Results tagged “Melodifestivalen” from Boom Bang a Blog

Good morning Boom Bang a Bloggers. I've had my porridge with blueberries in and sweated buckets whilst attempting lunges and torso twists on the Wii Fit so here I am, relaxed and refreshed with news of the treats coming your way this evening - and how to see them over the web.

Yes, this very night, Iceland, Denmark and 2010 hosts Norway will choose the songs which will go forth to the Eurovision stage in late May under each nation's respective flag. Not only that, but the biggest national final of them all - Melodifestivalen - has the first of its five weekly qualifying rounds in Sweden tonight. In around six weeks, we should know the full line-up for Eurovision 2010. But before all that, here are Boom Bang a Blog's predictions.

The film celebrating 40 Eurovision Song Contests which opened the 1995 event. Think of it as reminder of most of your Bluffer's Guides so far...

I wasn't impressed when Ireland won Eurovision for the third successive year in 1994. I therefore refused point blank to support the Irish squad who got to the World Cup in the USA that year (despite it being the tournament Graham Taylor couldn't lead England into) and, being young, naive and foolish, refused to like anything remotely linked with Ireland for the next 12 months. As I say, I certainly was young, naive and foolish as I have an Irish surname for a start.

Anyway, I'm sure you can imagine my reaction when smiley host Mary Kennedy appeared on stage at The Point - the only time the same venue has been used in two successive years - and welcomed viewers to "What has almost become the annual Eurovision Song Contest from Ireland."

I booed. Loudly. But the slightly smug tone Mary used when introducing everyone back to Ireland (again) would soon backfire on her. This was the year when some canny countries realised it was time to play the Irish at their own game. And win.

THERE has been a few announcements this week from various corners of the continent regarding preparations for next year's Contest in Oslo.

The first is the unfortunate news that Leichtenstein definitely won't be making its debut in Norway. Those in charge of what's best for the tellybox in Vaduz and beyond have decided that Contest participation isn't a priority at the moment, but there's no reason why the country can't be there in 2011, wherever the Contest may be.

According to this report, a major celebration of everyone's favourite European composition competition is taking place in Washington DC on Saturday night. See! We told you everyone in America can't get enough of the Contest.

Organised by the Swedish Embassy, it will feature a performance by Swedish vocalist (and former Estonian representative) Anna Sahlene and a meeting with Melodifestivalen organiser (and former Swedish representative) Christer Bjorkman and Billboard magazine journo - and unabashed Eurovision fan - Fred Bronson. Boom Bang a Blog is appealing to any of the organisers behind the event to realise that the presence of a British blogger at this event would enhance the occasion no end, and pop us a quick invite in the post. If the organisers don't do this, I have it on good authority that both the Queen and David Beckham will be very annoyed with them.

Anyway, on Friday, Christer and Fred are joining forces once more to lead a panel on both Eurovision and Melodifestivalen at a pop music seminar sponsored by the Consulate General of Sweden in New York.

Hmm. That doesn't exactly sound like hard work, does it?

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.

They just keep coming. Another tune with a Eurovision connection is very close to the top spot in the UK charts this week.

Swedish Idol winner Agnes Carlsson is doing rather well chart-wise at the mo (she's at number three) with a song called Release Me.

But what a lot of the interviews and features surrounding her single seem to omit is this appearance in the final of the 2009 Melodifestivalen with the Philadelphia sounds of Love Love Love.

This was actually Boom Bang a Blog's favourite out of all 32 contending for the Swedish nomination, but it only managed eighth place on the night Sweden chose its song for Moscow. Do you think it would have done better than Malena with La Voix?

EVEN though the result of this year's Melodifestivalen has been signed, sealed and delivered - a controversy from Saturday's show still lingers - and it's all about this, which was played while the organisers totted up the votes from the viewers:

(Please be warned, there are occasional instances of naughty swear words in this clip)

The film about Tingeling's visit to Moscow, complete with underworld dealings and women in peasant wear, coupled with the subsequent musical presentation (a chorus of Red Square guards, a dancing bear and swaying Russian dolls) has - allegedly - caused outrage.

