MetaFilter posts tagged with Eurovision

Think Super Bowl halftime show on LSD, with added sequins. Eurovision!

Wordshore — Sun, 12 May 2013 04:18:48 -0800

It's that time of the year again, when the (television network) continent of Europe comes together to sing, wear interesting clothing, and gyrate before an enthusiastic/baffled world. The 2013 Eurovision Song Contest will be held in Malmö, Sweden (the 2012 winner). The city expects 100,000 fans to also attend. Several countries declined to enter this year, most for financial reasons. The two semi-finals, on Tuesday 14th and Thursday 16th May, will each deliver ten countries into the final. These will be joined by the hosts Sweden and the big five contributers to the contest to make a 26 country final on Saturday 18th May. Traditionally, the previous winners open the final (memorably, Lordi opening in Finland 2007). The evening alternates between performances and video clips extolling the virtues of the host country. Voting, sometimes controversial, takes place country by country. The winner performs, while their country contemplates the cost of hosting the event next year. A week out (and before the qualifying semi-finals), the bookmakers quote Denmark as a clear favorite, with significant money also riding on Ukraine, Norway, Russia and Azerbaijan. Dark horses include the Greece "Alcohol is free" entry (previously), Iceland, singing in their national language for the first time in 15 years, and Switzerland, whose band includes a 21 and a 95 year old. The UK entry, a successful rock ballad singer, is playing down her chances. As last year, the UK TV commentary is expected to sit somewhere between irreverent and sarcastic.

Let's big dance!

Nomyte — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 21:31:43 -0800

Are you still confused by Ukraine's 2007 Eurovision entry? Trashy, consumerist, loud, countryfied, super-sized, Gogolian, Verka Serduchka is, to some approximation, Ukraine's Vicky Pollard. Created by character comic Andrey Danilko (b. 1973, also Andriy Danylko depending on language of choice), she is a tapestry of ugly stereotypes, a story of rags to riches, the target of both repulsion and admiration, and an enduring female media personality. Reportedly, Danylko was born to a poor family in Poltava, in eastern Ukraine (wiki; some local flavor via a travel blog). Danylko was raised by his mother after his father died of lung cancer in 1980. Shy and a mediocre student according to his schoolteachers, Danylko applies to study music and pedagogy, but is rejected, only managing to finish a year of trade school. In the early 90s, Danylko tours Ukraine and western Russia with a character comedy act in the tradition of much-beloved, older, cruftier Soviet character comedians (e.g. in Russian and Danylko's version). An early version of Verka is among Danylko's character sketches, as are a number of other male and female caricatures (e.g. and more and stuff like this). Crash course in linguistics: many Slavic languages offer speakers a bevy of choices for diminutives (TVT, sorry) and augmentatives (wiki). For the armchair experts, here's Learn Russian the Fun Way on diminutives. "Verka" is a crude, childish augmentative from "Vera," faith. "Serduchka" is an augmentative schoolyard nickname from a typical Ukrainian surname (Сердюк → Сердючка). In 1997, Verka begins appearing as the host of her own comedy chat show. Verka, in character as a train conductor lady, is visited by various media personalities. The show migrates from Ukrainian TV to Russian TV. The show looks like this. The show runs for a long time. It's vaguely reminiscent of Graham Norton's schtick. (In the aftermath of Eurovision, Danylko would incoherently call in to Norton's show.) Linguistics crash course, part 2: aside from Eurovision, Verka speaks a kind of broadly Russified Ukrainian… or, perhaps, Russian with a broad Ukrainian accent… or, maybe, a crazy in-between dialect flavored with occasional Ukrainian. Whatever it is, it's ridiculed by Russians, derided by Ukrainian linguistic nationalists, and widely spoken (using various proportions of Ukrainian to Russian) by swaths of people living in Ukraine, inluding Danylko's native Poltava. (Kennan Institute explains surzhyk. Contested Tongues, Laada Bilaniuk's ethnography of Ukraine's contemporary language culture has a lot on Verka and her language, but this PDF manuscript has lots of interesting sociolinguistic detail as well. Languagelog reports on Russian vs. Ukrainian.) What's a megastar to do but sing? Before long, Verka embarks on a musical career. Widespread acclaim arrives with her fourth album, Kha-ra-sho! (i.e., khorosho with a broad Russian accent). The album is full of cheap, tinny-sounding music and becomes very popular. Several music videos appear:

Гоп-гоп ("Hop-Hop," brimming with Ukrainian kitsch)
Контролер ("Ticket Inspector")
Пирожок ("Pirozhok," namely)
Все будет хорошо ("Everything Will Be OK")
Here's a live performance of Verka's bee song.

More albums and music videos follow. Verka often works in collaboration with VIA Gra, a popular band whose name is a cheap three-way Russian-Ukrainian-English pun:

Чита-дрита (Verka visits her backward country relatives, singing starts at 2:35.)
Тук-тук-тук ("Knock-Knock," Verka takes her backward country relatives to a fancy restaurant.)
Я попала на любовь ("I Stumbled Into Love," Eurokitsch nosebleed.)

Around the time of the Orange Revolution (Foreign Affairs PDF), Verka begins to sing in unaccented Russian:

Трали-вали
Хорошо красавицам ("Pretty Women Have It Easy," featuring some chimps.)
Бери все (что у меня есть) ("Take Everything (I Have)," which appeared in the runup to Eurovision. Lots of ethnic stereotypes!)
А я смеюсь ("And Yet I Laugh," pretty in pink.)

Nor is Verka absent from the screen, appearing as a supporting character in a variety of TV productions alongside other well-known entertainers. In 2003, Verka appears as the ugly sister Brunhilda in a musical version of Cinderella (representative sample). Here's a musical number: Я не поняла ("I Didn't Get It"). In 2005, she appears as the shrewish and commanding Khyvrya (Хивря) in a televised pop-music version of Gogol's "The Sorochinsky Fair," a quintessential Ukrainian farce from his collection of Dikanka tales. (There also exists an opera version of this story, in part due to Mussorgsky, but I doubt it has strong connections to this one.) Note that the historic village of Great Sorochintsy is in the vicinity of Poltava, Danylko's hometown. The musical offers a torrent of Ukrainian folk kitsch and musical atrocity. A couple selections: Ти напився як свиня ("You Are Drunk Like Pig") | ending This was not Verka's first Gogolian excursion. Several years prior she appeared (sample) as the village moonshine brewer in a musical version of Gogol's Night Before Christmas. (There is also a classic film version of the story, featuring this amusing scene.) Danylko, rather than Verka, appeared as Cherubino in a trashy TV version of Beaumarchais's The Marriage of Figaro, appearing alongside a variety of trashy aging stars like Filip Kirkorov and Sofiya Rotaru. A bit later he also appeared in a musical based on Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen," playing alongside Kristina Orbakayte, Layma Vaykule, Gennadiy Khazanov, and Natalia Vetlitskaya. Perhaps most importantly, he (as Verka) appeared alongside Alla Pugacheva, the dowager queen of Russian popular music, in Chase After Two Hares (Catch Neither) (a remake of a musical Ukrainian farce, previously filmed in 1961). I promise that all of these people were big in the USSR. Trust me. In 2007, Verka appears on Eurovision with Dancing Lasha Tumbai. You already knew that. Verka's selection as Ukraine's Eurovision representative was not without controversy: among other things, she was burned in effigy (UKR news coverage). Verka's career, already an intensely politicized sociolinguistic act, takes a hit because the nonsense phrase "lasha tumbai" sounds like "Russia, goodbye!" to people who don't speak English. The Russian St. Petersburg Times covers the controversy. Elsewhere, the press echoes it back and forth. Here's an interview with the artist in UK's free daily Metro. And here's a post-Eurovision summary in PRI's The World. Here's some informed, though not impartial cultural criticism of the Verka phenomenon. Verka was awarded the title of "people's artist of Ukraine" by then-president Viktor Yushchenko (himself no stranger to controversy). To complicate things, here's Verka dancing with Belarusian dictator Sergey Lukashenko. Partisan news organ RT reports on Verka's post-Eurovision bid for Ukraine's parliament. Here's a post-Eurovision music video, EVRO VISION QUEEN. Here's a concert version of the more recent Dolce Gabbana. Verka's albums can be streamed from this shady Russian site. I'm sure you can also buy them somehow, somewhere. Since the Eurovision incident, Danylko has had a few TV roles (here as a female genie in "Aladin's New Adventures" and here as Little Red Riding Hood). Generally, his trajectory seems to have stabilized. Verka makes regular TV appearances and also periodically goes on concert tours, taking her Eurovision schtick to the US and Canada. In repetitive Russian and Ukrainian interviews, Danylko himself appears tired, defensive, and muted. Here's a recent interview in English (PDF). Notably, while English Wikipedia devotes a page to Verka, the analogous Russian and Ukrainian pages are specifically about the character's creator first and the character second. The Russian page is significantly more detailed than the Ukrainian. NME reports that, earlier this year, Danylko bought Queen vocalist Freddie Mercury's Rolls-Royce at auction and apparently intends to donate it to a museum. (previously)

