RAWWWWRRRRR! An OGAE, JESC and ESC monster post!
The Eurovision world is a very busy one, and so whenever one is occupied with other things (things they would rather not be occupied by…unimportant things like university assignments) and is out of the loop for a few days, there is a LOT of developments to wade through. Luckily, I am more than willing to wade through them, if you are willing to excuse the miscellaneous massiveness of this post!
First on the agenda is the…
OGAE Second Chance Contest 2011
The results of this were announced last week. If you’re not familiar with the OGAESCC (as I affectionately call it) then get yourself over to Wikipedia pronto and bone up! It’s a fab-tastic annual event that gives the national final songs that missed out a chance to win something. Or just lose all over again. Either way, I’m always excited to see what went down.
This year’s winner – prepare to be surprised in no way – was the lovely Yohanna from Iceland with Nótt, a song that many thought was robbed of winning the Icelandic final this year. I wonder if this makes up at all for her narrow 169-point defeat in Moscow? It at least has to be a decent birthday present for her, as she turns 21 on Sunday. On behalf of everyone here at EBJ (i.e. me) I’d like to wish her a Happy Birthday. If you don’t come back to Eurovision soon, Yohanna, you’ll be dragging yourself onstage in a zimmer frame. I, of course, am allowed to say that, being a whole year younger than she is.
A-hem. ANYWAY, here is the Top 10 of the 2011 OGAESCC. Check out the full results at the official site, or my old favourite free encyclopaedia that rhymes with ‘Sikivedia’.
- ICELAND/ Yohanna/ Nótt
- SWEDEN/ Jenny Silver/ Something In Your Eyes
- ITALY/ Modà feat. Emma/ Arriverà
- DENMARK/ Le Freak/ 25 Hours A Day
- ISRAEL/ Chen Aharoni/ Or
- GREECE/ Nikki Ponte/ I Don’t Wanna Dance
- NORWAY/ Helene Bøksle/ Vardlokk
- SPAIN/ Lucia Pérez/ Abrázame
- GERMANY/ Lena/ Push Forward
- SLOVENIA/ April/ Ladadidej
Not bad, not bad…but if I were the judge, my Top 10 would have looked a little more like this:
- ISRAEL/ Chen Aharoni/ Or
- GREECE/ Nikki Ponte/ I Don’t Wanna Dance
- ICELAND/ Yohanna/ Nótt
- POLAND/ Anna Gogola/ Ktos Taki Jak Ty
- IRELAND/ Nikki Kavanagh/ Falling
- NORWAY/ Helene Bøksle/ Vardlokk
- FYR MACEDONIA/ Martin Srbinoski/ Ram Tam Tam
- AUSTRIA/ Trackshittaz/ Oida Taunz!
- SWEDEN/ Jenny Silver/ Something In Your Eyes
- SLOVENIA/ April/ Ladadidej
JESC 2011
This is where it’s all happening, with just over 7 weeks until the show in Armenia. So what’s ‘it all’?
– San Marino has withdrawn, taking the number of participants down to 13. Personally, I am crushed by this development. Let’s hope, as is rumoured, they’ll be sending a kid along to the 2012 JESC.
– The 2012 JESC which will be in the Netherlands? Yep, that’s the one! For the second time, the Dutch have won the right to host mini-Eurovision. Congratulations to them, but I was kind of hoping for somewhere new, like Malta (a bit out the question since Malta aren’t even participating at the moment).
– 2012 may be the second year in a row that the winning country has hosted the contest the following year, if my ‘THAT’S THE ONE’ radar is working properly. I reckon Rachel and Ik Ben Een Teenager can take it all the way! With all the songs selected and only 1 unheard, I think a lot of JESC fans will begin to make their predictions. Look out for my prediction special in November to see if I change my mind…
– Speaking of a full house of entries, Latvia, Moldova, and Sweden finalised the list earlier in the week, choosing Moondog by Amanda Bašmakova, No-No by Lerica, and Faller by Erik Rapp respectively. All I will say about those at this point (sans Latvia) is that the level is pretty darn high this year, a fact that both pleases me and irritates me (how many kids in Europe can sing and write songs anyway….pfft).
– Lastly, the draw for the running order has taken place, and Russia will open the show whilst Belgium will close it. In between them is Latvia, Moldova, Armenia, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Ukraine, Macedonia, Netherlands, Belarus, Sweden, and Georgia.
ESC 2012
Believe it or not, some selections are already underway, and you can check out all the details at your portal of choice – ESC Daily, the official site…etc. I won’t rehash it all. However, I will take a look at the bigger picture, so far.
To everybody’s amusement, Slovakia have once again decided to not decide on their 2012 participation. I suspect they won’t be able to help themselves in the end – and by end, I mean the minute before the confirmation time. There are some countries that just thrive on torturing us fans who want to see enough for two semi finals so we don’t have to go back to one measly prelim.
I have the feeling Italy will be another torturer. They were welcomed back in Düsseldorf with open arms, so I think they will be in Baku, but they’re bound to keep us waiting. If you follow me on Twitter, you would already know this. Hint hint.
