It's Eurovision time: music (?), contests and more!

So on the 16th of May up to 600 million people will sit down and listen to music and decide which song is the best in Europe. The whole week leading up to that date, Eurovision Week, is madness, and we will try to do our own version here in the FFC.

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First an introduction.
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition. Each country participates via one of their national EBU-member television stations, whose task it is to select a singer and a song to represent their country in the international competition. The Contest has been broadcast every year since its inauguration in 1956 and is one of the longest-running television programmes in the world. It is also one of the most-watched non-sporting events in the world, with audience figures having been quoted in recent years as anything between 100 million and 600 million internationally.

Due to the fact that the songs are playing to such a diverse international audience with diverse musical tastes, and that countries want to be able to appeal to as many people as possible to gain votes, the majority of the songs historically have been middle-of-the-road pop. Deviations from this formula have rarely achieved success, leading to criticism that the music in the Contest is old-fashioned, and "bubblegum pop". This well-established pattern, however, was notably broken in 2006 with Finnish hard rock band Lordi's landslide victory. As it is a visual show, many performances attempt to attract the attention of the voters through means other than the music, which sometimes leads to bizarre onstage gimmicks and what some critics have called the Eurovision kitsch drive.

Yes, this is the contest that started the career of ABBA and Celine Dion, but it has also produced some really dreadful things, and this year will probably not be an exception.

FanForce Community Eurovision Week

What we are going to do here is that up until the 12th of May (the day of the first semifinal) all contributions will be presented here in this thread.

Up until the 12th of May you can pick which country you think is going to win the contest, you also need to guess how many points the winner will recieve so that we can separate the winner in case of a draw. The winner will recieve one week of colours. You need to send in your entry to me via PM.

We are also going to have a sweepstake, where you are assigned a country, by lottery. You will need to publicly support this country, no matter how bad the entry is, and the winning country's representative will get colours for a week.

Finally we are also going to select the FFC Winner. From the 12th, when all the entries have been presented, until the 17th you can give your own vote in this thread, and not only one vote either. You select your top three candidates and give them 12, 10 and 8 points respectiveley. In the end the entry with the most points will be the FFC Winner.

Also if any of you talented people out there could whip together a banner that we can have here in the FFC for the whole Eurovision week, it would be really appreciated.

So I hope many people will take the chance to have fun and follow the Eurovision here in the FFC.

 

There are 42 countries taking part in the Eurovision, this means that it's impossible to show them all the same night. A couple of years ago they started to have semi-finals to decide which countries should go on to the big final. Always included in the final is also the winner of last year's contest, this year that's Russia, and "the big four". The big four are UK, Germany, France and Spain and they are there because they give the most money to the European Broadcasting Union.

Each semi-final decides 9 entries that goes on through a popular vote, there is also a jury vote that decides one entry that should go on. Meaning that the total number of countries in the big final will be 25.

I'm going to start presenting them in the order that they come in their semi-finals, and finish with Russia and the big four.
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Semi-final 1 - 12th of May

1. Montenegro

Montenegro gained independence in 2006 and had its first entry in the Eurovision in 2007. Some of the old Yugoslav and Serbian entries have been performed by artists from Montenegro though. So far they haven't qualified to the big final. This year is the first that they have a song in English.

Andrea Demirovic - Just get out of my life

I think it's quite a typical disco-pop song. I'm not sure how fun it will be to see as a live performance

2. Czech Republic

The Czech Republic debuted in 2007, and has so far managed to get last and second to last in their semi-finals. They have tried rock and pop, this time they go for gypsies and superheroes(?) and chooses to have part of the lyrics in romani.

Gipsy.cz - Aven Romale

I confess, I'm really fond of silly Eurovision entries, and I have a bit of a soft spot for this one. I also like the melody in the chorus.

3. Belgium

Belgium is the country that I think is most famous for having sent a 13-year old, claiming to be 15 (the age limit for contestants). She won, and it's Belgium's only win so far. They have also finished second in 2003, when they sang in a completely fictional language. This time they send an Elvis-imitator, so the age will probably not be a problem. They also sing in English.

