Malta 2004

Malta is a typical ”mid” country for me – their kind & modest popsongs are seldom in my top 5, neither are they painful in any way. I use to like Fabrizio Faniello’s songs, as well as their 1999 entry – one of the best in Eurovision EVER in my opinion – kind & modest as it indeed is! No, I really don’t understand what I like so much about “Believe in…peace”, it’s just one of those songs I can listen to again and again without getting tired.

Inspired by this year’s Maltese winner song “Vodka” (their very best since 1999! :-)) and the 2008 national Malta final that I recently watched, I’d like to present the Malta 2004 final. Oh, that made sense. Well, you see, “On again…off again” is also in the exclusive group of Maltese songs that I actually love, not just like. My points to the left:

1 Like a star
2 Love moves the world /Leontine 8p, 6p
3 24/7 / Andreana 5p, 3p
4 Dying to be free / Rita Pace 6p, 4p
5 Give me one more night / Roger Tirazona 3p, 8p
6 One way love / Fiona
7 A simple wish / Natasha & Charlene 7p (mine)
8 On again…off again / Julie & Ludwig 12p (mine)
9 Through all my life / Eleonor Cassar 4p, 2p
10 Tango 4 two / Keith Camilleri 1p (my partner’s)
11 Close to my heart / Georgina 7p (my partner’s)
12 Get free / Debbie Scerri & Prodigal sons 2p, 10p
13 It’s a wonderful life / Ali & Lis 10p (mine)
14 Take a look / Olivia Lewis
15 Can’t give my love / Marvic Lewis 1p (mine)
16 You’re on my mind / Lawrence Grey 1p (my partner’s)
17 Did I ever tell you / Fabrizio Faniello 2p, 5p

For beginners - favourites from international finals! Oh, here's 1990 too!

12p: France: White and black blues
10p: Yugoslavia: Hajde da ludojemo
8p: Spain: Bandido
7p: Portugal: Ha sempre alguem
6p: Italy: Insieme 1992
5p: Denmark: Hallo, hallo
4p: Turkey: Goslerinin hapsindayim
3p: Cyprus: Milas poli
2p: Austria: Keine mauern mehr1p: United Kingdom: Give a little love back to the

For beginners - favourites from international finals! Part II - the 00s

So, shouldn't the nineties be part II? Well, I haven't watched too many nineties finals recently, so I have to put them on hold. Opinions on the 00s are a lot easier, although it gets harder to make a top ten. So many great songs deserve to be in it!

2000:
12 p: Latvia: My star
10 p: Russia: Solo
8 p: Switzerland: La vita cos’e
7 p: Croatia: 100% te ljubam
6 p: Estonia: Once in a lifetime
5 p: Netherlands: No goodbyes
4 p: Israel: Sameach
3 p: Malta: Desire
2 p: Turkey: Yorgunum anla
1 p: Ireland: Millennium of love

2001:
12 p: Frankrike: Je n’ai que mon ame
10 p: Greece: (I would) die for you
8 p: Slovenia: Energy
7 p: Spain: Dole que la quiero
6 p: Malta: Another summer night
5 p: United Kingdom: No dream impossible
4 p: Germany: To live for love
3 p: Portugal: So ser sei feliz asim
2 p: Turkey: Sevgilye son
1 p: Kroatia: Strings of my heart

2002:
12 p: FYR Macedonia: Od nas zavisi (all time favourite!)
10 p: France: Il faut du temps
8 p: Croatia: Everything I want
7 p: Turkey: Leylakar soldu kalbinde
6 p: Finland: Addicted to you
5 p: Israel: Light a candle
4 p: Bosnia-Herzegovina: Fairytales about love
3 p: Cyprus: Gimme
2 p: Greece: S.A.G.A.P.O
1 p: Spain: Europe’s living a celebration

2003:
12 p: Russia: Ne ver, ne bojsia
10 p: France: Monts et merveilles
8 p: Croatia: Vise nisam tvoja (with Claudia Beni! As you can see, she is NOT my all-time-special-star-oh-so-beloved-favourite, even though I’ve stolen her name for my email-address!)
7 p: Turkey: Every way that I can
6 p: Norway :I’m not afraid to move on
5 p: Belgium: Sanomi
4 p: Romania: Don’t break my heart
3 p: Bosnia-Herzegovina: Ne brini
2 p: Sweden: Give me your love
1 p: Poland: Zadnych granic

