| Eurovision Song Contest News - 2009 Moscow, Russia 

Mick D

As a German-Spanish mixture living in France... how could I not be fan of Eurovision !?! I grew up in Hamburg (Germany), have a Spanish mother and German father, and finally moved to southwestern France in 2001.

The first Song Contest I remember was in 1981 when I was still a little boy. Or let's say: what I remember is that I fell asleep during the first few minutes. And I was so angry... imagine... I was so proud of my favourite singer Lena Valaitis singing for Germany, I wanted to see her performing, I wanted to see her winning the contest... and when I woke up the show was over... and she became second.

One year later Nicole won the contest for Germany, and I became irrevocably fan of ESC. Since then I'm watching the show every year... hoping that one of my favourite countries (Spain, Germany and France... do you think I'm jingoistic ?!? ...) may win. But I'm fair enough to support all good entries.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me !

MixxHH@gmx.net

ESC 2009 - MY PERSONAL RANKING


FRANCE - Thank you Patricia for giving us back the glamour and prestige Eurovision once had! A beautiful ballad that I simply adore.
SWITZERLAND - The most up-to-date entry so far. Genuine good music. Maybe not "cheesy" and "catchy" enough to get the top votes, but the the best song without any doubt.
NORWAY - A strong contender, having everything what Eurovision public loves: cute singer, traditional folk-elements, dynamic performance, memorable melody... yes, it works for Norway!
ICELAND - Beautiful ballad and a pretty girl... a good combination! Among all the "classical" ballads this is so far the best. A touch of Dido, a great voice, simple but effective melody. I love it.
SPAIN - Typical Eurovision-"shake your bottom"-formula. In this category the best entry so far this year. But also kind of "deja vu". Difficult to predict the final outcome...
AZERBAIJAN - Fighting in the same category as Spain and Turkey. Gives me the impression of listening to "Antique reloaded": simple melody combined with some oriental touch and mediterranean flavor. The instrumental parts are the best parts of the song, but overall still outstanding in this year's edition.
DENMARK - Nice melody, live vocals need to be improved though. Overall very pleasant.
GREECE - Good dance song, catchy melody. It does not give me the "wow" effect, but Sakis is a good performer and will certainly do a good job.
HUNGARY - Plasant dance-club tune. If they work out a good live performance with good live vocals, this well be a good entry.
TURKEY - Kind of deja-vu (just like Spain), but it will certainly work well. Nice summer sound, a little flat though.
ANDORRA - Basic pop tune but pleasant and fresh.
PORTUGAL - Cute song, and very "authentic". A good song doesn't need a huge staging. And this one is good, and in it's genre much better than the "Balkan-ballads" we have this year.
ISRAEL - Apart from Noa's great voice there is nothing what really blows you away... The song is very simple and also quite monotonous... but for a strange reason I still like it!
LITHUANIA - Nice song, a little flat though. Even if the voice suits this song perfectly, I have the impression that it sometimes sounds "off-key". It is also maybe too monotonous and doesn't create a real impact. But overall it is a style I like.
MALTA - Beautiful voice, no doubt that chiara will impress once again having the best voice of the competition. The song is a strong ballad, but lacks a climax like "Angel" had to be perfect.
UK - Excellent voice, but the song itself is very mediocre.
POLAND - Unofortunately this song will have to face strong competion, with plenty of ballads in the contest. Among all these ballads, there are others that I prefer. This said, Poland has a good song, but just not as good as others - and maybe to typical to stick out.
GERMANY - Not as good as Roger Cicero back in 2007, but entertaining and different enough to stick out.
ESTONIA - There is some magic in this song. But especially this year the strings are not very original, I fear. And after the first good impression the song gets quick boring.
ALBANIA - I like the mixture of styles, europop with an oriental touch....
CYPRUS - The song is nice, not spectacular, but just nice. A pity that the singer is not up to standard and kills the song with her shaky voice.
MONTENEGRO - Thank you for not sending just another Balkan-ballad. Even if the song is a little repetitive, at least it sticks in your head. Nice little song.
BELGIUM - I'm not a fan of copycats, so this song is not at the top of my list. The video is pleasant, but it could result in a rediculous performance.
SLOVENIA - Even if it might be mistaken for the interval act, it adds another music style to the competition which is refreshing.
RUSSIA - This seems to be Russian Schlager... the worst Russian Eurovision entry I can remember. But for a strange reason it is a sticky melody, and after one bottle of vodka I might even like it.
NETHERLANDS - Very dated.
FINLAND - Eurosound... in a cheap way. Not my cup of tea.
BELARUS - The new version is better than the first one. But even if the song is better now, the main problem is his voice that makes the song just worse than it actually is...
BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA - Balkan-ballad vol. 126... it defenitely doesn't reinvent its genre (it's not supposed to do either), we have heard it all before, and much better on the top of that.
IRELAND - They try to sound modern, well... they are not. Old fashioned Eurovision-style song. Ireland has obviously lost their sense of good quality entries they once had.
SWEDEN- Such great selection process like Melodifestivalen gives us another poor entry. And another entry that is - IMHO - completely ruined by the singer...
GEORGIA - Retro-disco sound. For a protest song it is good (compared to other "joke entries") but as a serious contender it is just too flat and repetitive.
UKRAINE - What can I say. Maybe the song could be revamped and acceptable, but the total package (incl. vocal skills) is just beyond the acceptable limits.
MOLDOVA - Ethno-beats are just not what I prefer. I still appreciate Moldova to send a song which reflects their culture.
CZECH REPUBLIC - I honestly think that such songs don't have a place in ESC...
SLOVAKIA - Is this singing or screaming? It hurts my ears...
ROMANIA - Oh dear, Eurovision-style at its worst.
SERBIA - Maybe I don't have the geographical and cultural background to get the point of this one, but I simply don't like it... at all.
CROATIA - Well, I think that this entry comes to late, at least 2 decades. And his voice hurts my ears.
BULGARIA - There is still a lot of work to make this one sound like a song...
LATVIA - Lots of noise, lack of melodic sound... how could that please the public?
ARMENIA - This is just well and truly awful...
FYR MACEDONIA - I'm not a fan of rock music, and this is even far beyond any acceptable limit...