Taggad: Yohanna

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.

Schlageroverload

It’s a huge night for schlager, with contest finals taking place in Iceland, Norway and Finland, and the second week of Melodifestivalen in Sweden. There is nothing happening in Denmark.

There’s been plenty of comment about all the finals in the past few weeks on Schlagerfiasko, so we’re just going to briefly discuss each one and then reserve analysis for the morning after. Assuming there’s no drinking involved in tonight’s proceedings. I had plenty of refreshment yesterday at lunchtime. Which started at 1pm and ended at 8. I think. I can’t remember.

ANYWAY, there’s much anticipation in Oslo this evening about friend of Schlagerfiasko Stella Mwangi. Can she win? Her song has been at the top of Norway’s iTunes chart since it won in Skien, and would be fantastic on the stage at Düsseldorf. Other songs to to look out for is the marvellous friend of Schlagerfiasko, Hanne Sørvaag, who has a great chance of success this evening. Babel Fish will also provide competition, and Helena Bøksle is also in with an outsider opportunity… Hopefully, Åste of Åste & Rikke will be on good form – she had to miss a rehearsal this week because of illness, so Schlagerfiasko sends its best wishes.

Helene Bøksle – Vardlokk
Sie Gubba – Alt du vil ha
Babel Fish – Depend On Me
The Lucky Bullets – Fire Below
The BlackSheeps – Dance Tonight
Stella Mwangi – Haba Haba
Åste & Rikke – Not That Easy (Ah-åh-ah-åh)
Hanne Sørvaag – You’re Like A Melody

Across the sea in Iceland, another friend of Schlagerfiasko, Erna Hrönn, will be hoping for success. She faces stiff competition from past winner Jóhanna, while Jógvan Hansen and Matti Matts could also break through. Sjónni Brink’s song is also getting a lot of attention, and could finish at the top. This is definitely a wide-open competition, and I’m not sure that Jóhanna can be assured of victory as many fans outside Iceland assume.

Haraldur Reynisson – Ef ég hefði vængi
Erna Hrönn Ólafsdóttir – Ástin mín eina
Yohanna – Nótt
Matthías Matthíasson & Erla Björg Káradóttir – Eldgos
Jógvan Hansen – Ég lofa
Magni Ásgeirsson – Ég trúi á betra líf
Sigurjón’s friends – Aftur heim

Finland’s final selection comes down to ten songs from a very un-schlager selection. The bookie’s favourite is Paradise Oskar (friend of… etc etc), with his gentle ballad. I’m also hoping that (friend of…) Saara Aalto will attract attention as well.

Eveliina Määttä – Dancing In The Dark
Sami Hintsanen – Täältä maailmaan
Milana Misic – Sydämeni kaksi maata
Paradise Oskar – Da da dam
Cardiant – Rapture In Time
Johanna Iivanainen – Luojani mun
Father McKenzie – Good Enough
Marko Maunuksela – Synkän maan tango
Saara Aalto – Blessed With Love
Stala & So – Pamela

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

Almost there

The third semi-final of Söngvakeppni started off with the contestants having a great big sing-song in the green room. It was a wonderful sight to see, given the circumstances that we’re all aware of, and it was clear that everyone was determined to have an up-beat show.

Buff’s entry was introduced with a tour of Pétur Örm Guðmundsson’s DVD collection, which took up a good couple of minutes. Pétur likes a lot of films. The song, a meandering rock’n'roll ballad, demonstrated his great vocal strength, but wasn’t our cup of coffee.

The strongest – and most Schlagerfiasko – song in the contest was Jógvan Hansen’s Ég lofa (I promise). A nervous start quickly led into confident, soaring vocals over the rocky chorus. Unsurprisingly, it went through, and is definitely going to be a contender in the final.

Magni Ásgeirsson is very tall. So tall, in fact, that he can pick up Jógvan’s microphone stand and it barely reaches his knee. The simplest of performances saw Magni perform with just a single back-up singer on stage with him. Confident vocals and presence saw him get his ticket to the final. Could he be a surprise winner? Stranger things have happened…

Georg Alexander Valgerisson stuck to his stool for his number, with a trio of Blues Brothers (Blues Triplets!) behind him taking care of the moving. Then, in a shock twist, he got off the stool and moved a few steps. The weakest performance of the night, it was all a bit forced. Georg would clearly have preferred to stay on that stool, while the Blues Triplets danced and waved their arms around, taking off their jackets and generally being a massive distraction. A shame.

The song everyone was waiting for started off with Sjónni Brink’s interview where he talked about his ponies and, heartbreakingly, looked a picture of health. Aftur heim (Almost Home) was performed by six of his friends, including Matti Matt – aka Matthías Matthíasson, competing with Eldgos. Big cheers greeted the song, while the singers took turns with the lines. A great performance of a song that isn’t to our taste, apart from the big Weimar ending, which is fabulous. Aftur heim is through to the final.

Just a note on the Söngvakeppni hosts, with whom we’re slightly obsessed. Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir and Guðmundur Gunnarsson have both been fantastic, and they’re both stunning. We fancy Guðmundur more than is healthy. Silly Schlagerfiasko.

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/