Something about something

Today my hand was hurting enough for me to come home from work in the middle of the day. I normally don't do anything like that, but I had to. Later I also had to go back to the clinic, get the cast off, get another X-ray, get scheduled for a minor procedure to correctly reset my wrist tomorrow morning so my arthritis damaged joint will be in a place where it won't hurt like heck, get a splint and while there, get some dinner at a nearby take out. But that's beside the point. And before you ask, yes, once I'll get re-casted on probably Sunday, I'll go with the pink again. :) It kinda grew on me.

So anyway,  I came home to an empty house, and as I walked in, I realised it had been forever since I last listened to Milim, Harel Skaat's Eurovision entry. So what I did was, I put it in the CD player in English, and turned up the volume till the whole floor was filled with this majestically sad feeling, and I loved singing along with it, and feeling a certain sadness that I found somewhat liberating. Harel has the best break-up songs (Ve At and Im Hu Yelech among others.) It felt oh-so-good. I even put it on repeat, because I was just enjoying my time.



Then I started to do dishes and let the CD continue on to this song:



Oh yes, baby, it's Hevel's Awful Accent When Singing In French time! Because I do know the words to Il Pleut De L'Or! :P Gotta love Swiss guys who can sing in three languages, and who look like a hipster Mickey Mouse. :)

Now the song... must listen

So last night was the ESC final. I can't believe Lena won... So... next year in Jerusalem Berlin?* (or some other German city). And Denmark getting all those 1st places? What a joke! Turkey creeped me out, and Serbia... Well. That was plain weird. I think Romania was brilliant, and I quite liked Russia. And Harel, of course, who came in 14th (out of 25) with 71 points.

On gossip level I heard of a lot of technical problems that marred the show, but generally, it was good entertainment. But due to the genral problems with sound, the live performance of Milim will be the last video posted.

Here is the English version of the Israeli entry (you should really listen to this one.)

And the French:


And finally, last night's live performance:


And no, I won't post the nightmare that was Milim at the semifinal.

*At the conclusion of the Yom Kippur service and the Passover Seder the words "Next Year in Jerusalem" are recited.

Eurovision countdown 12

One of the all time highlights for me were in 1994, and I was very pleasantly surprised that the Hungarian entry from that year has stuck with me for over a decade and a half. The best part was listening to the BBC commentators trying to pronounce the title of the song, Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet? and failing quite spectacularly. But the song itself was a great one. It was Hungary's first ever entry in the ESC, and I think it was the best ever song they entered.

I can see why some people would not enjoy the original version as much as us, Hungarian speakers, but you can find a video of the English version with semi-decent sound. The lyrics are uplifting, beautiful, and a bit sad at the same time, the music and Friderika's voice is out of this world.

The 1979 winner Hallelujah by Gali Atari and Milk and Honey may have been the most religious song to ever win, but Friderika's song was probably the most religious non-religious song I've ever heard. It touches the heart of the searcher, it prompts thinking and makes one stop for a moment.

Alas, Friderika has all but disappeared. She can be seen during the Sunday broadcasts of one of the charismatic Christian churches, but pretty much that's all. I wish she was more visible in the pop world of Hungary - she was great.

Eurovision countdown 11.

Israel's first ESC win, contrary to popular belief, wasn't about a polar bear wearing a wonderbra. I have blogged about the psychliguistic aspects of this song before, and I have blogged about the singer Yizhar Cohen before - pointing out that he is one of those men, who start to look REALLY good over the age of 50...

The song A-ba-ni-bi (and various spellings) has been a family favorite since before my birth. My elder brothers and sisters loved it and sang it often, and my twin borther entered a well known TV talent show with this song when we were 21. It was one of the first Hebrew songs my kids learned and it's one that they can totally do the dance for!

A-ba-ni-bi is a total disco love song. I'm a sucker for love songs. And Jewfros. How I wish Kevin would finally grow his hair out! He'd have a Jewfro, too.

Eurovision countdown 10.

Today it's like happy hour: pay for one, take home two...

Sir Cliff Richard wasn't a Sir back then, but he represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest twice. The first time it was Congratulations back in 1968.


Don't forget, this is 1968. The resemblence to Austin Powers is overwhelming, but it is not complete till 1973's Power to All Our Friends.

