Martijn

We can not wait for the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool. Therefore, we have a closer look at one of the contestants every day. Today: Finland. Käärijä UMK, the Finnish national final for the Eurovision Song Contest, has been won by Käärijä. His song “Cha-cha-cha” was written and composed by Johannes Naukkarinen, Aleksi Nurmi and Jukka Sorsa. Käärijä himself also contributed to the lyrics. Käärijä’s real name is Jere Pöyhönen. He started his career in 2014. In the beginning, he released his own music. It took until 2017 before he had a contract with a record company and released his first single “Koppi tules” / “Nou roblem“. He released a lot of singles. His EP “Peliä” was released in 2018, with two singles “Klo23” and “Puuta heinää” as an extract. His first album, “Fantastista”, reached the Finnish album charts. His real breakthrough however, came when he won the national final for the Eurovision Song Contest. “Cha-cha-cha” reached the no.1 spot in the Finnish charts. Songs in Finnish “Cha-cha-cha” could well be the very first ever song in the Finnish language, ending up in the top-5 of the Eurovision Song Contest. The best score so far is a 7th place. Finland managed to reach that place twice in the sixties, once in the eighties. Marion Rung made it in 1962 with her sweet song “Tipi tii”. Two years later it was Lasse Mårtenson with his song “Laiskotellen”. And in 1989 Anneli Saaristo brought her Finnish song with Spanish sounds to the 7th place. Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest Finland takes part in the Eurovision Song Contest since 1961, but has not been one of the most successful countries so far. The aforementioned Marion Rung and Lasse Mårtensson held the record until 1973. In that year, Marion Rung broke her own record by becoming 6th with “Tom Tom Tom”. Pihasoittajat did quite well in 1975 with “Old man fiddle”. And yes, we have to mention Monica Aspelund and her song “Lapponia”. She was among the favourites to win, but in the end she became 10th.Finland only reached the top-5 on one occasion, and they won. The unforgettable band Lordi got the first place in 2006 with “Hard rock hallelujah”. The masks and costumes were clearly not a Eurovision gimmick. The man always dress up like that. Just a few people know how the Lordi guys really look! Bookmakers If you look at the betting odds, there is reason for the Finnish to be happy. They currently have the 2nd place. As mentioned, it will be unique for Finland: their 2nd top-5, and the first top-5 for a song in Finnish! The song And of course, here is the song:

We can not wait for the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool. Therefore, we have a closer look at one of the contestants every day. Today: The Netherlands. Mia and Dion The Dutch song “Burning daylight”, sung by Mia Nicolaï and Dion Cooper, was chosen internally. Duncan Laurence and his husband-to-be Jordan Garfield wrote and composed the song with Mia, Dion and Loek van der Grinten.  Mia and Dion were both quite unknown to the Dutch audience. Mia from Amsterdam, who studied music in Melbourne, currently lives in Los Angeles. She released two singles in 2020: “Set me free” and “Mutual needs”. In 2023 she didn’t only co-write the Dutch song, but also one of the contestants in the Moldovan national final. She wrote “When love’s real” for Corina Ivanov.Dion from Amstelveen debuted in 2020 with the release of the EP “Too young, too dumb”. In February 2022, Dion released a new single called “Know”. In april of the same year he opened for Benedict Cork and on 5 May he performed at the annual Bevrijdingsfestival. On 29 September 2022, his new single “Blue jeans” was released.Both Mia and Dion started working with Duncan Laurence. He got the idea of bringing them together for the song “Burning daylight”. The team submitted it to the Eurovision selection committee. The rest is history. Dutch artists for other countries In 1970 the Eurovision Song Contest was held in Amsterdam. Easy for David Alexandre Winter, as he lived there. However, he did not represent the Netherlands. For Luxembourg he sang “Je suis tombé du ciel”. The Dutch group were Patricia & The Hearts of Soul. And that group went to Belgium, changed their name into Dream Express and represented Belgium in 1977. One of the members, Stella, did the job again for Belgium in 1982.It was 1979 when German group Dschingis Khan took the stage. There was also a Dutch member in this group. The blond woman singing for Luxembourg in 1985 was Margo, whose real name is Annemieke Verdoorn. And than, in 2001, a Dutch artist won for another country: Dave Benton represented Estonia and won with “Everybody”. The year after, Belgium sent Sergio & The Ladies. All the ladies were Dutch as well. In 2005 we had Marian van de Wal representing Andorra. And of course, in 2021, Greek/Dutch Stefania sang for Greece. The Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest The Netherlands take part in the Eurovision Song Contest from the very beginning. And as Jetty Pearl had the honour to open the first contest, we can say that “De vogels van Holland” was the very first Eurovision Song ever.In the fifites the country was very successful with two victories: Corry Brokken (“Net als toen”, 1957) and Teddy Scholten (“Een beetje”, 1959). After a long row of bad scores, the Dutch were back in 1969 with Lenny Kuhr and her “De troubadour”. Years with high scores followed, resulting in another victory in 1975, with Teach In and their “Ding-a-dong”.Lesser years followed, with even a row of 8 entries not reaching the final. Things changed when one of the Netherlands’ biggest stars, Anouk, took part in 2013. A 2nd place with the Common Linnets followed a year later, and Duncan Laurence took the trophy back in 2019. Bookmakers Currently, Mia and Dion have a 15th place at the betting odds. That would be a good score for the two, wo will make sure the long row of songs that make it to the final continues. The song And of course, this is the song:  

