#Eurovision NI

[weaversweek]

"Nel blu dipinto di blu (Volare)" - Domenico Mudugno

1958 Music: Domenico Mudugno; lyric: Domenico Mudugno and Franco Migliacci

The Eurovision Song Contest has produced many hits. None are as recognisable as this one. It's number 11 in Let's Do It, my personal fifty favourite singles from 1954-76.

Volare! (Fly!) Oh-oh! (Oh-oh!) Cantare! (Sing!) Oh-o-oh-oh! (Oh-o-oh-oh!)

Domenico Modugno co-wrote "Volare" after having a weird dream, and then he turned his song about that weird dream into this massive smash. It's a hulking great piece of ham, this cheese dream song, as subtle as being hit over the head with a brick.

A proper piece of light opera, Domenico performs "Volare" with great vocal capacity. And he remembers that it is just a silly little song, performed with a little chuckle in his voice.

In short, it's exactly what any contest of popular song should reward. No wonder that it won the San Remo festival in 1958, and swept to an overwhelming third place at that year's Eurovision festival.

Popular taste has always been a strange and inexplicable thing, "Volare" was later covered (in English translation) by Dean Martin; he has the vocal brilliance, but doesn't quite have the playfulness Domenico brings to the song.

It was the most successful of a squillion covers, ranging from the sublime (David Bowie on the Absolute Beginners soundtrack), to the flamenco (Gypsy Kings), to the unspeakable (Aled Jones and Russell Watson).

And if you can't sing well, there's always a call-and-response section. "Volare" is the one Eurovision song that a desperate producer can expect a crowd to know and love. Chantel Janzen led the crowd in a singalong when technical problems delayed a rehearsal in 2021; producers in Istanbul used "Volare" to fill a gap when an item proved unbroadcastable in the 2004 final. These days, they might use "Snap".

[jackredfieldwasmyjacob]

FELLOW EUROFANS! this is my only oportunity to talk about OT AND Eurovision so I have to post this video I just found about Eurovision songs in Operación Triunfo (updated until the 3rd week of OT 2023), if you have any questions i will be more than glad to answer them !!!!

Just in case it is a bit confusing as it is not in english, in the left you'll see the country and the year it went to eurovision, then it will say the song in the middle and below it the person who sung it in OT and when in the program (also the edition which is important to me personally), and in the left there's the position it got on ESC <3

[nbstevonnie]

so i didn't have a problem with poland's entry in eurovision at the time (bland, english, but ultimately unobjectionable given it didn't get crazy amounts of votes from anyone) but HOLY SHIT i just found out what the public's favourite to go was and i'm retroactively really mad about this??

[rosetta-j-stone]

Dispatches from 18th Slovenian Class incoming : D

OK so first off other student (The Normal One(TM)) was once again absent, so I was automatically Best Student despite the following:

Teacher: And how has your week been?

Me: Yesterday was a bit stressful...

Teacher: Because of work?

Me: No, because of Eu-

My brain:

Me (internally): NOT NOW GUSTAPH

Me (aloud): Because of Eurovision

So yeah now my Slovenian teacher knows all about

(a) yesterday's ticket-buying saga

(b) the fact that this is the third time I'm seeing one of the Eurovision shows at the actual arena (previous times: Lisbon in 2018 and Vienna in 2015)

Teacher: So you could say "Nora sem na Eurovizijo"

Me: Ni mi žal

[uraandri]

KAKAV JE OVO FAIL

[jadenvargen]

swedish-specific resources for palestinian local activism. please do share. 

Här kan man som svensk organisera sig för palestina. ibland kan resurser som sprids vara fokuserade på andra länder såsom USA, men här finns info på hur du som svensk kan organisera dig lokalt. 

Snälla feel free att lägga till eller rätta vadsomhelst, 1000% amatör, men vill samla ihop info till folk som kanske inte stött på det innan på denna hemsida.

https://www.stoppaisrael.nu/ - organiserar sig specifikt i malmö gentemot ESC. har datum för planerade demonstrationer.

https://www.palestinagrupperna.se/ en huvudsaklig samlingsresurs för grupper i sverige att organisera sig med som är aktiv sen 70-talet. Här finns fakta, poddar, konsumentbojkotter, föreläsningar, insamlingar, osv. Palestinagruppen är mot apartheid fundamentalt utöver elduppehåll. De organiserar även Tuesdays for Palestine, för universitet och högskolor.

angående konsumentbojkotter i Malmö och Göteborg specifikt om ni köper second hand så stöttar björkåfrihet gaza, och säljer specifika palestinaimportprodukter såsom olivolja och kikärter.

