December 8: Eha

After winning and successfully hosting the Eurovision Song Contest - also being the first former Soviet Union republic to do so - Estonia lost their way and spent many years erring around, lost in the woods, with not much success in any way.

It wouldn't have had to be like that, though. There were always good songs at Eurolaul but some of the years there were international judges who wouldn't know a good song if it punched them in the face.

Or there would be a televote that would come up with equally dubious results.

The Estonian public didn't get anywhere near as excited as they should over this quirky, strutting piece of Kylie-electronica that is really catchy and pretty funny at the same time. It came across better in the preview, I'll admit as much, but it would have made for way more interesting viewing in Kyiv than Suntribe did.



Eha / Gotta Go (Estonia NF 2005)

Runner-up: Malta 2005

In later years, Eurovision has been accused of turning less into a song contest and more into a big circus where you need special effects and gimmicks and fireworks in order to get anywhere.

There is some truth to this, I must sadly admit, but not as much as many critics would have it. Sometimes all you need is the right song and the right performer at the right time.

In Kyiv, far too many countries had brought drums. Not just a drum or two but loads and loads of drums. The nightmare drum award might have gone to Romania but many others were not far behind.

Malta just had a ballad. A very classical ballad, perhaps slightly too reminiscent of "The Power of Love", made famous by Jennifer Rush and Céline Dion, performed by Chiara who, against all odds, had landed a third place in Birmingham seven years earlier.

Chiara was alone on stage, had no special effects and didn't even have a particularly good draw - performing as number 3 out of 24 entries. And yet the ballad broke through, was awarded a lot of points and even though it never really got close to winning it remained a victory for the simple and understated.

A deserved 2nd place?
Well, yes. There were more spectacular entries in the running that kept eating away points from each other. For a ballad, I enjoyed the entry of Israel more. But in no way undeserved.



Chiara - Angel (Malta 2005)

Arriving in Kyiv - eight years ago today

Today it is exactly eight years since I arrived in Kyiv for the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest. What an adventure that was.

 I was (relatively) young and inexperienced and honestly a bit nervous about going. Ukraine had been shaken by a revolution only months before and there was a certain tension in the air because of this. 

The day was eventful. In the morning, while making my way to the airport, I heard the sad news that Swedish showbiz veteran (as well as Swedish ESC representative in 1963) Monica Zetterlund had died. Thanks to a very slow queue at Helsinki Airport I almost missed my flight and had to rush through customs. And while waiting for my connecting flight in Budapest, I recieved a message saying that my second godson had been born.

Then, there was also the arrival at the hotel. Me and a friend shared what I expected to be an over-priced little broom cupboard of a hotel room but what turned out to be a large suite overlooking the Majdan square. Never has Eurovision been that luxurious again.

So - I was nervous. So - I was wrong. Kyiv was a wonderful host city and the 2005 contest stands out as a very happy one to be part of. Good ambience, good food and mainly good weather - thanks to the Ukrainian army that kept bombing the rain clouds out of the sky.

I'd love to go back to Ukraine some day. Given the usual standard they set for their entries at Eurovision, maybe we won't have to wait so long.

But the next time, I hope my favourites will do better and not get stuck in the semis...



Omar Naber - Stop (Slovenia 2005)

Absent friend: Morocco

Only once did an entry from Morocco grace the Eurovision stage: in 1980, Samira Bensaïd sang about peace, love and understanding in Arabic and was rewarded seven points and a second last place.



Samira Bensaïd - Bitaqat hub (Morocco 1980)

Many things have been said about this one-off participation: that Morocco took the opportunity to participate a year when Israel sent no representative, that it was the Moroccan king that decided for his country to withdraw after the poor showing in The Hague.

What we do know is that the singer moved to Egypt and went on to achieve significant stardom all over the Arab world under the name Samira Said. Not only an admired singer, she has also promoted HIV/AIDS awareness as well as  inter-religious understanding and co-operation.

In these times when the muslim countries of northern Africa undergo radical changes in many areas of society, I think it could be a good idea for them to turn their eyes towards Eurovision again.

Of course there are many more urgent, truly important matters for them to deal with. But out of the unimportant matters I think ESC participation could be an important factor, for many reasons.

It wouldn't be a bad thing if these countries felt close to Europe and it wouldn't be a bad thing if they felt Europe took an interest back and embraced their presence. They would have a chance to show their culture, their performers and their mere presence on the most popular tv show in Europe and they would be an active part of this important cultural manifestation.

It would also be a good opportunity for these countries to meet Israel in a friendly competition, shake hands and realise it is nothing dangerous about singing a song in the same song contest as Israel.

Lebanon pulled out of the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest because they could "not guarantee" that they would show the Israeli entry in their broadcast. This is where the EBU could step in, actively invite the tv companies of northern Africa and the Middle East and help build bridges. A small but not important step, if so.

I'm sure Samira Said would agree that this would be a good thing. Make it happen!



Aline Lahoud - Quand tout s'enfuit (Lebanon 2005 withdrawn)

Glennis Grace had a hit in her

In 2005, the Netherlands sent in a promising young singer who had won the Dutch Soundmix show already at the age of 16, making an almost perfect impersonation of Whitney Houston.

The Soundmix show - designed for people to sing as similarly as possible to well-known singers - was always a dubious place to look for fresh talent. You never knew who carried the grains of a real artist inside and who was just a gifted copycat.

For a long time, Glennis Grace seemed just like the latter version. She had a good voice, but it seemed impossible for her to get rid of the Whitney connection and when she won the 2005 Dutch national final she already had one flop album behind her.



Glennis Grace - My Impossible Dream (Netherlands 2005)

Glennis was one of several hot fan favourites before the semi-final in Kyiv, but her cliché-ridden ballad - a tired re-write of several Whitney-esque ballads - failed to qualify for the final and it seemed Glennis' career had hit rock bottom and arrived at its end station.

But sometimes a complete meltdown is what your career needs. Glennis was dumped by her label, had a change of management and, perhaps most importantly, had a change of language and started singing in Dutch.

When she participated in the popular tv-show "De beste zangers van Nederland" in 2011, she made a cover of the song "Afscheid" and finally found instant success with the larger audience. Gone was the Whitney-clone and instead there is a real performer with her very own expression and a much wiser use of her really impressive voice.

Now that she has found herself - as well as her audience - maybe Glennis should ponder doing Eurovision again? If she was the one to take the Netherlands back into the final, for the first time since 2004, I am sure the audience would never forget.



Glennis Grace - Afscheid

Germany 2012: Roman Lob is standing still

After a one year break (where Lena was internally selected to defend her title), Germany reverted to the same selection formula that resulted in their second ever eurovision win in 2010.

"Unser Star für Baku" has been a talent show with the aim of finding more original and personable singers than your average casting show, and - again - it worked really well two years ago.

I haven't really followed this season, but media reports suggest that the formula hasn't worked quite as well this time around. Fewer viewers, less media interest. And no "Satellite".

The winner, Roman Lob, was very popular with the studio audience and will be sent to defend the German colours with the song "Standing Still". It can be seen and heard here on the official website, but hardly anywhere else due to copyright restrictions.

"Standing Still" is unfortunately also rather a suitable description of the song that builds and builds without ever leading up to a real climax. It is the kind of song that the German music industry likes and that is bound to do well in the local charts, but that is less likely to set the ESC scoreboard on fire.


Somehow, it reminds me of Germany's 2005 effort - it hit the charts, but scored a grand total of four points in Kyiv. Not bad, but without a clear handle to make it stand out in a competition.

Let's see how Roman will fare in Baku. I dare say this is not a third German victory in the making.



Gracia - Run And Hide (Germany 2005)

Shape it up like Albania

The prestigious Albanian Song Contest that since 2003 has served as national final for Eurovision is usually held sometime around Christmas. I hope Santa brings them a whole lot of luck in a package.

The Albanian selection modus is a bit risky indeed. The time limit for songs in Festivali i Këngës, if there is one, does not correspond to the three minute rule in Eurovision and some years there has been a lot of repackaging to be done once there is a winner.

It worked well with the 2004 entry, which became more modern and snappy in its shorter version, and it seemed to work wonders with the tune for Kyiv as well.



Ledina Çelo - Nesër shkoj (Albania 2005 national final)

The four minutes of Nesër shkoj were efficiently boiled down to a rather perfect ESC version in English, and quite a few people were convinced Albania was about to land another top ten finish.



Ledina Çelo - Tomorrow I Go (Albania 2005 preview clip)

But as rehearsals progressed in Kyiv, all Albania fans woke up to a new reality. Ledina, who had started rehearsals brilliantly, started to grow more and more nervous, she started losing her camera angles and - worst of all - she started to sing badly.

The last rehearsal, the one the backup-juries listened to, was outright terrible.

It all went a bit better on the big night, but completely without the security, gravity and finesse there was to start with. Albania finished in 16th place on the night.

Whoever wins the upcoming Festivali i Këngës, I wish them the opposite experience to Ledina's. It would be awfully nice to see Albania back in top ten again.



Ledina Çelo - Tomorrow I Go (Albania 2005)

Song Of The Day: Lebanon 2005

I was very pleasantly surprised when Lebanon registered for the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest. Through the history of the contest, only one Arab country had taken part before and it seemed about time to have another one in the running.

Tunisia intended to enter in 1977 but pulled out after the running order was established (and would have performed as fourth in London, between the Netherlands and Austria had they stayed in), so Morocco remains the only Arab nation to have taken part.

Morocco ended second last at their only attempt, and it is my firm belief that Lebanon would have done better hadn't politics gotten in the way.

Aline Lahoud was internally selected to sing "Quand tout s'enfuit" in Kyiv, but the lebanese pulled out only hours before the drawing of lots in March 2005.

When pressured by the EBU, Télé-Liban admitted they had no intent of showing the Israeli entry during their broadcast, claiming promotion of Israel would clash with Lebanese law.

So Aline had to stay home and we will never know how her dramatic, slightly oriental-flavoured ballad would have fared.

Hopefully, in the future, one or several Arab nations would decide to enter the ESC and participate alongside Israel. Showing themselves, and the world, that singing together is a pretty harmless activity and nothing to be afraid of.



Aline Lahoud - Quand tout s'enfuit (Lebanon 2005, did not participate)

Happy Birthday, Eurovision

Whenever there is a reason to celebrate, there should be cake and a toast. And singing. A birthday is never good enough without some jolly singing.

At eurovision, singing also falls very neatly into the picture and some countries have taken on the task to celebrate this old contest in song.

When Eurovision turned 25, Belgium entered a Kraftwerk-inspired hommage to the Queen of Song Contest, not without a certain amount of tongue-in-cheek. Telex was a big name within the world of progressive synthesizer music and managed to confuse the greater part of the juries, barely missing out on the last place that would have granted them a most visible spot in the history books.



Telex - Euro-vision (Belgium 1980)

Twenty-five years later, at the next big celebration, it was Bosnia-Herzegovina that lit the candles on the cake and had cheerful girl trio Feminnem turn their entry, originally a love song while in their own language, into a birthday serenade.

The icing on the birthday cake was the ESC history/Abba tribute preview clip, resulting in every credible eurofan regularly bursting into a high-pitched "Hallooo Kopenhagen!".




Feminnem - Call Me (Bosnia-Herzegovina 2005 preview)

In between these almost compulsory celebrations, also Israel threw in a birthday song for reasons best known to themselves. It did way better than the other two, but that must be due to host country politeness...



Eden - Happy Birthday (Israel 1999)

Song Of The Day: Portugal 2005

In 2005, news were scarce concerning Portugal's entry. There had been no announcement for any public national final, but it had been made clear that the winner of Operação Triunfo would not represent Portugal in Kyiv.

In the end an internal selection was made, and the song "Amar" was presented to the audience at a rather late stage.

Performed by temporary duo 2B - consisting of Luciana Abreu and Rui Drumond (both of talent show fame) - it sounded a lot more modern than anything Portugal had sent into competition for many years. Catchy, driven by drum beats and with a chorus in English that was easy to sing along with, it looked like the Portuguese entry could stand a chance of qualification.



2B - Amar (Portugal 2005 preview)

In Kyiv, however, the whole thing fell to pieces with a real let-down of a presentation where a busy dance routine got in the way of the singing. Also, the duet seemed to lack in balance between Luciana and Rui.

Despite scoring no less than three 12-pointers, "Amar" ended in 17th place and did not qualify for the final.

But now everything was pointing in the right direction. Even Portugal could shake up a pop song if needed.

And Rui Drumond is not a bad performer at all. He'd be very welcome back to Eurovision with a more polished performance and a number that allows him more personal space.



2B - Amar (Portugal 2005)

Song Of The Day: Slovenia 2005

At first, I thought the Slovenians had lost their marbles. They had a soft and sweet little ballad, a bit unspectacular but nice, when they suddenly decided to go hardcore on us.

I wasn't sure that little Omar Naber would be able to carry the load on stage, I didn't find the preview very promising, and I thought the emo makeup just made the song harder to grasp.

And then, in Kyiv, I changed my mind. Big time. Omar Naber emerged like a true star, keeping his difficult song under complete control all the way through. Instead of drowning the whole thing in pathos, he works with small gestures and a slowly added roughness to the voice.

When the song really takes off and the drama gets going, then Omar stays steadily on the ground, fully delivering every syllabe of the fantastic lyrics .

This is the best performance Slovenia sent in to Eurovision if you ask me, but back in the day, with twenty-five songs in the semi and rather a small audience, a song as difficult as this didn't have much hope.

In all fairness, he did get closer to the final than I thought.

He would only have deserved so much more.



Omar Naber - Stop (Slovenia 2005)

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)

I will catch up - eventually

Tonight is a very busy selection night with semis in Sweden and Croatia, while Latvia, Estonia, Moldova, Ukraine, Serbia and Denmark will select their entries for Düsseldorf.

I will keep my computer shut as I will first watch Melodifestivalen, then switch over to my digibox and see the Estonian final time-delayed. (Don't you just love modern technology.)

I hope everyone choses the best songs on offer (I reviewed Estonia and Latvia in detail earlier in the week, as for the other ones: Best of luck!)

Opinions on the selected songs will be written in due time (late tonight or possibly tomorrow) and possible comments from readers will be approved about that same time.

Bear with me. And enjoy this brilliant Estonian eurovision reject while waiting!



Eha - Gotta Go (Estonia NF 2005)

Bulgaria: Good evening, Orlin

I have missed the entire Bulgarian final, and came in late to see if there was a quick recap. It came eventually (and surprised me as the 23 entries had been reduced to 19), but before that it was very nice seeing Orlin Pavlov again.

Tonight, he is hosting and providing the interval act. Back in 2005, he was the first to defend the Bulgarian banner as lead singer of the group Kaffe.



Kaffe - Lorraine (Bulgaria 2005)

This entry was far from globally appreciated back then, but I grew to like during the week in Kyiv and above all Orlin stood out as a very good vocalist.

Apparently, he is still successful on home ground, now as a solo singer. The song he sang in the interval act seems to have been a hit. Is there anyone out there who knows more about Orlin Pavlov and his career developments?

I wouldn't mind seeing him back for Bulgaria. 2012, perhaps?



Orlin Pavlov - Chicago

Slovenia 2011: a second chance for Omar?

The build-up for the national final is starting also elsewhere than in Sweden. Slovenia recently staged a draw to determine the order of appearance in EMA 2011, the final where the national televoters exclusively will decide who goes to Düsseldorf for Slovenia.

I have always had a soft spot fot this delightful little country that is Slovenia, and I have always hoped for them to do well. The two last years gave me very little in return for my hopes, though.

In 2009, the Slovenian entry was a never ending intro, four men playing on violins until their background singer was finally let in to sing a few lines. By then, the song was already beyond salvation. 2010 was even worse, with it novelty mixture of old rock and alpine yodel.

Good news then, that RTVSLO has taken a more firm grip over their own selection and invited teams to take part instead of contenting themselves with what they get sent in.

Now I hope for a really good song to win, and I wouldn't mind if it was performed by Omar Naber. He made a very good impression in Kyiv 2005, and if the semi final hadn't been so unbelievably competitive that year, he would have been in the final.

He should have been, anyway. "Stop" is possibly my all-time favourite from Slovenia.



Omar Naber - Stop (Slovenia 2005)

Latvia: Martins Freimanis dies

Some news are just too sad and comes without a hint of a warning. The passing of Toše Proeski a few years back was one of those, and now comes another one.

Martins Freimanis, very prolific singer/songwriter, has passed away at the age of 33.

Martins was best known for Eurovison fans as part of F.L.Y, representing Latvia on home ground in Riga 2003. They (Martins, Lauris Reninks and Yana Kay) were one of the top favourites for victory but only scored five points and ended in 24th place out of 26.



F.L.Y - Hello From Mars (Latvia 2003)

Two years later, Martins met with greater success when he wrote the Latvian entry for Kyiv. Walters & Kazha took his song to fifth place on the night of the final.



Walters & Kazha - The War Is Not Over (Latvia 2005)

He also took part a number of times as performer and/or songwriter in national finals, in addition to releasing albums with the band Tumsa and also did acting both for tv and film.

I can't even think of a clever twist to end this text, it is just very sad.