We can not wait for the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool. Therefore, we have a closer look at one of the contestants every day. Today: Czechia. Vesna Vesna won the national final for the Eurovision Song Contest in Czechia. The all girl band will sing “My sister’s crown”. The song is written and composed by Patricie Kaňok Fuxová, Tanita Yankova and Kateryna Vatchenko. Vesna is an alternative music band with strong folklore features. It consists of singer, composer and lyricist Patricie Fuxová, violinist and vocalist Bára Šůstková, keyboardist Olesya Ochepovská, drummer Markéta Vedralová and bassist Tereza Čepková. It was Patricie who founded the group in 2016. It was a year later when their debut single “Morona” was released, followed by their debut album in 2018. A second album was released in 2020.  Girl bands in Eurovision We don’t want to be pessimistic to the Czech, but an all girl group has never won the Eurovision Song Contest. Only on a few occasions, girl bands made it to the top-3. In 1994 it was MeKaDo who reached the 3rd place. The girls (Melanie, Katy and Dorkas) did an attempt, according to Dutch commentor Willem van Beusekom, “…to let German not sound as German”. That attempt was “Wir geben ‘ner Party”.Female duo t.A.T.u. also reached the 3rd place, for Russia in 2003. The girls sang “Ņe ver’, ņe boisia (ņe prosi)”. For the performance, they announced a kiss on stage. EBU forbid that and they decided not to do it. But the result was that they became the talk of the town. It was a Russian girl band again who made it to the 3rd place in 2007: Serebro. After “Song #1” they managed to had some international hits. And as we do not consider the Buranovskiye Babushki a girl band, that’s all… Czechia in the Eurovision Song Contest Czechia, a.k.a. the Czech Republic, participated in the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in 2007. The country had a lot of difficulties in doing well. When they finally reached the final in 2016 with Gabriela Gunčíková, they ended up 25th. The televoter didn’t award the song with any points. The one who broke the curse for Czechia was Mikolas Josef. He became 6th in 2018 with “Lie to me”. So far, that is the biggest succes for Czechia. Bookmakers Currently, Czechia has the 8th place in the betting odds. That would be a great score for the country and for Vesna. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that this is gonna be true in May. The song And of course, here is the song:

We can not wait for the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool. Therefore, we have a closer look at one of the contestants every day. Today: Azerbaijan. TuralTuranX For the first time since 2008, Azerbaijan chose for a song that was written and composed by an Azerbaijani team. The lyrics of “Tell me more” are from the singing duo TuralTuranX themselves, they wrote the music together with Nihad Aliyev and Tunar Taghiyev. TuralTuranX are twins. Their names are Tural and Turan Bağmanov and they were born on 30 October 2000. They are from Zaqatala, in the northwest of Azerbaijan. At a young age, they started playing the piano, soon followed by the synthesizer and the guitar. However, when their father passed away it made them stop making music for a while. Tural moved to Baku and played in a band called TheRedJungle. He was later joined by his brother. Their Eurovision Song, “Tell me more”, is their debut as a duo. Twins in Eurovision TuralTuranX are twins. They are, however, not the first twins in Eurovision. In 1959, the sisters Alice and Ellen Kessler were the first ever twins in Eurovision history. They sang “Heute Abend woll’n wir tanzen geh’n” for Germany. But don’t forget Sophie & Magaly, who made “Le papa pinqouin” Eurovision history in 1980. Unfortunately, both girls passed away already. In 2010, we saw Twiins…. true, Daniela and Veronika Nízlová, representing Slovakia, are also twins. They didn’t reach the final. But who forgot Edward and John Grimes, aka Jedward. They were on Eurovision stage twice: in 2011 and 2012. And it looks like this was the decennium of the twins. In 2013, we saw Anastasiya and Maria Tolmachevy for Russia on stage. And what to think of OG3NE? In 2017 the three sisters represented the Netherlands. Two of the three, Amy and Shelley, are twins. In 2021 we saw twins again on stage. And again it was for The Netherlands. Jeangu Macrooy performed as a soloist, but his twin brother Xilan was in the backings. And now we have TuralTuranX! Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest Azerbaijan was quite a successful country in Eurovision so far. They took part for the first time in 2008. In all those years, they only missed the final on one occasion. The country won in 2011 with Ell & Nikki and their “Running scared”. But the top-5 was reached more often: already at their 2nd participation in 2009, AySel & Arash reached a 3rd place with their “Always”. Being the favourite at the betting odds, Safura became 5th with her song “Drip drop” in 2010. As a host country contribution in 2012, Sabina Babayeva‘s “When the music dies” became 4th. And in 2013 they almost won it again: Farid Mammadov ended up in 2nd place with his “Hold me”. Bookmakers It currently doesn’t look good for Azerbaijan in the betting odds. They have a 30th place, which is not enough to reach the final. That would be the 2nd time in Eurovision history for Azerbaijan. Let’s hope for the country that the bookmakers are wrong. The song: And of course, this is the song:

We can not wait for the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool. Therefore, we have a closer look at one of the contestants every day. Today: Sweden. Loreen Loreen won the Swedish Melodifestivalen with a landslide. Her song “Tattoo” is written and composed by Thomas G:son, Jimmy ‘Joker’ Thörnfeldt, Jimmy Jansson, Moa Carlebecker, Peter Boström and Loreen herself.  Loreen’s real name is Lorine Talhaoui. She rose to fame when she took part in Idol 2004. She reached the live shows with her performances. After that she featured in a song of Rob ‘n’ Raz, “The snake” and hosted a tv show. In 2011 we saw her back as a singer, in Melodifestivalen. She sang “My heart is refusing me“. The song did not reach the final of Melodifestivalen. A year later she was the favourite from the first moment on. She won Melodifestivalen and went on to win the Eurovision Song Contest with “Euphoria“. The song became one of the most successful Eurovision winners ever. After this, she released two albums and a lot of singles, some of which became hits in Sweden. “We got the power“, which she sang in the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest, was also a success abroad.In 2017, Loreen did a new attempt to represent Sweden in Eurovision, but she failed. “Statements” did not reach the final of Melodifestivalen. It took Loreen six more years to be the Swedish representant again. “Euphoria”, performed during the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö. Melodifestivalen Melodifestivalen is the Swedish national final for the Eurovision Song Contest. It is internationally recognized as the biggest and most viewed national final of all. Eurovision fans all over the world follow this final as if it is the one of their own country. Since 2002, Melodifestivalen expanded from a one evening event to an event with four semifinals, a 2nd chance round and a final. In recent years Eric Saade (“Every minute“) and Dotter (“Bulletproof“) were non-winners with a lot of success. Longer ago it was a group called Agnetha, Frida, Björn and Benny (Yes, Abba!), who got an international hit with “Ring ring“. Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest Sweden first participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1958 with Alice Babs. She took the 4th place with her “Lilla stjärna”. The first victory is Eurovision history: ABBA won the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with “Waterloo”. Not only because of conductor Sven-Olof Walldoff who was dressed like Napoleon. Also because no other Eurovision winner rose to fame like ABBA. Not immediately after Eurovision, but two years later.In 1984 Herreys won the contest with “Diggy-loo diggy-ley”, to be followed in 1991 by mrs. Eurovision, Carola. She sang “Fångad av en stormvind”. In 1999 it was Charlotte Nilsson who sang “Take me to your heaven”. Loreen herself won in 2012 with “Euphoria”, and Måns Zelmerlöw was the last one with “Heroes” in 2015. Will Loreen bring the 7th victory? In that case, Sweden will hold the record of most victories, shared with Ireland. Bookmakers The betting odds say Sweden ís going to win. And we all know that, since 2017, the winners all had been no. 1 in the betting odds at least at some point. A Swedish victory is of course not sure, but at least very likely. The song And of course this is the song:  

