Former Eurovision entrant Donna McCaul announced just a few moments ago that she is returning to Eurosong 2012.

The Eurovision Song Contest, taking place in Kiev for the first time in 2005, saw Donna and her brother Joe throw themselves into the somewhat daunting but very exciting and in many cases, enviable task of representing Ireland with their song “Love?”. 

Donna and Joe participated in a Semi Final which was only the second year this was used in the Eurovision Song Contest. 

Although they gave a very enthusiastic performance and sung their hearts out, it was not to be when they placed 14th in the Semi Final with 53 points.

This time though, Donna is coming back all guns blazing, determined to make a new stand for herself as a solo artist in Eurosong and hopefully onwards to Baku in May,  Donna will be hoping to top the bill for a place in that wonderful circus which we love, the Eurovision Song Contest, which has certainly opened a very special place in her heart for many years! 

We wish you all the best Donna! 

We have yet to be informed who is to be Donna’s mentor on the forthcoming Eurosong show in February but as ever, we will keep you informed once we know! 

See the video below for Donna’s previous entry to Eurovision in 2005 with “Love?” and below the video is the full promotional shot of Donna.

Great news and shows how much fans Jedward have back home

The show was watched in its entirety by an average of 1,174,300 viewers, the highest viewing figure since the 1997 Contest.

The audience peaked from 10.30-10.45pm, when an average of 1,456,360 people watched the voting results.

Overall, the programme reached a total of 2,244,600 viewers.

Julian Vignoles, Head of the Irish Delegation, said: “These figures are phenomenal. Jedward undoubtedly brought a new energy to the Eurovision Song Contest. Seventy-one per cent of 15 to 24-year-olds watched the programme in total – the highest audience share for this age group of any programme on any channel in Ireland since 2002.”

RTÉ.ie has recorded over one million page impressions for Eurovision and Jedward stories across RTÉ’s online and mobile platforms since the beginning of May.

For those who missed the Eurovision Song Contest Final or Semi-Finals, they are still available for catch-up on the RTÉ Player

 

Dana International caused a massive stir when winning the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest in Birmingham so do not expect her Eurovision 2011 entry to be any less shocking.

The Israeli, who was born into a Yemenite Jewish family, became one of the most famous transsexuals in the world following her success and she will return to Eurovision 13 years later with new self-written track ‘Ding Dong’.

Dana International was chosen by the Israeli public and jury to represent the country once again and fashion designer Jean Paul Gautier is so impressed with her, that he has offered her his brand new collection to wear during the Contest. She will have the opportunity to wear any one of eight of his creations, which will be decided by her fans.

Back in 1998, the decision to allow her to perform for Israel attracted criticism from conservatives in her homeland. However, she took Europe by storm, beating the United Kingdom into second place by six points. Her single ‘Diva’ was incredibly successful, shifting over 400,000 copies worldwide. It entered the UK Singles Chart at number 11 whilst she also enjoyed a top ten hit in Sweden, Belgium, Finland, Ireland and the Netherlands. For this reason alone, the Eurovision betting suggests she could go down well again.

Before this, Israel had also tasted success in the Eurovision Song Contest on two previous occasions. Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta won the competition in 1978 with ‘A-Ba-Ni-Bi’ whilst the following year, Gali Atari and Milk and Honey gave the country further success with ‘Hallelujah’.

Dana International, therefore, will be hoping to make it her second and Israel’s fourth success at the Eurovision Song Contest come May 14.

So, the countdown of all countdowns continues……

60

Country: Slovenia
Song: “Vrag Naj Vzame”
Artist: Rebeka Dremelj
Year: 2008
Position: 12th in Semi Final

Great song, a welcome addition to any dance floor! Rebeka has a very strong voice, I am just miffed with the outfit, was not good, not cool…just wrong!

59

Country: Ukraine
Song: “Dancing Lasha Tumbai”
Artist: Verka Serduchka
Year: 2007
Position: 2nd in Final

Crazyness, mental, camp, trashy…just some of the words used to describe this act but I think they fell short big-time!! Verka went all out in 2007 and he certainly got the attention he wanted but he did put on quite a show so it was well deserved! I think this will always be remembered and is nearly always guaranteed to be shown on Eurovision previews!

58

Country: Moldova
Song: “Run Away”
Artist: Sun Stroke Project & Olia Tira
Year: 2010
Position: 22nd in Final

Not exactly the worlds best singers and I think they may have been swamped by such a particularly huge stage in 2010, however, my love for the song itself sends it into my no 58!

