Thursday, December 31, 2015

ALBANIA

The Albanian Final was held on December 27th at the Palace of Congress in Tirana, hosted by Pandi Laço & Blerta Tafani. Before the final there were 2 semi-finals where the long list of 30 was reduced to a final of 22 which is much more than was originally planned. The winner was chosen by an "expert" jury. the winning act was Eneda Tarifa with the song "Përrallë" (Fairytale)

The song is a moody midtempo song with Bond ballad qualities. The guitar introduction sets the scene perfectly and the change back to it after the first chorus reminds us how far the song grows and develops thought the first cycle. The oh-oh-oh part in the middle is a nice interlude but sounded very odd as the singers voices either did not blend well OR some of them we're a little off in timing. The song does not have a lot of lyrics and contains a lot of extended notes. Although the song is in Albanian I find it quite easy to remember the tune and the patterns and rhythms of the lyrics. I just hop that future changes do not effect these rhythms too much

Eneda has a very exotic look to her. She looks more like she could be Greek or Hispanic rather than being Balkan. I feel her hairstyle and dress could be altered quite drastically to make me much more memorable and dramatic. She has a nice voice and one that really suite the song. My only concern would be that she needs to mind she does not push it too much as it almost sounds like her right on the breaking point.  She seems like a confident performer but does pull some odd faces when singing. She also tends to squint her eves and stretch her mouth and looks reminiscent of the old Smash aliens.

The song will be re-written into English although I suspect it will not keep the English translation of "Fairytale". As I stated before I hope they don't mess about too much with the melody and rhythm of the song but many things will have to change. The song is about 30 seconds too long there are a few parts that could be shortened or omitted or even sped up slightly so I don't see this too much of an issue. What might be in issue is getting that really symphonic sound from a live orchestra to the Eurovision stage. It needs that wall of sound to show the build up through the song cycle.
The song screams "Bond theme"and part of me wonders if they could be really cheeky (or just plain clever) and rewrite the song with the title "Spectre" ?

As there is nothing definite to compare it to, this is a tricky one to review. However I would say that this is quite a good song. After a few listens  it becomes very familiar and that can only quicken when translated into English - providing they keep to the same cadence and tune. This could be a really dramatic song if they get the backing correct. Could this win? Who knows - but this is definitely one I will be watching over the next few months to see how it changes.

ARTIST - Eneda Tarifa
SONG - Përrallë (Fairytale)
MUSIC - Olsa Toqi
LYRICS - Olsa Toqi

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Returning artists

Here is a list of the artists I could find who returned to Eurovision but for a different country.
This is a quick list so I  have not included if they were solo or part of different bands/groups

I am not saying that this list is 100% fool proof but was the result of a quick scour of the internet.
The list DOES NOT cover people who have been also been backing singers for other acts or people who have written entries either. If I tried to do this I would be here forever.


Jean Philippe - France 1959, Switzerland 1962
Siw Malmkvist - Sweden 1960, Germany 1969
Romuald Figuies - Monaco 1964, Luxembourg 1969, Monaco 1974
Tereza Kesovija - Monaco 1966, Yugoslavia 1972
Michèle Torr - Luxembourg 1966, Monaco 1977
Maessen sisters - Netherlands 1970, Belgium 1977 (Stella as solo Belgium 1982)
Ireen Sheer - Luxembourg 1974, Germany 1978, Luxembourg 1985
Anne-Marie David - Luxembourg 1973, France 1979
Elisabeth Andreassen - Sweden 1982, Norway 1985, Norway 1994, Norway 1996
Anna Vissi - Greece 1980, Cyprus 1982, Greece 2006
Elpida - Greece 1979, Cyprus 1986
Eiríkur Hauksson - Iceland 1986, Norway 1991, Iceland 2007
Doris Dragović- Yugoslavia 1986, Croatia 1999
Feminnem - Bosnia-Herzegovina 2005 , Croatia 2010
Željko Joksimović - Serbia and Montenegro 2004, Serbia 2012

BOLD - winner of that year
ITALIC - did not qualify, only performed in the semi final

2016 recap 5

This is the last podcast of the year but also the first proper podcast of the year.
Confused? You should be!

In the world of Eurovision, things have slowed slightly for the festive period but in Albania they have provided our first song/singer pairing of the season. There's also some interesting news coming from Spain!

As I explain next year I hope to start the bibberlycheese podcast which will extract the 'what I've been up to' part of this podcast. I am starting to psych myself out of it slightly so to show your support you can find the twitter feed for this at @bibberlycheese on twitter. As I explain I don't really want to do a podcast if nobody is going to listen to it...

Music is from The Netherlands, Norway and Ireland


Follow us on twitter at https://www.twitter.com/DVVHolland
or like our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/DVVHolland to find get the latest information about blogposts and podcasts or even have a look back at our old ones :o)

You can download or listen to it here https://archive.org/details/2016Recap005


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

Saturday, December 19, 2015

2016 recap 4

BAH HUMBUG!!!!

I am certainly not in the Christmas spirit! Shopping trips have been the bane of my life and I have a little moan about the down and down of shopping (especially at Christmas) when you have a little one in tow. Let's hope next year I am just that little bit more organised :/

There is of course a brief rundown of the ESC news including the announcement of who the host(s) is/are.

I then follow up my appearance on the FABULOUS Eurodummies podcast and try to explain why I don't like ABBA - it seems it is all a problem with timing....

