Greetings! It’s time for your fix of all things Euro-fabulous, courtesy of EUROvisual. With less than a month to go until the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, we can begin to get really excited at the prospect of yet another week of glitz, glamour and crazy voting!
Stage construction in full swing
Last week, the organisers of this year’s contest released a short video showing the progress being made in constructing the Eurovision stage. The clip shows a central circular platform with a long walkway leading to a smaller stage. The smaller stage has been cleverly called the ‘Satellite’, a reference to the title of last year’s winning German entry. This set-up suggests that the intention may be to draw the audience in around the stage. Take a look here.
Eurovision fans begin voting for their favourite entries
Each year, the members of each national branch of OGAE, the official Eurovision fan club, meet to preview all the entries in that year’s contest and then vote for their favourites. Although this has occasionally given an idea of which entries might prove successful in the competition, it has also sometimes been unreliable in predicting the outcome. For example, in 2008, OGAE members were almost unanimous in their praise of that year’s Swedish entry, ‘Hero’ by previous winner Charlotte Pirrelli. However, the song went on to barely scrape through the semi-final and placed 18th in the final. As of today, and with many votes yet to be announced, France is in 1st place in the vote, followed by the UK, Sweden, Hungary and Estonia. After last year’s dismal result for the UK (as in last!), I’m sure the Great British public would happily settle for a Top 5 placing!
Country profile: Italy
As EUROvisual is being written in Rome this week, we felt it apt to focus on Italy’s history in the contest. Italy has a somewhat strained relationship with Eurovision, having always regarded it with slight disdain. However, Italy can boast two victories in the contest, first in 1964 with ‘Non Ho L’Età’ by Gigliola Cinquetti and then 26 years later with ‘Insieme: 1992′ by Toto Cutugno. After hosting Eurovision in Rome in 1991 with a distinct lack of enthusiasm, Italy only entered two more contests (1993, 1997) before embarking on a 14-year hiatus. 2011 marks Italy’s return to the Eurovision fold, causing much excitement among Eurovision fans. This year, Raphael Gualazzi has the honour of representing Italia with ‘Madness of Love’. You can check out the first Italian Eurovision entry since 1997 below.
Unplug the phone…
…in preparation for this trip down Eurovision memory lane! In 1997, Denmark selected a rotund rapper by the name of Kølig Kaj (Kølig means ‘cool’) to represent them in Dublin with the song ‘Stimmen I Mit Liv’ (The Voice in My Life). The song revolves around the aforementioned gentleman falling in love with…wait for it…an unidentified employee of directory enquiries. Yes, this ditty recounts a tale of unrequited telephonic love. It’s a classic. Enjoy!
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