her voice. Shame.
49. Jacques Zegers "Avanti la vie" 1984 You're no Serge Gainsbourg, Jacques Zegers.
50. Bob Benny "Hou toch van mij" 1959 Poor guy is singing his heart out for no real reason.
51. Mony Marc "Le plus beau jour de ma vie" 1956 Sadly, it's just uninteresting.
52. Morgane "Nous, on veut des violons" 1992 An appealing singer with a really lousy song.
53. Xandee "1 Life" 2004 If only she had stayed in tune...
54. Fud Leclerc "Messieurs les noyes de la Seine" 1956 This is sleep inducing.
55. Claude Lombard "Quand tu reviendras" 1968
I have to admit in the economic climate in Europe right now, the way the Belgians have chosen their entrant is very cost effective.
Radio Télévision Belge Francophone, the French language broadcaster in Belgium, internally selected Roberto Bellarosa, the winner of the Walloon version of The Voice, a singing competition that has spread across the world.
RTBF selected three songs to be presented to the public on a radio program, and a combined jury and phone vote selected the song that Bellarosa would sing in Sweden.
The Winner
Roberto Bellarosa "Love Kills"
I think it's a perfectly innocuous song I can't understand the English lyrics--his accent is somewhat incomprehensible. But I may have been hypnotized by the eyebrows or the the leather pants, both of which are pretty incredible.
As it stands right now, I don't think it has a chance of making it out of the semifinal it's placed in, but we have six months and I expect changes will be made.
Should Have Won
Roberto Bellarosa "Love Kills"
It's not because I think it's a great song, which truthfully I don't. The other two songs presented were worse, and out of the three I would have chosen it myself.
My Favorite
Truth be told, I don't really care for any of them so I can't say that any of them are my favorite. So I'm posting up a Belgian Eurovision entry I really do like.
The songs keep coming thick and fast this Eurovision season, and Switzerland is the next country in the Eurovision pipeline.
The country has one of the more complicated selection processes, with the media organizations representing the French, German, and Italian regions of Switzerland selecting songs to go to the national final--four from the German region, three from the French region, and two from the Italian region.
I have to say that I was highly disappointed by watching the show, unlike the Belorussian national final, the quality of songs seemed to be sub par.
A case in point:
Ally "Catch Me"
This was really one of the two best songs sent into the Swiss Italian radio and television broadcaster in Switzerland? Seriously?
Unfortunately for Ally, the Swiss voting public agreed with me, and "Catch Me" got less than one percent of the public vote and she came in dead last.
On the other end of the voting table--
The Winner
Heilsarmee "You and Me"
I can understand why this band of ragtag musicians pulled together from Salvation Army bands in Switzerland did well.
My opinion on this can be summed up by three divas of British television in the 1990s:
Lily Savage, Cilla Black, and Barbara Windsor "You Gotta Have a Gimmick"
And trust me, the Salvation Army in Switzerland got themselves a gimmick. Pretty much put together a diverse group of musicians--the people in the group range from 20 to 94--and put together with a passable Christian rock song it pushed them over the other eight songs.
Yet after the watching the Heilsarmee clip over and over again, I find there's something missing, and that's chemistry. Watching the two singers together, it feels like they're singing in their own separate worlds. It might be argued that they're members of the Salvation Army, and any appearance of chemistry might be verboten, but when you're in a duet and singing a song with lyrics like:
No there's nothing that can hurt us/
Whatever there may come/
Let it hear from near and far/
This is how it's meant to be/
We're together you and me
there had better be some chemistry, even if the song is about your relationship with God.
But the group has six months to bond, so there's a chance that the chemistry will have time to form.
Should Have Won
In my opinion, the Swiss should have voted for this song.
Chiara Dubey "Bella sera"
Young women singing by themselves have a good track record in the contest, and Ms. Dubey's almost pitch perfect performance wowed me.
Biggest problem, the song was in Italian. The sheer fact that the song was not in either in English or the majority language of the country--German cost the song votes. She came in fifth.
My Favorite
After watching the songs, I have to say my personal favorite song is one that did rather poorly:
Nill Klemm "On My Way"
It's a basic lite rock number a la Bryan Adams, but the aerobicizing dancers who look like they fell off the Rock of Love Bus is kind of hilariously endearing. It had no chance, really, coming in eighth, but for the fact it makes me smile, it deserves a shout out.
Well, it's the beginning of the Eurovision season, and first out of the gate is Belarus.
