Runner-up: Norway 1996

Representing your country at Eurovision can surely be a nerve-wracking experience, especially if your country is ESC-crazy. Even more so when you represent your country on home ground and everyone places really high expectations on you.

Elisabeth Andreassen wasn't just anybody, though. She had taken part three times before, she was well established and thoroughly experienced, and she had won the whole contest together with Hanne Krogh and then toured the world as part of Bobbysocks.

Also, Norwegian papers were quite moderate in their predictions. They seemed to agree that the home entry was elegant but not exciting enough to carry particularly far in the voting. This would be an easy ride for Bettan.

And yet she didn't sing as well as she could. Nowhere near as well as in the national final and she even gets her lyrics slightly wrong. Almost like she didn't really focus. Like this was yet another rehearsal and not the big thing.

She wasn't the only one, however. Disappointingly many of the acts under-perform in the 1996 final. They don't sing outright badly, they just don't fully deliver. Turkey, Greece, Croatia, UK, Slovenia, Belgium, Finland, Estonia - they could all have done better.

When Bettan sings a bit disappointingly she is still better than most. And when you lean against a song as good as this one, you can apparently afford not to deliver fully.

A deserved 2nd place?

Yes. This is a lovely song and - as Bettan said herself given the recent run of Irish victories - it isn't really polite to win on home ground. (I would have preferred somebody else to win, but that's a different story altogether.)

Elisabeth Andreassen - I evighet (Norway 1996)

Nobody's favourite but mine, part 1

Sometimes I get the impression there is a certain kind of eurovision fan who only watches the contest in order to get to criticise as many things as possible. To just slam every song they hear and rip them to shreds.

I admit it can be great fun to do just that. When you find something that is really terribly bad and you manage to find just the right words to explain why something makes your ears bleed and your heart cry.

It's just that I'm so incredibly fond of liking things. I can often find redeeming factors in most really weird entries and in general I like so many more things than I dislike. So just to prove my point I will present you a number of songs only I like. Here are five songs I like very much to most people's honest surprise and incomprehension.



Afroditi Fryda - Clown (Greece 1988)

Famously, the jury in the national final selected a winner only after pointing out how underwhelming all candidates were and recommending the national tv company to pull out of the competition instead of sending either one to a sure defeat in Dublin. If that anecdote is true - it has been attached to a number of Greek national finals through the years - the jury were not entirely wrong as the song received a grand total of ten points.

I disagreed with juries - business as usual - and found an attractive sadness in between all the compulsive laughter. When I finally saw a translation of the lyrics I realised it was all in my head as there wasn't the slightest trace of ambiguity or darkness. I still love it anyway. Ha ha ha ha!



George Nussbaumer - Weils dr guat got (Austria 1996)

Eurovision and gospel music has always been a hard nut to crack. Quite a few entrants have tried through the years without really getting it right. It becomes a bit too polished and soft and harmless to leave any real traces or reveal any deeper emotion. Except perhaps for this bunch of crazy Austrians.

The song is perhaps not all that remarkable in itself and I wasn't really blown away by the preview clip, but the live performance is the closest thing we ever came to a perfect re-enactment of a tropical hurricane. The backing group - including Stella Jones and Bettina Soriat who both represented their country as solo singers in the 90's - become so incredibly animated and worked-up that you suspect the hall will run out of oxygen before the song is over. Not everyone's cup of tea but I find it irresistible.



Oleksandr - Hasta la vista (Ukraine 2003)

Isn't it strange that Ukraine - famous for doing everything right in the ESC - would start out by getting more or less everything wrong in their debut entry? The cheesy lyrics, the old-fashioned arrangement, the Kermit-the-frog-at-the-opera vocals and the most peculiar dancer in the background. It is all so puzzling. What were they thinking? Were they convinced they had a winner on their hands? The worst part still is that I've grown remarkably fond of it over the years. For all the wrong reasons, mind you. But very fond all the same.



