Day 4: new sun troubles, a Swedish circle and many more

Today is the day of the stage again. Today the EBU has made an official statement about it: “During the technical tests in Turin, the production team has experienced challenges with how long it takes to adjust the “sun” to different positions in the time between the different performances. Together with the host station RAI it was therefore decided that the sun will remain in the same position during all 40 songs, to ensure a fair competition for all participating countries.”. What position that is, is still being discussed. So to be continued again. It is certain that a number of countries now have to make changes in their staging.

Meanwhile, 9 countries rehearsed for their performance in the second semifinal.

IRELAND: Brooke takes the stage in a bright blue suit. During her performance she is assisted by four dancers. They start the song lying on the floor! Ireland uses many floor projections. Brooke is also praised by Eurovision.tv for her strong voice. Pyrotechnics are used at the end of her performance.

NORTH MACEDONIA: Andrea stands alone on the podium for North Macedonia. She sings her song completely wrapped in black leather. In her performance she uses the lifting bridges over the water. Shadows of hands are visible on the LED screens. The sun is not only orange but also white and blue.

ESTONIA: Stefan starts his performance on the B stage. He is accompanied only by his guitar. Later in the song, he goes wild: then he uses the entire stage to present his performance. The two cowboys from the national final stayed home.

ROMANIA: WRS from Romania wears glittering wetlook trousers. He also wears a red blouse, but according to Eurovision tradition, that goes off. He turns out to be wearing a sleeveless shirt with glitter underneath. There is a lot of dancing. As a result, the Romanian likely gets a lot of attention from the crowd.

POLAND: The Polish competitor Ochman is also in black, he wears a black suit. He is assisted by four dancers, who seem to represent some kind of water spirits. Flashing light effects can be seen during the performance. The waterfall on the stage is also used… what else could we expect with a song about a river?

MONTENEGRO: Vladana has her entire performance on the B stage. She wears a blue dress during her performance. The background is also blue, with splashes of white as graphics. Vladana mainly remains in one place.

BELGIUM: The Belgian Jérémie Makiese impressed with his song. Jérémie is flanked by four dancers. He himself wears blue-grey trousers, a black shirt and a silver jacket, while the dancers wear black jackets. At the end of the act all the light falls on Jérémie, who is standing on a platform on which flames are projected.

SWEDEN: Cornelia Jakobs ranks high among the bookmakers. As the Swedes always do, Cornelia Jakobs also puts on the same act as during the national final Melodifestivalen. The starry sky at the beginning, the large, first green and then red, circular plate right behind Cornelia, even the silver-black clothing and the bare feet are the same.

CZECH REPUBLIC: The Czech group We Are Domi is the last to rehearse today. The group uses a lot of light, which makes you feel like you’re in a disco. Funny effect: the ‘sun’ on stage looks like a vinyl album here. Eurovision.tv mentions the cello-string guitar: the guitarist made it himself.

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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.  

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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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