Tobson takes on 1995

Tomorrow I will start reviewing this year's entries - one per day - so this series will take a little break after this post. I set my watch back 20 years exactly and evaluate what I think of this, the 40th contest since the start.

In all fairness, I had a feeling already back then that this edition would perhaps not come to stand out as one of the strongest ever, but I still made a fair effort to really like the songs and the final in itself.

There was good reason to try to stay in good spirits. Despite the anniversary, interest was low from many broadcasters and you could almost sense the risk that somebody would get vocal and openly suggest that the contest would be scrapped altogether.

What talked against anything like that happening was the fact that the UK had made a close-to-heroic effort to breathe new life into their national final and seemed determined to keep the show on the road. Sweden's entry had become the biggest hit back home for several years and the new broadcasters seemed very keen to keep participating.

In the next two years the wind was about to turn and more countries would start making more visible efforts again. But what about the songs of 1995? This is how I rank them twenty years on.

23. Belgium - Frédéric Etherlinck / La voix est libre
A cool voice and a cool presence are completely wasted on a song that best can be described as a completely washed-out Patrick Bruel-reject.
Grade: 1/5

22. Portugal - Tó Cruz / Baunilha e chocolate
This could have been a good entry with a bit of an effort - there is a good hook that shows up now and then and the gospel approach is welcome - but it just never takes off. It builds up and builds up but never reaches any climax and then suddenly ends.
Grade: 1/5

21. Hungary - Csaba Szigeti / Új név a régi ház falán
Just like Portugal, this one is almost good but fails big time in its construction. When the chorus finally arrives after a long dull verse - it takes far too long - nobody cares anymore and already started hoping for the next song.
Grade: 1/5

20. Iceland - Bo Halldórsson / Núna
What all the songs at the bottom of my list have in common is a concentrate of the big problem with the Eurovision Song Contest in the mid-90's: had anyone just bothered to add some temper and a little bit of endeavour it could all have been so much better. This one is slick but lacks any passion to make it come alive.
Grade: 1/5

19. Ireland - Eddie Friel / Dreaming
Nice but far too old-fashioned and also lacking in visible conviction: the performer and his backing singers all sing like they did it in their sleep without adding any personality to the song.
Grade: 2/5

18. Germany - Stone & Stone / Verliebt in dich
A fresh attempt at more modern music, completely wrecked by an inexplicably shaky performance. These people apparently had contacts within the music business, why insist on singing it yourself (when you can't)?
Grade: 2/5

17. Bosnia-Herzegovina - Davorin Popovic / Dvadeset i prvi vijek
A pleasant little jazz ditty, performed by a seasoned performer who got his Eurovision trip as a gift from the local tv company. A nicer touch would have been setting him up with a stronger entry - now he agreed with most that the selected entry wouldn't stand much of a chance anywhere.
Grade: 2/5

16. Russia - Philipp Kirkorov / Kolibelnaya dlya vulkana
Packed with the action and drama and conviction most of the earlier songs in the list lacked. Had all of this been paired with a slightly more user-friendly entry it could have carried way further than this.
Grade: 2/5

15. Malta - Mike Spiteri / Keep Me In Mind
It means well, this song. It wants to be an emotional rocker but isn't much more than a standard ballad that also comes to a very abrupt end. Good voice but not too engaging.
Grade: 2/5

14. Israel - Liora / Amen
Felt much better back then, but turned out to be nothing but one last shout from the once so successful Israeli formula of the 80's. Today it is still nice but falls in the deep shadow of greater songs like "Hi", "Olé Olé" and "Hallelujah".
Grade: 2/5

13. United Kingdom - Love City Groove / Love City Groove
I would love to rank this one higher and give an extra point for the effort - but this first true rap entry in the history of the contest didn't age particularly well. Time not only sank its teeth into this one but totally ground it down to nothing of what is once was. And the orchestra does nothing to help.
Grade: 2/5

