December 24: Seyyal Taner

It is Christmas Eve, everyone! It is time to be happy. Maybe to dance around if you feel like it. And to be very very happy.

Few people in the world were ever happier than the people representing Turkey at Eurovision in the 1980's. Or the people fighting it out for the right to represent Turkey. They were all happy and never far from breaking out into neck breaking dance routines.

Few people ticked as many boxes in the "happy and dancing"-department as Seyyal Taner did. In 1986 she ended in second place of the national heat with this piece of bounciness. One year later, she went on to win and flew off to Brussels where quite a few people expected her to get an unusually good placing for being a singing Turk.

Instead, she famously returned home without a single point. A disgrace. Red card for the juries. (And the colour red suits Christmas very well as well.)



Seyyal Taner / Dünya (Turkey NF 1986)

Tobson takes on Melodifestivalen 1986

For the first time in five years Stockholm got to handle the national final and they managed to pull off a truly legendary edition that most people who were around at the time will remember vividly and fondly. How ironic that most things that added to making this edition stand out came out of budget restraints and being simply pennywise and nothing else.

It was decided - again - to host Melodifestivalen within the frame of another popular show and "Razzel" was the perfect fit. It was an all-evening-event of a tv show and lived highly on segments coming back week after week. During spring 1986 one of the recurring segments was meant to be Melodifestivalen semi finals, but when the news leaked out it sparked an outrage. People wanted one final where all the songs were new. The whole idea was scrapped.

Two major things were kept from the original concept: an unusually late date for the final (to allow many weeks of semis) and an unusual way of presenting the songs. The first circumstance turned out to be vital: on the very weekend when the national final was usually held - the last Saturday of February - Sweden's prime minister Olof Palme was murdered. Had the final been scheduled for that date it would have been cancelled. Possibly Sweden would have withdrawn from the Bergen final.

In order to make the low budget show more interesting - possibly originally to make the semi finals more interesting - it was decided to present all ten songs as video clips and only the five acts that made it into the super final got to perform live for the audience. Several of these clips made it into the shared collective memory and are considered classics today. The general standard was also sky high compared to previous years and most of the songs met with some sort of success afterwards.

Picture borrowed from oppetarkiv.se

10. Baden Baden / Jag har en dröm
They wanted to be a pop group but looked and sounded like a dansband. Their entry - a typically 80's plea for world peace - sounds extremely cheesy and dated today but stayed in the Svensktoppen chart way longer than any of its competitors.
Grade: 1/5

9. Karin Risberg / Stopp stopp stanna
A decent little pop number that suffers heavily from the fact that it is too short for its own good and keeps repeating its fairly simple chorus a few times more than anyone could stand. Its video clip also reveals how quickly these presentation films were made - in particular, the "photo session" during the musical break should be enough for poor Karin to take the director to court.
Grade: 2/5

8. Style / Dover-Calais
The biggest commercial hit of the lot appealed to a young audience that also found its male members really attractive. A simple singalong, in the words of my father a song "begging on its bare knees to be ridiculed". Very dated by nice at the time.
Grade: 2/5

7. Dan Tillberg / ABCD
Dan Tillberg was back again, still singing in his Scania dialect, but sporting an even softer image than the year before. Now he had a cute little song about the need to listen to our children and subsequently packed his clip with cute kids that were singing and dancing along. Catchy but a tiny bit too sweet to fully work.
Grade: 3/5

6. Git Persson / Du förför mig
A real curiosity. A Swedish tv show had had a feature on how to make a schlager star and suddenly she makes it to the Melodifestivalen final - as if by chance - with a good but odd song written by Anders Berglund, who was contracted to conduct the winning entry in the final. It does sound a bit fishy but all of that was forgotten as soon as the clip went on air, featuring top journalist Jan Guillou as Dracula, wearing the worst vampire teeth ever seen on television.
Grade: 3/5

5. Anna Book / ABC
Teenage starlet Anna Book had made memorable appearances in two popular tv shows for kids and had an entry aimed squarely at the younger audience. Clearly a non-winner but also this video clip lingers in the collective memory of the Swedes and thanks to these three minutes, Anna Book is still retaining some sort of star status to this day.
Grade: 3/5

4. Lasse Holm & Monica Törnell / É dé det här du kallar kärlek
The eventual winner clearly had the most amusing clip that managed to stir up quite a lot of emotion at the time. A most unexpected duet consisting of top songwriter Lasse Holm - scoring his fourth victory in five years - and rock singer Monica Törnell whose career was unfortunately in the process of pretty much derailing. This would be a well deserved moment in the sun for her.
Grade: 3/5

