Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Big Eurovision fan Michael von der Heide finally made his dream come true when he sung for Switzerland in 2010. Il pleur de l'or was a good song, nicely presented but somehow it scored only 2 points in the second semifinal. From Georgia of all places. That didn't stop him. Soon after he was touring with Sina and the Zurich symphonic orchestra and in 2010-2011 performing in Basel in Meine faire Dame, giving his face to AIDS campaign and this spring he has been touring with his Lido tour. And a new album is in the making, it's his 9th. Maybe he will come back sometime soon? Did you know he recorded a single with Nina Hagen in 2002?

The big Eurovision party organized by OGAE Portugal takes place in Setúbal's Auditório José Afonso, Portugal tonight. Eurovision winner 1986 Sandra Kim will be there along with Eurovision stars Hera Björk, Jakob Svaistrup, Karolina, Hanna Pakarinen, Michael von der Heide, Mihai Traistariu, Anabel Conde, Filipa Azevedo, Fridrik Omar, Nucha with several national finalists from Portugal and Spain including Coral. Sounds like fun! How about Portugal, will it finally win with its 45th entry in 2011? It has way passed the record by Finland that won by its 40th entry in 2006.

Hanna Pakarinen will join the other artists already confirmed - Hera Björk, Michale von der Heide, Mihai Traistariu, Anabel Conde, Filipa Azevedo, Fridrik Omar, Coral, Nucha and several other Portuguese artists - in September in Portugal's Eurovision party. Way to go, girl!

After Denmark it's a relief to see Michael and Switzerland. He has a good song, he can sing and looks confortable on stage clearly enjoying what he is doing. For once the pyros even look in place and actually do give some extra to the performance and not just be there "because we can". He should qualify but I'm afraid he won't but he belongs to the final. Video .

Or rather the English versions of the Swiss and the Croatian entries in Oslo 2010. Here and here ! Oh, there's more: Lako je sve in Italian and Russian . And of course Il pleur de l'or in German .

Michael von der Heide has recorded his entry for Switzerland Il pleut de l'or also in German. Listen here . I like both but prefer the French one. Switzerland has one of the best songs this year and deserves finally a place in the final, and a top-10 placement!

I wrote on January 9 when this song was first heard that it doesn't impress me much but I like it, and propably in a few years time will consider it as one of the finest from Switzerland. But hey, since then over 30 songs have been selected and in this apparently rather mediocre year Switzerland has stayed up on my list and indeed, it didn't take years and time to appreciate it. It is one of my favourites this year! Here's the video.

So, here it is, the Swiss entry, Michael von der Heide's Il pleur d'or and it's not bad at all. He has a very nice voice, the song is a nostalgic 80's French pop that makes me think of amongst others Jean-Jacques Goldman, Texas, Lena Ph and Kylie Minogue and something else I can't yet put my finger on but.... a big but. I'm afraid it falls on the "nice category" and we all know "nice" doesn't work well enough in Eurovision - if most people like you but not enough to vote and no one hates you you may end up somewhere like 11th in every country and score a flat zero in the end. But the song's a grower for sure and I can imagine in a few year's time I will perhaps remember it as one of the Switzerland's bests, but I doubt it will set the scoreboard on fire in Oslo 2010. I hope I'm wrong though!

Switzerland goes national again when they announce a Swiss Michael von der Heide as their represant for oslo 2010 with Il pleut d'Or so for a change it sounds like we will have a song in French! The song will be publicly presented on January 9, 2010.  He has been around since 1996 and has released seven albums so far. He also participated in the German selection in 1999 with Bye bye bar finishing 5th. This announcement came as no surprise as his name has been circulating for some time now. Here is a medley of his biggest hits.