Our Man in Belgrade - Day 8

I had a chance encounter with a certain person earlier this week, who I discovered has a connection with North-West England. That person is a guy called Draupnir Runar Draupnisson. Not likely to ring any bells, I'm sure, but he's the guy from the official video of the Icelandic entry, who acts out the song à la a YouTube fan video. If you've not seen it, it's hilarious. You can view it here.

Boom Bang a Blog managed to catch up with Draupnir in a café this afternoon in Belgrade's grandiose Republic Square.

BBaB: Hi Draupnir, so... what's your connection to North-West England?
DD: OK, I used to live in Manchester. In Wilmslow to be precise. I was working at the airport as a cabin crew in 1999.

BBaB: And how did you like Manchester?
DD: Really I liked it. At first I was not happy when they told me I had to go there for work, but once I was there I really loved it. It's a very glamourous place with lots of great nightlife, shopping and great restaurants. People in North-West England are the nicest I ever met. Much nicer people than even in Iceland! I was last there in 2006 and it now has an even better vibe than before. The centre is really full of life. I love it!

BBaB: So, what about Belgrade? How does it compare here to Reykjavik and Manchester?
DD: OK, well first I love Belgrade, but it is very different to West Europe. It's a great city, great streetlife and much bigger than I thought.

BBaB: And what about teh Icelandic video? How did you come to be involved in that?
DD: Well I'm a very good friend of Friðrik, who is the male singer for Iceland this year. He is my best friend. I always make recommendations about how to do things for his career. For example in the Icelandic final, it was my idea that Friðrik and Regina should wear these purple clothes from Thailand. After they won the Icelandic competition then we started talking about how the video should be. Friðrik had the idea to make a video like a video on YouTube. Lots of people put ideas into how the video should be and then Friðrik told me I would be the guy in the video. It took me 3 seconds to say yes, but at first I thought it was a joke.

BBaB: And what was the making of the video like?
DD: We made it one week later. It was made in two days. The first part was made in the basement of a record shop in Iceland. It wasn't in my bedroom. The second part was made in a studio.

BBaB: Have you had any recognition since the video?
DD: Oh yes, since the video I have had lots of attention in Iceland. The Icelandic people loved the video. Before the video some people thought Friðrik and Regina were only professional all the time, but now they know they also have a sense of humour.

BBaB: What happened when Iceland qualified for the final?
DD: I didn't know whether to scream or cry! Honestly it feels like we're winners already. People went crazy in Iceland on Thursday. We are so happy. Friðrik and Regina felt great, they were speechless. They felt so nervous as the envelopes were opened, but we were the 4th to be called. God I don't know if we were the last to be called. We would have been so nervous.

BBaB: And who do you think will win?
DD: Oh I hope Iceland, but really I don't know. Iceland, Ukraine or Russia.

BBaB: Draupnir, thank you very much for your time and best of luck to Iceland tonight.
DD: Thankyou.

Iceland are represented by Euroband who will perform This Is My Life. Iceland sing 11th.