Starting around the 0:49 mark you can see some interesting leg work that escalates to some rather embarassing "dance" around 2:25.

Visuals aside, both are great songs, and especially the latter song is a great favorite of mine. It hasn't aged, really. As one YouTube commenter said, it has that contemporary feel even today.

I grew up with Cliff Richard's music, and one of his songs is a karaoke favorite of mine. When I look at him, for some odd (though not mysterious) reason I always think of the two summers I got to spend in India, and of course Summer holiday is a frequently played song in my home during the month of June, leading up to the end of the school year (June 15 for my eldest, June 30 for the other three).

Cliff Richard, like Doctor Who, The Beatles and fish and chips is a must for our yearly British party. Cliff Richard calls for cucmber sandwiches and tea, with a taste of duck curry and ice cream.

Eurovision countdown 9.

The song that should have been...

The song, and as far as I remember, the performer, never made it to the Eurovision Song Contest. It should have, really. I'm fairly sure Finland would have won with it.

It is, however, a very important part of one of my Eurovision Song Contest 2006 experience (or was it 2007?) Every time there was something boring going on, my brother started Loituma's Ievan Polkka. Yes, teh song with the leek spinning girl flash animation.

>

Eurovision countdown 8.

I remember watching a lot of Italian movies as a kid. Especially when I lived in Italy for a short time. But seriously, there were times when I saw more Italian movies than American ones. I also watched older Italian movies. Like ones from the 60's and 70's. Like ones with Gianni Morandi.

I have to admit that my all time favorite song by him is the all-too-common choice, In Ginocchio Da Te. (Link to YouTube.) The film was sweet and I can't wait till I can pick the old VHS up from my brother to watch it for the 10 millionth time. I'm a sucker for sweet movies from a different era.

In 1970 Gianni Morandi represented Italy in the ESC. He didn't place particularly high, but I think he was absolutely entertaining considering that he was standing alone on stage. Kevin would phrase that he was particulary hyperactive.

All I can say if it wasn't for Morandi, I would have never fallen in love with the music of Eros Ramazzotti. I first heard his name in a TV series uttered by Morandi's character, who tried to convince some young people that he was really too old to sing their song.

Well, he definitely wasn't too old in 1970.

Eurovision countdown 7.

You knew this one was coming, right? You just knew I couldn't pass this one up, right?

The following performer from 1998 was born as Yaron Cohen. That is, btw, my youngest brother's name. This performer caused major controversy in Israel - in quite a different way from the two guys from 1987. Because today's song is...

Eurovision countdown 6.

This song, the most memorable for me from 1996 was actually not in the competition.

It was Morten Harket's song in the opening part of the show.

Seriously, what's not to love about Morten Harket? As a middle child in a very European family, my only sister in the other family was the biggest A-Ha fan who ever walked the earth. Do you know what her major was in college? Scandinavian studies (Norwegian). That's how big a fan she was. (She also has a degree in nursing.) Actually, she was there in Norway with an Erasmus type scholarship in 1996, and went to the Eurovision final. And this year, once again, she will be back, as 10th anniversary present from her husband. (Hopefully Skaat wins this year, so we can go to the final next year!)

Morten Harket was my first celebrity crush. And no, it wasn't with the comic book video. It was After the Rain. I still have a few of those BRAVO (or is it Popcorn?) star cards, one of them is Morten, another is A-ha. Just don't tell my kids.

Eurovision countdown 5.

In 2008 the ESC had its first non-human contestant.

Dustin the turkey was representing my native Ireland.

Yes, a turkey. It was a hilarious turkey. And while he lost to Greece's awesome entry, he really brightened up the scene, making fun of the current ESC voting system.

Many, I love Dustin. (Of course, I love turkeys. Especially in the form of turkey bacon and roast turkey.)

Eurovision countdown 4.

And now onto 2007. I am not a big fan of Hungary's current pop scene, including Magdi Rúzsa, but the 2007 Hungarian entry was something that I had on my playlist for a long time.



I don't know why I actually fell in love with this song, which, as things go, might be the last ever Hungarian entry that made it to the finals. Definitely the next two years were disappointing, and this year Hungary is not in the competition.

