It's that time of year again. It doesn't seem possible, but the trees are in full leaf, the baby baa-lambs are gambling in the fields and the days are getting impossibly long.
It only means one thing. Yes, hello Eurovision!
Regular blog readers might have gathered that I have at least a passing interest in the aforementioned televisual extravaganza, and they're probably all desperately waiting for my (now traditional) tips for the top.
So, without any further ado, here are my picks from a frankly rather disappointing line-up:- (Click on the links to watch them)
Spain, un point This really isn't my thing, but he has a sort of puppy-dog charm and this year it seems that even being vaguely normal can't be taken for granted...
Norway, deux points It's a bit Peter Cetera-esque, but the chorus is quite infectious. Not a classic, though...
Poland, trois points After last year's linguistic extravaganza I had high hopes for Poland this year. But it's English only, I'm afraid. I hate to admit to liking this, but there we are...
Russia, quatre points Not the most original song in the world, and she's not TaTu, but it's got quite a catchy hook.
United Kingdom, cinq points I'm beginning to get a bit bored of this song, I'm afraid. But at least he sings in tune - which is a marked improvement over last year.
Iceland, six points Rather odd lyrics which sound a bit like a Dulux advert ("blend your colours with my blue"), but a great voice and he, well, has something. And he's from Iceland.
Belgium, sept points Well I had to give them a fairly decent score - I haven't had my permanent residence card approved yet...
Netherlands, huit points I really like this. And one of them is Belgian, you know...
Germany, dix points Fantastic voice, and the song's not bad either. I think he could do with separating his eyebrows, though...
Sweden, douze points The singer, Lena Philipsson, has been trying on and off for nearly twenty years to win the national finals and represent her country. Now there's dedication. And I'm not sure that anyone will believe me when I say that this really is my favourite and the fact it's from Sweden has nothing to do with it!
Posted by Eurodan at May 8, 2004 11:12 PMWell, maybe this is a good idea then:
http://www.casarosa.be/nieuws.php?id=35
Posted by: pascal van hecke at May 9, 2004 1:43 PMYes, that does sound like a good idea, but I'm afraid I'll be celebrating in the UK that weekend. Still, at least that means that I'll be able to vote for Belgium...
Posted by: Eurodan at May 9, 2004 2:21 PMMaybe you'd like to know that this'll be the first time a song in Catalá will be heard in Eurovision; not that Spain will give a chance to any of her "second level" official languages (they even translated into Spanish one song in Catalá and then they took it to the festival), but it'll be first time in Eurovision for Andorra. Good luck to them!
Cristina
What? A country not singing in English? Shame on them! What's so good about diversity anyway? What's good enough for us is good enough for... (cue arrival of men in white coats.)
Posted by: Shyboy at May 13, 2004 6:46 PMHi Dan, long time, no hear! Anyone as shocked as I was that the Ukraine won this year? It seems to be a case of weird costumes and dancing and a fast track and you're all set (also Bosnia-Herzegovina....! never seen anything like it!) I wonder why people still bother to sing ballads since they don't stand a chance anyway. Well, it will be interesting to have a song contest from Kiew...
Posted by: Eva at May 16, 2004 3:34 PMHi Eva!
Yes, I was a bit shocked. I must say that I thought it was a good win, since at least the song had a bit of local colour - with most of the others you might as well have just called them 'song 1', 'song 2' and so on.
We need: Songs in native language, 50:50 specialist juries and public televoting, and the reinstatement of an orchestra.
Posted by: Eurodan at May 18, 2004 5:34 PMNew rules for 2005:
1) countries must sing in one (or more) of their official languages
1a) English is not a valid official language for any country ;-)
2) 100% Jury voting (televoting allowed for entertainment purposes only, but will have no bearing on the final scores)
2a) Jurors to be supplied with audio-only feed
3) a full orchestra must be provided (no token cut-down jobs allowed)
4) alcohol consumption to be prohibited in the BBC commentary box following the interval