57

Country: Finland
Song: “Lose Control”
Artist: Waldo’s People
Year: 2009
Position: 25th in Final

As with Moldova above, Waldo’s “People” didn’t exactly set the world on fire with their voices but they had one thing going for them, a great song! Presentation was quite poor, not thought out but as I said, the song has got them this far in my countdown!

56

Country: Serbia
Song: “Ovo Je Balkan”
Artist: Milan Stankovic
Year: 2010
Position: 13th in Final

Didn’t fall for this the first time I heard it but it very quickly grew on me and I became slighty obsessed! Great quirky song with a weird looking singer to match!

55

Country: Greece
Song: “Everything”
Artist: Anna Vissi
Year: 2006
Position: 9th in Final

I really thought this one was a bit of a “Diva” when I saw her in Athens but then again, I had other motives around then! I really liked the song and after five particularly busy Eurovision years, it has become one of my favourites!!

54

Country: Cyprus
Song: “Stronger Every Minute”
Artist: Lisa Andreas
Year: 2004
Position: 5th

Lisa’s song was simple and her voice amazing…she didn’t need any gimmicks or big presentations, she just used her brilliant voice!

53

Country: Germany
Song: “Dschinghis Khan”
Artist: Dschinghis Khan
Year: 1979
Position: 4th

An iconic song, an even more iconic performance! This had all the unruly behaviour and madness I enjoy in a performance! I love to hear this at any Eurovision party or gathering!

52

Country: Sweden
Song: “Take Me To Your Heaven”
Artist: Charlotte Nilsson
Year: 1999
Position: Winner

I don’t think Charlotte Nilsson (Perrelli nowadays) knew the effect she would have on Eurovision back in Israel in ’99. Maybe she did but I bet the Swedish are very happy with her. She has an amazing career now in Sweden and this song really made it for her!

51

Country: Netherlands
Song: “Ik ben Verliefd Sha La Lie”
Artist: Sieneke
Year: 2010
Position: 14th in Semi Final

This was like a throw back to the 80′s and I love it! Sienke was a bit young for this style of a song but I think she pulled it off brilliantly and should have done much better at Eurovision! Tragedy in my book!

50

Country: Greece
Song: “This Is My Night”
Artist: Skais Rouvas
Year: 2009
Position: 8th

Sakis put on such an amazing show in 2004 and didn’t disappoint five years later! He is the ultimate professional and his performances were always polished to the last detail. Both of his songs were great too along with his presenting skills! Think his second entry should have made it higher, as should his first, now that I think of it!

49

Country: Germany
Song: “Disappear”
Artist: No Angels
Year: 2008
Position: 23rd in Final

I don’t know what it is about this song but I think it’s something special. I was never fond of any of the singers, their voices were quite poor live and I cringed watching this on my screen but I have remained a huge fan of this song!

48

Country: Slovenia
Song: “Nananana”
Artist: Karmen Stavec
Year: 2003
Position: 23rd

Poor Carmen, I think she really believed she might win and I was rooting for her but deep down, even I knew she could never win but didn’t expect her to do as bad as she did. I still love that song to this day, I think she was great personally but I think her backing singers/dancers did leave her down, they didn’t look like they even wanted to be there!

47

Country: Albania
Song: “It’s All About You”
Artist: Juliana Pasha
Year: 2010
Position: 16th in Final

I thought this song was just good on the cd until I watched her belt it out on that huge stage in Oslo. Juliana really put on some show. She was firing on all cylinders and she was the type that shows up in every year of Eurovision where they impress when not expected!

46

Country: Yugoslavia
Song: “Brazil”
Artist: Bebi Doll
Year: 1991
Position: 21st

I never appreciated this until a few years ago, think I was too young at the time. She looks pure nuts the whole way through the song! I love everything about the performance now! She is FUN!

45

Country: Lithuania
Song: “Little By Little”
Artist: Laura & The Lovers
Year: 2005
Position: 25th in Semi Final

Having lisened to this on the official CD, I was expecting great things, however, when it came to the actual performance at Eurovision, I was left feeling a little disappointed, the song was still very good, she looked good and the whole presentation looked good. The singing however was a bit dead but…….but I still love this song!

44

Country: Bosnia & Herzigovina
Song: “In The Disco”
Artist: Deen
Year: 2004
Position: 9th in Final

I like to think that I’m open minded and not easily shocked but I found Deen’s performance a bit…I don’t know, I don’t think I can find the words. It was just that I thought he was very over the top but like I have learned with others, I just didn’t appreciate it enough at the time. I adore this now! It was one of the best in 2004 without a doubt and should have been higher up the table right up to the end!