Modern Folk Trio & Aysegül - Dönme dolap (Turkey 1981)

I'm surprisingly easy at times, I have to admit to that. Shake a piece of homemade disco muzak Made in Turkey in front of me and my knees will turn into jelly. If it is performed by three distinguished gentlemen in white, accompanied by a cheerful lady, performing a choreography that should be simple but that seems to pose a real challenge for the group, I'll be even happier. If you top it with a shockingly nonsense set of lyrics - stating that life is a merry-go-round as it goes up and then down again - I'll just roll over and admit I'm defeated.



Daisy Auvray - Mister Music Man (Switzerland 1992)

This is what I suppose happened: Poor Daisy didn't get out much and this time she decided to really live the moment to the fullest. She had enjoyed a glass of wine or two and felt lovely and vibrant and alive and wanted the whole world to know. She grabbed a microphone, decided to put her happiness into song and asked the band to strike up an old-fashioned sound that would suit her perfectly. How was poor Daisy to know this was not a karaoke bar at all but the Swiss national final?

Seriously, though. This was so violently out of sync with any kind of musical trend or fashion back then, but time has been really kind to this in comparison to many other entries from the same year. Perhaps not the best song there ever was, but the whole performance is sweet. And endearing. And that must be worth something too.

My Eurovision debut - seventeen years ago

May 18th is a very special date in my book - today seventeen years ago I made my first visit to Planet Eurovision as I sat in the audience at the 1996 Eurovision Song Contest. A real dream come true for my 20 year-old self.

I come from the countryside where no stars live and where no celebrities are ever to be seen. Tv shows were made somewhere else and something as grand and spectacular as the ESC always seemed so far, so unattainable.

Suddenly I found myself on the night train to Oslo and when I arrived, I felt like a fairytale hero who had been transported through time and space into another dimension. I got to talk to a fair share of participants, I got a couple of autographs and I got to help a friend make an interview with the adorable Maja Blagdan, being every inch as wonderful as I had hoped for her to be.



Maja Blagdan - Sveta ljubav (Croatia 1996)

I was so excited to finally be present in the hall and to meet other eurovision fans who could also sing along with the entries that I didn't even notice that 1996 was a vocally shaky edition of the contest where many participants underperformed and sang only moderately well.

I didn't get disappointed until the voting came to a close and Ireland had secured its fourth victory in five contests. I kept wishing for the stagnating contest to produce another one of those smash hit winning songs like in the old days and instead the juries settled for yet another set of violins and a flute.

I wouldn't have to wait for long to see the ESC make a major turnaround and re-invent itself, but regardless of the disappointing outcome the 1996 Eurovision remains one of my strongest memories. To finally realise that Planet Eurovision was no distant planet at all but a place you could visit, explore and make your own. I hope every real eurofan will have that opportunity at least once.



Eimear Quinn - The Voice (Ireland 1996)

Estonia - I Love You

When Estonia debuted in Eurovision, I (and most of my fellow countrymen in Sweden) mainly thought of them as a financially poor country that we sent massive amounts of charity. Geographically close but culturally distant.

Maybe their first attempt didn't change much in how most Swedes percieved them, but Silvi Vrait stroke a chord with me and a very special relationship developed between me and Estonian eurosongs. A relationship that would, in its own little way, change my life radically.

Silvi sang her heart out but only scored a mere two points, but she and her song are fantastic in my book.



Silvi Vrait - Nagu merelaine (Estonia 1994)

Two years later, Estonia would be back with a new conviction and I was to see my first Eurovision live in Oslo. My Estonian neighbour in Västerås hand-painted an Estonian flag for me as my favourite was "Kaelakee hääl", the remarkably catchy little duet about placing your voice inside a necklace so somebody can carry it with him/her into the world.




