The End Of A Schlager Era

Today we heard that Alcazar have decided to "take a break" - in the sense ABBA took a break. Even though Alcazar were better before Mangus Carlsson left they still are the best Schlager group on the go at the moment. They participated in Melodifestivalen no less than four times. They were one of the most popular groups to fans not to make it to Eurovision. They won OGAE second chance contest twice in 2003 and 2005. They came second in 2009 to Hera Bjork with "Stay The Night". But you never really know maybe Christer Bjorkman may convince them to get back together for Melodifestivalen certainly I expect to see at least one of them individually in MF (I hope it's Tess). However it is the end of a schlager era. At this point it seems right to leave you with this video.

Norway have called for songs for MGP 2012. So if your thinking about entering they welcome compositions for Non-Norweigens.


Even though I strongly disagree with a lot of the stances taken by the Oikotimes. Today they published an excellent piece on Azerbaijan hostinng ESC 2012. You can look at it here. What they are saying is that Azerbaijan has not yet come up with a proper venue, but we have heard about some airy-fairy stadium in the Caspian Sea. They have not come up with a real budget other than the headline €100million but this seems like it may not happen. The Azeri have yet to give commitments to do with Visas and allowing people and delegations into the country safely. Also they will have to allow people who have a Armenian stamp on their passport to enter the country has some of the Eurovision team will also be at the JESC 2011 in Armenia.
The Oikotimes ends with a note that some blogs (not this one) are reporting that RAI are on standby in case....... Personally if an emergency Eurovision was required Sweden would be the best to turn to. They could put on a emergency ESC by putting their Melodifestivalen plans into action once again.


I'm going away for the weekend (again!) in the morning but I may have internet where I going but I may not I'm not sure. If not I'll be back on Sunday. Please consider this your Friday post

And The Winner Of Eurovision 2012 Is.....?: Part 7

At the moment very little is happening so we continue with the series And The Winner Is Eurovision 2012 is...? and this part is for France

France

Oh La France! After not winning in 2011 despite being a hot favourite, France should be disappointed. I more blame the song than the singer, but anyway. France has come with some of the most original and impressive songs in recent years, but 8^th place was as high as they have went. Interestingly France 3 has announced it will change to a National Final format in 2012. This may change the style of song from alternative to more mainstream. However if they were to do a national final solely consisting of alternative entries, it would definitely be a step towards a win. 

Paris 2013? France will rarely do well with a generic ballad or pop song however if they keep sending good or unusual songs to the contest they certainly could be in contention next year. However I expect a poor song to come from them next year largely due to a poor national final. But they could be in contention in the next few years.

Something Actually Happened!!!!

I think it is fair to say that there has been a drought of news of late, however today it was announced that the televoting would be adjusted back to a televoting window. They are doing this because they believe that very few people cast their  vote in the early part of the show.


In my opinion they are very right to do so. It clearly seems that songs towards the end do well because no one really votes without hearing all the songs, this is not the case in other music competitions such as the X Factor were it is much more contestant orientated. However I think that the televoting window should be at least 15 minutes.


Comments are always welcome

Many Things

Until some real news about Eurovision actually appears you shall have to forgive me for not posting any real opinions on Eurovision matters.

The only  big news today was that Nikki/Nigar, whatever you call her, is to release an album on her own i.e. without Eldar/Ell. This surprising in a way I had expected that they would record four or five songs together and the to go their different ways. However even though she was the weaker of the the pair I really hope she does well  with her album.

I'm Back!

I'm back from my brief holiday, so I did not write a blog. However if you were in Ireland yesterday, you should not have been busy online but out in the sunshine. 


Anyway Eurovision goes on (with very little news). RTÉ has announced that they made a profit, albeit a small one, from Eurovision. To be honest I am delighted for them. I have long argued that it makes financial sense for Ireland to be in Eurovision. RTÉ are at the moment trying to save costs everywhere. When Eurovision makes profit or breaks even then RTÉ should be delighted. However as always, I firmly recommend that a larger national final is needed of at least 10 songs to attract big name artists with reasonably good songs. Shoving it in with The Late Late Show makes it to low key. Promotion should have started from before the national final. But it is unlikely that the Big wigs at RTÉ will be willing to change anyway.

And The Winner Of Eurovision 2012 Is.....?: Part 6

I am going away today for the weekend so there will be no posts until Monday. So until then I leave you with why Sweden may not win next - but they're going to come close:

Sweden

After not seeing a good result since 2006 this year Sweden came roaring back and were within two points of a win in the televote. Personally I would love to see Sweden make it win number 5. Melodifestivalen is without a doubt the best of all the National selections. However they have an annoying habit of picking a middle of the road song at the expense of more international friendly songs but the international juries should balance this out if they stick with 50% international juries. They also have given more power to these juries by the new way of giving the televote points. They are in the Scandinavian block however they did not score as well as you’d expect within the block given they came third this year. A win is far from out of the question. Personally, I think they should look to Sanna Nielsen but Timoteij or Le Kid could also conceivably win for Sweden. One of Sweden’s biggest problems is they don’t change entries from their Melodifestivalen performance. Not everything that works on the MF stage is going to work on the Eurovision stage. With Sweden having such a vibrant music industry and so much input into other Eurovision entries they should use the expertise from that to craft their entry on the Eurovision stage.

Stockholm 2013? There’s a good chance. However, I think Stockholm 2014 is more likely largely because I believe that they will be too confident this year and send a similar act to Popular. They also need to make their entries look a bit better on stage, which they largely did this year but have fallen down in the past.

In the autumn I hope to have an article about exact who I would like to see represent Sweden in 2012

What to write about?

The last week has seen a change in the amount of news being produced, so there was little to write about yesterday and I finished my exams so I didn't have the time to write anyhow. However, the marked decline in Eurovision articles means there is very little to talk about. Therefore, for today and tomorrow the is a And the winner of Eurovision 2012 is...? article. (Norway is below). After tomorrow I'm on holidays for the weekend so there will be no blogging til Monday. However over the summer I hope to build up a stock of articles on voting trends which will be the next series after And the winner is?. Blogging is much harder over the summer but I will try to do as much as I can.

Norway

After a landslide win in 2009 Norway seemed part of a new wave of western wins. However while their last two entries did well in predictions but once picked they slide a lot when they hit the ESC stage. Norway can hardly be pleased with their last two results, but they should not lose hope. MGP is the second strongest national final system, in my opinion. However, while excellent songs are entered they still don’t take risks with more modern sounding entries, like Vardlokk or Not That Easy. They have the ability to get points across the board but are still supported by a strong Scandinavian Anglo-Irish block. However, after this year, if bland songs are going to do well in the contest then Tone Damli Aabarge may be a good choice.

Oslo 2013? Unless Norway steps out of its comfort zone they may find the Top 10 out of reach, let alone a win.