Countries in Review: Croatia part 1

Back to my "Countries in Review" and back to the Balkans with Croatia.

Croatia used the TV show "Dora" to select their entrant for a number of years.

Croatia has entered Eurovision 21 times, starting in the first growth of the contest eastward in 1993.   After a rough couple of years, Croatia did quite well in the contest.   Croatians were perennially in the top ten in the early in the 1990s and early 2000s.   But poor finishes in recent years (combined with the European financial crisis) have made them sit out for the past two years.

In this entry I'm going to be looking at the songs I ranked from 6 to 21.  Watch for my next post for my favorite Croatian entries

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Croatia's sent two types of songs to Eurovision.  The first is the Balkan ballad, a dramatic song usually about love.  This type is exemplified by this interesting, technically difficult song from the 1996 contest.

"Sveta ljubav"   Maja Blagadan   1996

This song didn't crack my top five for one reason only--the high note that really doesn't need to be there.   I'm impressed Blagadan is able to hit B Flat 5, but the song doesn't need it.  (It did work in the voting, though.  Croatia came in fourth in 1996 garnering them one of their best results.)

The other type is the the female pop ballad.

Vesna Pisarović   "Everything I Want"   2002

Every country sends these sort of songs, and Croatia's entries were no better or worse than other countries' offerings.  Because of this, most of them fall in the middle of my list.

On occasion, Croatia would send something a little different--like this quirky little entry from 2008--

 Kraljevi ulice & 75 Cents   "Romanca"  2008

but you could really depend on Croatia to stick to those two types of songs.

That said, I have to highlight perhaps one of the worst songs ever presented at a Eurovision Song Contest.

Daria Kinzer   "Celebrate"   2011

Unlike a lot of other songs that come across horribly, this one is special because I feel nothing but pity for the singer.  "Celebrate" is a terrible song with staging ten years out of date and completely intimidated by the audience.  It's like the Croatian broadcasted spent the bare minimum to get Kinzer to Düsseldorf and it's not suprising Croatia stepped away from the contest a couple of years later.

For those of you who are curious where the other Croatian entries fall, here's my full ranking of the songs from 6 to 21.

6.   "Sveta ljubav"   Maja Blagadan   1996
7.   "Mižerja"   Klapa s Mora   2013   Cool but not a Eurovision song.
8.   "Romanca"   Kraljevi ulice & 75 Cents   2008

9.   "Marija Magdalena"   Doris Dragović   1999     It’s the most successful Croatian song in Eurovision, but the performance leaves me cold.
10.   "Lako je sve"   Feminem   2010   They are competent singers wearing bridesmaid dresses.

11.   "Lijepa Tena"  Igor Cukrov featuring Andrea  2009   He looks so smarmy and doesn’t have the charm to pull off the Balkan ballad the way other singers can.
12.   "Vukovi umiru sami"   Boris Novković feat. Lado     2005    A standard male Balkan ballad but, Novković does have a bit of charm.   Too much crap on stage, though.
13.   "Everything I Want"   Vesna Pisarović   2002
14.   "Vjerujem u ljubav"   Dragonfly feat. Dado Topić    2007   I like his voice, but she’s off key and it pulls the song down in my ranking.
15.   "Moja štikla"    Severina    2006   Highly ethnic in the ethnic period.  Lots of effort for no real result.
16.   "Strings of My Heart"   Vanna   2001   She has no stage presence.  That’s what knocks this song, when this is my favorite song on the CD.
17.   "Više nisam tvoja"    Claudia Beni    2003     I am sleeping.  The lack of enthusiasm and stage presence is making me cry.
18.   "Don’t Ever Cry"   Put   1993  I have no idea what they’re singing, but taken all together it feels like a Christmas song.
19.   "Nek' ti bude ljubav sva"  Tony Cetinski   1994   Did Chuck Mangione butt in for a trumpet solo?
20.   "You Are The Only One"   Ivan Mikulić    2004   Both dull and off key.

21.   "Celebrate"   Daria    2011  

Eurovision 2015: Azerbaijan

It's really difficult for me to sit and write about the Azerbaijani entry because of my own personal bias against the country.  The naked ambition the Azerbaijani broadcaster İctimai Television has shown since their debut in 2008 is offputting.  

Expect a fire motif from Azerbaijan

Because of their tactical choices (and being from a former Soviet state with a common musical tradition as a number of other Eurovision participating countries) Azerbaijan has been the most successful country at Eurovision, having never failed to make the final since their debut.

