Our second entry comes from Armin Duttle from Switzerland.
The visit of the Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev Ukraine happened at the end of my holiday in the Ukraine.
Because I have a penfriend friend in Ukraine, I thought it would be nice to combine a visit to him and Eurovision,
I got tickets for the Friday evening dress rehearsal for both of us (I bought the tickets from a colleague of my
penfriend).The tickets for the finale were too expensive, so we had to settle for the Friday night show.
My penfriend does not live in Kievm so one day before the Friday show, we came to Kiev. Of course we visited the place around the arena,
where the ESC would happen. There was so many flags and posters everywhere to see in the streets of the center of the city, especially around the ( now famous ) Maiden square.
The dress rehearsal show was great and happened without problems. The real highlight of the evening was the appearance of the Klitschko brothers!
We stayed near the venue and were able to walk to the flat after the show.
It was in the flat there we watched the next night the final.
We have received the first entry to our lonely planet competition – from SOPHIE LLOYD
Stockholm 2016 was my first time to Eurovision and I had such a great weekend. I traveled with my boyfriend Harry and my friends Abi and Sam. We went to the jury final on the Friday night and although that was clearly the main highlight, one of the most memorable times was on the Friday afternoon when we had just arrived and went to meet our friends Beth and Stuart for a drink. They live in Hong Kong so we hadn’t seen them for a while and they were perched out on a pontoon on the water with a whole group of people drinking rose and sitting in the sun. Stockholm looked so beautiful. Everyone we met was also going to Eurovision and we were all so excited and looking forward to the show. It really showed the best of Eurovision – bringing people together from all around the world and the chance to catch up with old friends and make new ones!
The OGAE Second Chance Contest 2016 kicked off on 1st of June and members of OGAE Rest of the World can still vote! We are now at the halftime – the deadline for send your vote is 30/06/2016 midnight CET.
To vote, you have to rate all the entries, giving them a point between 0 and 5, except the song No. 9 which represents Rest of the World (and of course, Hungary), so if you rate it, it doesn’t count…
We ask you to send your votes to escvotes@gmail.com until the deadline. If you vote, you’ll earn 10 points for 2017 Ticket List.
Here’s the playlist of this year’s 23 competitors:
01 Belgium I’m not lost Tom Frantzis 02 Belarus My universe NAPOLI 03 Ukraine Helpless The Hardkiss 04 Albania Liroje Zemrën Besa Krasniqi 05 Malta Golden Brooke 06 UK Shine a little light Bianca 07 Lithuania Leading me home Erica Jennings 08 Italy Cieli immensi Patty Pravo 09 Rest Of the World (Hungary) Who we are Kállay Saunders Band 10 Sweden Save me Wiktoria 11 Denmark Never Alone Anja Nissen 12 Austria I’ll be around Elly V 13 Latvia We will be stars MyRadiantU 14 Switzerland Half a smile Vincent Gross 15 Norway Laika The Hungry Hearts 16 Slovenia Črno bel Raiven 17 Estonia Supersonic Laura 18 Finland On it goes Mikael Saari 19 Israel Somebody out there Ella Daniel 20 Romania Behind the shadows Florena 21 Poland Cool me down Margaret 22 Germany Mystery of a blood red rose Avantasia 23 Spain La vida sólo es una María Isabel
Jamala was the proud winner of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest with her emotive song 1944. Next up for Jamala is a headlining concert at the prestigious Alfa Jazz Fest to be held in Lviv, Ukraine on 28 June. The one off special concert is billed as The Soul Of Jamala.
The concert will be in two parts. First Jamala will perform with a jazz quartet performing many standard jazz songs as well as Crimean Tatar folk songs. The second part of the show will showcase songs from Jamala’s latest album released in 2015, Breathe.
You can see Jamala perform 1944 at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest below.
We will open the competition for the JAMALA t-shirt and JAMALA bag also to people other than GROOT FM radio listenaars. There is one t-shirt and one bag up for grabs.
Interested Euro fan outside of the Groot FM catchment area must do the following.
Send you name and e-mail address to info@esccovers.com
Answer two simple questions
1 – Is Riaan Grobler a Groot FM presenter – yes or no
2 – Is Jamala Ukraine’s second Eurovision winner – yes or no
Unfortunately the t-shirt is a LARGE so you do not have a choice of size.
You will be put into the draw for both prizes, but there will be two winners, one gets the t-shirt and one the bag. The first name drawn has a choice – t-shirt or bag, the second name drawn will have to settle with whatever is left.
