The last coverversion for the Rotterdam Weeks can't be anything other than a coverversion of Ding A Dong, the 1975 Dutch winner by Teach In.
Much ridiculed then and now, it still is one of the most recognisable Eurovision tunes ever.
Thát opening riff is up there with the best hits in popmusic. So now you know.
The coverversion (below) is from South-Korea.
The singers are twin sisters The Bunny Girls
(바니걸즈), Ko Jeong-suk and Ko
Jae-suk.
They were active and popular from 1970 to 1990. They recorded about close to 20 albums, most with original Korean compositions but in the mid 70's they recorded coverversions from worldwide hits.
Their 1975 LP 팝송 하이라이트 - 라무는 나의 친구 is an album with international songs and it includes both Waterloo (워터루) and Ding A Dong (딩딩동) sung in Korean. Plus songs like ABBA's Honey Honey, Gigliola Cinquetti's La Rosa Nero, Tony Orlando's Yellow Ribbon and the Carpenters' Top Of The World. The title track Lamu Is My Friend is a coverversion of a Bollywood song.
So far I have only found the two mid 70's Eurovision winners (as Eurocovers) but the duo have released many LP's plus many single tracks on Various Artists albums, so there may be more.
* = Google translate says "Pop Song Highlights - Lamu is my friend".
If you want to listen to the whole Bunny Girls album it's here at Youtube (playable track by track).
The Rotterdam weeks at Eurocovers aren't complete with a coverversion of Duncan Laurence's Arcade, the song that held the Eurovision Trophy longer than any other. (which of course is not a really good thing, given the circumstances).
The Dutch had to wait 44 years for a victory and there have been dark years, as The Netherlands also holds the record for longest run of non qualifying entries in a row (8 years!).
But they stepped up their game and now we're in Rotterdam.
So, never give up, keep on dreaming, chin up, etcetera.
But this is Eurocovers so here's a a wonderful coverversion. In Italian!
Assaf Kacholi is an Israeli classical singer and he recorded Arcade already in English back in 2019. But he's a tenor and tenors have to sing in Italian. It's the law.
I couldn't find a (digital) release of this Italian version so we'll have to make do with the Youtube video or Assaf Kacholi's Facebook video's.
Kacholi's English version was released as a digital single and can also be found on his CD Symphony, available through his Bandcamp or his website shop.
He also recorded a coverversion of La Forza, the Estonian entry of 2018 by Elina Nechayeva. This was released on his CD Amore from 2018. (digital at Bandcamp and other sources)
Kacholi was (is?) a member of classical vocal quintet / quartet Adoro who covered Merci Cherie (Austria 1966 winner) many moons ago on their CD Adoro from 2008.
Last year Eurocovers started a series of Rotterdam Week coverversions to celebrate Eurovision being in The Netherlands and all that.
One version I couldn't find back then was this one, Penghibor Di Rantau by Rahimah Rahim from Singapore. But some kind person uploaded the album with the same name to the tube so you can have a listen to this lovely coverversion of Colorado, originally by Xandra (Sandra Reemer and band)
It was the Dutch entry in 1979 and Rahimah Rahim released her album in the same year.
In 1977 she already recorded Tepat Pada Waktunya which is a coverversion of the 1974 German entry Die Sommermelodie (Cindy und Bert) (LP Rahimah Rahim)
