HUNGARY

The Hungarian Final was held on February 23rd at the MTVA Studios in Budapest, hosted by Bogi Dallos & Gábor Alfréd Fehérvári. Before the final there were heats and semi-finals to get to a final of 8. The winner was chosen in two rounds of voting. In the 1st round the top 4 were chosen by the jury then in the 2nd round the winner was selected by 100% televoting. Going to Eurovision – again – is Joci Papai with the song "Az én apám" (My father)

Joci is on stage alone dressed in black but also barefoot. He starts sat on the edge of the stage but gradually moves to centre stage. Behind him the video screen backdrop is very nondescript with lines of dotted lights loving across. This makes Joci the focus of the performance which has it’s plus points but also magnifies some of his issues.

Joci's self-penned song is about the memories he has of his father and how uses the memories in the present. It is obviously an emotionally charged song and even though it is in Hungarian you seem to understand this is a contemplative song. The song is unusual as there’s no introduction and goes immediately into a verse. He sings two verses then goes into the chorus, the verses being more down beat and the chorus have more of a major chord feeling. After this Joci does some warbling, which kind of works as it gives the song space before the backing track becomes a bit more powerful. He then progresses with another verse and chorus, finishing with another 40 seconds of warbling. Not only is this far too long bit it feels like it is on the verge of being too high and you end up on the edge of you seat feeling rather more uncomfortable than you should. I’d almost prefer an extra verse or extra bit of chorus followed by a shorter warble.

Because the song and performance are quite plain, there is a lot of scope for change and improvement. In some ways, I like the fact it is very minimalistic and Joci has good command of the audience and camera but I feel that the sentiment of the song could be lost quite easily. Maybe some family pictures behind him might help or possibly even some dancers, right now I’m not quite sure. The only other thing that might make the whole thing more interactive is by incorporating the backing singers needed into the show and using dance/gesture/mime to act out the song, becoming a more ensemble performance

This is, technically, a really nice song and has great instrumentation and the syllabic nature of Hungarian really complements the phrasing and tune of the song. However it is nowhere near as instant as “Origo” his successful entry from 2 years ago which is why I think something more visual might be needed to make it click to a wider audience. It’s a good, solid song but unfortunately I think this might miss out

                                               

ARTIST – Joci Papai

SONG – Az én apám (My father)

MUSIC -  József Pápai

LYRICS - József Pápai