We can not wait for the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool. Therefore, we have a closer look at one of the contestants every day. Today: Moldova. Pasha Parfeny After a very exciting national final, it was Pasha Parfeny who won the contest. His song “Soarele și luna”, which translates as “The sun and the moon”, was composed by the singer himself and Andrei Vulpe. For the lyrics, Pasha’s wife Iuliana Parfeny is responsible.  Pasha Parfeny, officially named Pavel Parfeni, studied music in the beginning of this century. He took part in several contests. He won two contests in Bulgaria in 2007. After this, he joined the group Sunstroke Project. In 2009, the group took part in the national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song “No crime“. Parfeny left the group in 2010 for a solo career. Eurovision became a part of his life when he represented Moldova in 2012 with the song “Lăutar”. He became 11th in the final. A year later, he wrote the song “A million” for Aliona Moon. Fun fact: Pasha, Sunstroke Project and Aliona formed the top-3 in this year’s national final. In 2020, Pasha returned to the national selection for Eurovision. His song was called “My wine” and became 2nd. Three years later Pasha won the contest again. Ma-i-a hi, ma-i-a hu… We can talk about Pasha, Sunstroke Project and Zdob şi Zdub, but the most famous band from Moldova ever is another one: O-Zone. They rose to fame in the beginning of the century. In 2003 they released their single “Dragostea din tei“, which became a hit in Romania. But after Italian duo Haiducii covered the song, the original one became a huge hit all over the world. It reached the number 1 spot in the charts in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland. And be honest…. who doesnt remember “Ma-i-a hi, ma-i-a hu, ma-i-a ho, ma-i-a haha”. The song was followed by another hit, “Destre tine“, but in 2005 the band split up. Isn’t there any Eurovision connection? Yes there is! Band member Arsenium took part in the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest, along with Natalia Gordienko en Connect-R. Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest Moldova first took part in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005, and it was an instant success. Zdob şi Zdub became 6th! Moldova kept on being succesful. The country reached the final on many occasions, and in 2017 they ended up in the top-3. Sunstroke Project managed to do that with their song “Hey mama”. Bookmakers The betting odds currently predict a 17th place for Moldova. That is not as good as Pasha did 11 years ago. Let’s hope for him that the bookmakers are wrong and he’ll do better. The song And of course, this is the song:

We can not wait for the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool. Therefore, we have a closer look at one of the contestants every day. Today: Israel. Noa Kirel As early as 11 July last year, Israeli broadcaster Kan announced Noa Kirel to be the Israeli representative. However, Noa first said that it was just a ‘maybe’, and nothing was sure yet. One month later, an official confirmation came, and the song “Unicorn” was presented in March. The song is written by Doron Medalie, Yinon Yahel and May Sfadia. Medalie wrote “Golden boy” (2015), “Made of stars” (2016) and the winning song “Toy” (2018) for Israel. He also wrote “Feker libi”, the song for the cancelled contest in 2020. “Toy” and “Feker libi” were co-arranged by Yinon Yahel. Noa Kirel is not quite a nobody in Israel. In 2015 she rose to fame when she published a song called “Medabrim” and gained many views. She also starred in a docu-reality series and hosted a show on the Israeli Kidz Channel. She also played in a movie and in a musical show. As a singer, she reached the no. #1 spot in the Israeli charts several times. “Meusharim” (with Liran Danino), “Million dollar” (with Shahar Saul), “Trilili tralala” (with Ilan Peled) and “Reashim” (with Osher Cohen) were her most succesful songs. She was a judge in several talent shows. From Kdam to X-Factor Noa Kirel was internally chosen. Last year, X-Factor Israel was the preselection. The years before, Hakokhav Haba L’Eurovizion, a talent show, was the preselection. Longer ago, Kdam Eurovizion was the national final.Very remarkable in those years were the many attempts by Yardena Arazi, “Layla tov Europa” by Dana International and in recent years Mergui (who became a star after the preselection) and Shefita were remarkable contestants. Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest Israel started participating in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1973. With a 4th place, the country was succesful rightaway. Four times Israel won: in 1978 with Izhar Cohen and The Alpha Beta and “A-ba-ni-bi”, a year later with Gali Atari & Milk and Honey with Hallelujah”. We saw Dana International winning the contest with “Diva” in 1998, while Netta was the most recent winner in 2018 with “Toy”. Beside, three other entries made it to the top-10. Bookmakers Currently, Israel is doing very well in the betting odds with a 6th place. It is a sign that “Unicorn” might do very well in the contest in Liverpool. The song And of course, this is the song:

We can not wait for the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool. Therefore, we have a closer look at one of the contestants every day. Today: Switzerland. Remo Forrer On 20 February of this year, it was announced that Remo Forrer is going to represent Switzerland. Two weeks later, it was announced that “Watergun”, written by Ashley Hicklin, Argyle Singh and Mikolaj Trybulec, was going to be his song. Remo Forrer rose to fame in 2020, when he won The Voice Switzerland. Born in Hemberg, Forrer was already interested in music at a young age. He learned to play the flute, the accordion and the piano. After winning The Voice, Remo released 5 singles. He was part of the show “Zeig uns dein Stimme” (I can see your voice) in 2022. Four languages Switzerland is a country with four languages. This year, the country will sing in English. Switzerland often chose to sing their Eurovision songs in French. Both the Swiss victories were in that language. Sometimes the songs were in German and Italian. Only one time in Eurovision history they sang in the 4th language, Romansh: in 1989 the group Furbaz sang “Viver senza tei”. Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest Switzerland was the first ever country to win the Eurovision Song Contest, back in 1956. Lys Assia won the trophy in her homecountry, in the city of Lugano. It took a long time before the Swiss won again, but in 1988 Canadian singer Celine Dion did it again. She won the trophy with “Ne partez pas sans moi” and became one of the biggest Eurovision stars ever. Switzerland often had national finals, but the last few years they select their songs internally. That lead to success in the last few years. Especially in 2019, when Luca Haenni became 4th.  Bookmakers The Swiss entry currently has a 13th place in the betting odds. That means Switzerland will reach the final this year and do better than the country did last year. Marius Bear ended up in the bottom of the semifinal in the festival in Turin. The song And of course, this is the song:  

We can not wait for the Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool. Therefore, we have a closer look at one of the contestants every day. Today: Croatia. Let 3 With a landslide, Croatian band Let 3 won the ticket to represent their country in the Eurovision Song Contest. Their song, “Mama ŠČ” was written and composed by Damir Martinović and co-composed by Zoran Prodanović. The song is an anti war song, containing lines like ‘mama buys a tractor’. This refers to Vladimir Putin getting a tractor for his 70th birthday from the Belarusian president Lukashenko. Damir and Zoran both are members of Let 3, along with Ivan Bojčić, Dražen Baljak and Matej Zec. The band was formed in former Yugoslavia in 1987. The band is quite controversial and known for their obscene live performances. According to their Wikipedia page, they often have provocative and vulgar lyrics. The band released a total of 10 studio albums, the most recent one called “Angela Merkel sere“, which means ‘Angela Merkel shits’.  DORA Croatia selects their entry through a contest called DORA. That is already the name of the contest since 1993. The way the winner is chosen is different every year. This year, there was a final with a total of 18 songs. It was a 50/50 jury and televoting show. The jury was build up in an oldfashioned way. Regional juries in 10 cities decided the jury vote. Someone who took part in DORA in the past very often was Jacques Houdek. However, he never won. He went to Eurovision in 2017 when he was internally selected.   Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest Croatia was very succesful in the Eurovision Song Contest as a state in former Yugoslavia. Especially when the duo Rajko Dujmic and Stevo Cvikić started writing the entries. They were 4th in 1987 with Novi Fosili and got the only victory for Yugoslavia in 1989 with Riva and the song Rock me. In 1993 Croatia started participating as an independent country. The best scores were 4th places for Maja Blagdan in 1996 and for Doris Dragović in 1999. Bookmakers Croatia is currently 18th in the betting odds, which means they will reach the final. That would be the first time this happens since 2017, when Jacques Houdek reached the final. The song And of course, this is the song: