Denmark and the bad surprise

When I wrote my preview review I was pretty convinced Denmark would dance into the final with ease, just thanks to being catchy, happy and easily accessible. By now I start to realise I'm pretty alone in assuming that.

Not that I don't really care what others predict - I prefer clinging to my own conclusions - but let's just say I'm amused that everybody suddenly grew tired of this ever-smiling Danish style of Eurosong. Why now?

I thought the style was tiresome already back in "Twist of Love" was a typical song written only for Eurovision and with no chance of a life outside the contest. "All Night Long" was even more tedious but made it to the final anyway. This year, for me, at least felt a little bit more real and enjoyable.

It does seem to follow the Danish pattern, though. Find a formula, stick to it for years, and when it seems to be working its best then suddenly the whole thing collapses. Denmark did the same after their last victory - two years later their package didn't work and flunked mercilessly in 2002.

Just like "Haba Haba" in 2011, this song feels like it is too long. By the end it just keeps going and going, and maybe Denmark is in for a bad surprise. It's been a long time since they last failed in a semi final.

I still think the risk is even greater for another country that grew used to doing well. Unless Greece can work up a close to life-threatening amount of radiation, their ballad should be in real danger of elimination. Maybe both Greece and Denmark will have a sweaty night before the tenth envelope has been opened in the first semi.



Malene - Tell Me Who You Are (Denmark 2002)

Runner-up: Malta 2002

Some ESC years are bad because the songs are bad. Or mediocre. Every country will send in the song they deem suitable and some years, by coincidence, too many countries will decide not to rise at the task properly at the same time.

Some ESC years are bad because the mix doesn't really work. Tallinn 2002 is the perfect example of this. Most of the songs are fine, really, but there are few standouts and when you heard all the songs you are left with the impression that most songs were a bit samey.

That's when people suddenly will warm to something nobody would have expected them to warm to. Very much like when Europe suddenly embraced Estonia's Tanel & Dave the year before, the televoting audience suddenly fell headlong for Malta's Ira Losco.

Not many would have seen that one coming before the rehearsals start. The Maltese entry was just a happy little ditty with a typical lyric stacking words on top of each other with the only purpose of making them rhyme.

But when Ira entered the stage, she oozed with confidence and managed to convince the audience that her little song actually meant something. That is was relevant, somehow. Very few contenders in the 2002 final had managed to do the same. Many of them had better songs but for some reason they passed the voters by.

And when Ira has passed the bridge and suddenly blows Europe a silver kiss - in one of the cheesiest yet most brilliant gimmicks ever - she almost seems to know she has hit home. Some more points and it would have earned her a victory.

A deserved 2nd place?
Yes. Anyone who can take a song that originally means as little as this one and turn it into something convincing and instantly likeable deserves at least a second place.



Ira Losco - 7th Wonder (Malta 2002)

Preview clip: Germany 1994

Since Ralph Siegel is back in the game (was he ever really gone?) I thought I'd have a look back to when Uncle Ralphie still had a bit of a finger on the pulse and came up with things that felt happening.

It was, admittedly, an easy thing to seem youthful and happening in the neverending stream of more or less passionate ballads that filled the line-up of the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest, but this explosion of colour and happiness seemed pretty real and genuine in the preview show of that year.



MeKaDo - Wir geben 'ne Party (Germany 1994 preview)

This is Siegel by the numbers and the last time that the old formula worked flawlessly. Just like with Dschinghis Khan in 1979, he assembled an attractive and energetic group, out of session singers and lesser known solo singers he had worked with before, to suit the song he wrote. One of the girls, Melanie Bender, was the daughter of one of the Dschinghis Khan members.

The song is full of little hooks and clever ideas and the chorus is a way of getting around the rule stating everybody had to sing in their own language - the phrase "Wir geben 'ne Party" is sung to sound more or less exactly like the english title "We're giving a party".

In Dublin, the whole package felt less fresh than the clip. The girls were still energetic enough, but the styling - as well as the backing singers - gave this an air of "old people trying to produce whatever young people may like". A review in newspaper The European said it sounded like a pop song remixed by a bunch of grandmothers.



