Why Did You Send This?: Russia 2010

I think it's absolutely fantastic that many of the countries have national finals that allow the public to decide which singer goes on to represent their country at the ESC.  And most of the time, I can understand why the people voted the way they did, even if I disagree with their decision.

However, every once in a while, the people's vote is so egregiously wrong.  Take Russia's national final in 2010.

Who wouldn't have voted for these ladies?

Russia 1's national final broadcast presented 25 songs, and after the voting was completed, Peter Nalitch and Friends won with over 20% of the vote with their song "Lost and Forgotten".

Peter Nalitch and Friends  "Lost and Forgotten"

It's emotive, "romantic", and so screechy I can barely make it through half of the song without turning it off.

It's mind blowing that it (and another song) were more popular with Russians than this:

Buranovskiye Babushki  "Dlinnaya-dlinnaya beresta i kak sdelat' iz neyo aishon"

Catchy and heartwarming, isn't it? 

This group of six ladies from the Udmurt Republic, a constituent entity of Russia, became something of an Internet sensation for their performance, garnering them a feature on NPR's Morning Edition, something that Nalitch was not likely to get.

And it's understandable, the simple performance of the song in Udmurtian is able to transcend national boundaries, something "Lost and Forgotten" is unable to do.

Had it gone to the Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo, I think it would have given Lena a run for the top of the board, or at least get more votes from non-Eastern Bloc countries

Eurovisionaries: Odd Børre

While most people know about the most famous people, like the subject of my last post, ABBA.  The artists I consider "Eurovisionary" are not that well known, like this gentleman.

Yep, you're reading the name correctly, you wacky English speakers.

Mr. Børre represented Norway in the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Stress".

 

Odd Børre  "Stress" 

 Who on Earth would think that this guy, who looks and dresses like an accountant going to a smart party, would have represented a country with a weirdly cacophonous song about missing a bus? 

Odd was a perennial also ran to represent Eurovision at the ESC, only making it in 1968.  A few years after this perromance, he decided to retire from music to become an insurance salesman.  Yes, I'm serious.  An insurance salesman.

For me, Børre's song is gets to the heart of why I love the Song Contest so much.  The obscure artists and the odd songs have made me a follower of the contest, and keep bringing me back year after year.

I think that's pretty "Eurovisionary".

Eurovision 2012 Entrants: Denmark

Well, this is the time of year where it starts getting fun if you are a fan of the Eurovision Song Contest.  From now until the end of May countries are picking their entrant to the ESC.  It makes the end of winter go by so much faster, since the first signs of spring here in Alaska are still a few months away.

This entry is all about Denmark, since the winner of the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix was decided this weekend.  
I was expecting some quality, since over the past few years Denmark has done really well, coming in fourth in 2010 with Chanée and N'Evergreen and fourth with A Friend In London. 
So let's see what the Danes chose.

Soluna Somay  "Should Have Known Better"

I'm kind of speechless. It's the strongest song so far, and it's likely to be another Danish entry that does well in the finals.

It's good.  Ir's good in a way that if given to a singer like Kelly Clarkson, it would have the potential of actually making the US music charts.

Or maybe I'm deluded by my own personal like of songs sung by chicks with guitars.

I do hope they change their costumes and staging.  It looks like Soluna raided the closet of Adam Ant while the rest of the group went shopping at American Apparel, neither of which looks particularly good.

What do you think of Denmark's entry?

Alaska's Winner: Introduction

For the past few years, usually on the weekend of the Eurovision Song Contest, I throw a party, invite some friends around, cook a mess of food, and otherwise have a great time watching Europe present the "best" songs that they can come up with.

It's a blast, but there's one thing that we don't understand in the Last Frontier.  Why do you choose the songs that you do?

Case in point:

In the last Eurovision Song Contest, the Azerbaijani entry won the kit and caboodle.

Ell and Nikki  "Running Scared"

In our voting, this song came in dead last.  She was flat, and the two of them had absolutely no chemistry on stage whatsoever.    The collective groan from the group in Anchorage when it won over the rest of the songs was audible.

Our choice was one that barely made it to the middle of the table, the Serbian entrant

 

Nina  "Caroban"

Nina, was cute, the staging was peppy, she stayed on key, it was in a language other than English, and the song is damn infectious.  In other words, everything that Ell and Nikki's song wasn't.

It's really rather frustrating.

