| Wogan and Ulrika invite us to
partake in the unparalleled delights of
Birmingham for the eighth contest to be held in the UK (a record yet to
be equalled). This year is another one of those very rare occasions
when we find ourselves in agreement with Europe as to who the winner
should be. In this case the unanimity fell (and not for the first time)
upon Israel and the delightfully diva-ish Dana International. Hers is a
pounding club number: a pleasing bit of pop-dance with a memorable
chorus. We note how the larger backing vocalist is kept separate from
her thinner roaming counterparts, while enjoying Dana's pleasing
impersonation of a stag during the final chorus. Israel's chief rivals in the modern game, Turkey, opted for the Les Mis angle. The orchestra relished it, though it ended up sounding a bit like a keyboard demo-tune in places. Slovakia had a moody folk-tinged number owing more than a little to Scarborough Fair while Macedonia went with Geoff Stelling doing his Robert Palmer routine: a serious piece of James Bond memorabilia. Cyprus's entry begins ominously, all Germanic with thunder and annoying Irish pipes a-calling. But then comes a sequencer and the rousing Luxembourgian chorus. Portugal for their part reprised their decent entry from two years ago, but replaced the good bits with bagpipes. They weren't highland bagpipes though, and it kind of worked out.
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 had Malta third, the Netherlands fourth, .Belgium sixth, Germany seventh, Norway eighth, Ireland ninth, Sweden tenth, Estonia joint-twelfth, Finland 15th, Spain 16th, Poland 17th, Slovenia 18th, Greece 20th, Hungary 23rd and France 24th. To see our original thoughts, recorded on the night of the contest, click here. |
 All kinds of everything: Dana International.  Slovakia's Katarína Hasprová.  Portugal, unsurprisingly.  Cyprus's get creative.  Vlado Janevski. |