3. Fredrik / Fem i tolv
Teenage heartthrob Fredrik was - surprisingly - not among the five super finalists despite being cute as a button and having a real quality schlager to sing. This was another amusing clip but the juries were not allowed to see them at all before giving their marks and maybe this became just one little schlager among the others. One of my personal favourites, however.
Grade: 4/5

2. Sound of Music / Eldorado
Brace yourselves, ladies and gentlemen: Nanne Grönvall is in the house for the first time (even if she was still Nordqvist at the time) equipped with a contemporary entry with quirky and unusual lyrics. At the time most people expected Angelique - the other girl in the band - to be the star of the trio, but Nanne would prove them all wrong. Eventually.
Grade: 4/5

1. Lena Philipsson / Kärleken är evig
There she was - Torgny Söderberg's new talent - and how she shone. From the word go, it must have been obvious for everyone what star material Lena Philipsson was. Almost thirty years later, "Kärleken är evig" has a life of its own, remaining a true pop evergreen. Lyricist Per Gessle would soon go on to even greater things as his duo Roxette was about to make it to #1 in the US charts a few years later.
Grade: 5/5

Conclusion:
A great year full of classic entries. It's just too bad that the juries went for the oldies in the super final as there were so much young talent bubbling right beneath the surface. In retrospect a highly successful final which is not necessarily how it was perceived at the time.

In a parallel universe:
Could anyone have bettered Lasse and Monica's fifth place in Bergen? Maybe Lena could. Maybe Sound of Music could. And if Sweden had sent young Anna Book - would Sandra Kim then have had as easy a victory in the end?



Lena Philipsson / Kärleken är evig (Sweden 1986 NF, video clip)

Hats off to Ralph Siegel, part 2

Ralph Siegel producing entries of dubious quality is nothing really new, I have to say that in the defence of San Marino. Maybe they are waiting for this Schlager Hen to hatch another golden egg if they let him try enough times.

They should have a look at this little... whatever it should be called... let's say song, just to make things easier. This little song opened the 1986 German final and is in some weird way a tribute to the 1957 German entry "Telefon Telefon", written by Ralph's own father.

This little song - is it even a song? I'm not even sure - ended in last place and I can't help but wonder who selected it in the first place. And why?

Why is it part of this series, then? I guess it just goes out to prove that back in the day, Ralph Siegel seemed to have a sense of humour and not take himself as seriously as recent interviews suggest he does these days.

Not good but whimsical in a sort of entertaining way. Way to go.



That's Life - Telefon (Germany national final 1986)

Runner-up: Switzerland 1986

Switzerland used to do reasonably well back in the day. That is something that would deserve to be spelled out in capital letters for younger fans - these days the Swiss ditties rarely trouble the voters.

In the mid-80's it wasn't rare or unexpected for Switzerland to make their way into the more respectable areas of the ranking. They landed in top five in 1980, 1981 and 1982, with the 1981 entry even getting really close to winning.

Atilla Sereftug - a Turkish composer living in Switzerland - teamed up with the 1981 lyricist Nella Martinetti and decided to have a go at winning a second Grand Prix for the confederation.

Italian-born Daniela Simons (who later in her career spelt her name Simmons instead) had a massive musical education and had taken part twice in the Swiss national finals, and with "Pas pour moi" she had really found herself a proper vehicle for her voice.

This is a bombastic ballad, classical and modern at the same time, with dramatic verses and a big belter of chorus. Arguably the best Swiss entry of all time. Unfortunately a Belgian 13-year old would stand in the way of victory, but since Switzerland had not been this close to victory since 1963 nobody complained.

The project resulted in more than sweet music - in 1991 Daniela and Atilla got married and a year later their son was born. By then, Atilla and Nella had already achieved their goal of winning the Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin 1988, showcasing a certain Céline Dion to the world in the process.

A deserved 2nd place?
Didn't I just call this the best Swiss entry of all time? Sandra Kim was cute and all, but Daniela Simons was so much better than her. (And so was Sherisse Laurence from Luxembourg too, in all fairness.)



Daniela Simons - Pas pour moi (Switzerland 1986)

Borrow like the Danes do

Many people seem to think Tanja from Estonia may have borrowed just a tiny bit too much from Loreen's 2012 Eurovision entry. First of all, I don't think these two songs are too similar. Germany's entry from last year was a much more obvious copy of Loreen if so.

You can also borrow quite a lot from other songs without anyone of importance reacting too strongly. There have been some rather spectacular occasions where people have borrowed famous fragments or complete melody lines without any kind of action taken against them.

Or how about this one? When the ESC was held in Gothenburg in 1985, the home entry went down well both with the audience and the juries and ended in 3rd place. No wonder since it sounded and looked professional, with a catchy hook and a good dance routine.