2004:
12 p: Ukraine: Wild dances
10 p: Romania: I admit
8 p: Croatia: You are the only one
7 p: Greece: Shake it
6 p: Malta: On again…off again
5 p: Belgium: 1 life
4 p: Albania: The image of you
3 p: Portugal: Foi magia
2 p: Serbia and Montenegro: Lane Moje
1 p: Sweden: It hurts

2005:
12 p: Greece: My # 1
10 p: Hungary: Forogj vilag
8 p: Ukraine: Razom nas bahato
7 p: Moldova: Boonika bate doba
6 p: Switzerland: Cool vibes
5 p: Slovenia: Stop
4 p: United Kingdom: Touch my fire
3 p: Malta: Angel
2 p: Croatia: Vukovi umiro sami
1 p: Monaco: Tout de moi

2006:
12 p: Croatia: Moja Sticla
10 p: Sweden: Invincible
8 p: Armenia: Without your love
7 p: Slovenia: Mr Nobody
6 p: FYR Macedonia: Ninananja
5 p: Norway: Alvedansen
4 p: Romania: Tornedo
3 p: Finland: Hard rock hallelujah
2 p: Ukraine: Show me your love
1 p: Belgium: Je t’adore

2007:
12 p: FYR Macedonia: Mojot svet
10 p: Greece: Yassou Maria
8 p: Slovenia: Cvet z juga
7 p: Belarus: Work your magic
6 p: Bulgaria: Voda
5 p: Georgia: Visionary dream
4 p: Serbia: Molitva
3 p: Iceland: Valentine lost
2 p: Andorra: Salvem el mon
1 p: Portugal: Danca comigo

For beginners - favourites from international finals! Part 1 - the eighties

Like I already mentioned, I’m not good with old stuff, 1980 is about as far back as I can go…so here are my top ten lists of international finals so far…there are quite a few missing, so stay tuned. I will re-watch and mark with points when I feel like doing it. Not always in a international mood, you see.

For hardcore fans of ESC, it may seem simple to give points to international songs, but I actually find it harder than with national finals, especially if the finals are old. Shall I take into consideration how I felt about a song back then, quite often as a kid with a kid’s taste for music, which not always match my adult fine-developed taste, shall I let the somehow unfair fact that I have gone tired of a song affect my judging, even if I liked it a lot when I first heard it? And of course songs themselves go out of date as the music industry changes and develops, but that doesn’t mean they were bad when they were released. The result is somewhere “in between”.

1980:
12p: Greece: Autostop
10 p: Spain: Que data esta noche
8 p: Marokko: Bitakat hob
7p: Luxembourg: Le papa penguin
6p: Ireland: What’s another year?
5p: Italy: Non so che darei
4p: Norway: Sami ædnan
3p: Sweden: Just nu
2p: France: He, he m’siereus dames
1p: Germany: Theater

1981:
12p: United Kingdom: Making your mind up
10p: Belgium: Samson
8p: Switzerland: Io senza te
7p: Finland: Reagge OK
6p: Sverige: Fångad i en dröm
5p: France: Humanahum
4: Turkey: Dönme dolap
3p: Luxembourg: C’est peut-etre pas l’amerique
2p: Portugal: Play-back
1p: Ireland: Horoscopes

1983:
12 p: Sweden: Främling
10 p: Spain: Quien maneja mi barca
8 p: United Kingdom: I'm never giving up
6 p: Luxembourg: Si la vie est cadeaux
5 p: Israel: Hai!
4 p: Italy: Per lucia
3 p: Netherlands: Sing me a song
2 p: Belgium: Rendez-vous
1 p: Germany: Rücksicht

1985:
12 p: Sweden: Bra vibrationer
10 p: Austria: Kinder dieser Welt
8 p: Germany: Für alle
7 p: Finland: Eläköön ëläma
6 p: Luxembourg: Children, kinder, enfants
5 p: Turkey: Didai didai dai
4 p: Norway: La det swinge
3 p: Belgium: Laat me nu gaan
2 p: Switzerland: Piano, piano1 p: Italy: Magic oh magic