Unfortunately if the winners are outside of South Africa, you will have to pay the postal cost – 6 euro for the t-shirt and 5 euro for the bag. We have a sponsor (courier company) should the winners be South African (unfortunately they do not deliver overseas so then we have to post it).
Anna Trincher charmed many people with her performance at the 2015 Junior Eurovision Song Contest with her song Nebo znaye. Now Anna returns with her brand new single and video clip. The song is called Ne Boysya {Do not be afraid). It is composed by Dmitriy Sycoyev.
Ne Boysya is an uptempo dance song that showcases Anna’s talents as a vocalist, performer and dancer. The music has a very happy vibe and makes you want to hit the dancefloor.
You can see the official video clip for Ne Boysa below.
Sofia Tarasova {from the official video clip of ‘Letet’ Vysoko}
Sofia Tarasova, the young and talented singer from Ukraine, has released her brand new single and video. It is entitled Letet’ Vysoko (Fly high). The song is very upbeat and has a happy club vibe and is perfect for the dancefloors. Letet’ Vysoko is composed by Dmitriy Sysoyev and Ivan Shmalyy. The production is by Luck Out Club. The video was directed and produced by Sergey Guman and Jaroslav Gubskiy.
Sofia represented Ukraine at the 2013 Junior Eurovision Song Contest with her song We Are One and she finished in second place that year.
You can see the official video for Letet’ Vysoko below.
Jamala will represent Ukraine at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest with her song 1944. Here she talks to esccovers.com.
Hello Jamala. Congratulations on being selected to represent Ukraine at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest. What were your feelings when you realised you had won?
When I was standing on the stage while the jury were announcing whom they have chosen, I was thinking that probably Eurovision is not my cup of tea. So, when I heard the results of people’s voting I didn’t realise that I won. I was confused a little bit. Of course I feel happy and proud now. I’m grateful to people that voted for me and I’m sure that I’ll represent Ukraine in the best way.
‘1944’ is about the deportation of Crimean Tatars in the 1940s. What inspired you to write this song and enter it for Eurovision?
I wrote it a year and a half ago. The origins of it are in my childhood. It’s inspired by a story that my great-grandmother told me when I was small. So this topic is very personal for me. The song is about the tragedy that happened to our family and all Crimean Tatars in 1944. I mean the deportation of Crimean Tatar people from Crimea to Central Asia, the crime made by Soviet government. They packed all people to the freight trains like beasts for a few weeks with no food and water. Those who couldn’t survive were thrown out and left lying on the ground. My great-grandmother lost her daughter as well. But ‘1944’ concerns all people that had their own horrible tragedies in the past, such as Holocaust. We should always remember and never forget them to avoid like this in the future. I want to deliver this message to as many people as possible.
You recently played a concert in Kiev. How was this show and what type of songs do you sing in your concerts?
Thank you for this question! My show went very well. It was sold out and the audience was really nice. Most of all I performed songs from my latest record ‘Breath’ that was released in October 2015, but of course there were several songs from my previous albums ‘Thank You’, ‘All or Nothing’ and ‘For Every Heart’. And at the beginning of the encore I performed ‘1944’ and people just got crazy. It was really nice, my fans are the best!
Do you plan to make a promotional tour to other countries to promote ‘1944’ for Eurovision?
No, I don’t have such plans. But I’m going to perform in Amsterdam at the Eurovision party.
Do you have a new album coming? If so when will it likely be released?
My new album has been released less than half a year ago. I want to live with it for a while. But I’ve already started to write new songs.
Have you participated in any other music festivals in Ukraine and abroad?
Of course! I participated in hundreds of festivals of different musical genres in different countries. For example I’ve been headliner on opera festivals in Ukraine and Italy, jazz festivals in Ukraine and Russia, folk festivals in Ukraine and Turkey, rock festivals in Ukraine and Turkey etc.
Have you heard the other songs in Eurovision this year? Do you have any favourites at this time?
I’ve heard all the songs. I mean, I’ve watched all the video clips. Of course the live sounds different, but I can recognize a good song nevertheless. I choose France, The Netherlands, Sweden, UK and Greece, because their entries have such handsome guys))))))) I’m just kidding. They have really good songs!
Do you normally watch Eurovision each year? Do you have any favourite songs from previous years?
I watch the show every year. I don’t have any particularly favourite ESC song. I usually pay attention to performers, musicians, vocals and musical background. These are a few songs that I like: Raphael Gualazzi – ‘Madness of Love’ (2011 ESC Italy), The Common Linnets – ‘Calm After The Storm’ (2014 ESC The Netherlands) and Loreen – ‘Euphoria’ (2012 ESC Sweden – winner)
