Eurovisionaries: Vice Vukov

The "Alaska's Choice" part of my blog has finished up the first ten years of the contest, and for fun (which only a true Eurovision nerd would do) I've been looking back over the results, and I have to admit I feel sorry for Vice Vukov.

Vice Vukov represented Yugoslavia twice in the 1960s--in London in 1963 and in Naples in 1965.  We gave him no respect in either year; Vukov came in dead last in our voting.

Vice Vukov  "Brodovi"  1963

 



The fact the he came in last made me want to learn more about him, and after doing a little bit of reading on him, I have to say that he's worthy of induction into my list of Eurovisionaries.

Vice Vukov was born in the Croatian city of Šibenik in 1934, and was a Croatian nationalist.  He chose a singing career because he wanted to be able to make money and not have to compromise he his personal political beliefs.

His first musical success was in 1959, when he won the Opatija Music Festival, and had a very successful career throughout the 1960s.

However, he was never able to hide his own personal political beliefs and in 1971 he became the target of Josef Tito.  1971 was the year of the "Croatian Spring", where linguists, politicians, and students fought for more autonomy from Yugoslavia.  Vukov upset the leadership of Yugoslavia by making statements about the Communist government at a national festival.  Vukov found himself on a governmental black list--forcing him into exile in France for three years and effectively ending his career for more than 15 years.

Vice Vukov  "Čežnja"   1965

 

 

However, with political change in Yugoslavia, Vukov was allowed to record and release a record in 1989, bringing him back to national prominence.  However, Vukov decided to focus on politics, supporting the centrist Democratic Party of Croatia.  His political ability won him and ambassadorship as the Croatian ambassador to Switzerland in 2001 then a seat in the Croatian parliament in 2003.

 

Unfortunately, after the fruition of his political ambitions, he slipped and fell in the Croatian parliament building, suffered massive head trauma, and lived in a vegetative state until his death in 2008.  It's a tragic end to a fascinating individual; and he is most assuredly Eurovisionary.



Alaska's Winner 1962: Luxembourg

After letting my jury take a few weeks off after the 2012 contest it was time for us to go back fifty years to the knockoff Dior dresses and Sinatra-like crooning of the 1962 Eurovision Song Contest.

Since Luxembourg's entrant won the previous years contest, Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Radiodiffusion hosted the contest from their studio, Villa Louvigny, on March 1962.

No new countries entered, so the same sixteen countries in 1961 participated this year.  Some countries even sent the same singer.

Fud Leclerc  "Ton Nom"  Belgium

Leclerc made his fourth and final appearance representing Belgium in the 1962 contest, coming in last place, garnering nul points from the European juries.  We were kinder to him.  He came in ninth.

We were much less kind to this song:

Camillo Felgen  "Petit bonhomme"  Luxembourg

The European juries though this was the third best song in the contest.  The Alaskan jury put him last, the second time Felgen has come in last in our voting.

But for the winner of the contest, we agreed with the voters on the night.  The French entry was the winner.

 Isabelle Aubret  "Un premier amour"  France

Aubret's song was a runaway winner in the European juries, but it came in first in what is our closest vote ever.  Aubret just pipped this song for first place:

Lola Novaković  "Ne pali svetla u sumrak"  Yugoslavia

At the end of the voting of our voting, the two songs were tied, with an equal number preferring each of the two songs, so I had to invite another person to vote--and Aubret won by just one point.

So, Alaskans agreed with Europe again, and next is 1963, one of the more interesting contests in Eurovision history, so look for our post in the next few weeks.

Alaska's Choice: 1961 Cannes

The Eurovision Song Contest went back to the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France for the 1961 Contest, and pretty much it was a redux of the 1959 contest with the same host on the same stage.  Three countries--Finland, Spain, and Yugoslavia--made their debut and the juries from the 16 participating countries decided that the best song was this song.

Jean-Claude Pascal  "Nous les amoureux"  Luxembourg

"Nous les amoreux" is a prime example of the chanson style that dominated in the early years of the contest and to my ears was nothing special, so I sent this year's contest out to the Alaskan jurors, and they agreed with me.  Pascal came in ninth in the voting. 

So, I sent the songs out to the Alaska Eurovision jury, and or choice was the song that came in a distant second in the voting in 1961.

The Allisons  "Are You Sure?"  the United Kingdom

I can understand why this song topped the vote, because it's recognizably pop and the style of song, doo-wop, was distinctly different than every other song in the contest.

But there are two suprising things that have come out of our voting on 1961.  The first is that this is the first time an English language song topped our voting.  As a bunch of English speakers, I would have figured the the United Kingdom's song would have one sometime before the sixth contest,

The second is that our rankings were wildly different that the voting of the European juries on the night of the contest.  It's best explained by this song:

Lili-Babs  "April, April"  Sweden

On the night of the contest, Lili-Babs got only two points, coming in fourteenth place, while our jury had it coming in second.  I suppose we prefer peppy upbeat numbers.

Sadly, it was a different case for the song we ranked last

Ljiljana Petrović  "Neke davne zvezde"  Yugoslavia

On the night, she came in joint tenth, but her tendency to be off key sadly put her at the bottom of our ranking. 

And that's 1961 in a nutshell.  Stay tuned for 1962...