Eurovision 2005!

[musical_il]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 11:36am

WOW!!! It was amazing!
We (Israel) ended at the fourth place with 154 points!
29 countries were in this year final.

Our song - http://switch5.castup.net/frames/20040704_IBA_Popup/iba_video.asp?ai=31&ar=50_1_2005-03-27_115757

Greece won (bad song, I think...) -
http://switch5.castup.net/frames/20040704_IBA_Popup/iba_video.asp?ai=31&ar=50_1_2005-03-25_195156

[DayDreamer]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 11:37am

I had no idea they still held the eurovision contest... don't hear about it in the US... thanks for keeping us posted.

[musical_il]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 11:39am

It is the 50th year!

Check out this site: www.eurovision.tv

[ConvinceMe2]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 11:41am

Ah, I miss it. Always watched it.

[musical_il]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 12:08pm

An interview with the Israeli contestant:

eurovision.tv: Hi Shiri, very pleased to meet you. You kicked-off your career quite early and started singing at the age of four…

Shiri Maimon: Yes, I made my first recordings on my own cassette recorder. At the age of ten I participated in some children’s singing contests and was also in a youth group, singing and dancing all the time. My idols were Mariah Carey and Céline Dion who were kind of role models for me and, of course, Rita, who is a very famous Israeli singer. Later on, I went into the army, joining the Air Force Entertaining Troop…

eurovision.tv: I heard about that. What was that like?

Shiri Maimon: Oh, that was quite exciting. It is as much a part of the Israeli Army as any other part so we even had to wear uniforms. We toured all over the country and did some singing and dancing to entertain the soldiers who work so hard. We wanted to make them happy and get them singing too.

eurovision.tv: What kind of songs were in your repertoire?

Shiri Maimon: We only sang the most popular and famous Israeli songs. There were no pop songs allowed and definitely no other languages because that is not highly regarded within the army. But we had a real stage and amps. And me and the other four girls sang in front of thousands of soldiers. That was fun!

eurovision.tv: So you were quite a band, touring through the country. Did you have a special name?

Shiri Maimon: No, we were just the Air Force Entertaining Troop.

eurovision.tv: Okay. Shiri, you are quite famous in Israel. Since coming second in the Israeli version of ‘Pop Idol’, how has life changed for you?

Shiri Maimon: In every way! ‘A Star Is Born’ was my breakthrough. Although, as in all of those TV shows we sang only cover versions, we were really given the opportunity to show our talents. I mean, back then I had no album out, and now I have this wonderful chance to perform at the Eurovision Song Contest! So I will never regret taking part in that.

eurovision.tv: …which brings us back to the Eurovision Song Contest. Can you tell us what you expect from the contest?

Shiri Maimon: First of all, I want to get past the Semi Final and then perform for a bigger audience. My real purpose is to represent my country and do my best. I also hope that the Eurovision Song Contest opens some doors into Europe so that I can find acclaim there.

eurovision.tv: Thank you for the interview and good luck!

[Jezebel]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 12:10pm

My country did not even qualify for the final. Maybe next year!
I really loved the Israeli song - Shiri looked gorgeous and she sang beautifully. Very classy.

And hey, the Greek song is great!

[musical_il]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 12:17pm

What's your country?

[musical_il]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 12:19pm

Malta were the best!

http://209.25.248.58/temp/17.mp3

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 3:04pm

I watched it via internet and it was fun. This was my second year to watch Eurovision and I thought last year was a little better. My favorites were Bosnia, Malta and Greece (let's hear it for the Greek dancing boys!). I also liked Denmark and UK. The Israeli song reminded me of something from the musical Heathcliff. How in the world did Latvia get so many votes? It was a dull song that was horribly performed. I know there is a lot of political voting, but that was just weird. Overall, I think I liked the top three songs last year than any of the songs this year. I play them on my iPod all the time.

[Beergoggles]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 5:43pm

Malta were the best! It's a;; rigged anyway, seriously the UK entry was a really good song and Javine did a stellar performance and it did badly. Seriously for the past few years we have been marked unfairly... a lot of people are saying Britain shouldn't enter or put money in next year. Seriously though it is pythetic how each country votes for their friends and lets face it... UK hasn't got that many friends now!

[Jezebel]

Posted: 5/23/05 at 5:54pm

Malta were fantastic, I agree. They deserve to win someday - the lady representing them came third in 1998 and second this year, so if she comes back again maybe she'll come first! I'm surprised the British song did so badly, they deserved to do better. Pity nobody likes them. The bottom four were Germany, France, Spain and UK - four of the biggest countries! The Latvian song actually grew on me, although I thought the sign language was a bit odd. I'm also shocked that Sweden did so badly. But Greece definitely deserved it, they've been in the contest for decades and this is their first win!

