Niamh in it to Win It!
Tonight was probably Ireland’s easiest run at the Eurovision Final since the qualification stages began a few years ago. 17 acts from across the European Union and other continental countries came together in Oslo to sing like crazy people for a chance at the big prize – a place in Europe’s most watched TV programme of the year. Niamh Kavanagh, who previously won the competition in 1993, sang the now a-typical Irish ballad “It’s for You”, and aside from the wardrobe disaster that was her purple dress and the bad hair day she had, she was among the rare few on the show who sang almost pitch-perfect. And all throughout the song, Niamh blasted through the notes with precision and skill, with the notable exception of the final cadence, but by then the goosebumps on my body and shivers of pride down my spine were enough for me to be more than happy with her execution of our entry.
The Eurovision contest is rife with problems however. Aside from the fact that it is now far too big for it to carry any measure of fairness, the contest’s focus has shifted from its beginnings in Western Europe, to the Eastern European countries, Nordic Countries and Middle-East entrants. For example, Israel’s entrant this year sang alongside Niamh Kavanagh and rarely hit a note correctly and still qualified. The voting system is also flawed and very obviously skewed in favour of neighbouring countries.
Aside from the bigger picture, each participating country must select an entrant, usually chosen through the national television broadcaster. While some countries shamelessly put their best-looking women on show with lots of hair, little clothing and much bluster from the floor-fans, Ireland trots out the usual 5 or 6 ‘semi-finalists’ on the Late Late Show (don’t mention the so-called ‘pop-idol’ competitions) and then in a seemingly democratic way, whittles them down using a combination of 50% back-room team and 50% public vote. The odd thing is that all the acts bar one are complete shite and I’m completely oblivious as to how they arrive at selecting those that make it to the silver screen.
But overall, for Niamh’s performance, I’m happy with what we’ve ended up with. It’s a pretty forgettable song apart from the melody and her execution of it. Interestingly according to insiders, Niamh stood on a box in order to gain height in the dress – likely for presentation along with the backing singers. My prediction is that we’ll finish where we start on Saturday, somewhere in the top 10 but at the lower end of that. There’s a huge push for Azerbaijan and Denmark on Twitter at present, my tip is that Denmark have a good chance of winning and their proximity to Norway can’t but help given the action is taking place in Oslo. There’s also an interesting following of the Greek entry which of course would be questionable if the bankrupt state could knowingly take on the mantle of host in 2011 given their dire financial position. If Greece or Azerbaijan do win however, it means the competition will stay in that corner of Europe for a few more years. As it is moving from Russia to Norway and likely Denmark next, it’s coming our way.
Anyway, that’s all from me. Hit me up on Twitter @diarmy and best of luck to Niamh on Saturday. Just hope she loses the bad backing vocals, really terrible dress and maybe put the hair up with some bling on the neck and ears. The female competition is fierce – check out Georgia, Azerbaijan and Ukraine!
diarmy
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