12. Austria - Stella Jones / Die Welt dreht sich verkehrt
In a year as full of half-hearted ballads as 1995 was, a song like Austria's is sure to liven things up a great deal. Bouncy and fun even if not quite as sensational as the people on stage would like us to think it is.
Grade: 3/5

11. France - Nathalie Santamaria / Il me donne rendez-vous
One of my top favourites back then is given a very energetic performance but would have needed more colour to break through. Why is everyone dressed in black? Later on in life I also realised that the song is little more than a re-write of early Patricia Kaas hits - most notably "Mon mec à moi" - by the same writing team.
Grade: 3/5

10. Norway - Secret Garden / Nocturne
A beautiful instrumental tune with strings and whistles and a key fiddle was really right in time during these days of an expanding market for new age-music. Original enough to convince the juries, but I would have enjoyed its victory more had there been a chorus.
Grade: 3/5

9. Slovenia - Darja Švajger / Prisluhni mi
Classy and well sung - very much like Darja's second entry reminiscent of a number of good Bond themes - but ultimately relying a bit too heavily on its impressive vocal performance.
Grade: 3/5

8. Sweden - Jan Johansen / Se på mig
A fine pop ballad in a suggestive arrangement that I would possibly have liked that little bit more now hadn't it been a huge summer hit played everywhere until you felt no greater need to listen to it any time soon again.
Grade: 3/5

7. Greece - Elina Konstantoupoulou / Pia prosefchi
Clean-cut and elegant, haunting and convincing, beautifully performed.
Grade: 3/5

6. Croatia - Magazin & Lidija / Nostalgija
There hadn't been an awful lot of opera singers at Eurovision for a few years when this mix of opera and schlager hit my ears. A pretty large dose of kitsch, but all of that is forgotten every time they reach the adorable chorus.
Grade: 3/5

5. Turkey - Arze Ece / Sev!
It's a bit of a complicated ride, this one. At least people tell me so, that they find it hard to find any kind of handle here. I just love Arzu Ece, so it all falls into place. And the song is cute too.
Grade: 3/5

4. Cyprus - Alex Panayi / Sti fotia
The closest you would get to real pyrotechnics before those came into use: every inch of this performance is vibrating and pulsating. In a year deeply lacking in dynamics it is a mystery that this one didn't to better.
Grade: 4/5

3. Denmark - Aud Wilken / Fra Mols til Skagen
An impopular choice on home ground that made little impact on the Danish charts back then. An almost hypnotic entry, sensually whispered between the banjo and xylophone parts. Phenomenal.
Grade: 4/5

2. Spain - Anabel Conde / Vuelve conmigo
A real power ballad, cleverly constructed and building into a big finish that almost reaches the strength of a tropical storm. Too bad that Anabel's career never lived up to the promise of this song, but it still is one to cherish.
Grade: 5/5

1. Poland - Justyna / Sama
The masterpiece of the year opened the contest and scared the juries stiff. Described by somebody as "a Björk record played in reverse", complete with deep lyrics and notes almost impossible to hit. Took some time to break into but by quite some margin the song that means the most to me out of all the songs on offer in 1995.
Grade: 5/5



Justyna - Sama (Poland 1995)

Absent friend: Poland

I really don't know how this happened. Poland was such a revelation, such a powerhouse, such a fantastic new force in Eurovision. They kept sending in good, modern, eccentric and progressive entries that were so good, so good, so good.

They were supposed to come in, crush all resistance, work their way to victory and drag this old contest kicking and screaming into the future. It all looked so promising.



Edyta Górniak - To nie ja! (Poland 1994)

Their sensational debut, when Edyta made a coup and sang her song in English during the jury final and scored a phenomenal second place in the end, really left the feeling that Poland was on to something big. And then they opted for something seriously different.



Justyna - Sama (Poland 1995)

Justyna's etno-pop-yoik did take some getting used to, admittedly, but in the endless ocean of toothless ballads that was ESC 1995 it stood out like a monument of anarchy. Violently, provocatively different and modern. And the judges just didn't get it.



