Germany

Day 8: Of good voices and proper acts from the Big Five!

It’s the end of the individual rehearsals every year: those of the Big Five. And every year it is the disappointment of a group of countries that seem to be unable to bring anything good to the stage. Last year there was already a noticeable change in this, but this year the countries really surprise! Rehearsals Big Five FRANCE: For the first time since 1996, the Breton language can be heard at the Eurovision Song Contest. Back then France finished at the bottom. That won’t happen now, but the act made quite a messy impression during rehearsals. The points will really have to come in thanks to the song and enthusiasm of Alvan and Ahez. ITALY: The performance of Italy, now that Blanco is around, is rather disappointing. This is mainly due to the poor vocals of both. Mahmood is dressed in black, Blanco in white and there is a lot of light. But that doesn’t help much if the vocals remain as bad as they are now. However, our friends from songfestivalweblog.nl remember that Mahmood did not excel during the rehearsals in 2019 either, but when it came to the jury final and the final, he really showed his best. Perhaps that will happen again three years later. UNITED KINGDOM: Sam Ryder stands amid scaffolding singing his song. And that is all he needs for this song. His strong voice seems to be enough for a very high score, something for which the British have to go way back. The British will also finally experience that you can end up high with a good song. SPAIN: We remember the act, in which singing and dancing are combined, from the Spanish national final. This usually has an effect on the singer’s voice. Not so with Chanel. Because with this performance she proves that she is more, much more than an average pop singer. Like the British, the Spaniards can look forward to the festival with confidence. GERMANY: With guitar and drum machine Malik Harris manages to show an act that is not bad at all. As far as vocals go, Malik continues to do well. The act is not directly in the top-5 with the bookmakers, and the song is perhaps just a bit too anonymous for that. One thing is certain: Germany is also out of the lower regions this year. Conclusion: unlike in previous years, the Big Five seem to be doing reasonably well this year and there is even a potential winner. Has Måneskin’s win brought new impetus to these five countries? Who’ knows…?

Day 6: The Big Five

And then we have the Big Five; we hadn’t heard or seen anything about it until now. So today that has changed. FRANCE: Lots of green on stage with Alvan and Ahez’s French entry. The group members are dressed in black and gold. Eurovision.tv reports very solid bass. Lots of flashes of light and, to the beat of the song, Pyrotechnics can be seen coming from two pots on either side of the stage. ITALY: We see Mahmood, but instead of Blanco there is a stand-in. The grand piano plays a part in the act. Mahmood is dressed in a long black coat. He wears white sunglasses. Mahmood and hist stand-in (Blanco in the next rehearsal) are standing face to face. UNITED KINGDOM: Sam Ryder performs in a huge scaffold that appears to be made of steel. Lots of flashing light on Sam, who is wearing a black jumpsuit. Eurovision.tv praises the strong vocals of the sympathetic singer. SPAIN: Chanel wears a matador outfit, but entirely in silver. The song requires a lot of dancing and there is. Three men and two women, dressed in black, complete the dance act. GERMANY: Malik Harris is featured separately with just his guitar. He wears black pants and a white shirt. Only when the rap part can be heard, everything looks slightly different: according to eurovision.tv there is a big contrast with the rest of the act.