Copycat - Copycat

I don't think it will win, but I'm pretty sure that it can take quite a few points with its old-style beat

4. Belarus

In the contest since 2004, they have only gone on to the final once. When it comes to voting Belarus has so far always given 12 points to big brother Russia. This year's entry is a national idol singing a rock ballad.

Petr Elfimov - Eyes that never lie

It's easy to make fun of the melodramatic thing going on, and the terrible English, but the song itself is pretty good, and I'm pretty sure it's going to end up high. This kind of song won last year, and the style seems to be popular in eastern Europe

5. Sweden

Sweden made an impact on Eurovision in 1974 when they introduced ABBA to the world. Since then Sweden has won another three times, most of the times with some catchy easy pop-songs. The last years have been really disappointing though, so in a try to leave the pop behind they make use of one of the world's best opera singers, the mezzo-soprano Malena Ernman in this pop-opera piece.

Malena Ernman - La Voix

I'm partial, I'm from Sweden and I'm an opera-buff that have loved Malena Ernman for years. When it became known that she would take part in the Swedish national contest I posted on my blog that it would be fun, but I don't think anyone would like something operasounding, then she baffled everyone by winning the whole things thanks to the popular vote. I love this song

6. Armenia

Armenia sent it first entry to Eurovision in 2006 and have so far performed well, without winning though. Last

 

Here's the rest of the contestants in semi-final 1.

Israel
Israel debuted in the Eurovision in 1973, having won three times. The last time they won was in 1998 with the trans-sexual Dana International. Overall Israel has had a tendency to swing between crazy, non-conformist entries, and traditional, "let's all live together in peace" entries. This year is a bit between, it's a song about peace, but for the first time one of the singer is Palestinian and sings in Arabic. This has caused quite a bit of controversy from both sides.

Noa & Mira Awad - There must be another way

I think it has quite a nice melody, but we've heard the lyrics so many times before. It is also a bit boring after a while

Bulgaria
Bulgaria is one of these comparatively new contestants, having debuted in 2004, but they take the Eurovision really serious. The selection of their entry is built up as an "Idol"-like show starting in October and running into February. They also usually have the most spectacular videos. This year is no exception, it's a very cool video.

Krassimir Avramov - Illusion

The video is cool, but the song is boring, and I don't like his falsetto voice at all. I wonder if they can make something interesting of it on stage though

Iceland
The land of Björk has been in the contest since 1986, not competing every year. Their best result so far is a second place in 1999. They have had a few songs that has been talked about before the finals, but the last years they have rarely gone on to the main final.

Yohanna - Is it true

I'm not a big fan of ballads, and I think this one is a bit on the boring side.

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia
The small country with the very long name, check Macedonia on wikipedia and you'll see why, made it first entry in the Eurovision in 1996. They have never made a top 10, but until last year they have managed to win a place in the final, since the system with semi-finals was introduced. This year they send a cute rockband with big hair.

Next time - Neshto Shto ke ostan

it's a cute band, and I wouldn't be surprised to see them in the final. The song is ok, nothing spectacular, but not bad either, maybe it's better if you understand what they are singing about

Romania
Romania made it first try in 1993, but hasn't taken part every year since then. Their best results have been a 3rd and a 4th place. The 4th place was with the song "Tornero" which late became a big hit, at least all over Europe in the following summer. This year's contestant is the daughter of a priest, but I wonder what her daddy thinks about the video.

Elena - The Balkan Girls

It's a catchy song, and since there are so many Balkan girls watching I think it might end up with a good result. I wouldn't be surprised if this if Elena is going to try for the shortest skirt of the contest.

Finland
For a very long time Finland was famous for finishing last in the Eurovision, making their first try in 1961. That streak ended when they sent the monster rock band Lordi to the Eurovision in 2006. Since Lordi Finland has continued to send rock groups, but this year they change genre to disco pop.

Waldo's people - Lose control

I like this one, both the video and the song. It's stays in your head after you've heard it, and I think it will be remembered by the voters.

Portugal
Since Finland won Portugal is the country with the most entries without a win. They started in 1964, and still haven't been close. Portugal has a tendency to send ballads that might be a hit nationally, but have a hard time internationally.

