Frenchless Eurovision

Who would have thought we come to this? In this year's Eurovision not a single song is sung in French (except a few words in Lithuanian song, sigh). Even France itself has skipped French and sings in Corsican (for the second time actually) as they didn't want to sing in Italian as the song was originally written in. But then Italy on the other hand sings in mixed English-Italian and San Marino only in English. Norway brings Swahili to the contest with a song that is as Norwegian as is Swahili. What happened to the national flavour - the original idea of Eurovision? We have 36 entries in English or mixed English with Bosnian, Greek, Hungarian, Albanian or such. Only Serbia, Poland, Portugal, FYR Macedonia, Cyprus, Spain and Bulgaria stick to their national language - while writing this. I wouldn't be surprised if in a few hours we hear Poland, FYR Macedonia, Bulgaria and Serbia have changed to English!

On the other hand we have to back to 1988 to find the last winner in French, Céline Dion's Ne partez pas sans moi and France itself has won the last time in 1977 with fabulous L'oiseau et l'enfant by Maria Miriam. The 2000's is sad reading: only Serbia has managed to win with a non-English song when Marija Serifovic triumphed in Helsinki with Molitva. And think that French winning score was in the 50's 50%, 60's 38%, 70's 40% and still in the 80's 30%... Maybe we need Monaco and Luxembourg back? Or at least France sticking to its own language?

UPDATE: It looks like at leasrt Poland has changed the language and Jestem turns into First class ticket to heaven....
UPDATE 2: They have changed it back to Jestem in eurovision.tv so it seems she will sing in Polish after all, great!

Comments

Kalevi said…

It is too bad that there is no French in this year's contest--however, I actually like what France has done, since it is a language of France that they have chosen, and there is a long tradition of opera in France, so the entry still really strikes me as French (and my God, I think it's really good). I wonder if things will be more normal next year?

21:54

SONGS OF THE YEAR 2015: #5 KRISTA SIEGFRIDS - ON & OFF

Krista Siegfrids is delivering nice pop tunes one after another and this one is particularly catchy and soon you will be singing along..... Hopefully her Melodifestivalen entry will be equally good!

ESC 2016 WISH LIST: MARGARET FOR POLAND

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ESC 2016 BELARUS: NAKED WITH WOLVES?

Today's funniest Eurovision related story comes from Belarus. Some sources claim Ivan wants to perform on stage naked and with live wolf or wolves. It surely would be a first on Eurovision stage! We have seen some forgotten underwear over the years, and some cardbox animals though..... Is it time to take things a bit further? No, according the rules live animals are not allowed, and Eurovision being a family show nudity won't do either. (It seems to be ok to be half naked if you are a dancer though..... )

Rumors, rumors, rumors....

While the national selections for Junior Eurovision are going on around Europe and Ani Lorak's been confirmed as host all sort of rumors about the real thing are beginning to be the order of the day. Austria returns - or then not. Andorra stays home - or then not. San Marino returns - well, most likely but not surely. Luxembourg should make a come back - or then maybe not. Liechtenstein is still in the running - or has it ever been for real? Has the local TV ever confirmed anything? Is it just wishful thinking by the fans? Poland on the other hand has confirmed they will be in Oslo. And Italy will be still out. And apparently there will be no ban or such for Azerbaijan nor Spain for the irregularities in and after the 2009 edition. EBU had to change the text in the rules to make it sure nothing like that what happened in Azerbaijan could happen again. Or if it will they have means and rules to back up a ban or sanction.... Katerina Avgoustakis has been rumored to be in Oslo...

CAROLA'S BOOBS STEAL THE SHOW, SVT APOLOGIES

Update! Another thing got Swedes talking last night: Carola's boobs when she was giving away an award. This is not the first time her boombs cause headlines; her misfortunate adventures in the 80's in Japan wer explained with her boobs being too big for Japanese market. Ok.... Or was it the song ? Anyways, Carola apologies and says she thinks the dress is stylish and elegant (even her friends said so) and she's a mature woman in her 40s, not a 16-year-old girl and looks like one. The Swedish Oscars, Guldbagge awards were given out last night. Carola was there as a guest star to sing Barbra Streisand's The way we were when honoring the movie stars who passed away during 2012. However, the cameras were too much on Carola, not on the stars showed in photos in the background and that upset many viewers as that part of the show was to celebrate them, not Carola. Oh well... The producer of the show tells in Aftonbladet the part of the show was made the sam...

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Jedward Vs. Blue - the naked truth

Not so long ago Blue took it all off for a Attitude photoshoot that surely didn't hurt their chances. Now Jedward follows with GT photoshoot and behind the scenes video you can see here . The fight is on. The Lipstick guys have also taken every possibility to badmouth the British veterans. But I think Blue are with a chance to win it all and wouldn't be suprised if Jedward would do the Irish turkey trick - their live vocal capacities are pretty much the same! Lipstick vs. I can ? Grown up muscle guys with voices vs. skinny quite tunedeath teenage boys, who do you prefer?

GOODBYE, FAREWELL...

The time has come. After all these years, 5,7 million visits, 12.000 articles I guess the time has come. As much as I love and care for Eurovision it just doesn't feel the same. The Corona years took their toll and the past two years and certain decisions have helped me to mature the idea that next year I will hear the songs for the first time in semi-final just like any so called local. The bubble has burst. Add the toxicity in social medias and fandom. The arrogant teenagers who saw their first contest somewhere 2017 or even 2021 who think they know it all and only their opinion matters. Did I mention the toxic atmosphere on social medias? I'm too old for that sh*t. It's been a long ride that took me to various Eurovision on spot as a fan and tourist, as a journalist, as a delegation member. I met some great people, made memories of lifetime. In stressful, sad periods of my life this blog has been my safe place, a place to escape and forget everything else for an hour o...

Russia recycles the video

Here is the video for Alexey's previous hit Бам Бам! and here is the video for his Eurovision 2011 entry Get you as Alex Sparrow as he likes to be called now abraod. Looks like he potreys the new rich Russia well.... The only problem is that he can't play the bad part convincingly not even a second. And did I say the song is crap? And of course as he is a Russian star he must have nude fotos of him flotaing around internet trying to be sexy and he fails there, too, big time. If you are not bad nor sexy you shouldn't push it. Maybe he should stick to singing jolly little numbers like the Kalinka rip off instead....

Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

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