MeKaDo - Wir geben 'ne Party (Germany 1994)

The entry managed to achieve a respectable third place in Dublin but was a commercial flop and the group soon disbanded.

There were stories in the press that the first choice of German television would have been to send punk legend Nina Hagen - who declined the offer - to Dublin. I can't help but wonder what kind of commotion she could have created had she gone to the ESC.

MeKaDo's blond member - the lovely Kati Karney - almost made it to Eurovision again eight years later when she suddenly resurfaced in the national final of Bosnia-Herzegovina together with Boris Režak. Their song ended in fourth place.



Boris Režak feat Kati Karney - Ti i ja smo mogli sve (Bosnia-Herzegovina national final 2002)

Song of the Day: FYR Macedonia 2002

Apologies for the slight inactivity that has ruled this blog lately. Sorry for that, but I hope your new year has started well.

And we start off with a new Song of the Day, and this is a big favourite of mine. In fact, I think this is the best entry ever presented by the country in question.



Karolina - Od nas zavisi (FYR Macedonia 2002)

I could just as well have posted this under another old headline of mine: Songs only I like. It seems eurofans and the general audience alike have a hard time getting their head around this one.

I find it spellbinding, almost hypnotic, and very well delivered by Karolina. From the word go with the suggestive drum beat, to the chanting backing singers, I find this pure class.

Karolina has since blossomed into an even better performer and one of her country's top stars, and she came back to Eurovision five years later to better her scoring considerably with the admittedly more user-friendly "Mojot svet".

But for me, her 2002 effort stands out as a shining pearl in a line-up that felt fresh back then, but somehow failed to stand the test of time.



Karolina - Od nas zavisi (FYR Macedonia 2002 preview)

Tobson's Winners: 2001 - 2005

After relatively successful years, commercially speaking, and a big breakthrough in terms of production and ratings with the 2000 final, the ESC was still up for a few years of unplain sailing.

The winners of 2001 and 2002 were commercial flops, and the problem with corrupt voting figures (as countries had started to trade points in the mid-90's to avoid relegation) was still very present.

Also, the ratings suffered in the countries that got relegated. In Finland, where interest in the ESC had always been strong, the ratings were reduced to nothing after being out every second year since 1994.

So the EBU took action - all televotes started to go to a central switchboard in Cologne, so that the official scrutineers had full control over the numbers presented during the final.

And - in 2004, the ESC changed dramatically, as the semi final was introduced. Now every interested country could take part every year, and in retrospect, this move seems to have consolidated the popularity of eurovision. At least for the time being.

2001 - France



Natasha St Pier - Je n'ai que mon âme (France 2001)

Disaster comes quickly, when DR follows up the slick, elegant and modern production of 2000 with a monster contest where staging the biggest contest ever matters more than anything else.

Also, the songs lined up for the 2001 contest could, on average, be the weakest bunch since the mid-60's or so.

At least France decided to deliver again after some lean years, and sent in a great song - rather reminiscent of "Pour que tu m'aimes encore" and similar recent pop hits in French - with a Canadian star in the making.

Thanks to TF1 picking the song up (rather than any effort from participating broadcaster France3), the song became the biggest commercial success to come out of Eurovision in France since "White And Black Blues" eleven years before.

The live performance doesn't quite do the song justice, but the recorded version is top crop.

Real winner:
Dave Benton & Tanel Padar - Everybody (Estonia)


2002 - Finland



Laura - Addicted To You (Finland 2002)

After a span of unsuccessful entries, often more aiming at being liked rather than trying to communicate anything of lasting importance, Finland selected an entry that felt fresh, relevant and inspired.

2002 was a hard field to crack. The general level of songs being quite alright, but with many songs sounding very much the same, trapped in an updated disco landscape, sharing the available points between them.

Despite being hailed as one of the favourites, Laura Voutilainen crashed and burned on a pale 20th place, behind many lesser songs. This was nothing new for Finland, but the feeling that the voting had been anything but fair left a bitter taste.