Flor-de-lis - Todas as ruas do amor

I think it

 

Semi-final 2

Croatia
Croatia has taken part in every contest since its debut as an independent country in 1993. They tried to get into the contest already in 1992, but failed since they weren't a member of the EBU. It should be said though that most of the Yugoslavian entries, including the only Yugoslavian win, were Croatian. Best place so far has been two 4th places in the 90's.

Igor Cukrov feat. Andrea - Lijepa Tena

I think this is dreadful, it would probably be better without her. She doesn't fit into the song at all, and he sounds too whiney

Ireland
Ireland is the most successful country in the Eurovision so far, not the least for winning three wins in a row in 1992-1994. Last year they were famous for sending a turkey puppet, it didn't qualify for the final. This year they have made a more serious try again, by going abroad for the creators of their entry. It's written by a Swedish/Danish duo, that also ended up second in the Danish national final.

Sinéad Mulvey & Black Daisy - Et Cetera

I hate this kind of music, when I was in school everyone who formed a band performed this kind of pop, and I disliked it then already. It seems to be popular among other people though.

Latvia
Latvia has won once since they entered the contest in 2000. This year's entry is apparently very funny, I've heard it described as being about a guy stuck in a traffic jam, he sees a girl jumping on the roofs of the cars, and then wants to follow her.

Intars Busulis - Probka

I don't understand what's supposed to be funny, and the music is dreadful.

Serbia
Serbia proper debuted in 2007, having been part of Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro before that. They started off great, with a win in Helsinki. Their first entries have been ballads, this year they try something new. Apparently the national phone network broke down during the voting in the national contest, which have made people doubt that this is really the "true" Serbian winner.

Marko Kon & Milaan - Cipela

I don't know if I'm baffled by the hair, or if just any song is better after the Latvian one, but I don't think this one is so bad. Not a winner, but a nice piece of easy listening.

Poland
This is a country that hasn't been very successful since they first entered in 1994. This year they planned to withdraw, but apparently a win in the Eurovision Dance Contest, and the fact that the jury voting is being brought back made Poland change its mind. Last year they tried with an imported American in an American style ballad, this year they go for a domestic singer, but still a ballad.

Lidia Kopania - I don't wanna leave

Boring, traditional ballad, not much more to say. I think Lidia can take part in the "worst English pronunciation" - contest though.

Norway
Norway has won two times, but it also has the distinction of the country with the most zero points (4 times) and most times ending up last (10 times). This year they are heralded as the big favourite beforehand. Everyone seems to be sure that next contest will be held in Oslo.

Alexander Rybak - Fairytale

I like this piece a lot! He's cute, with a lot of charisma, the song is good, the background dancers are great. He doesn't have the best voice, but that doesn't matter. I must say I'm a bit sceptical to his violine playing though, since you can't see a microphone going from the violine. I wouldn't mind to see this as the winner.

Cyprus
So far Cyprus hasn't managed to win the ears of any countries, except for Greece with which they always exchange 12 points. This year the creator of the song was busy taking part in the Greek Idol show, so apparently he let his sister sing the song instead.

Christin

 

Enji, if you don't want to listen to them, think of me who's doing this, going through all the songs, and I've gotten a few of them stuck in my brain. I'm only saved by the fact that I'm also doing an opera countdown in the Amphitheatre. Anyway here's the rest of

Semi-final 2

Hungary
Hungary has entered the contest from time to time since 1994. In total this is the 8th time they are taking part in it. The best result so far has been a 9th place in 2007. That was the first time they sent an entry in English, and since then that's been the chosen language. This year the chosen song got disqualified because it had been released too early. Instead they sent this song.

Zoli Ádok - Dance With Me

Easy listening, quite cool. Nothing spectacular though

Azerbaijan
This is just the second time that Azerbaijan takes part in the contest, and it's the last of the countries in the Caucasus to enter the contest. The national TV broadcaster had planned to hold an open, national final to select their entry. All the songs that were sent in were judged to be too bad though so they scrapped that idea. Instead they chose the Swedish-Iranian pop artist Arash to come up with a song.

AySel & Arash - Always

I don't know if it's because he's half-Swedish, but this is the kind of music I would definitely expect on the dancefloors around here. Just like the last one I don't feel anything special about it though.

