The 12th episode started at 18.13 on Sunday 17 September. Elsje van Jaarsveld presented it while Ilse Schurmann wrote the text and produced the show. Technical production is by Wihan Nel. Due to the world cup rugby match between South Africa and Scotland on Sunday 10 September the 11th episode fell by the wayside.
This episode again ended after 20 minutes at 6.30 pm. During that time, 5 songs were played.
SONG 1 was DINGE-A-DONG by TEACH IN. This is the 1975 Eurovision entry for the Netherlands. It was sung in English at the contest. The gave the Netherlands 1st place that year. The song was not a hit in South Africa, but the group had another song which was a big hit, namely IN THE SUMMERNIGHT. ESC Covers got the song covered in a duet between Cole van Dais from South Africa and Jorens Steinhauer from Latvia. It is sung in Afrikaans and Latvian. Cole and Jorens met in 2014 in Copenhagen during that year’s Eurovision song contest and the cover was done to hand to the female of Teach in, who by the way was born in Austria, at the 2015 Eurovision song contest in Vienna.
SONG 2 was MY HEART IS YOURS by DIDRIK SOLLI-TANGEN. This song was the 2010 Eurovision entry for Norway on home soil in Oslo after their victory in 2009 in Moscow with Fairytale by Alexander Rybak. Didrik was unknown and discovered by accident. But he went on to win the 2010 Norwegian selection with his fantastic song. Due to the high pressure of representing his country at home, he came across quite nervous in the final and reached a disappointing 20th place. The song was a big favourite with several South African artists and covered were done by Tobie Jooste, Vaughn Gardiner, Dirk and Marlouise, Steven Sterling and Riaan Hunter. Tobie Jooste recorded the song besides in Afrikaans, also in Italian.
SONG 3 was SPACE MAN by SAM RYDER. This song represented the United Kingdom at the 2022 Eurovision song contest and came 2nd. The UK has the most second places but in the last years did not do very well until Sam came out of the blue and scored another second place. Although Ukraine won the 2022 Eurovision, due to the war, they could not host in 2023 and the UK was asked by the EBU to host which they did in Liverpool.
SONG 4 was IN A MOMENT LIKE THIS by CHANEE & NEVERGREEN. Since the composers are Swedish (among them Thomas Gson), many fans believe this song was a Swedish reject, that went to the Danish selection that year and won. In a moment like this reached the 4th place at the Eurovision and the interesting part is that the Swedish entry for that year became the one and only year that Sweden failed to reach the final. JAY & LIANIE MAY recorded it in English as well and had a massive hit with it. Many fans prefer this version to the original. There is also an Afrikaans cover by BURGER LE ROUX (who won one series of Supersterre) in duet with CHARNE GRABIE. Several other artists covered the song as well, with covers in German, Dutch, Norwegian and Swedish. ESC Covers again had a special cover done of this. It is a duet by HENRY VAN DYK of South Africa and DINA GARIPOVA of Russia. Their cover is in 3 languages – Henry sings in Afrikaans, Dina sings in Russian and together they sing in English. It was given as a gift in 2014 when Denmark hosted Eurovision in Copenhagen.
SONG 5 was LOVE WILL SET YOU FREE by ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK. This song represented the United Kingdom at the 2012 Eurovision song contest. Engelbert was a huge star for years but finally the UK got him to enter the Eurovision song contest in 2012. It was a little late in his career and he was not the same singer as the one from the 60’s and 70’s who had hits like the last waltz. The song was covered in Afrikaans by STEVE D as WARE LIEFDE MAAK MY VRY.
The 12th episode was interesting, although sort of rushed to finish before another rugby match was broadcast. Unfortunately, there is just 1 episode remaining before the series ends.
Featured image – The Oslo collection