JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum Norway won the Eurovision song contest 2009!

Hi Friends,

Just sharing the fact that my fellow countrymen won the Eurovision this year with a great entry "Fairytale"!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8JRtGMBUz0

Perhaps something country fans can appreciate too?

The UK entry from american songwriter Dianne Warren and Andrew Lloyd Webber "My Time" finished in fifth place of 25 finalists.

I look forward to enter one or two songs for the competition in 2010, and if it'll make it as a winner of the national competition, now it is guaranteed a place in the international finals, because Norway did it this year!

I think The Eurovision song contest is a great study in how to craft contemporary hit songs, so it has always been very educational for me to follow this.

Yes, well done to Norway - It was truly a runaway winner. I felt there was a little more of a return to the song this year. My personal favorite was Portugal.

I was out in London last night so only manage to catch some of the scoring later on but it was clear that Norway was going to win. It will be inetersting to see if having big guns like Lloyd-Webber/Warren involved will encourage more top writers.

So, I suppose it's all over to Oslo next year

Nige

Yes, this songwriter hit it BIG.

He wrote the song on top of a mountain, then won the norwegian contest, went to Russia which is his birth country and won the international contest as the big returning homeboy, and the day after (today) it is the norwegian national day (like 4th of July in the US).

And the song was named "FAirytale" - talk about prooving a title!

Congrats to Norway. To be honest most of the entries were pretty poor including GB. The current pattern seems to be to put on a great visual circus type act with dancers, acrobatic performers and other visual gimmicks BUT to forget about entering a quality song. Most entries were all show and no substance. Time this nonesense was stopped. Surprised Lloyd-Webber got involved in this tacky cheesy comp. The cliche cheesy song he produced fell way short of both co-writers pedigree. Vote for your neighbour still seems to be the formula.

I thought there were some nice songs and I was happy to hear some traditional songs and melodic material although it's true, a lot of show seems to be the signature of the Contest. I was impressed with the Russian winner who created both music and lyrics, sang and played the song. He has a talent and his number was good.

i thought the guy had great star quality

just that radiant look-he really projected well in his performance......good looking and talented guy-reminded me both of paul mccartney and mark lindsey of that old group-paul revere and the raiders.....i expect he will someday be fronting a band and if his songwriting talents equal the rest ofwhat he offers he may well have a long and prosperous career-congrats to Scandanavia


Tom

I agree with you far down the line, and apart from the two times a year (watching the shows, and producing the entries), I get really sick of this.

But in some countries like the scandinavian, this is really big for songwriters, as plain folks like me has got a reasonable chance of getting a song on TV and record. Other countries just choose their entry without public voting, and that takes away all the fun for sure!

I guess Webber and Warren has acknowledged how lucrative it can be to have a Eurovision songcontest winner, and we see more and more songwriters who use this as a production outlet because of that. More and more the industry pro's are entering stuff, and closing out the songwriters. In denmark only 6 of 13 slots were left open for songwriters, and more than 750 tried. In Norway the odds are a bit better as all the slots are open, and there are 32 slots for about 350 entries.

But the media hype of it really attracts, as well as the money. Once in a while there's a good song also, but 'tacky'.. absolutely!

Congrad to Norway Magne,,I'm proud for ya..love as always ..glyn

I have more than a passing admiration for ESC. Admittedly the standard of the songs is variable but the bottom line is a song has 3 minutes, and 3 minutes only to instantly make an impression on millions of viewers from varied cultural backgrounds. Seeing/hearing the 25 songs (more if you take in the semi-finals too) back to back is an education in itself.

All that aside, the Eurovision occasion is a great experience and the live crowd are very positive towards all the entries and want them all to do well (unlike the partisan voting that goes on with much of the viewing public). It’s a party and a celebration of all the countries having fun together. It may sound a bit corny but it’s true. I have been fortunate enough to attend 3 out of the last 6 (Istanbul 2004, Athens 2006 and Belgrade 2008).

Cheers

Nige

It had a country feel to it, great fiddle playing.