Kikki Danielsson - Bra vibrationer (Sweden 1985)

A Danish team got really inspired and decided to borrow a couple of elements for their own entry for the 1986 national final. The melody line was a bit similar, so they borrowed some or the arrangement. Or most of it, actually.

And as for the performance, wouldn't it be nice to have a male and a female dancer, just like the Swedes? Or why not the same dancers? If they are good once, they must be good twice. And that the female lead decided to choose a pink outfit similar to Kikki's? Pure coincidence, surely.



Lise Haavik - Du er fuld af løgn

Nobody's favourite but mine, part 2

It seems you good people didn't quite agree with me being the only one to like either of the songs in the first part of this series. Well, I guess I wouldn't be myself if I didn't push my luck and tried to challenge you with five more songs that I sometimes think I'm the only one in the world to care for. Am I?



Gemini - Dai li dou (Portugal 1978)

After a couple of years with serious songs with political undertones, Portugal suddenly decided to send in a wonderfully (annoyingly, according to some) bouncy little song about a kite flying high in the sky. Simple and catchy (or possibly repetitive), performed by another one of these groups of four people, clearly modelled on Abba.

The verses may be a bit clumsy but the chorus is so happy in all its simplicity and the choreography is probably so easy not even I could make a mess of it. Cute.



Cocktail Chic - Européennes (France 1986)

Things weren't exactly running smoothly in France at this point. There had been almost ten years since their last victory and the contest changing hands from TF1 to Antenne2 had resulted in a national final nobody wanted to be part of or associated with. So the best thing they could come up with this year were a bunch of popular backing vocalists who would finally have their big chance of performing as a group.

With styling as impeccable as their vocal delivery (some of those notes are really rather wobbly), the French girls didn't stand a chance during the voting and ended in a pale 17th place while the three other countries singing in French - Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg - all made top three.



Gunvor - Lass ihn (Switzerland 1998)

Through the years I have often been better at predicting the last place than picking a winner but this was a nul-pointer I never saw coming. I thought Gunvor had written herself a nice little ditty, perhaps a bit average but still catchy and retainable enough. It even featured Egon Egemann and his white violin, that would surely make an impression?

Despite being up against real non-songs like Spain and Greece, Gunvor somehow managed to cling to her zero points all the way through the voting. Her career, already deeply affected by local scandal newspapers and their shameless publication of pictures and details of some less glamourous aspects of her life, never recovered from this and Gunvor decided to retire from the spotlight. A real shame. And her song wasn't even bad to start with.



Christina Simon - Heute in Jerusalem (Austria 1979)

Eurovision is a circus full of glitter and happiness and more or less obvious attempts at attracting points from all directions. There is nothing wrong with that and I want it to be like that, but it does make it a less suitable arena for people who are actually trying to say something.

Austria thought the final in Jerusalem would be the perfect place to tell the world they would prefer peace instead of war and employed Christina Simon to be their voice in this slow and demanding jazz number. Of course it didn't stand a chance and as Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty right before the final it even felt less relevant also lyrically. Last place was still really unfair and my question remains the same as ever: what's the point of having juries if they can't recognise quality?



Aleksandra & Konstantin - My Galileo (Belarus 2004)

At first I had no idea how to react to this. Was it really in English? Were those real words? Is it supposed to sound like this? I didn't know what to expect from Belarus in the first place but I most certainly did not expect this. Despite being reluctant at first, it started growing on me with it's odd folksy sound and before Eurovision week in Istanbul was over I had sung this song in front of a small crowd at the Belarusian party and my friend had kissed Aleksandra's feet. A regular day at the Eurovision Song Contest, you know.

No polite points for the host

Back in the day, there was this idea that the host country automatically recieved a bucket full of complimentary points regardless of what their entry sounded like. Politeness points.

I'm not so sure about that, honestly. Wouldn't the host countries win a whole lot more often, then? In the 57 contests to date, only six occasions saw the host entry win.

In some years, the home ground entries have not exactly been drowned in points. Like in Bergen in 1986, where Norway didn't really make a splash.



Ketil Stokkan - Romeo (Norway 1986) - 12th place of 20

When Ireland first organised Eurovision back in 1971 - and went colour just for the occasion - the panel of expert jurors showed no excessive politeness anyway.



Angela Farrell - One Day Love (Ireland 1971) - 11th place of 18

Latvia had a very promising start at Eurovision and hosted the 2003 ESC in Riga, where their own act were red hot favourites to secure them a second consecutive victory. Those predictions proved a bit on the positive side and in the end, the Latvians only recieved a modest five points, all awarded by neighbour Estonia.



F.L.Y - Hello From Mars (Latvia 2003) - 24th place of 26

Swedish eurovision general was - as you all know - a contestant at the 1992 ESC in Malmö and was the opposite of a hit with the juries. Maybe he sees this year's event - hosted in his city of defeat - as a revenge for the second last place he got back then? Hopefully the 2013 Swedish entrant Robin Stjernberg will have more understanding from Europe this time around.



