Well… That was…..interesting. I think that’s the phrase…
Looking back at the OnEurope predictions, we see that 6 out of the 10 came right (hoorah). The 4 that were missed, I think, were missed by everyone. The ten qualifiers from the Kyiv semi-final, held on Thursday 19 May 2005, were:
- Romania — Luminița Anghel and Sistem, “Let Me Try” — 235 points
- Moldova — Zdob și Zdub, “Boonika Bate Toba” — 207 points
- Denmark — Jakob Sveistrup, “Talking To You” — 185 points
- Croatia — Boris Novković feat. Lado members, “Vukovi Umiru Sami” — 169 points
- Hungary — NOX, “Forogj Világ” — 167 points
- Norway — Wig Wam, “In My Dreams” — 164 points
- Israel — Shiri Maimon, “Hasheket Shenish’ar” — 158 points
- Switzerland — Vanilla Ninja, “Cool Vibes” — 114 points
- FYR Macedonia — Martin Vučić, “Make My Day” — 97 points
- Latvia — Walters & Kazha, “The War Is Not Over” — 85 points
Am extremely happy that Belarus got nowhere. Europe are a strange lot at times, as the readers of this web blog will testify, but they are not stupid. They could see exactly what Angelica ‘avinabash was all about: a woman camping up a poor song with no voice. That’s the biggest waste of €1,000,000 on promotion I have ever seen!!
In the actual result, Angelica Agurbash finished 13th with “Love Me Tonight”, so Belarus did not qualify. The comments above about her vocal ability, promotion and audience reaction are, of course, my opinion from the night rather than any sort of scientific assessment.
Denmark, Macedonia (FYR or not, depending on your views) and Croatia were mystifying enough. None of them had been given a prayer by any of the assembled brains trust of journalists around here for the last week. We suspect that Croatia and FYR Macedonia may have been the only victims, this time round, of the “appealing to the local market – and getting a few extras” idiom. But as Denmark has no friends, that one is a total shock!
That shock looks even bigger in the result: Denmark finished third with 185 points and Croatia fourth with 169. FYR Macedonia, as it was officially styled in 2005, scraped through in ninth with 97, while Latvia took the final qualifying place in tenth with 85. Latvia performed fifth in the running order, Macedonia 17th, Croatia 20th and Denmark 24th, which may or may not explain anything whatsoever.
That leads me on to Latvia. How on earth did this get through? You looked into their eyes and thought “ahhhh”, didn’t you!!! — silly peoples of Europe.
Still, it tees up a cracking final. The semi-final was contested by 25 countries, with the top ten going through to the Grand Final on Saturday 21 May. The other 14 finalists were already qualified under the rules then in operation: the previous year’s results, host-country status and the Big Four arrangement. Romania winning from 14th in the running order was perhaps less mysterious than some of the entries that followed them.
Today’s schedule…well…. not a lot really…. two rehearsals of the Eurovision at 3pm and 9pm local time…. and that’s it really!!