Ivo Linna & Maarja - Kaelakee hääl (Estonia 1996 preview)

In Jerusalem in 1999, I thought it could be time for the first Estonian victory - I predicted that had it been the turn of a ballad, it had to be Evelin Samuel to take the title. I was not entirely wrong - she got sixth place and was the best placed ballad on the night.



Evelin Samuel & Camille - Diamond Of Night (Estonia 1999 preview)

The life-changing thing, then? When Estonia finally won and hosted the contest in 2002, I made friends with the Finnish delegation which, in addition to many other things, lead to me changing countries and moving to Finland.

So I have many reasons to love Estonia. Producing a pop star like Ines is just one of them.



Ines - Once In A Lifetime (Estonia 2000)

France goes World

Up until the early 80's, France owned the Eurovision in many ways. They had a very distinct formula that most of their entries kept close to, and they almost exclusively landed among the five best placed songs every year.

In the 80's, however, the formula grew tired and the votes stopped coming in. France Télévisions (or Antenne 2 as the channel was still called) first scrapped the national final, then decided to depart from anything France had ever sounded like before.

In 1990, the head of entertainment Marie-France Brière called up the mythical Serge Gainsbourg and asked him to create another eurosong - twenty-five years after winning with "Poupée de cire, poupée de son" - and he brought in a very exotic element indeed.

Joëlle Ursull was part of the zouk movement - exotically flavoured music from the Caribbean - and she was taken in to perform "White And Black Blues", a song rending hommage to the diversity and colourfulness of the French population.

France, who in all fairness never cared much for minorities and such through history, found themselves pushing the limits for how you could look and sound at Eurovision. The likes of Turkey, Greece and Yugoslavia had tried being exotic, but when an established country like France did the same thing - then the votes started flowing in. See the live performance here.



Joëlle Ursull - White And Black Blues (France 1990)

This was the start of something new and given the commercial success of "White And Black Blues", the French decided to push the limit even further. Given the tension surrounding the current Gulf War, it was a strike of genius to select Tunisian-born Amina to perform a distinctly Arab-flavoured song that contemplated the world order in a quiet, understated way.

The new formula worked again, and Amina was only a tiny rule paragraph away from winning the whole thing in Rome. See the live performance here.



Amina - C'est le dernier qui à parlé qui à raison (France 1991)

By 1992, more countries had picked up on the exotic vibe, making rastaman Kali stand out less with his creole entry in Malmö. Some negative publicity, emerging from some not too cleverly formulated statements given by the performer, may also have been the reason for a slight decline compared to the previous years. And honestly, maybe this song was slightly less striking as well.



Kali - Monté la riviè (France 1992)

It might look like France tried to go back to their old formula a bit in 1993, but selecting a song partially in a national minority language was, in fact, a statement in its own right. The song fared well at Eurovision, less so in the charts, but the performer was to carve a solid place in French showbiz in the coming years.




Patrick Fiori - Mama Corsica (France 1993)

The two following years, France2 (the new name given to Antenne2 in 1993) explored other musical landscapes, but were back on the etno track in 1996 - now putting a more serious emphasis on minority matters as the French entry - for the first time - was performed completely in a minority language - Breton.

It was a clever idea, given the Irish domination as well as the Celtic flavour of the 1995 Norweigan winner, but the selected song was ultimately too thin to break through to the juries. This was the first real French flop at Eurovision for ten years.




Dan Ar Braz & L'Héritage des Celtes - Diwanit bugale (France 1996)

The last entry to date selected by France2 (but we didn't know it yet at that time) was another truly exotic offering. Legend has it, it was favoured by the channel after one of the old masters of television entertainment (Pacal Sevran) openly called the song unsuitable for Eurovision.

Maybe the old monsieur was not all wrong, after all. 1998 was the first year when televote was in (almost) full use, and what had impressed the juries did not necessarily work with the viewing audience. Despite enthusaistic reviews from the press, the French entry crashed and burned, ending second last.