Här finns kontakter och länkar till lokala organiseringar med Palestinagruppen:

Göteborg

Halmstad

Hässleholm / Kristianstad

Karlstad

Kronoberg

Lund

Malmö

Nybro

Stockholm OCH http://www.palestinagruppenstockholm.se/

Sundsvall

Uppsala - https://www.facebook.com/Palestinagruppen-i-Uppsala-203271060501107

Västerås - https://www.facebook.com/Palestinagruppen-i-V%C3%A4ster%C3%A5s-850751518298673 

Gruppen är även organiserad i Varberg, Skellefteå samt Borås, men har där ingen sociala medielänk utan kontaktperson på hemsidan.

Israel i Eurovision song contest

SVT pekar mot EBUs beslut och att en stor del av osannolikheten av Israels uteslutning är att en huvudsponsor för ESC är ett Israeliskt företag.

i malmö har det i nuläget(02/22) bestämts att frågan om Israel i Malmös eurovision skall tas upp i kommande lokala kommunmöten. Man kan som medborgare ta del av dessa möten. I nuläget är det endast vänsterpartiet av regeringspartierna som driver frågan, men man kan ta kontakt med kommunrepresentant för att själv framföra frågan och ämnet. Man kan även fysiskt vara med under möte

Lista och Kontakt med Malmös kommunfullmäktige

mejladress tll styrelsen som helhet: kommunstyrelsen@malmo.se

mötesdatum: 6e mars, 10e april i statshuset 13:00

som tidigare nämnt organiseras protester i malmö lokalt under eurovisiondatumen bl.a på https://www.stoppaisrael.nu/ men det finns inom andra länkar i palestinagruppen också.

BSD i Sverige

Från palestinagruppen: "BDS National Committee rekommenderar riktad bojkott, fokus på ett mindre antal företag och produkter som bedöms vara strategiskt viktiga."

Samtidigt:

"Vill du undvika att köpa israeliska varor när du handlar så kontrollera varans streckkodsnummer, det s.k. EAN-numret. Israels landsprefix är 729. "

här finns övergripande data på israels exportvaror till sverige

enligt https://trendeconomy.com är Israels främsta Frukt-o-grönt export som följer(som man kanske vill vara extra försiktig med, och rentav nämna till arbetare på din lokala matbutik- för deras mål är ju att sälja, inte bli bojkottade.) : Dadlar, fikon, ananas, avokado, guava, mango, citrus, nötter.

Sveriges regerings ställningstagande

Svenskt ställningstagande i “konflikten” är som följer:

Israel har en självklar rätt att försvara sig mot terrorism och urskillningslös raketbeskjutning.

Civila måste skyddas. 

Humanitärt tillträde är fundamentalt. (Jag vill belysa att regeringen här menar på att “ett stort ansvar för den humanitära katastrofen i Gaza vilar på Hamas som styrt Gaza sedan 2007” och även följande: “Sverige är en stor kärnstödsgivare till flera av de humanitära aktörerna på plats." Trots vad som står inom den fetade texten har sverige beslutat att stoppa bistånd till UNWRA. https://www.amnesty.se/aktuellt/sveriges-beslut-far-katastrofala-konsekvenser-miljontals-manniskors-liv/ )

Regional eskalering måste undvikas

En hållbar fred bygger på en tvåstatslösning.

Med grund av dessa uttalanden som bl.a direkt beskyller Palestiner för de över 30.000 dödade av den Israeliska militären är det inte överranskande att medier i sverige genast är vinklade, till ingens överraskning. Den senaste artikeln jag råkade ha öppen för att göra den här posten har språket

“Sydafrikas regering har anklagat Israel för folkmordsliknande agerande mot Gazas befolkning”

 “kriget i Gaza, som inleddes efter Hamas blodiga attack i Israel den 7 oktober. EBU har sagt att Israels public servicebolag inte brutit mot några regler och kommer att få tävla.”

