Showing posts with label Moscow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Moscow. Show all posts

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

The Road To Moscow 4: Let's Dans With Thorleifs

Melodifestivalenfever has taken over Sweden and Europe in full force. Even though there are many great acts in the selection (Alcazar! Markoolio !!, E.M.D. !!!BWO !!!!), it's a modest year for artist doing Eurocovers.
In round one there was Marie Serneholt, one time A*Teens singer who has recorded Waterloo with her top teen band as their first pre-success single. In the same round there were the Scotts, a Dansband who recorded the 1968 entry Det Börjar Verka Kärlek Banne Mej on their 2008 CD (and #1 album) Jag Tror På. Oss. Marie was axed straight away and the Scotts will return to the 2nd chance round 'Andra Chansen'.
This weekend it's round four and another Dansband, party veterans Thorleifs try their luck with Sweet Kissin’ In The Moonlight.

Dansband culture
Everytime a 'hardcore' Dansband enters the Swedish preselection Melodifestivalen it's a bit of a row in the Swedish press. Somehow it's never a problem when female dinosaurs of the Dansband variety abuse the hottest ticket of the year for a comeback attempt, but when it's a dansband it's always too tacky, too cheap, too whatever.
Dansbands are bands that play live music for people to dance and party, think weddings, townsquare festivals. They play all the 50's to 80's hits, often in Swedish but also in English.. With an overpriced drink or six in your gut they soon become the best band in the world because dansbands are utterly professional and know how to get a party started (and going).
When Arvingarna won the Swedish selection in 1993 they were ridiculed (But their entry Eloise still is a mighty fine pop tune and it ended 7th). And when the testosteron overload from the steamy Brandsta City Släckers participated in full firefighters gear (2002 & 2003) SVT allegedly banned them from any future participation.
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Thorleifs
And now there's Thorleifs, Dansband since about 1812. They're supposed to be too old, too corny etcetera, but Eurocovers is having none of that. Dansband music is a Swedish phenomenon which belongs in Melodifestivalen just as much as all the Schlager Queens (yay Shirley, yay Velvet) and the token Alternative Entry That Always Ends Last in the semi semi semi pre.
Thorleifs made about 30 (thirty!) albums since 1973 and they once had ABBA as their warming up band. Not many bands can say that.
They recorded their first single Ra Ta Ta in 1970.

I found details on three Eurovision covers by Thorleifs.
In 1981 they released the LP Johnny Blue. The title track is a cover of the German entry by Lena Valaitis (2nd) . And there's Du Hänger Väl Med Up which is Making Your Mind Up, Bucks Fizz's U.K. 1981 winner.
A third cover is an Sax instrumental of Swedish entry Stad I Ljus (Tommy Körberg, 1988) which appeared on the album Stadens Ende Spelemann.

Thorleifs most recent album is Förälskade from 2008, available from most Swedish webshops like CDON who also stock the Scotts album.
Dansbandmusik is very much alive and Förälskade is one of Thorleifs most successful albums to date, their 2nd # 1 album after 1976's Skänk Mig Ding Tankar.

The Road To Moscow 1 - Hera Björk (Denmark/Iceland), Tapani Kansa (Finland), Nucha (Portugal)
The Road To Moscow 2 - Čuki from Slovenia
The Road To Moscow 3 - Wenche Myhre (Norway), Đorđe Marjanović (Serbia)
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For those interested in the releases and the latest news of/on the impending Eurovision Song Contest I have created a new blog: The Moscow Collection.
Here you can find all the latest release info and all details on versions, remixes, promos etcetera. Official links, where to hear the new songs and where you can buy the latest CDs, it's all there.
The new blog replaces the yearly word documents (like the Belgrade Collection and so on). Go check it out now!.

Friday, January 09, 2009

The Road To Moscow - Eurovision 2009

Eurovision 2009 is well on its way. Several countries are preparing already for Moscow with several multi round preselections.
Here's a short round up of the pre-semi-semi stars that have recorded their Eurocovers. -

Tapani Kansa
Heat 1 in Finland sees popcrooner Tapani Kansa trying for the 8th time in over 30 years.
He tackled a few memorable Eurovision belters in his career, all are sung in Finnish
U.K. 1972 - Beg, steal or borrow (New Seekers, 2nd)
- Varkain vien taikka lainaan, on 7" and VA LP Huipulla 2
U.K. 1975 - Let me be the one (The Shadows, 2nd)
- Saanhan olla hän, on LP Kuinka paljon rakkautta
U.K. 1976 - Save your kisses for me (Brotherhood of man, winner)
- Säästä suukkosi vain, on LP Kesän lapsi
Ireland 1976 - When (Red Vincent Hurley 10th)
- Pois, on 7" ABM 444 and VA LP Huipulla 10: Euroviisu special
France 1985 - Femmes dans ses rêves aussi (Roger Bens, 8th)
- Hän, on VA LP Kesähitid (Finnlevy)
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Hera Björk
And then Danish TV announced their shortlist today. The final sees the return of Icelandic Hera Björk to the pre-Eurovision stage. Hera Björk lives in Denmark and choosing for the Danish selection saves some gazmoney.
She was in the Söngvakeppni 2007 selection for Iceland and covered the 2006 Norwegian entry Alvedansen (Christine Guldbrandsen). The old post about Hera Björk is still up (here).
And here is her Myspace
And at the Schlagerblog you can read an interview with the composers of Someday, Hera's bid for a Danish ticket to Moscow.
Hera Björk at The Oslo Collection

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ADDED 21-01-09
And for the Die Hards, there's a collection of all Danish pre-selection songs since 1978 at the DR website : Grand Prix Bonanza. Well done Danish TV, it doen't make up for destroying all the 1964 contest footage, but it's a great example that should be followed by more TV stations.

Hera's Danish entry Someday is really good, an Abba-esque Nordic Schlager starting out as a ballad, think The Winner Takes It All. Somehow her voice reminds me of Donna Summer. We mentioned Alvedansen, but there's another slightly Hera related Eurocover.
A christmas CD by Fróstrosir released last year features an Icelandic version of Den Vilda (Sweden 1996, by Abba offspring One More Time). Fróstrosir is a various artists project celebrating Christmas music the Icelandic way. Fróstrosir 2008 are Eivør Pállsdóttir, Margrét Eir, Hera Björk & Dísella
In Icelandic Christmas language the ethereal ballad becomes Dansaðu Vindur (CD Heyr himnasmiður, Skifan) and the lead vocal is by Eivør Pállsdottir.

Title track Heyr Himnasmiður (Hear Lord Creator) is an 800 year old hymn by Icelandic Chieftan Kolbein Tumasson (although the music is only 100 years old). So now you know.
At the Icelandic Fróstrosir page you can hear excerpts of Dansaðu Vindur and other songs.
The English language site only has info up to 2007.
The first Fróstrosir project from 2002 featured a Christmas version of Swedens 1995 entry Se På Mig (Jan Johansen) titled Stjarnan Mín.

Nucha
Portugal also announced the finalists for the Festival da canção 2009. 1990 entrant Nucha is among them. She didn't fare too well back then with Ha Sempre Alguem only ending on place 20.
A year or so ago Nucha released a new album Regresso (see this post) covering Sense Tu & La Mirada Interior from Andorra.
Here's Nucha's homepage