Christer Björkman - Imorgon är en annan dag (Sweden 1992) - 22nd place of 23

At least he should avoid the fate of the 1958 Dutch entry - the only time in history that the host country ended in the very last place.



Corry Brokken - Heel de wereld (Netherlands 1958) - Equal 9th place of 10

Absent friend: Turkey

When I was child and fell in love with this weird, wild and wonderful contest I quickly realised it was truly those weird and wild things that made the whole thing wonderful.

So how could I not love the Turkish entries? They didn't sound like anyone else, they didn't look like anyone else. Not even their flag looked like the others - so colourful, so stylish. They hardly ever scored any substantial amount of points, but that was less important.

Their whole joie de vivre attacked me and walked hand in hand with me through Euroland. How I loved the Turkish entries.



Seyyal Taner & Grup Lokomotif - Sarkim sevgi üstüne (Turkey 1987)

Ten years ago, Turkey took a radical turn and re-invented themselves in the ESC. Superstar Sertab Erener seduced the entire continent and the eternal loser blossomed into a success story. Cinderella got her prince and would never turn back again.



Sertab Erener - Everyway That I Can (Turkey 2003)

Since then most Turkish entries ended in the top ten, four of which even made the top four. Most impressive. Then suddenly - without a word of warning - Turkish tv decided to pull out of the competition, giving some really dodgy and sketchy excuses about the rules being unfair and them not wanting to be a part of this.

At first, I thought there was a hurt ego somewhere in the middle of this story. Turkey is a fast-growing economy that seeks financial and political influence in its region, and I thought maybe they would want to be treated like royalty also at the ESC. Why would they want to find themselves below the likes of France, Germany or Spain in this contest?

But then I spoke to some Turkish friends - good, intelligent and perceptive people - who suggested more sinister reasons for their country's absence.

Despite being a secular country, the current Turkish government has a mildly Islamist agenda. Knowing this, you can note that the country has not sent any female representative since 2009 despite that particular female gaining a good result.

My friends suspect that phasing out women was the first step, phasing out western cultural from the state television would be the next. I'm not saying this is the one and only truth, but this what my friends suggested and it got me thinking. If this is the case, we would probably have to wait quite a long time until we see another Turkish entry in this competition.

So in order to how my say in this matter, I decided to phase in a number of feisty and fabulous females made in Turkey. They rock. May they be back soon.



Ajda Pekkan - Petr'oil (Turkey 1980)



Klips ve Onlar - Halley (Turkey 1986)



Pan - Bana Bana (Turkey 1989)



Şebnem Paker - Dinle (Turkey 1997)



Pinar Ayhan & S.O.S - Yorgunum anla (Turkey 2000)



Sibel Tüzün - Süperstar (Turkey 2006)

PS! Just to be crystal clear - if anyone is in doubt - this is not a text against neither Turkey nor TRT. I hope for them to be back. And if anyone can add anything to this discussion - please leave a comment. DS.

ESC metamorphosis: Iceland 1986

There was a fair deal of enthusiasm surrounding Iceland's first participation in Eurovision and the national final, Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins, recieved more than three hundred entries (at least according to the BBC preview show).

Perhaps the winning performance didn't quite match the high expectations after all. The song was a decent but slightly square little piece of soft schlager rock, competently sung but not terribly engaging. An unnecessary and clumsy Eurovision reference in the lyrics made nothing better.



Palmi Gunnarsson - Gleđibankinn (Iceland 1986 national final)

Perhaps the good people at RÚV shared my sentiment as an extensive reconstruction project started after the national final. Two other participants of the national final - Helga Möller and Eiríkur Hauksson - were called in to join winner Palmi and form a trio appropriately named ICY.

The lyrics had some fine-tuning and with the aid of a new and livelier arrangement and a joyful video clip the song found a new nerve and plenty of energy. Suddenly it seemed like Iceland could be a contender in Bergen.



ICY - Gleđibankinn (Iceland 1986 preview clip)

The successful transition from insignificant schlager to exuberant pop seemed to have worked wonders. During the rehearsals, Iceland was greeted with enthusiasm and many people regarded them as a dark horse, the song that could surprise on the night.

Once all twenty countries had voted, many people probably felt a bit surprised regarding Iceland. In spite of a spirited, bouncy performance and good singing, there was no success in sight. Nineteen points, sixteenth place. That's all. Disappointment all over, but the Icelanders would soon enough find more success in this contest.

This was the beginning of some sort of a tradition. This was the first - but certainly not the last - Icelandic entry to go through a certain amount of nip and tuck before the national final. Not seldom with a more successful outcome than at the debut.



