Belgium

Day 7: A crystal mask, a thunderstorm and Murphy’s Law

The penultimate day of rehearsal: it is becoming increasingly clear what the viewer can expect. Today we saw the last artists of the second semifinal. Let’s take a closer look at the rehearsals: AUSTRALIA: Whatever you think of Sheldon Riley, he sings like no other. During his emotional ballad he wears the white suit with the enormous drag of feathers. He wears his crystal mask for most of the act, but it goes off. It can’t be difficult for Australia to make it to the final. CYPRUS: For the first time in years, Cyprus is singing (partially) in Greek again. Andromache and her dancers stand in a kind of shell as they sing the song. We have to admit that we would describe Andromache’s vocals as ‘not bad’. If is that a recommendation….? IRELAND: Ireland falls into the ‘how nice’ category. Brooke’s vocals are certainly not bad, neither is the act. However, you may wonder if this is the song with which Ireland will finally reach the final again. We cannot rule out the possibility that it will not work. NORTH MACEDONIA: Perhaps Andrea had hoped for greater success. She was not happy with her first rehearsal. The song comes across as screaming; a hoarseness that suits Kaliopi (2012 and 2016) but not Andrea. ESTONIA: Unfortunately, Stefan can’t count on the 12 points from Armenia, because the country where his roots lie is performing in the other semifinal. The many movements he makes do have an effect on Stefan’s voice, but somehow it doesn’t seem to matter for the entry. It is a happy song that can easily go through to the final. ROMANIA: The Romanians made some minor changes to the act, making it even better and slicker. Furthermore, it seemed as if WRS had changed the melody of the chorus a little bit here and there. In any case, a spectacular show is in store for Romania. POLAND: The ballad of Polen starts very calmly with Ochman alone on stage. Halfway through, when the song becomes a little less quiet, the aforementioned dancers (forest nymphs?) come on stage. We see that a heavy thunderstorm erupts on the stage. Finally a strong contender for Poland agiain. MONTENEGRO: A ballad in which not much happens in 3 minutes. The advantage is that not much can go wrong. We had already mentioned the blue dress that Vladana is wearing. Behind her a circle that most resembles the fluff ball of a dandelion. It is not sure whether it stands out enough to go to the final. BELGIUM: The Belgians have a strong singer with a gospel-like power ballad in Jérémie Makiese. He will definitely get points for that. Fortunately, because the act he shows looks a bit stiff and doesn’t really do justice to the song and singer. SWEDEN: Murphy’s Law strikes. If one thing goes wrong, everything immediately goes wrong. Problems with the sound, problems with the technique and a falling cameraman meant that she was only able to do one whole runthrough. Cornelia did manage to show how professional she is, by showing a good rehearsal even with all that trouble. CZECH REPUBLIC: The act with lots of light and nice graphics fits very well with the Czech entry. In that respect it is a unity. The vocals, however, leave a lot to be desired. That could cost them their heads if it has to be clear who will go to the final.

