It’s May and Eurovision Song Contest is upon us. This year the pan-European completion is taking place in Kiev, after the spectacular win by the Ukrainian singer, JAMALA, last year. For the past few weeks those interested enough in the whole thing, myself included, had a chance to get familiar with the good, the bad and the ugly of this year’s national selections. While most of the songs will be forgotten after the final, some of them are going to stick around for longer. I’ve included my favourite contestants in this playlist. “Amar Pelos Dois” - Portugal’s charming ballad and a quite unusual choice for the Eurovision, “City Lights” - a slow burning synthpop from Belgium’s BLANCHE and “Paper” - Icelandic power pop by SVALA. We will find out the winner of the competition this Saturday. And by that time I will have decided whether I should put a bet on one of my favourites or not?
Those who follow our montly mixtapes have realized that these selections are like a small, budget Eurovision as well. Unfortunately, we don’t have a televised event for watched by millions across the globe, a voting system nor a jury of experts. Nonetheless, we still have fun. And here are our May contestants: from the Netherlands, Iranian-born singer Sevdaliza; from Spain, a folk group called EL PETIT DE CAL ERIL; two Icelandic boys, ÁSGEIR and JÚNÍUS MEYVANT; UK’s SINK YA TEETH, FOREST SWORDS and GORILLAZ (who became a multinational pop conglomerate at this stage), Denmark’s M.I.L.K.; France’s multiple entries include THE BLAZE, JULIETTE ARMANET, RAUL VIGNAL and AGAR AGAR; The Ukrainians from The Elephants charm their way in with a whimsical lullaby sung in their native language; MELIS’, a Prague based Berliner, heartbreaking sketch called “Love Song Idea” will leave you intrigued and wanting more. And finally we’ve got two great tracks representing Ireland: “Pleasure” by Le Galaxie and “All Will Be” by Ships.
The selection wouldn’t be complete without a handful of Polish artists, most notably Kayah, who played Vicar St. in May last year accompanied by Irish folk legends, KÍLA.
It’s Eurovision and beyond. Always inclusive, never exclusive.
Till next time, ciao!
Piotrek | NoSnobsAllowed