Blast from the past: Germany 1992

We know a lot about Eurovision; this is knowledge we want to share with you. Therefore we’d like to bring you a blast from the past. Back to 1992, the German entry, “Träume sind für alle da”, sung by Wind. Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest The golden years for Germany have ended. With a first place for Nicole in 1992 and second places for Wind in 1985 and 1987, Germany was the country to beat. But after Wind’s second time at the Eurovision stage, it stopped. The 1991 entry even was a total failure: three countries saved Atlantis 2000 from zero. Something had to be done to change this. Ein Lied für Malmö The national preselection was called “Ein Lied für Malmö” (A song for Malmö). German broadcaster MDR (Mittel Deutsche Rundfunk) organized the preselection, which was held on March 30 in Magdeburg, hosted by Carmen Nebel. Six singers and groups each had one song. Only the group Blaue Engel had never before taken part in a German Eurovision final. Bernhard Brink sang “Der letzte Traum“, 4th with 0 points Relax sang “Blue Farewell River“, 4th with 0 points Susan Schubert sang “Shalalaika“, 4th with 0 points Blaue Engel sang “Licht am Horizont“, 2nd with 3 points Lena Valaitis sang “Wir seh’n uns wieder“, 3rd with 1 point Wind sang “Träume sind für alle da“, 1st with 7 points The votes were cast by the 11 regional juries. Wind For a third time, the Germans chose Wind from Munich to represent them. At that moment, only two of the original group members, Sami Kalifa and Petra Scheeser, were around. The others were singer Albert Oberloher, Stefan Maro, Tina Hierstetter and Oliver Hahn. Wind was made up by singer/songwriter Hanne Haller in 1985. They were the surprise winners of the 1985 German final for the Eurovision Song Contest. Their song “Für Alle” was the hot favorite to win the contest. However, the group became 2nd. In 1987, with a new singer, they did the same. Note that in “Laß die Sonne in dein Herz” Rob Pilatus was one of the band members. Rob became famous (and infamous) as one of the two Milli Vanilli boys, who appeared not to sing their own songs.Wind released a total of 21 studio albums and started to become more and more a concept in stead of a band. They still exist, but none of the 1992 members still sing in Wind. Träume sind für alle da The song “Träume sind für alle da” (Dreams are there for all) was a typical 1990s German Eurovision schlager, but not really a song that many liked. The song was composed by Ralph Siegel, with lyrics from Bernd Meinunger. You can read the full lyrics here. Results Third time was clearly NOT a charm for Wind. With points from no more than 5 countries (10 from Portugal!), Wind ended up in 16th place. Wind did to later attempts to get to the Eurovision stage, but both times they failed.

Eurovision Universe Summer Party: Lena – Satellite

Today we continue the Eurovision Universe Summer Party with an absolute banger from 2010. Satellite is the winning German entry for the Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo. Lena Meyer-Landrut represented the country with the song, composed by Julie Frost and John Gordon. The German entry won with flying colours, with a total of 246 points. The runner up, Turkey, represented by ManGa, ‘only’ received 170 points. Make sure to follow our Eurovision Universe Summer Party on Spotify and Youtube, so you’re the first to know when we add new songs!

John Lawton (Les Humphries Singers) passed away

Today the news was announced that on june 29 of this year, John Lawton passed away. Uriah Heep, the band were Lawton was a member of, published the news today. Lawton was a member of Uriah Heep between 1976 and 1979. This is what he was most wellknown for. After that, he also sang in bands like Rebel, Zar and Gunhill and made a couple of solo albums. Lawton was known for many musical styles, like rock ‘n’ roll, blues and heavy metal. Before Uriah Heep, he also sang in Lucifer’s Friends and… he was a member of the Les Humphries Singers. That’s where the Eurovision connection pops up: he was one of the six Les Humphries Singers who entered the Eurovision stage in 1976. They became 2nd in the German final. However, the winner was disqualified, and that gave the Singers the opportunity to sing their “Sing sang song” at the contest in The Hague. John Lawton was 74 years old.

UEFA Eighth finals: DAY 4

The 4th and last day of the UEFA Eighth Finals has arrived. With, again, two matches. First we start with England vs Germany. They won in the early 1980s in a row. The United Kingdom won with Bucks Fizz in 1981. One year later, in the small city of Harrogate in England, Nicole got the prize with “Ein bißchen Frieden”. Sweden will meet Ukraine today. Both countries once sent a song about an angel. In 1998, Jill Johnson sang “Kärleken är” (En ängel flög forbi mot himmelen så fri, men hon lämnade sitt leende). In 2011 it was Ukrainian Mika Newton who sang the song “Angel”.

