Eurovision 2009: Semi-final review
Mar. 14th, 2009 06:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jawnbcWell, the penultimate song has been selected (the Czech's, for some reason, are announcing theirs much later), and we'll know the order of performance (a/k/a "draw") later this week. But here's my review of the acts in the first semi-final of this year's ESC.
You can find both live and preview videos of most of these on Youtube, often just by entering ESC 2009 and the name of the country (or the artist). Song titles are in bold italic.
Andorra La teva decisió Susanne Georgi Susanne is Danish, living in Andorra, and has also tried to represent Denmark on occasion. This is a nice song that has perhaps a chance at qualifying. But not terribly memorable after 18 songs.
Armenia Nor par Inga & Anush It's Armenia's 4th time in the Contest and they've been top 10 each time. A large, passionate diaspora doesn't hurt, but they've also not sent any crap. Nor have they this time: these sisters can sing, perform and are fun. This is by-the-numbers ethno-pop and I predict they will certainly qualify and may squeak into the top 10.
Belarus Eyes that never lie Petr Elfimov Hair band power ballad from the 90s. He can sing, but he needs a song. Non-qualifier.
Belgium Copycat Patrick Ouchene Why would anyone think a rockabilly song about killing Elvis might go over well at the Eurovision? And he looks so unctuous. Non-qualifier.
Bosnia & Herzegovina Bistra voda Regina The Sarajevo school of rawq is back with this year's BBB (BigBalkanBallad). I love this song and think it'll sail into the top 5 at the final. It's got a memorable motif (Yugo-nostalgia, though tongue-in-cheek), easily memorable, and well performed. Loses points for ripping off Coldplay's costumes though. Go find the preview video on Youtube--it's by far the year's best.
Bulgaria Illusion Krassimir Avramov OMFG Becky Bulgaria's national selection was bizarre: many weeks of dreary songs, only to have one o the 4 wild cards to (yet again) win the ticket to the Contest. However the wrong one got it: this is my counter-tenor nightmare and dude is no Jimmy Sommerville. In fact, Krass's live vocals were so bad a groundswell of protest has led to "extensive consultations" to fix the song, singer, or get him to drop out. May well finish last in this semi-final, this 3 minutes of musical roadkill.
Czech Republic -Aven Romale Gipsy.cz. But it's Roma (Gypsy) hip-hop. How awesome is that?? The song translates as "Super Gypsy" as in a super-hero. This could be either a total mess or the feel-good Guildo moment of the night. I pick the latter and predict it'll make it to the final. Especially if anyone can get even a tiny groundwell of Romas voting across Europe.
Finland Lose control Waldo's People. This is very early 90s too and it does carry the curse of the rap. But the sound is great and the performance in the Finnish heats was almost tuned to perfection. A squeaker of a qualifier, perhaps.
Georgia We don't wanna put in Stephane & 3G Withdrawn, after the EBU ruled the pun on Putin ineligilble
Iceland Is it true Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir. Performed simply, with polish and charm. A lovely ballad that's instantly memorable. Sails into the final as a dark horse to win the whole thing in the year juries account for 50% of final score.
Israel There must be another way Noa & Mira Awad. 2 very good Israeli singers, oneArab Palestinian, one Jewish, and a peace song that basically says "clearly we gotta try something really really different or we're all toast." In Hebrew, English and Arabic. Qualifies easily and the juries may slurp this up like honey. Oh, and Noa is Yemeni and all of Israel's wins have been sung by Yemeni lead vocalists. Just so you know.
FYR Macedonia Nešto što kje ostane Next Time. Yay to no R&B, yay to singing in Macedonian, yay to picking a Bon Jovi rip-off. But there's nothing memorable about this one I'm afraid. Non-qualifier.
Malta What if we Chiara. She had the best song and best vocal in Kyiv 2005 and finished 2nd. She was 3rd in Brom and nearly won it all in 1998. But this is the weakest of her 3 entries. Until I heard the ESC mix today I feared she might not qualify. But they've brought it up several notches and I think she'll sail into the final. If the juries reward her track record she could be top 5, but I doubt it's a winner.
