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Saturday 22 November 2008

Junior Eurovision 2008: Dead boring Armenian entry. Brilliant Georgia wins – congrats!

Sorry for being harsh, but it has to be said. Everything was wrong with Armenian entry - singer’s voice which is more mature than you would enjoy for Junior Eurovision (and sounded worse than usual); song which is dead boring; dresses which were not necessarily ‘junior’; overall performance... It’s a kind of song which you would never be able to recall after you listened to it, as there is absolutely nothing remarkable or particularly likable about it. Just boring…

On the other hand, Georgian entry was fun and very enjoyable. They were my favourites to win. They were simply brilliant. Congrats to them for well deserved win!! Everything was right with their entry, like it was with Armenian one a year ago when for the first time we participated in Junior Eurovision. I also liked Macedonian entry. Ukraine was not bad too. Btw, I loved that Armenia gave the highest 12 points to Georgia. Again, it was well deserved. Nice to see Russia’s 12 points to Georgia too.

Last year’s Armenian entry - Arevik band with Erazanq song, was a perfect Junior Eurovision entry. Only luck made Belarus win that year ahead of Armenia with only 1 point! Arevik’s song became big hit afterwards, and deservedly so.

With Monika Manucharova, it was a mistake, to put it mildly. Sorry, Monika, you are lovely girl, and I wholeheartedly wish you have successful career in whatever you choose to do, but this was not (and should not have been) your day. It’s not really her fault. I blame organisers and whoever was responsible for Armenian entry this year (Nadezhda Sargsyan & co?).

*photo - via Junior Eurovision Song Contest

16 comments:

Anonymous said...

Any link to video of the Georgian entry? Not that I like kids singing in general, but it would be interesting to see/hear.

Anyway, Eurovision usually isn't about quality, unfortunately. Last year the Georgians entered this FANTASTIC song into the adult competition. Far too good and it didn't win.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvMaTl3Q9sc

And in their national competition to decide their entry for this year's Eurovision, Azerbaijan passed over the chance to enter this great rock track.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NwYjQVGGC8s

Wish Armenia has proper national competitions where different artists competed with different songs rather than it be just one.

On the other hand, the Georgian and Azerbaijani experience kind of suggests it wouldn't change much anyway. :-(

artmika said...

Here it is :):

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=VhWsGXB1Sj8

Anonymous said...

WTF?!?!?!?

Anonymous said...

BTW: I think there is a huge problem with how Armenia's entry is decided for Eurovision. There should be more than one choice for artist, and more than one choice for the song.

I've been looking at Azerbaijan's national contest and that's how they conduct their national competition. Georgia's also seems more "democratic" although I thought their entry this year was terrible.

Anyway, I suppose the best song or artist doesn't always go through, but I think that's how it should be decided. I was particularly impressed by one of Azerbaijan's contenders.

They entered at least three songs for consideration, but didn't go through. Nevertheless, from looking at video from the competition it looks better organized than Armenia's

Anyway, the singer in Unformal has too strong a voice (see the previous YouTube link) to be singing a song like this, but I was really taken by the energy and enthusiasm they have.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFlfmNtd1Lc

I hope we can have a better national song context to decide Armenia's entry into next year's Eurovision. From the sounds of things, if what you wrote is correct, it doesn't seem like it.

Eurovision 2009: Arame for Armenia?


:-(

Anonymous said...

Anyways, I hope Arame doesn't get pushed through next year. I'm waiting for Azerbaijan's sexy punk, Roya, to represent them.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38-q98Zbe9E

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjqPzMQqKxs

Then again, it shouldn't be about nations, it should be about the music so let the best act win, right?

artmika said...

She is sexy! If they choose her, she will be a strong contender.

Besides transparency, Armenian organisers have to look for talents outside the known circle. We need fresh faces. They should go out to clubs, other venues where occasionally you could spot new talents.

Also, Armenian side has to take into account that with this new voting system (50% jury / 50% people, first tested during this year’s Junior Eurovision) influence of Diaspora voting will somewhat diminished, so that performers should really stand out to have a chance to win.

On the other hand, I have my big doubts and reservations re jury voting too. No one knows, and not only in Armenia, how juries are selected, and there is lack of transparency of their work too. I do not think I would like jury to decide for me, unless the selection of jury is conducted transparently, with clearly set out principles, for all countries, which is doubtful. Moreover, juries may still vote for political, neighbourhood or whatever other not-based-on-quality-of-performance criteria. Also, I would not give jury more than 30% influence on final voting. Anyway, this is already becoming a reality, what we need now is to concentrate on quality.

Anonymous said...

Sexy?

Hadn't, ahem, noticed... ;-)

Anonymous said...

http://royaayhan.com/

Anonymous said...

Some concerns about choice of Azerbaijani entry this year:

Magomayev resurrected for Eurovision 2009

On the other hand, it's official now. Hadise is Turkey's entry.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ_lLOA29mw

(That's a fantastic track by the way)

Hadise Açıkgöz to represent Turkey

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgrNHvJugZk

Istanbul 2010, anyone? If Arame is Armenia's entry, no chance for Yerevan AT ALL.

Still Istanbul is a great city to visit and maybe the border will be open by then?

Actually, wouldn't that be a wonderful start for regional integration?

artmika said...

To be honest, I am not particularly impressed with Hadise. I do not like when people copy other singers. She is copying Britney Spears. She could be OKish for Eurovision, but nothing special. It all depends on song they will choose for the contest.

I wanna see Yerevan 2010 for Eurovision and for regional cooperation too :) Istanbul already hosted it, we need new city. But if rumours confirmed re Aramo, it will not happened. We need something which will stand out, something like SOAD to win.

As for Azeri singer rumoured for Eurovision, he is total disaster, horrible. I could not force myself to listen to his songs for more than a few seconds.

Anonymous said...

I think Hadise is excellent :-)

Better than the copycat singers we have here.

Anyway, let's see.

As I said before, let the best act win with the best song.

Oh, wait... I forgot, it's Eurovision...

Ani said...

And here I thought you guys would love somebody whose goal is to be the Azeri Tom Jones or Englebert Humperdinck ;)

I watched the Hadise video and I can tell you that she is umpteen times more interesting than Britney Spears, but that's not saying anything. Does she perform live? That track was so highly processed that it's hard to know what she sounds like in reality.

Anonymous said...

Azerbaijan has chosen its act -- interestingly, an unknown, Aysel Teymourzadeh so it will be interesting to see if she can perform under pressure. Can't find any samples of her singing on the Internet and the song hasn't been chosen yet anyway.

http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/12937

After Georgia's terrible entry last year I'm kind of dreading who they might choose for 2009, but let's see. Of course, the big question is whether Armenia will send Arame or not. I think most people still think this would be a huge mistake although some forums are talking about Emi. Yes, I know, others want SOAD.

Anyway, we're still waiting with bated breath, right?

artmika said...

I could not find any clips too. They say she is a newcomer and "is hardly known in Azerbaijan".

artmika said...

Now that I've seen few of her clips - average to below average, How on earth did they come up with such entry? They should work very hard on her vocal and performance skills to come up with something digestable. On the other hand, good news for Armenia - one potential contender is out, I suppose. Assuming of course, that Armenia selection for Eurovision 2009 won't be similarly dismal. Here is hoping.

artmika said...

Decided to make a separate entry on my Unzipped: Gay Armenia:

Thumbs down for Azerbaijan Eurovision 2009 entry