Meiecundimeesükskorsakovläkseilelätti

MaryDellamorte — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:52:32 -0800

The most insane Eurovision contest performance you'll ever see, courtesy of Winny Puhh with their song Meiecundimees üks Korsakov läks eile Lätti. Their Facebook photostream is worth checking out also.

In a sea of whisky, we‘re castaways and who can find us

Wordshore — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 05:04:41 -0800

Eurovision, the annual offering of musical culture from the continent to a sometimes bewildered world, approaches. Greece have decided that they can now afford to send an entry to the finals in Sweden this May, using private sponsorship. Their entry, winning the national selection contest, is the Rebetiko-infused "Alcohol is free", an anti-austerity song performed by Koza Mostra and Agathonas Iakovidis. Higher quality video but with distracting logos, and another version. A rough translation of the lyrics into English.

You wouldn't get that on Daybreak

mippy — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 07:54:51 -0800

Winny Puhh, a finalist for the Estonian entry in the Eurovision Song Context, perform live on Estonia's prime breakfast TV show. You might want to turn your volume down a touch. There isn't a lot of information about the band in English, but here's their Estonian Wikipedia page. and for something more melodic, here's another contender, Pohja-Tallinn, with some Estonian rapping.

Eurovision 2012

LSK — Mon, 21 May 2012 07:31:42 -0800

The Eurovision Song Contest 2012's first semi-final begins tomorrow at 3 PM EST (12 PM PST). Watch it online, and listen to the songs (below the jump). The songs: First semi-final: Montenegro: Rambo Amadeus - Euro Neuro (previously) Iceland: Gréta Salóme & Jónsi - Never Forget (note: the official video has a pause in the music; here's a video without the pause. And here's a video in the original Icelandic.) Greece: Eleftheria Eleftheriou - Aphrodisiac Latvia: Anmary - Beautiful Song Albania: Rona Nishliu - Suus Romania: Mandinga - Zaleilah Switzerland: Sinplus - Unbreakable Belgium: Iris - Would You? Finland: Pernilla Karlsson - När jag blundar Israel: Izabo - Time San Marino: Valentina Monetta - The Social Network Song (originally "Facebook Uh, Oh, Oh (A Satirical Song)", still awful) Cyprus: Ivi Adamou - La La Love Denmark: Soluna Samay - Should've Known Better Russia: Buranovskiye Babushki - Party for Everybody (previously) Hungary: Compact Disco - Sound of Our Hearts Austria: Trackshittaz - Woki Mit Deim Popo (if you like this song, their national contest runner-up entry from last year is even better) Moldova: Pasha Parfeny - Lăutar Ireland: Jedward - Waterline Second semi-final: Serbia: Željko Joksimović - Nije Ljubav Stvar Macedonia: Kaliopi - Crno i Belo Netherlands: Joan Franka - You and Me Malta: Kurt