Day 4: new sun troubles, a Swedish circle and many more

Today is the day of the stage again. Today the EBU has made an official statement about it: “During the technical tests in Turin, the production team has experienced challenges with how long it takes to adjust the “sun” to different positions in the time between the different performances. Together with the host station RAI it was therefore decided that the sun will remain in the same position during all 40 songs, to ensure a fair competition for all participating countries.”. What position that is, is still being discussed. So to be continued again. It is certain that a number of countries now have to make changes in their staging. Meanwhile, 9 countries rehearsed for their performance in the second semifinal. IRELAND: Brooke takes the stage in a bright blue suit. During her performance she is assisted by four dancers. They start the song lying on the floor! Ireland uses many floor projections. Brooke is also praised by Eurovision.tv for her strong voice. Pyrotechnics are used at the end of her performance. NORTH MACEDONIA: Andrea stands alone on the podium for North Macedonia. She sings her song completely wrapped in black leather. In her performance she uses the lifting bridges over the water. Shadows of hands are visible on the LED screens. The sun is not only orange but also white and blue. ESTONIA: Stefan starts his performance on the B stage. He is accompanied only by his guitar. Later in the song, he goes wild: then he uses the entire stage to present his performance. The two cowboys from the national final stayed home. ROMANIA: WRS from Romania wears glittering wetlook trousers. He also wears a red blouse, but according to Eurovision tradition, that goes off. He turns out to be wearing a sleeveless shirt with glitter underneath. There is a lot of dancing. As a result, the Romanian likely gets a lot of attention from the crowd. POLAND: The Polish competitor Ochman is also in black, he wears a black suit. He is assisted by four dancers, who seem to represent some kind of water spirits. Flashing light effects can be seen during the performance. The waterfall on the stage is also used… what else could we expect with a song about a river? MONTENEGRO: Vladana has her entire performance on the B stage. She wears a blue dress during her performance. The background is also blue, with splashes of white as graphics. Vladana mainly remains in one place. BELGIUM: The Belgian Jérémie Makiese impressed with his song. Jérémie is flanked by four dancers. He himself wears blue-grey trousers, a black shirt and a silver jacket, while the dancers wear black jackets. At the end of the act all the light falls on Jérémie, who is standing on a platform on which flames are projected. SWEDEN: Cornelia Jakobs ranks high among the bookmakers. As the Swedes always do, Cornelia Jakobs also puts on the same act as during the national final Melodifestivalen. The starry sky at the beginning, the large, first green and then red, circular plate right behind Cornelia, even the silver-black clothing and the bare feet are the same. CZECH REPUBLIC: The Czech group We Are Domi is the last to rehearse today. The group uses a lot of light, which makes you feel like you’re in a disco. Funny effect: the ‘sun’ on stage looks like a vinyl album here. Eurovision.tv mentions the cello-string guitar: the guitarist made it himself.

This is the running order

Today, the running order for the two semifinals in the Eurovision Song Contest has been announced. The running order for the final is not known yet, apart from Italy: Mahmood and Blanco will perform in 9th place. 1st semifinal: Albania Latvia Lithuania Switzerland Slovenia Ukraine Bulgaria The Netherlands Moldova Portugal Croatia Denmark Austria Iceland Greece Norway Armenia 2nd semifinal: Finland Israel Serbia Azerbaijan Georgia Malta San Marino Australia Cyprus Ireland North Macedonia Estonia Romania Poland Montenegro Belgium Sweden Czech Republic

Allocation draw: these are the semifinals

From the Madama Palace in Turin, the allocation draw took place this afternoon. The draw was hosted by Carolina Di Domenico and Gabriele Corsi. During the ceremony, mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb (Rotterdam) handed over the key of the Eurovision City to his Turinese colleague Stefano Lo Russo. The semifinals will be as follows: 1st semifinal, 1st half: Albania Latvia Switzerland Slovenia Bulgaria Moldova Ukraine Lithuania The Netherlands 1st semifinal, 2nd half: Norway Russia Portugal Denmark Armenia Austria Croatia Iceland Greece The countries that will not attend a semifinal but will vote in the 1st one are: France and Italy. 2nd semifinal, 1st half: Australia Georgia Cyprus Serbia Finland Azerbaijan San Marino Israel Malta 2nd semifinal, 2nd half: Montenegro Romania Czech Republic Poland Belgium North Macedonia Sweden Estonia Ireland The countries that will not attend a semifinal but will vote in the 2nd one are: United Kingdom, Spain and Germany.

41 countries in 2022 Eurovision Song Contest

41 countries will take part in the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest in Turin. That is what EBU announced today. In comparison with the 2021 contest, Armenia and Montenegro return. The full list is here: Albania Australia Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Latvia Lithuania Malta Moldova Montenegro North Macedonia Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland The Netherlands Ukraine United Kingdom France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom will directly be placed in the final, to be held on may 14. The other countries will have to qualify through a semifinal on may 10 or 12. As one of the ‘big five’ was this year’s winner, there will only be 25 countries in the final.