Inga ord om att ICJ dömde Israel för detta “folkmordsliknande” beteende, eller vad som skiljer folkmord från “folkmordslikt”, medans attacken gentemot Israel är rentutav "blodig". På denna nivå överlag ligger journalistiken i Sverige. 

Det är viktigt att vi som medborgare belyser att Sveriges regering inte bara är åskådare utan är medbrottslingar i Israels fortsatta utrotningsförsök mot det palestinska folket. Vi bör vara väl medvetna om propagandan som inte bara kommer utifrån, utan inom sverige, och bekämpa denna.

snälla kom med egna tips, resurser, anmärkningar, kritik, whatever! ville bara ha en samlingsplats på tumblr för sätt i sverige att organisera sig lokalt, och vill verkligen bara att rätt ska va rätt.

[skeppsbrott]

SVERIGEVÄNNER

Eller ja, ni svenskar som har en relation till Eurovision.

Här är dina stolpar för vad du ska skriva i ditt mejl:

Namn, ��lder och ort

Ditt ärende (be SVT sätta tryck på EBU att stänga av Israel från Eurovision 2024)

Hänvisa till NGOs som Amnesty, Läkare Utan Gränser, etc., och deras uttalande om den humanitära katastrofen som just nu utspelar sig i Gaza (du kan länka till SVTs egna artiklar om detta)

Påtala tävlingens syfte (att främja fred och internationell gemenskap)

Påtala hur tävlingens trovärdighet och Sveriges värdskap kommer komma att ifrågasättas om Israel deltar

Påtala Sveriges ansvar som värdland och vår makt inom Eurovisionsammanhang

Påtala att Ryssland uteslöts just för att TV-bolagen utmanade EBUs beslut och fortfarande är uteslutna

Skriv något om din relation till tävlingen (hur länge du kollat, eventuella ritualer och traditioner, något kort bara)

Var tydlig i att du kommer delta i en bojkott mot Eurovision om EBU tillåter Israel att delta (det är också okej att vara tydlig med att du kommer vara ledsen över om så sker)

Var artig och vänlig men tydlig och bestämd

Undvik radikal politik - målet är inte att övertyga någon tjomme på SVT om att imperialism och nationalism är fel, målet är att övertyga dem om att det är en JÄTTEDÅLIG idé att låta Israel tävla och att vi är många som bryr oss om detta.

Här är mejladressen för kontakt med SVT: kontakt@svt.se

Här är en länk till EBUs uttalande om avstängningen av Ryssland 2022: https://web.archive.org/web/20220313071630/https://eurovision.tv/mediacentre/release/ebu-statement-russia-2022

@svenskjavel @dagenssvenska

[svenskjavel]

För er som vill protestera mot Israels deltagande i ESC

Mejl: press@eurovision.tv

Exempeltext:

“Hello

My name is Namn Namnsson and I am contacting you regarding Israel’s participation in Eurovision Song Contest this year.

There is a crisis in Gaza. Innocent civilians are being murdered. People die from treatable causes. Hospitals are bombed. Infrastructure destroyed. Help is denied access to the region. A generation of Palestinians traumatised if they’re lucky enough to survive.

Many organisations are calling for ceasefire, Doctors without Borders among them.

When Russia invaded Ukraine they were excluded the following day, 25 February 2022. You showed them that their behaviour is unacceptable.

When Belarus showed their disregard for Freedom of Speech they were excluded. You showed them that their behaviour is unacceptable.

Bold and political moves. Bold and political, just like peace. Peace which is the foundation which we created Eurovision Song Contest.

Now I am asking you to do it again. You need to show Israel that their behaviour is unacceptable. Exclude Israel.

Survivors of the Holocaust is condemning Israel’s behaviour, some even comparing it to their personal experience of the holocaust (http://www.ijan.org/projects-campaigns/nafa/survivors-and-descendants-letter/).

There is so much to Love about Eurovision. Costumes. Performances. The voices. The community. My favourite part is the cultural exchange. Italy showing us their hand movements and Iceland singing in their native. Sadly, if you still support Israel in this I can’t with good conscience watch Eurovision Song Contest this year.

Thank you for your time.

Kind regards

Namn Namnsson”

OBS! Använd exempeltexten hur ni vill för att underlätta för er själva; var medveten om att unika mejl tas på större allvar.

