I have to admit that I am reserving my judgement on the Dutch entry until I actually see the live performance.
OG3NE has a Eurovision pedigree--having represented the Netherlands back in 2007 at Junior Eurovision and they've become one of the most successful musical acts in The Netherlands. So, it's not surprising that they would represent their country at Eurovision.
O'G3NE "Lights and Shadows"
Yes, it does feel like Winston Phillips has been reformed. But the harmonies. The harmonies are so infectious that you want to listen to them sing the phone book.
I suspect that this will come alive when performed live--even if the song is extremely dated. Until then, I have no real way to judge the song.
My husband, who is both a Europhile and a bit of a smart ass, has always said that the Netherlands is the "America of Europe". I've always taken that statement with a grain of salt, but with with each new Eurovision entry I see, I'm starting to believe him.
Douwe Bob "Slow Down"
Alt-country? Alt-country is a thing in the Netherlands? I thought The Common Linnets was a one off thing...
Seriously, this is the first song that I have heard this year that makes me think that it could win the contest. The song is upbeat, catchy, and unique. It made me immediately want to pick up the phone and vote for it. That is what I consider to be a successful song.
If the Dutch get the staging right and the song has a good placement in the final, this song has a good chance of doing extremely well.
Well, I just shocked myself. I took a look at the list of songs I selected to make it through to the final, and I got nine out of ten correct.
Here are the ten finalists:
Armenia
Belgium
Greece
Estonia
Serbia
Hungary
Russia
Albania
Romania
Georgia
The only one I missed was Albania. I had the Netherlands in instead.
But for those of you who aren't interested in watching the whole thing, here's some of the highlights of the contest.
The Biggest Surprise:
Elhaida Dani "I'm Alive" Albania
I'm happy that Albania has made it into the final. But Dani got really lucky because her final performance was off key and rather stilted.
My guess is that she had a superb performance last night and she scored well with the juries. It's the only explanation for the qualification.
The Biggest Disappointment:
Trijntje Oosterhuis "Walk Along" the Netherlands
I'm certain that Oosterhuis and the Dutch team wanted to make the final, and the vocals were superb. But everything else chosen was chosen to make people not vote for it. The clothes, the camera shots, and the lighting all were weird for no good reason.
Had she performed the song as she had on The Voice Holland this would have been in the final.
The Song I Would Have Voted For:
Boggie "Wars For Nothing" Hungary
I enjoy watching the semifinals without knowing much about the final performances. That means a song that I didn't necessarily rate will get my vote. Like last year's San Marinese entry, I didn't rate Hungary's song highly. But when seeing this live, this was the song I would have voted for. A simple song performed perfectly will get my vote.
The Can't-Miss Song
Eduard Romanyuta "I Want Your Love" Moldova
It's a rare song that makes you feel like you could get a STD by watching it. Good job Mr. Romanyuta. You made me feel like taking a course of antibiotics. And now you need to watch it too.
Let's keep on chugging though the Eurovision national finals with Estonia.
Trust me, there's a reason for this picture of Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin
Estonia has been using the same program, Eesti Laul, to choose their entrant for the past seven years. This year's Eesti Laul final took place back on February 24th and if you like a good variety show format, with a little bit of everything, watch this sample of songs from the final.
Robin Juhkental & The Big Bangers "Troubles"
Elephants From Neptune "Unriddle Me"
Elisa Kolk "Superlove"
Pretty much Eesti Laul has a song everybody would like. That'ss always a treat when you watch one of these shows--you're not bored with repetition.
However, if you like suspense, this isn't the final to watch. It was obvious which song was going to win as soon as the third song in the lineup was sung.
Elina Borg and Stig Rästa "Goodbye to Yesterday"
"Goodbye to Yesterday" took the framework of year's Dutch entry--the most commercially successful song from last year's contest
The Common Linnets "Calm Before The Storm" the Netherlands 2014
and grafted on the feel of a lot of French musical provocateur Serge Gainsbourg's duets.