Blast from the past: Belgium 1980

We know a lot about Eurovision; this is knowledge we want to share with you. Therefore we’d like to bring you a blast from the past. Today: the 1980 Belgian entry. Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest When Belgium first took part in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1956, it was decided that Flemish and Walloon TV would submit a song alternately. The 1979 Flemish entry “Hey nana” was a complete failure. It took the last place. However, the 1978 Walloon entry, sung by Jean Vallée, got the best score so far for Belgium: a second place. A difficult task for Walloon TV RTBf to do it as good as they did in 1978. National final After the success of Jean Vallée, one would have expected a huge national preselection. However, “Eliminatoires Belges du Grand Prix de la chanson Europeenne” was nothing of all that. Jean Vallée hosted a small show in which 7 songs were presented; all prerecorded. There was no voting: after the show, RTBf decided that Telex was going to represent Belgium in The Hague. 1.Bruno Brel sings “Etre heureux rien qu’une heure”2.Domani sings “Toute ma vie”3.Lou and the Hollywood Bananas sing “Et puis, et puis…. rien“4.Kevin Morane sings “Ivre de vie“5.Sonia sings “La star maniaque”6.Telex sing “Euro-vision“7.Timothy sings “Parle-moi grand-pêre” Bruno Brel was a cousin of the famous Jacques Brel. Lou Deprijck was a famous singer in Belgium. Plastic Bertrand’s international hit “Ça plane pour moi” was originally sung by Deprijck. Plastic Bertrand denied that until a judge decided in 2010 that Deprijck was proven to be the singer. source: André Vermeulen, “Van Canzonissima tot Eurosong – 65 jaar Belgische preselecties voor het Eurovisie Songfestival”. Telex Telex was a three man band, made up of Marc Moulin, Dan Lacksman and Michel Moers. The band was formed in 1978; a band combining disco, punk and synthesizer pop to an exclusive sound. Their first album “Looking for Saint-Tropez” was a huge succes. The song “Moskow diskow“. Other hits were “Twist à Saint-Tropez” and “Rock around the clock“. A second album, “Neurovision”, followed around the Eurovision participation. For Telex, Eurovision came at the right moment. Because of the contest, the band was discovered by a larger audience. A few albums followed, but the group split up in 1986. However, there was a return of the trio in 2006. “On the road again” became a hit, but Telex also made their own version of “J’aime la vie“. In 2008, group member Marc Moulin passed away. Euro-vision There are not much songs in the Eurovision Song Contest with the contest itself as a subject. But that is what “Euro-vision” is about. You can find the complete lyrics and translation here. Lacksman, Moulin and Moers co-wrote the song themselves. There was no conductor. As there was no live music, which was not allowed in those days, the members of Telex decided to start the synthesizer-like machine on screen, so that at least the suggestion of live music was made. In the end of the performance, singer Michel Moers made a picture of the audience. Recently, the picture was published in the book “65 jaar België op het songfestival”, by Jasper van Biesen and Jonathan Hendrickx. Results In several interviews, the members of Telex showed their disappointment about the 17th place. Not because they thought it was too low, but because they did not become last. The UK jury gave it 1 point, Greece gave it 3 points but Portugal gave the song its 10 points! Telex blamed Portugal for ruining their chances. photo credits: fotocollectie Anefo