Greece[/link]
Greece has been in the contest since 1974, with some really good results during the last ten years, since they've started to send quite a lot of pop-disco oriented numbers. They won in 2005. Greece chose to first select the artist, when that was decided he performed a load of songs, and there was a vote to select the entry.

Sakis Rouvas - This is our night

Greece is continuing with the pop/disco sound. I like it, but I wonder if it's enough. When Greece has made good results it has usually been with female singers with very little clothes, I wonder if a guy can with the same number of votes.

Lithuania
This is one of the countries that has participated some years, but not all since its debut in 1994. The only entry that has managed a reasonably good result was in 2006 with the "We are the winners" that basically made fun of the whole Eurovision thing, and made the "serious" Eurovision artists furious. This year it's nothing funny though.

Sasha Son - Love

I thought it started out nice, but then nothing happened and I got bored. Too emo for my taste.

Molodova
Moldova debuted in 2004 and has managed to reach the final most of the time. Moldova and Romania has almost the same thing going as Greece and Cyprus, in that they give each other a lot of points all the time. Moldova is also one of the poorest countries in Europe, so maybe it's not that strange that their entries have a tendency to look like tourist advertising, or angry youth.

Nelly Ciobany - Hora din Moldova

It's time for etnic disco again, not too much of that this year in the Eurovision. It's nice, but then they start with the rap, and that kills the song totally for me.

Albania
Albania has been in the contest since 2004. Most of the times they have chosen to sing their songs in English, which I guess is understandable, since Albanian is a language that is totally incomprehensible to all other European languages and it's hard to win votes if nobody knows that you are singing about. Albania chooses it entry through a national festival, that is much older than their participation in the Eurovision. This year winner was...

Kejsi Tola - Carry me in your dreams

Not too bad, but I think Kejsi needs to learn how to moove, or make something interesting on

 

Thank you so much for the icons!

And this year I think the Swedish media has given up on the "we are going to win" predictions.

 

I planned to make this post yesterday, but managed to deleted the post when it was half-done, and I didn't feel like redoing the whole thing.

Anyway on to the ones who are already in the final.

Spain
Spain has been in the contest since 1961 and won twice, in 1968 and 1969. The last win was in a draw with three other countries though. Nowadays Spain is guaranteed a place in the final, because it's one of the four major contributors to the the EBU, one of the big four.

Soraya - La noche es para mí

Nice dancefloor music. Sounds more Middle Eastern than Spanish

France
France is one of the original contestants from 1956 and onwards. Historically successful it has been more than 30 year since they won the last time, in 1977. France normally of course sings in French, even if they tried with Breton one year.

Patricia Kaas - Et S'Il Fallait Le Faire

To me it sounds very French, not too far off from Edith Piaff. I like to listen to the song, but I don't think it will get many votes in the end.

United Kingdom
Definitely one of the most successful country, probably cashing in on the fact that for a very long time you had to sing in your national language, and a lot more people understand English than for example Danish or Flemish. The last year they have sent pure eurotrash rubble, but this year the big talk has been that the entry is actually made by Andrew Lloyd Webber, who's going to take part on stage in Moscow.

Jade - It's my time

My ears really hurt when I heard her sing, not my style at all. I don't think Webber has spent too much time on this one, and the lyrics weren't exactly hard either, it's just repeating "it's my time" over and over again.

Germany
Germany has been in the contest the most time, only missing it in 1996. Their miss in 1996, due to a bad result the year before, made Germany (as a big contributor to the EBU) quite disappointed and that prompted the rule about the "big 4" being automatically included in the final. Germany has sent all kinds of genres the last years, and this year they try with swing. They have also done a bit of a publicity coup in that they have gotten Dita von Teese to be part of their stage show in the final.

Alex Swings, Oscar Sings - Miss Kiss Kiss Bang

Finally a song that I actually like! I like swing, so this goes in as one of my top entries.

Russia
As the host country Russia also has an automatic place in the final. Since 2006 they have been in the top three in the contest. Normally, unless it's Ireland, the hosting country doesn't do well in the final. We'll see what happens to Russia.

Anastasia Prikhodko - Mamo

Is it just me, or does she miss the notes, especially in the start. I can't see this as a top entry, but there are a lot of people who votes Russia for other reasons than the musicl


Sooo finally I've gone through all the entries this year. I think my ears have survived, but I can't be sure yet.

