The story so far
Firstly, I must say how metropolitan it makes me feel to be considered part of a north london eurovision collective. Since I live the life of a provincial humbug in Cambridge, the title makes me feel like a ryanair airport. The rustlings of pseudonews regarding semi-quarter-pre-pre-prequalifiers announce that the silly season is about to begin. This is generally bad news for my professional life, home life and personal hygiene as what free moments i can muster shall be spent readjusting whatever frame of reference of musical taste that i ever claimed to have had to listen to 150 ukranian qualifiers for the organisers to choose something that wasn't amongst them in the first place. I'm still bitter about that.
However, certain early birds have caught even me by surprise. From the brink of allowing loca boca choca the to resound forever in our innocent ears as their second and final contribution to our favourite festival of european haute-culture, imminent withdrawl suddenly turned into a national final, with three songs shortlisted that would have got Pat Kenny's formaldehyde imbued toes tapping. Whilst i strongly advocated the return of Zdob si zdub with space cowbow, seasoned performers with a perfect blend of ethnokitsch with just enough of a twist of hip-hop to stand out from the crowd, the moldovans begged to differ and opted for Natalia Barbu, telling us to "fight". Judging by the cut of her, i wouldn't be up for it. After the mortal sin that was that song-that-shall-not-be-named (ok, i already did about 8 lines ago) I braced myself for the worst. However, if "fight" was in the irish final, i would actually have been delighted. It is a decent, well produced, totally unoriginal but very commercial offering which owes more than a few quid to Evanescence. OK, the lyrics are naff and gramatically questionable (Never let nobody in, and step right on your dream) but who's checking? A favourable draw and good performance could see this qualify.
Albania were pipped at the post by Natalia, but the now traditional early birds still got their song picked and aired (and hung out to dry if the reactions on esctoday are anything to go by) before christmas. It seems a long time since little Anjeza Shahini tottered across their national final stage in silence to announce "menyemenyah" to rapturous applause before treating her audience to the original albanian version of her song, "you are the bum". In contrast, this year's entry seems to have been savaged in most quarters. I actually quite like it, particularly the haweeyawee intro which then gives way to an impassioned, if rather pained performance. It has a earnestness about it which many of todays eurohits (oh what a difference a letter can make) seem to lack, yet diaspora voting aside, i can't see this making the grade for the final. Unless of course, the performers defect to FYR Macedonia; but then again if i represented them by eating my own head live on stage whilst beating a saucepan, i'd be in the eurovision final too.
However, certain early birds have caught even me by surprise. From the brink of allowing loca boca choca the to resound forever in our innocent ears as their second and final contribution to our favourite festival of european haute-culture, imminent withdrawl suddenly turned into a national final, with three songs shortlisted that would have got Pat Kenny's formaldehyde imbued toes tapping. Whilst i strongly advocated the return of Zdob si zdub with space cowbow, seasoned performers with a perfect blend of ethnokitsch with just enough of a twist of hip-hop to stand out from the crowd, the moldovans begged to differ and opted for Natalia Barbu, telling us to "fight". Judging by the cut of her, i wouldn't be up for it. After the mortal sin that was that song-that-shall-not-be-named (ok, i already did about 8 lines ago) I braced myself for the worst. However, if "fight" was in the irish final, i would actually have been delighted. It is a decent, well produced, totally unoriginal but very commercial offering which owes more than a few quid to Evanescence. OK, the lyrics are naff and gramatically questionable (Never let nobody in, and step right on your dream) but who's checking? A favourable draw and good performance could see this qualify.
Albania were pipped at the post by Natalia, but the now traditional early birds still got their song picked and aired (and hung out to dry if the reactions on esctoday are anything to go by) before christmas. It seems a long time since little Anjeza Shahini tottered across their national final stage in silence to announce "menyemenyah" to rapturous applause before treating her audience to the original albanian version of her song, "you are the bum". In contrast, this year's entry seems to have been savaged in most quarters. I actually quite like it, particularly the haweeyawee intro which then gives way to an impassioned, if rather pained performance. It has a earnestness about it which many of todays eurohits (oh what a difference a letter can make) seem to lack, yet diaspora voting aside, i can't see this making the grade for the final. Unless of course, the performers defect to FYR Macedonia; but then again if i represented them by eating my own head live on stage whilst beating a saucepan, i'd be in the eurovision final too.
Comments