[coolcrazycoffeecat]

Men visst! Norrmän i eurovision! En dansk förbundskapten! Kanske en finsk överbefälhavare? En isländsk ledare för bingo lotto på nyår? Ta vad ni vill!

[brendanjharkin]

Today's march in Belfast to the BBC headquarters, calling for a boycott of Eurovision and calling out the BBC for its reporting (or lack thereof). Recent days saw the Northern Ireland Assembly vote through an opposition motion by a majority, which called for a ceasefire and mandated the First and Deputy First Ministers of Northern Ireland to write to the UK Prime Minister and demand he end sale or transfer of arms to Israel. BBC NI deliberately did not report on it.

[kurooscoffee]

Our favorite Slovenian gossip mag strikes again 😅😅😅

Translation:

Bojan Cvjetićanin caught with his lover. There was lots of hugging.

Bojan Cvjetićanin spent a few days in Finland.

It's no secret that the singer of Joker Out is currently most devoted to the Finnish Eurovision representative, Käärija. Bojan spent a few days with him in Finland and these beautiful photos were taken. The two of them are really cute together.

It is very nice that such a friendship has grown between them. Soon Käärijä will also visit Bojan and maybe we will have a concert together.

[monokerus]

Vet ni, ju mer jag tänker på det desto mer förbannad blir jag på SVT. Melodifestivalen är Sveriges största underhållningsprogram. Om man tittar några år tillbaka i tiden fick vi mellanakter som var minnesvärda och roliga, programledarna hade manus som faktiskt bidrog med något och programmet var upplagt så det kändes så att de hade tid att visa allt de ville. Det här är vad vi fick i år:

Programledaren var till hälften ersatt med expertkommentatorer. Då programledaren väl syntes hade hon inget manus som hade med tävlingen att göra - hennes jobb verkade vara att låta tiden att gå så att det skulle finnas tid att räkna röster.

Manuset - vad pågick? I år var det många regeländringar, som knappt nämndes för en sekund, det var väldigt tighta deadlines för röstning som aldrig förvarnades, jag tror det nämndes att vi ska hålla i Eurovision i Malmö typ en gång på 6 veckor och 5 av 6 gånger som telefonslussarna stängdes satt programledaren mitt i en intervju och fick försöka avbryta/prata över publiken som började räkna ner själva.

Mellanakterna... här tycker jag vi ser antingen en väldigt tight budget, eller en stor brist på fantasi. Vi fick en fantastisk start med A*Teens, men vad hände sen? Björn verkade ha nästan fria tyglar (vilket jag kan säga som en överpresterande prokrastinist med konstant imposter syndrome kan intyga troligen inte var great för hans mentala hälsa) och det blev ofta mer awkward än kul. Hans tal med Kristian och hans trolleritrick var riktigt kul, men vem tyckte det var en bra idé att han skulle sjunga för sin mormor i tre minuter, något som inte hade något värde för publiken eftersom texten knappt kunde locka fram ett par enstaka skratt? Kunde de inte ha wrappat upp Björn/Carina-storyn under förra veckan och sen pumpat upp finalen med något stort (Björnzone var fantastiskt, men behövde Björn verkligen vara i ALLA mellanakter? Var budgeten så tight i år?)

Det är ett plus att artisterna får framföra sina vinnarlåtar igen, vilket de inte fick förra året, men att låta den börja i Greenroom och sen awkward vandra genom arenan känns billigt. Kan produktionen inte ge tillbaka de extra minuter som krävs för att sätta upp numret och låta dem framföra låtarna så som de är menade att spelas på scen?

Jag har följt vartenda deltävling i Mello sedan 2006. Några år har det varit lite sämre än andra, men produktionen i år kändes mer opersonlig än någonsin. Melloproduktionen älskar inte sitt program längre. Om Melloproduktionen tror att de fortfarande älskar sitt program så har de istället helt missat varför vi tittare älskar programmet. Gå tillbaka några år, se kärleken och charmen till den här cirkusen som bland andra Edward af Sillén och Daniel Rehn gav programmet med sina starka manus, och se hur stor kontrasten är. Det här är inte modernisering, det är ett hån mot vad underhållning kan vara.