Serge Gainsbourg and Bridget Bardot "Bonnie And Clyde"
By doing that, "Goodbye to Yesterday" stood out from all the rest of the songs in the Estonian national final because, unlike the rest of the songs in the contest, it seems original and fresh. In comparison the other songs were retreads of songs that have been seen in the contest.
That freshness has also set it high up the betting tables as a potential winner. It's understandable. It's classy enough to appeal to the juries from different countries and it goes over quite well over the TV screens. And the chorus is catchy. I warn you, you will be humming "Goodbye to Yesterday" after listening to it. It's that sort of song.
Next up on the Eurovision songs in review is the Netherlands. The Dutch broadcaster, AVROTROS, followed their successful format from the prior two years and internally selected a successful artist to represent their country in Vienna.
Trijntje Oosterhuis was announced as the Dutch representative on November 10th and she is quite successful in her home country. Oosterhuis, like Anouk and Ilse Delange, has a number of gold and platinum albums under her belt. She is also one of the judges on one of the most popular shows in the Netherlands, The Voice of Holland.
But for me, the biggest surprise is that I have been a fan of hers before she was ever considered for Eurovision. I own two of her albums. She's a damn good singer.
So let's take a listen to the song:
Trijntje Oosterhuis "Walk Along"
Great singer: check
Great performance: check
Great song: um
I hate to say this but I'm disappointed by the song. It's so repetitive. Oosterhuis is selling it, but the song feels like it's over about a minute before it actually does.
But could it win? Yes. Lousier songs have won Eurovision.
Will I be rooting for Oosterhuis throughout this entire contest? Yes.
The Common Linnets were chosen internally by the Dutch national broadcaster. Ilse deLange, one of the two singers in The Common Linnets, is an extremely successful musician in her own country--with seven platinum albums and numerous national music awards.
So with the success of Anouk last year, it's unsurprising that deLange was picked to carry the national colors in Copenhagen.
The Common Linnets "Calm After The Storm"
I desperately want to like this song. DeLange and her singing partner Waylon are both seasoned performers and their voices blend well. It's really obvious in this live performance.
It's just not the right song for Eurovision. It's going to be great when I have to drive across North Dakota in a few months, but it's going to disappear come the semifinal time.
Like everybody who has a love of the Eurovision Song Contest, I've been sitting down and analyzing the running order for the final.
Here's the running order, as determined by the lovely people at SVT.
1. France
2. Lithuania
3. Moldova
4. Finland
5. Spain
6. Belgium
7. Estonia
8. Belarus
9. Malta
10. Russia
11. Germany
12. Armenia
13. Netherlands
14. Romania
15. UK
16. Sweden
17. Hungary
18. Denmark
19. Iceland
20. Azerbaijan
21. Greece
22. Ukraine
23. Italy
24. Norway
25. Georgia
26. Ireland
Of course, I'm going to be looking at my personal favorite, Anouk for the Netherlands. Unluckily drawn into the first half, she's got a good position--the last song in the first half. She's also between two really lousy songs--the Armenian ecoballad and the (forgive me for offending delicate sensibilities) salute to menstruation--Romania, which will hopefully make the song stand out.
Anouk "Birds" the Netherlands
I hope for a good result for the Dutch entry--maybe a top ten position. I doubt Anouk can win--the song is kind of too classy for the room. If it does, just expect me to be very, very, happy.
As for likely winners, if I were to put down some money, I'd actually go with Ukraine.
Zlata Ognevich "Gravity" Ukraine
It's well placed and if performed the way it was in this clip, it's worthy of winning the Eurovision Song Contest.
And as a long shot, I'd put some money down on this song too:
Really there are only three songs that are likely winners that I don't particularly care for.
Cascada "Glorious" Germany
Emmilie de Forest "Only Teardrops" Denmark
Both of them seem way too generic to actually inspire love, but they are true fan favorites.