As of now, 31 countries have confirmed, including the Big Five minus France, as well as this year’s returning countries Austria and Hungary, who are obviously pepped up after both managing to qualify. Tentative selection dates are also coming through, and amazingly, February is not looking as manic as usual at the moment. Albania and Switzerland will pick in December, as normal – just why they feel the need to beat everyone else, I don’t know (I mean, Albania, Christmas Day? Really?) with the Bulgarian, Danish, Maltese and Slovenian finals set for January.
I want to draw special attention to the absence of Serbia from the list of confirmed participants. Having withdrawn from JESC, they better not be considering doing the same for big Eurovision, because if they did I would…I would…well, I would be very upset. Serbia’s one of my favourite ESC countries, always bringing something interesting to the table.
Well, I think that’s all there is to ramble on relentlessly about. Next week, there’ll be another Time-Warp Tuesday for you (who will I pick? Not even I know yet) as well as my first ever album review! Yay! It’s a pretty spectacular CD from someone who did pretty well in Eurovision a few years back….
See you then!
Jaz x
eurovisionbyjaz.com 
8 Responses to “RAWWWWRRRRR! An OGAE, JESC and ESC monster post!”
Oh yes, we should totes start a petition, i am currently just spamming SBS on twitter – not sure how effective that is, we could totally do the commentary from Sweden for free for them… goodness knows we would be better than sam pang…
Also, babsan is the best. As is ovo je balkan.
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YES!! I would pay THEM to screen it and let me commentate!! I may join you in the Twitter attack.
Balkan balkan balkan (a word that if I didn’t know otherwise I would think meant ‘bowl haircut’ in Serbian)
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Oh, I hope Serbia doesn’t withdraw in ESC, they are always in my top 10, I love them so much, espcially ovo je balkan balkan balkan 😀
I hope Rachel does win JESC, she’s sooooooooooo the best ❤
OGAE has really bad taste…this is my top.. 14 xD
1. Latvia – Lauris Reiniks – Banjo Laura
2. Armenia – Emmy – Ayo
3. Estonia – Ithaka Maria – Hopa'pa-rei!
4. Austria – Eva K. Anderson – I will be here
5. Israel – Chen Aharoni – Or
6. Finland – Johanna Iivanainen – Skylarks in the Breeze
7. Finland – Jimi Constantine – Party to party
8. Belgium – Sarina – Rien en apparence
9. Estonia – Meister ja Mari – Unemati
10. Slovenia – Rock Partyzani – Time for revolution
11. Romania – Dalma – Song for him
12. Romania – Blaxy Girls – It's so fine
14. Sweden – Babsan – Ge mig en spanjor
(The Macedonian song also made my top list but not this high.. I thought I shouldn't paste all 25 :P)
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O to the M to the G, Ovo Je Balkan is three minutes of musical perfection!!! It also inspired me to create an evening gown made entirely of packing material, but that’s another story…
I like to think that if Banjo Laura had made it to Dusseldorf it would have wiped the floor with everyone else. Including Azerbaijan. And then I wouldn’t still be trying to figure out HTF they won. La la la la laura….AMAZING. If only Aussie iTunes would get it.
PS – Nice top ten. Two thumbs up for Chen, Blaxy Girls and Babsan!
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Oida taunz was the best! It had tractors AND lederhosen!!! Jaz, have u got the melodifestivalen cd yet? It is incredible, I really want sbs to how it on tv this year! Would be epic fun!
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There is nothing quite like the combination of tractors and lederhosen, that’s for sure!
Melodifestivalen 2011??? Ah-yes, I do have it. It’s the first one I’ve bought because it was an amazing year! If SBS were to broadcast it next year it would be a dream come true, maybe we can start a petition to make it happen. We don’t even need subtitles!
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I used to follow the OGAESCC until last year, but this year the person that commented them closed his blog, so I didn’t follow it (lame excuse, but I’m lazy). I did watch the 40 minutes or so video, and I was not really surprised. Everyone loves Yohanna 😛 I like your top 10 more than the official results’ top 10, but I’m not particularly fan of Yohanna’s and I highly disliked that Austrian song.
How long will Latvia keep torturing us? Why don’t they reveal the song already? I want to finish my rankings video. And I hope you’re right and Rachel wins.
Indeed, how many European kids can? Here in Canada there is this song contest thingy for kids and the songs are almost completely written, composed, and (over) produced by adults..and they are soooo bad. I still watch it though xD
About Slovakia, well, that was kind of expected (as well as for San Marino withdrawing from JESC) sad, but not really surprising. I secretly wanted San Marino to win JESC just for the sake of randomness 😦 😛
And Serbia can’t withdraw 😦 I hope they don’t, they are my second favorite ESC country and I miss them so much in JESC!
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I was going to ask you if you knew when Latvia would let us listen to their JESC song! I keep checking Youtube in hope, but it’s never there. Damn them.
Your kids song contest sounds interesting…even if the songs are bad as you say! At least in JESC the kids all have a hand in their songs, or write them 100% on their own. Though as I said, that does irritate me, because I was writing songs when I was 11 or 12 and they were AWFUL!!! I thought they were good at the time, of course. Anyway….
I can’t really see Serbia quitting on ESC as well, but I’m trying to prepare myself in case. Got my man-sized tissue box at the ready XD
PS – Who is your favourite ESC country then??
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