The line up for the final of this year’s Eesti Laul is complete. Tonight five more acts qualified by a mixture of public and jury voting and will perform in the final on February 26th.
Like last week, the second semifinal was also presented by Piret Järvis and Lenna Kuurmaa, both members of Vanilla Ninja who represented Switzerland in 2005 and finished 8th. Nine songs were performed tonight. The entry Jagatud öö, sung by Uku Suviste, was disqualified some days ago because the lyrics had already been used for another song. These were the remaining participants:
Song 1 Sõpruse puiestee & Merili Varik – Rahu, ainult rahu
The first song of the night can be described as mainstream pop in Estonian with some rock elements. The first part of the verses are sung by the lead singer of Sõpruse puiestee who also plays the guitar. The second part is sung by Merili Varik, while the chorus is sung together.
After every song the artists are interviewed by Piret and Lenna.
Song 2 Shirubi Ikazuchi – St. Cabah
This is the first song in English. It is a rock song with a slight gothic influence. It is about witches. The female lead singer wears a black dress and walks around the stage the whole time. She is only accompanied by the other female band member who stands behind the keyboard.
Song 3 Sofia Rubina – My melody
My melody is an uptempo song with some jazz and retro funk elements. Sofia is accompanied by two female and one male backing vocalists who do some dance choreography with her at the end.
Song 4 Mimicry – The storm
Mimicry consists of one female and three male singers who wear fluorescent dresses. It is very much 80s synthesizer pop and reminds a bit of Depeche Mode in the early 80s. In general it can be said that the song is not very melodic and gets annoying after some time.
Song 5 Orelipoiss – Valss
We now hear a very traditional song, a valse in Estonian. The lead singer looks very comfortable and plays the guitar. He has three backing singers on stage, two of them dance valse in some parts of the song. They receive more applause than the other acts before.
Song 6 Tiiu Kiik – Second chance
This entry got indeed its second chance. It was originally not in the semifinal and only due to the qualification of Janne Saar it received the place in the semifinal. The song sounds very mystic, a bit like Enya. Tiiu’s voice sounds very clear and she sings very well.
Song 7 MID – Smile
This song is again very 80s like. The Estonians seem to like Depeche Mode because Smile reminds again of this band. MID consist of two male singers, both dressed in black suits with black ties, who play with a contrabass on stage.
Song 8 Ithaka Maria – Hopa’pa-rei!
We hear another rock song. The chorus is very catchy and repeating Hopa’pa-rei many times reminds a bit of yodelling. Maria gives a very good performance. She has a Cello player and a drummer on stage. The choreography is supplemented by pyrotechnics and reminds a bit of Ruslana. Maria composed Estonia’s 1998 entry Mere lapsed.
Song 9 Rolf Roosalu – All & now
The final song of the evening… All & now is a well produced midtempo pop ballad. Rolf, completely dressed in black, has five backing singers on stage and delivers a very good vocal performance. A candidate for Düsseldorf? At least he receives a huge applause.
The lines are now opened for 15 minutes.
The five qualifiers for the final are:
Orelipoiss
Mimicry
MID
Ithaka Maria
Rolf Roosalu