Det var mitt TED-talk, ses till Eurovision då vår frälsare och gud Edward af Sillén kommer ge oss en show vi kan njuta av

[theraggedygirl11]

New analysis on the way. As soon as I saw the new Bojan's photo, I immediately searched for the flowers and their meanings, as the self-proclaimed flowers expert of this part of the fandom.

I'm pretty sure the flowers are hydrangeas/hortensias (like @anxious-witch already said in his analysis).

Hydrangeas symbolize so many things based on their colours, and the meanings may change even based on the country or the historic era!

So prepare yourself for a dive into hydrangeas meanings (everything is from the internet, I will link everything I've found)

It's a long analysis, I'm sorry

Also, this is my opinion on this specific photo, feel free to add anything you want

Brief history facts here and here. In these links you'll find also other facts about this flower, and its meanings too, which I'll summarize down here.

White Hydrangea

They symbolize purity, innocence and honour, but also arrogance, vanity and boasting (maybe from the Victoria era, when this flower carried a negative meaning since it was gifted from men to women who rejected them and it was a way to indicate women's frigidity). Besides, these flowers are well known to have a huge inflorescence but produce very few seeds.

Blue Hydrangea

In ancient Japan this flower is linked to apology and remorse (there's a legend about and emperor who neglected the woman he loved, so he gifted her these flowers as an apology), nowadays it also means serenity and gratitude.

Pink Hydrangea

It symbolizes thoughtfulness, grace and love. It's the perfect gift to express affection and admiration for someone special.

Purple Hydrangea

It represents the desire for deep understanding. The colour purple is usually associated with royalty, pride and gratefulness across many cultures.

Brief summary from this website:

Unfortunately the photo is in black and white, so we can't really know the colour(s) of the flowers in it, but we don't care.

Let's go through every colour and connect it to Bojan.

White has pretty conflicting meanings, for sure. This colour is linked to purity, but, as I said above, it may also mean boasting and vanity. Let's focus on this last meaning. Bojan never showed himself to be openly vain, except for one thing: his hair. He complained about his gray/white streak more than once (cue to Plastika "koža ni več sveža in sivijo mi lasje,/ pa triindvajset jih imam šele"-"my skin is no longer fresh and my hair is going grey/ and I'm only twenty-three", then corrected to twenty-five in Groningen), and I'm pretty sure he's used to dye his hair because the white streak sometimes magically disappears. Now, white/grey hairs are a sign of old age and it's not unsual for younger people to get them (I'm turning 27 this year and I too have some random white hairs). Bojan's complaints, even in a jokingly way, show though that he's in some way affected by this. Beauty is linked to vanity, both in art and in literature.

Blue hydrangeas carry/carried a specific meaning in Japan, as already stated, which is linked to apology and remorse. Is he sorry for not reaching some of his goals, like winning Eurovision? Is he apologizing to us, his fans? To Slovenia, the country he so proudly represented at Eurovision and failed to make it proud of his work with their lower position in the final chart? To someone else we don't know about? We also know that they became a phenomenon despite the fact that Eurovision was a "disaster". Slovenia became famous, now people want to visit this country or even moving there to live. People are learning a language that only about 2 million people speak (it's still a pretty big group of people, but compared to other European countries, like Germany, France or Italy, it's a small amount of speakers). Is he grateful for the huge opportunity that Eurovision gave them to let the world know that Slovenia exists and that it's a nice country that deserves to be known? Is he saying "thank you" for other things?

Pink is often linked to nice feelings and emotions. In this case the flower symbolizes true feelings and sincere emotions. Bojan is a lyricist, he pours what he experiences and feels into his lyrics, and thanks to this we have Padam, Novi Val, Vse Kar Vem, and so on. Is this a wish for him to be even more open and truer on what he writes? A wish for him to be more free to write what he wants and feels and not what the public wants him to write? Being true and honest with yourself has always been a focal point in so many artists and has affected their work thoughtout the centuries. They have to live thanks to their art, so what do you do? Do you listen to your heart or do you please the people who give you the money to live?

Purple is the last colour but not the least important. It's a royal colour, also linked to pride. Being proud can be a double edged sword: one can be proud of what he's doing and achieving, but the line between pride and arrogance is narrow and one can easily slip into arrogance. Personally, I've never seen Bojan as arrogant, but this colour might remind him to be proud of his work, also the future one he'll do, and to not let arrogance conquer his spirit, to stay humble like he is now.