Follow us on twitter at https://www.twitter.com/DVVHolland
or like our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/DVVHolland to find get the latest information about blogposts and podcasts or even have a look back at our old ones :o)

You can download or listen to it here https://archive.org/details/2016Recap004


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


Friday, December 04, 2015

2016 recap 3

Not really that much going on Eurovision wise but we catch up nonetheless. If we're not careful ESC 2016 will be turning into a best of edition (or maybe that should be worst of!)

I start off talking about what's been happening this week - or should that be what HASN'T happened this week. I had a day in my new job this week which was eye opening! Plus you get a small insight into why I'm not really looking forward to Christmas this year. It's not so much that I'm not looking forward to it more that so much is happening right now it's hard when everybody you know looks so content and happy.... and you're not.

However I do get over myself by having a good old rant about a certain country XD

Music comes from Portugal, Spain and Hungary.


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or like our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/DVVHolland to find get the latest information about blogposts and podcasts or even have a look back at our old ones :o)

You can download or listen to it here https://archive.org/details/2016Recap003


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

Friday, November 27, 2015

jESC2015recap

Here the last Junior Eurovision podcast of the year.

I look back over this year's event, which I think was a pretty good one! I also look forward to Eurovision 2016 as there has been a flurry of last minute activity - some of which feels a little odd!

I start off though by looking back at the last week, which has not been the best. Nothing really *bad* has happened but at times I've felt a little left out of things and unconfident about everything. I am going to my new place of work next week to do a few days of settling in, which I am honestly looking forward to, but so much is preventing me from shouting it from the rooftops and feeling proud of myself. I guess there are days, in my case weeks, where you just feel like you're not doing a good job - mainly because nobody tells you that you are...

Junior tracks this week come from Malta, Belarus, France and Georgia.


PS - here's the link to my youtube account with my past Karaoke Secret Santa posts https://www.youtube.com/user/squiresag

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or like our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/DVVHolland to find get the latest information about blogposts and podcasts or even have a look back at our old ones :o)

You can download or listen to it here https://archive.org/details/jESC2015recap


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Friday, November 20, 2015

jESC 2015

This weekend sees the 13th Junior Eurovision Song Contest being held in Sofia, Bulgaria!
In the second part of the podcast I go through the draw and talk about what I've seen in the rehearsals this week. Although I am not there in person I have been able to keep up to speed with the goings on thanks to  the vodeos on the Junior Eurovision website AND the people at ESCInsight and EuroDummies - your  daily news features have proved quite informative! 
As you will hear, I have no idea what's going to happen... but that's a good thing... right...?

First of all I go through my week. Unfortunately it hasn't gone very well :(


Junior Eurovision songs this week come from Latvia, Russia, Sweden and Armenia.



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or like our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/DVVHolland to find get the latest information about blogposts and podcasts or even have a look back at our old ones :o)

You can download or listen to it here https://archive.org/details/jESC2015


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Friday, November 13, 2015

Junior ESC 2015

Quite a lot packed in today's podcast.

In the first part I talk about what I've been up to this week - freezers, interviews and Teletubbies...
All shall be revealed!

Then I give my best potted history lesson of what Junior Eurovision is and a brief run down of the rules and how the rules have changed over the years - for better and for worse!

Finally I do a review of all 17 jESC entries in about 15 minutes... That's MUCH shorter than the actual show so why bother watching it ! 

The song playlist is all Junior related and come from Spain, Serbia, Bulgaria and Norway and next week I'll play some more Junior Eurovision songs



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or like our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/DVVHolland to find get the latest information about blogposts and podcasts or even have a look back at our old ones :o)

You can download or listen to it here https://archive.org/details/Junioresc2015


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Saturday, November 07, 2015

2016 recap 2

Sorry about the long delay!!!
As I explain at the start, A LOT of things have been going on including numerous illnesses and doing a podcast has not been my greatest priority, but I have hopefully got back up to date with the latest Eurovision news.

In the last part of the podcast, I talk about a new venture I'm about to undertake. Although this is a much more personal thing, rather than a themed podcast, I am hoping you will enjoy the window in the my world with a Squirt. That said it won't ALL be baby related - there will be scope to look at a wider cultural spectrum and indulge some of the other things I enjoy, and enjoy bitching about,  in life! I really hope you join me on this journey :)

Music comes from UK, Bulgaria, Portugal and a German band with quite a few Eurovisiony connections


Follow us on twitter at https://www.twitter.com/DVVHolland
or like our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/DVVHolland to find get the latest information about blogposts and podcasts or even have a look back at our old ones :o)

You can download or listen to it here https://archive.org/details/2016Recap002


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


PS - here is the said "Squirt Desk"

Friday, October 02, 2015

2016 recap 1

The September deadline has come and gone - Eurovision season is officially OPEN!!!!!
Loads of countries have decided to take the plunge in 2016 and may of them have already set national final dates - one has even selected its entrant!!!!
In this podcast I take a quick swipe at some of the basic news in Euroland including the unexpected announced from the BBC regarding their selection process this year. It seems to have got many of the fans hot under the collar and a bit too excited but as you will hear I think this is a very basic announcement which many may be a reading a little bit too much into.

Music comes from Lithuania, Luxembourg and Iceland with my final track being a bit of my birthday story :)

Follow us on twitter at https://www.twitter.com/DVVHolland
or like our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/DVVHolland to find get the latest information about blogposts and podcasts or even have a look back at our old ones :o)

You can download or listen to it here https://archive.org/details/2016Recap001


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