Calleja - This is the Night Belarus: Litesound - We Are The Heroes Portugal: Filipa Sousa - Vida Minha Ukraine: Gaitana - Be My Guest Bulgaria: Sofi Marinova - Love Unlimited Slovenia: Eva Boto - Verjamem Croatia: Nina Badrić - Nebo Sweden: Loreen - Euphoria (If you like this, her national contest entry from last year is also very good.) Georgia: Anri Jokhadze - I'm a Joker Turkey: Can Bonomo - Love Me Back Estonia: Ott Lepland - Kuula Slovakia: Max Jason Mai - Don't Close Your Eyes Norway: Tooji - Stay Bosnia and Herzegovina: MayaSar - Korake Ti Znam Lithuania: Donny Montell - Love is Blind Automatic berth to final: UK: Englebert Humperdinck - Love Will Set You Free France: Anggun - Echo (You and I) Italy: Nina Zilli - L'amore è femmina (Out of Love) Azerbaijan: Sabina Babayeva - When the Music Dies Spain: Pastera Soler - Quédate Conmigo Germany: Roman Lob - Standing Still

There is more than one of everything

Talkie Toaster — Mon, 14 May 2012 08:44:37 -0800

Finland has always looked both west and east, notably the Loviisa nuclear power plant used Westinghouse instrumentation married to a Soviet design, earning the nickname 'Eastinghouse'. They hedged their bets on rather less safety-critical issues as well. Having little success in the Eurovision Song Contest (until they changed tack relatively recently), they also entered (and won) its Soviet counterpart: Intervision. Additional: Interesting article on Eastinghouse: in German, Google translation into English. This year's Eurovision Song Contest is taking place later this month, in Azerbaijan.

Eurovision

dabitch — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 01:27:08 -0800

Rambo Amadeus - Euro Neuro , Montenegros rapping donkey-riding entry to the 2012 Eurovision Contest. "Euro skeptik, analfabetik, try not to be hermetic. Euro Neuro don’t be skeptik, hermetic, pathetic, analfabetic forget old cosmetic you need new poetic, estetic eclectic, dialectic."

(More Than) 500 Miles Away From Home

iviken — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:50:07 -0800

American Country Music legend Bobby Bare (76) will take part in the Norwegian finals in the Eurovision Song Contest. If selected, he will be the oldest entrant in Eurovision history. Maybe he will get the German vote? Importing artists for the ESC is not new. Celine Dion won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1988, representing Switzerland.

To The Finland Station

chavenet — Tue, 10 May 2011 10:51:21 -0800

Portugal, in the throes of an IMF / EU bailout that Finland could block, sends a video letter to convince Finland to support the rescue effort. Finland responds. Bonus: crisis the focus of Portugal's Eurovision entry this year.

Eurovision 2011

LSK — Tue, 10 May 2011 09:30:36 -0800

The Eurovision Song Contest 2011's first semi-final begins at 2 PM CST. Watch it online.

