A few days ago the starting order for the Second Chance Contest 2015 was drawn. The starting order was chosen by lot and will be as follow:
1. Finland
2. Moldova
3. Slovenia
4. Lithuania
5. Ireland
6. Portugal
7. Serbia
8. Albania
9. Sweden
10. Denmark
11. Greece
12. Rest of the World (represented by Belarus)
13. Latvia
14. Norway
15. Italy
16. Malta
17. Germany
18. Austria
In Vienna we will have a compilation ICELAND IDOLS and we will hand over a copy of it to HERA BJORK who will be there as backing singer for Iceland. On the compilation is an Afrikaans cover of her Euro entry. But also in Vienna will be Sveinn from Iceland who composed the 2004 Iceland entry, HEAVEN of JONSI. There is also a cover on the compilation of his sing. So he will also receive a copy. Now 2 fans can each win a copy as well, one by someone who is NOT in Vienna and one by someone who is in Vienna. The person in Vienna also will have the chance to hand the copy to Hera personally. Now what to do to be a winner? Go to the CONTACT US page and answer the question – HEAVEN is covered in Afrikaans and the title is that of a big city in South Africa – name that city. Then also indicate whether you will be in Vienna or not. On 1 May we will announce the two winners.
If you as a fan of the Eurovision song contest, want to be in line to win one of the compilation CD’s especially created to celebrate the 60th EUROVISION show, this is what you will have to do.
There are about 100 copies available for ordinary fans although the majority will go to OGAE Rest of the world fans/members but there will be some available to other fans.
You have to go to our page CONTACT US and write your name and e-mail address and then say which of the 6 compilations you would like to get if you are a winner, so you say compilation 2 or 5 or whatever.
Then you indicate
1 – if you are a member/fan of OGAE Rest of the world or NOT
2 – whether you are going to be physically in Vienna as it is much easier handing the compilations there to people
That is all you have to do – so enter and good luck to be part of a small group of people who will have a very special souvenir.
In total there are just 180 compilations but 67 are being handed to the artists taking part in the Vienna event and about 13 go to other specially identified people. So just 100 ordinary fans will walk away with one such souvenir.
The Retro 1974 Second Chance competition is now entering its final phase after being announced late January. But before I explain what has transpired over the last few months, here’s a brief reminder of what this competition is all about.
The Second Chance Retrospective Contest started in 2003 with the purpose of looking back at songs from Eurovision National Finals that were not selected to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest (thereby giving the songs a “second chance” to represent their country), starting with entries competing for Eurovision 1986. The eventual winner of the 1986 Retro Second Chance crown was Deedee singing Fata Morgana from The Netherlands.
Each year since, the Retro Contest has gone back 1 year further, so 2004 voted on the 1985 entries, 2005 on the 1984 entries, and so on. However, not all currently participating countries and OGAE clubs participated in the Eurovision Song Contest back then or held a National Final, so as of 2004, the Guest Jury Hits category was introduced, which allowed entries from these countries without National Finals to choose another song which were released in the same Retro year, but were not affiliated to Eurovision. Each Retro year therefore has a Eurovision Retro winner and a Guest Jury Hits winner. OGAE Rest of the World won the Guest Jury Hits category last year for the 1975 entry, Only Yesterday by The Carpenters, and we are now looking to defend our title with a 1974 entry.
So where are we at….
On 28 February 2015 OGAE Rest of World members voted for their favourite 10 songs from one of three categories (Rock, Pop and Easy Listening), each containing approximately 40 songs. Based on the results of this round of voting, a total of 24 songs were short-listed, the top 8 from each of the three categories.
Another round of voting then took place and a winning song was selected to represent OGAE Rest of the World in the Retro 1974 Second Chance competition.
The winning entry was KUNG FU FIGHTING by Carl Douglas of Jamaica.
While we have been in the process of selecting our song to represent us, other OGAE fan clubs have been doing the same.
Next step
Soon we will get to vote for our favourite 1974 retro song from all the finalists. All the songs will be posted to a website and you’ll be able to listen to each one and cast your vote. Stay tuned for further voting details.
With Finland in the news with their 2015 song, we look at their 2000 entry A LITTLE BIT by NINA ASTROM. The Afrikaans cover is by PRISCILLA SMITH.
The entry for South Africa for this song contest will be
BRING DIE LIEFDE TERUG – GERRIE PRETORIUS
The next song is very special. It is time for MACEDONIA and it is their 2014 entry TO THE SKY. The song on the compilation CD is a joint effort from TIJANA (the original singer) and RINEL DAY (the South African singer) and they are doing it in duet.
Latvia picked their 2015 entry last night. On the anniversary compilation, we are using their 2007 song QUESTA NOTTE originally sung by Bonaparti.lv. The Afrikaans cover is by three brothers who go under the name on QUALITRIO.
Today is the official launch of the big project OGAE Rest of the world has undertaken to celebrate 60 years of Eurovision. A 3 CD set will be made and will be available in Vienna during the Eurovision period. Celebrating 60 years, so the 3 CD set will contain 60 COVERS of EUROVISION songs by artists from South Africa. Each CD will contain 20 songs. Only 60 copies will be printed and handed out in VIENNA during promotions and competitions.
Deciding on which 60 songs took a lot of effort since there were over 400 to consider and only 60 could be chosen.
I have tried to take into account several factors
– countries of the original song (trying to give each country at least one song) but it was not always possible as some like Czech republic has no cover done and others, notable Sweden and Iceland could almost fill 33% of such a project.
– SA artists – trying to use as big a variety as possible, making sure no-one is there twice as solo artist. Some do appear twice but then in duet with someone else.
– New and old songs, classics and hidden gems
– Big hits at EUROVISION but also big hits in South Africa (this does not always correlate)
After selecting the 60 songs, I also consulted with about 10 people who each could add one song and now the final 60 is there.
In the next 6 weeks, I will introduce these 60 songs ONE by ONE in the order they will appear on the compilation set.
Once all 60 songs have been unveiled, I will do a post as to how people can get a copy – keeping in mind there are just 60 copies. Because it is a promotion, the CD’s are not for sale.
I hope by the time we do the cover around beginning APRIL, we will have a logo for the club which will be on the compilation.
The original idea was to hand the first set to UDO JURGENS in VIENNA, but unfortunately that is no longer possible since his death in December.