Montenegro Just get out of my life Andrea. This is the sort of song that gives the Contest its reputation for lameness. And it's written by Ralph Siegel, who's inflicted us with about 20 songs over the years, all but perhaps 3 are shite. Non-qualifer unless the Yugo vote abandons Macedonia.
Portugal Todas as ruas do amor Flor-de-Lis. Contemporary folk pop so very well performed with buckets of heart and charm. Portugal's back in the final 2 years running and this could end up top 10. And if the juries warm to it, could we finally be going to Portugal after nearly 50 tries? One of my faves this year and my favourite Portuguese entry since O meu coracao nao tem cor back in 1996.
Romania The Balkan girls Elena Gheorghe. 3 years ago I called Romania the new Estonia (a string of top 10 results and a win in short order). But this is just...lame. "the Balkan Girls they love to party, love to party like nobody." Uh-huh, yeah. Romania out of the final for the first time since 2002?
Sweden La Voix Malena Ernman . This is a disco/pop/opera hybrid sung mostly in French. She's a decent mezzo-soprano--not famous, but not your local light opera group neither. A couple of years ago Slovenia sent an opera singer with a lesser reputation, but she blew the roof off her semi-final. Ernman seems to find staying in tune on the pop bits difficult. And the silly faces don't help either.
Oh wait, I just played her performance again on YouTube: she doesn't exactly hit the big notes in the opera bits either. Given she's got a microphone that's kind of lame. I predict Sweden won't qualify for the first time evar.
Switzerland The highest heights Lovebugs. This isn't bad, but it isn't original either. In fact, it's New Order. But it's not bad, so I'm not sure where it's going.
Turkey Düm tek tek Hadise. Belgium is gonna be pissed: their girl Hadise may well bring Turkey its second ESC victory. This is ethnic pop, well performed and it sticks in your head like a sharp arrow. If they put together something as memorable as Sertab's 2003 performance, we might be back in Istanbul.
You can find both live and preview videos of most of these on Youtube, often just by entering ESC 2009 and the name of the country (or the artist). Song titles are in bold italic.
Andorra La teva decisió Susanne Georgi Susanne is Danish, living in Andorra, and has also tried to represent Denmark on occasion. This is a nice song that has perhaps a chance at qualifying. But not terribly memorable after 18 songs.
Armenia Nor par Inga & Anush It's Armenia's 4th time in the Contest and they've been top 10 each time. A large, passionate diaspora doesn't hurt, but they've also not sent any crap. Nor have they this time: these sisters can sing, perform and are fun. This is by-the-numbers ethno-pop and I predict they will certainly qualify and may squeak into the top 10.
Belarus Eyes that never lie Petr Elfimov Hair band power ballad from the 90s. He can sing, but he needs a song. Non-qualifier.
Belgium Copycat Patrick Ouchene Why would anyone think a rockabilly song about killing Elvis might go over well at the Eurovision? And he looks so unctuous. Non-qualifier.
Bosnia & Herzegovina Bistra voda Regina The Sarajevo school of rawq is back with this year's BBB (BigBalkanBallad). I love this song and think it'll sail into the top 5 at the final. It's got a memorable motif (Yugo-nostalgia, though tongue-in-cheek), easily memorable, and well performed. Loses points for ripping off Coldplay's costumes though. Go find the preview video on Youtube--it's by far the year's best.
Bulgaria Illusion Krassimir Avramov OMFG Becky Bulgaria's national selection was bizarre: many weeks of dreary songs, only to have one o the 4 wild cards to (yet again) win the ticket to the Contest. However the wrong one got it: this is my counter-tenor nightmare and dude is no Jimmy Sommerville. In fact, Krass's live vocals were so bad a groundswell of protest has led to "extensive consultations" to fix the song, singer, or get him to drop out. May well finish last in this semi-final, this 3 minutes of musical roadkill.
Czech Republic -Aven Romale Gipsy.cz. But it's Roma (Gypsy) hip-hop. How awesome is that?? The song translates as "Super Gypsy" as in a super-hero. This could be either a total mess or the feel-good Guildo moment of the night. I pick the latter and predict it'll make it to the final. Especially if anyone can get even a tiny groundwell of Romas voting across Europe.
Finland Lose control Waldo's People. This is very early 90s too and it does carry the curse of the rap. But the sound is great and the performance in the Finnish heats was almost tuned to perfection. A squeaker of a qualifier, perhaps.
