Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: RSS
Our summer series of musical maroonings returns for a third year. Join Ellie Chalkley at the customs desk on the Île de Bezençon as we meet more Eurovision fans and extract their stories.
Eurovision Castaways with Alice Beverton-Palmer
The ESC Insight crew and friends are off to Île de Bezençon for the summer with their favourite Eurovision related songs and stories. Podcaster & social media maven Alice Beverton-Palmer brings a basket full of bangers, an inspirational Austrian, and an examination of the manners and etiquette around lanyards to the Island.
Alice’s podcast, The Dorothy Project celebrates the women who’ve found themselves within gay male society – her guests include Amy Lamé, female drag artist Minka Guides, author Juno Dawson and (coming soon) Eurovision’s very own Nicki French.
As we wait patiently for the new season, keep listening to the ESC Insight podcast to stay up to date with Eurovision, Junior Eurovision, and all the National Finals. You’ll find the show in iTunes, and a direct RSS feed is also available. We also have a regular email newsletter which you can sign up to here.
The discussion about the lanyards sounded like an intern joke, meant for those who ever attended the Euro club. If there ever was a moment where I felt excluded, was that moment in the podcast.
The list below has been made 2 years ago. The original text was longer and I wanted to publish it as reply to one of the podcast. Because of its length I have approached Ellie and asked permission to publish it as a whole. I was asked to wait as Ellie wanted to gather all feedback she has received and to give it some kind form, but Ellie wasn’t sure how she wanted to do this.. I respected Ellie’s wishes and the list has never been published. I don’t really see any reason to wait any longer.
So below you can find the 8 Eurovison songs I will take to an Island. I have tried to give the reason for each song in a maximum of 2 sentences and if you want to hear each song, you will have to looked it up on Youtube. Links may send this message to be moderated before approval:
1. Mocedades-Eres Tu-Spain 1973 – My Eurovision origin. The first I have ever watch as an 8.5 years old, in black and white. It also the song that ignited my interest in foreign languages.
2. Gali Atari and Milk & Honey- Hallelujah-Israel 1979 – When your country host and than win again, you just can’t ignore it.
3. Alain Barriere-Elle Et Ait Si Jolie-France 1963 – I fist hear it in Hebrew only to discover later that this is originally a Eurovision song. Eurovision songs of past found their ways to other cultures, getting new meanings in different languages. Which is what Eurovision is all about. It rarely happens any more as almost everybody sings in English.
4.Antique-(I Would) Die For You-Greece 2001 – A perfect 3 minutes of pop. The mix of Greek and English just work here and it sound effortless.
5. Ott Lepland-Kuula-Estonia 2012 – A song in a language I don’t understand but gives me goosebumps every time I hear it. Prove you that you don’t need English to touch me.
6. Dana International-Diva-Israel 1998 – As I see it, the 1998 contest is the one that got Eurovision out of the closet. From a contest that was assumed to be and exclusively gay event, it became a very gay event. And all this led by a transgender, which in 1998 was even harder than today.
7. Rita-Shara Barchovot-Israel 1990 – To me, the best Israeli entry and the one in the list which get my 12 points. The jurries fail to get it and by this showing to be human, like everyone else.The song finished at 18th place. Rita is not your average Eurovison singer and the song itself is quite a complex one, which make it an a-typical Eurovision song.
8. Conchita-Rise Like A Phoenix-Austria 2014 – It’s not an easy song to sing but every time Conchita sings this one she is note perfect. It’s a song written to a male voice, and when ever a woman sings this one it loose some of its powers. And than you have Conchita herself, her personality and the message the song carry.
Eurovision luxury – The postcards of 1979 +2019 contests – the first one because they are simple and work perfectly in the context of the contest. The second one, because they showed that the singers have personality beyond the 3 minutes on stage.
Hope you enjoyed the ride.