Results tagged “Belgium” from Boom Bang a Blog

"Welcome one, welcome all. To paraphrase a football song, Eurovision's coming home." So began Terry Wogan's commentary for the first British Eurovision in 16 years. It doesn't make sense of course. Eurovision's home is Lugano in Switzerland, where it all began in 1956 - or Geneva, the headquarters of the European Broadcasting Union - or even Dublin, the city which had hosted six of the 43 Eurovisions prior to this point. But not really anywhere in the UK. However, there was no denying that the events which took place inside Birmingham's National Indoor Arena on May 9, 1998, constituted the most anticipated Contest of recent years. Two of the 25 entrants were making headlines across the Continent in the weeks leading up to the event - and one of them would go on to win the competition.

It also marked the end of the United Kingdom's run as one of the most successful countries taking part in the competition. After 1998, there were very few glimmers of hope to be found as Blighty sank further and further down the scoreboard. But we won't worry about that here. Come with us now on a trip to the Midlands, where the British Broadcasting Corporation decided to be as non-jingoistic as possible and employ an Irishman and a Swede to host its last Eurovision to date, the winning singer won a unique glass bowl by Susan Nixon, the postcard films were a work of quiet genius and everybody laughed at a middle-aged Dutch lady.

Eurovision was getting a popular thing to be part of in 1996. So much so, there simply wasn't enough room to accommodate the 29 nations wishing to participate in Olso. With that in mind, the organisers staged a preliminary round in the months leading up to the show where a group of juries sat and listened to studio recordings of every song (bar hosts Norway, the only country sure of a spot on the big night) and voted on them as though it were a rather sterile version of Big Eurovision. This sorted everyone out, with Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Israel, FYR Macedonia, Romania and Russia all missing out on a place in Norway. By dumping Germany (whose Kraftwerk-ish song was tipped for great things beforehand), those juries had rather foolishly removed one of the largest potential audiences for the show before it had even begun and the 1996 Contest remains the only one so far not to have an entry from Deutschland.

When 23 nations did assemble in Oslo's Spektrum Centre on May 18, some who did badly in the preliminary round soared up the scoreboard, while others who scored very well when the juries were just listening to the CD version nosedived.

Don't worry, we're going to show you the placing in both rounds for each entry so you can draw your own conclusions...

Belgium has joined Bulgaria in being another country beginning with 'B' to announce its entrant for Eurovision 2010. Carrying the hopes of a nation on his shoulders is a young chap by the name of Tom Dice, who was runner-up in his homeland's version of Pop Idol. We don't know much else about Belgium's plans so far - but if you want to hear Tom in action, this link will take you to his version of Leona Lewis' Bleeding Love.

But isn't that a girl's song?

That looks suspiciously like the rocket from Tintin's Destination Moon...

The home of the European Parliament finally became the home of the Eurovision Song Contest, the event had enjoyed 31 previous editions before it reached Belgium and the organisers were keen to show the millions of viewers what they'd been missing out on all this time. One thing they'd clearly been missing out on a woman called Viktor Lazlo (also the name of a character in Casablanca, curiously) with huge ear-rings hosting the show, so they hired her for the night.

It was arguably the most impressive and contemporary-looking production yet with some very late '80s dayglo pink contrasted with the pale grey used in both the stage and the suits of the orchestra members. There was also some flashy lasers zinging out from behind a big sphere at the whim of the director and the whole Contest did look as if it was finally being dragged towards a style that would sit more comfortably with the MTV generation. It has to be said, though, that the atmosphere and acoustics in Brussels' Palais du Centenaire (built for the 1935 Expo and in the shadow of the Atomium) was as flat as a crepe. At times, the performers sound as though they're belting a song out in a deserted out-of-town cash-and-carry in the hope that a passing sympathetic motorist will nip in and offer a round of applause.

Still, Eurovision wasn't remade in a day and the massive effort put in by Belgian telly to liven proceedings up would be built on over the coming years.

But sets don't sing and juries don't vote on the colour of the woodwind section's lapels - shall we have a shufty at the songs?

Although Norway's victory in 1985 caused ripples of excitement over the spiritual home of no-points and the hosting of the 1986 Contest was a source of huge national pride, broadcaster NRK made the unusual move of not staging the event in one of the larger arenas available in the capital Oslo, but the tiny 1,500-seater Grieg Hall in the northerly second city of Bergen, birthplace of composer Edvard Grieg, whom the venue was named after. This did mean that the audience was even smaller than that in attendance in Harrogate four years earlier but, despite that difference, there was still a sense of scale and atmosphere to the event which put the BBC's shoddy 1982 production to shame.

Long-term fans of the Contest tend not to be enamoured with Eurovision '86, with its ice palace-style staging (reflecting the fact it was the most northerly Eurovision there's ever been) leading to comparisons with a panto. A very glitzy, hi-tech panto, but a panto nevertheless. Opinion-wise, that's all well and good, but if Norway really were going for that sort of thigh-slapping show, they'd have invited someone a bit more fun and frothy to present the thing...

As you may have already read, Israel had won both the 1978 and 1979 Contests, but when the Netherlands stepped in to host as a favour to the cash-strapped Israeli Broadcasting Authority, they inadvertently scheduled Eurovision for a date when the trophy holders remembered their fallen and couldn't possibly take part.

With the country who had had a stranglehold on the results at the end of the '70s now absent, there was a clear run for everyone else involved. Although, 'I' would continue to be a lucky initial for Eurovision's winner for the third year running.