Better Know a Tiny Country: San Marino, the Fighting Sammarinese!

kmz — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 23:41:24 -0800

The Most Serene Republic of San Marino. According to legend, the tiny country of San Marino was founded in 301AD by Saint Marinus of Rab, and is thus the world’s oldest republic. Occupying 24 square miles around Mount Titano in the middle of Italy, it is the fifth smallest country in the world. Its current constitution has been in place since 1600, one of the oldest constitutions still in use today. Since 1243, the heads of state have been two Captains Regent, elected every six months. The tiny country was able to escape conquest by Napoleon and by giving safe harbor to Garibaldi, also avoided annexation by a newly unified Italy. Its most popular sport is soccer, but its national team is one of the worst in the world. One of its few moments of glory was scoring the fastest goal ever in World Cup related competition, 8.3 seconds into a qualifier match against England, though England would go on to win 7-1. The International Academy of Sciences in San Marino is one of the few if not only institutions to adopt Esperanto as its official language. San Marino has made one Eurovision entry thus far, missing out on the finals. But it did give the UK entry one of their only two votes. San Marino has certainly been through dark periods as well, electing a completely Fascist council in the time of Mussolini, but in 1932 it still managed to issue a set of stamps honoring Abraham Lincoln, who had said of the tiny nation: "Although your dominion is small your state is nevertheless one of the most honored in all history."

The Eight Finest Seconds in Europop History

Kattullus — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 22:36:27 -0800

Epic Sax Guy Sergey Stepanov blew his way into the hearts of Europeans when his band Sunstroke Project and singer Olia Tira represented Moldova in the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Run Away. While the song itself isn't anything special and finished 22nd out of 25 in the finals, the eight second saxophone part and Stepanov's performance in the semi-final became an instant internet sensation, with plenty of sax heavy remixes (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), videos which loop his performance over and over again, an 8-bit tribute and an a capella version. Stepanov may never break through into the global consciousness again but he, and his band, have given the world the eight finest seconds in europop history.

Eurovisionary

PontifexPrimus — Sat, 29 May 2010 11:34:41 -0800

The Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final airs tonight, 21:00 CET. A live stream can be found here. While there have been jokes about Greece winning the contest (as they did in 2005), forcing the other European states to pay for next year's contest, the overall mood seems good. Videos of all 25 finalists.

A Song for Europe

Grrlscout — Fri, 15 May 2009 01:27:40 -0800

It's Eurovision week, everyone! The last of the semi-finals was last night, and the twenty-five entries are now set for this Saturday's extravaganza in Moscow, the most expensive and flashy yet. After last year's controversy over votes motivated by regional politics and entries that detracted from the, er, dignity of the event, the Eurovision voting mechanism has changed. Western countries in particular have brought in the heavy musical muscle, with Andrew Lloyd Webber writing the UK song, the amazing Patricia Kaas singing for France, and Dita von Teese performing on stage with the German entry. You can't vote from outside of Europe, and you might struggle to watch the contest live from outside Europe. But you can have your very own Mefi Eurovision experience right here! Get some snacks and lots of booze, settle in, view the twenty-five entries here, and decide for yourselves. (MLYT warning) Official videos for the pre-qualifiers: UK France Spain Russia Germany And the semi-final performances: Sweden Norway Iceland Finland Malta Portugal Israel Turkey Greece Lithuania Croatia Romania Armenia Bosnia-Herzegovina Moldova Estonia Denmark Albania Ukraine

Awesome

vronsky — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:57:48 -0800

Seminal Synth & New Wave Sounds

"We had hoped to finish last, but Portugal decided otherwise."

grounded — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 12:09:16 -0800

Marc Moulin, Belgian pop culture polymath and electropop pioneer, has died. Moulin was probably best known outside of Belgium for the electronic group Telex, founded in 1978 with Dan Lacksman and Michel Moers. Telex scored an international hit with Moskow Diskow, made a great video for their version of Twist a Saint-Tropez, did anything but Rock Around the Clock and, most famously, entered the 1980 Eurovision Song Contest with a cheerfully mocking song titled Euro-Vision. Telex's stated goal for Eurovision -- to finish last -- was thwarted by Portugal, who for reasons not entirely clear, awarded them 10 points. The band continued on until the mid-eighties with songs like We're All Getting Old, L'Amour Toujours and Temporary Chicken. Moulin was a longtime presence on the Belgian jazz scene, from his early days with the fusion group Placebo up until his last release for Blue Note, 2007's I Am You. When not making music, Moulin was a playwright, journalist and radio producer.