Anna Maria Jopek - Ale jestem (Poland 1997)

The juries would continue not to get the Polish entry. The quirky and folksy dance that was Ale jestem also ended outside the top ten (not by much, but anyway) and maybe now Polish tv was getting a bit exhausted. They were doing their best but kept getting ignored.

In 1998, I was convinced that TVP had finally hit the bull's eye again. The group Sixteen had a very fresh sound and their song was engaging and instant, but at the same time it kept growing on you for every listen.

Sophisticated and hit-friendly. Would this be Poland's return to top five?

On the night of the final in Birmingham, Poland passed under the radar of almost everyone and ended in a shockingly low 17th place. I could not believe my eyes.

Since then, the Polish entries never regained that original sparkle that they used to have. Some of their entries have been good, but never as overflowing and captivating as their early efforts. After having missed out in one semi final too many, TVP withdrew after the 2011 contest.

If they stay away in order to evaluate the situation, re-group and try to find their own self, then this absence is well worth it. I just hope they won't stay away too long.



Sixteen - To takie proste (Poland 1998)

What if - Italy 1995

RAI was never particularly fond of the Eurovision Song Contest and the strain of having to organise the whole thing in 1991 (the term "organise" being used in a loosest possibly way, according to the people present in Rome) probably contributed to them dropping out after the 1993 contest in Millstreet.

Italy would make one more appearance in Dublin 1997 and then not come back until Düsseldorf fourteen years later.

Had they taken part in 1995, there is absolutely no evidence that they would have selected neither singer nor song out of the Sanremo festival, but still... Wouldn't this one have made a smashing Italian entry had it been shortened in some clever way?

An absolutely breathtaking song, if you ask me. Could we have been heading for Rome in 1996 had this taken part? And, bearing the 1991 contest in mind, how much fun would that have been?



Gloria Bonaveri - Le voci di dentro (Sanremo 1995)

Song Of The Day: Slovenia 1995

Slovenia had flopped rather a lot at their debut as independent country in 1993. Nine points was all they got and they had to stay out for one year as punishment.

In 1995, they were determined to do a lot better and sent in one of their biggest voices equipped with a warm, breezy, impressive song.



Darja Švajger - Prisluhni mi (Slovenia 1995 preview)

Just the kind of song that would sound fantastic with an orchestra, right? Think again. The RTÉ orchestra managed to take every ounce of punch out of the arrangement, so instead of bombastic it sounded a bit flat.

Darja still sang it beautifully enough to end in seventh place, still the best showing for independent Slovenia at the ESC.



Darja Švajger - Prisluhni mi (Slovenia 1995)

This song has stood the test of time really well and aged more gracefully than most of its competitors in Dublin. This became really clear when one of the contestants of Misija Eurovizija sung it the other night. Darja can be proud, and so can all of Slovenia.



Eva Boto - Prisluhni mi

Tobson's Winners: 1991 - 1995

Seriously, there had been some downhill ever since the early 80's, as commercial success started to evade the contenders. The winners didn't necessarily have any serious impact on the charts around Europe, not to mention that fewer and fewer of the non-winners found success internationally (or domestically).

But in the early 90's, the downhill turned into free falling. The contest failed to attract modern sounds and new styles, and, added the juries' clear inability of finding commercial winners, Eurovision soon turned into a big has-been of an event.

Some countries still wanted to win it and host it, some countries made the sporadic effort to modernise and update their national selections, but the ratings were dropping to all time lows in most countries.

Ireland's win-athon, with four victories in five years, did nothing to improve things. When a country like Ireland failed to chart internationally with their winners, what could countries like Switzerland, Greece or Belgium hope for?

However, the thing that would eventually save the old contest came in through a back door, not being hugely popular at the time. But with the new countries, "the Eastern bloc", came a real breathe of fresh air and a will to keep the ESC alive.

1991 - Greece



Sophia Vossou - Anixi (Greece 1991)

More of a monument than a simple song, this elegant creation with its delicate verses and explosive verses is an evergreen in Greece. On home ground, they can not still quite grasp how it didn't fare better than 13th.

