Flor da Lis - Todas As Ruas Do Amor 3/5 What’s going on? I, Posh of Eurovision, like a song from Portugal! The song is cosy, a little corny and a tad naïve (much thanks to the LED screens). Nothing more or less. Could actually work on a Tuesday evening like this for televoters.
To start the ESC-year for real dear old Eurofivestar and I had a kick off on Sunday. We watched the first episode of BBC-produced "Your country needs you" which will follow a few British hopefuls on the way of representing UK with a song penned by none other than the Lord himself. Andrew Lloyd Webber. I'm not just a sucker for Eurovision I'm also a sucker for musicals and that Lordi-guy has written some masterpieces through the years. It will be exciting to see what he comes up with for Moscow. Dear Andrew, just know that you are allowed to compose a killer popsong for this event. A bombastic ballad might do the trick but a killer popsong sung by Jade WILL trick the viewers of Europe to finally vote British. Of that I am sure. Good luck Webby!
€5* and Posh continued the evening by going down memory lane watching Eurovision 2003. A year voted the best ESC-week ever by us who were in Riga. The fun we had. Crazy. The parties we went to. Crazy. The people we hung out with. Crazy. Ah, those were the days. I had forgot a lot of songs and some I wish never would have surfaced my consciousness again (hey Cyprus! hey Israel!) but also some gems that I really like. This is one of them. I didn't rate it at the time but afterwards it grew and grew on me and the singing is perfection to the last note.
I give you Portugal 2003.
Rita Guerra - "Deixa-me sonhar"
To hear the whole song in English, called "Keep the dream alive", click HERE.
Vânia Fernandes - Senhora do Mar 1/5 I don’t get this at all. Supposedly a big fan-favourite over in Belgrade. Please enlighten me. Over-seriousness on stage in a language I’ve never understood in this contest. I can probably count the Portuguese entries I like on one hand. Shame as I’d love to spend a week or two in Lisbon - but not next year. Weak finish of semi 2.
Portugal keeps trying and trying and trying. Being the one country keeping on the longest without ever winning is not fun, let me tell you all. And whatever the Portuguese has sent, Europe made thumbs down, more or less.
For a while, I thought RTP headed down the right street, sending Sofia Vitoria and 2B, both signalling more modern and contemporary sounds. A step in the right direction. Then Non-Stop came and ruined the whole thing, leaving the Portuguese confused.
So when self-proclaimed ESC master Andrej Babic comes running, they all fall for it and think he will be the key to success with this plastified fake-fado with it's pompous setting and make-believe emotion. I can stretch myself to finding it OK, but I think many people will fall for this.
In the final? Yes, I think Portugal will finally make it there. Which is of course great fun for the Portuguese, but I would prefer them to send a home-crafted tune instead.
The line-up for the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest is almost complete as three more countries selected their entries last night.
I followed the national final of Russia streamed over the internet, as that one seemed the most interesting to me. Impeccably produced, and with an impressive variety of singers and styles, it can't be denied that 27 songs in one evening is a bit much. However, the professional jury and the televoters agreed completely that Dima Bilan should have a second try after his second place back in 2006. The song is slick and well-produced (but is this version really produced by Timbaland? I exercise my right to be doubtful), but to my ears it sounds very similar to Georgia, but the Georgians have more of a hook in their chorus. By the general standards of 2008 not bad, but I had expected more from Russia. And from Dima.
Dima Bilan - Believing - Russia 2008
Last year, when Andrej Babic represented his third different country as composer, we all joked and wondered what country he would write for next year. Ah well, Portugal fell for it. "Senhora do Mar" is really Babic by the numbers, and it usually works well enough to make it into the final and then be 15th or so there. Which, of course, would be a great progress for Portugal, who has not made a top ten finish since the heyday of Lúcia Moniz back in 1996.
Vânia Fernandes - Senhora do Mar - Portugal 2008
And then there is Belgium... Let me state one thing very clearly here: I hate songs in made-up languages. Making up languages is a pastime of children, stoned poets and over-ambitious lingustic professors in the 19th century. What makes it so hard to find a suitable lyric in an existing language? It just makes the whole thing ridiculous to me. As for the song? Well, it would have been a Eurovision smash hit. Back in 1956. The ways of the Flemings are mysterious to me. And the worst thing? I could be wrong and everyone will love this. I pull my blanket over my head and ignore that possibility for the time being.
Now this is absurd! It is weird! It is completely wacko and everyone on stage is aware of it. The Portuguese have never lost their marbles in this grand old way either before or after "Playback" in 1981.
Of course nobody understood. A second last place tied with almost equally brilliant Turkey was all Carlos Paião brought with him back home. The juries never had a sense of humour.
But please Portugal - don't let that bring you down! Please be happy, clappy, fun and barking mad again. If you do I promise to vote for you at least once this year.
(Miss Posh hates this one, by the way. But don't let that stop you. Better to offend some than not to entertain anyone at all. Carlos can be proud of this up there in heaven.)