Farid Mammadov "Hold Me" Azerbaijan
And on this one, the song is very much back burner to the fantastic gimmick. It's like the sand lady from Ukraine a few years back. That's not a particularly flattering comparison, but it's going to get votes.
But all of this analysis is really pointless. I'm just looking forward to tomorrow morning--the final starts at 11 AM local time here in Alaska. And then comes my favorite part of the Eurovision season. The Eurovision parties to determine Alaska's Choice!
I would love to be able to stay impartial, but I can't help it. My favorite song made it to the final this year!
Anouk "Birds" The Netherlands
Absolute perfection as far as I'm concerned--the shots of her with the crowd waving along to the song with the stage behind her completely sold it.
Mind you I about had a heart attack watching the results. The results are random. Yeah, right. They were specifically calibrated to give me a freaking heart attack.
But the real shock of the first semifinal was the absolute lock out of any countries from the former Yugoslavia. None of the four countries from the former Yugoslavia made it through to Saturday night.
It could be because of the new ranking of songs, where all are ranked instead of the top ten. But when you look back at the songs from Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Slovenia, none of them were true contenders this year, because they were either poorly performed or inaccessible to Europe as a whole.
For example:
Who See "Ingranka" Montenegro
This is a pretty amazing performance, and perhaps the most "in your face" performance in the semifinal. It feels fresh and modern, but outside the Balkans nobody would vote for it.
But the shock qualifier for me was another Benelux country:
Roberto Bellarosa "Loff Keels" Belgium
Bellarosa looked like a scared chicken when he was performing and his English pronunciation of phrases like "Love Kills" and "bitter pill" (excuse me "beater peel") make me wonder what was in the water to put Belgium's number over something like this.
Klapa s Moro "Mižerja" Croatia
When something like this happens, I have to remind myself it's not always about the quality of the performance, it's what sounds more popular. So the amazing Klapa s Moro are going home while the Belgian chicken clucks another day. (I'm not bitter. Not one bit.)
I am looking forward to Thursday and the second semifinal. If the production is half as good as the production for this semifinal, it's going to be the best Eurovision Song Contest in years.
Any country who can put a fresh spin on last year's winning song
Loreen and Children of Malmö "Euphoria"
and provide comedic relief that is actually funny gets my vote.
Lynda Woodruff (Sarah Dawn Finer)
(Sadly they don't have her first part of her tour of Sweden isn't available online yet. Enjoy this clip from this year's Melodifestivalen.)
If you have the time, you really should watch the entire contest--it's easily streamed from the official Eurovision website.
Now back to listening to the songs. Maybe after another six or seven listens I can actually figure out what's going on with the Serbian entry...
The bad thing about Eurovision for me, here in Alaska, is that it takes place so early in the day.
While Europeans are at home enjoying a night of light entertainment, I'm at the start of my work day here in Alaska. It means I'm constantly refreshing the Internet, looking for updates while attempting to do my job.
For the most part I succeed. But Eurovision is much more fun that making sure numbers balance on ledgers or keeping up with the latest news on health care reform.
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Enough about the joys of human resources in Alaska, you're hear to learn my choices to make the final from the first semifinal.
But after spending a few months listening and ranking these songs, it's time to give my choices on the songs I think will go to the semifinal.
The amazing thing about this list is that there are only three that I am completely confident of making it through--Denmark, Russia, and Ukraine. Denmark has been the favorite of many people in the Eurovision community (although not mine) and Russia and Ukraine are perennial qualifiers and the songs aren't completely horrible, so they're locks.
Ireland and Serbia are the second tier. They're likely to make it through. Ireland has had a lot of good buzz which means people will likely vote for it. Serbia's song is pretty terrible, but with a good placing and likely Balkan Bloc voting it will be make it through.
That pretty much leaves Belarus, Cyprus, Estonia, Slovenia, and the Netherlands as my final five choices. I have no real reason to say about these five other my choices are a combination of personal favorites and what I think Europe will vote for on Tuesday night.