Marie Line - Où aller (France 1998)

Since then, France has gone in different directions, again trying to broaden the idea of what a eurovision entry could look and sound like. But one thing is for sure - culturally, the importance of these French entries in the 90's could not be over-estimated. They helped breathing new life into the Eurovision formula, as well as promoting less square and uniformly "european" expressions on stage.

Hats off to France - it didn't get them a victory, but in the long run it did change the public perception of what was possible to get away with and not. Well done.

Romania came a long way

Also Romania will select its entry tonight. I haven't paid attention at all to what they are doing or how, but I'm wishing them the best of luck.

Romania has come a long way since its shaky beginnings in the early 90's. They were eliminated not only once but twice in peculiar pre-selection procedures (1993 and 1996, ending last on both occasions), the times they made it to the grand final were few and far between and when they occasionally got there, they had to content themselves with a few complimentary points.

These days, Romania is a safe player that seemingly gets into the final whatever kind of entry they decide to send in.

Once in a while, they also manage a real bull's eye and end up high in the ranking, still waiting for the entry to take them all the way to the top.

I wish them all the best and celebrate their transformation with a severely mistreated early pearl of theirs.




Monica Anghel & Sincron - Rugă pentru pacea lumii (Romania 1996, did not qualify)

ESC reject: Gina de Wit

Gina de Wit had her first real break when she won the 1986 Soundmixshow - the Dutch tv format where people try to sing like famous performers. Gina sang like Linda Ronstadt and convinced the juries she was the best in the running.

She then had a stab at establishing herself in her own right, she took part in several Dutch national finals for Eurovision and also wrote one of the songs for Ruth Jacott's private national final in 1993.

In 1996, she was one of five acts in the (not too star-packed) Dutch final and this time she managed to get really close to victory. In the end Maxine & Franklin Brown were stronger, but I have a tingling little feeling that Gina's song could have been quite a good choice as well.



Gina de Wit - De wereld is van jou (Netherlands 1996 national final)

She tried again four years later and would, for certain, have made a lousier choice for Stockholm. That year turned out to be a very strong, contemporary and dynamic line-up where this kind of old-fashioned ballad had been bound for the bottom placings.

But at least she was the first person to ever sing a song in Frisian language in a Dutch final and that must be worth something as well.



Gina de Wit - Hjir is it begin (Netherlands 2000 national final)

Germany 1996: Surfen surfen, Tag und Nacht!

I gave you "Can Can", so there is no reason why I should not share "Surfen Multimedia" from the 1996 German final.

Germans always had a strong fascination for new technology and more than once stated this fascination in song. So, when the internet came into our lives, why not make a Beach Boys-esque song to celebrate it?

The link is obvious, right? Beach Boys - surfing! Internet - surfing! You're with me, right?

These girls are impossibly happy and cheerful, while something tells me they were yet to see a single webpage.

What the EU-flag tops and the flag skirts has to do with anything is a subject far too deep for my shallow analysis, but click the link. I know you want to. And the EuroCats know it too!



EuroCats - Surfen Multimedia (Germany 1996 national final)

Song Of The Day: FYR Macedonia 1996

During all the years Former Yugoslavia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest, TV Skopje did not manage to run off with victory even once. In 1996, they wanted to enter under their own flag for the first time, but it wasn't to be.

Kalopi Grill impress the jurors of the Skopje festival with her self-penned number "Samo ti", but in the odd, non-public, pre-selection for Oslo - where 29 candidates were cut down to 22 - the juries made thumbs down.

It's not that I don't see why. I can sort of understand why this passes over the heads of the masses.

But Kaliopi sings wonderfully and this song is an unusual, demanding and intriguing little soul number that could have made more than a tiny difference in Oslo.



Kaliopi Grill - Samo ti (FYR Macedonia 1996 - rejected in the pre-selection)

Tobson's Winners: 1996 - 2000

And then, unexpectedly, the contest started gaining in popularity again. Entries started finding their way back into the charts, more people watched, and Eurovision suddenly seemed capable of launching careers again.

