The Slovakian singer, Mista, has returned with her brand new single entitled Catwalk Fever. After many hits such as Rock It, Ca$h Out, Show Me and Go Wild and touring places including China, the former Slovak Eurovision 2010 national selection runner up, took a well earned break.
Now Mista is back with the upbeat and strong production of Catwalk Fever. She wanted to also work on a new direction for her music by remaining with the pop style but also using real instruments. The new sound is very positive and the song is already a massive hit in Czech Republic and Slovakia and set to explode in to Germany, Spain, Asia and other countries.
You can see the official video for Catwalk Fever below.
A lot has been said about Abba with Eurovision’s 60th anniversary, so I had a look at the road the four famous Swedes took on their way to Brighton and international fame back in 1974.
It was interesting to note, that it was not an instant overnight success as it appeared. We know in fact Benny, Björn and manager Stig Anderson as songwriters, had their sights on a Eurovision Song Contest win since back in 1970. As well as often being quoted as saying ‘in the mid 70’s, Eurovision Song Contest was the only way a Swedish artist could reach an audiences outside of Sweden’ very different from today. Along the way Abba would have some rejected songs, and even the dreaded non-qualification in a semi final heat! All before the ‘Waterloo’ victory. Lets see the year-by-year journey.
1968- Agnetha Faltskog a new female popstar in Sweden submitted the song ‘Forsonade’ wrote by Agnetha. It was a lovely ballad that failed to be selected for Melodifestivalen 1968 – the song did find a place on Agnetha’s debut album in 1968.
1969- Benny Andersson and Lasse Berghagen wrote the tune “Hej Clown” Benny had already formed a songwriting partnership with Björn for the past 3 years, but wrote this tune together with a big star Lasse Berghagen (Sweden’s answer to Tom Jones). The tune was sung by Jan Malmsjö, (a famous actor) ‘Hej Clown’ tied for 1st place, then following a tie break, Benny’s entry came just second to Tommy Korberg winner ‘Judy min van’.
1969- Anni-Frid Lyngstad sung that same year a lovely pop tune ‘Harlig ar var jord’ following her breakthough a couple of years before Frida finished in =4th place.
1970- Sweden didn’t take part in the Eurovision Song Contest.
1971- Björn & Benny began writing and producing artists at Polar Records and so submitted a tune ‘Det kan lngen Doktor hjalpa’ a folk band Family Four, won a place at Eurovision that year and Björn and Benny’s submission was not chosen at all. The song was later released as a Björn & Benny single release- with Agnetha & Anni-Frid on backing vocals. This track although not a big hit did show an early pre-Abba sound slowly coming together at last.
1972- A Polar Records artist Lena Andersson sung the next Björn & Benny song ‘Säg Det Med En Sång’ she came 3rd- and this gave Lena a big hit single in Sweden. And has remained a popular Melodifestivalen classic of the 70’s. Family Four were chosen to sing at Eurovision Song Contest again with the happy tune Härliga Sommardag.
1972- Benny, Björn, Agnetha and Anni-Frid had released a debut single with ‘People Need Love’. Following this hit in November 1970, the foursome appeared in the ‘World Popular Song Festival’ in Tokyo with a new song called ‘ Santa Rosa’. It was a fairly new Japanese pop song contest, made up of two preliminary rounds, Benny, Björn, Agnetha and Anni-Frid never actually qualified for the grand final. They returned home to Sweden with a commemorative medal only.
1973- Benny, Björn, Agnetha & Anni-Frid must have arrived back and begun work right away on ‘Ring Ring’ a new Swedish tune for Melodifestivalen the very next year. They sang ‘Ring Ring’, however the national final was voted on by only a jury of experts ‘Ring Ring’ came 3rd only! The song was clearly the Swedish public’s favourite and hit No:1 in the Swedish charts and followed by a debut album called ‘Ring Ring’ from the band.
1974- Abba sang ’Waterloo’ and won Melodifestivalen with a huge landslide of 302 points, ahead of Lasse Berghagen (211 points) & Lena Ericsson (185 points).
The rest really is international music history (yet it did not end here).
Ring Ring by Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid, 1972
I’d already decided before leaving Vienna earlier this year that I just had to do another Eurovision. Now my Eurovision virginity had been taken away from me, I wanted more. It was bit like when you go out for drinks with friends and, inevitably, the ‘seal’ breaks and you need to start pee-ing.
My Eurovision seal had been broken and, with it, a can of worms had been unleashed. Suddenly, I was genuinely interested in the contestants from all the countries. Suddenly, I was actually interested in all the lyrics. On occasion, I even delved into the past success (or non-success) of previous Eurovision entries.
In Vienna, the atmosphere was great. We descended on Eurovision Village by day and the Café by night and were constantly surrounded by fans from all over the world who knew the words to song I’d never heard of before. You see, ‘hearing’ songs is a relatively new concept for me. I lost my hearing as a baby, but to cut a long story short, I was implanted with a bionic ear in my left ear in 2001 and, more recently in 2013, my right ear.
Not only do my cochlear implants help me to hear the contest, but to also socialise night after night until the early hours of each day with the constant flow of fans who had descended on Eurovision. Truth be told, I found the barrage of fans a bit unsettling at first. My friend sat me down and said I have two options: leave, or embrace it. I decided to embrace it.
While Eurovision seems so seamless as it is broadcast on TV, when you’re in the Arena, and you see the lights, camera and cajoling of the audience all come into play, you realise that you’re part of something special. I love watching things, and to see all that technology come together to deliver what was the 60th Eurovision song contest was nothing short of spectacular. To see it, and to hear it.
Each evening, there was a warm-up act, consisting of two presenters. One particularly memorable part of the warm-up act was when the slightly larger of the duo would declare that, as an audience, we needed to encourage the acts, and then would say in broken English: “Are. You. Ready?” Am I ready? With a heartbeat being broadcast loudly throughout the Arena, I had altogether taken off and gone into orbit.
I loved my first Eurovision and, with the gift of hearing, I can’t wait to see the show in Stockholm, one of my favourite cities.
I’m your music, I’m your song, play me time and time again.
It is no secret that ANDANTE ANDANTE is my favourite ABBA song. It is quite interesting that the song was not as big a hit for ABBA in other countries but in South Africa is is regarded as one of the classics and many local singers have covered it.
The question here is which song (Eurovision or other) is one of those songs you want to PLAY TIME AND TIME AGAIN.
For me it is BIRDS OF PARADISE by Swiss group PETER SUE & MARC. I love most of their songs but this song is my number 1 song of all time (even although it dates back to 1982) and there is not a week that I do not play it at least once.
Who’s waiting for the Eurovision bouquet to be hurled their way?
by Chris Zeiher, Australia
For every overachieving Eurovision nation (Ireland, Sweden, UK we’re looking at you) there’s a cluster of nations who’ve been waiting patiently for their first win. So, who’s been waiting the longest?
I want 2016’s winner to come from one of these 4 patient and persistent nations.
Portugal – debuted in 1964, 48 entries
Portugal is statistically the nation who has waited the longest for a Eurovision win. Sadly, this tiny Mediterranean nation has yet to even finish inside the Top 5 from all of their attempts. In 2008 it was Vania Fernandes’ “Senhora Do Mar (Negras Aguas)” which looked set to break the Top 5 drought after it finished 2nd in its Semi. Alas, the final proved a harder hunting ground and the entry placed outside the top 10.
Iceland – debuted in 1986, 28 entries
Reykjavik is a Eurovision host city in waiting and Iceland has found itself in the bridesmaid position twice before; in 1999 with Selma’s “All Out of Luck” and then ten years later in 2009 with Yohanna’s “Is it True?”. Iceland’s form is healthy with 5 Top 5 finishes since its 1986 debut and with its incredibly eclectic musical exports a win is only a matter of when not if.
Malta – debuted in 1971, 28 entries
Another tiny island nation which is ripe for Eurovision hosting duty Malta has placed in the Top 10 a staggering 12 times for no victories. Having come in 2nd twice, in 2002 and 2005, the Maltese internal selection contest is one of the most competitive.
Cyprus – debuted in 1981, 32 entries
Finishing 6th on debut Cyprus signalled from their earliest entries that they were going to be a competitor to watch. 31 entries later the Cypriote’s have only managed to finish as high as 5th which they’ve achieved 3 times and have landed Top 10 an impressive 9 times. Again, this is nation where a win is only a matter of time.
After a few days break, we are back with the next ABBA song, DANCING QUEEN
“You are the dancing queen, young and sweet, only seventeen”
With such a young age, the question is which EURO artist (female) do you regard as one of the best young (under 21) artists to have appeared on the Eurovision stage over the 60 years.
Recently we told you about the exciting new release by Rebecka Karlsson entitled Surrender which is the Malmö Pride Official Song for 2015. Rebecka took to the stage and excited fans at the Malmö Pride by performing four songs.
Rebecka performed Surrender composed by Ylva Persson and Linda Persson. She also sang Ghost Flower, which was the 2o14 Stockholm Pride song and she performed another of her top releases, We Got The Night. Rebecka also previewed a forthcoming song that she has recently recorded.
These days are very busy for Rebecka as she is constantly busy with recording and touring. But she loves the stage and her confidence and enthusiasm are growing all the time. Rebecka has also recorded her own version of A Million Voices by Polina Gagarina (ESC Russia 2015). We will bring you more about this and more exciting releases by Rebecka in the near future.
You can see Rebecka perform Surrender live on stage at the 2015 Malmö Pride below.
Liza, Elen, Tako, Data {copyright: GPB/junior.eurovision-georgia.ge}
Georgia have internally selected once again their act to sing at the 2015 Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Bulgaria. Liza, Elen, Tako and Data will form the group that will take to the stage in Sofia.
Liza (12), Elen (10), Tako (11) and Data (11) will present the song in the coming weeks. Also a name for the band will be announced in due course.
We start off the 60 day competition around ABBA since we will be in STOCKHOLM for Eurovision 2016.
I have selected 24 ABBA songs and the competition over 60 days will involve this 24 songs. Depending on how busy I am, every 2 or 3 days a new song will become available. The 24 songs have been picked at random and TAKE A CHANCE ON ME came up first so that is therefore the name of the competition.
There are 6 times 60 points at stake, so 360 in total, dividing that through 24 songs, is 15 points per song. But some will carry more points to a maximum of 30 and others less, but never less than 10 points. So the 360 points have been split between the 24 songs, and as TAKE A CHANCE ON ME starts the competition, it gets 30 points.
The competition will work as follows:
First of all, it is a joint effort between the WEBSITE and the FACEBOOK. The new song will be announced on the website but people can publish their response either on the website or the facebook under that song title.
I will take a sentence from the song lyrics and present that and you have to write a line or two about what memory this ABBA song brings – maybe your first kiss or a special birthday or whatever. The winner works as follows – if just one person responds, he or she gets the 30 points – if 2 respond, they each get 15 points, if three respond, then 10 points each. If more than 3, then I pick the best 3 in my opinion and each get 10 points.
If someone does not want his or her 10 points, then such a person can trade it in for half an euro discount on 2016 membership (or those that have paid already, then it is banked towards 2017 membership).
This gives everybody a chance – those that want points towards the ticket list for 2016 and those who for whatever reason cannot go and so want to earn “discount” towards their membership.
Winners will be announced one day after the next song is presented. So it gives people a couple of days to send their memory of a particular song.