And the first thing I want to say is never change. Although the winner of the contest wasn't a particular surprise, the ten songs in the final were unique and different--showing the musical tastes of Belarus as a whole, and I liked that very much.
Oh, and thanks for bringing them back to play their Eurovision hit.
Aleksandra and Konstantin "My Galileo" 2004 (from the Belarusian final)
Any reason to hear this song is a good reason in my way of thinking....
But back to the important stuff:
The Winner
Alyona Lanskaya "Rhythm of Love"
An unsurprising win, since she had won the previous year (and lost per a presidential investigation). So her return with a dance number pretty much allowed her to walk away with the win--she picked up the maximum points with the both the jury and the phone vote.
Should Have Won
Alyona Lanskaya "Rhythm of Love"
Belarus hasn't had a lot of success in the Eurovision Song Contest, making the final only twice in the nine years they've competed, and "Rhythm of Love" was the most likely of the ten songs to make it to the final in 2013. and they've got plenty of time to jigger with the song to make it work in Malmö.
At least lose the lying on the floor and the half naked men. Neither equal success in Eurovision. Look here and here for examples.
My Favorite
Please, go listen to all ten songs. It's worth the thirty minutes of time. You can see the Belarusian Henry Rollins, enjoy the song stylings of a group that may unironically be called The Beaver Band, and this:
Nuteki Band "Save Me"
Is it hard rock Coldplay? Is it performance art metal? I don't know, but it's sure worth a watch.
But my favorite is the one that was completely unexpected--Belarus has a lot of ethnically flavored music, and love their heavy metal music as well, so this was an unexpected delight.
Daria "Catch Me Again"
Yep, it's the lost number from Cabaret. Naturally, it wasn't going to win--in fact it came in dead last in the public vote, but wow is she good...
And I want to say something to the ladies of Viva Voom Brr-lesque, please use this song, I will come and throw dollar bills...
Back again with the next entry for the Alaska's Choice, this time for 1964.
First the basic facts--Denmark, the winner of the prior year's contest hosted and the show was presented from Copenhagen's Tivoli Koncertsal on March 21st, 1964. Unfortunately, due to a fire at the Dutch broadcaster, no recording of the full contest exists to view, so like the 1956 contest, we had to use recordings. Luckily this year an audio recording still survives--so our votes were taken from that recording.
For the first time in a number of years, there were a change in the countries that participated. Sweden withdrew from the contest due to a boycott from their singers, while Portugal entered for the first time. With Spain and Portugal in the contest, Eurovision became politicized and a protester stormed the stage after the Swiss entrant, holding a sign protesting the autocratic governments of the two countries on the Iberian Peninsula.
Unfortunately, the political climate may have had an affect on the results of Portugal's first entry:
António Calvário "Oração"
Calvário's song received no points from any of the other juries, and came in dead last in the competition (along with the songs from Germany, Switzerland, and Yugoslavia).
I suppose the "nul points" results for four countries really is unsurprising, because the winner of the contest received a third of all the possible votes, marking Italy's first victory in Eurovision.
Gigliola Cinquetti "Non ho l'età"
And, of course, nether of these songs fell in the same place in our voting. Calvário landed in 10th place, while Cinquetti came in fifth.
To be honest, the voting for this year's Eurovision Song Contest surprised me--I had expected Cinquetti to do as well with our group as it had done with the voters in 1964, but she was beaten by a number of "also rans"/
Finland took fourth with this number about doing nothing on Sunday:
Lasse Mårtenson "Lasikotellen"
And the Dutch moved up from tenth to second with Anneke Grönloh's upbeat song about a very forgiving girlfriend:
Anneke Grönloh "Jij bent mijn leven"
But the big shocker is the winner of our poll:
Udo Jürgens "Warum nur warum"
Good old Udo kept coming back in the mid 60s trying again and again to win the contest, but for us, he won the first time out. Had Europe been as sensible as we were, and voted for what I considered his best song, perhaps we wouldn't have been subjected to two more years of his sleep inducing music..
So there's 1964 in a nutshell and a surprising Austrian win. Stay tuned for 1965...
Sometimes the best way for me to classify a song as Eurovisionary is the fact that the song gets stuck in my head and it won't get out.
Here's my current case in point:
"Niemand heeft nog tijd" 1997
I listened to this song earlier in the week, and it hasn't left my brain, and I don't expect that it will for a good long while.