[musical_il]

Posted: 5/24/05 at 2:26pm

I know Greece deserved to win, after all these years,
but why with this song?! I mean, they had a lot of great
songs last years... I mean, listen to "Die for you" (wich is
the same singer). It is one big amazing HIT!

[Jezebel]

Posted: 5/24/05 at 2:29pm

Die For You was great as well, but I REALLY love 'My Number One'!

[musical_il]

Posted: 5/24/05 at 2:38pm

It's nice... But there were A LOT of great othe songs, this year..

[Jezebel]

Posted: 5/24/05 at 2:40pm

Iceland and The Netherlands should have gotten through to the final. And Hungary should have finished higher!

[musical_il]

Posted: 5/24/05 at 2:42pm

Yeah, Hungary was great!

"Opa Opa" Is Helena's?! Wow! I LOVE this song!

[pattifan2]

Posted: 5/24/05 at 2:45pm

Totally agree, Beergoggles - lots of political voting this year. We have very few supporters these days. Javine did especially well with throat problems.

[musical_il]

Posted: 5/24/05 at 2:52pm

I was shocked when France gave us 10 points!
I mean, talking about political voting, it was very odd
to see this... "The understander will understand" (Hebrew
phrase, the one that need to understand it, will understand)

[Jezebel]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 4:55pm

The singer for France was actually born in Israel too, so they seem to like your country this year!

And Javine should have done MUCH better for the UK. I actually felt very sorry for her.

[Beergoggles]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 5:53pm

Javine did brill! She did the UK proud and can hold her head up high. I just hope we don't enter again for a while because without our financial backing the competition will be seriously hurt. I'm not saying we deserve extra points because we put so much money into it... but we deserve the right to be marked fairly! I mean, come on, ooh ahh just a little bit got fifth place and Javine got fourth... from bottom?????????? What's it all about?

[Greekmusicalfan]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 9:15pm

Wow, a Eurovision thread on BWW, that's great ! You can not imagine how happy my country is for Helena's victory, we wanted to win for so many years and we finally did ! Isn't the last year a great year for Greece or what ? I wanna thank all those who voted for Greece and invite you all next year, it's gonna be a blast ! Besides Helena I really liked Malta and the gorgeous boys with the fantastic song from Serbia & Montenegro ! Javine was cool, but I would prefer a more British pop song, why go with an oriental song when Great Britain produces fantastic and original pop tunes ? Anyway, best of luck to everyone for next year and thanks once again for making my country happy and proud !

[Beergoggles]

Posted: 5/25/05 at 9:17pm

it was a dance tune... anyway you vote or the song not the countries historical music or else we'd enter green sleeves! Sorry but it's really annoyed me and Malta should have won!

[Greekmusicalfan]

Posted: 5/26/05 at 6:23am

The political and neighbor voting is always annoying on Eurovision, but I do believe that this year it was less than previous years. I mean the Top 2 countries, Greece and Malta don't belong in any blocks, they won because their songs were the best. And please, don't tell me again about the Greece-Cyprus alliance, because it is only one country, while the Baltics, Balkans and Scandinavian countries are always voting for each other ! I am very annoyed about Europe not voting for the U.K, it is clearly a stance that has to do with the Iraqi war, but why punish the song which definetely deserved a Top 10 position ? But I am also annoyed about people saying that the UK and the Big 4 pay a lot of money and should withdraw. This is arrogant ! Sure they pay a lot, but does that mean that they have to win ? All the Big 4 have won numerous times in the past and they may win again. Should people have voted for Gemini just because the U.K pays a lot ? I liked Javine, but it could have easily been the Turkish entry, there was nothing British about it. There were many ethnic entries this year and that's why it was lost in the crowd ! And believe me, I LOVE the U.K. And I do believe that, after giving Greece 12 points two years in a row, Greece will vote for the U.K next year, because that's the way we Greeks are ! :)

[musical_il]

Posted: 5/26/05 at 12:33pm

I liked the UK song.... It was cool...
And the Eurovision in Greek is going to be AWESOME!
The "theme" color will be blue, or light blue, and wowwwwwwwww
I can't wait!

[Greekmusicalfan]

Posted: 5/26/05 at 4:31pm

musical_il, hope you can come to Greece for the contest next year. It's going to be great !