Day 3: start of the 2nd semi rehearsals

Day three of rehearsals: the second semifinal has started. Nobody knows about the stage anymore. We try to keep you informed. For the time being, we’ll stick to the nine countries that rehearsed.

FINLAND: Expectations were obviously high with a big name like The Rasmus in da’ house. In black and yellow rain gear, the stars stood on stage between huge black balloons. Eurovision.tv praises the professionalism of the band members.

ISRAEL: It was quite exciting whether Israel would participate or not. However, the security issues died down. And so Michael Ben David stood on stage in white, surrounded by his dancers. Remarkable: eurovision.tv reports that there is good singing. That has not been done so far.

SERBIA: Konstrakta’s act is little different from what we saw during the national final. She has the healthy hair of Megan Markle, which she also sings about. She washes her hands regularly. The dancers around her carry towels. Everything to stay “In corpore sano”, in a healthy body.

AZERBAIJAN: It was to be expected: Azerbaijan has a standout act. Nadir Rustamli sings from a sort of staircase that looks like a grandstand. There is also a dancer in that stand. Halfway through the act, the stand is split in two and the dancer and singer can see each other.

GEORGIA: Circus Mircus represents Georgia. And clowns belong to a circus. A singer in a leather jacket and flying goggles, a man with an eye patch and a belly organ and a bassist who seems to have borrowed the hat from the Ukrainians. That last man has a beard of flowers. Many colors can be seen on stage. Surreal is how even the official site describes it.

MALTA: Emma Muscat performs in a dress covered with silver. She is flanked by four dancers. Later during the act, she sits behind a huge piano. She also uses the so-called B-stage, just in front of the green room. The sun springs into action and gives off its golden light during this act.

SAN MARINO: You can expect a striking act from Achille Lauro. He wears body stocking, cowboy boots and hat, a black boa and he is at a red rodeo. While you’d expect that with the title “Stripper,” the clothes don’t come off. Where there is smoke there is fire: that certainly applies to this act, which ends with a lot of pyro technics.

AUSTRALIA: Of course Sheldon Reily wears his jeweled mask. Surprising is the huge white suit he is also wearing. At the bottom of the suit is a huge tow. Eurovision.tv compares it to a wedding dress that drags on the floor. It almost seems as if Sheldon is staying in the clouds.

CYPRUS: Andromache is singing in a purple dress with what looks like a huge fan behind her. The dancers move around that fan. The fan is also used to display the graphics. Different colors are visible.

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History

70 years of Eurovision: a couple of big hits

The Eurovision Song Contest is celebrating its 70th anniversary. That is a wonderful milestone. We at Eurovision Universe love diving into the history of the contest. That is why we are taking a closer look at the contests of the past 70 years. 1982 ‘Harrogate, where?’ was the question raised at the beginning of the broadcast. For the small British seaside town was the venue for the 1982 Eurovision Song Contest. Jan Leeming hosted the event. France did not participate because the Minister of Culture considered the standard too low. Greece did have an entry, but ultimately withdrew it. Here, too, there was interference from a Minister of Culture. The song was deemed not good enough. Jahn Teigen and Anita Skorgan participated for Norway for the second and third time, respectively. By now married, they sang a quiet ballad. Sally Ann Tripplet, a member of the group Prima Donna in 1980, was also back for the United Kingdom; now as half of the duo Bardo. Anna Vissi, who competed for Greece in 1980, now represented Cyprus. Her “Mono I agapi” finished fifth, for a long time the best score for Cyprus. And then there was Stella: with Hearts of Soul she competed for the Netherlands in 1970, with Dream Express for Belgium in 1977, and now solo, also for Belgium. She also did well with a fourth place. We must not fail to mention the Finnish candidate: Kojo. He didn’t score a single point with a song against the neutron bomb. Unsurprisingly: the song was not very suitable for the general public. Israel sent Avi Toledano with a cheerful song called “Hora”. He came second with it. Nicole And that was actually what the competition was about. Because Germany won with a landslide. Nicole, 17 years old, wearing a black polka-dot dress, sitting on a stool with a guitar in her hand. This is how she sang her peace song “Ein bißchen Frieden”. There was a great deal of consensus regarding this entry. Nicole achieved the highest score up to that point. She managed to generate applause by singing her song not only in German but also in English, French, and Dutch. Later, she also released a Danish version of the song. 1983 The Olympic Stadium in Munich was the venue. More precisely, the Rudi Sedlmayer Halle, a basketball hall. The host was Marlène Charell. That poor presenter faced the impossible task of pronouncing just about every comma in three languages. Greece, France, and Italy were back, but Ireland skipped a year. This brought the total number of participants to twenty. Guy Bonnet had the honor of opening the festival for France. He had participated before, in 1970. Jahn Teigen was also returning for Norway, with his wife Anita Skorgan in the choir. The Norwegian conductor was Sigurd Jansen. Marlène Charell didn’t have that on her cue card. She only found out when she had to announce the man. So she just made up a name on the spot, “Johannes Skorgan”. 16-year-old Carola Häggkvist competed for Sweden. Her song “Främling” came third and Carola managed to score a big hit. She released the song not only in English, but also in German and Dutch. Another international hit was that of Yugoslavia. Back home, the big stars were quite angry that they had lost the national final to Daniel, but he achieved the best score for the country up to that point with his song “Džuli”. Ofra Haza participated for Israel. She came second with the song “Chai”. Later, she had a hit throughout Europe with “Im nin’alu”. In 2000, Haza died of AIDS. A notable act participated for Belgium: the group Pas De Deux with the song “Rendez-vous”, with the full lyrics “Rendez-vous, but enough is enough and I’m done”. When that song won the Belgian national final, half the audience left the hall. The rest stayed to boo and otherwise yell through the song and make their anger known. Corinne Hermes The winner was once again a French singer participating for Luxembourg: Corinne Hermes. The ballad “Si la vie est cadeau” may have made the biggest impression on the jury members, but certainly not on the record-buying public. Carola from Sweden and Daniel from Yugoslavia had the big international hits. Corinne Hermes had more trouble selling her song. But, all in all, several major hits emerged from the 1983 Eurovision Song Contest.  

