PORTUGAL

The Portuguese Final was held on March 7th at the RTP TV Studios in Lisbon, hosted by Júlio Isidro & Catarina Furtado. The winner was chosen in two rounds of voting. In the first round two songs were chosen by televoting and one by a jury. In the second round the winner was chosen by televoting alone. Going to Vienna will be Leonor Andrade with the song "Há um mar que nos separa" (There's a sea that separates us).

Festival Da Cancao once again helped to choose the entry to Eurovision. Before the final there were 2 semi finals of 6 songs each. But unlike Eurovision in this modern era all of the songs were backed by a live land and backing group. Although this made for an interesting show with a bit of an edge, it also made it tricky to judge what might happen with a backing track. Unfortunately the songs were generally of an average quality and any song that was not middle of the road or in the style of fado seemed to get left at the wayside pretty early on.

The song is a contemporary mid tempo song sung in Portuguese. The introduction and first verse are come in quite menacing and in a more minor key. The verses are a little bland and not exactly singalongable. The chorus is much more lively and memorable and has a much more memorable hook. There is a very noticeable key change before the final chorus but this sounds a little weak and it not always on target. The song, to me, is more of a male rock singer song that that of a female.

Last year, Leonor participated in The Voice Portugal where she lasted right up until the penultimate episode. After appearing she joined the cast of soap opera "Água de Mar" and so would have been quite a familiar face to the Portuguese public. She has quite a raspy tone to her voice and sounds a bit like she pushes it way too much. This is particularly noticeable on higher notes and key changes.

A lot needs to be done tot his to make is ready for Eurovision. The back track needs to be far more punchier and with a stronger beat in order to make it more accessible. Then there is the issue of language. It was part of the rules of "Festival Da Cancao" that songs were sung in Portuguese however there is nothing to say this can't be changed or partially changed for Eurovision. Changing, if not partially, to English would be a good idea as I think that the song would suit being sung in that language. However seeing that the majority of their past ESC entries have been fully in Portuguese I don't think this will be the case. Work need to be put into creating a suitable backdrop AND somebody needs to seriously sort out her hair and outfit!

On the positive side this is a contemporary song and is something that apart from language does not feel stereotypically Portuguese. The song and tune itself has memorable parts but the language does get in the way. I say this as I feel that the story of the song is important and I feel by being in a wider spoken tongue it might reach more people. This song will be in the first half of the very competitive semi final 2 and I believe that most of the qualifiers will come from the second half, the chances of this qualifying are very, very slim.

ARTIST - Leonor Andrade

SONG - Há um mar que nos separa (There's a sea that separates us)

MUSIC - Miguel Gameiro

LYRICS - Miguel Gameiro