Roy van der Merwe of Eurovision South Africa and the ESC Covers website attended several Eurovision song contests in person at the host cities. He is writing down his memories of those Eurovisions he attended with accreditation. Continue reading EUROVISION MEMORIES 2007 – HELSINKI
Tag Archives: Richard Herrey
DIGGI LOO DIGGI LEY – ESCCOVERS STUDIO
The latest addition to our Youtube Channel is an exclusive production of ‘DIGGI LOO DIGGI LEY’
HARD ROCK CAFE VISIT
Ian Fowell, the chief editor of ESC Covers is currently in Stockholm, Sweden to attend the Swedish 2017 Eurovision selection.
Last night he visited the Hard rock cafe there and briefly saw Richard Herrey, the owner and one of the Herrey brothers who won Eurovision for Sweden in 1984 with “Diggi loo, diggi ley”.
He also met up with Emma from Finland. She was in this year’s Finnish selection and she performed her entry “Circle of life”.
DIGGI LOO DIGGI LEY, ITS EUROVISION IN MAY
In honour of Lighthouse X I said there will be 10 competitions in the run up to be departing on 30 April. so this is the 10th competition.
But I have misjudged myself with how many items there are for fans to win, so there may be more competitions in the last days before my departure – I will see.
This one will be special. In 1984 THE HERREYS won Eurovision from starting position 1 with Diggi loo diggi ley, dancing in their golden shoes. I really love this song and it has been a dream of me to have it covered in Afrikaans (it is quite an easy song to cover in various languages and I have covers of it in at least 7 other languages besides Swedish and English). Now finally after 32 years there is an Afrikaans version – obviously called DIGGI LOO DIGGI LEY as well. I do not want to say too much now of this because it is a surprise gift to Richard Herrey (one of the 3 brothers) and now the CEO of the Hard rock cafe in Stockholm. I will give him a copy when we are in Stockholm, the exact day and time will be announced. but it will be either Tuesday 10 May during the OGAE Finnish pre-party and Thursday 12 May when we meet with Thomas Gson and Minus one of Cyprus.
There will be one extra copy for a fan of Eurovision who will be in Stockholm and all you have to do to win this is share as a comment to this post your memories of Diggi loo diggi ley.
As you can see from the attached article from 1984, The Herreys were suppose to come to South Africa but half way on their journey they were called back by the Swedish government in protest against the government of South Africa at the time. So I was deprived of seeing Herreys and only met Richard for the first time in 2007 in Helsinki during the Eurovision there.
STOCKHOLM EVENTS
STOCKHOLM EVENTS
Some members have suggested that we try and put all events in STOCKHOLM in one place so those going to Eurovision can see it instantly and plan their days in Stockholm according to that.
EUROCLUB
There will be events on a daily basis but as it will probably be just for people with accreditation, and won’t be available to the general members. So far there is also no details of any events although we can presume the after parties (after each semi final and final) will take place there. Although, if any country will have a party, it may happen in Euroclub.
EURO FAN CAFE
Once again there will be daily events and the OGAE party will probably be on the Wednesday evening (between the two semi finals) although no final details are available. There is also no news as yet of any other events in the cafe and what the cost will be to members. The moment details become available, we will share it with our members.
EURO VILLAGE
This is free to all in Stockholm, be it OGAE members or general public and there will be things happening – I think both Copenhagen and Vienna had a fairly big variety with some artists giving performances. Again no details are available.
SPECIFIC R O W EVENTS
OGAE R O W will have events aimed to show the variety of activities our members are involved in and we would like as many members will attend if their schedules permit. As these evants are organised by the club, we will give the details as soon as an event is finalized. But we can summarize some of the things we are planning
01 – OGAE R O W LUNCH
We have a team planning this and it looks at this stage to be on the Tuesday of semi final 1 and probably at HARD ROCK CAFE but it could change.
02 – HARD ROCK CAFE VISIT
If the lunch won’t take place at the Hard rock cafe, there will be an event arranged there to meet Richard Herrey as it is 95% sure we will cover Diggi loo before Stockholm and hand him a copy of it.
03 – OGAE R O W AWARD – SPECIAL MEMBER
The handing of the award to the 2015 special R O W member IAN FOWELL will be handed over in Stockholm. It can be done in private as Ian will probably working with me in the press center but I think this should be open to other R O W members because we will also announce that the award will continue for 2016.
04 – OGAE R O W AWARD – SWEDISH COMPOSER
This award was won by Thomas Gson and again, I can hand it to him anywhere but it seems they want to make it special with Swedish journalists present and also a radio journalist for a short interview. As Thomas will be there as the composer of the 2016 entry for Cyprus, the idea is that MINUS ONE should also attend so your members can meet them more personally.
05 – OGAE R O W TOP SONG FOR 2016
Of course we have no idea as yet which song R O W members will vote as their top song but we will award a medal to the artist and composer – again this can be done in the press center but we would like it to be accessible to our members and so we want to organize a special 10 minute event somewhere be it Euro fan cafe or wherever.
06 – HANDING OF COVER SONGS TO VARIOUS ARTISTS
A big part of the SA members activities are covering euro songs and melodifestival songs and we will negotiate with several artists to meet with them to hand them the covers. The whole idea is that these artists will be there for photo’s to be taken, autographs to be signed and also if the artists have CD’s to promote it and sell it to our members. Possible Swedish artists we hope to have are Jan Johansen. Mans Zelmerlow, Magnus Carlson, Carola, Charlotte etc.
07 – EUROVISION GROUP FROM A FEW YEARS AGO
Andy is busy organising with a Eurovision group of the recent past who will be in Stockholm and will perform our our members (if euro fan cafe will give them a spot)
08 – ABBA MUSEUM VISIT
I will visit the museum to hand them some unique items from South Africa. Now it probably will take plave during the morning of the Wednesday between the two semi finals. Now I am in contact with the museum and it seems possible that I can bring with me R O W members who also want to visit the museum and they will have something special for us. Now we will need how many people would like to attend and then the museum management and me will discuss possible things. If nobody wants to go, then I will go anyway.
09 – VISIT TO THE MAMMA MIA GREEK RESTAURANT OF BJORN
We could also look at taking a group of members to this event although I personally will not attend as I am not into Greek food but Andy is a big fan of MAMMA MIA show and he is quite eager to go.
Of course members can individually go to any event, it is always nice if we can do things as a group and if anybody has any suggestions of events we could also have, please contact us.
DANCING DEODORANTS – HERREY’S FROM SWEDEN
In the run up to the Swedish selection, we will be looking at several interesting covers of vinyl singles by Swedish melodifestivalen singers/groups. First up will be four different ones by THE HERREY’s who won Eurovision in 1984. Do you agree with a Norwegian paper who called them the DANCING DEODORANTS?