Read More »
History
Martijn

70 years of Eurovision: a couple of big hits

The Eurovision Song Contest is celebrating its 70th anniversary. That is a wonderful milestone. We at Eurovision Universe love diving into the history of the contest. That is why we are taking a closer look at the contests of the past 70 years. 1982 ‘Harrogate, where?’ was the question raised at the beginning of the broadcast. For the small British seaside town was the venue for the 1982 Eurovision Song Contest. Jan Leeming hosted the event. France did not participate because the Minister of Culture considered the standard too low. Greece did have an entry, but ultimately withdrew it. Here, too, there was interference from a Minister of Culture. The song was deemed not good enough. Jahn Teigen and Anita Skorgan participated for Norway for the second and third time, respectively. By now married, they sang a quiet ballad. Sally Ann Tripplet, a member of the group Prima Donna in 1980, was also back for the United Kingdom; now as half of the duo Bardo. Anna Vissi, who competed for Greece in 1980, now represented Cyprus. Her “Mono I agapi” finished fifth, for a long time the best score for Cyprus. And then there was Stella: with Hearts of Soul she competed for the Netherlands in 1970, with Dream Express for Belgium in 1977, and now solo, also for Belgium. She also did well with a fourth place. We must not fail to mention the Finnish candidate: Kojo. He didn’t score a single point with a song against the neutron bomb. Unsurprisingly: the song was not very suitable for the general public. Israel sent Avi Toledano with a cheerful song called “Hora”. He came second with it. Nicole And that was actually what the competition was about. Because Germany won with a landslide. Nicole, 17 years old, wearing a black polka-dot dress, sitting on a stool with a guitar in her hand. This is how she sang her peace song “Ein bißchen Frieden”. There was a great deal of consensus regarding this entry. Nicole achieved the highest score up to that point. She managed to generate applause by singing her song not only in German but also in English, French, and Dutch. Later, she also released a Danish version of the song. 1983 The Olympic Stadium in Munich was the venue. More precisely, the Rudi Sedlmayer Halle, a basketball hall. The host was Marlène Charell. That poor presenter faced the impossible task of pronouncing just about every comma in three languages. Greece, France, and Italy were back, but Ireland skipped a year. This brought the total number of participants to twenty. Guy Bonnet had the honor of opening the festival for France. He had participated before, in 1970. Jahn Teigen was also returning for Norway, with his wife Anita Skorgan in the choir. The Norwegian conductor was Sigurd Jansen. Marlène Charell didn’t have that on her cue card. She only found out when she had to announce the man. So she just made up a name on the spot, “Johannes Skorgan”. 16-year-old Carola Häggkvist competed for Sweden. Her song “Främling” came third and Carola managed to score a big hit. She released the song not only in English, but also in German and Dutch. Another international hit was that of Yugoslavia. Back home, the big stars were quite angry that they had lost the national final to Daniel, but he achieved the best score for the country up to that point with his song “Džuli”. Ofra Haza participated for Israel. She came second with the song “Chai”. Later, she had a hit throughout Europe with “Im nin’alu”. In 2000, Haza died of AIDS. A notable act participated for Belgium: the group Pas De Deux with the song “Rendez-vous”, with the full lyrics “Rendez-vous, but enough is enough and I’m done”. When that song won the Belgian national final, half the audience left the hall. The rest stayed to boo and otherwise yell through the song and make their anger known. Corinne Hermes The winner was once again a French singer participating for Luxembourg: Corinne Hermes. The ballad “Si la vie est cadeau” may have made the biggest impression on the jury members, but certainly not on the record-buying public. Carola from Sweden and Daniel from Yugoslavia had the big international hits. Corinne Hermes had more trouble selling her song. But, all in all, several major hits emerged from the 1983 Eurovision Song Contest.  

Read More »
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