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Now we’re getting somewhere. The national Finals are coming thick and fast, and the ESC Insight’s playlist of songs for 2013 is filling up with the winners (and some of the gallant runner-ups that stick in our head). Wit two more from last week-end, a few more this weekend, and internal selections getting confirmed across Europe, it’s a busy time to be a fan of the Song Contest.
And on top of that, the EBU even sneak in confirmation of Junior Eurovision 2013, to be held in Kiev on November 30th!
Yes, we’re definitely getting somewhere!
Eurovision Insight Podcast: Barry Manilow Not Included
Two more songs for our winner’s playlist, more NF winners, dates for JESC, and a quick point or two about plagiarism. With music from Sean Bannan (and a walk-on from The Arrogant Worms).
Don’t miss an episode of the Eurovision Insight podcast by subscribing to the RSS feed dedicated to the podcasts. iTunes users can find us in the iTunes Store and get the show automatically downloaded to your computer. Looking for the 2012 Eurovision MP3′s? and help the ESC Insight team cover the bridge tolls between Malmo and Copenhagen in May.
An enjoyable listen as always, thank you Ewan! Regarding the Icelandic song, I don’t see the great need to keep it in Icelandic, because I found a video on Youtube of his performance at the semi-final with the rough English lyrics in the subtitles and the lyrics are actually really nice and poetic. Accoding to this video, Ég a lif actually means “I have life” rather than “It’s my life” but you could name it in a number of ways and it would still fit the melody. I would personally go with “I’m Alive” or even just “Alive”. and the timing of the Icelandic words also fit the rough translation’s timing too, so this song could be easily translated, much like Never Forget was and it will probably sound better. Iceland are usually very very good at revamping the instrumentation of their entries and this song does have a very simple melody to it, but I think the English will give it the kick it needs.
I’ll admit I thought Ég a lif was rather insipid and out of date at first, but once it qualifed, something kind of clicked, and I started to see what the Icelanders saw in it. I think it will definitely break Iceland’s recent chain of finishing round about 20th/21st since Yohanna.
I think people choose plagiarism to justify their disapproval because we are prone to write-off genres we don’t like based on superficial resemblances that we readily ignore when focused on the differences within genres we enjoy.
_ I find “Eg A Lif” just sounds far too familiar to hold my attention. The first three notes of the chorus give away the rest of it: a traditional folk tune normally accompanied by flute/pipes and drum. Combined with the unadventurous verses and backing it gives me little incentive to spend three minutes physically listening to it.
_ Of course, I’m forcing myself anyway to try and understand why it was chosen. I think I appreciate its virtues to some extent, but not nearly enough to play it for pleasure.
_ This is why I would support English verses at least to provide an alternative point of attachment. But I acknowledge too, that there’s no reason to appeal to an audience who wouldn’t vote for it either way, and perhaps its target audience doesn’t need such things. But it’s no “Kuula” either in my opinion.
_ Now I’ll contradict myself in saying that I hope the artist sticks to his own convictions. 🙂