The group Mrs. Einstein was founded in 1989 and the high point for the group was 1997, when they were selected by the Dutch television service to represent their country at the Eurovision Song Contest with "Niemand heeft nog tigd", a song decrying the fact that modern life is keeping us too busy. Sadly, the song didn't do well, coming in 22nd in Dublin.
After the Eurovision song Contest, Mrs. Einstein continued to perform; however, many of the members in the clip above have left the group, with only two of the members still performing under the name.
Unfortunately, there's no really good information about the group out on the Internet, since their official website is currently down for a revamp. But Mrs. Einstein is still performing, and if you want to see them, the group is currently doing a cabaret show, which looks like it's coming to a Dutch town near you very soon.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go off and play the song over and over again. Maybe that will get it out of my head.
While watching the 1983 Eurovision Song Contest in preparation for my post on Carola, I came across this song:
Ofra Haza "Khay" Israel
In my book, Ofra Haza is a Eurovisionary, she is arguably the best known Israeli singer of all time, has a Grammy Award nomination, and a European hit with Im Nin'Alu. But I knew I wasn't able give Ms. Haza the justice she deserves.
So, for the first time, I'm turning over the blog to one of my closest friends, Jennifer Lopushok. Jennifer is a linguist, writer, religious scholar, and my personal reference for anything on the Near East. She's also an active blogger herself, her site The Beauty of Eclecticism, where she writes about whatever comes to her mind and Commonplace Margins, where she gives you a daily quote that inspires her.
Most importantly, she's also the person who introduced me to Ofra Haza and has an abiding love for both Haza herself and her music.
So without further ado, here's Jennifer on Ofra:
--------
Ofra Haza…the sound of the finger of God stirring the winds across the desert sands of Arabia. One of the most haunting voices of the 20th century. An international sensation who, like so many great performers, was taken from those she had hypnotized long before her time. She was born in Israel, a Jewish woman with an incredible vocal gift. A modern Israeli she may have been, but her very existence revealed an ugly truth hidden within the political tapestry of her birthplace. Ofra Haza came from a family of Arab Jews. The Yemenite Jewish community is one of the largest and oldest on the Arabian peninsula, and though Ofra Haza was born in Tel Aviv, she sang in classical Gulf Arabic—so difficult even for other Arabs to master—with as much facility as she performed in Hebrew.
Many outside the Jewish community are unaware that the Jewish world is divided into two major groups (as well as by many other criteria that will go unexamined here). The majority "Ashkenazim" originated as a mix of Jewish expatriates to Eastern Europe, and native Eastern Europeans who, when monotheistic religions began to sweep through the area, bucked the trend of choosing Christianity and converted to Judaism. Those Jews who had managed to remain in or near Palestine after the Romans sacked Jerusalem, the people of whom those who romanticize "descendants of 12 desert tribes" are actually thinking, are now known as the "Sephardim". (The word is a variation on the Hebrew word for "Spanish," and originally referred only to Jews who had emigrated to the Iberian Peninsula, but in modern Judaism, it encompasses all "eastern" Jews.) As a Yemenite Jew, Ofra Haza fell firmly into the modern definition of a "Sephardi".
The core of the original Zionist movement and the first generations of Israelis in the modern state were not Sephardim, but Ashkenazim. Many were non-religious socialists, born and educated in industrialized European nations, and they have long considered their Sephardic co-religionists who dwell in and around Israel as a sort of "country cousin." The Sephardi’s role in Israeli film and other forms of media in the first decades of the modern nation-state was much the same as that African-American musicians and performers once filled in entertaining white Americans in minstrel shows. When Ofra Haza made the decision early in her career to bring the Yemeni Jewish folk music of her roots into modern Jewish pop culture, it was a labor of love. But whether or not she intended it to be, it was also a pointed political decision.
Nevertheless, Ofra Haza was not only deeply connected to her regional roots; she was also deeply Jewish. She represented her nation at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1983, achieving second place with the song, "Khay" (Life). The song "is revealed to be a metaphor for ‘the nation of Israel’ ([though it] is ambiguous as to whether this refers to the modern state or the global Jewish community) surviving various attempts at destroying it."She united the divided sections of Israeli society, and Jews around the world came to consider her the voice of her people, not least because she insisted on fusing numerous musical styles without apology. She performed versions of classic Jewish tunes, perhaps most prominent among them "Yerushalayim, Chel Zahav," ("Jerusalem, City of Gold"), that are beloved even now, more than a decade after her death.