The Russian Embassy in Sweden weren't too impressed with proceedings, with spokesman Anatoly Kargapolov saying: "It makes no sense to me why Sweden would show such ignorance in misinterpreting this image of Russia. If Russians could see what happened on the stage of (Melodifestivalen venue) Globen on Saturday, I'm fairly certain it will reduce the number of votes they give to the Swedish singer."

The ambassador was, apparently, informed of the complaints - but decided not to get involved.

Sveriges Television's Ronnie Lans responded: "It wasn't our intention at all to offend anyone. It was a comedy sketch. Satire is what it is, and sometimes it can be edgy. We've all been to Russia and know that's not how it really is."

The matter seems to have been resolved, however. Earlier this week, Swedish Television sent a bouquet to the Russian Embassy and the matter appears to be closed.

IF you're reading this in an office somehwere in Europe, look around you at 4pm CET (that's 3pm if you're in Blighty) for people looking a bit twitchy and constantly logging on to a certain website.

That twitchy soul is likely to be a Eurovision fan - because today's the day the draw for this year's running order is decided and it's being streamed live across Europe via the official Eurovision website.

As old-time readers of Boom Bang a Blog will know, last year Andy Abraham was saddled with the doomed slot number two in the final, a wilderness from which no Eurovision winner has ever been seen. Here's hoping that Jade with her crowd-rousing (if her appearances at various national finals are anything to go by) performance of My Time isn't saddled with the same fate. Anything from the teens or twenties will do nicely. Singing last or second-to-last would be even better, but we won't get carried away.

We'll let you know how the UK fares later on today.

To ease the tension, here is the winner of Saturday night's Melodifestivalen - thus Sweden's Eurovision entry for 2009 - to keep you entertained. The lady's name is Malena, the song is La Voix - and just how are they going to reproduce that choral sound backing track on stage in Moscow with the maximum of five backing vocalists?

IF you visited Boom Bang a Blog in the run-up to last year's Euro antics, you'll have read all about the Swedish heats for Eurovision - otherwise known as Melodifestivalen.

The five-week marathon to find the act bound for Russia in May is almost at its climax, so it's high time we let you know what's been happening so far.

There have been four Melodifestivalen heats broadcast on Swedish telly, with two songs from each heat going forth to the grand final - destined to be the most-watched TV programme in Sweden this year. And you may have to pinch yourself when it comes to this piece of Eurovision-related news - but there's a good chance you'll have heard of at least a quarter of the octet selected so far for the final sing-off.

The first of these is Alcazar. As there's a big clampdown by Swedish TV on Melodifestivalen clips going on a certain video-sharing website, we can't put the song on here just yet, but we can tell you that Alcazar's potential entry for Sweden is called Stay the Night.

Melodifestivalen aside, you'll probably know them best for this:

...but a number of countries are already going public with their preparations for the 2009 Song Contest in Moscow.

Earlier this week, Swedish Tv carried a live broadcast of the announcement of all-but-four of the song titles and composers which will battle it out in Melodifestivalen 2009 (we said the Swedes took it seriously). There'll be four 'wildcard' acts, Swedish household names who get a direct ticket in to the line-up to make the public extra-keen to watch, announced a bit later on.

Greece has already announced who'll be singing for them in Moscow. This year's bronze-medalling nation will despatch 2004 bronze-medaller (and 2006 Contest co-host) Sakis Rouvas (pictured) to Russia in May. At a press conference this week he made plenty of rumblings about anything other than first place being failure. Rouvas got the UK's douze in Istanbul with an extremely dodgy vocal to the rather limp song Shake It! (what were we thinking?)

If you were watching that fateful evening, you may remember him whipping his jacket off halfway through the performance to reveal his vested torso (he used to be one of Greece's national athletes), before he started spinning around like... well, a big girl, if we're honest.

But nobody, nobody, comes close in the 'early doors effort' stakes than Bulgaria...

A press release has reached Boom Bang a Blog Towers from the nice people at HMV.

It promoted their Single of the Week - a song Steve Wright has played on his Radio 2 show every day for a 30-day period (we're assuming that doesn't include weekends).

The song is Lay Your Love on Me performed by Swedish pop trio Bodies Without Organs (or BWO).