With stepping in at relatively short notice, the Dutch production was nowehere near as grand as it had been in 1976. With The Hague's Congresgebouw (pictured, above) being used once more, part of the opening travelogue film from four years previous - featuring beckoning hands welcoming allcomers to Den Haag - was recycled to save a few gelder. While only those with long-term photographic memories would have made the connection in 1980, it's a bit easier to spot in the era of videos, DVD and a certain file-sharing website.

Opinion is divided over Eurovision 1978. Whereas parts of it look spectacular (the entire orchestra was on a revolving platform and there was an impressive laser show built into the set), many think it a rather drab affair with not much heart and soul put into the production. Maybe it's because so many BBC-style Contests had dominated the decade that a distinct change in style stands out like a sore thumb. Either way, Boom Bang a Blog has always rather liked it. There are a couple of things to watch out for in '78. Denmark return after a 12 year absence, the UK does abominably badly for the first time since 1966, the Norwegians fare even worse, a Swedish singer whose trousers were far too tight and the start of a remarkable run of success for a country which you won't find on any European map.

Winners 1978: Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta perform A Ba Ni Bi for Israel. It's the caption that's wrong, not us. Swear down.

However, this was also the year that the Contest's popularity took a severe dip.

Sad to say, but by 1978, the Contest had passed its mid-70s peak and viewers everywhere were starting to fall out love with this annual party of pop.

The following clip is shown to students of TV production everywhere. It's the feed from industry legend and maverick, the late Stewart Morris, a stalwart of big BBC productions, as he directed his team through the hairy final moments and winning reprise of Eurovision 1977 at the Wembley Conference Centre in London.

PLEASE BE AWARE! Mr Morris does not hold back on his language, so don't click on this clip if easily offended by extremely salty words.

Our favourite bits are where he's screaming at someone to make the flags start revolving and the moment he realises the end credits have gone missing.

That's how the Contest ended, but let's delve a little deeper into how it all began in 1977...

There's always a few bits and bobs of newsworthiness floating around in the aftermath of every Eurovision. Here's a quick rundown of what's been going on since Norway's overwhelming victory on Saturday:

• Azerbaijan - which finished third - could be punished for allegedly not showing the telephone voting number for Armenia when the snippets of all the songs were reprised in the interval.



• Did you notice the Armenian spokeswoman continually showing the back of her clipboard, which had a photo of an Easter Island-esque statue pasted to it, while she read out the scores? It's that statue which is the subject of ownership-related friction between Armenia and Azerbaijan. The Armenians could also be in trouble for bringing politics into the show.



• Czech Republic had the first act to score nil points since 2004. Their 'Super Gipsy' antics came last in the first semi-final. Belgium's Elvis impersonator finished above them with just one point - from Bulgaria.



• Iceland won the first semi-final, Norway the second.



• The first televoting and jury results are also trickling through and it looks like the introduction of the juries was the biggest factor in pushing the UK into the Top 5 as Lord Andy's song didn't seem to impress the public quite as much as it did the music professionals.



• It looks like Eurovision 2010 will be held in the freshly built 23,000-seater Telenor Arena just outside Oslo. Keep saving for that round.

How apt that the second of our cakey Contesty slices feature countries beginning with 'B', which is also the second letter of the alphabet.

BELGIUM:
Patrick Ouchene: Copycat

You may recall this being mentioned in a previous Boom Bang a Blog entry, and it's a song that hasn't endeared itself to fervent Eurovision fans. This may be because it's rather silly and some Eurovision fans are, it must be said, not always first in the queue to appreciate the dafter side of life. However, when this was played over t'internet at home it got thumbs up all round. It may well turn out to be a canny ploy on the part of the Belgians to ape the King of Rock 'n' Roll, a performer who has fans from Iceland to Istanbul and if some of those are tuned in on the night... well, you never know...

Boom Bang a Blog's three things:

(a) If they can get the cartoon cat on stage with them in Moscow, that'll be worth one televote from this direction.
(b) Elvis fans may be too offended by this to vote for it.
(c) If Elvis isn't dead, this could be the tune which forces him out of hiding to give the world some proper rock' n' roll again.

Shall we move on?

AND so the Georgian mischief-packed dream comes to an end.

Their song which wasn't so much a thinly vieled jibe at Vladimir Putin, more a jibe which hadn't been anywhere near a veil and had flashing neon arrows pointing to its jibeness from every conceivable direction, has now been chucked out of the show by the big EBU bosses. And with that chuck goes Georgia itself, it would seem, as the representatives have no interest in changing the lyrics and Georgian telly don't seem too bothered about picking a song to replace the offering from Stephane and 3G.

You'd think that was that, wouldn't you? This year's Contest has had its get-rid-of-this-song-by-crikey incident. You'd think that, but it's so not true.

Wait until you hear the fuss about this little number from Belgium...

Boom Bang a Blog has been absolutely inundated with no requests to see more previews of the songs taking part in this year's Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Cyprus on Saturday.

So, we'll keep going with the song from the host country's friendliest neighbour.

SONG FIVE
Greece
Kapoia Nychta performed by Niki Yiannouchu

There's three more to experience if you click on the bit marked 'Continue Reading'. I know, I know... we're just too kind to you.

San Marino: Miodio - Complice

Half of the songs previewed in today's entry are from nations entering the Eurovision arena for the very first time in 2008 (goodness, I do hope you're sitting down with all this excitement).

The first of these debutantes is the fifth song out the traps in the first semi-final, that of San Marino. The mountainous microstate is home to just 30,000 people (a third of the capacity of Wembley Stadium), but unlike copying the dirty duchy of Luxembourg, who just nicked singers from France to win loads of times in the '60s and '70s, those San Marinese have only gone and found a band which actually hails from the place itself.