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 | SNEAK PEEK 13 (February 15th) |
Over the next few weeks I am presenting some songs to listen out for in the Eurovision selections. Given bandwidth limits I'm only leaving the soundfiles online for a limited period, but please come back regularly to hear other
potential Eurovision entries.
Earlier selections : Selection1 Selection 2 Selection 3 Selection 4 Selection 5 Selection 6 Selection 7 Selection 8 Selection 9 Selection 10 Selection 11 Selection 12
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GUDRUN ÁRNY KARLSDOTTIR |
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"Andvaka"(Sleepless) (listen here) (watch here) |
For a country with a tiny population (less than that of county Cork), Iceland has an amazingly high international profile, especially in the world of music. On Saturday night the Icelandic Eurovision entry will be chosen, from one of the highest quality fields in
any national final this year. While Silvia Nott's novelty routine makes her song (covered in "Sneak Peak 10") the hot favourite to go to Athens, there are several other songs that probably have more international appeal. The powerful ballad "Andvaka" is one such song. Gudrun Arny Karlsdottir may have the most
bizarre hairstyle of the year (and that is some achievement) but she has the voice of an angel, and having competed in the Icelandic selections in 2001 and 2003, she's hoping that it will be third time lucky in 2006. You will be able to see the Icelandic final live on the internet either live, or by visiting the official site from Sunday onwards. |
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LA SHAKRA |
"Wonderland" (listen here) (watch here) |
Kate Ryan and "Je T'Adore" (covered in "Sneak Peek 11") is the bookmarker's favorite to win the Belgian selection on Sunday night next, but again this is a very open competition, with seven songs vying to get to Eurovision. the other
serious contender for Athens now appears to be the rather unusal "Wonderland" performed bu the exotically named La Shakra and her team of dancers. La Shrakha is actually the new idenity of Petra De Steur who competed under her own name in the Belgian finals in 1993 and 1999.. "Wonderland" which is a rather bizarre,
if well constructed combination of Iceland "Shu-bi-do" from 1996 with a chorus which is reminiscent of The Pointer Sisters "I'm So Excited". It's clearly the favourite of the jury (who will have a vote on Sunday night) and won last week's semi-final. The Belgian final will not be shown on the internet.
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NICK NIKOLAOU & VICKY ANASTASIOU |
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"Funky" (listen here) |
Over the next five days, we will have five more entries for Eurovision 2006 being unveiled. After Ireland (on Friday), Iceland (on Saturday) and Belgium (on Sunday) select their songs in national finals, the Swiss entry (which was chosen internally) will be
broadcast on the internet on Sunday evening and on Tuesday the Cypriot song will be chosen. So far I have only heard live versions of the songs, which are generally very poor and (like Belarus) it's hard to see any song managing to get out of the semi-final. One song that has emerged in a studio version (though I suspect that it's a
demo) is "Funky" by
Nick Nikolaou and Vicky Anastasiou which is ranked in the Top 5 most likely songs to make it to Athens.
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