I can only agree. What were the juries thinking? (And did the Greek delegation give the saxophone player the beating he deserved after ruining his solo like that, or did they let him get away?)

Greece really made an effort in the early 90's before realising nothing was to come out of it, that the juries would never go their way, and threw in the towel.

Real winner:
Carola - Fångad av en stormvind (Sweden)


1992 - Greece



Kleopatra - Olou tou kosmou i elpida (Greece 1992)

1992 does in no way offer the strongest line-up ever, but it does offer more quality Greek drama than any other year. In fact, my personal runner-up this year is the very intense delivery Evridiki did for Cyprus.

But the Greek entry is again like a modernised tragedy with a drum beat, Kleopatra is like a Medea with a taste for Bond themes.

Elegant, convincing and, above all, catchy and very modern-sounding compared to most songs in competition. Not unimportant during these years.

Real winner:
Linda Martin - Why Me?


1993 - Norway



Silje Vige - Alle mine tankar (Norway 1993)

A soft little ballad with a bouzouki flavour was not what the contest needed at this time, really.

The best move would have been if one of the two really modern entries could have won. If the Spanish rap-sprinkled pop fest would have sounded as updated as it wanted to. If Dutch Ruth Jacott could have been a bit more easily accessible.

But Silje Vige's soft little plea for love (of the very platonic kind girls only want when their fathers wrote their lyrics) is so pretty that I shiver and go to pieces a bit.

Nothing short of wonderful.

Real winner:
Niamh Kavanagh - In Your Eyes


1994 - Poland



Edyta Górniak - To nie ja! (Poland 1994)

The year when Ireland completed its famous (infamous?) hat-trick and scored its third consecutive win, there were a couple of other winners that would steal the thunder from the Rock'n'roll Kids.

Riverdance, of course. The spectacular interval act that set out to conquer the world in its own right.

But also the countries from the East. Seven of them were let into competition, after a few years of EBU hesitation.

They were all to mark the future of the ESC in many ways, and on this first edition three of them impressed Europe and made top ten. Russia ninth, Hungary fourth and Poland second.

Of course, the Polish Mariah Carey should have won with her powerful chorus and flawless delivery. But Eurovision wasn't ready just yet.

Real winner:
Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan - Rock'n'roll Kids (Ireland)


1995 - Poland



Justyna - Sama (Poland 1995)

Poland really gave eurovision their best during the 90's. Few countries sent in entries as headstrong, as obstinate, as original.

Justyna was a real shocker of an entrant, opening the 1995 contest with her odd mixture of a beat, weird strings and high-pitched notes. A Swedish tabloid described it like "a Björk track played in reverse".

Complete with a dark set of lyrics full of doom, depression and Catholic imagery, this was the very opposite of what a eurosong should sound like in the mid-90's.

Poland sent it in anyway, convinced that quality would bring them success in the end. What they got was 15 points and an eighteenth place.

Well done, juries.

Real winner:
Secret Garden - Nocturne (Norway)

Scoreboard extravaganza: Irish variations

In the 90's, Ireland won Eurovision four years out of five consecutive years (which, frankly, made me develop a certain allergy towards Irish entries which lasted for at least ten years after their last victory) and also made history by hosting it after each victory.

In the past, countries had always handed over the task of hosting to someone else had they won two years in a row (or even if they won too often - Netherlands gave it up after winning in 1959, France after winning in 1962).

What surprised me and many others is that RTÉ managed to stage very individual contests, that did not feel like repeat runs. New stage designs, new hosts, new creative teams.

They even managed to make the scoreboards look fairly different to one another, even if they are clearly all variations on the same look.



Millstreet 1993



Dublin 1994



Dublin 1995



Dublin 1997

They all follow the same pattern and are all programmed the same way, but connect nicely to the colours and themes of each year. Clean-cut and easy to follow.

It would really be rather nice to see a new RTÉ scoreboard again someday. But then they have to break their trend and start winning again...