[eurovision-song-bracket]

Welcome to the Eurovision Song Bracket!

This will be a fairly large bracket, consisting of two "teams" of 68 songs for a total of 136 competitors!

The first team has been preselected, and will consist of all previous winners or popular vote winners if applicable.

This means that if your favorite song won, you do not need to submit them (a couple of exceptions apply, see list at the bottom/read more for details)

Submissions are closed!

Rules!

- Entries must have been a part of the main competition of Eurovision of any year (I might do a MGP mini bracket if the people want that)

- Once again, you do not need to submit winners, they are (mostly) automatically in. Again, see bottom for details and explanations.

- You may submit multiple songs, but please don't send the same song over and over.

- Propaganda is highly encouraged! There is a spot for it in the submission form, and adding it on to the poll itself or sending an ask is also allowed. You may send a DM, but I'll probably be slow to respond that way.

How it Works!

- There will be multiple brackets of 34 songs

- Each of the preselected winners will be randomly against one of the submitted songs. Pairings will be decided through number assignment and a random number generator.

- Vote for your favorite! I will include links to the songs in the poll so you can listen to both before voting. The winner will move onto the next round until we find the winner of that bracket.

- Once all brackets are complete, the winners of their individual brackets will go onto the finals to determine the (unofficial) Ultimate Eurovision Song Winner!

- There will be a preliminary around, as 1969 (hehe nice) had a four way tie, so we will need to determine which of those four will represent that year!

Tagging some other brackets to get the word out

@animalcrossingshowdown @ultimate-soup-showdown @least-sexy-man-competition @soulmatebracket @irlcats-bracket @little-cat-showdown @bestvegetablepoll @baby-brawl-bracket @died-but-not-dead-tournament @unusannusbracket

Click the read more for the list of songs that are automatically in the bracket!

(The colors are just to make it less of a wall of text and easier to read)

(Please let me know if a different color would work better)

1956 - “Refrain” by Lys Assia (Switzerland)

1957 - “Net Als Toen” by Corry Brokken (Netherlands)

1958 - “Dors, Mon Amour” by André Claveau (France)

1959 - “Een Beetje” by Teddy Scholten (Netherlands)

1960 - “Tom Pillibi” by Jacqueline Boyer (France)

1961 - “Nous Les Amoureux” by Jean-Claude Pascal (Luxembourg) 1962 - “Un Premier Amour” by Isabelle Aubret” (France)

1963 - “Dansevise” by Grethe and Jøren Ingmann (Denmark)

1964 - “Non ho l'età” by Gigliola Cinquetti (Italy)

1965 - “Poupée de cire, poupée de son” by France Gall (Luxembourg) 1966 - “Merci, Chérie” by Udo Jürgens (Austria)

1967 - “Puppet on a String” by Sandie Shaw (UK)

1968 - “La la la” by Massiel (Spain)

1969 – [FOUR WAY TIE – SPAIN UK NETHERLANDS FRANCE, PRELIM POLL] “Vivo Cantando” by Salomé (Spain) ; “Boom Bang-a-Bang” by Lulu (UK) ; “De Troubadour” by Lenny Kuhr (Netherlands) ; “Un jour, un enfant” by Frida Bocara (France)

1970 - “All Kinds of Everything” by Dana (Ireland)

1971 - “Un banc, un arbre, une rue” by Séverine (Monaco)

1972 - “Après Toi” by Vicky Leandros (Luxembourg)

1973 - “Tu te reconnaîtras” by Anne-Marie David (Luxembourg)

1974 - “Waterloo” by ABBA (Sweden)

1975 - “Ding a Dong” by Teach-in (Netherlands)

1976 - “Save Your Kisses For Me” by Brotherhood of Man (UK)

1977 - “L'Oiseau et l'Enfant” by Marie Myriam (France)

1978 - “א-ב-ני-בי / A-Ba-Ni-Bi” by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta (Israel)

1979 - “הללויה /Hellelujah” by Milk and Honey (Israel)

1980 - “What's Another Year” by Johnny Logan (Ireland)

1981 - “Making Your Minds Up” by Bucks Fizz (UK)

1982 - “Ein bißchen Frieden” by Nicole (Germany)

1983 -Si la vie est cadeau” by Corinne Hermès (Luxembourg)

1984 - “Diggi-Loo Diggi-Ley” by Herreys (Sweden)

