Eurovision Semi-Final 1 - For Non Eurovision Super-fans

So today sees the first real tangible signs of Eurovision 2012 with the first live show. While most of my posts are aimed at fans of the contest who follow ESC either all year round or for the national final seasons this one is aimed that those for whom Eurovision is only an annual event.

What's on tonight?
Tonight is the first semi-final, 18 countries from around Europe will compete for 10 spaces in the final, which will contain ten songs from semi-final 1, ten for semi-final 2 and six automatic qualifiers. Jedward will be competing for Ireland tonight. The second semi-final is on Thursday and the final is on Saturday.

Who votes tonight?
A 50/50 combination of expert jury votes and public televotes will decide the ten qualifiers.

What can we expect from juries?
Juries tend to be more conservative in their voting and do support countries that have stronger vocal performances. However they also do recognize a strong song when they see it.

When do Juries vote?
Contrary to what many people believe the juries vote based on the video tapes of the second rehearsal, which is done 24 hours in advance of the final. Today juries across Europe will decide their votes in the morning/early afternoon of the main event.


Does the winner of the semi-final matter?
The winner of the semi-final is not announced until after the final. While a song that wants to win Eurovision probably should win tonight, many songs that have won Eurovision recently came second or even third in their semi-final. The last person to win the semi-final and the final was Alexander Rybak [Norway] in 2009. Last year Greece won their semi-final but only came seventh overall. So no, winning is not essential tonight.

What performances should I be looking forward to tonight?
Montenegro have brought us one of the most bizarre songs ever to grace the stage. The song is called Euro-Nuero and is actually a massive anti-EU song. But most will not understand it, however you also can look forward to the Euro-Nuero monetary break dance.

For those who actually believe that Eurovision can actually produce a couple of hits Iceland is definitely one to watch. Greta Sálome & Jonsi have a big dramatic Icelandic ballad.

Things might seem to be getting a little boring but Romania are sixth up and should fix that with their song "Zaleilah". Hetrosexual males may want to watch for their lead singer.

San Marino have a really catchy but strange song about Social Networks. Once she starts talking about Cybersex you might want to note that she is 37.

Russia have the so called "Russian Grannies" coming to perform their song Party For Everybody. These are performers of various ages ranging from 47-76. They are really cute and definitely worth a watch.  They are one of the favourites to win the whole contest.

Austria have sent their song Woki Mit Deim Popo [shake your ass] which is really entertaining.

Finally Ireland have Jedward and their massive fountain to try and convince Europe to vote for them. Jedward are widely seen as likely qualifiers tonight.

It's The Russian Grannies!

After three years of trying, fans finally had the delight of being able to say that Russia had sent Buranovskiye Babushki to Eurovision, aka The Russian Grannies. I was delighted to see them win – especially when they beat Dima Bilan. But what is so great about a couple of over-60’s getting up on stage and singing, well like every entry in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest it must be dissected by my good self, so hopefully through this review I will try and find out.

Buranovskiye Babushki will represent Russia in Baku next month. They won the Russia national final by a considerable distance and their selection has been broadly welcomed by fans [except maybe Dima Bilan fan’s –but there are very few of them. Their song “Party For Everybody” is a mixture of ethnic music and dance pop. As a song it has a reasonable melody, not an amazing one though. Lyrically it is very funny however as much of Europe does not understand the language they are singing in it will most likely be lost on them. While the song may not have limitations and not be the strongest Buranovskiye Babushki’s performance will most likely be well flagged and highly anticipated. I think the performance will make people sit up.

While I may have a huge amount of praise for this song it is difficult to imagine that it is good enough to win Eurovision. Eurovision is ever changing, as is entertainment in general. Since the “Susan Boyle effect” took place back in 2009 it has become more acceptable for older people to sing pop music. Buranovskiye Babushki rose to fame on YouTube, which probably means that they are well liked by a younger generation. The problem arises here. Semi-final 1 is wall to wall entertainment acts with very little room for ballads and midtempo songs. Buranovskiye Babushki will be competing against acts such as Trackshittaz and Jedward. I am not convinced that any of these countries are going to steam ahead, collecting all of the votes, I think that the votes will be evenly spread.

I also am concerned about how the juries will react to Buranovskiye Babushki. Juries tend to be very conservate by nature with little room for anything without talent. While I consider Buranovskiye Babushki to be very talented I am not convinced that the juries will see it that way.

Verdict: I think that this is going to be one of the strongest entries and performances in this year’s contest. I think that Buranovskiye Babushki have a large enough fan base to push them into the final but how they do there will be largely dependent on the reactions of juries to their song. Their song is not overly strong so it is conceivable that juries may overlook what is a fantastic entry.

Grade: A-

Russia Surprises Everyone (And Something Happened In Slovakia/Armenia)

Tonight Russia selected the most surprising entrants for Eurovision 2012 - Buranovskiye Babushki.

(I suspect this could be a serious question in a Eurovision spelling bee.) Anyway I am delighted with the Russians choice. This everything you want from a  Eurovision entry - something that represents the national music tradition, something that's current and something that is very entertaining.

If I was in the BBC right now I think I'd be puking. After all their smart moves they now don't have the oldest lead singer at Eurovision and now they are going to be squzzed by a branch of the Over-70's club. Anyway it all makes the contest more interesting. Semi 1 is shaping up to be a very interesting semi-final in contrast to the rather dull semi-final 2. Usually when this occurs the winning song comes from the more interesting semi.

Overall I think this could go either way for them. They will most likely score heavily on the televote but the juries may not go for them. This will either sink or swim.

There will be more on these wonderful elders at a later stage when I don't feel I am going to fall asleep.

Elsewhere Slovakia presented their song - it's not quite as amazing. This sort of rock has been seen in Eurovision before. It won't be expected to do overly well. 

This morning we found out what I had suspected all along when Armenia withdrew from ESC this year. This was no big surprise but it still reflects badly on Azerbaijan and the EBU despite assurances from both of them Armenia withdrew. I think though that while nothing can be done this year, the EBU should reflect on whether it is right for a country to host the contest when other countries are unwilling to travel to the host country.