1987:
12p: Iceland: Høgt & hjott
10 p: Spain: No estas solo
8 p: Switzerland. Moi tié moi tié
7p: Netherlands: Rechtop in de wind
6p: Italy: Gente di mare
5p: Yugoslavia: Ja sam se ples
4p: Finland: Sata salama
3p: Luxembourg: Amour amour
2p: Germany: Lass die Sonne in dein herz
1p: Israel: don’t remember the name of that crazy song right now and I'm too lazy to look it up

1988:
12p: Norway: For vår jord
10p: Switzerland: Ne partez-pas sans moi
8p: Yugoslavia: Mangup
7p: Germany: Lied für einen freund
6p: Sweden: Stad i ljus
5p: Ireland: Take him home
4p: Spain: La chica que yo quiera
3p: Italy: Ti scrivo
2p: France: Croire
1p: Turkey: Sufi

1989:
12p: Italy: Avrei voluto
10p: Portugal: Conquestador
8p: Svweden: En dag
7p:Luxembourg: Monsieur
6p: Denmark: Vi maler byen rød
5p: Spain: Nacida para amar
4p: Finland: La dolce vita
3p: France: J’ai volé la vie
2p: Belgium: Door de wind
1p:Turkey: Bana bana

Ukraine 2005

This weekend I had the honour to be the guest apperance at my boyfriend's eurosong-party. We watched the international 1961 final, Portugal 1986, Czheck republic 2007, Ukraine 2005 and LISTENED to Yugoslavia 1986, as he didn't have that one on tape, just on sound - CASSETTE that is! Oh, what a night! Good finals, except 1961 - I'm just not good with old stuff, but luckily they didn't last long in the old days.

Allright...here's the final I liked the most, Ukraine 2005...lots of good songs, rock and r'n'b-style that I love. It didn't appeal much to most of the guests, but that's their problem! Everyone had to vote in spite of certain difficulties...

1 Vidlitay / Stand up 6p, 12p, 10p (mine), 10p
2 Bezmezhniy svit / Ne Dilya 7p, 5p, 8p, 5p
3 Ottay / Tayanna 6p (mine), 12p, 12p
4 Doroha / Mandri 8p, 6p, 12p, 10p, 10p, 2p
5 Chushoy gorod / Ex-president 8p, 2p, 12p, 3p, 10p, 7p
6 Patriot / Yurcash 3p (mine), 10p, 10p, 6p, 10p
7 Pozavchora / Tiana Ravi 7p (mine), 1p, 6p, 8p, 8p, 7p
8 Chas priyshov / De Shifer 5p (mine), 12p
9 Zaberi menya / Foxy 4p, 3p, 1p, 4p, 6p
10 I never loved you / Viktor Pavlik 8p, 6p, 2p, 2p, 5p
11 Korabli / Sergei Gavrilov 1p, 3p, 5p, 4p
12 Nashe lito / Tartak 4p, 1p, 7p, 5p
13 Znaky pitannya /Daleko 3p, 7p, 4p (mine), 5p, 2p, 8p, 1p, 1p
14 Another little shot / Ani Lonak 4p, 10p, 8p (mine), 2p, 12p, 2p, 6p, 4p, 8p
15 Lovy mene / Talita Kum 10p, 3p, 4p, 5p
16 Veter / Lourdes 2p, 2p (mine), 7p
17 Freedom / Julia Korshinska 12p, 6p, 3p, 3p
18 Zemlya rodnaya / Volya 5p, 1p (mine), 3p
19 Razom nas bahato / Greenjolly 1p, 12p (mine!), 7p, 7p, 4p, 1p

Our winner became Ani Lonak, with 56 points. A splendid song, and I've heard rumours that she will represent or at least be in Ukraine's national final this year. The other ones were surprised that I gave this year's actual winner song 12 points, but I've grown fond of it, although it's usually not my cup of tea at all. It didn't reach higher than # 7 in our ranking. 2nd came Chushoy good with Ex-president and 3rd was Patriot with Yurcash.

