Countries In Review: Bulgaria

Eurovision  is starting up again, so it's high time for me to take a look at the next country on my list--Bulgaria.

Bulgaria is one of the world's most important producers of rose oil.

As of right now, it's unknown if Bulgaria will be participating in next year's Eurovision Song
Contest.   Due to a combination of political and financial issues, the Bulgarian national broadcaster has not been able to finalize their participation in Vienna and has been given extra time by the European Broadcasting Union to make a decision on entering.

I would love to see Bulgaria back at Eurovision after a year's absence, but unlike other countries that have returned this year, I can certainly understand if the Bulgarians decided to opt out.  Unlike Cyprus and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria has a rather dire  Eurovision record.

In the nine years Bulgaria sent a song to Eurovision, they only made it to the Eurovision finals once:

 Elitsa Todorova and Stoyan Yankoulov   "Water"  2007

Bulgaria hit the sweet spot in 2007--a pseudo-ethnic number in a year were pseudo-ethnic numbers were few and far between.  That, combined with Elitsa and Stoyan's obvious talents on percussion, got them to fifth place in Helsinki.

But other than that success, Bulgarian songs have died in the semifinals:

Sometimes, it's very obvious why they failed, such as Bulgaria's entry in 2009:

Krassimir Avramov   "Illusion"   2009

It's a train wreck of off-tune singing, bad costuming, strange dancing, and insane musical style mash ups.  It's like they threw all the cliches for Eurovision songs into a blender and came up with this song.  It's terrible, but it is amazingly so. 

Most countries have had this experience, sending a song that is completely off the wall and not being able to leave the semifinals.   However, Bulgaria has a problem in sending good songs with excellent performances that are stranded once votes come in from across Europe.

Poli Genova   "Na inat"   2011

Sofi Marinova    "Love Unlimited"  2012

In 2011 and 2012, Bulgaria sent two strong performers who gave superb performances yet failed to excite the voters.

This is where you have question the EBU's assertion that there is no "political" voting in Eurovision.   Unlike Bulgaria's neighbors, Bulgaria doesn't automatically receive points because of common cultural or musical ties.   That means it has to overcome a barrier that other countries rarely have to deal with.

It's not necessarily fair, but it is the nature of the contest.

I hope Bulgaria does return to Eurovision next year and I hope they are able to bring a song and performer that will blow us away.  After all, Austria won last year.

------

And for the record, my personal ranking of Bulgaria's entrants:

1. “Na inat”   Poli Genova   2011

2.  “Love Unlimited”   Sofi Marinova   2012

3.   “Angel si ti”   Miro   2010   Shockingly good, but the white leather is laughable.

4.   “Let Me Cry”   Mariana Popova  2006   Very good singer, somewhat let down by the staging (and the weird guy with the bleached hair).

5.   “Water”   Elitsa & Stoyan   2007

6.   “Lorraine”   Kaffe   2005    I can't even talk about how bad the lyrics are...  Oh dear lord...

7.   “Samo shampioni”   Elitsa & Stoyan   2013   Never go back to Eurovision with the same basic song you sent before.  It's not going to be successful.

8.   “DJ. Take Me Away”   Deep Zone & Balthazar   2008   This was their follow up to Elitsa
& Stoyan?
9.  “Illusion”   Krassimir Avramov   2009

Countries in Review: Belgium (part 1)

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

Countries in Review: Austria (part two)

There's a theme with most of the songs in this section of the Austrian Eurovision songs, and it's the fact that Austria seems to have a taste for music that doesn't alway mesh with the rest of Europe.

Ah, the Sacher torte...  How I love you so, you wonderful Viennese invention...

6. "Weil's dr guat got" George Nussbaumer 1996
7. "Heute in Jerusalem" Christina Simon 1979
8. "Sag ihr, ich lass sie grüßen" Udo Jürgens 1965
9. "Weil der Mensch zählt" Alf Poier 2003
10. "All To You" The Rounder Girls 2000
11. "Sonntag" Mess 1982
12. "Reflection" Bobbie Singer 1999
13. "Falter im Wind" Milestones 1972
14. "Kinder dieser Welt" Gary Lux 1985
15. "Die Zeit ist einsam" Timna Brauer 1986
16. "Tausend Fenster" Harry West 1968
17. "Say A Word" Manuel Ortega 2002
18. "Venedig im Regen" Thomas Forstner 1991
19. "Du hast mich so fasziniert" Harry Winter 1960
20. "Sehnsucht" Jimmy Makulis 1961
21. "Die ganze Welt braucht Liebe" Liane Augustin 1958
22. "Nur noch Gefühl" Gary Lux 1987
23. "Nur ein Leid" Thomas Forstner 1989
24. "Keine Mauern mehr" Simone 1990
25. "Maria Magdelena" Tony Wegas 1993

