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The annual Eurovision commentary :)
May. 17th, 2013 11:45 amWe watched the first semifinal last night and are catching up with the second one tonight. So far: some really nice backup dancing. Also, cool drums of unspecified folk-ish origin. By far our favorite from the first semifinal was Denmark. It had a cool flute/whistle, it had nice drums, it had an actual melody, and well, I guess we were swayed slightly by the lead singer's strong resemblance to Hermione Granger:
We thought she had a much nicer song than the one from Estonia in 2010--we can never remember the name of the group because they remind us too much of another Harry Potter character. Instead, we call them Draco and the Malfoys. (The downer lyrics sort of fit...)
My 12YO thought Moldova's lead singer was Gandalf's wife. (Starting around 2 minutes or so...)
Then we have Lithuania, winner of the slightly peculiar English lyrics award. We kind of liked this one, even though the words are full of deep feeling and he's smiling away. But really, when you are giving a declaration of love and singing about how it's because of your shoes...well, that's one of the things that makes Eurovision entertaining.
Croatia had great singers (sort of a 7 Tenors approach) and nice outfits, but there just wasn't a tune to the song. Too bad. They could have really shone with a more interesting song.
Tonight: the second semifinal. Switzerland's entry is the only one I've heard all the way through. I rather like it. Their song won the national choice, but they had to change their name and costumes because they weren't allowed to compete under the Salvation Army name. (Heilsarmee) The oldest performer is 95! See, this is what's fun about Eurovision: you can have opera and techno and metal and folk and bizarre combinations that may or may not work, all back to back. It's like an unlabeled bag of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans or something. It might be toffee, or you might take a bite and realize it's alas, earwax. It's adventure! And everyone needs some of that now and then...
We thought she had a much nicer song than the one from Estonia in 2010--we can never remember the name of the group because they remind us too much of another Harry Potter character. Instead, we call them Draco and the Malfoys. (The downer lyrics sort of fit...)
My 12YO thought Moldova's lead singer was Gandalf's wife. (Starting around 2 minutes or so...)
Then we have Lithuania, winner of the slightly peculiar English lyrics award. We kind of liked this one, even though the words are full of deep feeling and he's smiling away. But really, when you are giving a declaration of love and singing about how it's because of your shoes...well, that's one of the things that makes Eurovision entertaining.
Croatia had great singers (sort of a 7 Tenors approach) and nice outfits, but there just wasn't a tune to the song. Too bad. They could have really shone with a more interesting song.
Tonight: the second semifinal. Switzerland's entry is the only one I've heard all the way through. I rather like it. Their song won the national choice, but they had to change their name and costumes because they weren't allowed to compete under the Salvation Army name. (Heilsarmee) The oldest performer is 95! See, this is what's fun about Eurovision: you can have opera and techno and metal and folk and bizarre combinations that may or may not work, all back to back. It's like an unlabeled bag of Bertie Botts Every Flavour Beans or something. It might be toffee, or you might take a bite and realize it's alas, earwax. It's adventure! And everyone needs some of that now and then...