I can see any of those five being replaced by Austria, Croatia, or Moldova. All eight of those songs have an opportunity to take the final five places.
The only three that I can't see any chance of making it through are Belgium, Lithuania, and Montenegro. The first two just seem lame, while the third is so "out there" that people aren't likely to get it. (Although I must admit I love the astronauts.)
So there's my two cents on the final. Now here comes some begging.
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Please. Please. Please. If you live in Europe and vote in the first semifinal, kindly consider using one of your televotes for this song.
Anouk "Birds" The Netherlands
You'd make a Eurovision fan who can't put in his two cents very happy.
Yet again I'm writing up a song that was chosen internally by a national broadcaster. TROS chose to send the singer Anouk and the song "Birds".
Anouk makes a great deal of sense to send to Eurovision. Within the Netherlands, Anouk is quite successful, with both popular and critical appeal. A quick search of her name show multiple Saturn and TMF awards--Dutch music awards. And for American readers, she might be best described as the Dutch Alanis Morissette. Her albums are made up of self penned, personal songs backed by a guitar heavy band.
Anouk "Three Days In A Row"
Her entry into Eurovision is much different than her previous work
Anouk "Birds"
Instead of rock guitar and an up front stage presence, we have a song that sounds very much like a throwback to the Eurovision songs of old--a Dutch take on the French chanson that won in the very early years of the song contest.
It's an interesting change in her work, and this song, from her soon to be released Sad Singalong Songs, is in my wheelhouse. She's gone from the Dutch Alanis Morissette to the Dutch Aimee Mann. And I love Aimee Mann, so I'm going to be grabbing this album if and when it's released here in the States.
As for its chances at Eurovision, I can't really decide. It's one of those songs that is either going to sink to the bottom or rise to the top.
Anouk is an established singer that has one awards for being the "Best Live Act", so she has the ability to command a stage and connect with an audience. But the song is very quiet and mournful, quite different that the upbeat power ballands and dance numbers that pepper the semifinal the Netherlands is in.
I'm expecting it to unfairly sink beneath the dance tunes and power ballads from the rest of Europe, but I'll be delighted if it makes it into the final.
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.
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.
The fourth Eurovision Song Contest took place in Cannes, France on March 11th, 1959. Twelve countries participated in the fourth Eurovision Song Contest, with Luxembourg opting out, the United Kingdom returning, and Monaco debuting.
I'd love to be able to say that there was some sort of exciting scandal that took place during the fourth Eurovision Song Contest, but it seems that this contest took off without any hitches or scandals. (Although there is an unconfirmed rumor that France and Italy didn't vote fore each other to prevent the rival song from winning.)
After the songs were performed (on a troika of rotating backdrops with pictures of scenery from each participating country), the juries, made up of 10 people each selected their favorite song. After the voting, the winner was the Dutch entrant, making the Netherlands the first country to win the contest more than once.
Teddy Scholten "Een Beetje" the Netherlands
But the Alaska jury, as usual, came up with a different result. and we did the same thing as the original jury--this is the first time a country won our contest more than once.
Freddy Quinn from Germany was our choice as the winner for the 1959 contest, and we gave the title to Germany again:
Alice and Ellen Kessler "Heute Abend wollen wir tanzen geh'n" Germany
We were suckers for singing and dancing German twins. They did dance moves on the rickety set and sounded good. Can you blame us for choosing them?
A place checking song in a calypso beat that blends in waltzes and yodels. Yep, it's one of the more bizarre entrants, and there was no way I could leave it out...even though we placed it in ninth place.
And for those of you who are interested, here's our breakdown of the songs.