43

Country: Denmark
Song: “In A Moment Like This”
Artist: Chanee & N’Evergreen
Year: 2010
Position: 4th in Final

This is a fabulous song from Denmark, it was one of my favourites to win for 2010 and I think it had the potential to win but was left down by the obvious coldness between the two singers. It appears all was not well backstage with these two. Will they regret it in years to come? Have they left their feelings for each other ruin the chances of winning? Only they can say!

42

Country: Greece
Song: “I Would Die For You”
Artist: Antique
Year: 2001
Position: 3rd

This was another amazing song among two or three others in the same year. Antique’s overall final position was well deserved and the winner was a mistake in my opinion so Antique could easily have stolen their crown! So this song remains on my top Euro party list among myself and my friends!

41

Country: Turkey
Song: “Dinle”
Artist: Sebnem Paker
Year: 1997
Position: 2nd

A huge slice of Turkey in a song that I loved from the start. A brilliant effort for Turkey and one of my all time favourite Turkish entries and of course, still a huge fan favourite all over Europe.

So….there you have songs 60 down to 41!

What do you think so far?

Which ones would you have further up in your list or not in your list at all maybe?

So, the countdown of all countdowns continues……

80

Country: Slovenia
Song: “Mr Nobody”
Artist: Anzej Dezan
Year: 2006
Position: 16th in Semi Final

When I first saw the official video for this, I thought, way over the top camp but it was more toned down at Eurovision which is a good thing and he sang very well. Not sure about the ladies around him, they didn’t quite seem to gel that well, looked a tad messy!

79

Country: Ireland
Song: “We’ve Got The World”
Artist: Mickey Joe Harte
Year: 2003
Position: 11th

What can I say? I loved everything about Mickey Joe’s performance, great voice, great emotion and great energy. I don’t think however, the dresses did anything for the backing singers at all! A small price to pay though and Mickey Joe did us proud, I still love hearing that song!

78

Country: United Kingdom
Song: “Knock Knock, Who’s There”
Artist: Mary Hopkins
Year: 1970
Position: 2nd

This was a very cutsie, feel good song from the U.K. in 1970. From what I know, Mary Hopkins was not happy with this song and regretted doing Eurovision afterwards. Mary, you have nothing to be ashamed about, this was a good entry!

77

Country: Finland
Song: “Addicted To You”
Artist: Laura
Year: 2002
Position: 16th

Really enjoyed Laura’s performance with this song. She made a huge effort to inject energy into this song and it worked for her. A decidedly catchy number from Finland which was not appreciated enough by Europe in my book!

76

Country: Finland
Song: “Pump Pump”
Artist: Fredi & Friends
Year: 1976
Position: 11th

Now this is a very guilty pleasure of mine and for many others! That girl with the perm is crazy and I love watching her, she is addictive, along with the very gigantic Fredi himself!  Also, I think the male backing singer may actually be a puppet, he barely moved for the entire performance!

75

Country: Slovakia
Song: “Horeronie”
Artist: Kristina
Year: 2010
Position: 16th

I enjoyed this song the first time I heard it but I was severely let down when I watched the live performace. This song has only made it to my no:75 because of the song and not the singer. She was without any sex appeal, decent choreography, sassiness or personality!

74

Country: Cyprus
Song: “Man Mou”
Artist: Hara & Andreas Konstantinou
Year: 1997
Position: 5th

The piece of music at the start of this had me gripped before being led into a sound from Cyprus I have come to appreciate over the years from having family there. This was probably my 2nd favourite in 1997 after the actual winner. (The dress didn’t help her but she’s forgiven!)

73

Country: Bosnia & Herzigovina
Song: “Call Me”
Artist: Feminem
Year: 2005
Position: 14th in Final

I first heard this while at work with my best friend and we both got excited when we heard this. The performance was high energy, high pitch and high teeth but it was instantly catchy, instantly a hit. Wonder what they thought after when they realised that they thanked Copenhagen after the song instead of Kiev who where hosting the show?

72

Country: Cyprus
Song: “Comme Ci, Comme Ca”
Artist: Evridiki
Year: 2007
Position: 15th in Semi Final

Had never been a fan of Evridiki before this performance but she converted me, great powerful dramatic performance which should definitely in my opinion reached the final! The song along with her outfit were ultra modern and she had a very severe look that just drew you in. Loved it!

