As from tomorrow (1 November) Eurovision fans will be able to see the songs/videos being uploaded who wants to be in line to represent SAN MARINO at the 2018 Eurovision song contest in Lisbon next year. So far we are aware of just one South African artist who have uploaded a song – Cole van Dais. We really hope once the process starts, we will find several others.
We have decided to give some promotion to the Afrikaans artists who have registered to take part in the first Afric music song contest. We will try and highlight each and every artist who have already registered. We will do it at random and first up is COLE VAN DAIS. Besides registering as a solo artist, she is registered in duets with several artists as well as part of a trio. Cole has covered many Eurovision songs already.
As solo artist she has done
Azerbaijan 2012 as Wanneer die musiek verdwyn
Cyprus 1987 as Die eiland
Denmark 2007 as Glans prinses
Denmark 2013 as Waar in die wereld is jy (which features a part in Danish)
France 1987 as Leef in my hart
Georgia 2008 as Vrede sal kom
Iceland 1987 as Dink aan my
Romania 2009 as Suid-Afrikaanse meisies
San Marino 2013 as Drome van my hart
As one member of a duo
with Katrina (of the waves) Love shine a light – UK 1997
with Joran Steinhauer (of Aarzemnieki) Dinge dong (part in Latvian) – 1975
with Organ Prawang (of Thailand) Dear friend – Croatia 1995 (partly in Thai)
with Marc Rantseli Peace will come – Georgia 2008 (a duet in 4 languages – Afrikaans, English, Zulu and Spanish)
with Emmanuel Castis Ek’s so lief vir jou – UK 2016
with Sergey Sysuev (of Ukraine) Spirit of the night – San Marino 2017 (part in Russian)
with Righardt Greyling Kom saam met my – Latvia 2004
as DUO AFRICA (with a singer from Nigeria) – Moleyho – Belarus 2013 (part in a local language of Nigeria)
as CHESS GIRLS – Op die dansvloer – Germany 2013 (Afrikaans, German and Tsonga)
Lastly as part of AFRICA SENSATION TRIO – City lights – Belgium 2017 (part of the song in Xhosa)
We wish Cole a lot of luck in Afri music song contest and cannot wait to hear all the entries.
Cole van Dais became the 3rd South African artist to register. She has indicated that since she is busy with a DUET CD, her songs will all be duets, Euro covers and even with foreign singers. The first one she registered is with Sergey Sysuev from the Ukraine. And they will do the 2017 Eurovision song from San Marino, SPIRIT OF THE NIGHT, originally sung by Valentina Monetta and Jimmie Wilson. It is of course a song composed by German composer Ralph Siegel who has over 100 of his songs covered in South Africa. Afri music song contest is only open to singers outside of AFRICA if they are in duet with someone from Africa and then the song is entered for the country of origin of the African duet partner. But this is another way to involve especially Eurovision singers to be part of this contest and help it grow.
We started working today on a new exotic duet – between Cole van Dais of South Africa and Sergey Sysuev of Ukraine. They will cover the 2017 Eurovision song of San Marino Spirit of the night. It will be in at least three languages with Sergey singing his bit in one language, Cole singing her bit in another language and together the chorus will be in English. We hope it will be done within the next 3-4 weeks.
In their second press conference in Kyiv, Navi band mentioned that they want to record a song or two in an African language. ESCCovers will try and get in touch with them to pitch some songs in Sotho, Zulu, Xhosa, Afrikaans, etc to them or get someone to write lyrics in one of these languages to their song STORY OF MY LIFE for them to record. Here is Cole holding one of the gifts Naviband handed to journalists in Kyiv.
Cole van Dais came to visit to hear all about Eurovision 2017. She also loves the song from Croatia and posed with items from Croatia. Her new duet CD is almost complete and will be available soon. It does contain an euro cover from Croatia, 1995, otherwise she would have done MY FRIEND in duet as well.
OGAE Finland was very active at the OGAE fan stand in Kyiv during the Eurovision song contest and ESCCovers met up with Petteri Hilska from Finland but working in France. He was doing a shift at the fan stand and we rewarded him with a CD by Cole van Dias, a singer from South Africa. On this CD Cole songs various Euro covers, among them one of France.
What has people like Carike Keuzenkamp, Rina Hugo, Janita Claassen, Anneli van Rooyen, Patricia Lewis, Bles Bridges, Ge Korsten, Manuel Escorcio, Fanie de Jager, Jannie Moolman, Andre Schwartz, Guillaume, Tobi Jooste, Cole van Dais, David Fourie, Min Shaw, Groep 2, Amanda Luyt, Andriette Norman, Barbara Ray, Alan Garrity, Romanz, Sonja Herholdt, Sunette Bridges, Jurie Els, Corlea Botha and many more in common? Yes they are all South African recording artists but each one of them has at least COVERED one song originally composed by German composer RALPH SIEGEL. Ralph is the most known Eurovision composer and will be in Kyiv, Ukraine in May 2017 with his 25th Eurovision entry. Ralph has won Eurovision once – in 1982 when Nicole sang his song EIN BISSCHIEN FRIEDEN. The previous 3 years he had been 4th, 2nd and 2nd with his songs. Over the years he has written Eurovision entries for Germany (his home country) but also Luxembourg, Switzerland, Montenegro and San Marino.
Ralph has asked Roy van der Merwe, the president of Eurovision South Africa and the owner of the website ESCCovers, to make him compilation CD’s with his songs by South African artists. Roy has identified 100 such covers he is aware of and it will be recorded on various compilations to be handed to Ralph in Kyiv to celebrate the fact that Ralph is there with his 25th entry and also it is the 25th Eurovision in a row Roy will be attending.
During next week the compilation CD’s will be recorded and at this stage it looks like there will be at least 4 different ones
1 – EIN BISSCHIEN FRIEDEN
As there are 14 covers of this song, they will all appear on one compilation
2 – DIE ANDERKANT VAN ROEM
This is the title of Patricia Lewis’s ralph cover and will feature lesser known covers
3 – ‘N DAG MET RALPH
This comes from the title ‘n Dag met Maria which is the title of a Jurie Els song of Ralph
4 – EK IS BAIE LIEF VIR JOU
This comes from the title of one of the very first Ralph songs covered in South Africa – in the middle 70’s and originally sung by Min Shaw
UNITED KINGDOM 1997
Love shine a light – Katrina and the waves featuring Cole van Dais and the Sarafina choir of Soweto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8oTtSTRdSw
Love shine a light – Katrina and the waves
A new cover has been designed for Molayo, the cover of Belarus 2013 Eurovision song Solayoh of Alyona Lanskaya