Iceland Is it true Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir. Performed simply, with polish and charm. A lovely ballad that's instantly memorable. Sails into the final as a dark horse to win the whole thing in the year juries account for 50% of final score.
Israel There must be another way Noa & Mira Awad. 2 very good Israeli singers, one
FYR Macedonia Nešto što kje ostane Next Time. Yay to no R&B, yay to singing in Macedonian, yay to picking a Bon Jovi rip-off. But there's nothing memorable about this one I'm afraid. Non-qualifier.
Malta What if we Chiara. She had the best song and best vocal in Kyiv 2005 and finished 2nd. She was 3rd in Brom and nearly won it all in 1998. But this is the weakest of her 3 entries. Until I heard the ESC mix today I feared she might not qualify. But they've brought it up several notches and I think she'll sail into the final. If the juries reward her track record she could be top 5, but I doubt it's a winner.
Montenegro Just get out of my life Andrea. This is the sort of song that gives the Contest its reputation for lameness. And it's written by Ralph Siegel, who's inflicted us with about 20 songs over the years, all but perhaps 3 are shite. Non-qualifer unless the Yugo vote abandons Macedonia.
Portugal Todas as ruas do amor Flor-de-Lis. Contemporary folk pop so very well performed with buckets of heart and charm. Portugal's back in the final 2 years running and this could end up top 10. And if the juries warm to it, could we finally be going to Portugal after nearly 50 tries? One of my faves this year and my favourite Portuguese entry since O meu coracao nao tem cor back in 1996.
Romania The Balkan girls Elena Gheorghe. 3 years ago I called Romania the new Estonia (a string of top 10 results and a win in short order). But this is just...lame. "the Balkan Girls they love to party, love to party like nobody." Uh-huh, yeah. Romania out of the final for the first time since 2002?
Sweden La Voix Malena Ernman . This is a disco/pop/opera hybrid sung mostly in French. She's a decent mezzo-soprano--not famous, but not your local light opera group neither. A couple of years ago Slovenia sent an opera singer with a lesser reputation, but she blew the roof off her semi-final. Ernman seems to find staying in tune on the pop bits difficult. And the silly faces don't help either.
Oh wait, I just played her performance again on YouTube: she doesn't exactly hit the big notes in the opera bits either. Given she's got a microphone that's kind of lame. I predict Sweden won't qualify for the first time evar.
Switzerland The highest heights Lovebugs. This isn't bad, but it isn't original either. In fact, it's New Order. But it's not bad, so I'm not sure where it's going.
Turkey Düm tek tek Hadise. Belgium is gonna be pissed: their girl Hadise may well bring Turkey its second ESC victory. This is ethnic pop, well performed and it sticks in your head like a sharp arrow. If they put together something as memorable as Sertab's 2003 performance, we might be back in Istanbul.
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no subject
Date: 2009-03-15 09:04 pm (UTC)That being said, I work with a Romanian lady who kept telling me, "Yes, I KNOW our song is crap, you don't need to remind me." :: laugh ::
I disagree with your assessments of Armenia and Turkey. I've yet to actually hear Hadise NOT perform this song "playback" and it's just repetitious in my opinion. When she has mimed this song she always looks bored and lifeless. Or, is this the Sakis Syndrome again where all the Eurofans cream over something monotonous and dull?
And I'm sorry, I watched the Armenian NF. The song they picked was annoying and the women just yelled a lot. Still, it'll pass the semifinal just because it's Armenia and not because this is a good song.
no subject
Date: 2009-03-15 10:19 pm (UTC)Out of the final since 2002 includes 2002. Perhaps not in 'merkan.... ;)
no subject
Date: 2009-03-15 10:43 pm (UTC)Okay, that was more lively and it's nice to see her sing for a change. I still find the song kind of monotonous; sorry ^^;;;
no subject
Date: 2009-03-16 04:17 am (UTC)I'm going to look at the songs next weekend and I'll add in my "who i think will go into the top 10" from semi 1. But at the moment, I'm thinking the semi 2 is stronger.
At the moment, of what I've seen, heard so far.. My top 4 for the show are Turkey, Greece, Norway, and Hungary.