Over on Eurovision.tv Svante Stockselius, Executive Supervisor of the Junior- and Eurovision Song Contests,has announced his resignation.

Svante has worked with the EBU since 2003.

Previously to working for the EBU he was Executive Producer of the 2000 Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden. He was also the main architect of the Melodifestivalen which is one of the most watched national selections.

Svante will be missed by fans and those involved with the Eurovision. We all loved the bit where he appears.

The Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Minsk will be his last outing Executive Supervisor.

Svante has been the main force behind the recent changes in the Eurovision and his ideas and commitment to the contest must be commended.

We at ESC Ireland wish Svante the best of luck in his future career and hope he has a happy retirement!

Many of us thought with the one of the Big Four Countries winning the contest last year, the 2nd placed country would be automatically in the final. This will not be the case as reported by ESC Today after the recent reference group meeting in Belgrade. This means Turkey loses out on that potential as they came 2nd in Oslo.

Only Germany, France, Spain and the United Kingdom will be automatically in the final. That means the final next year will only have 24 countries. 10 from each semi. I wonder will this make anyone notice

Also the rule on when a song can be released has been changed. Now a song cannot be released before September 1st. It was previously October 1st.

The eadline for submissions to host the 56th Eurovision Song Contest was reached yesterday. Four cities have submitted bids according to TheLocal.de. They are:

• Berlin
• Düsseldorf
• Hannover
• Hamburg

NDR will make a decision by the end of the summer.

According to TheLocal.de, Hamburg is basing its bid on the short routes from the Train Station to Hotels and venues. It is also using its central location to boost its prospects.

Hannover has worked with the state of Lower Saxony and Deutsche Messe AG to put together a packet which a spokesman for the city said made them optimistic. Hannover is also Lena’s home town.

Düsseldorf stressed its history as a host for conferences and trade fairs as well as its international connections and cosmopolitan nature

Berlin was the first out of the starting blocks announcing its candidacy shortly after Germany’s win. Berlin is also the favourite of Lena.

Which of the four do you want it to be held in?

In a brand new section to ESC Ireland we get to discuss individual Eurovision years.  Please if leaving responses only respond to matters pertaining to the given year.  From singers to costumes, interval acts to backing singers, whatever you wish to talk about a selected year this is the place to do it.  For these reasons it separates itself from the already in place ‘History’ category.

I’ve chosen 1993 because it was the first year I watched and loved the Eurovision and to date it remains for me one of the most emotional years.

The 38^th Eurovision was presented by Fionnula Sweeney who would go on to become an anchor woman for the American news network CNN.

The interval act would be a dismal collaboration between previous Irish winners Linda Martin and Johnny Logan.  Linda barely sang a verse of her winning song while her rapid eye movement left me dizzy.  Johnny sang with a choir of children a sickening sweet song in which I’m sure every facial twitch mimicked what he’d performed earlier in front of his mirror.  There is polished and excessively groomed and Johnny falls into the latter which I always felt alienated him from his audience.

1993 featured three returning artists, Tony Vegas for Austria, Tommy Seebach for Denmark and Katri Helena for Finland.  Both Tommy and Katri had performed in the 1979 Eurovision with Tommy also featuring in 1981.  Tony Vegas was returning from the previous year, 1992.   Doesn’t he remind you of Tom Jones?  I can so see him singing ‘Sexbomb’.

25 countries would compete including Italy who would withdraw from the competition afterwards to make only one further appearance in 1997.  1993 would also see the last appearance by Luxemburg who had been in the competition since it began in 1956.

This was also the first year a pre-qualifier was needed as more countries wanted to enter.  However in this early stage it only applied to countries that hadn’t entered the Eurovision before or had since become new Republics in their own right.  Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Hungary, Slovenia, Slovakia, Estonia and Romania entered into a competition with only three winning places available.  These went to Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina.

Despite a war going on in Bosnia & Herzegovina they manage to deliver their results albeit through a very dodgy connection to the rapturous applause of the audience.

Headlining the year was a battle of the red heads as Niamh Kavanagh and Sonia fought it out for the final victory.  It seemed like Ireland would win as Sonia was 11 points behind but when the final voting country ‘Malta’ reached its penultimate 10 points neither England or Ireland had received a vote which now meant England if they got the 12 points could win by a mere single point.  Of course we know that didn’t happen and Ireland claimed its fifth victory but at the time it was a nail biting final.  The cheer that erupted when Niamh won always sends a shiver down my spine.

My top five of 1993 went as follows

1-     Annie Cotton (Moi, tout simplement)-Switzerland

2-     Anabela (A Cidade ate ser dia)-Portugal

3-     Inga (Pa veistu savario)-Iceland

4-     Niamh Kavanagh (In your eyes)-Ireland

5-     Put (Don’t ever cry)-Croatia

A very nice Youtube video by Lotus2003 shows the breakdown and songs involved. 

For many who saw the Eurovision in 1993 it remains closest to their hearts, afterwards in the years to follow the influx of eastern European countries and political block voting turned many away from the magic that once was.   But for now relive the excitement of the final vote and witness the excitement that is sadly lacking from the present day Eurovision.  Must also point out in case someone notices while Norway were last to vote on the board, Malta due to technical difficulties couldn’t give their votes and so were placed last.

Please feel free to leave your comments and observations regarding 1993.