Looking at the scoreboard, some countries are obviously trading points with each other, some others are obviously voting tactically to keep other favourites down. The EBU stepped in, did what had to be done and took control over the voting process.

If not, who knows what it would have taken to restore the audience's faith in the voting.

Real winner:
Marie N - I wanna


2003 - Turkey



Sertab Erener - Everyway That I Can (Turkey 2003)

After two musically lean years, Riga offered fresh winds and a more daring collection of songs again. More surprises, new musical directions. Exactly what the contest needed.

Even better then that Europe favoured a variety of different styles and the final top ten had ballads, humour, radio pop, latin pop, rock anthems, world music, punk pop... and a very Oriental winner.

For the first time ever, Eurovision decided to give thumbs up to an exotic praline and Turkish superstar Sertab Erener won the title after a nailbiting finish, where Belgium looked like the winner up until the last country cast its vote.

Of course Turkey was the right winner - a dancefloor stomper, a commercial hit and a clear departure in a new direction for the ESC.

Real winner:
Sertab - Everyway That I Can (Turkey)


2004 - Serbia & Montenegro



Željko Joksimović & Ad Hoc Orchestra - Lane moje (Serbia & Montenegro 2004)

The first Serbian eurosong for 2004 was well worth waiting for - anthemic, majestic, hypnotic. Very well sung, very well performed.

Željko has been back as composer as well as host of the entire show, but never has he left quite such an impression as he did this time.

Despite being another slightly weaker year, there are still quite a few really good classics in the running. But Lane moje blows them all away. Should have won by a mile.

Real winner:
Ruslana - Wild Dance (Ukraine)


2005 - Iceland



Selma - If I Had Your Love (Iceland 2005)

Oh, how the ESC can mess with your head. From the first time I heard Selma's comeback entry, I was sure Iceland had a good placing coming.

I thought it was modern, intriguing, haunting and very, very catchy. But what did that help? When the last envelope was opened in the semi final it read "Latvia". Not "Iceland".

Team Selma had a fall-out with the production team shortly before the semi, something that surely disturbed everyone more than a bit. The live performance isn't perfect and the choreography doesn't quite work.

But still. How a fantastic entry like this one can miss the final is beyond me.

It would take a few years before the semi final worked up enough ratings for the results to be representative rather than just a fancy lottery. Having two semis instead of just the one also helped a lot.

But I doubt that made Selma any happier.

Real winner:
Helena Paparizou - My Number One (Greece)

Runner-up: Slovenia 2002

Few national finals (if any) have offered more drama than EMA 2002, even if everything looked very organised and peaceful from the beginning.

The red hot favourite to win was Karmen Stavec, who had made an impression already the year before with "Ostani tu". Now she was ready to go out into the international limelight with a disco song seemingly tailormade to hit home with the televoters.



Karmen Stavec - Še in Še (Slovenia NF 2002)

However, the national expert juries probably found this entry too lightweight and favoured the merry flight attendant trio Sestre. According to reports, the sentiment in the green room was growing tense and unpleasant at this point and nothing got better as the hosts failed to produce a televoting result.

The minutes dragged by, the hosts tried to keep the audience in a good mood, the recap of songs was reprised three times and finally, after some twenty minutes or something, the results finally came in.

And when all the numbers had been counted, the three ladies in red had won by one point. Slovenia, still rather conservative and not in any way progressively gay friendly, was to be represented by drag queens at Eurovision.

Once the show was over, the tension exploded and two composers attacked each other physically in the green room. I suppose the Slovenian gossip press must have thought Christmas came unusually early that year.

However, Sestre slowly won the hearts of the Slovenians and ended in a 13th place in Tallinn. Not a bad placing for Slovenia.



Sestre - Samo ljubezen (Slovenia 2002)

The year after, Karmen finally won (perhaps partially as a consolation prize) and represented Slovenia in Riga where she, despite a good draw, only managed a 23rd place. Would she have fared better in 2002? What if the Slovenian televoters had it their way, would the outcame have been better or worse?