Blast from the past: Luxembourg 1956

We know a lot about Eurovision. That’s why we bring you a blast from the past every now and then. Today: “Les amants de minuit”, de Luxembourgian entry of 1956, sung by Michèle Arnaud. First contestSeven countries decided to join the first ever Eurovision Song Contest: Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Because of the small number of countries, every country provided two entries. More countries showed interest, but for several reasons they didn’t participate. Luxembourg was the smallest of the participating countries, represented by broadcaster CLT (Compagnie de la Télévision Luxembourgois). SelectionNothing is known about the national selection in Luxembourg in 1956. However, it is not likely that there was one. Luxembourg only had a national selection on a few occasions in the 70s and the 80s. CLT chose French singer Michèle Arnaud to represent them. Luxembourg was, with Switzerland, one of the two countries that was represented by one artist for both the songs. For the occasion, Simone Laurencin composed one of the songs, with Pierre Lambry writing the lyrics. The other song, composed by Christian Guittreau, was called “Ne crois pas“. Michèle ArnaudMichèle Arnaud was born in Toulon at march 18, 1919. She went to Paris, where she started a singing career in 1952. She started performing in the theatre Milord l’Arsouille. The first successful song she sang was “L’Île Saint-Louis“. After the Eurovision Song Contest in 1956, she became the permanent star in Milord l’Arsouille. She was accompanied by Jacques Lassry, who was also her conductor in Eurovision, and… Serge Gainsbourg! In the sixties, Arnaud made her own version of big international hits, like Beatles’ “Yesterday”: “Je croyais Yesterday“.Michèle Arnaud released 11 albums. In the seventies her career ended, her last single being “Cherbourg”. She passed away at march 30, 1998 in the small commune of Maisons-Laffitte. Les amants de minuitThe song was called “Les amants de minuit”, which means “Midnight lovers”. “Midnight lovers by chance meet eachother. And about what will follow, happiness or unfortunate, only the night knows.”, Arnaud sings. The full lyrics can be found here. The results are not known; only the winner, Switzerland, was announced. ChildrenTwo of Michele Arnauds children became artists as well. Daughter Florence Gruère became a photographer. Son Dominique Walter became a singer. He represented France in the 1966 Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Chez nous“.

R.I.P. Claude Lombard

Today, the sad news came to us that Claude Lombard passed away on Monday, september 20th 2021. Claude Lombard represented Belgium in the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Quand tu reviendras”. She reached a wonderful 7th place. Claude Lombard was the daughter of Claude Alix, who wrote the 1956 Belgian entry “Le plus beau jour de ma vie”. Lombard was born the 25th of february 1945 in Etterbeek, in the Brussels region. Lombard was quite unkown when she won the Belgian preselection for Eurovision in 1968. The song was sung in French, but a Dutch version, “Eenmaal kom je weer” was also released. Lombard returned to Eurovision in 1973 as a backing vocal, supporting Nicole & Hugo in their song “Baby baby”. She moved to Paris where she wrote the lyrics for a musical. She gave her voice to many cartoons like “Fraggle rock” and the Disney movie “Beauty and the beast”. One of the hightlights in her career was singing as a backing vocal with Charles Aznavour in the eighties. In the nineties she sang with the Pat Benesta Orchestra. Claude Lombard did not disappear from stage. Even last week, she gave a performance in Paris. Lombard was 76 years old. photo credits: Facebook

Jérémie Makiese to represent Belgium

This morning, Belgian French-speaking broadcaster RTBf announced the name of their representant in the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest. It’s gonna be Jérémie Makiese. The 20-years old singer is wellknown to the Belgian television viewers. He won the 2021 version of The Voice Belgique, the RTBf-version of ‘The Voice’. In an interview, he said he was interested in the Eurovision Song Contest. That’s where it all started. There is no Belgian song for Eurovision yet. But don’t worry, there is no host city either…. Below you’ll find one of the performances Jérémie did at The Voice Belgique, where he sang Labrinth’s song “Jealous”. photo credits: Facebook

