Results tagged “Israel” 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.

Happy New Year Boom Bang a Bloggers! What with the festive season and everything to be getting along with, it has become apparent that some bits of breaking news in the World of Eurovision have been neglected. For that I can only apologise. And now rectify.

When hosts Harold Treutiger and Lydia Capolicchio (that doesn't sound very Swedish) introduced the watching world to Eurovision 1992, the former described it as "the greatest gameshow in the world."

Boom Bang a Blog would like to think there's a bit more to the Contest than it being a glorified version of Bullseye - but there is a sense that, from this point on, Eurovision enjoyed a renaissance of popularity where its public appeal had slumped from the late '70s and much of the '80s.

Swedish rules then dictated that, in the event of a Eurovision victory, the city which hosted the national final that produced the champ would then stage the Contest proper. As Sweden's third city of Malmo played host to the 1991 Melodifestivalen, where Carola won the ticket to Rome, the destination of the 37th Eurovision Song Contest was therefore assured the moment Frank Naef announced that Fangad Av En Stormvind had more 10s than the French song with the very long title twelve months earlier.

How much you enjoy the 1991 Eurovision Song Contest depends on how much you enjoy watching an already lackadaisical production completely collapse around itself. The main hurdle concerning an Italian-hosted Eurovision is that the Song Contest itself was inspired by the San Remo Festival, the composition competition which remains big news in Italy each year and is held in much higher esteem across the wider music world than its pan-European little brother. With that in mind, why go to all the trouble of giving a hamburger the hard sell when you've got allcomers flocking to sample your sirloin steak?

If Bruce Forsyth was peeved at the Yugoslav jury denying his daughter and the UK a Eurovision victory in 1988, let's hope he wasn't watching when Switzerland hosted the return leg the following year. In 1989, Yugoslavia actually won the Eurovision Song Contest - and a narrow victory over the United Kingdom at that. What's more, the winning song was not the sort of stuff you'd imagine Tanita Tikaram covering for the B-side of Twist In My Sobriety.

However, considering Yugoslavia wouldn't exist in the same form for very much longer, it would be very mean of Britain to deny the Slavs their delight at winning the trophy and hosting the show for the very first time as the '90s dawned. And the imminent new decade would see massive changes in Europe, changes that would also be reflected on the Eurovision scoreboard.

But we can get to the '90s and the slightly serious stuff next time. Let's cling to the eighties while we still can...

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...

They had waited for a win since their first appearance in 1960. They had scored nul points in 1963, 1978 and 1981, three of the six occasions they had finished bottom of the scoreboard. They were destined to be the Contest's eternal no-hopers. Then, in 1985, twenty-five years after their first appearance, something amazing happened. Norway won the Eurovision Song Contest.

It had been 26 years since Germany last hosted the Contest when Nicole's little piece of peace brought Eurovision back to the country in 1983, the first time Deutsch telly were hosting as title holders. Whereas the second Eurovision Song Contest had been staged in a tiny television studio, the 28th took place in the mammoth 6,000 seater-plus Rudi Sedlmayer Halle, the basketball venue built for the 1972 Summer Olympics.

A fair few pfennig seemed to have been spent on the show, which looked a lot more spectacular than the squashed-in feel of Harrogate the previous year, although the set did resemble the inner element of a toaster stuck over a bay windowsill, creating a seemingly tiny space for the acts to stand in.

There were 20 acts back on the starting grid in Munich, however, up from 18 the year before. Italy, Greece and France all came back - and Ireland surprised everyone by taking a year out. The 1980 champs were having a cashflow crisis at their national broadcaster and organising a Eurovision entry was one extravagance they couldn't justify.

But for everyone else who turned up, it was a rather fun year. For all the wrong reasons.

The opening sequence of Eurovision 1982 - can you guess where Harrogate is?

Perhaps it was because this was the seventh time Britain had hosted the Contest in 22 years and the novelty had worn off. Perhaps it was because money was scarce in 1982. Perhaps it just hasn't aged very well - but there isn't a lot to get excited about when considering Eurovision 1982.

When you consider past BBC productions, such as the glitzy affair of 1968 and the impressive handling of the 1977 show, there is absolutely no sense of spectacle to this Contest.

Perhaps that's because it was held in such a tiny venue. The Harrogate Conference Centre (pictured) opened in North Yorkshire shortly before the event and was an ultra modern facility for its time. Ideal, perhaps, for hosting a symposium on cork flooring or the AGM of Balloon Benders UK, but in hindsight, not for an event like Eurovision, which needs to loom large on the screen. The show ended up looking like a glorified Song For Europe, with a stage that was half Top of the Pops, half Pebble Mill at One.

Winner 1979: Milk & Honey featuring Gali Atari perform Hallelujah for Israel

Let's get the negative stuff out the way first. Boom Bang a Blog has never really enjoyed the 1979 Contest. It has a very dreary atmosphere, too much of the action is in long shot and, at times, feels like the inspiration for The Fast Show's Channel 9 series of sketches. However, when it comes to the mysterious twilight world of Eurovision fandom, I'm very much in the minority with that opinion. The general concensus is one of a marvellous, groundbreaking production packed with memorable songs. That said, the idea of only dressing the stage with a really big gyroscope was an inspired one. It's just a shame it doesn't get to do very much gyroscoping as the show progresses.