ICY - Gleđibankinn (Iceland 1986)

Absent friend: Portugal

Eurovision 2013 is shaping up to be quite a good year with a solid selection of songs, perhaps not the strongest edition ever but more than acceptable.

Too bad then that there are several good friends from the past who decided, for various reasons, to give the Malmö party a miss. I thought I'd lend some of them a thought, at least. To show them they are not forgotten.

Portugal being absent isn't really a big shock, there were indications already last year that the budget of RTP might not allow any kind of excesses. As far as I can understand, they plan on being back as soon as the figures have improved.

Portugal has the less than flattering distinction of being the country with the biggest number of participations and no victory - but they have had some really good entries through the years.



Anabela - A cidade até ser dia (Portugal 1993)

Already from an early age I had an ear and an eye out for the underdogs of the contest, the countries whose songs stood out but kept scoring poorly, and was happy whenever they did a bit better than expected. I was cheering when Anabela got two top marks during the voting, but still would have wanted this very sweet song to do even better.

But regarless what the Portuguese opted for, the juries remained unimpressed. Ballads got thumbs down as well as this truly bang-up-to-date pop number from Dora.



Dora - Não sejas mau p'ra mim (Portugal 1986)

Well, whatever the Portuguese say or do, the remain the only country to date to ever enter a piece of revolutionary socialist disco. That must be worth something.



Os Amigos - Portugal no coração (Portugal 1977)

During the days of the Portuguese dictatorship, the local musicians and intellectuals gladly made use of this naive and innocent song contest in order to whip up some controversy and - if possible - protest about the regime without the censorship picking up too much of it.

Maybe it didn't result in fantastic scores or high placings, but it created some really original and engaging songs, most of which really should have done better.



Simone de Oliveira - Desfolhada portuguesa (Portugal 1969)

These are just a few of my personal favourites - I could easily have added at least ten more - and I really hope Portugal soon will burst back into the ESC in top form. I know they have it in them - it was only three years ago that they contributed a masterpiece like this.

And typically for Portugal it should have scored much better.



Filipa Azevedo - Hà dias assim (Portugal 2010)

Iceland - I Love You

I know that I have admitted to not being a huge fan of the Icelandic entry this year. I must also confess that I have doubts as to whether it will pass on to the final or not.

But dear Iceland, don't let this tiny detail come between us.

Iceland has been one of my most constant sources of joy and happiness in the ESC ever since their debut back in 1986. I thought their first entry was a terrific little pop pearl, and I never quite grasped why it scored so badly.



Icy - Gleðibankinn (Iceland 1986)

Then - in 1990 - I really thought Iceland could win it. Stjórnin were so nice and so much fun and I thought their song to be a most delightful little schlager. A fourth place was not bad, but I was a tiny bit disappointed that it didn't do even better.



Stjórnin - Eitt lag enn (Iceland 1990)

And to mention just one more Icelandic gem - I know that the joke was not universally understood, but I thought Silvia Night was brilliant back in Athens. Loud, obnoxious, silly and irresistible.

How anyone could not see the joke and think Silvia to be a real person is beyond me. Possibly the joke got a bit out of hand before the semi final was over, but in general Iceland provided great entertainment.

Like they tend to do most years.



Silvia Night - Congratulations (Iceland 2006)

Song of the Day: Portugal 1986

Tonight Portugal will select their entry for Baku and I'm keeping my fingers crossed so hard they almost crack.

If there is one country I would wish success and a victory more than most, then it would be Portugal. Finland used to run neck to neck with them, sharing the dubious glory of being the country with the biggest number of participations without victory.

Then Finland won and Portugal is left alone with the title. Nobody else comes close.

Just like Finland, Europe has been harsh to Portugal through the years - even when the Portuguese have sent in strong, interesting, appealing entries (and they have!) the response has usually been lukewarm. Their best placing to date is a sixth place, and only a handful of times have they been among the pre-contest favourites.

1986 was a typical year when Portugal gave its all and the juries just refused to understand. Dora came in as a fresh breeze, singing last on the night, sporting a very fashionable outfit and the song had a distinctly modern feeling to it. All she got for that was twenty-eight points and a fourteenth place.

I wish that Portugal will select the best possible entry tonight and that the voters will be in a Portuguese mood come Baku.



Dora - Não sejas mau p'ra mim (Portugal 1986)

Netherlands: wish it was like it used to be

Most of the time, when people cling to the past, I try to disencourage them to do so. You know, the past is the past. Let it go. There will be no orchestra. French ballads will never dominate again. Most people are completely satisfied with the broadcast being in colour. And so on.

But then there is this thing about the Dutch.

Throughout history, the Dutch seldom reached the placings they aspired for - in spite of winning no less than four times - but at least they used to be good. Entertaining. Quality.

