Tamas Vamos from Hungary has just joined OGAE Rest of the world and he will also come to Vienna. Here is his recollection of his country’s songs in Eurovision.

1994 – Friderika Bayer – Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet? – I was only 9 years old, it was the first entry of Hungary. I really like that song today too: deep and emotional but not a happy one.

1995 – Csaba Szigeti – Új név a régi ház falán – I really don’t remember about this song and singer… I think I missed the event in that year.

1996 – Gjon Delhusa – Fortuna – Delhusa is a kind of Z-list celebrities in Hungary. I cannot remember this song.

1997 – VIP – Miért kell, hogy elmenj? – This was the first ESC which I clearly remember. I didn’t really like the song, but I was sad about the result of Hungary (12th place). I had not known yet that it’s a great result and also didn’t know yet what kind of party/family is the ESC.

1998 – Charlie – A holnap már nem lesz szomorú – Charlie has a great voice. He’s still popular but doesn’t make new songs, so now is kind of retro. The song was forgetable. I’m sure about it, because I don’t remember.

THE BIG BREAK

2005 – NOX – Forogj világ – A huge hit! Another 12th place song, even they had a good odds about winning too. This year, I became a fan of ESC

2006 – Hungary missed to catch the flight to Athens, or I don’t know why we did not participate…

2007 – Magdi Rúzsa – Unsubstantial blues – She’s a great singer, now the member of the experts in A Dal, the Hungarian selector show. The song had a good result (9th place), but the next year, there was no automatical qualification to the Final by the last year’s result – bad luck! The song is good, but not my favourite. A little bit slow, a little bit blue… But what else should be a song with “blues” in the title… In this year, I finally understood what is ESC – thanks to the performance of Verka Serduchka and the Lasha tumbai (TANZEN!)

2008 – Csézy – Candlelight – The only last place song by Hungary in ESC. No comment… This song was boring. Afterall, this year was the first, when I realised, that an ESC show can be also boring…

2009 – Zoli Ádok – Dance With Me – He didn’t qualified to the Final, but I love this song. I didn’t hear about Ádok before ESC 2009, and I also have heard nothing since then too… But this song was great. And the show too. This was the first and the last time, when my favourite won the contest.

2010 – Norway is cold and expensive, so Hungary stayed home… :

2011 – Kati Wolf – What about my dreams? – I think I don’t have to introduce this song to OGAE, do I? 🙂 The result was disappointing, the song is still a big hit in Hungary. This was the first year, when I listened the song before the event and catched the favourites. (The Danish New Tomorrow and – shame on me – the Jedwards’ Lipstick)

2012 – Compact Disco – Sound of Our Hearst – A Dal started in this year, so finally we got a national selection show. They was not my favourite. I think they are not original, a bit too dark. It was a miracle that they qualified to the final. This year the ESC show was not really good… But the songs were awesome!!! I think this year had the most great hits.

2013 – ByeAlex – Kedvesem – I was satisfied with the result of A Dal. This song was my very favourite. Everyone in Hungary expected a Nullpoints or last place results – he catched the 10th place with a 12 pts from Germany. I remember I was at a party and we drank at every points was given to Hungary. We didn’t expected to drink so much…

2014 – András Kállay-Saunders – Running – good song, good singer. That’s all…  And a 5th place. It was amazing to enjoy ESC at a party in Berlin with many ESC fans and watching the results with a Swedish guy. And also a big experience to see the first time the Hungarian entry to lead the scoreboard – a while.

2015 – ? – This year, I cannot imagine about the entries of A Dal that can be as good as Kállay-Saunders or ByeAlex. But after good years, has to come a weak one.