UEFA 2020: DAY 13

It’s gonna be the last day of the first round today. Four matches will be played again. We can put the first two countries, Poland and Sweden, in only one song. In 2018, Poland was represented by Polish DJ Gromee and Swedish singer Lukas Meijer. They sang “Light me up” in a Polish/Swedish co-production. The second match will be between Slovakia and Spain. For both countries, we chose a ballad, sung by a duo. For Slovakia we chose for the 2009 contestants Kamil Mikulčík and Nela Pocisková and their duet “Leť tmou”. The Spanish song is a love duet from 2018: Amaia and Alfred sang “Tu canción”. Portugal will meet France tonight. Both countries most often sing in their native languages. So we decided to pick the exceptions. In 2008, Sebastien Tellier sang “Divine”. Only a few lines were in French, the biggest part in English. This year, the Portuguese band The Black Mamba sang it’s song “Love is on my side” in English. And we have the match between Hungary and Germany today. The city of Munich is not allowed to make a statement and colour the stadium in rainbow colours. That’s what UEFA decided. However, we don’t need UEFA’s permission. So we add Kati Wolf’s “What about my dream”; the 2011 Hungarian entry. It was the fan favorite, and we all know that a big part of the Eurovision fan base is at least very gay friendly! Even more clear was the German singer Lou in 2003 in her song “Let’s get happy”. Why? Well, just listen!

UEFA2020: Day 9

And the European soccer Championship continues with day 9. We start with Hungary and France. Hungary, the country where the authorities consider LGBT+ as a crime. Well, Hungary, remember who and what you sent in 2009? Watch Zoli Ádok and his “Dance with me”. And we have France. We have Bilal Hassani’s “Roi” here. No explanation needed. The second match is between Portugal and Germany. In 1988, the Portuguese singer Dora sang “Voltarei”, which means “I’ll come back”. In 2000, the German singer Stefan Raab opened his entry “Wadde hadde dudde da” with “He’s been to America and said: if I make it there I’m never gonna make it to Germany again. And tonight, here he is, back again”. Spain will meet Poland today. And although Spain won twice, there are a lot of successful second places for the country. We chose for Anabel Conde’s “Vuelve conmigo” from 1995. One year before that, Poland debuted, also with a second place. Poland has never done better so far, so watch and listen Edyta Gorniak’s “To nie ja!”.

Road to Rotterdam: Germany

The Eurovision Song Contest is coming up. That is why we take a closer look at an entry every day. We will start with the entries that have been directly placed for the final.Jendrik Sigwart is participating for Germany: an unknown singer, who is especially notable for his ukulele and blond hair. He was making a video clip with a group of friends, posted fragments of it on Instagram and said that it could be something for the Eurovision Song Contest. He caught the attention of the German broadcaster NDR with those messages. In the end he was chosen to represent Germany with “I don’t feel hate”.

Jendrik

© EBU/Andres Putting About Quick Facts NameJendrik Sigwart Born27 august 1994 Nationality🇩🇪 German National SelectionInternal Selection In Eurovision2021 Rotterdam SongI don’t feel hate (2021) Biography Jendrik Sigwart was born in Hamburg in 1994. He is a German singer and musicalstar. Born in Hamburg-Volksdorf, Jendrik started playing music at a young age. He studied piano and violin. He did a study in musical and vocals at the Institute for Music at the Osnabrück Highschool. Already during his study, he played roles in several musicals like “Peter Pan”, “My fair lady” and “Hairspray”. Sigwart writes his own songs, that he publishes on Youtube. His trademark is the ukulele, a small four-stringed guitar of Hawaiian origin. In december 2020 Jendrik played three of his songs in a benefit concert for the refugees, living in Camp Moria in Greece. After getting 18 washing machines via internet, he decided to make a video clip and caught attention of German TV. In february 2021 it became known that he was going to represent Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “I don’t feel hate”. It meant his breakthrough among a larger audience. However, he became 25th in the contest. Entries I don’t feel hate Country🇩🇪 Germany Year2021 LanguageEnglish Lyrics & MusicJendrik SigwartChristoph Oswald Backings/DancersMyriam KüppersSophia EuskirchenMadina FreyElvin Karakurt Results Semi Points: –Position: –Running order: – Results Finals Points: 3Position: 25Running order: 15 https://youtu.be/1m0VEAfLV4E