For the last ten years or so, they lost their grip completely and have, in my humble opinion, not sent in a song worthy of their grand past a single time since 2000.

I have only heard short snippets of the songs on offer in this year's Nationaal Songfestival, so I'm not qualified to have an opinion, but judging from what little I heard there is no "Hemel en aarde" or "Amsterdam" hidden in there.

I hope I misjudged the situation and for the Dutch to knock out a terrific little number tonight. And while waiting to be proven wrong, I choose to celebrate the past.



Thérèse Steinmetz - Ringe dinge (Netherlands 1967)



Sandra Reemer - The Party's Over Now (Netherlands 1976)




Frizzle Sizzle - Alles heeft een ritme (Netherlands 1986)

You would hardly recognise the Turks

It is hardly an understatement to say that Turkey struggled during their first twenty-five years in Euroland. Whatever star performers or hit choruses they sent in kept coming back home largely ignored and with a minimum of points to their names.

In the 80's, Turkish television started to look for qualified help in order to make their own entries more appealing. The song that won the national final was sent off to some music company (often in Germany) that would add a helping touch here and there.

Some years, they did far more than just the odd fine tuning. Some years they added long segments, cut whole verses out and - in severe cases - added a hook or a whole chorus.

Watch and compare for yourself. How would the original versions have fared at Eurovision?

1984 - Luxembourg




Bes yil once, on yil sonra - Halay (Turkey 1984 national final)

Most of this song is fully recognisable from the national final, but recieved a somewhat softer arrangement and a less busy choreography. And - a chorus, including a handle for the juries to hold on to. Result - a 12th place, which was the best Turkish showing until then.



Bes yil once, on yil sonra - Halay (Turkey 1984 eurovision version)

1986 - Bergen



Klips ve Onlar - Halley (Turkey 1986 national final)

For some reason, I can only find a very short clip of the national final version of this one but I think you will get the big picture. This entry is, in short, a complete mess. A heap of good ideas thrown together with no structure and nothing in particular going for it.

The musical helpers slowed down the pace considerably and added a very contemporary sound to the final arrangement, which resulted in Turkey's first ever top ten showing.



Klips ve Onlar - Halley (Turkey 1986 eurovision version)

1988 - Dublin



MFÖ - Sufi (Turkey 1988 national final)

This is a schoolbook example of how little it takes to turn something promising into something really good. These two versions are not so far apart, really. What is added is - again - a more modern touch to the sound as well as a distinctly oriental flavour and an instrumental hook most europeans would understand as typically Turkish.

The final version also has a better flow and sounds more melodic and catchy. It was quite rightly mentioned as a dark horse and possible outside at Eurovision, before finishing in a most disappointing 15th place.



MFÖ - Sufi (Turkey 1988 eurovision version)

1990 - Zagreb



Kayahan - Gözlerinin hapsindeyim (Turkey 1990 national final)

The first minute is almost the same, only the arrangement is different - more pompous and old-fashioned than the final version - but then the original throws itself head first into a difficult, un-catchy chorus. The production company would have nothing of it and cut it all out, replacing it with a much simpler singalong, still with a slightly oriental feel.

This was not a huge success and ended in 17th place in Zagreb, but I suspect the original version would have fought it out in a battle for the very last places.

Not bad, but in no way user friendly.



Kayahan - Gözlerinin hapsindeyim (Turkey 1990 eurovision version)

Song Of The Day: Spain 1986

In a moment of rare clarity, Terry Wogan stated that Spain had been drifting away from the European mainstream in Eurovision, sending entries that stood out in a different light compared to most others.

Indeed, Spain had been doing this and would keep on bending the rules concerning what an ESC entry could/should look like and sound like.

In 1986, Cadillac sported a very contemporary sound and offered a song that was far more laidback and slick, far less depending on any typical formula and with not even the shadow of a proper key change in it. Instead it relies on it's hook, the very instant "Valentino"-singalong in the chorus.



Cadillac - Valentino (Spain 1986)

It managed to sneak into the top ten but not more. Perhaps the juries wanted something more easily digested (the victory of Belgium could suggest this), perhaps the visual presentation was not as exciting as it could have been. The preview, for instance, is more dynamic and suggestive.

But a good little 80's pop song it is, and a welcome reminder of the good old days when Spain made a difference at Eurovision.



Cadillac - Valentino (Spain 1986 preview)

Tobson's Winners: 1986 - 1990

For me, personally, these five years are the most important in Eurovision history. Possibly not the best. I can't tell. I know them by heart, the songs and the performances, I grew up with these songs.

Even the bad ones feel like old friends. I can understand them, explain their weaknesses. Like them a little bit anyway. Forgive them for not being masterpieces.

