Through the nineties, Iceland usually ended up on the lower half of the score-board, until it sent an English lyrics song (All Out of Luck by Selma) to Jerusalem for the 1999 Contest and receiving three douze points (from Cyprus, Denmark and Sweden). This remained Iceland's most successful entry in the Contest for a decade, until Yohanna's Is It True competed in 2009's Contest in Moscow (you'll get a glimpse of this song later on this blog). Coincidentally, both of Iceland's bridesmaid moments (aka almost-winning second place finishes) were against Nordic countries (first Sweden, then Norway), with the winning countries awarding Iceland their douze points. This year, Iceland goes back to basics for the Malmo Contest and is represented by Eyþór Ingi Gunnlaugsson's Eg a lif, a slow soft ballady Icelandic brew. I have high hopes for this song, and its charismatic and talented singer (who also may or may not be a long lost cousin of Thor...just sayin'), though admittedly who/what I like is miles away from what Eurovision viewers think is good/deserving of the win lately. See for yourselves:
Friday, April 26, 2013
Iceland
The island nation, with its now famous volcano Eyjafjallajokull, lies the north of the Atlantic bordering the Arctic Circle, and first joined the Eurovision Song Contest in 1986 in Bergen after it was able to link into the European Broadcasting Union with strong enough satellite capabilities (how far we've come). With the appropriately named trio ICY and their song Gleðibankinn ("The Bank of Fun"), the debut entry placed sixteenth in a field of twenty contestants (as did the country's next two entries in Brussels and Dublin), followed by Iceland receiving its first nul point at the Lousanne Contest in 1989. For the 1990 Contest in Zagreb, Iceland sent duo Stjornin with their song Eitt lag enn ("One More Song") into a field dominated by entries themed after the unification of Europe (the first twelve countries of the EU, then known as the European Community or EC, formally tied knots with each other under the Maastricht Treaty) and placed a well deserved fourth. The song was traditional Eurovision fare, served up with glorious 80s matchy-matchy outfits and flock of seagulls and sung in Icelandic (ah, nostalgia), and fared well with a total of 124 points (the Contest trophy went to Italy that year with Toto Contugno's Insieme: 1992, with subtle lyrics like "Unite Unite Europe"):
Through the nineties, Iceland usually ended up on the lower half of the score-board, until it sent an English lyrics song (All Out of Luck by Selma) to Jerusalem for the 1999 Contest and receiving three douze points (from Cyprus, Denmark and Sweden). This remained Iceland's most successful entry in the Contest for a decade, until Yohanna's Is It True competed in 2009's Contest in Moscow (you'll get a glimpse of this song later on this blog). Coincidentally, both of Iceland's bridesmaid moments (aka almost-winning second place finishes) were against Nordic countries (first Sweden, then Norway), with the winning countries awarding Iceland their douze points. This year, Iceland goes back to basics for the Malmo Contest and is represented by Eyþór Ingi Gunnlaugsson's Eg a lif, a slow soft ballady Icelandic brew. I have high hopes for this song, and its charismatic and talented singer (who also may or may not be a long lost cousin of Thor...just sayin'), though admittedly who/what I like is miles away from what Eurovision viewers think is good/deserving of the win lately. See for yourselves:
Through the nineties, Iceland usually ended up on the lower half of the score-board, until it sent an English lyrics song (All Out of Luck by Selma) to Jerusalem for the 1999 Contest and receiving three douze points (from Cyprus, Denmark and Sweden). This remained Iceland's most successful entry in the Contest for a decade, until Yohanna's Is It True competed in 2009's Contest in Moscow (you'll get a glimpse of this song later on this blog). Coincidentally, both of Iceland's bridesmaid moments (aka almost-winning second place finishes) were against Nordic countries (first Sweden, then Norway), with the winning countries awarding Iceland their douze points. This year, Iceland goes back to basics for the Malmo Contest and is represented by Eyþór Ingi Gunnlaugsson's Eg a lif, a slow soft ballady Icelandic brew. I have high hopes for this song, and its charismatic and talented singer (who also may or may not be a long lost cousin of Thor...just sayin'), though admittedly who/what I like is miles away from what Eurovision viewers think is good/deserving of the win lately. See for yourselves:
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Never expected such a sweet and sensitive song from "Thor". ;-)
ReplyDeleteI also hope this does well. Good luck Iceland!