After the Eurovision Fame: Dana International

Dana International won the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 in Birmingham, United Kingdom, representing Israel. Childhood and early Career Dana International (Sharon Cohen) was born in Tel Aviv, Israel as the youngest of three children. Her family is of Yemenite-Jewish descent. Though assigned male at birth, she identified as female from a very young age. She dreamed to become a singer from the age of eight, when she watched Israeli singer Ofra Haza perform her song “Chai” in the 1983 Eurovision Song Contest. Although the family was quite poor, her mother worked to pay for her music lessons, and she stated that her childhood was happy. Dana International took her stage name from a feminized version of a childhood friend Daniel, who died in a car accident. At 18 years of age, Cohen (still legally male at the time) earned a living as a drag queen, parodying many famous female singers. During one of her performances, she was discovered by Offer Nissim, a well-known Israeli DJ, who produced her debut single “Saida Sultana” (“The Great Saida”), a satirical version of Whitney Houston’s song “My Name Is Not Susan”. The song received considerable exposure and helped launch her career as a professional singer. In 1993, Dana International flew to London to continue her transition, and legally changed her name to Sharon Cohen. That same year Sharon released her first album, titled “Danna International”, in Israel. Soon after, the album was also released in several other countries including Greece, Jordan, and Egypt (In Jordan and Egypt the album sold illegally). Sharon’s stage name Dana International comes from the title track of the album, and was originally spelled with two n’s. “Danna International” turned gold in Israel. 2nd Album “Umpatampa” and Eurovision Song Contest In 1994, Dana released her second, Trance-influenced album “Umpatampa”, which built on the success of her debut album and provided further hit singles. The album went platinum in Israel and has sold more than 50,000 copies to date. Because of her popularity and the success of this album, she won the award for Best Female Artist of the Year in Israel. In 1995, Dana attempted to fulfill her childhood dream of performing in the Eurovision Song Contest. She entered the Eurovision qualifying contest Kdam Eurovision in Israel with a song entitled “Layla Tov, Eropa” (“Good Night Europe”) which finished second in the pre-selections, but became another hit single. In 1996, Dana released her third album, “Maganuna”. Although this album was less successful than her previous efforts, it still reached gold in Israel. Dana was chosen to represent Israel in the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 in Birmingham with the song “Diva”. Orthodox Jews and others with conservative views were opposed to the choice and attempted to void her participation in the contest. In May 1998, Dana performed “Diva” at the Eurovision final and won the contest with 172 points. She became internationally known, and was interviewed by the big music stations, unfortunately mostly focusing on her life as a transsexual person before winning the contest. Dana’s own words “the message of reconciliation” were; “My victory proves God is on my side. I want to send my critics a message of forgiveness and say to them: try to accept me and the kind of life I lead. I am what I am and this does not mean I don’t believe in God, and I am part of the Jewish Nation.” Dana released “Diva” as a single in Europe and it became a hit, reaching number 11 in the UK charts and the top ten in Sweden, Belgium, Finland, Ireland, and the Netherlands. After winning the Eurovision In 1999, Dana released “Woman in Love”, a Barbra Streisand cover. In May 1999, Dana again participated in the Eurovision Song Contest held in Jerusalem. Dana was a part of the interval act and sang the Stevie Wonder song “Free”. One memorable moment from the event was when she presented the award to the winners of the contest. Whilst she was carrying the heavy trophy, one of the composers of the winning Swedish entry stepped on the long trail of her dress by mistake, and she fell over on stage – in front of a television audience estimated to be a million or more, making it one of the most memorable moments in the 50-year-long history of the contest. She released her next album “Free” in Europe in 1999, which enjoyed moderate success. A few months later Dana moved back to Israel and started to work on different projects. Israeli and Japanese editions of “Free” were released in 2000. That same year, an Israeli documentary film was made about Dana called Lady D. In 2001, after a break, Dana released her seventh album “Yoter Ve Yoter” (More and More). The album put her career in Israel back on track and provided two hits called “Ani Nitzachti” (I Won) and “Achrei HaKol” (After All), which eventually both went gold. Dana was about to sign with a major label, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, for an international recording contract. There were disagreements that led to Sony Music cancelling the deal before it was completed. A few years later, in 2005, Dana participated in the 50th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest, held in Copenhagen, after “Diva” was selected as one of fourteen songs considered to be the best Eurovision songs. The song did not make it into the final top five. Dana got the chance to perform both “Diva” and an old Eurovision favourite of hers, Baccara’s 1978 entry “Parlez-Vous Français”. Return to music and Eurovision comeback After a few years away from show business, together with the relaunch of her official website, a first single of the upcoming album was released in March 2007: “HaKol Ze LeTova” (“It’s All For the Best”). The official album, also titled “Hakol Ze Letova,” was released on 15 August 2007. “ On 26 February 2008, Dana gained an additional achievement when the song “Ke’ilu Kan” written and composed by her and performed by Boaz Mauda, was chosen on Kdam to represent Israel at Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade, Serbia. It came 5th in the semi-final and gained 9th place in the final rank.