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Thursday, March 31, 2011
Interesting Facts about Eurovision Song Contest
One musical entry of the Eurovision Song Contest set off a Revolution! In the 1974 Contest, the Portuguese song, “E Depois do Adeus” by Paulo de Carvalho was used as the signal to start the Carntion Revolution in Portugal.
The youngest winner of the Eurovision Song contest, was in 1986 - Sandra Kin from Belgium at the tender age of 13 years old! It set off a trend of underaged contestants that continued until 1989 when a furor resulted over France's entry of an 11 year old, and Israel's 12 year old contestants.
Johnny Logan won the Eurovision Song Contest 3 times; in 1980 with Shay Healy song "What's Another Year?" - 1987 with his own composition "Hold Me Now" - and in 1992 with "Why Me" sung by Linda Martin.
The most famous song performed at the Eurovision Song Contest song is Domenico Mudugno’s Nel Blu Di Pinto Di Blu, (Volare). The song has been performed countless number of times by artists such as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Cliff Richard, David Bowie and others.
English has not always been the predominant language of song entries of the Eurovision Song Contest.
It was only during the 70s that English began to dominate the Contest so the rules were changed in 1976 that allowed entries to sing in one of the official languages of the participating country. But in 1999 this was scrapped to allow songs to be sung in any language. Oddly, in 2003, Belgian entry of "Sanomi" was an entirely made up language!
Every day until May 8 I will be posting a music video of each one of the semi-finalists of the Eurovision Song Contest. On May 9, I will post the last three (my top favorites). Enjoy the videos!
Spring has all but sprung. Except for yesterday when it was raining quite heavily while i was outside in just a shirt (not just a shirt, i had trousers, etc., on too of course) and left my feeling quite see through and nippular. Let's not pause over mother nature's cruel sense of humour though - there is music to be heard so pop on your listening ears and pay attention...
Lenka ~ Roll With The Punches: I am shamefully behind on Lenka, take two. The lead off single was out at the tail end of last year and I completely missed it. This is shockingly unforgiveable when you consider Lenka is an artist who came out with debut single so charming and bold that it had the lyrics in "i want my money back, i want my money back"... in a song called The Show!! And had the confidence to know that people would only be singing it in a self aware ironic way at her concerts. Marvelous. She then whizzed ahead with a delightful debut album and a gorgeous Christmas song (All My Bells Are Ringing), and now has decided to sally forth with new music for her forthcoming second album. Roll With The Punches is almost a teaching aid on how to deal with life once it (as it so often does) gives you a swift kick in the knackers - and frankly what could be a better treatment than this vibrant dose of endearing pop majesty?? Lenka makes the most of her engaging vocal style and her ability to make tune she touches eminently catchy and as a result Roll With The Punches is a fine introduction to the next stage of career. Delicious :)
Lena ~ Taken By A Stranger: Good gracious! Not content with winning last year's eurovision song contest with the oddly wonderful and wonderfully odd Satellite, Lena (Meyer-Landrut) is the first person in 50 years to represent her country twice in a row! She performed 12 new songs to the adoring German public (all of which make up her new album, Good News) and then picked this single as her entry. Initially it doesn't seem the most immediate choice for her - a rather dark tale set over a plucked bass rhythm with no discernable melody. However, as the song progresses, it lures you into it's shadowy world (and yay, there is a dance routine, always a plus) and ingratiates it's way into your heart. As a standalone single and an example of Lena's work, it's a solid entry in her canon, but competing against other songs in Eurovision? It's a brave choice, but may suffer against those that are more instant. One dilemma - two songs with breaking glass? Let's hope she doesn't look as terrified as Eric did :)
Nerina Pallot ~ Put Your Hands Up: I do adore the artist also known as Lady Chatterley. Geek Love remains my favourite but her output of music since Dear Frustrated Superstar has never failed to provide me with many hours of emotion filled pleasure. I once met her in Borders (RIP) where we discussed Otto Titsling from Beaches & she was a real treasure :) Despite having two incredibly fine tracks on the Kylie album (Aphrodite & Better Than Today), this is not a cover of the other song from that set that's currently doing the rounds. No sirreebob. In fact it's produced by Sir Bernard of the Butler and is a lush and layered soundscape of stirring strings, essential handclaps and has a deeply swooning 60s vibe to it. It's a bit of a departure, but then Nerina has never stuck to one musical style, always preferring to experiment and examine new ways of presenting her music. From the clips around, she sounds absolutely tremendous here and the song has a classic, timeless feel to it from the start. I'm loving this mature approach and it bodes well for a startlingly accomplished album - which frankly is what i've come to expect. *bows in awe*
Can brilliance be more brilliant? Well, if electropop-brilliance turns to club-brilliance it's the option. New truly amazing single from The Sound Of Arrows "Nova" gets remix-treatment from one of the biggest DJs of planet - Tiësto and the result sounds exactly as good as you can imagine if you heard original version of track and if you know what Tiësto is about. Best thing about it is that magic tune of "Nova" is all there wrapped in powerful club beats and tons of Summer open-air party atmosphere.
I'll remind you that the single is out on 25th April and contains also whole bunch of mixes from Almighty, due to ones I've heard they sound poppier than Tiësto's mix but still tune makes them pretty adorable.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Another Melodifestivalen background LED-video is unleashed and it's another result of creative activity of schlagerproffs Rickard Engfors for Sebastian Karlsson who's performed entry "No One Else Could" written by Seb with Andreas Alfredsson Grube.
It was Sebastian's comeback that after triumphal quialifying to the final of MF-2007 has gone wrong with leaving at 5th place but it doesn't deny the fact that the song was really good, maybe just to The Ark-ish? And we know that latest The Ark singles weren't too welcome. Or is it Hanna Lindblad's curse of 5th place? Seb definitely should've not taken 4 Hanna Lindblads on the stage, it wasn't right magic to use.
Eurovision 2011 Bosnia & Herzegovina: Dino Merlin - Love in rewind
0 comments Posted by ai at 9:54 PMInteresting Facts about Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest is the longest running television programme in the world! It all began on May 24, 1956 in Switzerland, and was intended to set the state for European freedom, unity and peace! The festival has continued and become the legendary show-stopper that it is today!
Eurovision has been the launching pad from where artists have sky-rocketed to international fame. Among them are artists such as ABBA, Juglio Iglesias, and Celine Dion!
In the past five decades, over 1,100 songs have been performed by participating countries.
The most points scored was 292 by a Finnish rock group, "Lordi" with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah"
Ireland has been the most successful winner in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest, winning the competition 7 times.
Strange News:a song performed at number 2 has never won the competition, leading to the superstition that it's cursed!
Let's set the record straight: Eurovision is based on quality, notwithstanding the occasional aberation. Unfortunately,a few people complain that Eurovision Song Contest is tacky. But - over 100 million people tune in each year to watch it! If you don't tune in, you'll miss the greatest performers!
Every day until May 8 I will be posting a music video of each one of the semi-finalists of the Eurovision Song Contest. On May 9, I will post the last three (my top favorites). Enjoy the videos!
Roxette keeps spreading their new album "Charm School" across Europe and do it quite successfully, gathering #1 of album-charts in Germany and Switzerland and #2 in Austria and Sweden. Next stop is UK, the album was released there few days ago and "She’s Got Nothing On (but the Radio)" is the highest new entry at the UK Radio Airplay Chart so it gives a chance to band to get their performance at London's Wembley Arena on the 15th November sold out during Summer.
Band gets heavy support of all their huge fanbase and here we get video made by Tanya Rush for one of album tracks "No One Makes It On Her Own" that we can't miss, really beautiful and touching animation that makes us change our mind about the song that we liked but didn't feel like we do now.
Since last Autumn I told you about some really nice songs which pretended to become part of Melodifestivalen-2011 but now it feels like we've got the best schlager-reject of this year from an artist that we've discovered last Summer - Therése Neaimé.
In 2010 she has presented amazing Summer hit "All I Think About Is You" and now we finally get new single from Therése and it's "Lovers Lulluby" co-written with Lina and Mårten Eriksson (real MF-veterans who wrote Nordman's "I lågornas sken", Jessica Andersson's "Kom", Magnus Bäcklund "The Name of Love", etc.), this year they tried to breakthrough to MF again with Therése and though the song hasn't qualified (that we think is real shame as the song is fantastic!) it has become new official Therése' single and we can check it right now.
"Lovers Lulluby" is modern pop song with obvious influences of Eurovision pop from artists like Helena Paparizou and Timoteij where modern electronic sound meets loud folk-drums and epic key-change in a form of big schlager-song which usually become big fans-favorites and hopefully this track will also find international audience as it's really worth it and I hope you'll love it as well.
Not so long ago I told you about brand new single of Gravitonas and Roma Kenga "Everybody Dance" - result of international collaboration recorded both Moscow and Stockholm studios this winter via Skype communication! As it was announced first country to get release of new single will be Russia and the rest of the world later. Single includes three versions of the song - produced by Roma (we've heard this one before), by Gravitonas and by Adam Rickfors (radio, club and dub version). Now we can check Gravitonas' and Adam Rickfors' (radio and club) versions right here.
Comparing with Kenga's Gravitonas' version is more calm, poppier and disco-version with dramatic tune wrapped in dance-sound reminding BWO-stuff a bit, still very radio-friendly and pack of goodies for Swedish pop-fans. Adam Rickfors' version is massive club-mix with incredibly anthemic start turning to complete club-massacre that we undoubtfully love!
Alexander has also revealed that initially colaboration was planned with Morandi, it hasn't happened but obviously what have come out of their work with Roma really deserves to be proud of and shooting of video of forthcoming hit will be done in Moscow in late April.
Interesting Facts about Eurovision Song Contest
Ticket sales were launched on December 12, 2010 at 12:12 pm on the website www.dticket.de - the only dealer authorised to resell tickets for the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest. They were sold out in
less than 6 hours!
There were four cities bidding for the privilege of hosting the Eurovision Song Contest. Berlin, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, and Hannover, each making an extraordinary effort to win the coveted honour. However, there could be only one winner!! Dusseldorf!!
In 1983 the song entry from the Turkish participant was entitled "Opera" and the entire song consisted of that one word being repeated over and over again. In 2011, the Turkish song entry is an amazing improvement! Keep watching this blog. Their video will be posted Here!
Again in 1983 (there must have been a full moon out) Spain's song, entitled "La La La" consisted of no fewer than 138 la la la's throughout the song. But I have seen their entry for 2011 and it is no less than positively fantastic! I cannot say which day their video will be posted, but stay tuned to this blog!
Every day until May 8 I will be posting a music video of each one of the semi-finalists of the Eurovision Song Contest. On May 9, I will post the last three (my top favorites). Enjoy the videos!
Esprit Arena Düsseldorf - Eurovision Song Contest 2011 venue (00:00:30sec)
Forty-three countries will be competing for the prestigious award. This year Austria will be returning to the stage after an absence of three years as well as San Marino (which had participated once in 2008) and Hungary (which participated in 2009). Montenegro had applied to enter the Contest in December but subsequently withdrew their application. Slovakia had registered for the competition but later withdrew due to monetary considerations. After some tenuous deliberations, they are back in. Their reason: they were unwilling to pay the penalty fine for late withdrawal. In any event, a public poll held by Slovenska televizia (STV) resulted in an 87.5% positive vote for participation in the annual event!
Semi-final 1
The first semi-final is scheduled for May 10, 2011 and will take place in Esprit Arena in Düsseldorf, Germany. The ten countries which score the highest at this level will qualify for the final. Points are awarded according to a combination of televotes and jury votes from each voting country. Spain and United Kingdom must broadcast and vote in this semi-final.
Semi-final 2
The Big Five
| 11 |  France | Corsica | Amaury Vassili | "Sognu" | Dream | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 12 |  Italy | Italian, English | Raphael Gualazzi | "Madness of Love" | — |
| 14 |  United Kingdom | English | Blue | "I Can" |
| 16 |  Germany (Host) | English | Lena | "Taken by a Stranger" | — |
| 22 |  Spain | Spanish | Lucía Pérez | "Que me quiten lo bailao" | They Can't Take the Fun Away From Me |
BROADCASTING INFORMATION
GermanyIn Germany, the host broadcaster NDR, will produce the programme for ARD. ProSieben will broadcast the first semi-final. ARD will broadcast the second semi-final and the final.
AustraliaThough Australia is not eligible to enter, Eurovision Song Contest will be broadcast on SBS, a free-to-air television station, as in previous years. Local commentary provided by Julia Zemiro and Sam Pang.
United KingdomThe semi-finals will be broadcast on BBC Three and for the first time in high-definition on BBC HD. The final broadcast will be on BBC One and BBC One HD.
The 2011 Eurovision Song Contest will be transmitted throughout Europe and will be broadcast by the national broadcasting company in each country. The rest of the world won't be left out. We can still watch the Contest online. Just log onto Eurovision TV to watch the stream live! If you experience any difficulty in receiving a transmission, make sure you have installed the Octoshape plug-in!
THE VOTING RULES
The panel of judges consist of the "Big Four" along with the host of the event, Germany, which apparently automatically qualify for the finals! But with the return of Italy, it's now called the "Big Five"! Therefore, France, Spain, United Kingdom, Italy and Germany all are vying for the finals before the get go. A total of 25 nations will be participating in the finals.
A draw was held on January 17, 2011 to determine the semi-final running orders. Participating countries nations were placed into six categories, or pots, based on voting patterns up to 2010. The names of each country was drawn from each pot to determine which half of the semi-final they would compete in, including the "Big Five".
European viewers from the 43 participating countries have a chance to vote for their favorite artists by making a phone call or sending an SMS. The televoting results and the jury results are merged per country and each result counts for 50%. Spokespersons in all participating countries will announce the results, giving 12 points to the most popular entry, 10 points to the second most popular, then 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 points. The country with the highest number of points wins the 55th Eurovision Song Contest! Click here for more details!
The presenters of the event will be Anke Engelke, Judith Rakers, and Stefan Raab.
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| Anke Christina Engelke |
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| Stefan Raab |
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| Judith Rakers in 2009 |
This blog will present a music video every day from now until May 8th. On May 9th I will post the last 3 music videos, my favorites. The choices were difficult to make as all the artists are amazingly talented!
The excitement reaches a peak during the upcoming two semi-finals set for May 10 and May 12, 2011.
The Final is slated for the evening of May 14, 2011 after which the results will be posted on this blog.
Suggested Links:
Eurovision TV Online
Espritarena
Explaining Eurovision to Americans
Europe United
HOW TO VOTE DURING EUROVISION (Europeans only!)
LinkWithin