Ireland: the highlight of the evening

Came in late after a night with friends, and thought I would come home to find an Irish winner. The broadcast still goes on, and there will not be a winner for another twenty-five minutes or so.

I haven't seen any of the performances, but I have a feeling I have still seen the best part of the show.

Which is the chat show part with former Eurovision hosts Cynthia Ni Mhurchù (1994) and Mary Kennedy (1995) who still look absolutely fantastic, who are still witty, funny and professional.

If Ireland would win again soon, I would team both of them up for hosting. What a dream duo!



Cynthia Ni Mhurchù hosting in 1994 together with the late Gerry Ryan



Mary Kennedy handling the voting elegantly in 1995

Israel 2011: Dana is back

It is not necessarily a wise thing to come back to Eurovision once you've won the whole thing.

Niamh Kavanagh will probably understand what I mean. Charlotte Perrelli would agree. And even if their comebacks were more successful, Isabelle Aubret, Izhar Cohen and Carola would emphasise that winning a second time around is not as easy as one might think.

Now Dana International, winner of 1998 and one of the most groundbreaking participants ever, had decided to give it another go behind the microphone.

She co-wrote the 2008 Israeli entry for Boaz Mauda, and now she will enter the national final, the famous Kdam, with the song "Ding Dong".

Dana was selected internally to represent Israel in Birmingham in 1998, but three years earlier she tried her luck at the Kdam, reaching second place.



Dana International - Laila tov Eropa (Israel 1995 NF)

Sorry for the quality of the clip, it was the only one available on YouTube. Sorry for a few sick notes as well - vocal perfection was never Dana's thing.

She was scheduled to take part in the 1996 Kdam as well with a song called "Agada", withdrawn before the final. Does anyone know if she ever recorded it? Is it any good?

After a very tight voting, where the last set of 12 points (awarded by the spokeswoman in Skopje), Dana won and scored one of the biggest commercial hits to come out of Eurovision in the 90's.



Dana International - Diva (Israel 1998)

For reasons best known by Dana and her team, the success didn't lead to continued international stardom. There was never any credible follow-up single until many months later and Dana remained a one-hit-wonder in most territories.

Will this be her second time lucky? Or will she get stuck alreay in the national final?

It should have been Poland

Let's rewind the tape a bit and go back to the 90's. The 90's, when Eurovision was declining in many countries, when many doubted the contest would survive for particularly long, when it didn't generate any major international hits.

One thing that saved the ESC was a number of established countries taking turns to breathe new life into the event: France with ethnic entries, Spain with modern entries, UK with rap and Gina G, Germany with some dramatic rule changes in the late 90's (introduction of televoting, free choice of language, no orchestra).

Another thing was of course the formerly socialist countries of eastern Europe making their grand entrance. They brought in new attitudes, new styles, new sounds. Most of which more modern than anything Switzerland or Belgium would whip up.

The country leaving the biggest mark on many eurofans was probably Poland. From their sensational debut in 1994, when Edyta Górniak ended in second place, their first five entries was a continuous string of artistic success.

Poland sent in good singers, ambitious compositions and a very different ambience into this old contest. Apart from their debut, their songs didn't do very well, but they were impressive on many levels.

I suppose I was not the only one thinking it was only a matter of time until Poland would hit the correct button at the right time and be the first country of the former East to win.

Unfortunately, Poland has lost their touch since. Their entries are still more often good than bad, but they have not felt like a contender for years now.

I'm hoping Poland will get back in shape and impress everyone again sometime soon. It would be great to see the ESC broadcast live from Sopot, for many years the home of the Intervision Song Contest - the socialist equivalent of Eurovision.



Edyta Górniak - To nie ja! (Poland 1994)



Justyna Steczkowska - Sama (Poland 1995)



Kasia Kowalska - Chcę znać swój grzech (Poland 1996)



Anna Maria Jopek - Ale jestem (Poland 1997)



Sixteen - To takie proste (Poland 1998)