Behind the scenes, this should have not been a greater surprise to anyone as some EBU members, Germany above all, decided to have a final stab at the old event before abandoning it for good.

We will never know how close it was that the ESC was discontinued in the mid 90's. 1995 would have been a logical last year - celebrate the 40th anniversary and then let the old ship sink.

But the ESC was destined to go on. And now the only way was up.

1996 - Estonia



Maarja-Liis Ilus & Ivo Linna - Kaelakee hääl (Estonia 1996)

It was very exciting times, when a small ex-Soviet republic with no reputation in the world and rather a different language suddenly found itself one of the top favourites for victory.

It didn't win, but it beat the big hot favourite, Gina G from the UK, and it was recorded in a few cover versions around the continent. All in all a very pleasant little package, most sympathetic and very easy to like.

And I'm still hoping for Maarja's grand retun to the Eurovision stage, to better her fifth place.

Real winner:
Eimear Quinn - The Voice (Ireland)


1997 - Iceland



Paul Oscar - Minn hinsti dans (Iceland 1997)

1997 is not only a very strong year. It was like waking up from a long sleep - after so many years of slowly collapsing, the ESC came on like a flash out of the dark.

Suddenly there were pop song, modern rhythms, thought-through stage acts, songs with hit potential... And the epitome of this new world was the entry of Iceland. Modern, provocative and knocked out over a white leather sofa.

Pretty tame compared to many of the acts that were to follow, but back in the day Paul Oscar walked in like a one-man-version of the French revolution. Even if I love many of the entries of 1997 with a deep passion, nothing quite sums up the esprit of the year like this number.

Also, far too much for the juries, but embraced by the televoters. The next year, the juries would be gone. Not a minute too soon.

Real winner:
Katrina & The Waves - Love Shine A Light


1998 - Croatia



Danijela - Neka mi ne svane (Croatia 1998)

1998 saw the grand exit of the juries - and the grand introduction of televoting. That, plus the relative success of some more television-friendly performances the year before, lead to a line-up including quite a few really strong songs.

Some things proved too difficult for the televoters to grasp on a first listening: the beautiful Slovakia waltz, the Polish pop and the Leonard Cohen-esque debut entry of FYR Macedonia, for instance.

The winner was the only credible choice, though. The only way to go. A colourful performer with an evident chorus, set to hit the charts. Maybe the UK could have pulled the same thing off, possibly Dutch Edsilia could have achieved something.

But the one for me is Danijela and her mega-chorus, dramatic verse and huge key change. One of the few songs that can make me see the point of having the orchestra, which was about to vanish as well.

Real winner:
Dana International - Diva (Israel)


1999 - Estonia



Evelin Samuel & Camille - Diamond Of Night

At the time, I favoured the likes of Cyprus and Croatia, with Selma from Iceland as my sky-high favourite. Unfortunately, the Cypriot chick couldn't carry her tune, and Selma's song aged badly.

Croatia is still a real party song, but it is the Estonian ballad that really does it for me. Sweet, enchanting and spellbindning.

By far, my favourite violin through eurovision history.

Real winner:
Charlotte Nilsson - Take Me To Your Heaven (Sweden)


2000 - Turkey



Pinar Ayhan & The SOS - Yorgunum anla (Turkey 2000)

I must admit that Sweden's victory in 1999 didn't enthuse me - it was something old-fashioned at a time when eurovision needed modern and forward.

But Sweden gave us forward and modern in 2000, when playing host, offering the real start of the ESC the way we see it today. Modern, fast-moving, progressive. And, as a lucky break, most countries played ball and sent in great entries.

Russia, Estonia and Latvia all fulfilled the youthful pop vibe, Denmark the more mature pop vibe and most of the others provided entertainment value aplenty.

But the quirky tune from Turkey is my song. A song to belt out in the shower or dance along to on the tram as it plays in your headphones. A song to love.

