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Sunday, January 04, 2015

It's Time Again

Happy 2015. The blogging break is over! This year's Eurovision Song Contest is a special one. It's the 60th edition of the contest, the 10th contest I've blogged about, and the first one I have secured (some) tickets to see in person!

Several countries selected their entries before the new year. As with last year, I will highlight one song weekly from each selection that was eliminated.

Albania had their annual Festivali i Këngës. Fourth place in the final went to Besjana Mehmeti & Shkodran Tolaj and their song "Kështjella" which is a beautiful mix of folk and operatic styles.


The best song from the Belarussian preselection didn't even make it to the televised stage. Sweet Brains is a dance act in Plants vs Zombies masks, and they deserve many points for effort and determination (see below). Their song "Run Away" is an always-welcome monster song, and includes the sublime lyric "no one helps you/even Batman/even Willis Bruce."


FYR Macedonia had a national final after not having one the previous year.
Aleskandar Tarabunov and Toni Mihajlovski came in 4th with their funky slow jam "Marija"
Would it have done well in Eurovision? Probably not with that bizarre dance of the puppet clowns, but it would have been a performance for "remember when?"


Malta had 20 songs in contention and the standard was better than usual. The 3rd place finisher was "Breakaway" by Glen Vella, which is much better and more contemporary than "One Love." His stage presence has improved since then too. What might have been!
       

Next week: Cyprus has its sixth audition round show, so next week's post will have a Cypriot preselection roundup.

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