This unique musical taste is really noticable with the songs that come in sixth and seventh on my list:

George Nussbaumer   "Weil's dr guat got"   1996

Christina Simon  "Heute in Jerusalem"   1979

Personally I like the idea of a gospel number and a German cabaret number, but they were out of the box choices to go to Eurovision and were not particularly successful--Nussbaumer coming in 10th and Simon coming in dead last.

Most of the rest of the songs in the rest of ths songs in this section are songs that followed trends that were in pop music at the time:

Manny Ortega  "Say A Word"  2002

Mess   "Sonntag"  1982

Harry Winter  "Du hast mich so fasziniert"  1960

All three are prefectly nice but completely forgettable songs, which seems to be a trend among Austrian Eurovision entrants.

The only song that I feel disappointment in is the following number:

The Rounder Girls  "All For You"  2000

I'm a sucker for Motown songs, and the three ladies in this girl group have great voices, but they were really let down by a bad vocal mix and nerves, which made me rank then tenth--lower that I really wanted to rank them.   Which pretty much translates as "Does anybody have a The Rounder Girls album then can send my way?"

Wait.  They have some albums on Spotify!   I know what's going to be playing on my computer for the next couple of hours.

Tomorrow, my top five Austrian Eurovision songs.

Countries in Review: Austria (part one)

I've been procrastinating posting this installment of my "Countries in Review" series in my blog.  When I started the project  The previous countries were very easy to rank, having entered Eurovision only in the past decade or so. 

Sadly, when people think about Austria, they think about Julie Andrews.

This isn't the case with Austria, which has participated in forty-five contests since their debut.  That means that watching and ranking the songs was more tedious than I thought it would be.
And because there are so many songs, I've decided to split the post into three parts--starting with the bottom twenty in my ranking.


26. "Woki mit Dein Popi"   Trackshittaz   2012
27. "Nur in der Wiener Luft"   Eleonore Schwarz   1962
28. "My Little World"   Waterloo & Robinson   1978
29. "Zusammen geh'n"   Tony Wegas   1992
30. "Mrs. Caroline Robinson"   Springtime   1976
31. "Wenn du da bist"   Marty Brem   1981
32. "Warun nur warum?"   Udo Jürgens   1964
33. "One Step"   Bettina Soriat   1997
34. "Boom Boom Boomerang"   Schmetterlinge   1977
35. "Einfach weg"   Anita   1984
36. "Merci, Chérie"   Udo Jürgens   1966
37.  "Für den Frieden der Welt"   Petra Frey   1994 
38. "Du bist Musik"   Blue Danube   1980
39. "Warum es hunderttausend Sterne gibt"   Peter Horton   1967
40. "Hurricane"   Westend   1983
41. "Lisa Mona Lisa"   Wilfried   1988
42. "Du bist"   Tie Break   2004
43. "Wohin Kleines Pony"   Bob Benny   1957
44. "Der K und K Calypso aus Wein"   Ferry Graf   1959
45. "Get A Life - Get Alive"   Eric Papilaya   2007

There's a lot that I could write about, I think the most obvious is the song I've ranked at 36.

Udo Jürgens   "Merci, Chérie" 1966 

Udo Jürgens won the 1966 contest with this plaintive ballad, one that I personally detest.   I've listened to it once or twice, and when I here it in clips of winning songs, I'm just confused.  It is a song of the time, but for whatever reason, it's always turned me off.

But my own personal distaste,  I have to say that Jürgens is a consummate singer and musician.  He performed the song well, and that's why he won the contest is 1966.  It's just not to my taste, and can't be nowhere near the worst. 

Below Jürgens, most of the songs can be divided into two groups, the weird novelty song (which Austria has a taste for more than most countries) and boy band groups.

The boy band phenomenon is always difficult, because if they're on key and the mikes are balanced, it's really effective, but when it's not, you get something like this.

Westend  "Hurricane"  1983

I still can't understand why this song came in ninth...