So some of my friends and I have decided to go back through all the years of Eurovision and crown our own winner--Alaska's Choice.  Watch this blog in the next week or two for the first entrant, our choice for the winner of the very first Eurovision Song Contest, all the way back in 1956.

Eurovisionaries: ABBA

Without fail, when talking to a new person about the Eurovision Song Contest, the first question is inevitably "Have I ever heard of anybody from the contest?"

Of course, the first answer is ABBA.

ABBA in all of their 70s glory.

ABBA has sold 300 million albums around the world, their music has inpired successful movies and a long running jukebox musical.  There are tribute bands in Canada, the Czech Republic, Brazil, and even Sweden. 

And the Australian love of the Swedish quartet is well known and doesn't need to be repeated.

But they first came to the attention of the wider world when they won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 with their song "Waterloo".

ABBA  "Waterloo"

And as of today, it's the only winner of the Eurovision Song Contest to chart on Billboard's Top 40 in the US, hitting #6 on the charts.

But what's fun is that "Waterloo" was ABBA's second attempt to represent Sweden at the ESC, the year before the entered Melodifestivalen this number:

ABBA  "Ring Ring"

They came in third.  To this:

Nova and the Dolls  "You're Summer"

Now, I'm not a big fan of ABBA, but I have to say "Waterloo" is one of the most important to come out of the contest, and an easy way to introduce people to the contest, which is why they're Eurovisionaries.

Why did you send this?: Sweden 2009

Sometimes you have to wonder what's going through the minds of countries when they select their entrants to the Eurovision Song Contest.  The voters in Melodifestavalen, Sweden's contest to determine their entrant to the ESC, decided that Malena Ernman, a Swedish opera singer with Harlow blonde hair warbling over a disco beat straight out of the 1990s.

Malena Ernman  "La Voix"

The song came in 21st out of 25 entries in the final and rightly so.

What's even more frustrating it that the first runner up in the contest that year has become one of my favorite Eurovision songs, even though it didn't make it to the finals.

Caroline af Ugglas  "Snälla, snälla"

Yes instead of techno-opera, Sweden could have sent a bluesy song about a woman begging her lover not to leave her for another woman.  And a song sung with more emotion than Ms. Ernman, an opera singer, could muster.

It probably wouldn't have won, but my god, it could have been the classiest song in the contest.  And considering France sent chanteuse Patricia Kaas, that's saying something.

Eurovision 2012 entrants, Switzerland and Albania

I don't know what you've been doing in your spare time, but in my spare time I've been paying attention to the national selections for this year's Eurovision Song Contest--learning the names of the singers in Austria's national final, listening to the songs in Iceland's first semifinal, and wondering if Jedward will be representing the Emerald Isle again.

But that doesn't really make for a good blog post.

Thankfully, two countries have already chosen their entrants, so let's take a listen:

Switzerland

After a convoluted selection process, where the German, French and Italian broadcasters entered songs into the selection, and eventually this Swiss public selected Sinplus, a duo made up of the brothers Ivan and Gabriel Broggini.

Sinplus  "Unbreakable"

And after listening to this a couple times, I'm still completely underwhelmed.  They come across as a college cover band you'd see at the bar on a Thursday night that were attempting to become legit by playing their own compositions.  In other words, I admire their gumption, but I wish they'd go back to playing "Beautiful Day" or "Clocks".

Albania

Albania's selection process was  a little less convoluted, with the winner, Rona Nishliu, winning the Festivali i Kenges, the process the country has used to select their entrant since 2004.  Rona is Kosovaran, which should make for some interesting political voting, but let's take a listen to the song.

OK.  She has pipes.  The orchestration is pretty.   But the song combined with her look is rather frighening--the high pitched wailing combined with the mess of hair and the Albanian lyrics are off-putting.  Hopefully this will get fixed with a stylist and an English translation of the lyrics.

What do you think of the two entrants?  

Welcome!

I have a confession.  
I love the Eurovision Song Contest.  




The problem is, I live in the wilds of Alaska, about as far away from Europe and still be in the Northern Hemisphere.  For many years it's been my secret obsession.  On days where I have nothing much better to do, I've spent hours watching clips of Germans singing country music,

Texas Lightning--"No No Never"  2006

Portuguese girl groups wearing sequined pirate costumes, 

Doce--"Bem Bom" 1981

and songs that seem to be one word sung repetitively

Massiel--"La La La"   1968  Spain

It's cheesy.

It's frivolous.

And it's a hell of a lot of fun.

I hope you come along for the ride.