![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Mar. 8th, 2008
Tweets for Today
Mar. 8th, 2008 12:53 pm- 17:30 en attendant «happy hour» #
Eurovision 2008
Mar. 8th, 2008 10:36 pmWith about a week left before the deadline for entries, we now all but a handful of the songs for this year's Eurovision. And just to make it all the more interesting, the Semi-finals are 20 and 22 May; the Final is the 24th. Unlike previous years, all but the winner last year and the Big 4 (cash cows, who pay most of the costs) have to qualify from one of 2 semis. Which have been purposely drawn to break up voting blocks (Scandi, Balkan, Muslim, Greek, Ex-Soviet).
All this happens in Serbia, Belgrade to be precise. Already they've delayed their own song selection because of Kosovo. And now the government's been dissolved and the election will probably be 10 days before the first semi--the day before rehearsals start.
Countries can select their entries however they want, so long as the song is 3:00 or less, sung live to a backing track and hasn't been released or publically performed prior to Oct 1 2007. The singer doesn't have to be from the country (unless the country decides that matters); ditto the songwriters. Some countries that 2 years ago wouldn't allow foreigners to represent them are becoming a bit...flexible...in the face of multiple years of dire results.
So far the entries include:
-a turkey pupper in a shopping cart (Ireland)
-an alt-rock indie rocker with a rag doll fetish (Bosnia & Herzegovina)
-a Pop Idol contestant, winner or not (UK, Isräel, Norway, Lithuania, Netherlands, Greece)
-hip hop (Macedonia)
-dance synth (Iceland, Bulgaria, France)
-a creepy castrati male duet (Azerbaijan)
-Eurovision-by-Numbers: beautiful woman sings uptempo song hyperchoreographed (Ukraine, Armenia)
-power ballad (Poland, Albania, Georgia)
-novelty (Latvia, Spain)
-old geezers (Estonia, Croatia)
-piss takers (Ireland, Estonia, Spain, Bosnia)
-3 songs entirely or largely in Italian (Romania, Switzerland, San Marino)
Poland, Latvia, and Greece are "ringers": non-nationals; San Marino's will be.
I hear a handful of contenders--assuming one of the piss-takes doesn't roar to victory:
Armenia - Sirusho - Qele Qele. Great singer, well performed and I smell the beginnings of a clever stage presentation.
Romania - Nico and Vlad Mirita - Pe o margine de lume. A classic Italian pop song with a modern twist. Very well sung too.
Poland - Isis Gee - For life. American, married to a Polish dude and she does live there. If there's a classic ballad to win, this might be it--more for the heartfelt performance than its perfect performance.
Norway - Maria Haukass Storeng - Hold on be strong. Or this ballad. A technically better performance than Isis.
Switzerland Paolo Meneguzzi - Era Stupendo. My favourite. Another Italian pop song, with a stick-in-your-head chorus and an easy on the eyes singer--ignore the eejits jumping around be hind him. I hope there's room on![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
zurcherart's Chesterfield for me...
Bulgaria - Deep Zeon featuring Balthazar - DJ Take Me Away. Pretty much the opposite of last year's (amazing) turbofolk entry. This will either go over huge...or sink like a stone. Generally hip hop does badly though
All this happens in Serbia, Belgrade to be precise. Already they've delayed their own song selection because of Kosovo. And now the government's been dissolved and the election will probably be 10 days before the first semi--the day before rehearsals start.
Countries can select their entries however they want, so long as the song is 3:00 or less, sung live to a backing track and hasn't been released or publically performed prior to Oct 1 2007. The singer doesn't have to be from the country (unless the country decides that matters); ditto the songwriters. Some countries that 2 years ago wouldn't allow foreigners to represent them are becoming a bit...flexible...in the face of multiple years of dire results.
So far the entries include:
-a turkey pupper in a shopping cart (Ireland)
-an alt-rock indie rocker with a rag doll fetish (Bosnia & Herzegovina)
-a Pop Idol contestant, winner or not (UK, Isräel, Norway, Lithuania, Netherlands, Greece)
-hip hop (Macedonia)
-dance synth (Iceland, Bulgaria, France)
-a creepy castrati male duet (Azerbaijan)
-Eurovision-by-Numbers: beautiful woman sings uptempo song hyperchoreographed (Ukraine, Armenia)
-power ballad (Poland, Albania, Georgia)
-novelty (Latvia, Spain)
-old geezers (Estonia, Croatia)
-piss takers (Ireland, Estonia, Spain, Bosnia)
-3 songs entirely or largely in Italian (Romania, Switzerland, San Marino)
Poland, Latvia, and Greece are "ringers": non-nationals; San Marino's will be.
I hear a handful of contenders--assuming one of the piss-takes doesn't roar to victory:
Armenia - Sirusho - Qele Qele. Great singer, well performed and I smell the beginnings of a clever stage presentation.
Romania - Nico and Vlad Mirita - Pe o margine de lume. A classic Italian pop song with a modern twist. Very well sung too.
Poland - Isis Gee - For life. American, married to a Polish dude and she does live there. If there's a classic ballad to win, this might be it--more for the heartfelt performance than its perfect performance.
Norway - Maria Haukass Storeng - Hold on be strong. Or this ballad. A technically better performance than Isis.
Switzerland Paolo Meneguzzi - Era Stupendo. My favourite. Another Italian pop song, with a stick-in-your-head chorus and an easy on the eyes singer--ignore the eejits jumping around be hind him. I hope there's room on
zurcherart's Chesterfield for me...Bulgaria - Deep Zeon featuring Balthazar - DJ Take Me Away. Pretty much the opposite of last year's (amazing) turbofolk entry. This will either go over huge...or sink like a stone. Generally hip hop does badly though