Denmark 1988

This is so Danish and so 80’s that it’s almost ridiculous. All the songs are in the typical boogie-woogie-style they were famous for in ESC internationally throughout the decade, and the with clothes, not to mention the HAIR, it’s just too much! This is one of the finals I can watch being happily fulfilled with the outfits, while I must agree with my serious company; the music is not so good. My points to the left.

1 Du kan gå med / Hip Hop 12p, 10p
2 Til dig / Paul Mathiassen 2p, 6p
3 Tid til lidt kærlighed / Snapshot 10p, 5p
4 Vi danser rock & rul / Stig Rossen 4p, 2p
5 9 ½ minut / Anne Marie Busk 7p, 8p
6 Johnny B. Goode / Lulu 5p, 3p
7 Det’ okay / Henriette Lykke 6p, 4p
8 Gi naturen sjansen / Anne Karin Broberg 1p, 1p
9 Ka’ du se hva’ jeg sa’ / Kirsten & Søren 8p, 7p
10 Ene / Sirius 3p, 12p

Cyprus 2006

While we're waiting for Cyprus to win the ESC, please enjoy points given for their 2006 final. I don't remember so many of these songs, except for the winner; "Why do angels cry", which is not the most memorable in the ESC-history. The Christina Aguleira-ripoff (even with the title!); "I'm a fighter" was far better. My points to the left. One of the finals we agreed most on...

1 Play that melody for me / Eleftheria ft Maria Zorli 1p, 1p
2 I'm a fighter / Marina Solonos 12p, 12p
3 Why angels cry / Annet Artani 3p, 3p
4 Land of yesterday / Evogoras Evagoru & Christi Andreou 6p, 10p
5 Love on the weekend / Andreas Konstantinidis 8p, 7p
6 Congratulations / Marios Tofi 10p, 6p
7 Everytime I close my eyes / Constantinos Andronikou 2p, 4p
8 Just your smile / Eleni Andreau 5p, 5p
9 Funky / Nick Nikolau & Viky Anastasiau 7p, 8p
10 After you / Valanto Trifonus 4p, 2p

Croatia 1999

Let’s proceed with something not so simple – Croatia 1999! From my point of view, it’s insane to have 24 songs in one contest – far too long, and this was not even such a good final. A lot of boring ballads. But still, Croatia is one of my favourite countries, both national and international. A lot of the artists compete in several finals, and I’m lucky to have quite a few of them in my mp3-collection. They were a bit of a disappointment in 2007, so I hope they will return to their usual standards this year. My points to the left. Note that we have broken the golden ESC-rules by giving also 9 and 11 points, and even added up to 5 minus-points to the songs we dislike the most!

1 Miris ljubavi/ Teens 8p, 7p
(1990 called, they would like to get their shirts back)
2 Da zora zna /Kristina -4p (mine)
(boring ballad)
3 Samo ti / Alen Nizetic -3p, -4p
(boring man-ballad)
4 Samo neba zna / Andy -2p (mine)
(boring duet-ballad)
5 Kad prestane kisa / En Face 11p (my partner’s)
(boring rock)
6 Dobro mi dosla ljubavi / Giuliano 5p, 12p
(OK dance)
7 San / Josip Katalenic 9p (mine)
(A lesbian man???)
8 Kraljica noci / Nikita 11p, 8p
(Opera-rock-r’n’b?? Nice, but bad singing)
9 Kasno je / Magazin -5p (mine)
(Strange hair. Ugly ballad)
10 Jos jednom / Sanja Lukanovic -5p (my partner’s)
(Boooooring ballad!)
11 Cijeli svijet je izmedu nas / Turbo X 1p, 3p
(A little nicer ballad)
12 Nisam te vrijedan / Goran Karan 1p (my partner’s)
(Kind of blues-ballad)
13 Uzalud / Joy 6p, 2p
(Funky rock, OK, but a bit out of tune)
14 Lako je reci zbogom / Mandi -2p (my partner’s)
(Boring ballad)
15 Ja sam tvoja zena / Marina Tomasevic
(black glitter-costume. Cool, very ESC!)
16 Jos jedno jutro budi se / Dani Stipanicev
(Boring man-ballad)
17 Dajte ljubavi / Branka Bliznac 7p, 6p(sounds like a theme from a TV-show for children)
18 Jednom u zivotu / Zrinka -3p (my partner’s)
(Boring woman-ballad)
19 Nije te briga / Zorana Siljeg 10p, 10p
(folk-music kind of rock, nice)
20 I kako sada ici dalje / Renata Sabljak 4p, -1p(Good ballad????)
21 Marija Magdalena / Doris 12p, 9p(Good)
22 Mama Marija / Mladen Grdovic 2p (mine)(Old-fashioned, bombastic singing)
23 U ponoc pozvoni / Minea 3p, 5p
(Cute. Minea has better songs, though)
24 Ljubav jedne zene / Petar Graso -1p, 4p
(Boring man!)