Azerbaijan isn't going to fail this year either:

Elnur Hüseynov   "Hour of the Wolf"

In a year of ballads (and there are a lot of them), this is one of the strongest entries.  Like most years, the Azerbaijani song has been written by a truckload of Swedes (who are know for penning many successful Eurovision songs.)    The song is dramatic and generic, which means it's going to do well.

It also doesn't hurt that Hüseynov has done Eurovision before, back in 2008

Elnur and Samir   "Day After Day"   2008

Insane and kind of fun, right?

As for my opinion on the "Hour of the Wolf", I'm lukewarm.   Although the song is well written and the performance is solid, there's nothing extraordinary about the song that makes me love it.   There are no risks taken in "Hour of the Wolf" and it shows.

That said, if Azerbaijan gets the staging right (and trust they will) and Hüseynov doesn't oversing the song (which is more than likely), expect another top 10 result for Azerbaijan.

Hooray?

Countries In Review: Azerbaijan

It has been a couple of weeks since I last updated my journal, and in that time a lot of things have changed--including my residence.  That means that I have finally gotten back around to updating my Eurovision blog and I can continue with the next country in my review posts--Azerbaijan.

Baku, Azerbaijan's capital, is a leader in ambitious buildings like the planned Hotel Crescent

Azerbaijan is the newest country in the Eurovision Song Contest, first sending a song in 2008.  And in those five years, they have been they have been extremely successful, having placed no lower than eighth in the final contest.  It's a track record that most other countries would envy.

Personally, I've never been much of a fan of Azerbaijani entrants.  I've always found them to be more of a part of Azerbaijani international policy that actually being representative of their actual musical culture.

A case in point is the song that won the contest back in 2011:

Ell and Nikki  "Running Scared"  2011

I've made my opinion known in my introductory post to this series of blog posts, and I still consider it to be pretty horrible--which is only compounded by the fact that really only one person involved with the song was actually living in Azerbaijan at the time--Eldar Gasimov, the male singer in the duet.

But it did exactly what the Azerbaijani government wanted it to do.  It won the contest, brought Eurovision to the country, and the government used it to try to propel Azerbaijan onto the world stage and a place where large events could be held.

It still doesn't change the fact that I despise the song and cannot believe it beat out a group of much better songs to win the contest.

But it's not surprising.  They tried the same thing a few years previously and came in third with this song:

Aysel and Arash  "Always"  2009

This time the only Azerbaijani was the lovely Aysel.  Better song too.

Really the only song that doesn't come of completely prepackaged is the first song Azerbaijan sent to Eurovision

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Elnur and Samir  "Day After Day"  2008

I will be the first to admit the staging is absolutely ridiculous; it's pretty self-evident how cheesy it is.  However, the song was written by two Azerbaijanis and feels more authentic than anything else they've sent afterwords.  So this one gets the vote for best Azerbaijani entry.

So from best to worst:

1.  Elnur and Samir   "Day After Day"  2008

2.  Sabina Babayeva   "When The Music Dies"  2012  The addition of  Alim Qasimov saved this one.

3.  Safura   "Drip Drop"   2010  If a song could try too hard, this would be the song.

4.  Aysel and Arash   "Always"  2009

5.  Ell and Nikki   "Running Scared"   2011

Yeah, I must admit I'm pretty savage on Azerbaijan Eurovision entrants.  But I have hope that now they have won the contest, proven that they are a country on par with the rest of Europe, they will pull back on the hyper-packaged songs and send music that is more reflective of their own musical culture. 

Eurovision 2012 Entrants: Greece

I have to admire the Greeks.  Even though their economy is in free fall, they are still willing to enter Eurovision. 

Eleftheria Eleftheriou  "Aprhodisiac"

It's a catchy little number, Ms. Eleftheriou is in complete control of the stage, and it's certain to do well enough to make the top half of the board in the finals.

The thing is, I don't expect the song to win, and that's another smart move on the Greek's part.  They've sent this basic song twice before.

Helena Paparizou  "My Number One"  2005

Kalomira  "Secret Combination"  2008

They came in first and second respectively, which means this type of song is very popular among Eurovision watchers.  But, in my opinion, it's just a little too generic to make it to the top.

However, come the night, I may be forced to eat my words on this one.