- its great to see what kind of Swedish talents ABBA were up against- Watch out for a young
Anders glenmark at the end!
Aug 28, 2010
ABBA in Melodifestivalen entries from 1968- 1981
Many swedish stars have entered Melodifestivalen many times with dreams of making it to the Eurovision glory, names like Magnus Carlsson ( who we are hoping will be back in 2011-see interview below) & Nanne Gronvall, to name a couple.
ABBA made the biggest impact back in 74 with 'waterloo' as we know so well however this journey along the melodifestival path was also a long one, and even continued after that Brighton win in 1974. In fact as songwriters or solo singers they competed in Melodifestivalen a total of 7 times, twice a song was not selected or choosen- giving a total of 9 entries from back in 1968.
Here is the History year-by-year.
1968- Agnetha a new star in Sweden submitted the song 'Forsonade'
wrote by Agnetha.
It failed to be selected for Melodifestivalen- is found on her debut album.
1969- Benny (& Lasse Berghagen) wrote the tune 'Hej clown'
sung by Jan Malmsjö, a famous actor-The tune tied for 1st place, then following a re-vote
Benny's song came just second to Tommy Korberg.
1969- Anni-Frid Lyngstad sung the same year 'Harlig ar var jord' following her Tv breakthough 2 years previous this jazzy standard finished in joint 4th place. This was Frida's only solo Mf appearence.
1970- Sweden did'nt take part in Eurovision
1971- Bjorn & Benny began writing pop hits together now so submitted a tune 'Det kan lngen Doktor hjalpa' a folk band Family Four, had been choosen already by SVT as the artist to sing in ESC.
However this was not one of the 5 songs choosen as part of Melodifestival show- The song was released as a Bjorn & Benny single- with Agnetha & Frida on backing vocals. This track shows an early Abba sound now coming together.
1972- A Polar Lable artist Lena Andersson sung the next Bjorn & Benny song 'Säg Det Med En Sång' she came 3rd- and this gave her a big hit single in Sweden. And has remained a popular Melodifestivalen classic of 70's.
1973- Following the debut single 'People need love' released in 72-ABBA arrived in Melodifestivalen yet stil know as their individual names. The song was 'Ring Ring' due
to a jury of experts the song came only 3rd! 'Ring, Ring' was clearly the public's favourite and launched Abba's career & debut album.
1974- Abba won Melodifestivalen with 302 points ahead of Lasse Berghagen (211) & Lena Ericsson (185) ..the rest really became international history.
Yet this was not the end for Bjorn & Benny at Melodifestivalen- next year they came back.
1975- 'Bang en Boomerang' became a hit track on Abba's third LP it was infact wrote for Svenne & Lotta in Melodifestivalen 1975 it came 3rd. While Lasse Berghagen took top honours at last. (click on song to view MF 75 performance)
...it seemed as if the four swedes would not come back to Melodifestivalen after 1975. There was a long gap and ABBA's huge international career kept them busy, then in 1981 -Agnetha suddenly put her songwriting talents out there for the Mf final.
1981- Agnetha Faltskog wrote "Men natten ar var" (lyrics by Ingela Forsman) a new artist Kicki Moberg sung the song. It came in 5th place with 28 points (out of 5 songs)
This year was strangely the same year Benny Andersson chose to Produced a new Norwegian folk singer/songwriter Finn Kalvik who was selected for
Eurovision 1981 for Norway. Finn's own song 'Aldri i Livet' (Here in my heart) came last
in Dublin! with nul points, although Agnetha & Frida sang the back-up vocals on his studio version of the single and album released.
So that's the Abba long journey with Melodifestivalen. That had rejected tunes and last placing
even after Brighton..if you want to hear more Abba JUST tune into 'Cafe Latte' today on
Alan Ross will be doing a 2 hr special on the swedes on Sunday 29th 3pm (EST Melb time)
Aug 24, 2010
Eurovision 2011 Where will it be Berlin? Hamburg? Dusseldorf? Or Hannover?
Lena Meyer Landrut, who historically took Germany to their 2nd ever win in the Eurovision Song Contest this year. Now since May there has been many discussions as to where the location of Eurovision 2011 in Germany will be. Many of Germany cities have put in a bid to be the host, this competion has now been narrowed down to
four strong contendors.
The date has been set for 14th May 2011- for the Grand Final, with the semi final's during the week before (10th & 12th ) The two stand-out bids are seen as the capical Berlin & second city Hamburg, they both have just what a big city needs to take on the giant Song Contest.
On a recent site Lena herself said while not wanting to put down her 'fantastic' capital Berlin,
she thinks 'Hamburg' has been strong follower of ESC held parties each year for alot longer-
so has Lena's vote.
Will her option make a difference we will find out in a few days- its
almost as exciting as Australia's hung parliment down-under !!
Aug 21, 2010
Annikafiore - Forbidden Love Video
Remember Alcazar's Annikafiore,
she has now gone solo recently and she has a thumping new
track that has been choosen by the danes as
OFFICIAL SONG of COPENHAGEN PRIDE 2010
..and the video well it's really something els!!
If you like this track before 23/80/2010 you can download it free
here- be quick
Aug 19, 2010
Peter Fox: Germany's Neue mega-star from Bundesvision Song Contest 09
Stefan Raab- Mastermind behind Lena & Bundesvision
Long before Lena Meyer Landrut- there was another Huge Star in Germany- who has rose to fame in his homeland
& represented his home city Berlin. Its been a bit of a secret that Germany have their own Song Contest along the lines
of Eurovision & called Bundesvision. This domestic contest is organised by Herr Stefan Raab (above) the guy who sang 'Wadde hadde dudde da?'
for Germany in Eurovision 2000 (finished 5th) Bundesvision is not connected to Eurovision yet since back in 2005 when it began it has been very popular as each region of Germany compete to win the contest.
Last year a big Star was born from Berlin Peter Fox with his own brand of German R&B/rap style he won top prize in 2009 with
the hit 'Schwarz zu blau' so the musical culture here seems alot more alternative than Eurovis-Pop.
Check out more from Peter Fox and his best selling album called 'Stadtaffe' -we found it very different - almost
germany music in a NYC style.
As for Bundesvision stay tuned - as we will be following this years event in Berlin on 1st October 2010
Peter Fox interview with Stephen Raab
The winning Bundesvision song 2009 - 'Schwarz zu blau'
Aug 14, 2010
Timoteij heading high up in the Charts with a second Top 3 Hit-
Four girls with a new brand of Folk -Pop shot to fame in Melodifestivalen 2010
They are Cecilia Kallin, Bodil Bergström, Elina Thorsell and Johanna Pettersson, all four girls are born in 1991.
With the song 'Kom' they came 5th yet in retrospective this song and look could have gone down well
in Oslo. Now the Timoteij's have a huge follow up single this summer with 'Högt Över Ängarna' -High above the Mountains
its No; 3
this week in swedish Singles chart. The album Längtan is another great success, proving this new
Swedish band are gonna stick around - Lets hope they will be back for another stab at Melodifestivalen soon.
Aug 13, 2010
a FAB Magnus Carlsson interview from Stockholm Pride
Mr MeLODiFESTIVALeN -himself Magnus is back!
WATCH the MELoDiFESTIVALEN Medley hear all the best
thanks to OikoTimes
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