372 entries were submitted for A Dal, the Hungarian Eurovision national selection. These were narrowed down to 30 and have now been officially announced – the list includes a certain András Kállay-Saunders and his band…
It was down to a ten member jury to select the 30 artists for A Dal 2016. Balazs Medveczky, director of Duna TV (part of the MTVA umbrella co-operation of Hungarian public media services), sounded pleased in regards to the entries submitted: ‘A lot of good applications were received’, he commented.
On consecutive Saturdays, there will now be three quarter finals (23rd January, 30th January and 6th February) followed by two semi finals (13th and 20th February) before the Hungarian representative for Stockholm is decided at the A Dal 2016 Final on 27th February. The result will be decided by four professional jurors: Zséda, Pierrot, Miklós Both and Károly Frenreisz whereas, according to A Dal’s official website (in Hungarian), ‘the fifth member of the jury this year will be the audience’. Singer Zséda, a multi award winner, is a new addition to the A Dal jury: ‘Already, I have really enjoyed the pre-selection, I feel good with the other judges and members of the production team, I am looking forward to continuing with great excitement’, she stated.
Indeed, after the good publicity that the Hungarian national selection has received in recent years, there seems to be extra confidence around the production of A Dal 2016, which is to be presented by Csilla Tatár and Levente Harsányi. Among other additions, the revamped website for the event at www.mediaklikk.hu/adal will now include extra backstage and participants material as well as fan competitions.
See what you think by listening to the short audio clips (released on the official A Dal website) provided next to each song title of the 30 strong participants list, which is alphabetically as follows:
- André Vásáry – Why LISTEN
- Anna Patai – Colors LISTEN
- B The First – You Told Me You Loved Me LISTEN
- Bálint Gájer – Speed Bump LISTEN
- Benji – Köteltánc LISTEN
- ByTheWay – Free To Fly LISTEN
- C.E.T. – Free LISTEN
- Egy Másik Zenekar – Kéne közös kép LISTEN
- Fatima Mohamed – Ott leszek LISTEN
- Freddi – Pioneer LISTEN
- Gergő Oláh – Győz a jó LISTEN
- Group’n’Swing – Szeretni fáj LISTEN
- Ív – Love Kills Me LISTEN
- Jázmin Török – Power Of Love LISTEN
- Júlia Horányi – Come Along LISTEN
- Kállay Saunders Band – Who We Are LISTEN
- Karmapolis & Böbe Szécsi – Hold On To LISTEN
- Laci Gáspár – Love And Bass LISTEN
- Maszkura és a Tücsökraj – Kinek sírjam LISTEN
- Misztrál – Reggeli Reggae LISTEN
- Mushu – Uncle Tom LISTEN
- Nika – Beautiful Love LISTEN
- Odett – Stardust LISTEN
- Olivér Berkes – Seven Seas LISTEN
- Parno Graszt – Már nem szédülök LISTEN
- Passed – Driftin’ LISTEN
- Petra Veres-Kovács – Singing Peace LISTEN
- Petruska – Trouble In My Mind LISTEN
- Reni Tolvai – Fire LISTEN
- Szilvia Agárdi – It Is Love LISTEN
Of note is the presence of Kállay Saunders who, along with his ‘Band’, appears on the list (no. 16). The artist represented Hungary as a solo act in Eurovision 2014 with Running and ranked 5th out of the 26 countries performing in the grand final that year, thus achieving one of the best Eurovision results for the country to date.
Hungary in the Eurovision Song Contest
Hungary tried to compete in 1993 but failed to qualify from a special preliminary round set up for seven former Eastern bloc countries wishing to debut in Eurovision that year. The country got the chance to compete the following year however when, with Friderika Bayer singing Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet? (To Whom Can I Tell My Sins?), it achieved its best Eurovision placing to date. Hungary has since missed eight contests, in 1999-2004, 2006 and 2010 and, since its return to the contest in 2011, has never failed to qualify for the grand final. This year in Vienna, the country finished 20th (out of a record 27 countries performing in the grand final) with Boggie and Wars For Nothing.
In our video below, you can watch András Kállay-Saunders performing his top ten finisher entry Running on the 2014 Eurovision stage of Copenhagen’s B&W Hallerne.
