| Eurovision Song Contest News - 2010 Oslo, Norway 

Chef d'Orchestre

The picture does not show me, but one of the most accomplished conductors ever in the Eurovision Song Contest, DOLF VAN DER LINDEN. His compositions from the 1940's and 1950's (in Gershwin style) are simply magnificent (e.g. "Park Lane Serenade"), and his elegance and subtlety as a conductor... well, no less than brilliant. He was the musical director of two Eurovision Song Contests (1958, 1970), conducted three winners (Netherlands 1957, 1959 / Ireland 1970) and all in all was the 'chef d'orchestre' of no fewer than 18 Eurovision entries (in this respect, he is only 'beaten' by Noel Kelehan, 29 entries / Franck Pourcel, 23 entries / and Ossi Runne, 22 entries). God have his soul, he passed away in 1999.

Well, about me - I've been passionate about the ESC since I first watched the contest in 1987... but my mum sent me to bed after the Swedish entry. This, in retrospect, was a very lucky decision, because she taped me the rest of the contest on video... and this recording of course began with Italy's entry "Gente di mare" by Tozzi & Raf, which still is one of my favourite entry of all times.

In the years after, I developed a passion for the ESC, mainly because of the different languages (the ESC was a very big factor in developing my interest in language in general) and because of the orchestra... I loved the fact that "entertainment music" was accompanied live. These conductors who were so solemnly introduced before every entry, were my idols rather than the artists.

As you'll have understood from the above, my interest in the contest has decreased over the last few years. Above all I hate disco drum beats, which entered the contest with maybe the worst entry ever, Gina G's "Just a little bit" (UK 1996). I was very angry about the orchestra being ditched from the contest... in the run-up to the Jerusalem contest in 1999 I even wrote a letter to the Israeli prime minister, Bibi Netanyahu, to implore him to reverse this decision... as if this guy hadn't got something more important on his mind. Of course I don't like the fact that most entries are sung in English either. In spite of the deception I feel about developments in the song contest of the last years, in 2006, I happily agreed to enter the board of the Eurovision Artists Dutch Eurovision Club - the oldest Eurovision club in the world, which was founded in 1977. "Our" website (www.eurovisionartists.nl) is warmly recommended to your attention.

I have also been writing for our magazine, "Eurovision Artists Magazine" (for more information on this, check out www.eurovisionartists.nl as well). Since 2006 I have been working on a series of interviews with... Eurovision conductors. Amongst them: Richard Oesterreicher and Noel Kelehan. In due course, I hope to present a brand new website containing biographies of all 351 conductors involved in the contest between 1956 and 1998; it is very much a case of 'work in progress' and, being the perfectionist that I am, I do not intend to hurry. A lot of research is involved, I can assure you - but a very enjoyable pastime as well.

Over the last years my interest in the ESC has become dominated by an even bigger interest in the Sanremo Song Contest - the most conservative contest in the world probably.

Some of my favourite entries ever (but only some of them) are:
1) Italy 1987 "Gente di mare" - Tozzi & Raf (conductor: Gianfranco Lombardi)
2) Portugal 1977 "Portugal no coração" Os Amigos (conductor: Jose Calvario)
3) Italy 1992 "Rapsodia" Mia Martini (conductor: Marco Falagiani)
4) Belgium 1989 "Door de wind" Ingeborg (conductor: Freddy Sunder)
5) Finland 1989 "La dolce vita" Anneli Saaristo (conductor: Ossi Runne)
6) Italy 1972 "I giorni dell'arcobaleno" Nicola Di Bari (conductor: Gianfranco Reverberi)
7) France 1963 "Elle etait si jolie" Alain Barriere (conductor: Franck Pourcel)
8) Ireland 1996 "The voice" Eimear Quinn (conductor: Noel Kelehan)
9) Finland 1979 "Katson sineen taivaan" Katri Helena (conductor: Ossi Runne)
10) Hungary 1994 "Kinek mondjam el vetkeimet" Friderika Bayer (conductor: Peter Wolf)
11) Lithuania 1994 "Lopsine mylimai" Ovidijus Vysniauskas (conductor: Tomas Leiburas)
12) Austria 1979 "Heute in Jerusalem" Christina Simon (conductor: Richard Oesterreicher)
13) Portugal 1974 "E depois do adeus" Paulo de Carvalho (conductor: Jose Calvario)
14) Ireland 1965 "I'm walking the streets in the rain" Butch Moore (conductor: Gianni Ferrio)
15) Austria 1990 "Keine Mauern mehr" Simone (conductor: Richard Oesterreicher)
16) Serbia & Montenegro 2004 "Lane moje" Zeljko Joksimovic (conductor: none )
17) Luxembourg 1956B "Les amants de minuit" Michele Arnaud (conductor: Jacques Lasry)
18) France 1996 "Diwanit bugale" Dan Ar Braz (conductor: Fiachra Trench)
19) Italy 1968 "Marianne" Sergio Endrigo (conductor: Giancarlo Chiaramello)
20) Yugoslavia 1971 "Tvoj djecak je tuzan" Krunoslav Slabinac (conductor: Miljenko Prohaska)
21) Spain 1974 "Canta y se feliz" Peret (conductor: Rafael Ibarbia)
22) Finland 1978 "Anna rakkaudele tilaisuus" (conductor: Ossi Runne)