1985 - “La det swinge” By Bobbysocks! (Norway)

1986 - “J'aime la vie” by Sandra Kim (Belgium)

1987 – “Laß die Sonne in dein Herz“ by Wind (Germany) [REPEAT WIN BY JOHNNY LOGAN(Ireland), USING 2ND PLACE]

1988 - “Ne partez pas sans moi” Céline Dion (Switzerland)

1989 - “Rock Me” by Riva (Yugoslavia)

1990 - “Insieme: 1992” by Toto Cutugno (Italy)

1991 – “Fångad av en stormvind” by Carola (Sweden)

1992 - “Why Me?” by Linda Martin (Ireland)

1993 - “In Your Eyes” Niamh Kavanagh (Ireland)

1994 - “Rock 'n' Roll Kids” Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan (Ireland)

1995 - “Nocturne” by Secret Garden (Norway)

1996 - “The Voice” by Eimear Quinn (Ireland)

1997 - “Love shine a Light” by Katrina and the Waves (UK)

1998 - “דיווה /Diva” by Dana International (Israel)

1999 - “Take Me to Your Heaven” by Charlotte Nilsson (Sweden)

2000 - “Fly on the Wings of Love” by Olsen Brothers (Denmark)

2001 - “Everybody” by Tanel Padar, Dave Benton, and 2XL (Estonia)

2002 - “I wanna” by Marie N (Latvia)

2003 - “Everyway That I Can” by Sertab Erener (Turkey)

2004 - “Wild Dances” by Ruslana (Ukraine)

2005 - “My Number One” by Helena Paparizou (Greece)

2006 - “Hard Rock Hallelujah” by Lordi (Finland)

2007 - “Молитва / Molitva” by Marija Šerifović (Serbia)

2008 - “Believe” by Dima Bilan (Russia)

2009 - “Fairytale” By Alexander Rybak (Norway)

2010 - “Satellite” by Lena (Germany)

2011 - “Running Scared” by Ell and Nikki (Azerbaijan)

2012 - “Euphoria” by Loreen (Sweden)

2013 - “Only Teardrops” by Emmelie de Forest (Denmark)

2014 - “Rise Like a Phoenix” by Conchita Wurst (Austria)

2015 - “Heroes” by Måns Zelmerlöw (Sweden)

2016 - “1944” by Jamala (Ukraine)

2017 - “Amar pelos dois” by Salvador Sobral (Portugal)

2018 - “Toy” by Netta (Israel)

2019 - “Arcade” by Duncan Laurence (Netherlands)

2020 – [CANCELLED]

2021 - “Zitti e buoni” by Måneskin (Italy)

2022 - “Стефанія / Stefania” by Kalush Orchestra (Ukraine)

2023 - “Cha Cha Cha” by Käärijä (Finland) [Second highest popular vote ever, also repeat win by Loreen(Sweden)]

[booksandchainmail]

tagged by @apollo-cackling to shuffle my general listening music and post the first 10 songs. I went with all music instead of my "music" playlist since I haven't updated that in a year or so

Saudade, Saudade by Maro. This was Portugal's entry to the 2022 Eurovision, where it came in ninth, presumably because although it sounds very nice the staging was just a bunch of women sitting in a circle and clapping

Best of Wives and Best of Women by Lin-Manuel Miranda Hamilton (Unknown Album). I ripped the entire Hamilton soundtrack from youtube back in ~2015, then kept it as a playlist since I couldn't figure out how to sort songs from an artist

Banks of Newfoundland by Ewan MacCoil & A.L. Lloyd. This is from a playlist of sea songs that @thoughtsformtheuniverse put together, and one of my favorites on it. I tend to use this playlist as background music while working/chores, and this song is excellent for washing dishes to.