It also makes picking out favourites even harder. It is like selecting one favourite among your children. Almost.

What I am trying to say is that for every favourite picked in this chapter, there are several other candidates close behind in the running. One day I will dissect these years in detail here on the blog.

But now for my personal winners.

1986 - Germany



Ingrid Peters - Über die Brücke geh'n (Germany 1986)

1986 offers one of my favourite selection of entries ever. Here is a wide range of styles and moods, many really good choruses and a heap of really good performances.

Switzerland and Luxembourg offer very strong songs, Turkey is a real gem, Portugal has a great pop number, France and Norway are fun, Yugoslavia is tender and the list goes on.

But this German song is like a wonder of elegance and craftmanship. It has a large and breezy sound, it has a very strong handle of a chorus and it is brilliantly sung by Ingrid Peters.

In retrospect, the lyrics are also touching, as a love song between the "two Germanys" to build a bridge, to understand each other and to have a peek over the wall.

Less than four years later the wall would crack down, and you could see right through it.

Real winner:
Sandra Kim - J'aime la vie (Belgium)


1987 - Turkey



Seyyal Taner & Lokomotif - Sarkim sevgi üstüne (Turkey 1987)

Another year bursting full of personal favourites. Belgium, Italy, Yugoslavia, Finland, Cyprus, Spain, Norway... the list is neverending.

But the Turks knock the socks off everyone. Mainly because they were really doing what I have already pinpointed as my favourite asset: they do their thing without trying to be loved by everyone.

They were loved in Brussels throughout the week, seen as a possible surprise act, appearing on stage like a musical thunderstorm, breaking every rule concerning how you should sound, look and act on the eurovision stage.

That earned them a big fat zero in the end. Not one of the twenty-one juries considered this entry worthy of a single point. Even the famously neutral SVT commentator made a remark how strange he found that verdict.

If you were different during the late 80's, the juries would punish you. These days, standing out from the rest is an asset. I like the new world order better.

Real winner:
Johnny Logan - Hold Me Now (Ireland)


1988 - Luxembourg



Lara Fabian - Croire (Luxembourg 1988)

Out of these five years, I find 1988 to be a somewhat weaker edition compared to the others. Anyhow, there are a few songs that are absolute top class. Like Israel. Like Turkey.

And like Luxembourg, introducing Lara Fabian, in a few years time set to be a huge household name in the entire French-speaking world.

This is an attempt at the classical French ballad again, the kind that would just walk in and floor all competition. But despite being powerful and lyrical, it didn't quite make it all the way.

She was beaten by another icon to be of French song, Céline Dion. Her career needed the victory more, as it apparently opened doors for her American career. But Lara's song is stronger. My winner.

Real winner:
Céline Dion - Ne partez pas sans moi (Switzerland)


1989 - Italy



Anna Oxa & Fausto Leali - Avrei voluto (Italy 1989)

I almost had to call this a tie in the end. How can I judge which one is better, this one or Finland? And then we have Turkey a very close third. And Spain a very close fourth.

But there is a raw, untamed energy and wrath in this song that I find overwhelming. Also this one breaks out from the eurovision formula in a nice way that proved a bit too much for the juries.

But the juries have possibly never been less up to the task than in 1989. They hardly do a single thing right, the entire voting is a mess. The final result is a farce.

Yugoslavia won with a happy song, but hardly their most convincing effort ever. More commercial songs, like Sweden, Austria and Germany, were left behind. When the winning team is welcomed on stage, the audience gives them a glacial reception with no cheers and no applause.

Rather a revealing image of where the ESC was heading for the next couple of years.

Real winner:
Riva - Rock Me (Yugoslavia)


1990 - Israel



Rita - Shara barechovot (Israel 1990)

Late 1989 had shaken Europe and by 1990, the landscape looked different. New times with no possibilities, and maybe this made the juries a bit braver again.

They did favour more classical songs like Ireland and Iceland, sure, but also gave high points to daring choices like France and Spain.

However, the demanding and experimental pop lament from Israel prooved too much and Rita landed the second worst result of the Jewish state until then. It does take a few listenings, admittedly, and maybe the juries simply didn't have the time to break into it fully.

But this is a lovingly crafted little masterpiece of a song, belted out with gusto and conviction. Maybe not the song you whistle in the shower the next day, but a very fine piece of pop art.

Real winner:
Toto Cutugno - Insieme: 1992

A tribute to Nella

One of my favourite eurovision personalities are no longer with us as Nella Martinetti lost her battle after years of illness.

Bella Nella never got to represent Switzerland as a singer, but wrote the lyrics for four Swiss entries (three of which made top five).



