Results tagged “Spain” from Boom Bang a Blog

Popstar Queen - disqualified from the Spanish preselection. Tsk.

As you may remember from a previous blogpost, Spanish TV invited potential acts for this year's Eurovision to submit potentail winners online, which the public will then whittle down from the 313-strong (yes, that's 313) longlist via an internet vote to the 10 songs which will be performed in Spain's national final soon.

This is the same process that they've used in the past two years, one producing a comedy song about chickens and the other a run-of-the-mill pop thing which finished way down the bottom of the scoreboard in Moscow.

But in the past 24 hours, four songs have been eliminated from the preliminary round for not playing by the rules. Naughtiness has its price - and these cheeky singers are paying.

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.

Spain didn't broadcast their allocated semi-final of this year's Eurovision Song Contest live, due to a sporting event. As they were contractually obliged to do so, the European Broadcasting Union has given them a ticking off.

On a more political note, Azeri telly was fined 2,700 euros for blurring the number viewers had to call to vote for the Armenian entry, interfering with the TV signal whilst the Armenian act was performing and then the small matter of the police taking Azeri citizens who voted for Armenia in for questioning after checking their mobile phone details.

Surely that sort of behaviour deserves more than a 2,700 euro fine? And Azerbaijan is being allowed back in for 2010.

It makes you think.

Some very, very original ideas are bubbling away in the minds of television companies across the continent in the run-up to the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest.

For a start, the Spanish have just launched their search for a song which will end 40 years of Eurovision heartache. It's called Tu País te Necesita and for the non-Spanish speaking among Boom Bang a Blog's readers, that translates as Your Country Needs You.

Where did they get that idea from?

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?

Eurovision 1990 is the very first one I watched. It was to be another two years before the Contest would become personal appointment TV for one Saturday night a year, but it is certainly the first one I can ever remember the BBC devoting a fair bit of publicity to before the big night - perhaps because it was one year when they were fairly confident of victory. How wrong they were...

But we'll get back to Britain in a bit. The truly chronic Rock Me brought Yugoslavia its first opportunity to host the competition in a year when the staging state - and a few others - were either starting or on the brink of serious upheaval. The Berlin Wall had fallen between Riva's victory and the 35th Eurovision in Zagreb, Yugoslavia itself would only enter another two Contests after this before it split into the separate countries of Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia who entered the Contest in their own right. Serbia & Montenegro made its Eurovision debut as an independent state much later- and not long before it too split into two states. Russia was also soon set to splinter into independent countries which would enter the competition individually.

The change in the air was so obvious that it even affected the themes of the songs Europe's composers were submitting to the Contest, making 1990 the Eurovision which gave a nod to events in the outside world more than any other.

Above you'll find a performance of the song Balalaika, ably belted out by Israeli singer Ilanit, who had already represented her country at Eurovision in 1973 and 1977. This would have been the song which bore the Israeli flag at the 29th Eurovision Song Contest in Luxembourg. However - and it was a habit those pesky organisers kept on making - the date for the 1984 Contest clashed with an important festival in Israel's calendar. Therefore, just as an awkward date saw the land of Milk and Honey miss the Contest following its two successive wins, another balls-up in the date stakes saw them sit out the event which followed its two successive silvers.

Balalika did go on to be one of the biggest selling singles of 1984 in Israel. What do you think? Would it have been a winner had it made it to Luxembourg City?

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.

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.

When Laurita Valenzuela (the Spanish hostess of the 1969 Contest who singlehandedly kept her nation's lace industry going well into the '70s with the outfit she wore on the big night) asked Mr Clifford Brown, the Eurovision scrutineer who ensured everything was tickety-boo with the scoreboard, what would happen if there was a tie for first place at the end of the voting, his answer was emphatic.

He told Ms Valenzuela not to worry - that sort of thing had never happened before - and certainly never would.

Oh dear.

The BBC had finally done it at their tenth attempt. Sandie Shaw's Puppet on a String walked away with the 1967 vote in confident barefooted strides - and the UK was keen to ride this wave of good fortune to do what no country had done before - win the Eurovision Song Contest twice in succession. And, oh, that dream was but a vote's breadth from becoming a reality.

With it being a British Eurovision, Dame Katie of Boyle naturally assumed the role of mistress of ceremonies. This time around, she wasn't stuck in one of Television Centre's pokier studios with a scoreboard and a not-especially-clappy audience. Oh, no. In 1968, our Katie strode out to greet the near 6,000 capacity of London's Royal Albert Hall in the glitziest Eurovision Song Contest yet staged. Oh yeah - and it was the first one broadcast in colour, too. Not that the BBC wanted to show off to its previously grey-eyed, now green-eyed, European broadcasting colleagues (ahem).

Everything about the 1968 Contest created an atmosphere of a home team as confident of victory as eleven lads in red had been at Wembley Stadium not quite two years earlier. If only a Russian linesman had intervened after the German jury struck.

Soraya, Spain's 2009 entrant, who finished last in the final in Moscow

A poll in Spanish newspaper El de Cordoba has shown that 68 per cent of those asked want the country to pull out of the Eurovision Song Contest. Just 20 per cent of those asked think Spanish telly should carry on having a go at the competition and we don't really know what the other 12 per cent thought. Presumably, they're more interested in how the footie team is getting on.

The lack of love for the event appears to stem from Spain's failure to come even close to claiming the trophy since the 1960s. But should winning be the only reason a country continues to enter the Contest? Is it worth staying at home while everyone else goes on a fun jaunt to the host city? If the UK hadn't had a return to form this year - would you have wanted the BBC to withdraw?

As always, we're glad of your comments.

Here we are - the 40th, 41st and 42nd songs taking part in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. If you've been following our blogbits since we introduced Monentenegro and Czech Republic all those days ago, you should now have your favourites and possibly spotted a winner.

But don't choose until you've heard the last three songs on offer, beginning with our Teutonic chums.

GERMANY
Alex Swings Oscar Sings!: Miss Kiss Kiss Bang

Boom Bang a Blog has a pound each way on this. It's quite possibly the most under-rated entry of the year.

United Kingdom: Andy Abraham - Even If

Eh up, it's us.

As you may have heard on our blogcast with the rather smashing Professor of Eurovision, Phil Jackson, Andy Abraham's Even If is touted as the UK's best entry for some considerable time.

Anyone who witnessed Andy's progress on The X Factor will also be aware this is the most reliable set of lungs to be carrying the UK entry since Jessica Garlick in 2002.

Even If is a generous slab of funky pop - although rather dated - and has the potential to have far more oomph live than on disc - which is the right way round where this Contest is concerned.

It was looking OK for UK until the middle of March. Then they did the draw.