1. "Heute Abend wollen wir tanzen geh'n" Alice and Ellen Kessler Germany
2. "Uh, jeg ville ønske jeg var dig" Birthe Wilke Denmark
3. "Een beetje" Teddy Scholten the Netherlands
4. "Piove (Ciao, ciao banbina)" Domenico Modugno Italy
5. "Irgenwoher" Christa Williams Switzerland
6. "Sing Little Birdie" Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson the United Kingdom
7. "Oui, oui, oui, oui" Jean Phillippe France
8. "Augustin" Brita Borg Sweden
9. "Der K und K Kalypso aus Wien" Ferry Graf Austria
10. "Hour toch van mij" Bob Benny Belgium
11. "Mon ami Peirrot" Jacques Pills Monaco
Ah, you crazy Dutch. You always send interesting songs and lately your choices for the adult Eurovision Song Contest have been duds. Do you remember the lite rock stylings of 3JS, the überschlager of Sieneke, or the geezer pop of Der Toppers?
Nope?
I didn't think you did For the past seven years, the Dutch entrant has wallowed in the bottom of the group in their semi-finals.
This year they went for an act that's desperately trying to be the person pictured below:
It does make you want to hear the song, doesn't it?
Joan Franka "You and Me"
With her straight black hair, her nose job and the Native American headdress, Franka's trying to channel Cher in the "Half-Breed" video. It doesn't work. It's not a melodramatic pop number like the Cher song, it's more like the folk number "Brand New Key" by Melanie.
Since it's more of a folk number the entire Native American princess thing is pretty insulting and takes away from what is already a weak song. Franka and her dancers look like they found their costume by looking online. They look cheap, like refugees from a small town production of the Thanksgiving story, and demonstrates the tone-deaf idealism for the American West that shows up in European culture, as exported to them by America.
Hopefully they'll rethink the Princess Othaki shtick. But I doubt it. And it means the Dutch are likely to be at the bottom of their semifinal yet again.
I may be offending a lot of people, but I have to ask why the Netherlands sent this song in 1975.
Teach-In "Ding-a-Dong"
Ding-a-Dong is the song won the contest in 1975 and it is the most incidiously infectious and poppy numbers to come out of the contest. I'll even confess that it is probably my favorite winner ever, but I still wish they hadn't sent the song in English. Take a listen to the Dutch version of the song.
Teach-In "Ding-a-Dong" (Dutch version)
In Dutch, the lyrics are a little bit less insipid sounding even if they may translate to the exact same thing in the English version.
It may be my bias, but I enjoy songs that are performed in one of the country's actual languages instead of English, but because pop music equals English in much of the world, Eurovision songs are mostly performed in English.
And with Teach-In, I can live with the English version. Yet I still wish they had performed the song in Dutch in the actual contest.
Ten countries submitted songs to this contest-the seven from 1956 along with Austria, Denmark, and the United Kingdom. The contest was broadcast from Frankfurt am Main, Germany and each country performed one song, supposed to clock in at a time of three minutes.
The problem is that a number of countries didn't follow that rule, and this contest set records for song length.
Nunzio Gallo "Corde Delle Mia Chitarra" Italy
Italy's Nunzio Gallo sang a song that lasted 5 minutes and 9 seconds, the longest song ever performed at the Eurovision Song Contest, and was cited as the reason that a strict 3 minute rule has been in place since.
But Nunzio's longwinded song was balanced out by the United Kingdom's entrant
Patricia Bredin "All"
Coming in at only 1 minute and 52 seconds, it's the shortest song ever performed in the Eurovision Song Contest.
But there's a story even more importantly to Eurovision lore, the first scandal associated with the contest happened in the performance of one of the songs.
Birthe Wilke and Gustav Winckler "Skibet skal sejle i nat"
But none of these were the winner, with the juries--ten listeners in each country selecting their favorite song--favored the Dutch song by a margin of almost two to one margin.
Corry Brokken "Nel als toen"
And suprisingly, Alaska's Choice is the same as the juries. If fact our top three were identical to the juries, with Paule Desjardins from France coming second and the kissing Danes third. I guess it proves there is some kinship between the 49th State and Europe.
So congratulations to the Netherlands and their win. I can't wait to find out who we choose as the winner in 1958...
