Sunday 22 January 2017

BELARUS

The Belarussian Final was held on January 20th at BTRC Studio 600 Metrov in Minsk, hosted by Olga Ryzhikova & Teo. The winner was chosen by televoting (50%) & an "expert" jury (50%).  Once the votes were added together, the winning act was the duo NAVI singing “Historyja majho žyccia” (The story of my life).

The setting of the song is very simple. Arciom and Ksienija perform the song is a very free way. Arciom plays his guitar whist Ksienija does her best in inviting the audience to join in or copy her twisty choreography. They are also dressed quite simply which helps them give their all. In some ways it is slightly reminiscent of Lithuania’s duet in 2015. Although they don’t interact a lot with each other they feel like a definite unit. The background is made up of flashing lights and kaleidoscopic symbols and colours which gives it a great spirit and identity. This is also the first Eurovision entry selected by Belarus in Belarussian.

The song gets into its rhythm quickly – and doesn’t stop. They start away from the microphones moving and turning before going into one of the song's many earworms. The song is structured very cleverly. The verses and choruses are short and lend themselves to lots of repetition. The chorus itself is also well structured. Although there are lots of words, there are not many notes and the tune of each line are very similar. My main critsim is that that I would prefer another rendition of the chorus near the end raher than a whole 30 seconds of  'hey-hey, aj-ja-ja-ja"
Considering that not much actually happens, in terms of stage craft and choreography, it is a very intriguing entry. And although not in English, the use of “Historyja” as the first word in the chorus is very clever and hooks non-speakers in as it is a word that can be translated or sounds very similar in different European languages.. The duo are also masters are conveying the meaning of the song through their facial expression and body language.

This is a happy, fun and catchy song performed with such gusto. I can imagine this getting a rapturous reception at Eurovision. It’s not exactly a dancey song but I could imagine the hall waving their flags clapping in time and joining in with the hey-heys and the fist pumping. Now it must be noted that this song did not do that well with the televoting public and won dthanks to full marks from the juries. Usually this would be a negative but a) Belarussian televoting results have never been failsafe and b) this song probably has a better following outside of Belarus. I think it safe to say that this is already becoming a bit of a fan favourite. The fact that the song is not in English is a huge positive. The song reflects a culture and changing it to English would change the whole act (This said I might not be averse to a final chorus being placed into English as long as the words really fit)
I think that many of Belarus’s cultural neighbours will lap this up but will also be very memorable because is feels rooted in an ethnic folk culture. I really hope that this song qualifies. Jamala’s win last year proved that culturally ethnic songs can do well but this song is the antithesis of 1944 in subject and emotion. Maybe this is exactly what Eurovision needs.


ARTIST - NAVI
SONG -Historyja majho žyccia (The story of my life).
MUSIC - Arciom Lukjanienka
LYRICS - Arciom Lukjanienka


Saturday 21 January 2017

GEORGIA

The Georgian Final was held on January 20th at the Philharmonic Concert Hall in Tbilisi. The final consisted of 25 acts. Once all the songs were performed the top 5 were announced. The winner was decided by a combination of international jury (70%) & televoting (30%).The winning act was Tako Gachechiladze with her self-penned number “Keep the faith”

The setting of the song is reminiscent of Conchita Wurst, and she also wears a similar dress – although even that has its surprises. The background is blank for the first part of the song but then springs into life projecting photos and videos of war zones and past and future newspaper headlines. This has the effect of making it more memorable but also pulling the heartstrings of the Georgian public. (NOTE – Tako was a member of Stephane and 3G which was ‘banned' from ESC 2009 for its political play on words “We don’t wanna put in”)

The song starts off quite timidly and shows Tako off as having a Mariah Carey-esque vocal range and ability. It has echoes of a more traditional, almost old-school type Eurovision entry but has a lot more power and sass that would've been expetced. The song is powerful and dynamic for a ballad but relies very heavily on backing vocalists in the chorus. The last minute is rather epic with multiple key changes, a ‘we will rock you’ hand-clap style chorus AND the spectacle of her dress suddenly lighting up like neon veins. Although this ends on a great high it then makes you feel like the first two minutes is very badly structured and therefore wasted. I would suggest that more is made of the clapping parts –  simple and effective audience participation would look and sound amazing – and that the crescendo to the ending was more powerful.

This was possibly the best of a thin, if not diverse, national final. Tako is a very good singer and has an interesting look and voice. She wrote the song herself so you can tell she has a personal relationship with it and utilises her range perfectly. The whole thing really requires an up-vamp and is in serious need of some production values to make it a truly professional package. One may be tempted to say that as G:son has had a hand in a couple of the last Georgian entries his magic wand would work wonders on this dramatic, almost schlager-esque, ballad.
As it is, I think it would probably scrape through a semi-final but with a decent revamp this should be a sure-fire qualifier (Georgia have only failed to qualify once in their Eurovision history). Not much needs to be done to the lyrics but may need a cut down in some areas and elongating in others. Hopefuly they will leave Tako alone, provide her with a properly orchestrated backing track, some top notch backing singers and backdrop that provides drama and meaning without being too provocative. 


ARTIST - Tako Gachechiladze
SONG – Keep the Faith
MUSIC - Tako Gachechiladze
LYRICS - Tako Gachechiladze


Friday 20 January 2017

170120

Happy New Year to you all.

This first podcast of the new year looks forward to the national final dates to come as well as looking back over the news, gossip and SKANDAAAAAAAL that has rocked the Eurovision world over the past few weeks. There is a a lot to catch up on, so I apologise if it goes on a bit!

In particular I look towards to my very first Eurovision event, "Eurovision You Decide" and a little shoutout to anybody going !

Music this week comes from Monaco and Estonia.

So, you can follow all the fun and games on twitter at https://www.twitter.com/ESCarmchair  
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You can download or listen to the latest podcast here - https://archive.org/details/escarmchair-170120

Click here to listen to this podcast in your usual music player (M3U Playlist)