Sunday, November 09, 2008

Now the ice is melting

Only six months early, it's Eurovision round-up time!

You know what would be the best news ever? Well, not quite ever, but close: Israel choosing Harel Skaat. And there's a decent chance of it happening, too. It's something I've been wanting to happen for a while now and I promise his voice/music is at least part of that desire. If you're looking for his best songs, the standard recommendation is the ballad "Ve'at," but as a girl more fond of something with a bit more BPM to it, my absolute favorite is "Haruah Teshane At Kivana" (you can't imagine how beyond thrilled I'd be if he sang a song like that and that good for the contest, even as much as I'm expecting a ballad given the general love from everyone besides me for "Ve'at" out there) with "Kamah Od Efshar" running a very respectable second; see below for "Haruah Teshane At Kivana." Like Shiri Maimon, he took second in Israel's Idols-knockoff. He's turned down the chance several times in the past, but it sounds like he's looking favorably on it now.



I'd also like to throw in I think he looks better in videos (not this particular one) than in photos. PRETTY.

(In my defense, this post was written up before the Schlagerboys' one.)

Turkey has chosen Belgian R&B-pop singer Hadise to represent them this year. If you want to get a feel for what she's like, watch her awards show performance of "Bad Boy" (well, sort of of "Bad Boy"), a single from a few years ago.



Granted, that (great) performance is mainly just flames, flashing lights, and strutting, but those aren't forbidden on the Eurovision stage, so let's hope Hadise brings it with her choice of song. For more Hadise, check out one of her more recent singles, this year's "I'm A Slave 4 U"-esque "My Body."

News possibly better than that of Harel Skaat going to Eurovision? The fact that Greece has already announced that its song this year will be written by Dimitris Kontopoulos, whose brilliance I was first made aware of when WTBX introduced me to Elli Kokkinou's still awesome revvy dance-pop masterpiece "Ise oti thelo."



Greece has also chosen their artist, who'll be performing multiple Dimitris songs before one is chosen. The set artist is one who's worked with Dimitris before: Sakis Rouvas. Yes, of "Shake It" fame--he took that song to a third place finish at Eurovision in 2004--of a whole lot of fame in Greece (as well as a couple of write-ups here on this blog), and of some songs much better than the enjoyable but not too long-lasting "Shake It." His latest single, "Kai Se Thelo," is, in fact, written by Dimitris Kontopoulos (another thanks to WTBX for introducing me to this song) and is one of those better songs.



Can you see why I love this songwriter? Hard-hitting revvy danceable pop music...sigh. Please don't let us down, Dimitris! Give Sakis an awesome song like this one and let him go out-Ricky-Martin Ricky Martin across the stage and we're good to go.

Dimitris has made some non-dance great songs, too, though. My favorite song out of Greece's national final this year was Kostas Martakis's "Always And Forever," originally a pop-with-guitars song of the sort that I'm a sucker for--that uptempo-but-gentle, uplifting, pop-with-guitars sound. He did dance it up for the show, though--much more of a typical Kontopoulos sound. Way underrated, this song is.



I also love "Stous 31 Dromous," another song Dimitris gave to Sakis. It's still got those dance/electro elements in it, but this time, they're dreamy, not disco. Lovely.



Moving back to the revvy dance-pop, Dimitris also wrote Anna Vissi's "Welcome To The Party" from Greece's 2006 national final.



There was also speculation that Dimitris wrote Ani Lorak's "Shady Lady," but I don't believe that was ever confirmed; I do think, though, that we know he did some production work on it. In other words, let's all get very excited about Greece's song now. I may be setting myself up for disappointment, but so be it--he's delivered in the past, he can deliver again.

11 comments:

Nikki said...

Hey! Thanks for dropping by my blog and leaving a comment! haha..

'Something Right' was on Back Home(duh..), which was released in 2007 but then it was released in Asia and Australia earlier this year(the UK got 'Us Against The World', which is strange, but that's a completely different thing..), complete with a single cover and music video so it's a 2008 single, I guess.

Aww.. thanks! I've been reading this blog for ages now! haha..

Myfizzypop said...

Oh how i like the pretty boys of Eurovision :)

Bas said...

that guy from Israel looks hot :-) hopefully he'll win the national final. must say that uptempo song of his sounds really good :o need to find an mp3 urgently

Poster Girl said...

Thanks, Nikki! I genuinely meant what I said, too--and thank you for reading!

Paul, let's be honest: aren't they what Eurovision is all about?

Bas, I hope they offer it to him and he accepts! I'm so glad you like that song--I love it and am always trying to convince other people to like it too ;) In case you don't have it already by now...here it is! I really hope the song we get is more this than "Ve'at," even if most fans of his will disagree with me.

Anonymous said...

Harel Skaat - prowr! My heart skipped a beat. I'm sure he has some good music too ;)

Poster Girl said...

Raj, but that would just be a nice bonus!

Damian said...

I love this performance of Hadise, she's so perfect!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsDFtH5OQjs

Adrian said...

I love Always & Forever. Hurrah for people all dressed in white and strutting.

Poster Girl said...

Damian, I hadn't seen that performance of hers! That just makes me even MORE excited about the choice, and I was already pretty thrilled--I think she does "popstar performances" pretty well, so I hope she gets some good tracks submitted to her.

Adrian, I could not agree more. That's pretty much one-quarter of what I live for.

Anonymous said...

oh I love Harel! If Israel wants to win we must send Harel.
By the way,I saw your other post about Harel and Haruah Teshane Et Kivuna is "the wind will change it's direction". The song is about the situation in Israel, the war and every thing, and the hope that "the wind that blocks the new dawn will finally change it's direction".
And well Ve'at is not loved only by Harel's fans, it was chosen as "best song of the year" in most radios and music programs, and Harel ofcourse was "best singer".

weetabx said...

Hey Postergirl!

Three new dance offerings by Sakis Rouvas and Dimitris Kontopoulos. Actually all tracks on Sakis' new cd are composed and produced by Kontopoulos.

The first one is totally discolicious.

Pano mou kratisou
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nWV4gRbt54

Ela mazi mou
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1UWsQpBCLE

Ksehna to prin ke to meta
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rLmQv6ftf5k

Can't wait to see what they have prepared for the Eurovision Song Contest!