EUROCOVERS SUPERSTAR
George Meiring shot to fame in South Africa with Supersterre, the TV talent show hosted by Patricia Lewis* and Brendan October. (Sort of Idols South Africa.)
He now has released his CD
Onthou Die Tye (Remember the times) on Sony BMG and it's a great album for Eurocovers fans, as well as many others.
George recorded coverversions of two Eurovision Songs on this CD.
Track 4 is a quite straightforward version of Every
Song Is A Cry For Love, the Irish entry that ended 10th in 2006 by Brian Kennedy. If one thing, it shows again how good that song actually is.
The other Eurovision song is a real treat, the song
Liedjie Vir Danella (Song for Danella, track 2) is a coverversion of the Norway 1994 entry
Duett, which ended 6th and was performed by originally by Bobbysock Elisabeth Andreasson and the late Jan Werner Danielsen. In this version, sung in Afrikaans, George is accompanied by Supersterre host and a favorite of Eurocovers Patricia Lewis*.
The Afrikaans lyrics were written by Mariska Laas.
YOU RAISE ME UPBoth Eurovision songs come together in George Meirings version of
You Raise Me Up. That song, written by
Duett composer Rolf Løvland ** and Brendan Graham *** was a big hit in the UK and Ireland for Brian Kennedy as a tribute to George Best. In the US the song was a #1 for Josh Groban and Westlife scored a European hit with the song in 2005.
You Raise Me Up , inspired by the Irish traditional
Danny Boy, was first recorded by Eurovision winners Secret Garden (Løvlands band) on their CD
Once In A Red Moon (2001) and it has been covered over a 125 times in just 6 years.
And now it's George Meirings turn.
There are more interesting covers on the CD. Another big tune is
Jy (
Du), a big hit in many European countries in the early 70's for Peter Maffay. The CD closes with a medley of Africa songs like Pata Pata and The Lion Sleeps Tonight.
All in all
Onthou Die Tye is a very good CD and George didn't fall into the trap of trying to show off he can do everything by recording a mish mash of songs.
Onthou Die Tye is a well presented complete collection of songs, which makes the full CD very enjoyable in it's totality.
COMPETITION
And for the very first time in history there's a prize to win at Eurocovers. You can win the George Meiring CD
Onthou Die Tye if you answer the following question (correctly) and send it to me in an
e-mail. with your details.
What place did George Meiring finish in the South African Supersterre talent show (2006 edition)?.
Hint: You can find the answer is at George Meirings
MySpace
Your name will go in the big hat with the ones of the of the other website running this competition and 2 lucky winners will be drawn and will get the CD at their doormat.
This competition is in co-operation with OGAE Rest Of The World, Roy van der Merwe and
ESCkaz.com.
COMPETITION IS NOW CLOSED
LINKS and Stuff
- George Meirings
MySpace, listen to four songs from
Onthou Die Tye.
-
Sony/BMG South Africa - Use the
artists search to read more about George Meiring (in Afrikaans)
* Find more about Patricia Lewis and other Afrikaans Eurocovers in
this Eurocovers Post.
** Rolf Løvland of course wrote also both Norwegian Eurovision winners to date. La det Swinge (1985) and Nocturne (1995 text Petter Skavlan) and the 1987 entry Mitt Liv (co written with the other Bobbysock Hanne Krogh)
Nocturne is the most covered Eurovision song since 1982's winner
Ein Bisschen Frieden.
*** Brendan Graham also wrote two Eurovision winners: the Irish Eurovision entries of 1994 (Rock'n'Roll Kids) and 1996 (The Voice) plus the Irish entries of 1976 (When) and 1985 (Wait Until The Weekend Comes)
- It's the first coverversion for both Duett & Every Song Is A Cry For Love in the
10.000 coverversions project list.
- You Raise Me Up at
Wiki. The song was also recorded by artists like Kenny G., Il Divo, Russell Watson, Daniel O'Donell, Sissel Kyrkjebø, Michael Ball (Eurovision 1992), Sanna Nielsen (MF regular), Samantha Mumba with the Celtic Tenors and Britain Got Talent sensation Paul Potts.
- The new series of Supersterre starts tonight (07-09-07) on SABC2
I have just been listening to the Benjamin Bates album Recyclomania at his website and ordered it straight away.
As this is Eurocovers I have been listening very carefully for a Eurovision connection on the new Bates album, but there isn't any, so we'll have to make do with his brilliant 2003 single Thin Time, which is a fab dance track based on a sample from the 1986 Belgian Eurovision winner J'aime la vie by Sandra Kim. Technically not a coverversion but a must hear anyway.