As a final bonus I will also give you the disqualified entry for this year.

Georgia
Georgia was prepared to enter the Eurovision, but their entry was deemed too political, and since political lyrics are banned they had the chance to change or get disqualified. Georgia kept the lyrics and withdrew from the contest.

Stephane & 3G - We don't wanna put in

 

I think the Georgian song sounded too much like "We don't want Putin".

I think my favourites are, in no specific order: Sweden, Czech Republic, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Norway and Germany. Of those I think only Norway and Bosnia really have a chance of ending up high in the lest.

 

MsLanna you got Romania as your country. Since you were the only one who applied for that contest I think we should skip that though. If you want to go through with defending Romania you can do that for fun though.

The first semi-final starts in 40 minutes, I'm going to be online so I'll probably post my impressions of the acts here.

 

Montenegro - the verses are ok, but the chorus is dreadful, just like the male dancer. I don't want to see another butt in tight white pants again. Her voice can't hold throughout the song.
Czech Republic - seems to loose a bit of energy compared to the video, nerves?
Belgien - the first act that actually fills up the whole stage. Funny.
Belarus - The Swedish commentators claim that theres a rumour that Belarus wanted to change artists, because the team was tired of the singers diva attitude. Is that a corpse on stage or what? It's a strong song though. Will definitely reach the final. The singer looks too clean and nice though, in the video he was a lot uglier, but at least he had an edge there.
Sweden - Go Sweden! Still it also has lost some energy since the national final. Too much choir.
Armenia - I like this one, even if I miss the bright colours from the video.

Ceillan - you can still take part in the contest, just send me a pm with the entry you think will win and how many point it will get.

 

Andorra - I think this is the first one that sounds better live than the video. It makes me happy, but I don't like the miniskirt of the singer.
Switzerland - the singer is a bit weak and pretentious, but the song has a nice chorus. Really dislike the house-bit inthe middle though.
Turkey - at least no jeans on stage. I hate the sleaziness though, but I bet that it will get a lot of votes.
Israel - I did not expect black leather and lace to this song. , They sing beautifully together, but it gets a bit boring in between.

Can't we get rid of the horrible hosts?

Bulgaria - he definitely misses some notes, and the female singer looks like an evil witch.
Iceland - Oh, it's Cinderella singing. I think this will go through on being the only pure ballad so far.
Macedonia (FYROM) - biggest hair today. When comparing rock groups I prefer this to the Swiss entry.
Romania - I didn't know Balkan was a jungle world. Just as I thought, she's a contender for the shortest skirt position. Poor girl standing in one corner just providing the backup - singing.
Finland - I've had this song stuck in my head since I posted about it. Fire, fire, fire. 90's nostalgia for the win, or?

Really don't like the commercial breaks.

Portugal - the hippies get on stage. I like this one, and love her dress. Feel good music.
Malta - the voice sounds a bit strained. definitely not in top shape. Gets better at the end.
Bosnia & Hercegovina - Elegant clothes, but I don't like the complete white colour scheme. My favourite in this semifinal.

So now when we're through I must say that I think the stage was too big. Few acts managed to fill it out, and they just looked too small and boring on it.

Yes, we expected Russian nationalism, but I think it's even worse than I feared.
and the Russians got upset when Swedish television joked about Russian music/shows earlier this year with.
the offending video

And in a totally partial thing I'm going to say "VOTE FOR SWEDEN". I might exchange it for a vote for Germany in the final.

 

So the ones that go through are:

Turkey - expected
Sweden - YAY!!!!!!
Israel - didn't think it would go through
Portugal - yes, very good.
Malta - I knew it was a contender for the final when I was humming it during the interval
Finland - 90's nostalgia did win (Swedish people made the song though)
Bosnia & Herzegovina - I started to get worried, but it's in the final!
Romania - not worthy of the final
Armenia - Yes, another of my favourites beforehand, even if their video was better.
Iceland - the ballad did go through.

Big surprise that Belarus didn't go to the final, I would also have prefered Switzerland or Macedonia instead of Romania.

 

No, there's a second semi-final on Thursday, and then there are 5 countries that go straight to the final, without the semi-final. I've sent you a list with the countries that are out.