Rúzsa has a great voice, I admit, and yeah, she has some great songs. She is getting to be a real professional performer, and with her ability of singing in several languages -- she is also fluent in Serbian -- might open up the road for an international career for her - eventually.

Eurovision countdown 3.

Hu! Ha!

Let's travel back in time to 1979... The winning song already got its own entry, and I'll blog more about it... But there is something... Something I never understood...

What were the Germans thinking, when they nominated this song???????? (/question mark abuse)

Seriously.

As a side note, I can see how Hungarian singer Mándoki László became Leslie Mandoki, but how on earth did Kérmárky Marika turn into Edina Pop? Oh well, those were different times...

While I always thought that the whole band was a joke, I have to admit that I love this song (and a few others) by them, no matter how silly/weird they seem. They at least bring a smile to people's faces!

So what is this Eurovision thing you keep talking about?

Actually what I'm talking about is the Eurovision Song Contest (link to Wikipedia). It's an annual competition between member states of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). (Israel, though it is in Asia, is a member of EBU and thus participates in the competition.) It has been around since 1956. Ireland first particpated in 1965, Israel in 1973 and Hungary in 1994. (Those are my three European countries.) Ireland has won a record 7 times, Israel three times. Israel is also the only country that not participated in the contest the year after a win: after Gali Atari and Milk And Honey won in 1979, Israel opted not to take part in the 1980 competition that was held on Israel's Memorial Day (link to a previous entry on my blog).

This year the two semifinals are held on May 25 and 27 (with Harel Skaat singing in the second one) and the final is going to be on the 29th. It's going to e broadcast live by many EBU member channels as well as online (link to the ESC live streaming site).

Baxk on LJ I used to have several LJ friends, who were big ESC fans (like celestialwillow), some of whom would "watch along" (and discuss the show on Yahoo messenger while watching it) or review it. I miss that.

Eurovision countdown 2.

The first Eurovision Song Contest in my lifetime was held in the UK when I wasn't even a month old yet (and well before my due-date). 1983 should have been the first one in my lifetime, but being a preemie, I was around to to be exposed to the horror that was Ireland's entry in 1982. While Ireland has won the contest a gazillion times (where 7=gazillion), we had quite a few horrific entries.



The only redeeming quality of the Israeli entry that year was having Ofra Haza as a background singer.Now with both videos, the songs don't start for a good minute into the vids.

Eurovision countdown 1.

First, good news for my Hungarian friends: Duna TV will broadcast the semifinals and finals in Hungary. I don't think you guys will be able to vote, but if you will be able to... remember, Harel Skaat and the song Milim... :)

I decided to share (and re-share, in some cases) my favorite Eurovision moments.


So. 1987, Israel.

I actually remember watching this live (like most every year) and I think at that point I still retained some of my Hebrew because I remember understanding this song. It's two Israeli comedians singing about a bum's life... :-)

And so the countdown begins

Today my son came home with a home made calendar. It's the type that is made out of a long, long and thin piece of paper, with different squares to represent each day, and you can cut off a square each day. There are bright yellow squares for the Shabbat. A square decorated with the drawing of a bonfire for Lag B'Omer. A square with a photo of Jerusalem for Yom Yerushalayim. A birtday cake for P's birthday and party hat for Kevin's birthday. Then two days with a red edge, one with a prmonent Israeli flag, the other just small stars, and finally a big gold star on the last day, May 29th.

It's a countdown calendar leading to the Eurovision Song Contest. For those of you in other parts of the world - traffic measurements show many of you are North Americans - the Eurovision Song Contest is a Big Thing. I have blogged about it before, as well as my family's obsession with it. One thing we did as an adoption fundraiser was a Eurovision Sing In.

Ireland and Israel have both won the contest before. Israel's three wins are 1978's A-Ba-Ni-Bi, 1979's Hallelujah and 1998's Diva.

This year my sons firmly believe Israel can win again. I agree with them: the song is really great, the performer is handsome, has a great voice, has charisma, and yeah, he is the Harel Skaat from the last few posts.


The video above is the Israeli entry to this year's competition. As far as I know an English language version of the song will be released soon. The Song, Milim (Words) is subtitled in English.