And it's rather self evident why a novelty song like "Der K und K Calypso aus Wein" ranked so low.

Ferry Graf     "Der K und K Calypso aus Wein"   1959

Did it get taken seriously back in 1959?  Not really, but now it's unintentionally hilarious.

But in listening to all of the songs, the one that has to rank the lowest is this little number.

Eric Papilaya  "Get A Life - Get Alive"  2007

Austria left the contest for a number of years after this song sank like a stone in Helsinki, getting only four points in the semifinal and convincing the Austrian broadcaster ORF to not participate in the contest for a number of years.   

The song isn't bad, but the staging is completely disastrous.  I am all for AIDS awareness but the fact that weird chicken-people dancers came out of a marabou AIDS ribbon is beyond tacky.  It also contrasted with the sparkly silver hoodie and the filmstrip background. It just didn't congeal in a way that goes beyond tacky and into mild offense. 

It might have been saved had Papilaya had a bit of charisma, but he was completely upstaged by the disaster going on behind him. In my opinion it's the worst song Austria's sent.

And that's it for the bottom twenty...   Stay tuned for songs ranked from 24 to 6 in my next post.

Countries in Review: Andorra

Compared to all of the other countries in Western Europe, Andorra is a newcomer to the Eurovision Song Contest, and the reason is simple.  To take part in the Eurovision Song Contest the country must have a broadcaster that is a member in good standing of the European Broadcasting Union, and Andorra didn't have a national broadcaster until 1989, when the Andorran government created  Rádio i Televisió d'Andorra and didn't join the EBU until 2002.

Considering the city of Anchorage, Alaska is more than three times as big as the country of Andorra, I was shocked to find that the Caldera Spa in Andorra is the continent's largest.

Andorra has entered the contest only six times, from 2004 to 2009, without any success in making it to the finals, and has not competed since, for financial reasons and is not likely to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest again.

Had the country had more success in the contest, I suspect that that they would still be participating, but in their six years, they never made it out of the semifinals.

The reason is pure and simple--a small country new to broadcasting and on a very tight budget is not likely to be capable of putting on the quality of performance that other countries--like Sweden or Azerbaijan are capable of putting on.  So they're at a disadvantage in getting votes, and having a small talent pool to draw from, you're not likely to be able to pull the quality of singers you could get from countries like Russia or Greece.

That means these songs have to be graded on a curve much lower than the Albainian songs.

The Worst

After listening to this song more times than I care to admit, I have to say that the worst song in my mind is this one:

Marian van der Wal  "La Mirada Interior"  2005

It's not because of the singing.  Ms. van der Wal is able to stay on key, which can't be said by other entrants.  What this song suffers from is "let's throw a lot of crap on stage and see if it works" syndrome. 

That's not to be said that it's a bad thing.  In fact, two recent winners--"Believe" and "Fairytale" could be said to have "thrown a lot of crap on stage", but unfortunately in this case, it worked against the song.    The Grecian outfits on the women, the half naked men in velour bell bottoms, and the fans.  They just didn't go together, and distract from the singer, not enhance the performance.

The Best

How I desperately want to say that this song is the best:

Jenny  "Sense Tu"  2006

If I were judging the best on the quality of singing, Jenny is head and shoulders above any of the other Andorran songs.  And it's the only Andorran Eurovision song that I don't skip over when it comes on the stereo in my car.

But the staging is completely wrong.  It's absolutely atrocious, and I can understand why it came in last in the semifinal that year.   I'm certain the choreography and costuming was going for sexy, but it just comes across as sleazy and makes poor Jenny look dumpy.  She's an attractive woman, but in the overlong lace housecoat over a black negligee, she just looks kind of sad.

I'd also like to say this was the best song:

Anonymous  "Salvem el món"  2007

But poor Niki Francesca was absolutely terrified.  His vocals were flat and he appears to he hiding behind the microphone. Lead singers should have charisma, and considering the rest of the staging was so strong

So, to cut the difference, my best is this one.

Susanne Georgi  "La teva decisió (Get A Life)"  2009

The singing is gruff, not up to par with Jenny and the staging isn't as good as Anonymous, but as a whole it's the most pulled together entrant Andorra ever entered.   Besides, Ms. Georgi is pretty darn cute when she's holding her guitar. 

