Taggad: Erla Björg Káradóttir

On the Brink

Schlagerfiasko or not? That seems to sum up the reactions to Iceland’s Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins, where Sjónni’s friends (vinir Sjónna) won the competition. The main surprise seems to stem from the fact that Jóhanna – whom many, particularly outside Iceland, had tipped to win – didn’t even come second.

It was always going to be an emotional evening, with Sjónni Brink’s absence having a huge impact on proceedings. Despite the sterling efforts of Guðmundur Gunnarsson, joined by the inimitable Páll Óskar (Ragnhildur was apparently on her holidays!), the tone was muted and respectful, rather than fun. That’s not to say there wasn’t humour along the way, and Pálli’s interjections were great. And he definitely knows his Eurovision…

Crowd-pleasers were Jóhanna and Erna Hrönn, both of whom delivered great performances that definitely had potential for the Düsseldorf stage. Erna Hrönn, in particular, had great confidence and was an absolute treat. But given the circumstances, I’m not sure Eurovision was the point any longer.

Sjónni’s friends received a rapturous response, with the song seemingly taking on a new dimension as a celebration of Sjónni. I’d have been surprised if it didn’t win. Was that because of his passing? Quite possibly. But even if it was, it doesn’t matter. The Icelandic music community are mourning one of their own, and the contest became a tribute to his life. And you know what? That’s absolutely fine.

There’s been much internet comment about Jóhanna being Iceland’s only chance of victory. But who’s to say that she would have had a better chance at Eurovision than Sjónni’s friends, or Erna Hrönn, or Magni (who came second)? It doesn’t matter if Iceland wins the whole contest or doesn’t make it past the semi-final, it will (if the Friends are allowed to perform in place of Sjónni) have sent a song that truly represents the country at this moment in time.

Just a further note about the minor scandal surrounding Jóhanna’s perceived reaction to the announcement of the top two entries. She has had to issue a statement to say she supports the outcome, and congratulated the performers on the night. That’s fine, but why shouldn’t she be disappointed? She worked as hard as everyone else in the contest and wanted to represent her country. Any of us in the same position would be disappointed not to do as well as we hoped. Trying to create a drama from nothing is not going to achieve anything except a cheap headline, especially given the exceptional circumstances of this particular situation.

Goodness me, what a serious review. I’m going off to watch Babsan from Saturday evening.

About to erupt?

We’ve got the first Nordic final tomorrow, as Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins reaches its climax. We’ve covered it extensively here on Schlagerfiasko, so we’re not going to review each song again (in other words, we can’t be bothered), but we’re looking forward to it immensely. Of course, we’ll actually be watching the first round of Melodifestivalen when its on. And as the final only lasts for 50 minutes, we’re not expecting to miss too much of a spectacle.

Schlagerfiasko is making no predictions about the outcome, but we think the strongest entries are from Erna Hrönn, Matti, Jógvan, Jóhanna and Sjónni’s friends.

Anyway, the full line-up is:

Aftur heim (Almost Home)
Sjónni’s Friends: Gunnar Ólason, Vignir Snær Vigfússon, Pálmi Sigurhjartarson, Matthías Matthíasson, Hreimur Örn Heimisson and Benedikt Brynleifsson

Ástin mín eina (My Only Love)
Erna Hrönn Ólafsdóttir

Ef ég hefði vængi (If I Had Wings)
Halli Reynis

Ég lofa (I Promise)
Jógvan Hansen

Ég trúi á betra líf (I Believed In A Better Life)
Magni Ásgeirsson

Eldgos (Eruption)
Matthías Matthíasson and Erla Björg Káradóttir

Nótt (Night)
Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir

Eruption disruption

Well, that wasn’t supposed to happen.

Jóhanna had been on and performed Nótt in her usual 100% style with an excellent vocal and sailed through to the final. It’s probably going to win, too – you can almost hear the English-language version in the lyric. And we’re more than happy with that.

But then Meatloaf Matthías Matthíasson lumbered on, and what followed was quite ridiculous.

And there we have Eldgos – Eruption. As we moaned before, reminding Western Europe about that volcano (Eyjafjallajökull, and we didn’t even need a dictionary to double-check that) isn’t going to be the best of ideas, seeing as it disrupted everyone’s summer fun in the sun. Although we have to admit that it was a blissful few days to be living under the Heathrow Airport flight path. But then the night flights started and we got no sleep. So we’re blaming Matthías.

Anyway, back on subject, Eldgos is a disjointed mess of a song that can’t seem to decide what it is. If it were in the form of a nine-minute rock session of self-indulgence, then it would probably do quite well. As it is, it’s 180 seconds of aural torture, trying to pack in as much as it can, from frenetic vocal to opera wailing (yes, wailing) courtesy of Erla Björg Káradóttir, while a few strings try valiantly to keep up.

Suffice to say, it’s in the final. Please, Iceland, stick to the Nótt.

Give me hope, Yohanna

Back to Reykjavík for week two of Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins, then. The first show was great, a really enjoyable evening, even if we couldn’t understand a bloody word of what was going on (apart from when someone said ”vasanum”, which we know means ‘pocket’. Don’t ask us how we know that).

So does the second week live up to the first?

Well, it marks the return of Yohanna (Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir, in this house) to the Söngvakeppni stage, so yes, it already does. And we’re not going to apologise for going straight to her song first, even though it’ll be the second one to be performed. Nótt (Night, as if you didn’t already know from Sílvia) is another big ballad, and it’s amazing, of course. While this version is in Icelandic, we can almost hear the English translation happening in Düsseldorf (if it doesn’t start with ”If you ever…”, we’ll eat our hákarl). It’s fabulous, will come first, etc.

So, what else… First up will be Kristján Gíslason and his Íslenzka sveitin (Icelandic band) performing Þessi þrá. It’s a nice ballad, quite reminiscent of Chanée and n’Evergreen from last year. It might be a little too slow for the full three minutes, however. Still like it.

On third is Matthías Matthíasson and Erla Björg Káradóttir with Eldgos. Now, the title translates as Eruption, and starts off with scary strings leading into a frenetic volcanic, erm, eruption, that sounds like heavy metal with all the guitars taken out. It works, if you like your music to be as stressful as possible. And then Erla Björg starts opera-ing all over it, and it becomes a hot Bulgarian mess (see last year’s Eurovision).

And frankly, the whole of Europe has had enough of Icelandic eruptions to last them a lifetime, so this could be taken as a great big middle finger. We don’t see it like that, of course, but we do need a couple of painkillers and a lie down now.

Thank goodness for Bryndís Ásmundsdóttir and her Segðu mér (Tell Me), then, which is like a musical aspirin after all that commotion. A heartfelt plea to a love to tell her what’s going on (we think), it’s a lovely guitar-led ballad.

Rakel Mjöll Leifsdóttir will be last up, and she won’t be in any mood to get things going again. Beint á ská (Directly Edgeways, which we’re sure is a mistranslation on our part) is summer in a song, sounding like Emilíana Torrini’s younger sister who’s been listening to lots of Corinne Bailey Rae. It’s no Eurovision winner, but it’s lovely.

There you go – have a listen for yourself to all five tracks in their entirety (what a treat!) and let us know what you think. Rank them, even, if you dare. They’re all here: vefir.ruv.is/songvakeppnin/