Malmö Messages: yesterday’s pressconference

photo: EBU/Sarah Louise Bennett

Yesterday, after winning the tickets to the final, the 10 winners headed to the winners’ pressconference. We of Eurovision Universe were present at this press conference.

Cyprus

Silia Kapsis said it was a huge opportunity to be here. She was super proud and super happy. About her country of birth, Australia, she said she was proud as well that the Australians showed their culture. It was her goal to make her country proud and after this, to grow as a pop artist.

Serbia

Teya Dora said it was crazy; the rehearsals, the performance; it was all super exciting and she was happy. She wants to make her country proud and give the best she can, with the best placement. She loves it that so many people watched her performance. And about Konstrakta, who was in the introduction film, she loved her amazing energy.

Lithuania

Silvester Belt thanks the audience. To all the bullies from the past he has a message: “I know you are struggling. And to the little boy I was: I love you so much”. The biggest challenge this week was sleeping. About singing in the Lithuanian language he said: “only Lithuanians wanted me to sing in English. Everybody else said I should sing in Lithuanian.”

Ireland

Bambie Thug said they are completely dissociated after this succes, but also that they are super proud. They have a small team and they are en independent artist, yet they reached this. And also, they are the first non binary artist in the contest. Bambie revealed that they met the rules of the EBU: texts like Ceasefire and Free Palestine were not allowed, so Crown The Witch was the only text left. On the question what made them special, Bambie answered “What makes me special is that I’m a queer”.

Ukraine

Alyona Alyona explained that she and Jerry Heil raised fund to rebuild Ukrainian schools. She called for donation. Half of the money is there, but you can donate via United24. “Children are our future”, Alyona Alyona stated. Jerry also stated that it was great to be in Malmö now. It was a super possibility to say thank you for your help. And yes, they felt pressure, because they felt Ukraine expected something from them.

Croatia

The performance was way better than the rehearsals. Before going on stage, Baby Lasagna tried to empty his mind, but before him Poland performed; that song got stuck in his mind. About his first place in the odds he said that odds are just numbers, it’s not over ’til it’s done. He felt comfortable in Malmö as Eurovision is, in his opinion, the next level of professional, with all the sound- and camerawork. The energy to him was fine.

Slovenia

Raiven said she was grateful. She was unsure about the result and doubting all the time. That meant going to the final was a huge surprise for her. When it comes to making music and visuals she went with her instinct. “The staging is really me, and I am very satisfied with it”, she said. About the fact that she was called Eurovision’s opera diva, she said that it is great to hear that people checked her background.

Finland

It was our own Kal (!!) who had the opportunity to ask windows95man a question. Due to the lyrics of the song “No rules”, Kal was interested to know which of the many rules of Eurovision had to go in his opinion. “More nakedness! For everybody!”, windows95man replied without any hesitation. Windows95man also told that he got help in preparing for the show. Before the show the men do some physical exercises.

Portugal

Iolanda from Portugal thinks that music can be whatever you like. She wrote the song in her grandmothers house. Her message is that you can do a lot with not so much money. She designed the act with the stage director and the choreographer. She also added that she believes music connects.

Luxembourg

“I nearly had a heart attack”, Tali explained, “It was brutal, but the camera was approaching and I thought…. maybe”. In Tali’s opinion Eurovision is a beautiful contet that unites. She was thrilled and was hoping to inspire other countries to return to Eurovision. “Music is my life, my therapy, my everything”, Tali stated.

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Martijn

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Martijn

70 years of Eurovision, slipping into the sixties

The Eurovision Song Contest is celebrating its 70th anniversary. That is a wonderful milestone. We at Eurovision Universe love diving into the history of the contest. That is why we are taking a closer look at the contests of the past 70 years. 1959 France chose to organize the contest in Cannes. Eleven countries came together. No Luxembourg this year, but the United Kingdom was back. Monaco made its debut. The presentation was in the hands of Jacqueline Joubert, who would go on to do so more often. The big favorite was Domenico Modugno. After the success of “Volare,” he entered for Italy again. He did not show up for the first rehearsal. He did not consider it important. The French broadcaster thought different and scheduled a rehearsal for him anyway. He did not win by a long shot. His “Piove” finished in sixth place only. Also noteworthy were the participants from Germany: the recently deceased Kessler Sisters, who sang their song entirely in sync. But France did not want to grant Italy the victory. The same applied the other way around. And where two dogs fight over a bone, the third one runs off with it. And that was the Dutch Teddy Scholten. With the artfully rhymed “Een beetje,” she took first place, much to her own surprise. When someone from the production team urged her to go to the stage because she had won, she didn’t believe a word of it. And yet it was true: the Netherlands had won for the second time in four years. 1960 It became a bit too much for the Dutch broadcaster to organize the contest yet again. Therefore, the British BBC took over. The contest moved to London, and for the first time, but certainly not the last, Cathy Boyle hosted the event. Thirteen countries participated. Luxembourg was back, and Norway made its debut.Big stars participated. Siw Malmkvist represented Sweden. Camillo Felgen competed for Luxembourg (in Luxembourgish!). Rudi Carell, who would later become a big star in Germany, competed for the Netherlands. None of them finished high. The winner was 19-year-old Jacqueline Boyer. Conductor Franck Pourcel was displeased that she had to perform last. After all, she had to go to bed early, the conductor said. At Pourcel’s request, the entire rehearsal schedule was rearranged. And Jacqueline won! “Tom Pillibi”, a song about a pathological liar, became a huge success and an international hit. 1961 The Eurovision Song Contest returned to Cannes, France. Jacqueline Joubert hosted it for the second time. By then, the number of participating countries had grown to sixteen. Spain, Yugoslavia, and Finland made their debut. Lale Andersen participated for Germany. She had gained fame during World War II with the song “Lili Marleen”. A Greek also took to the stage, which was the first time. Although Greece itself was not yet participating, singer Jimmy Makoulis represented Austria. The final unintentionally became very exciting between Luxembourg and the United Kingdom. Unintentionally, because for a long time, too many points were accidentally recorded for the British on the scoreboard. The British duo, The Allisons, did have the big Eurovision hit of that year with “Are You Sure?”. Frenchman Jean-Claude Pascal won for Luxembourg. In “Nous, les amoureux,” he sang of a love that was disapproved of by others. Only much later Pascal admitted that this song was about the love between two men. In this, Pascal was far, very far ahead of his time.

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