Die Grosse Entscheidungsshow

My first review of a national final, just happens to be the first national final. Held December 2011, Switzerland was first to select a song a full five and a half months before the contest in late May.

Before this contest, I had only heard the song presented by Lys Assia and since I've only heard the contests winner. The rest are comments from a first hand experience and I can only say that I am frightened.

Patric Scott feat. Fabienne Louves - Real love 

These two sang well together. What I didn’t enjoy is when they sang separately as well as the actual song. It sounded to me like ‘reality show’ performance; mainly say this because their was vocal aerobic that weren’t necessarily required.

Emel – She

Opening with la la and some odd choreography by the two men, and it really went down hill for me from there. I listened to this twice and couldn’t decipher anything but la la’s. Tune is pleasant though.

Chiara Dubey - Anima nuova

Who was the unfortunate person who had to light and then extinguish all those candles? Chiara is good. She can sing and the song had a decent amount of drama to it. I wanted it to go somewhere after a while and it started to and ended abruptly.

Guillermo Sorya - Baby baby baby

I hate the title and I haven’t listened to a word yet. Guillermo is quite a handsome gentleman but the inability to sing this song does not score points with me. Pleasant song I suppose, dated though.

Macy – Shining

Macy is not a chick but a band of men. The tune was very clever and got my attention at once. Through the entire song I was wishing the man would speak up because he was completely drowned out by the musicians.

Sosofluo - Quand je ferme les yeux

They had a decent stage for their presentation. The song was all over the place with yelling, and everyone looking ill at ease.

Atomic Angels - Black Symphony

What is a Black Symphony? A collection of African Americans? And what are those people doing in Switzerland? I think the Swiss version of Serebro sang this, and it was underwhelming.

Ivo - Peace & freedom

Looked and felt like a cross between and Austrian song and a Danish song. Interesting song; usually shy away from peace, harmony and freedom songs. This was okay.

Ze Flying Zézettes Orchestra - L'autre

This had an interesting sound to it; a watered down gypsy kings maybe. Possibly the most original song so far.

Raphael Jeger - The song in my head

A fiddle player in a vest seems familiar, but that is where the similarities end. Poppy song that tumbles along and I couldn't wait for it to be over.

  

I Quattro - Fragile

On one hand I want to say it’s been done before in various ways and different places and I don’t think this is the best of the attempts. The song wasn’t to bad though, and the blonde lady coming in was a complete breath of fresh air. I would rather listen to her singing the entire song.

Sinplus – Unbreakable

It sounds like a Cure song and I was anticipating the dude with the hair to appear at one stage. It definitely is a wake up song after some quiet entries and the fore mentioned classical number.

Lys Assia - C'était ma vie

Hot favorite time. Considering Lys is 500 years old, she looked decent. She sounded a little off and the song was somewhat dated. Well done.

Katherine St-Laurent - Wrong to let you go

Hmm. Pretty girl, but wasn’t really right on the night. Not sure what it was.

TVE! Please call Bernard...

Over ESC Insight, there was an article of the love of ESC by Australian Sharleen Wright. And while most people think 'Australian? What do they know?', the answer is that the internet has made the world smaller and people can learn about sorts of things and see all sorts of things.

So, other than highlight Johnny Logan, former Australian, I suggested an ESC party next year. Somewhere we can all pop along and enjoy the ESC. But now i have a better thought that I'm guessing Australian will love. Bernard Fanning is a resident of Madrid. There is limited chance that Bernie is going to write a song in Spanish or English (Span-glish) present it to TVE and come under the scrutiny of Spain and then Europe. But wouldnt it be fantastic??

I'll wake up now - never gonna happen.

An old chestnut.

Every year we hear the dreaded words come from the fan groups. A word that springs terror into the hearts of artists wishing to gain entry into national finals, entry into the Eurovision itself, but only to bring them infamy and disgrace.

No, I'm not talking wardrobe malfunction or off key singing; it's PLAGERISM. Yet every year we have entrants that are accused of the deed causing disruption, embarrassment and in some case expulsion.

Expulsion can be a good thing for some. 1999 was a year where two songs were removed and replaced and co-coincidently the two artist made respective returns to the ESC with two very different outcomes. In 1999, we will never know if Corinna May nor Hari Mata-Hari could have rated higher than 3rd and 7th respectively at the ESC in 99, but they came back. Both as favorites, neither won.





While these two ended in disgrace there are others that have been investigated and passed through. Classic example is Italy's Fiumi di Parole which sounds remarkably like Roxette's Listen to your heart. Estonia's 2002 entry Runaway is reputed to sound like R. Kelly's I believe i can fly. Last year's Danish entry A new tomorrow by A friend in London was believed to sound like Sing for me - an entry from the Melodifestivalen from 2006. And you can pick a myriad of Swedish songs that sound like ABBA [not true - cheap shot : p]

Are they copies of the original or just a sound alike? That can be answered on a case by case basis, but why are the TV stations of Europe letting them through. They need to employ a music expert who can make these comments and hear the similarities and make recommendations. Why should the public vote for a copy of Waterloo that is called Something in your eyes? 



Maybe, the music industry is too lazy to come up with unique modern song that the need to copy. Maybe it is that the musicians of the past have been exceptional and bypassed the boundaries of music and the modernists have nowhere to go now? 

Countries over the last decade - Last part

Only six more countries to reveal... and all but one have won the Eurovision Song contest. I'm sure you can guess.

Countries over the last decade - Part VII

So - only 10 countries left to count down to. Of the twelve, we have ESC winners of the last decade, others that are just consistent, and some that have had a mix.

Countries over the last decade - Part VI

How many of you are surprised so far?
No one - wise audience.
16 countries still to be names and placed; on with the show.

Countries over the last decade - Part V

So, 19 countries down, twenty countries to go.