For the third year running,
Ireland were hosts, with the contest being scaled back from 25 to 23
competitors to keep things under the three-hour mark.
Spain's entry is a fairly ordinary sort of ballad, with a sprinkling of
modest umph in the oft repeated chorus. It's enough to make the song
stand out from the rest of the somewhat dreary field. Croatia stood out
by doing an Italian entry. A Mona Lisa-ish fiddle introduces a
semi-operatic female duet entitled "Nostalgija". The moment the singing
male guitarists enter with the backing is particularly restauranty. All
it needs is a waiter with a phallic pepper-mill and then it could get
the 12pts. As it was, Cyprus took our 12pts with a dark and moody piece
of ethno-goth pomp complete with an unconventionally timed chorus and a
Bez-like timpanist. The UK also stood out, with a funky ensemble
hip-hop number complete with waving arms.
Ireland's entry this year came from Norway, and as a consequence Norway
won. Clearly inspired by "Riverdance", and with an Irish fiddler on the
team, this was a mainly instrumental piece with only a couple of lines
of lyrics at each end. All Celtic pipes and ethereal strings, a sound
which would infect Eurovision for several years, it does have a certain
charm and is not nearly as annoying as it could so easily have been,
even if it does sound like the soundtrack to Titanic. Of course, it's not really a song...
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:
HERE
ARE THE VOTINGS
OF THE AVIEW JURY:
|
12pts
(9th)
|
CYP |
Alexandros
Panayi
"Sti Fotia" (Στη φωτιά) |
10pts
(6th)
|
CRO |
Magazin
& Lidija
"Nostalgija" |
8pts
(2nd)
|
ESP |
Anabel
Conde
"Vuelve conmigo" |
7pts
(=10th)
|
GBR |
Love
City Groove
"Love City Groove" |
6pts
(13th)
|
AUT |
Stella
Jones
"Die Welt dreht sich verkehrt" |
5pts
(18th)
|
POL |
Justyna
"Sama" |
4pts
(16th)
|
TUR |
Arzu
Ece
"Sev" |
3pts
(4th)
|
FRA |
Nathalie
Santamaria
"Il me donne rendez-vous" |
2pts
(1st)
|
NOR |
Secret
Garden
"Nocturne"
|
1pt
(8th)
|
ISR
|
Liora
"Amen" (אמן)
|
Europe had Sweden third, Denmark fifth, Slovenia seventh, Malta
joint-tenth, Greece twelfth, Ireland 14th, Iceland 15th, Russia 17th,
Bosnia & Herzegovina 19th, Belgium 20th, Portugal 21st, Hungary
22nd and Germany last.
|
The winner of the Eurovision Fiddle Contest.
The Italian
Croatian entry, "Nostalgija".
Spain's Anabel Conde.
Our winner, Alexandros Panayi.
|