One thing 1979 does have in its favour, though, is a very close, exciting voting sequence and a winner which many people remember today. It also has - arguably - the worst song the UK ever sent to the Eurovision Song Contest, but we'll get to that in a bit.

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 1973 heats to select Sweden's entry for that year's Eurovision Song Contest do not appear to exist in the archives of Sveriges Television. That's a real shame as, among the line-up bidding for the chance to fly the flag in Luxembourg, was a quartet made up of one married couple and one that was engaged to be wed.

Going by the unwieldy name of Agnetha, Bjorn, Benny and Anni-Frid, the first A of the line-up was eight-and-a-half months pregnant on the night the show was broadcast live to the nation. Their performance of Ring, Ring (the English lyrics to which came from none other than Neil Sedaka and Phil Cody) brought the house down - but didn't convince the so-called music professionals on the jury, who placed it third.

This audio recording is all that exists of that historic evening. The night of the first official performance by the group which went on to be known as ABBA.

If you want to know what Sweden *did* wind up sending to Luxembourg instead of one of the most accomplished groups of all time - and the adventures acts from various other countries had while they were in the Grand Duchy as well, you'd better come this way.

There has never, ever, been a more controversial result to a Eurovision Song Contest than that which took place in 1963 - but it tends to be overlooked in the documentaries which get trotted out about the event. In fact, 'controversy' is a word which hangs around the staging of this particular Eurovision more than any other.

But let's consider the positives. The BBC did pull off a technically impressive production in its Shepherd's Bush HQ, then just three years old. Every act had a different stage set-up to perform their song from, be it a simple archway, a backdrop of clustered metal hoops, pools of light on a darkened set - or even superimposed visual effects.

And that's where the first finger of suspicion points. Each act looks completely different - but there was only a short space of time between each song to redress the stage. It has long been mooted - but never confirmed - that the BBC pre-recorded the performances before the broadcast. There is also a suspicious lack of microphones on show and an almost complete lack of audience response. Even Katie Boyle was based in a separate studio with the Contest's first ever electronic scoreboard - and a smaller share of the spectators.

However, that controversy is absolutely nothing compared to what happened with the final vote of the night.

Winners 1963: Grethe and Jorgen Ingmann perform Dansevise for Denmark - complete with BBC swirly spiral effects

Here are the 10 qualifiers from the first semi final. Boom Bang a Blog didn't have its predicting pants on this morning, it would seem:

Sweden
Armenia
Turkey
Israel
Iceland
Romania
Finland
Portugal
Malta
Bosnia & Herzegovina

Surprised to see the rather weak performances from Sweden, Finland and Romania get through over Switzerland (blub), Andorra (blub) and Montenegro (blub).

Press conference is now underway in Moscow where each of the 10 will draw their starting position. It would be best if Iceland and Malta were kept as far away from the UK (draw 23) as possible, so come on girls, pick some nice one-digit draws, please...

TURKEY
Hadise: Dum Tek Tek

Every year there is a song in the Eurovision line-up which is a favourite with both bookies and internet pollsters which Boom Bang a Blog just doesn't, well, get. And this is one of them.

Dum Tek Tek (which means 'Boom Bang Bang', Lulu fans), was unveiled to Turkish TV viewers at just after midnight when 2008 eased into 2009. It certainly has lots of oomph and zowie about it, but following Greece's 2005 win with a song in the similar ilk, it's this syle of tune that is flooding 21st Century Eurovision.

Hadise is in fact Belgian, thus making her the first non-national to represent Turkey since the country started its haphazard Contest appearances in 1975. However, she is of Turkish stock and came to prominence in a Belgian version of Pop Idol.

Boom Bang a Blog's three things:

(a) The official promo video to Dum Tek Tek was considered so saucy in some conservative nations, it was banned from broadcast.
(b) This will get a very good score from the UK televote.
(c) And Germany's.

Here's 2008 X-Factor winner Alexandra Burke with her first release, a cover of the Leonard Cohen song Hallelujah.

And here's 1979 Eurovision Song Contest winners Milk & Honey with their victorious ditty, Hallelujah, winning on home turf for Israel.

Perhaps the latter was better suited to JLS...

As you may (or may not) know, Boom Bang a Blog HQ is not that far from Liverpool. The city is aquiver with anticipation today as it gears up to host the MTV European Music Awards at its spanking new ECHO Arena with stars like Beyonce, Bono, and perhaps even Val Doonican, turning up to be seen on the red carpet.

Only ticket holders are allowed near the venue itself (we don't have one), but it would be super fun to go along and boo this year's winner, Dima Bilan (named as Best Russian Act) for inflicting almost the dullest Eurovision victory-scooping song in history on we poor viewers as he strutted in to the ceremony.

Right, we have a fair few songs to get through before May 24. However, I have counted on my fingers, used the calculator I get with the accessories on my computer desktop, double-checked with someone else's fingers and worked out that, if Boom Bang a Blog previews four entries each day, we'll just about make it.

You must be so relieved.