In a world that was fair, Pinar Ayhan would be a super star. But Turkey still had some way to go before they would conquer the ESC.

Real winner:
Olsen Brother - Fly On The Wings Of Love

Songs only I like: Slovenia 1996

Some fiascos you never quite see coming, do you? You see the preview, you listen to the song, you like it, you think it will do quite well.

And then it crashes and burns right in front of you. Like Regina from Slovenia did in Oslo in 1996.

It all looked very promising in the cute preview, where it all sounded very well and looked great and was a very appealing package.



Regina - Dan najlepših sanj (Slovenia 1996 preview)

Come Oslo, it looked and sounded like this:



Regina - Dan najlepšish sanj (Slovenia 1996)

I was too deeply into it back then to notice at first, but there is quite a difference between these two clips. Everybody seems a bit tired on stage. Regina looks like she has a bit of a headache coming on. She struggles a bit with some of the higher notes.

Eurovision can be exhausting enough with being eight months pregnant, that's for sure, and to add further to the exhaustion rumours have it that the Slovenian delegation had rather a turbulent week in Oslo, which must have added further to the general state of fatigue.

Maybe they were just pretty happy to go home, regardless of the outcome?

As a piece of trivia - Slovenia was extremely well prepared this year and offered the press the first ever ESC CD-ROM presentation. In a very orange packaging came a booklet along with an interactive disc containing biographies, video clips and a few extra songs by Regina.

Too bad that not at least a bit of all that ambition made its way into the stage presentation. But you can't think of everything, can you?

A fine song it is, anyhow, unfairly forgotten both on the night as well as by a large section of the eurofans. I salute Regina, who is an excellent vocalist, and proudly shout out my love for this.


If you do too - please say so in a comment.

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)

Lisa missed her big chance

The following phenomenon is typical in some countries with national finals: a performer takes part and does well, but doesn't win. Then the next time they enter, they win more because of that other entry rather than the current one.

Like a bit of a consolation prize.

Karmen Stavec should know what I'm talk about. Tor Endresen likewise. And, of course, Lisa del Bo from Belgium.



Lisa del Bo - Vlinder (Belgium NF 1993)

The 1993 Belgian final was a tough race - one of the best selections ever song-wise, if you ask me. Many good, convincing, contemporary numbers, which proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that it is not enough with a good final. You need to be able to pick a winner as well.

The Flemish have always been heartbreakingly bad at selecting the most suitable winner out of their national finals (very much like Finland or Slovenia) and so they rejected Lisa's slick and original xylophone-based pop song and opted for Barbara's ballad instead (which ended last with three points in Millstreet).



Barbara - Iemand als jij (Belgium 1993)

Three years later, Lisa del Bo was back in the national final, this time equipped with a more safe, old-fashioned kind of full-blooded schlager entry. She won quite convincingly, crushing the more modern and progressive entries in the end.



Lisa del Bo - Liefde is een kaartspel (Belgium 1996)

Playing it safe didn't help much, as the juries probably found the entry a bit too stereotypical and classic and left it in a 16th place, shared with Switzerland offering an equally over-classical ESC ballad.

Conclusion: Lisa would have been so much better off had she won her ticket the first time around. The end.

Or, not quite the end. Who would believe that "Liefde is een kaartspel" would live a life of its own and come back to the ESC again? Five years later it was good enough for fifth place in Copenhagen...



Friends - Listen To Your Heartbeat (Sweden 2001)

Quite a striking similarity, eh?

Happy Happy Happy à la Austria

I felt this afternoon needed something cheerful. Something happy. Something upbeat. Something that can make your heart beat faster and let you feel life pulsing through your body.

Then it had to be this one.



George Nussbaumer - Weils d'r guat got (Austria 1996)

It just doesn't get happier than this, does it? Wild and crazy and that's just the beginning of it.

(Welcome back, Austria, by the way! I missed you!)