Quartissimo - Love Symphony 4/5 Symphonic Bond-theme, sadly with a screeching singer, but I really like the melody and the effort of trying something different. If the singer had had a fuller voice in the style of good old Shirley Bassey then this would have been tiptop. Looks like I am the only one liking the symphony so it may well bomb.
I quite like this! Sure it would probably be better suited as an opening act but it is also catchy in all its classical-i-ness. I also like the female voice breaking through every now and then even if she admittedly is a tad too shouty. But let's say it like this... Imagine the woman being Shirley Bassey. Then this would have been a killer Bond theme!
Anžej Dežan, who sang for Slovenia in Athens 2006, is still around and recently he won Slovenska popevka. (For some reason, all the ESC sites only focus on the participation of Alenka Gotar, whose greatness I still fail to register.)
I had high hopes for Anžej back then, and I am happy to see that his career is not over. Even though I sense a certain lack of hit factor in this winning entry... But maybe it works in Slovenia?
Anžej Dežan - Šopek Maka winner Slovenska popevka 2008
My direct hotline from Belgrade tell tales of a very fancy and slick show coming up on our screens tomorrow. Slightly too nationalistic at times, possibly, but otherwise very pleasing.
Some did well, some did well, and apparently Slovenia still doesn't work at all. I can't help but feel for Rebeka, who wanted to represent her country ever since 2005. It is so easy, when you really want to make an impression, to over-complicate things and make them go completely down the drain.
Miracles can happen, fingers crossed. Why are the Slovenian entries always so good at not working out on the night? Is it something in their water?
Rebeka Dremelj - Vrag naj vzame 4/5 The first contender of the evening is fading for me after seeing the rehearsals in Belgrade. Rebeka isn’t convincing at all and I can only hope that she shapes up on Tuesday because I like this classic eurosong. Invest in a couple of singing lessons now!
I just have to come back to that charming "security note" that was handed out to all delegations, that while staying in Belgrade everyone would be most gratful if people would refrain from horrible deeds and actions like kissing somebody of the same gender, look gay, act queer or burn virgins in public. (Or wait, did it say anything about the virgins? My memory fails me...)
I discussed the matter with a journalist at work, who claims that Serbia is one of the most homofobic countries in Europe. Then I wish the organisers will have a lovely present at the end of the show. Deep within, I hope that the gayest entry would win and that everyone would French kiss everyone on stage out of pure happiness.
I wonder what the security would have done this year, had t.A.T.u taken part? Or any of the people below...?
There is something about Slovenia and its Eurovision entries. They make me go weak almost every time, and I keep crossing my fingers until they hurt, wishing them the best of luck (the Slovenians, not the fingers).
I have to admit not to being charmed unconscious on a first listening by this year's entry. Rebeka is a fine piece of machinery and she sells the song well, but it took a few listenings before I could really nail the melody line down properly.
Now I did, and I love it. According to me, this is one of the best pop song in the running this year. But still - if I didn't understand it on the first listening, how can I expect anyone else to? It seems the grandness of this composition eludes most people at first, and that is not a good way to go if you want to win the ESC.
In the final? No. The Slovenians are almost as sure as the Flemings to fall through on the big night, and I expect this song to be 11th or 12th. And we will all ask ourselves for years to come how this could be possible.
Slovenia has an old trick up their sleeve that they pull out every once in a while. The trick is: when you realise too late that you voted the wrong song into first place one year, then you can compensate the runner-up by winning the next year. Or the following year.
That was the case with Karmen Stavec, Darja Švajger, Andrej Babic (composer) and a few more. The sad aspect of it all is that it hardly ever works out. Just because you are good does not necessarily mean you deliver the next time around.
But here we go again - Rebeka Dremelj finally won because she had tried it so many times in the past and everyone felt sorry for her. Well, she is a sweet girl, maybe she deserves a break.
Her song, however, may grow on you if you listen several times to it. Most people who vote in the semis will just hear it once, though. And that is where the entire problem lies. On the first listening, there is nothing to hold on to. No handles. No hook. No nothing. Just a sweet girl and a somewhat old-fashioned pantomime.
There has been some decision-making going on in Europe tonight. And what is Europe up to? What went wrong on this grand continent?
I will write a more clear analysis on the Estonian final once I have seen the recording, but let's just state the obvious: the Estonians have selected a nauseating piece of nonsense that won't do anyone happy anywhere.
I just came back from the ETV studios only to find that Denmark has chosen yet another magnifically dull ditty and that Lithuania opted for an operatic ballad.
My jaw is hanging down somewhere between my knees, but thankfully I am too tired to really bother with it. I just close my eyes, count to ten and hope the slovenians will stay in their right minds tomorrow.
Given my big interest for Former Yugoslavia and its components, it is confusing that I never knew much about Slovenia until they entered Eurovision on their own. Forgive me, Slovenians, I have bettered myself since. Slovenia is one of those countries I always look forward to, and just like Finland, they have had an ability to come up with clever, easy-going little songs that the world often failed to see the brilliance in.
Who cares about success, though? Being there and being good is all that matters, and if nobody understands you - it is their loss. And, as Sestre taught us in Tallinn: Slovenia is the only country in Europe that contains the word LOVE.
Is there a thing such as love as first sight? Yes. I fell head over heels in love with this song when I first saw the previews back in 1993, and my enthusiasm never wore off. Since I love the clip and the live performance all the same, I have to hand you both.
And no, Europe didn't understand this one either. Of course. (But people did vote for that piece of mediocricy that was "Cvet z juga". People are strange.)
