Irish Mail on Sunday, May 10th, 2009

It’s that time of the year again. Just as Ireland’s hopes were pinned to that

Six Nations match in Cardiff last March, so too do the eyes of the nation

turn to Moscow next week for the 54th Eurovision Song Contest. Sinead

Mulvey and Black Daisy have risen from the ashes of “You’re A Star”

obscurity to emerge as the Ireland’s representative for this years

contest. The rock chick outfit will take to the stage at the Olimpski

Arena on Thursday in their quest to win the world’s biggest music contest

and bring the sentiment of “Yes we can” home to the Irish people at a

time when hope is at its lowest ebb.

Thanks to the Russian crooner Dima Bilan (featuring an acclaimed

violinist and some Olympic ice-skater bloke), Russia are to host their

first ever Eurovision Song Contest. And not a nation who likes to play

second fiddle, Russia promises to showcase the biggest contest in history

– with a €27m budget being allocated to the project by Vladamir Putin.

This years colossal stage which features mobile giant LED screens,

chameleons with each individual performance, creating illusions of fantasy

cities, underwater worlds and is expected to become a Winter wonderland

when the Cirque du Soleil tread the boards for the interval act. There’s

also the welcome return of national juries in the final to curb the

prevalence of diaspora voting of late. They’ll make up 50% of the total

vote, the other half being comprised of the estimated 10million votes

which will cast Eurowide.

Dima Bilan’s winning song was written by American Jim Beanz, who penned

such hits as “Maneater” for Nelly Furtado and “Gimme More” for Britney

Spears. As a result, many countries this year have upped their game this

year by bringing out the big boys to represent their country. After

bringing up the rear in 2008, The UK entry which will be performed by

West End singer Jade Ewen, is a collaboration between Andrew Lloyd Webber

and Dianne Warren. France meanwhile are represented by superstar Patricia

Kaas, burlesque dancer Ditta von Tease will be getting her groove on for

Germany and and in cruel treasonous move this year’s Danish song is

written by our own Ronan Keating.

Otherwise its typical Eurovision fare; a meterosexual Greek who flies

through the stage mid performance, a Finish rapper with OCD, and Balkan

beauties who beat us in the head with a one line choruses until we beg for

mercy. And Eurovision wouldn’t be Eurovision without the usual

controversy. Israel, in an aim to reconcile the conflict in the Middle

East have a Jewish/Arab duo singing and Arabic will be sung for the first

occasion. Georgia on the other hand have been booted out of the

competition by the EBU following Russian pressure that their song

contained subliminal messages which were anti-Russian. Georgia vehemently

denied the accusation, claiming the title “We Don’t Wanna Put In” as

merely coincidental. You couldn’t make this up.

After Ireland’s turkey scored duck eggs all across Europe last year,

there’s a marked absence of gimmick entries this year (not necessarily a

good thing). Despite the hype this year’s songs are arguably of the

poorest stock in years so Ireland is certainly in with a shot of

qualification. The song “Et Cetera” chronicles the torrid love affair

between an Aerlingus air hostess and her cheating latin lover (literally).

After deliberating on an original concept, which probably included

composing a song in Esperanto, the International team behind this magnum

opus decided to give Eurovision its first ever song entitled in the lingua

franca of Ancient Rome. Why not, says you.

“Et Cetera – I’ve heard that oh so many times!” opines Mulvey in the

chorus. The hope is that this sentiment will have a pan European appeal.

Afterall, we’ve all been there: shouting out “Et Cetera” to a scorned

lover in the heat of an argument. Ireland’s rehearsals in Moscow with its

simple stage show have been garnering quite positive reaction despite RTE

being in loggerheads with the Russian production team about which camera

angles should be used during the performance.

There’s no cross-stage acrobatics or clothes stripping but rather a rock

chick homage to Debbie Harry and the ghd. “It’s the type of song that’s in

the charts at the moment” said the charming Mulvey during an interview

yesterday. “Type of” being the operative words unfortunately. The

teenybopper lyrics seem to have come about five years too late for Mulvey

and the melody, about ten years too late for an impression on Ireland’s

Top ten. At last check the song had odds as long as 200/1 but who knows

what impact the girls will have on your voter in Azerbaijan on the big

night.

Should the unthinkable happen and we not win the Grand Prix,

Norway and the song “Fairytale” is considered the country to beat. With

elements of Harry Potter meets Fiddler on the Roof all performed by a

Belarussian immigrant, who would bet against it.

Ireland will compete in the second of two semi finals next Thursday, May

14th at 8pm on RTE 2.