71

Eurovision came up in the conversation tonight in the Spiller household and there was no surprise when it came to the song my mother picked up. The conversation started as I thought that Sandy Kelly, who was on the Late, Late Show tonight, represented Ireland in the Eurovision. That got my mother singing!

Now of course I now know, that It was not Sandy Kelly, but Sandie Jones who represented Ireland in 1972 with a song completely as Gaeilge. This was the first and only time that Ireland entered a song in the “other” national language. The song was “Ceol and Ghrá” and it was written by Liam Mac Uistín and Joe Burkett. My mother has memories of it being recorded in Jury’s Hotel in Cork, which was across the water from her school.

It is the only Irish Eurovision song my mother knows off by heart (the one I know is Rock and Roll Kids) but I think its a really nice song, and maybe we should consider entering a song in Irish again in the future?

Anyway back in 1972 Sandie came 15th on 72 points. And here is her performance.

Enjoy this bit of Irish Eurovision history.

So seeing as my last two posts covered the topics of Israel and the Golden era of the contest respectively, I thought why not combine the two topics together to give you a forgotten Israeli gem from that era.

So folks, I present to you Liora and “Amen”, a beautiful ballad sung in Hebrew. Now Hebrew would never normally have struck me as a language that would sound beautiful in song, but this entry from Israel changed my opinion on the matter entirely and introduced me to some of their older entries particularly Milk & Honey’s “Hallelujah” of 1979. “Amen” follows a very similar structure and subject matter.

The song itself was structured as a prayer to God (not everybody’s cup of tea in fairness) but I think the performance, the quality of the singing and the gradual build up towards the song’s climax really showed that a simple song done well, though it may not have won or come close to winning (8th in a field of 23) could still find resonance in the mind of a young Eurofanatic back in 1995. I hope you enjoy!

And for those that are interested, the English translation can be found here.

Germany are still riding high in the betting according to PaddyPower who have Lena at 3/1 to win this year edition, but Eurovision hasn’t always been kind to Germany. Heres a quick look back at their history and some of their notable entries.

Germany has entered Eurovision every year since 1956 and has taken part in the final every year, except for 1996. That year a pre-selection was used to bring the number of entries down to 23, and German’s entry Leon with “Planet of Blue”,  did not make the cut. Since that year, Germany has been one of the “Big Four” who automatically qualify. Germany also is the largest contributor to Eurovision.

German Wins

You have to go all the way back to the 1982 Eurovision Song Contest in Harrogate, UK, for Germany’s last and only win in Eurovision. In that year Nicole took home the prize with her song “Ein bißchen Frieden”.

2nd Place

Germany have finished in 2nd place on four occasions. Two of these were with the band Wind. Wind finished second in 1985 with “Für alle” and in 1987 with “Laß die Sonne in dein Herz”. Germany also finished second in 1980 and 1981. In 1980 Katja Ebstein with “Theater” and in 1981 it was Lena Valaitis with “Johnny Blue”.

Wind – “Für alle”

3rd Place

Germany have finished in 3rd place five times. Two of those occasions were with Katja Ebstein, in 1970 with “Wunder gibt es immer wieder” and in 1971 with “Diese Welt”. In 1972, for the third time in a row Germany came third with Martina Roos and “Nur die Liebe läßt uns leben”. Skip forward to 1994 when Germany came third with Mekado and “Wir geben ‘ne Party” and again in 1999 Germany came third with “Reise nach Jerusalem – Kudüs’e seyahat”

Katja Ebstein – “Diese Welt”

Last Place

While above I mentioned the Germany success at Eurovision, it hasn’t always been plain sailing for Germany, apart from 1996, Germany has come last, or joint last on six occasions. In 1964 Nora Nova got nul points for her effort “Man gewöhnt sich so schnell an das Schöne” and in the following year Ulla Wiesner also got nul points for her song “Paradies, wo bist du?”. After a run of good finishes in the 1970′s that run came to an end in 1974 when Cindy and Bert came last with “Die Sommermelodie”, they did manage 3 points though! 1995 was the next time that Germany came last and they managed to garner one point that year for their entry Stone and Stone with “Verliebt in Dich”. Ten years later in 2005 was the next year Germany came last, that year Gracia came last with four points with the song “Run and Hide”. Keeping up with the bad results in 2008 No Angels came in with 14 points to finish at the bottom of the table with “Disappear”.

Grace – Run and Hide

Overall Eurovision has been a mixed bag for Germany, hopefully this years entry will redeem them and do them well!