Sweden 2001

Let’s start with something simple, like Sweden 2001:
Somehow I find it provoking when people say; “This is not a typical ESC-song!” Oh, God. What is a typical ESC-song?? There’s more variety in this competition than anywhere else. It’s hiphopdancernbrockpopclassical; almost anything. There’s almost NOT a genre that hasn’t been presented in the ESC.

So of course it’s bullshit. But if you insist of calling something a typical ESC-tune, it would be the something of the schlager-genre. Nothing wrong with that, it’s just that the ESC is about much more than schlager. Anyhows, I love schlager and I LOVE the Swedish Melodifestivalen. The Mother country of the schlager genre proves with a spectacular show that we in Norway have yet another thing to envy them. Luckily, the Norwegian broadcasting has decided on a model like Sweden’s and it seems that has improved the quality of the songs as well. A cool show attracts cool songwriters. Enough babbling. Here’s the list:

1 Kom ner på jorden 7p, 7p
2 Ingenmansland 12p, 4p
3 Om du förlåter mig 5p, 3p
4 Om du var här hos mig 10p, 8p
5 Allt som jag ser 3p, 5p
6 I går, i dag 2p, 1p
7 Vända om 8p, 10p
8 Lyssna till ditt hjärta 1p, 2p
9 Jag känner dig 4p, 12p
10 Om du stannar här 6p, 6p

My points to the left. For once, I had a ballad on top. The winner song; "Lyssna till ditt hjärta" is one of the worst from this country, but I remeber liking it back then. 2001 was not a great year!

Welcome to my Eurochoice!

I hope you will enjoy your stay on my pages.
What and who is this about? A little introduction (instruction?) follows:

I’ve always been a fan of the Eurovision and among “normal” friends I’ve been known as a person with great knowledge of the competition. Just because I know some simple facts about stuff like “who was the international winner in 1980”. Well, any die-hard fan of the Eurovision will say that that is NOTHING.

My boyfriend can with no doubt be categorized as a die-hard fan. He introduced me to the wonderful world of national finals. And I feel instantly in love. Although I will never be able to remember all facts, I’m proud to address myself as a fan of national finals today. I love everything about it; great artists and music I would never have heard of else wise, all the different languages, the shows, the dancing, the clothes, different cultures and the amazing development in television, technology, eurosong-culture and music over the years.

Yes, I admit I’m a newcomer, and I won’t be blogging about things I don’t know anything about.

This blog is simply a survey of all the national finals we watch and mark with points. Small comments are added to some songs, I think it’s fun, but I’m not a great music-reviewer. I think the music is the most important, but I pay great attention to other things as well, like the outfits (which causes irritation watched in company of a man whose interest in music is beyond comparison).

Note that this is the national finals WE WATCH. Nothing else. It’s totally random, personally, uncategorized and unsorted. If you’re looking for hard facts and statistics, use other pages (google “national finals”! :-)).

So, what would the ESC look and sound like if my Euro-choice was the one to decide? I often agree that the best song is chosen, and give my douze points to the original winner. And even more often I don’t. I don’t understand what they were thinking, like; choosing a bad and boring ballad like THAT when there were so many cool and modern songs to pick from? Well, that’s Eurovision. It wouldn’t be quite as fun if the result was obvious, would it?

Enjoy reading my blog, and feel free to comment or even email me on claudiabeni@epost.no.