Luxembourg Archives - Page 2 of 2

Welcome back Luxembourg!

Luxembourg is back Great news today for next year’s Eurovision Song Contest. Although the host country will of course be announced in the night from Saturday to Sunday, but we already know that one country will return that last participated thirty years ago: Luxembourg! Martin Österdahl Martin Österdahl, Executive Supervisor says: “We are thrilled to welcome Luxembourg back to the Eurovision Song Contest after thirty years. The country has one of the most successful records in the Contest with five victories in its first three decades of the competition alone. We very much look forward to working with RTL on their return to the world’s biggest musical event in 2024.” Victories Luxembourg participated for the first time in 1956, during the very first Eurovision song contest. No victory then, but the Luxembourgians did not have to await a victory very long. In 1961 Jean-Claude Pascal won with “Nous les amoureux”. The first, but certainly not the last Luxembourg victory. They were France Gall (“Poupée de cire, poupée de son” in 1965), Vicky Leandros (“Après toi” in 1972), Anne Marie David (“Tu te reconnaîtras” in 1973) and Corinne Hermes (“Si la vie est gift” in 1983) who won the first prize. A striking similarity between all winners: they did not come from Luxembourg itself. The Grand Duchy usually resorted artists from abroad; French artists often took part, but artists from other countries were also present. An example is the Spanish duo Baccara, who took part in 1978. Withdrawn In 1993 it was the group Modern Times that took part. At that time there were no semifinals. A country that finished very low had to skip a year. It happened to Luxembourg. After that year we never saw the country again. So until today, now that the joyful news came that we have a Luxembourg entry next year!

Blast from the past: Netherlands 1973

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. Back to 1973! We will talk about the Dutch entry, “De oude muzikant” by Ben Cramer. The Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest It was quite a successful time for The Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest. A victory in 1969, a 6th place in 1971 and a 4th in 1972. A survey among people at Dutch broadcaster NOS learned that the famous duo Mouth & McNeal were favourite to represent the country in the 1973 contest. However, they didn’t want to go. Ben Cramer was 2nd choice. And he said yes!! Ben Cramer Bernardus Kramer was born in Amsterdam the 17th of february 1947. His career started with a band called The Sparklings. In 1966 they first performed on television. As Ben Cramer & The Sparklings they had their first huge hit in The Netherlands: “Zai, zai, zai“. This song and his solo single “Dans met mij” (1968) were his greatest hits. Cramer took part in a lot of song contests all over the world. In 1970 he sang the song “Julia” in the Dutch national final for the Eurovision Song Contest. In 1971 he started working together with Pierre Kartner, who also wrote his Eurovision Song. Cramer was a star, but in the early 1980s his stardom began to faint. In 1981 he did another attempt to go to Eurovision. However, his song “Retour” only got 2 points and “Marianne” even ended up with zero points. In the 1990s he started a new career, as a musical star. He played roles in “Evita”, “Chicago”, “The Phantom of the Opera”, “Aida” and “Chess”. National final A circus was the scenery of the national final. Wellknown Dutch artists showed circus acts. In between the songs Ben Cramer sang four songs. The contest took place on february 28 in Carré Theatre in Amsterdam. The four songs were: 1.Kom met me mee, 3rd with 15 points2.Melodie, 4th with 14 points (Ben co-wrote this song with Hans Blum)3.Kom Sylvia dans met mij, 2nd with 19 points4.De oude muzikant, 1st with 62 points “De oude muzikant” won with a landslide. De oude muzikant “De oude muzikant” (the old musician) was a song about an old, forgotten musician who once was a big star in Paris. You can find the lyrics here. The song was written and composed by Pierre Kartner, the man he worked with in those days. Bens performance in Luxembourg knew a lot of struggle. Especially during the general rehearsal, Ben had troubles with the technicians, as he was not happy with the lightning. He stopped the rehearsal, while the entire jury was watching. It can be the reason for his low final score. Rumour has it that the technicians took revenge by giving Ben Cramer lousy exposure on stage. Note that the musician in the video is composer Pierre Kartner. Final score Two jury members, one younger than 25 and one of 25+ formed the jury per country. They could both give a song a mark of 1-5, making it 10 per country. Only the jury in Luxembourg (7) and France (6) were a little bit enthousiastic about “De oude muzikant”. With a total of 69 points Ben Cramer only became 14th.

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“.