| To Serbia, then, for our first
trip to Yugoslavia since its members decided to go their separate ways
(though obviously not on grounds of 'musical differences'). The split
is still causing certain difficulties (see the Politics box below) but
we're here now, and in for quite a good contest. A new gimmick from Turkey is to confound our expectations, something they did this year with recourse to a Manic Street Preachers tribute act. Finland stuck with what's proven to be effective and gave us some hairy metal. Croatia, noticing the Latin trend of recent years, opted for a tango, but threw in an acerbic elderly rapper by the name of 75 Cents ("I fucking invented tango" one assumes he's shouting) and some gramophone scratching for good measure. Greece went to the Beyoncé bottle again for their entry, and poured out the rather impressive "Secret Combination" (cf. their 2002 entry). It's not entirely dissimilar to their 2005 effort, only a lot better. A costume change and the introduction of a giant Triffid-like pop-up heart to the set half-way through adds a vague suggestion that when Kalomira sings about the centre of her heart, she may actually be thinking of some other part of her anatomy. Iceland's entry begins, like all good Icelandic entries do, with a pounding rave beat, and establishes itself as an affable male-delivered club anthem before introducing a female vocalist in the second verse (the reveal of which excites perhaps more than it should) and continuing as a duet. France made the unusual move of singing their song mostly in English. It's also delivered in the style of Jarvis Cocker. Sébastien Tellier arrives on stage in a golf buggy (perhaps by way of tribute to Fred Harris) accompanied by the doowopping of bearded backing vocalists (most of whom are female). It's a cool, laid-back song, and rather good with it, though it needs a bit more work to be a winner. An attempt to sing on helium doesn't really come off, but it's a memorable performance for mostly the right reasons. Trumping France in the novelty stakes is the Spanish entry: "Baila el Chiki-Chiki" by bequiffed fictional comedy character and inventor of the vibrator-guitar Rodolfo Chikilicuatre. He's accompanied by a pair of similarly haired female dancers (one of whom occasionally breaks down) as he performs a somewhat sparsely produced "reggaeton" number, the chorus for which reduces the Baila el Chiki-Chiki into its constituent moves: 1) brikindans, 2) crusaito, 3) maiquelyason, 4) robocop. In no time at all you'll be dancing along to this infectious little entry: our favourite of the night. Europe preferred Russia's rather ordinary '80s boy-band power-balladry, apparently won over by a frantic fiddler and an annoyingly flouncy ice-skater. It's hard not to wish the skater would fall down. There's a particularly hilarious moment when the singer pulls him by the shoulder and we get a close up of our skater's face in a move conventionally used to reveal a beautiful woman rather than someone who looks a bit like a young Mel Smith. Even when kneeled down at the end, he continues to wave his arms about as if providing commentary for the deaf. Anyway, skater-love won out against a mass of far superior entries this year.
For each year's songs we apply our points in the 12-10-8 style of the modern contest, irrespective of how the voting functioned at the time. In brackets is the position the song came on the night:
Europe voted Russia the win this year, with Greece third, Armenia fourth, Norway fifth, Serbia sixth, Israel ninth, Bosnia & Herzegovena tenth, Georgia eleventh, Latvia twelfth, Portugal 13th, Denmark 15th, Spain 16th, Albania 17th, Romania 20th, and Germany, Poland and the United Kingdom joint-last. To see our original thoughts, recorded on the night of the contest, click here. |
 ¡Perrea! ¡Perrea! Rodolfo Chikilicuatre.  The French Jarvis Cocker lets himself go.  (Greece's secret combination is S.A.G.A.P.O.) 
Croatia: Hip-hop Tango à la carte.  Finland stick to a tested formula.  Turkish Street Preachers Mor ve Ötesi.  Iceland give us another duet in the club style.  Europe's winners, Russia. Spot the ice-dancer.
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