Glitter shoes and some bad news for Hungary

Hungary is not participating in Eurovision 2010. Hungary is not only not participating in 2010 in the Eurovision Song Contest, but - get this! - the Hungarian Public Television is not going to broadcast it either! I will have to make sure that I am in Israel/Ireland during Eurovision week this coming spring!

That above was Bayer Friderika singing the English version of the 1994 Hungarian Eurovision entry. I think this was around the same time she became a charismatic Christian. Makes the song have so many levels of meaning, doesn't it? One of the best Eurovision songs in my lifetime (A-ba-ni-bi and Hallelujah are older than me.)

Now back tothe topic of glitter shoes. As it has already been established, I'm in no danger of winning Parent of the Year. My newest thing is... buying my sons (and Kevin and my brother and my niece and my sister and my nephew) some glitter shoes. All because my 6-year-old who should remain namless told his twin brother Justin that he wants to borrow his uncle's glitter shoes (Efi wore them for a show) because he liked the new Mika video. So I went and bought several pairs. And while there at the shop, I boought new underwear for the boys. Now if I let them wear their new undies with their new shoes they have their instant Purim costumes!

A game of Activity

At least once every week some of my siblings and our families meet up for game night. Our game of choice is Activity, a game that is the love child of Charades, Pictionary and angsty teenage poetry. Two or more teams play against each other, and since there are enough of us, we have a game master as well. There are various things that need to be found out. They are written on small cards, with a small clue, such as "Title" or "Person" or "Verb" and the method of giving clues to your team is dtermined by a small spin. It can be pantomime, drawing or rhyming. When we play the prize is always a plate of cookies, which are always shared between all the players.

One time we were playing at my brother Chalin's and my brother Efi was the game master, so he was the one to provide that day's assignments. With one little card in hand, Chalin went to the white board and drew the picture on the left (ok, so this was later redone on paper). Without further ado my lovely 6-year-old shouted "A-ba-ni-bi!"

The game stopped there, because it just turned into laughter intermixed with more Eurosong singing, including a performance of Dana International's Diva.

Hallelujah

"Hallelujah la'olam
Hallelujah, yashiru kulam"

I have been humming the song Hallelujah by Gali Atari and Milk & Honey in three different languages the last two days. No, it is not the one Leonard Cohen/Jeff Buckley/Rufus Wainwright (who, in my opinion, butchered the greatest sex/break up/ love song ever) sang. It is a cute, cheesy, 70's tune, that managed to win the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest. That was the year when Dschinghis Khan were performing the song Dschinghis Khan (hoo!-hah!), one song that not even the 70 were a good enough excuse for... Yeah, I love it!

Anyway, it was 1979 and the song was a hit. The Eurovision that year was in Jerusalem, after A-Ba-Ni-Bi by Izhar Cohen and the Alphabeta won the year before. (Look at all those Jewfros! Putting the Jackson 5 to shame!) It was Gali Atari and Milk and Honey winning with a song that has been the most religious song to date to win the Eurovision Song Contest.

You see, the English version doesn't do the words justice. They watered it down to a catchy, but super cheesy chirpy birdy bells are ringing the sun is shining we are decade late with this lyrics song. Seriously, the English is even cheesier than the the original. And kinda missing the grammatical power of the Hallelujah, which in Hebrew literally and simply means: Praise G-d. But I was lucky to find a version with both the original's close translation subtitled. Alas, the sound quality is not the best, but let's not forget, it's from 1979.

1979: my parents were big fans of Gali Atari and Milk and Honey, and that carried on for three years, so when my brother and I were born Dan's middle name almost became Reuven. Reuven Gvirtz is the first guy to start singing with Gali Atari. Dan's only luck was that my dad was more sensible. Slightly more. Well, not much more. And my dad was a Shlomo Artzi fan.

My sons and I have been singing the song over and over again. I totally blame Craig, who dug out my Eurovision collection from one of the yet unopened boxes. (What, we have been here only 15 months, what do you mean we should have unpacked????)

"Halev male bahamon toda
Veholem gam hu: eize olam nifla!"

All links in this entry lead to YouTube. Click at your own risk. I should have done laundry.

Eurovision Song Contest Final!

Don't forget that Eurovision is tonight! While Hungary and Ireland were eliminated in the semi finals (I have to say I'm not totally surprised), Israel is in. See the Israeli song here!