Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

As an Eurovision fan travelling to a new Eurovision country is always also an adventure to the local record stores - if they only exist anymore. I was in Prague last week and they do have several stores left but....  not so much for a collector of this genre... The only Eurovision artists I saw were Kabát and Karel Gott. But then again, Kabát was all over the place; streets full of their tour ads and their CDs in every shop. The band's been together since 1983 and still seem to be the Czechia's finest and most popular rock band, filling stadiums and arenas. Their Mala dama deserved so much more in Helsinki 2007! Karel Gott is still very popular, at the tender age of 78, it seems. He has released dozens of albums since his Eurovision (for Austria) in 1968. He has already retired twice but seems to come back due to the popular demand again and again.   The Golden Voice of Prague joined forces with rock band No Name this summer for Kto dokáže for example..... and his ...

Now this was a surprise! While the news of Bosnia & Herzegovina not making it to Vienna after all out of nowhere come the news Czech Republic will return after five years absence.  They will select internally and promise to offer us a "top quality Czech song".  For one thing, it's hard for them to do any worse than they did with their previous three entries. The debut in Helsinki 2007 finished last in the semifinal with one point only. The year after they scored a total of 9 points and 18th place (out of 19) in the semifinal and finally in 2009 they got no points at all and again last in the semifinal....  I think they deserved sometimes a bit more, especially in Helsinki. Let's enjoy their efforts in the past: 2007 Kabát - Malá dàma 2008 Teresa Kerndlovà - Have some fun 2009 Gipsy.cz - Aven romale 2015 ?

Well, can you blame them? Czech Republic managed to collect a total of 10 points in their three year's of participation, or two last places and one second to last place in semifinals. No wonder they are not keen to return and participate in 2013 either. Nor are they interested in broadcasting the show(s) so it also rules out the participation in 2014...  But with songs like Have some fun and Aven romale , do we really mind? Mala dama  was pretty good though!

Estonia gave Czech Republic's first and only point in Eurovision song contest 2007. Therefor the country's debut with Malá dáma finished in the 28th place in the semifinal. This must have been a disappointment for the band that had been around for years and gave a good performance and I really do like the song, too. At home they were fresh with yet another success album Corrida (#1)  the year before and had released 11 albums in the past 15 years. After Eurovision? They released a DVD from their Corrida tour and then in 2009 a live album Po čertech velkej koncert was released and finally in 2010 when a new album Banditi di Praga . The first video for the album is the title track . They may have needed a break after Helsinki 2007 from recording but are back filling stadiums again it seems. Well done.

Ex-Czechoslovakia was broadcasting Eurovision already back in the 1960´s and 1970´s but when the country was divided Slovakia went for Eurovision already in 1994 but it took until Helsinki 2007 that we had an entry for Czech Republic. They were already ment to debut in 2005 but withdraw for financial reasons, and again in 2006 but 2007 they did finally enter - and came last or 28th in the semifinal with one point. Next year they did a bit better, second to last or 18th and their third attempt in 2009 brought them nul points, last and 18th place. No wonder they lost their will to participate.... Indeed they announced already in early summer 2009 that they would not take part in Oslo 2010. It looks rather unlikely they will ever return. Shame. They tried a bit of everything and here are their three very different entries: 2007 , 2008, 2009 . I liked especially 2007, very underrated song!

The rumor has it Czech Republic has thrown in the towel and will not come to Oslo 2010 "due to lack of interest of the Czech public." How about lack of success? In three years of participation they have managed to get together only a total of 10 points, two last places, one second to last place and even one dreadful nil points! Now that must be an Eurovision all time record in any standards! It's a shame as they have sent 3 respectable entries in 3 different styles and by no means the worst of each year! They debuted in Helsinki 2007 with rock band Kábat with Mála dáma . Excellent song but it managed to score only 1 point from Estonia and came last in semifinal. In Belgrade 2008 they tried with happy pop song with a pretty - yet vocally challenged - Tereza Kerndlová asking us to Have some fun . Voters in Turkey (1), Croatia (2), Malta (1) and Macedonia (5) did worth of 9 points and second to last place in its semifinal leaving only Hungary behind. And this year in Mosco...