Giant Woman by Steven Universe. Not one of the best songs from Steven Universe or one I listen to on it's own, but it does a good job setting things up early

Ode to High Heels by Seanan McGuire. This is off of Creature Feature, which is I think my least favorite of her albums: there are some really good songs in it, but most of the album I have no impression of. I think partly this is because it riffs a lot on horror/slasher/monster movie tropes, which are not really genres I know. This song is mostly lost on me, and I don't like the musical style either (in general I think her comedic/parody songs are weaker)

Natsume Yuujinchou Opening 3 (Boku ni Dekiru Koto by HOW MERRY MARRY). So I have the opening theme downloaded for every anime I watched between 2012 and 2019, and this sure is one of them. It's honestly not great, and suffering from the fact that the first two Natsume Yuujinchou openings were really good, so this is just bland in comparison

Ragnarok III: Strange Meetings by The Mechanism (DTTM version). This song is like 90% talking and instrumental, but it's very good at that. This is probably the emotional core of the album, the dialogue would do very well over an angsty image set. I do prefer the studio version though.

Oray Sujon Naiya by Boarding Party. Also from the sea songs playlist, though not one I listen to frequently, it's a bit too slow/acapella for doing things to at a reasonable pace. An internet search says this is a Bengali folk song for rowing downstream.

Underworld Blues by The Mechanisms (DTTM version). Ulysses Dies at Dawn is one of their more uneven albums. This is one of the good ones. I love a song where a bunch of people get their own individual verses, and Ashes kills it as Hades. I like the contrast between Ulysses and Heracles gravelling their way through their verses, and then Orpheus drifting way up high. I mostly don't listen to this specific version, I prefer studio to live.

Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood Opening 4 (Period by Chemistry). Now this one slaps. I think this is considered one of the iconic FMAB openings alongside the first one, and if it isn't it should be.

tagging (if you feel like it) @thoughtsformtheuniverse @overzealous-panda-yak @eldritchwyrm @tanoraqui @coraniaid @corvidcorgi

[eurovision-revisited]

Eurovision 2006: The Interval Act and Other Performances

From the outset, ERT is putting Greek history and culture at the forefront of its musical offering at Eurovision. It kicks off with perhaps one of the greatest opening musical montages in Eurovision history. A host of camp versions of mythological Greek figures act out Eurovision songs from the past including Nel blu dipinto di blu and Save Your Kisses for Me. There's nothing quite like witnessing Prometheus taking fire from the gods while miming along to A-Ba-Ni-Bi to tell you that Eurovision has arrived.

Our two hosts join in with the final rendition of Love Shine a Light as the pantheon is raised high above the stage. Straight from the overture and into the main body of the night seamlessly.

The small breaks in the running order to let the stage crew have a small breather are simple cutaways to the green room (semi-final) and time lapsed montage footage of the behind the scenes preparations - something that is almost a tradition at this point.

The interval for the semi-final is the traditional local dance culture, ranging from swirly-skirted women rotating, to the more linear Greek line dancing. Pan makes an appearance with a flute in what looks like the middle of a labyrinth - although that's myth-mixing, so I'm not sure I'm correct.

The final also opens with a bang. There's a sun full of Icaruses that slowly approaches the stage like a meteorite threatening the Earth in a 1950s B-movie. I'm not sure what health and safety assessments were required to strap at least twelve gold painted men to a massive globe suspended from the ceiling then winch it hither and thither through the air, but I hope their skimpy gold trunks were unsoiled. It looks terrifying.

While this is occurring, Foteini Darra is singing a piece composed especially for the opening of the final - The Mermaid Song - which has some of the most forced lyrics I've heard. There's a ballet going on around her to represent the sea and the wind. For a finale, resplendent in a white suit, Sakis enters on wires descending from the roof in a John Travolta pose. Maria enters similarly on wires, but she has a whole lot more trepidation and less élan floating around above the massive audience. You can sense her relief when she reaches the stage and her harness is removed by the ballet dancers.

This is followed by our first dose of Helena Paparizou for the evening, opening with a reprise of last year's winning song My Number One. She's back as the voting is taking place to perform her big Greek hit Mambo! The voting sequence itself is launched by former Luxembourg Eurovision representative Nana Mouskouri, born on Crete and one of Greece's most famous contemporary figures.

The main interval is another ballet/dance sequence commissioned by ERT for the evening. This one is 4000 Years of Greek Song which takes in everything from chants from Oracles, through a sequence that seems to imply that Greece taught birds to sing. The are larger than life puppets, and a section that's approaching but isn't quite Zorba the Greek.

The highlight is that opening mix of Eurovision's past. It's possibly the first show-opening medley of songs that I can remember and definitely one designed to highlight the stage and get you in the mood both for Eurovision itself as well as a night of siting in an amphitheatre watching Greek culture.