I regret that I haven’t posted comments on the songs yet, but hopefully Daniela and I can get something up before we leave.

I also hope to update while in Norway, but that’s dependent upon Internet access there.

The contest, for those of you who remember, was called “World Idol” and featured representatives from 11 countries who had won their own country’s version of “American Idol”, which (in the spirit of full disclosure) officially began in the UK.  Kelly Clarkson represented the US, sang as almost all her contemporaries, of course, in English, and after being accused by the Canadian judge of yelling rather than belting, lost out to “dark horse” Kurt Nilsen of Norway.  The US got tired of losing to Norway in the international arena, and the World Idol competition was not to be seen nor heard of again.  In fact, depending on the results of 2014’s final medal count, it remains to be seen whether the next Winter Olympics may in fact be our last.  Uff da!

The Dark Horse. (source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/iboy/4406255213/)

But enough about Kurt Nilsen.  What does any of this have to do with Eurovision?  Well, besides the mirrored voting systems, World Idol does help me, as a grudge-holding American, to discuss the particularities of the Norwegian brand of singing-contest success: they are either very good at it or very, very bad.

In fact, Norway holds the Eurovision distinction as the most frequent recipient of the dreaded “nul points” – exactly four times since the contest first began, with the additionally-dubious record of coming in dead last in ‘63, ‘69, ‘74, ‘76, ‘78, ‘81, ‘90, ‘97, ‘01 and ‘04.  Simultaneously, they also hold the record for the most number of points achieved in a single contest, with the largest gap ever between first place and second.  In light of this intriguing dichotomy, let’s revisit two of Norway’s shining and, um, not-so-shining Eurovision moments:

1)   Last year at Moscow, a humble Alexander Rybak thanking the audience in Russian (or Belorussian?), Norwegian, and English.  He is currently preparing his 2010 thank-you’s in Welsh, Maltese, and Esperanto.

2)   1997’s Tor Endresen, singer of “San Francisco” and most recent Norwegian nul points recipient.  With a song dedicated to 1960’s America, you would think other acts have since taken a cue from this performance.  Guess not.

With that said, I think it’s time to introduce this year’s contestant from Norway.  Classically-trained Didrik Solli-Tangen was selected from Melodi Grand Prix with a fairly cheesy ballad (comprising around 1/3 of the songs at Eurovision this year) entitled “My Heart Is Yours”.  Though written by ESC vets Hanne Sørvaag and Fredrik Kempe, the song has fallen under some scrutiny of late, ranging from not-altogether-surprising allegations of plagiarism (though the breadth of accusations are truly remarkable: from a 2007 UK national final selection, to this year’s Irish song, to a random Polish one, to Michael Jackson’s “Will You Be There“) to the downright disturbing.  Seriously though, let’s cut the kid some slack – here he is trying his hardest (no pun intended) with a familiar face on violin:

But, who is Didrik, does he have the fire in the belly, and, most importantly, what are his chances of beating the United States?  I’d say the odds remain stacked in Norway’s favor, considering that the US is not competing in Eurovision this year (or ever).  Nonetheless, don’t let that boyish charm and ability to hit the high C fool you – from the (ahem) insider knowledge I’ve received, Norway possesses a nefarious agenda bent on avenging its previous Eurovision faux pas and securing what may be the third-ever two-peat  in ESC history (discounting Spain’s second consecutive win in 1969, which was apparently rigged by Franco).  It seems that NRK producers have devised a sure-fire way of spicing up Didrik’s image and performance by making a few necessary changes.

No shoes, no shirt, no problem. (source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/iboy/4335083475/)

Wearing nothing but Norwegian curling pants and a pair of “Solli-Tangens” (details have yet to be released, though we can safely assume they’re similar to Ray-Bans), I am informed by production officials that Didrik intends to hand out as many samples of akvavit and lutefisk as possible within the span of 3 minutes while accompanied by up to (though not exceeding) five assistants over 16 years of age.

Fancy pants, Norway-style. (source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/slack13/4400369638/)

Though admirable in its attempt to curry favor with the audience (though perhaps not with the Norwegian government), the proposal has come under fire recently – the main reason being the unfortunate realization that both akvavit and lutefisk are actually quite nasty.

Mmmm, lutefisk! (source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mtcarlson/2178666901/)

As you can see, there’s (potentially) much to look forward to from this year’s Eurovision host nation.  So, to wrap up:  what lessons can we take from all this?  Well, that from our transatlantic perspective, unless it’s Kurt Nilsen or curling, we can’t garner much hope of Norwegian success this year.  But, best of luck, anyway!  Heia Norge!!

Daniela and I were lucky enough to get tickets to all three major events in Oslo, and we’ll be going there. With any luck, we can provide you updates from the show. Daniela has given me the great suggestion of doing some video updates from Oslo. This, of course, depends upon us having Internet access, so I can’t say for sure if I’ll be able to do this, but I hope to be able to give you some video from Oslo come May.

Expect more from me when I’m not bogged down in thousands of pages of reading for law school. (Like commentary on the songs selected.) I have no idea when that will happen.

Unrelated Notice: Our host has switched file servers for this site, and I’ve been informed that this may break some things. Hopefully it won’t, but if you notice something broken, drop me a line.

Well, the Olympic gold medalist moved away from Eurovision and back to real figure skating on a normal sized rink and won the World Grand Prix series in Moscow. While Eurovision has left Moscow and is on its way to Oslo, its stars certainly have not.

Last night I had the privilege of attending a Eurovision party at the House of Sweden hosted by the Swedish Embassy, surrounded by such stars in the Eurovision world as Christer Björkman, producer for Sveriges Television and head of delegation for Sweden, Fred Bronson, reporter and Eurovision expert, and Anna Sahlene, who’s competed in Eurovision. (Fred has also expressed a willingness to contribute to Eurovision America. Whether that’s reporting or his experiences, it is quite an honor to have a reporter of his caliber writing for our little blog.)

Once I finally catch up with my RSS feed, I’ll provide some commentary on recent Eurovision news.

First, Telenor Arena it is! Yeah, yeah, the EBU is calling it Fornebu Arena, which is its old name. It’s called Telenor, but because Telenor is not a corporate sponsor of Eurovision Song Contest, the venue can’t bear the Telenor name. It should be a fun venue, as it’s supposed to seat 23,000. That’s about as big as a place I’ve ever seen a concert in (biggest is the now-demolished Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, NC, which held 23,780 for a concert). Obviously, it’s way too early to start hearing a word about tickets. Hopefully the Norwegians will handle it a little better than the Russians. I can’t imagine what it was like to try to get a ticket if you didn’t speak Russian. My main concern with Telenor Arena is that it’s not easily accessible from the city center, being in the suburb of Bærum. The Russians figured something out for running the metro after hours, though, so I have complete confidence that the Norwegians will make it work for the thousands of foreigners who will come for the concert.

Second, the most recent UK contestant, Jade Ewen, winner of Eurovision: Your Country Needs You and fifth-place finisher in this year’s final, has released a new single, which has me saying, “What?” She was supposed to be a West End musical star, and she’s released what sounds to me like the stereotypical American pop song. Take a listen from the BBC via YouTube:

It’s certainly not what I expected from Jade. It sounds nothing like “It’s My Time,” possibly because Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote “It’s My Time” and this one was written by Ina Wroldsen. While I probably won’t be listening to much of Jade’s new material, I do wish her all the best.

EDIT: Fixed YouTube link.