Albania's Eurovision 2009 Entry

Holy shit, is it Eurovision time already? YES! Albania got the jump on the competition not by being first alphabetically, but by holding their national selection competition on December 21. The winner: "Më Merr Në Ëndërr", sung by Kejsi Tola.



Could Tola look more bored performing this song? She's the 2007 Albanian Idol winner, so I have no problem pointing out that she was a bit pitchy during her performance.

I love that the orchestra conductor had a little John McCain moment towards the end of the song and wandered across the stage behind Tola as she sang. He may have been as bored as Tola since I'm pretty sure the orchestra was utilized not one bit during this song. Which, by the way, is boilerplate Balkan Eurovision pop.

Because it is still really early in 2009 (in that it is still 2008), Wikipedia's Eurovision 2009 page is still scant on details of when the rest of Europe will be picking their entries. But that doesn't mean it is completely devoid of juicy information. For example, Sakis Rouvas will represent Greece again. Turkey, meanwhile, will be represented by Hadise, who is part-Belgian and all-diva.

But the really exciting news is that the Netherlands is sending De Toppers to Moscow. Seriously, watch this video and try not to get excited that they'll be competing in Eurovision:



As far as I can tell, they are a combination of Siegfried & Roy and a PBS pledge special set in the Castro. This could be, and I don't fear being contradicted when I say this, the greatest Dutch entry ever.

Albania's Eurovision 2008 Entry

Olta Boka's "Zemrën Lamë Peng" will be Albania's entry. If it sounds like Eurovision, and it smells like Eurovision, sure 'nuff it's Eurovision. So very generic...

Albania

Boring.

Albania (Eurovision 2007 Preview)

Frederick Ndoci - "Hear My Plea"

Ok, so this one totally starts out all Lisa Gerrard, with some world beat orchestrations you might expect out of Peter Gabriel, right after the release of "Passion," but where he had befallen the fate of Cole Porter, i.e. losing all credibility and jobbing for MGM, working scale. Ok, I admit that's a long way to go to make the point, but hey, I'm going there anyway.

Then Jean Valjean's understudy starts singing. And it turns into a power ballad from a sensitive male.

All in all, it kind of reminds me of "Where I Want to Be", as sang by the Russian in the concept album version of the Benny Andersson-Bjorn Ulvaeus-Tim Rice musical "Chess".

Albania (Eurovision 2007 Preview)

Frederik Ndoci: "Hear My Plea"

Ooo, exotic chanting and synthy strings. Haven't heard this since, well, Bulgaria's entry. It's not horrible, and there's some nice Kraftwerk touches in it towards the end. But it's just a generic Eurovision track.

Eurovision blogging

I wish I thought of this when the show started. Our story so far:

1. Armenia (Andre: "Without Your Love") - Generic Eastern Mediterranean pop. Blah.
2. Bulgaria (Mariana Popova: "Let Me Cry") - Stiff singer, decent song, bad back-up dancers.
3. Slovenia (Anžej Dežan: "Mr Nobody") - Good song, even if it's generic Eurotrash discopop. More bad dancing.
4. Andorra (Jennifer: "Sense Tu") - Non-English. Sounded like Vanilla Ninja. Even more bad dancing.
5. Belarus (Polina Smolova: "Mum") - Think of a hard-rocking Backstreet Boys with a female singer and 80s clothing. Plus the back-ups almost dropped the singer when they lifted her.
6. Albania (Luiz Ejlli: "Zjarr e Ftohtë") - Ooo, traditional musicans. More generic Eastern Mediterranean pop, though. Not surprisingly, this is not in English.
7. Belguim (Kate Ryan: "Je T'Adore") - Ooo, fluorescent pink mike stands! Someone has heard the "Chess" album. Key lyric: "Je t'adore and I can't conceal it."
8. Ireland (Brian Kennedy: "Every Song Is a Cry for Love") - And every Irish entry is a cry for help. Awful.
9. Cyprus (Annette Artani: "Why Angels Cry") - Buxom singer. Flabby pop song.
10. Monaco (Séverine Ferrer: "La CoCo-Dance") - Had a Hawaiian theme. Grass skirts and everything. Lame. It was sung in French. [NOTE: Actually, it's Tahitian. My bad.]
11. Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (Elena Risteska: "Ninanajna") - Slutty. The singer, the music, the lyrics. Slutty. Kinda awesome, but only in a Britney Spears way.
12. Poland (Ich Troje: "Follow My Heart") - White tails on the piano player. Polish rapping, in a Real McCoy way. The male singer has green hair. The female singer is in a mask. It's like Andrew Lloyd Webber did a song for Dead or Alive.