Eurovision 2011: France whizzes up the favourites list. But why?
The French entry for 2011 as presented on live telly yesterday evening
There is fervour on the web. A new hero has been found for Eurovision 2011 and one many are expecting to do the business in Germany in May. A young man now sits in second place in the bookmakers' list of favourites (behind Norway) and many fans are coming out in full support of it.
That man is Amaury Vassili with the Corsican operatic antics of Sognu. I have listened to this a number of times now and I'm just not getting it. Is something up with me? I'm not averse to a spot of classical gas, or even shades of opera when it comes to Eurovision. I know it's miles away from Sognu but I quite liked La Voix for Sweden two years ago and then there was the Slovene song in 2007 which did rather well.
But I'm just not getting the fuss about this. I hear it, I listen to it, I experience it and than it's over. Absolutely no impact made whatsoever. Even if it wins in two months from now it will be the first time in almost 20 years of watching the Contest I won't be able to say, 'that really isn't my sort of thing but I completely understand why it won.'
Boom Bang a Bloggers, help me. What am I missing? Please tell me. I think I need a bit of help to understand why this one's so good.
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Jamie McLoughlin - The news editor of Southport Visiter reveals all about his musical hobby that more people should admit to having.
I actually quite like it, but I certainly don't see it as a winner. I'm staggered at the way the odds have fallen on it.
I actually think this is better than 'La Voix', but I would be very surprised if it was a winner in May. Like you, I can't see what all the fuss is about, but I do think it taps into something I've often thought about why certain entries get latched onto by fans. It's only my bit of amateur psychology, but if it's anywhere near right, I think it can also account for why songs by the likes of Zeljko Joksimovic so often attract the adulation of fans. For me, 'Lane Moje' is one of the most boring songs to have graced the Eurovision stage in the last decade. But it also has shades of what some people might call 'authentcity' in that it draws on the traditional music of the region. Similarly, 'Sognu' is essentially operatic and thus also draws on a credible and established genre. As Eurovision fans, we've probably lost count of how many times our interest has been denigrated as being of no musical or artistic merit, and I wonder whether these sorts of entries are latched onto by some fans as a way of saying 'look, there is some credibility in Eurovision after all!'.
Amazing! A total contrast to their last entry, and possibly the first French entry ever not to be sung in French? Great singer, soaring song, I will be very surprised if this doesn't do well. The big-5 are on fire this year!
I love this! A total contrast to their last entry, and possibly the first French entry ever not to be sung in French? Great singer, soaring song, I will be very surprised if this doesn't do well.
I think Phil has it bang on the nail there. It's like Patricia Kaas from two years ago. It wasn't an especially easy song to listen to but when you take something from an artiste with public and (more importantly) critical recognition and drop it into the Eurovision madhouse then you feel obliged to think of it as 'classy and 'worthy' and 'a potential winner' as it's not something which crops up that often at the Contest.
Like Patricia's song, I can still only see a certain sector of the viewers going for Amaury, he's not screaming mass appeal at me right now.
Mind you, I'm usually wrong.
I think his singing is very good. Its more of a show song than opera, though. I never thought Patricia Kaas could win although for me it was miles ahead of the rest, but this one will have wider appeal I think. And it does stand out amongst the blandness of the Croatias and Estonias
Does nowt for me either.Was tempted at odds of 33/1 before they plummeted but really they seem pretty accurate to me.
i prefer anyone to Lena again, re-entering i think just goes against the spirit of the competition.... and new faces (which is a good point, even britain is going against the grain this year with that) bah!
feels weird for germany too, i prefer when they did something more kooky in years gone past. Getting a song co written by a person who did a hit for black eyed peas... and now ... this.
not even as good as Satallite. eh
Prefer France/Norway (both catchy in different ways)
as for the UK, i thought "blue" were dead.
wonderful song an amazing voice.my winner.
@Atli: First song not in French? Nope. That was 1993 (part Corse) or 1996 (fully in Breton, which has more in common with Welsh than French).
@Mark: Yeah, and a fat lot of good those kooky entries did us (apart from 1998 and 2000, and that was largely due to the fact that Stefan Raab is quite famous in Austria and Switzerland too). And how is defending the title against the spirit of the competition? Don't let Lys Assia hear that (Swiss representative from 1956 to 1958). Or Johnny Logan, Niamh Kavanagh, Selma, Carola, Charlotte Nilsson/Perelli, Zdob si Zdub, Chiara or Dino Merlin, to name a few repeat "offenders" from recent years.