Eurovision 2009

It’s that time of the year again. Eurovision Song Contest 2009 participants are ready to go. Generally, ESC favors the music genres that I don’t prefer to listen/ don’t like. So, Eurovision is not something that is much interesting to me; boring songs, unoriginal music, clone stage performances with some hot boys/girls, cheap lyrics…    But every now and then, there are some good stuff. Though , the entries that catch my attention tend to do not so bright in the contest .

What positively attracts my attention when I first hear ESC entries  are mainly three things:

Language of the Song: +1 points for the songs in their native language. Because, some songs in English honestly make me wish to forget all the English I know, so that I won’t be hearing the terrible, cheesy lyrics. Besides, while the increasing trend is English lyrics, songs in native language sacrifices the lyrics’ chance to be understood  and relies on the universality of music to convey feelings and atmosphere of the song is some challenge to be rewarded.

Stage Shows: Participants discovered the power of the flashy stage shows in the last years. This still causes poor entries (with cheesy lyrics and overall lack of originality) accompanied by a pack of dancers on the stage. So, another +1 point for the songs that doesn’t rely on dancing hot girls/boys on the stage as its sole strength.

Originality: “I feel like I heard it somewhere before” is a sentence I don’t want to utter for an entry. This year, some entries I will define as “Disney movie music”  are plenty and despite my good intentions to give them a chance, I feel like I’m hearing the same song. I’ll leave that group of entries to fans of the genre to evaluate.

I have two favourites this year. One is Bistra Voda by Regina from Bosnia, and the other is Fairytale by Alexander Rybak from Norway.

Regina’s entry is in their native language and although you don’t understand the lyrics, expressive vocal draws you into the melancholic mood of the song.   They definitely don’t need a flashy show for this song, just go there and sing. It reminds me of last year’s Turkey entry Deli quality-wise. So I expect Bistra Voda will be overlooked while some boring song gets all the points.

Rybak’s song on the other hand tells a light-hearted story and is supported with a show where Rybak dances around playing his violin accompanied by a group of dancers . His performance reminded me of a wandering bard performing his song at an inn tavern. Ok, I admit I read too much fantasy novels but title of the song’s itself is fairytale, so I’m not the one to blame for my winding imagination…hehe.

And there are some amusing entries, too. Serbia for one I can remember and enjoy. Czech’s gypsy themed entry is another one, fast paced and catchy. And Belgium’s Copycat gets all sorts of negative comments as a weak and repetitive song, but I really like the humour of the song (minus the cartoon character on the video).

I gotta mention Israel’s entry. Not one of my personal favourites, yet noteworthy. Seems like song has some sort of mission, considering the everlasting conflict on the land that it was born, a reminder of agonizing struggle over years and a call for peace and harmony. It contains Hebrew, Arabic and English lyrics mixed. I don’t think song with a message will bring them much points but I appreciate their peace seeking efforts through music.

Some other notes of my first impressions on other entries:

Turkey: To my great suprise, this year’s entry appears on people’s top 5/top 10 lists. I really don’t like the song, lousy and Shakira-like, nothing interesting (likewise Greece entry). I loved last year’s entry very much.

Macedonia: Finally, it is time for some rock’ish sound in the competition, since Finland betrayed my hopes for some good metal song this year, this one have to do. But wrong side of the rock for me.

Now to mention it, after Lordi’s improbable-but-true victory with a very metal song and heavy make-up, Finland sent another one last year with no such success. Therefore this year they decided to try one with electro-rap hybrid (which is catchy). Since I tend to favor rock/metal sounds, I kept my expectations high for such song considering Finland is like a homeland to metal genre.

Russia: If they make Plushenko skate at the background this year too, they may have a chance

Estonia and Slovakia: tries symphony idea this year. Among two, Estonia is better at it.

Consequently, I’m rooting for Bosnia and Norway this year.