So I'll summarize--from best to worst

1.  Susanne Georgi  "La teva decisió (Get A Life)" 2009
2.  Anonymous "Salvem el món" 2007
3.  Jenny "Sense Tu" 2006
4.  Marta Roure  "Jugarem a estimar-nos"  2004   The dancing was great, sadly the singing wasn't.
5.  Gisela  "Casanova"  2008  My god, what is she wearing?
6.  Marian van der Wal "La Mirada Interior" 2005

And as always, if you're interested, you can listed to all of the songs by following this link. 

Next up, Armenia. 



Countries In Review: Albania

Welcome to the first of my "Country In Review" Eurovision posts. 

The nice thing about deciding to to the "Country In Review" blog posts is that I get a chance to take a look at the songs from a country at a whole instead of looking at the songs in comparison to other songs in a given year.

(Although I have to admit that I might enjoy this because I like ranking things and have since I was a little kid.)

And since I'm anything if not methodical, I'm staring alphabetically, and that means Albania is the first country I'm reviewing.

The former Enver Hoxha Museum in Tirana.  From what I understand, a good place for some high-speed tobogganing.

  

Albania has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest since 1994 and has always been sponsored by Radio Televizioni Shqiptar and has chosen their entrant through their year-end concert program Festivali i Këngës.  Festivali is a multi-day show performed in the Pallati i Kongreseve and is pretty impressive as national finals go, with a full orchestra, high productions values, and a lot of talented Albanian singers.  (I recommend looking around for clips from Festivali.  It's well worth your trouble.)

And after listening to all of the Albanian entrants a number of times, I have to admit I had judged the country's songs rather harshly in the past.  I had just dismissed the Albania's songs because it's in the Balkans, which in my mind means that you can send crappy songs and they'll do well because the other countries in the region will vote for you.

But after listening to the Albanian Eurovision songs, I'm shocked by the quality of them.  The songs are for the most part, quite good.
So let get going:

The Worst

By far, the worst song is the Albanian entrant from 2005:

Ledina Çelo  "Tomorrow I Go"

Pretty much it's a cheap rehash of the winner of the 2003's contest,

Sertab Erener  "Every Way That I Can"  Turkey

except that Ms. Erener has stage presence out the wazoo and singer/dancers with a great gimmick, while Çelo has refugees from a Greek vaudeville act.

The Best

I thought that this one was going to be easy.  Before I decided to do this post, there was only one Albanian entry that I've ever rated highly, and it's the entrant from 2010:

Juliana Pasha  "It's All About You"

Ms. Pasha is pitch perfect on the song, the backing singers are fantastic, and the person who did the lighting design for the stage in Oslo deserves an award.  I like playing it loud in the summertime with the windows down in my car and it's gotten me through mile 20 of a marathon.  I still don't understand why it came in sixteenth, but then again, my personal favorites never seem to do well.

But while listening to all the entrants, I had to add the the first Albanian entry to the best list as well.

Anjeza Shahini  "The Image of You"

Ms. Shahini can sing can't she?

Ever since I first heard this song, I've been singing it.  The chorus is super catchy and the melody is tricky enough to stay hooked in my brain.

It's still give the top prize to Pasha, but instead of by a country mile, I'll have to give it to her by a nose. 

 

 

For those of  you who are interested, here's a ranking of all the songs, and if you'd like to hear them all, just click this link.

1.  Juliana Pasha  "It's All About You"  2010

2.  Anjeza Shahini  "The Image of You"  2004

3.  Rona Nishliu "Suus" 2012

4.  Aurelia Gaçe  "Feel the Passion"  2011     Scary stage presentation ruins song
5.  Kejsi Tola  "Carry Me in Your Dreams"  2009       More like nightmare, if your dream is this.
6.  Luiz Eljji  "Zjarr e ftohtë" 2006       Performance was really bland.
7.  Frederik Ndoci  "Hear My Plea"  2007       Performance was melodramatic, too melodramatic.
8.  Olta Boka  "Zemrë e lamë peng"  2008     Completely forgettable.
9.  Ledina Çelo "Tomorrow I Go"  2005

Next up, Andorra!

Countries in Review: Introduction

One of the things I always look forward to at the end of the year are the lists of the best and worst that magazines, websites, and television shows publish on the best of movies, music, literature, and almost everything else you can possibly rank.

So I've decided to indulge on own love of the ESC with a set of ongoing posts called "Countries in Review", where I'll give my personal rankings of the countries songs.

Stay tuned for the first entry, all about Albania.