In the blue painted of blue

Skeptic — Sun, 25 May 2008 16:12:34 -0800

Once again, the Eurovision Song Festival has taken place this weekend, giving rise to the usual recriminations about political voting. However, it is worth noting that it is exactly fifty years since Italian singer Domenico Modugno managed only third place (out of ten contestants) with a charming little ditty called "Nel blu dipinto di blu", but better known as "Volare". The next year, "Volare" won the first Grammies for Best Song and Best Record. "Volare" also won three golden records and was Billboard's best song of the year. It has also been endlessly covered ever since.

Eurovision 2008 semi-finals are tonight

k8t — Tue, 20 May 2008 06:25:04 -0800

6 hours til Eurovision 2008 begins (well semi-final round 1 begins in 6 hours). After last year's extensive Eurovision discussion, let's see how 2008 does. There are a number of Eurovision b l o g s and many of the bloggers are hanging out in Belgrade. Not in Europe? You can watch online as well. The semi-final rehearsals have been evaluated by the blogging community. Also, oddsmakers are making their opinions known. Now let the slaughter begin!

Cliff Richard and General Franco: the 1968 Eurovision mystery

nthdegx — Mon, 12 May 2008 07:34:58 -0800

It's the story that has Britain in uproar*: Cliff Richard and General Franco: the 1968 Eurovision mystery. Did General Franco scupper the judging? Exhibit A: Cliff's UK entry, Congratulations. Exhibit 2: Spain's winning entry by Massiel, La la la. For added measure, exhibit iv: here's Cliff's 1973 entry, which believe it or not also did not win, Power to all our Friends (though Cliff's spectacular moves should not sway your opinion on the controversy* in any way). [*not really].

Eurovision starting in less than 1 hour!!! Watch online!

jasper411 — Sat, 12 May 2007 12:03:11 -0800

The link to the live stream has been posted! Eurovision (previously) from Helsinki is about to begin (2100 CET), and there is a live stream available. Just get the plugin, and, if it all works, you'll be ready to watch!

She's got my vote.

flapjax at midnite — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 03:04:15 -0800

You've all no doubt been wondering who will represent Ukraine in this year's Euro vision Song Contest. Well, she's a drag queen, and if that wasn't enough to piss off the Ukrainian nationalists, she's also an environmentalist ("All of us have heard that nuclear waste from the whole world is planned to be brought into Ukraine. It is horribly!"). Oh, and the Rus sians are ticked off, too. Introducing... Verka Serdyuchka! [last 2 links to YouTube]

Kaput-Kaboom

blahblahblah — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 20:55:33 -0800

The Eurovision song contest season has just begun, and already there is controversy. The Israeli entrant, the Teapacks' "Push the Button" [warnings: Windows Media video, strange-looking accordian player], has English, French, and Hebrew lyrics that talk about certain "crazy rulers" who are "gonna blow us up to kingdom come" concluding that "I don't wanna die, I wanna see the flowers bloom, don't wanna go kaput-kaboom." These lyrics are apparently too political for Eurovision, which is likely to ban the song.

Paint a Vulgar Picture

bunglin jones — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 23:45:30 -0800

Morrissey is "in negotiations" to write or perform the UK's next entry in The Eurovision Song Contest (won forty years ago by Morrissey's childhood hero - and later singing partner - Sandie Shaw). The ever-helpful BBC offers tips on how Britain's second greatest living cultural icon can pen a winning song. The "won forty years ago" link is to Google Video, by the way

Hell freezes over?

taursir — Sat, 20 May 2006 15:38:47 -0800

Eurovision winner declared: Finland's Lordi, (previously mentioned here, wins with the highest Eurovision score of all time, 292 points, breaking Finland's 40 year long bewitchment of the Eurovision Curse. [Euro♥isionFilter]