So hands up, I’m laying my cards on the table and hoisting that rainbow flag up that tall glittery mast – I love the Eurovision Song Contest and will continue to love the Contest when I’m old and gray or even worse old and bald. However, for me there was a golden era of the Eurovision Song Contest, the years between 1992 and 1997, when Ireland could not get rid of hosting the thing and the other European participants simply showed up to bulk up the numbers.

Of all the years during this golden age, 1997 has the fondest memories for me, and this is the story of why…

First and foremost, it was the last time Ireland hosted the event. At that time it was a different type of beast, a one show spectacle where you really only heard the songs and saw the performances as they went out live. The sheer joy of not knowing what to expect added to the excitement of the whole thing. The contest held in 1997 is the epitome of everything the contest should be.

From the opening sequence, I knew we were in for a good show. The duo of Carrie Crowley (criminally underused today by RTE) and Ronan Keating were a great hosting pair. I am actually still scarlet for Ronan and his attempts to woo poor Carrie with some horrifically bad French – but more of that later. The stage was small, unusual and very futuristic looking (TV sets anybody).

There were some cracking good songs in the contest that year, not least of all our own Mark Roberts’ Mysterious Woman. The contest itself was won by Katrina and the Waves with a song that used buzz words such as Love, Heart, Light, Together, Boys and Girls to melt the hearts of the viewing public. There were some memorable stonkers (it’s a word) and our beloved Norway got Nul Points. The world just seemed a better place back in 1997.

Anyway, I am not going to bore you to tears with my opinions. Have a look at the 4 videos posted below that give you a rounded albeit brief reminder of just how good the year was.

The opening sequence and proof that Ronan Keating hasn’t had a decent hair style in over a decade. His French dialogue if you can call it that is from 4.40 onwards.

Cyprus had the honour of opening the contest. A brother/sister combo of Hara and Andreas sang “Mana Mou”, an ode to their mother and homeland. It was for me an endearing number and won favour with the viewing public coming 5th out of a field of 25 plus the guy had bushier eyebrows than me – respect!

Italy entered one of my favourite songs of that year, “Fiumi Di Parole” performed by Jalisse. It was a hot favourite to win at the time and certainly is up there with some of my all time favourite entries. Alas the song eventually finished 4th in the contest and Italy have not returned to the Eurovision stage since.

And finally, one of the most memorable performances of that year came from Russia. Alla Pugacheva sang “Primadonna” my descriptions of which can not do it justice. It needs to be watched to be appreciated. Apologies for the slightly bad quality of this particular video.

Ps – I’m not forgetting Paul Oscar and Minn Hinsti Dans but I made the mistake yesterday of repeating a previous post and I’m not making that same mistake again.

So just by way of introduction, I just wanted to say hello to all the fellow ESCIreland enthusiasts out there. I have been given the opportunity by Frank and StylingOchConsulting to post some of my own contributions on here and I am very grateful to them for allowing me to do so. [No need for thanks Alan, chocolates say it so much better - Ed] I have also commented on many of the other posts under the name Alan so I hope you like my choices as much as I liked yours.

So to kick it off, I wanted to use my first post to show you my favourite entry in the past ten years. Shiri Maimon and “The Silence that Remains/Time to Say Goodbye/HaSheket SheNish’ar”. I love a good ballad and this one won me over in 2005. I don’t know what it is about the song exactly but I think a combination of the following did it for me;

1. She’s Gorgeous.

2. I’m not a boob man, but jeez she has a fine pair.

3. The dress. Stunning.

4. The simplicity of the performance.

5. Her walk coming into the first bridge of the song. 0.30

6. The half sung in Hebrew, half English hybrid. Fantastic.

7. Her voice.

8. The lyrics, it’s a great break up song to listen to.

9. Her look of determination into the camera. 1.22 ["Look at me now!" - She's not begging, she's ordering! And we like it - Ed]

10. The end where she looks like she just had a mini orgasm. 3.01 [Mini? - Ed]

In any case this is a somewhat bulleted way of showing you why I love this song and performance so much. The best thing for you to do is view it for yourself and let me know what you think!

Her performance gave her a much deserved 4th place in the final in 2005.

And for anyone that is interested, here is a video version of the full song in English. If anyone wishes to get a MP3 version, get it touch. I’ll let you know how….

***Sincere apologies to Styling as I can see this was already posted, but it’s so good it deserves a 2nd outing, and as it was my first post – a pat on the back for me is in order! ***