Peter, Sue & Marc - Io senza te (Switzerland 1981)



Mariella Farré - Io così no ci sto (Switzerland 1983)



Daniela Simons - Pas pour moi (Switzerland 1986)



Céline Dion - Ne partez pas sans moi (Switzerland 1988)

A very nice set of songs on placings, ending in Switzerland's last victory to date. Now that must have been enough for any songwriter to gain lasting respect and appreciation, one would think.

But no, sadly not. Not when you are a rounded and robust little woman with a faiblesse for German schlager and volksmusik, which was what Nella performed herself.

She even won the Grand Prix der Volksmusik in 1986 with the bouncy little number Bella Musica and she mainly sung catchy little numbers like this one:



Nella Martinetti - Forte fortissimo

Universally, for some reason, female performers doing lightweight music seem bound to attract ridicule. Nella was no exception. Her outgoing personality paired with an unfortunate ability to tell the press a bit more than they needed to know about her private life turned her from award-winning singer and composer into a laughing stock.

In recent years she stated in interviews that she knew all of Switzerland was laughing at her, adding that she has cried more than laughed during her life.

The question I ask myself is why the world of showbiz has to be like this. Male singers can go on performing, doing their same act far longer than is appropriate without losing their fans. Female singers get laughed at.

I can't help feeling that the world could have been a whole lot nicer to Nella. As for her music, love it or loathe it, but as a performer it is obvious that she just wanted to amuse her audience.

I wish they would have had the wit to laugh with her, not at her.



Nella Martinetti - Bella Musica

Songs we never got to hear: Greece 1986

The 1986 ESC in Bergen could have had twenty-two participating countries, which would have been a record at the time, but both Italy and Greece pulled out.

Italy seems to have withdrawn relatively early, before the running order was established. Rumour has it that RAI had approached Ricchi e Poveri to do the job, and as they turned it down Italy stayed at home altogether.

Greece pulled out at a later stage after being drawn to sing as number 18 (some sources say 17 - does anyone know for sure?). Eurovision clashed with the orthodox Easter and ERT deemed it impossible to combine the two.

Many sources claim that Greece had already decided its representative before throwing in the towel.



Polina - Wagon-lit (Greece 1986)

Polina already had ESC experience as one of Elpida's backing singers in Jerusalem 1979 and would surely have made a good impression in Bergen.

But I'm not so sure I buy the story. ERT had organised public selections almost every year of participation and kept on doing so for a number of years to come. Why would they have decided to go for internal selection this year?

It is quite a good song, however, but possibly not the song to change Greek ESC history. I think it would have landed somewhere just below tenth place or so, what does everyone else think?

Songs only I like: France 1986

France was in the midst of a free fall in Euroland during the 80's - after having completely dominated the ESC in the 60's and 70's, the decade started with an unfortunate change of broadcaster (TF1 dumped Eurovision, largely due to the new French minister of culture calling it a monument of drivel) after which notable singers decided to call it a day and go nowhere near the national final.

Of course this reflected in the French placings, that rapidly went from pale to disastrous. Worst of the worst (or so they thought) came in 1986 when Cocktail, a group composed of four backing singers, won the tickets to Bergen.

The girls had been at it before, backing more French-languaged entries than most, but despite adding some very colourful outfits as well as a Chic to their group name, they failed to impress the juries.



Cocktail Chic - Européennes (France 1986)

They recieved a grand total of 13 points, sufficient for a 17th place on the night. Not nice for the French, who had been in top ten every year but one since 1975.

That marked the end of Cocktail Chic's career as a group, but the girls went back to back others, and some of them have been visible again at Eurovision (for instance behind Céline Carzo for Luxembourg in 1990).

In its recorded version, this is quite a fun little song, and I never thought it deserved its fiasco in Bergen. If you agree with me, please leave a comment and say so.

Yugoslavia 1986: Boby was only no. 2

Novi fosili is one of my all time favourite groups to come out of former Yugoslavia. Always smiling, always energetic, always with choruses that would stick to your mind like a chewing gum under your shoe.

In the Yugoslav national finals of the 80's, they were the neverending story, taking part almost every year, always ending close to the top.

In 1986, they competed for the fourth time, this time with the title "Boby no 1". However, Boby had to content himself with being number two. Doris Dragović was unstoppable at the Jugovizija final in Pristina. And rightly so.



Novi fosili - Boby no 1 (Yugoslav NF 1986 - this clip is not from the NF)

The new phosils didn't have to wait for long - their big moment in Eurovision was just around the corner. At the 1987 Yugoslav final in Belgrade, they won and were sent off to Brussels, scoring an excellent fourth place - the best Yugoslav showing until then, equal with 1962 and 1983.



Novi fosili - Ja sam za ples (Yugoslavia 1987 preview)



Novi fosili - Ja sam za ples (Yugoslavia 1987)