Anchorage has been hit by some pretty bad weather over the past few months, and it was capped off by a freak windstorm that knocked out power tom most of the city--my neighborhood went without power for a day., while other people I knew didn't have power for up to a week.
Luckily, other than the power outage, my house didn't get that much damage, just loads of little branches and lots of birch leaves to clean up.
But while I was doing the cleanup songs from Sweden's queen of Eurovision were running through my head.
Carola Häggkvist, more commonly known as Carola, has represented Sweden three times in Eurovision, coming no lower than fifth place. Her straightforward schlager stylings, combined with her outspokenness on her personal beliefs, have made her both extremely popular and controversial, and have led her to be a successful singer thirty years after her
Carola first showed up at Eurovision in 1983, as a sixteen year old singing this song.
"Främling" Sweden 1983
She had a great deal of success with this song, and the album with the same name sold over a million copies, country, setting her up as a national pop star at the tender age of sixteen.
She attempted to parlay her success with "Främling" into becoming an international star--going to Japan and recording with the Bee Gees--but success outside of Scandinavia eluded her, and in the late 80s she took time off from recording.
However, by 1990, here career was on a downtick by 1990, when she attempted to represent Sweden at Eurovision for a second time.
"Mitt i ett äventyr" 1990
She didn't win the contest, but came in a credible second, which spurred her on to compete again next year, where she won both the Swedish national final and the contest entirely with this song.
"Fångard av en stormvind" Sweden 1991
And yes, while cleaning up from the storm I was singing this song. It is rather obvious, an English translation for this could be "Caught in as Windstorm", but it is a catchy piece of pop music, and it's Carola's crowning achievements.
The funny thing is that her win was controversial, at the end of the 1991 contest, Carola's song tied on points with the song from France, but was declared the winner after they counted the total number of 12 point and 10 point votes. It is a catchy song.
After her success in Eurovision, her career has never really stopped. Carola continues to record and release a new album ever few years, and she even came back to Eurovision a third time in 2005 with this song.
"Invincible" Sweden 2006
And unlike most returning winners to Eurovision, Carola didn't have a terrible fall from grace. "Invincible" came in a very respectable fifth place.
Even though her last attempt to represent Sweden fell flat, not making it into the Melodifestivalen finals,
"One Love" Johnson and Häggkvist 2008
Carola has continues to have a successful career, with her most recent album, "Elvis, Barbra & Jag" hitting the top of the Swedish album charts, and she's likely to have continued success in the future.
Now that the summer has started to end, the birch leaves are falling off the trees, and schedules have finally gotten back to normal, it's time to get back to my Eurovision blog with Alaska's Choice for 1963.
The 1963 Eurovision song contest took place on March 23, 1963, but breaking with tradition, France did not broadcast the contest, citing financial difficulties. The slack was picked up by the country of the second place finisher, and the BBC picked up the slack for the second time, putting on one of the more memorable Eurovision Song Contests.
Instead of following the normal format of broadcasting a live concert, the director of the contest, Yvonne Littlewood, decided to use the state of art facilities to broadcast a contest that looked completely different than ever before. Using boom microphones, a separate studio for the performers and audience, and a variety of staging effects to enhance the songs, the Eurovision Song Contest in 1963 became less a concert and more of a variety show.
A good example of this song is the winner of the 1963 contest.
Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann "Dansevise" Denmark
This song, had it been shot in a concert setting would have been lost, but the camera work brought an intimacy to the song that took it to the top of the heap that year.
But it only came in fourth in our voting, with our top points going to this entry.
Esther Ofarim "T'en vas pas" Switzerland
And many Eurovision purists might agree with our choice, since there was controversy with the Danish win. During the voting portion of the contest, the Norwegian spokesperson gave out strange votes with Switzerland receiving a number of votes. After a bit of confusion, The Norwegians asked to be returned to after the rest of votes were given. When the Norwegians did return, the voting was cleared up, and Switzerland received no points, handing the Danes the win.
Do I think this is the case. No. Do I prefer the Swiss song? Yes.
But I do feel sorry for the Dutch entrant.
Annie Palmen "Een speeldoos" the Netherlands
Annie Palmen tied for last in the contest, getting no votes from the jury, receiving the dreaded "nul points". Sadly, she didn't fare much better from the Alaska voters, coming in dead last here too.
