Mihai Trăistariu, who represented Romania at the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest will, as a guest blogger on EuroVisionary, be sharing his opinion about this year’s 42 participating songs. In part one of four he looks at Albania, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia and Cyprus.
Albania – Kejsi Tola – Carry Me in Your Dream: A kid who plays their song. It does not impress me much. Her voice is good enough, but the song has nothing. The song is very rhythmic, but I think it will miss the show. The orchestration is very old with the same melodic line. Maybe there are countries where probably the old composers fight to get on the Eurovision stage, and in Albania, they do. So composer from the old school, you have found the door called Albania. This song is not for Eurovision 2009, but for 1999.
Andorra – Susanna Georgi – Get a Life: Here it is, a sound track of 2009. I just I don’t know how it will go live. The playback is excellent. If it goes at least 80% of how the playback sounds, then she has a big chance to enter the top 10. It is something different at Eurovision. Bravo!!
Armenia – Inga & Anush – Nor Par (Jan Jan): Listening to this song, a thought comes into my mind: The Eurovision growth. The songs are increasingly better from year to year. The competition is becoming increasingly difficult. It will be especially hard for Romania to win.
Azerbaijan – Aysel & Arash – Always: A pretty common song. They keep the same musical instruments used by the winners like Paparizou or Ruslana. It is a tendency to copy the past winners. It is nothing special, no special voices, no distinguishing beauties and also not excellent choreography I think…and the song is not so good.
Belarus – Petr Elfimov – Eyes That Never Lie: Petr has a remarkable voice and could be a big star in Belarus, otherwise I don’t imagine why they chose this track for Belarus. He has a very good voice, otherwise it is an interpretation between 1980 and 2000. It is a kind of pop combined with pop-rock. The song it is not very good, but not bad either. I think it will pass the semifinal with the ex-soviet block help which does not sleep, especially in the Eurovision event.
Belgium – Patrick Ouchene – Copycat: I think every country has its own Elvis. We also have one. Personally, I think he will not do a great job of imitating Elvis. His voice is like Elvis and everyday in his life, he imitates Elvis, and I think his career in Belgium has been built by imitating Elvis, I don’t know…I say that is nothing special.
Bosnia – Regina – Bistra Voda: A beautiful melody. It reminds me of Bosnia 2006 and of that atmosphere, sensitivity and vocals. I think the audience will catch this. No longer speak about the ex-soviet block – Macedonia – Slovenia-Croatia –Serbia, who will vote for it for sure. A piece like this has always been ranked in the first 3. Now, when we have a jury comprising musicians, they will certainly be well marked.
Bulgaria – Krassimir Avramov – Illusion: It is a bit too much. It is a continuing castration. What song is this one? Who listens to this song? Even if it should look interesting, well, it is not. They must look at Sweden if they want to see how they should use such an interpretation.
Croatia – Igor Cukrov – Lijepa Tena: This is a very good ballad for our grandparents. It is a boring song. An old song with 80 years of specific voices. Actually it is romance, not a ballad. Why was he dressed as a toreador? She is very beautiful and I think she will help to raise an extra 5 points.
Cyprus – Christina Metaxa – Firefly: One young girl who isn’t singing well at all, one song leaving no impression. Her voice is always shaking. We can see that she doesn’t have experience. What happened with Cyprus? They have had better years. The song is not bad, but the kids emotions are high. Forgive me, but it sounds like a karaoke competition. It is a little bad. I hope she is not a Cypriot Britney, and is voted for by children. Fake bad singing. Uhh…Cyprus!!
