It's Anita Skorgan Day!

Sadly it's not a new national holiday for the the Norwegians (although it should be). Norwegian TV2 has started their second season of Hver gang vi møtes (Every time we meet), a TV series where seven artists sing each others songs.

The first week of season 2 starts with Anita Skorgan Day and it is filled with Eurovision goodies.

Anita Skorgan entered the contest three times as a singer plus twice as songwriter. Her three Eurovision songs are featured in this episode. 

Digital release artwork

The songs from this episode have been released through iTunes and other sources, it features all studio recordings. A CD will be released on februari 4 on EMI Norway. This will include 25 tracks from seven episodes, so I don't know yet which tracks from the Anita Skorgans Dag EP will be on it.
Update: The CD Hver Gang Vi Møtes, Sesong 2 has been released. It includes three tracks from Anita Skorgans day (marked * below).

The following tracks are on the digital EP, not sure if it's sold outside Norway yet.

Marion Ravn - Casanova*

- Casanova was Anita Skorgans first Eurovision entry (1977). It ended only 15th but was a #4 hit in Norway. Marion was a member of duo M2M who scored an international hit in 1999 with Don't Say You Love Me, a theme song from the first Pokemon movie.

Magnus Grønneberg - Hvor Er Du Nå

- Hvor Er Du Nå is a Skorgan song from 1981 originally released on the album Pastell.
Grønneberg is known as the lead singer of CC Cowboys (no, me neither....) and has released two solo albums in the early 00's.

Ole Paus - For Vår Jord*

- For Vår Jord, Norways 1988 entry was performed by Karoline Krüger and ended 5th in the contest. The song is written by Anita Skorgan who recorded a version of the song herself in 2009 for her compilation album Hele Veien - 47 Utvalgte Sanger. Anita also featured as a backing vocalist for Krüger at the contest.
Ole Paus is a celebrated singer-songwriter who has released 30 albums since 1970.

Lene Marlin - Is It True

- Is It True was originally released in 2008 on Anita Skorgans Christmas album Julenatt. Lene Marlin is best known for her hit Sitting Down Here.
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Kurt Nilsen - Adieu*

- Adieu from 1982 was a duet with legendary Norwegian Eurovision star Jahn Teigen. It ended 12th in 1982 and became a #3 hit (and a classic).

Kurt Nilsen, remember him? He was the winner of the one-off world wide talent show World Idol, where eleven local Idols winners battled it out for this prestigious title that (rightfully) never was to be repeated again.
He scored an international hit with She’s So High and made a nice living for himself in Norway scoring several #1 hits and five very successful albums.

At the time of writing Nilsens Adieu is #1 in the iTunes charts.
A new album Inni En God Periode will be released this week, (but Adieu is not on the tracklist)

Morten Abel - Oliver

- Oliver, Anita’s second effort in 1979 did a bit better than her first: 11th place. And a #6 hit. Morten Abel is a succesful singer in Norway where he scored six top 10 albums (incl 3 #1's)

Anita Skorgans Hele Veien compilation album is available at BeaRecords. All songs mentioned above are included on the 2CD in their original versions, except For Vår Jord, which is a re-recording by Anita Skorgan.

Hver gang vi møtes is the Norwegian version of De beste zangers van Nederland (The best singers of...) a Dutch concept which also runs in Sweden, Finland, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Denmark and Spain.


And don't forget to check out The Malmö Collection, collecting all details on the releases of the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest.

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Eurovision 2008: Belgrade weeks - Senka and Bisera Veletanlić

In the weeks leading up to the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade, Serbia Eurocovers digs deep to find some related Eurovision coverversions.
I must confess it's not easy to find many Eurocovers linking to Serbia. The Serbian entries from Yugoslavia have hardly been covered and my collection has many gaps (see below).
But here's a sweet one from the 70's. The song Mi Znamo Sve is by sisters Senka & Bisera Veletanlić and it's a coverversion of the Netherlands 1972 entry by Sandra & Andres: Als Het Om De Liefde Gaat (When it concerns love). The chirpy nanana song was a popular hit back then and was covered in at least 10 languages.
Mi Znamo Sve was released on the b-side of the Senka Veletanlić single Tražiš Oproštaj. (Jugoton SY 22066)


Bisera Veletanlić appears on the single Dan Ljubavi, which is a coverversion of Yugoslavia's 1975 entry Dan Ljubezni, originally by Pepel In Kri (Ashes and Blood on their English releases). That entry is of Slovenian origin and is sung in Slovenian, but a Serbian version was recorded by Bisera Veletanlić, Nada Knežević, Beti Đorđević and other singers. (RTB S 52 659).





WANTED
There's probably a lot more Serbian coverversions than I know about, but here are a few I'd really like to hear. If anyone can help Eurocovers with any of these songs or other surprises I'd be ever so happy.

Tom Tom by Daliborka Stojšic. It's a version of the 1973 Finnish entry which was released on a b-side of a single (Jugoton SY-22536). Daliborka was Miss Yugoslavia 1968 and reached the semi final of Miss Universe that year (pictured left).

Mirjana Beširević - Jos Sam Mlada, a cover of the Italian 1964 winner Non Ho l'eta (Gigliola Cinquetti) released on single (RTB EP 50181).

Filip Zmaher - Moja Generacija - This is one of the very few covers of the Serbian Yugoslavia entries I know of. It was only released on a cassette (MC) dedicated to original composer of the song; Kornelije Kovac. The MC is titled Kompozicije Kornelija Kovaca iz TV "Zvucna Viljuska".

1972 - Lola Novaković - Posle Tebe (Après Toi)

Here's one I had lying about. Yugoslavia's second Eurovision singer Lola Novaković (4th in 1962 with Ne Pali Svetla U Sumrak (Don't turn the lights on in the twilight)) covers Vicky Leandros' 1972 Eurovision winner Après Toi in Serbo-Croat as Posle Tebe on this sweet EP (RTB EPF 52 003) --- 

Grethe Kausland 1947 - 2007

Another sad goodbye to a Eurovision singer. Grethe Kausland who sang Småting (Little things) with Benny Borg for Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest of 1972 died today.
Grethe Kausland died after a struggle with cancer at only 60 years of age.

Grethe Nilsen or Lille Grethe as she was known as a child star, had her first 100.000 seller Teddyen Min when she was 8 years old. It made her the best selling recording artist in Norway at the time. At 10 she made her filmdebut and 12 she already had 12 records to her name. When the 60's came she changed her tune from childrens music to more jazzy material and scored several hits in the early 60s like Souvenirs & Det finns millioner.
In the 1973 she joined Dizzie Tunes, a popular TV showband with which she performed until 2001. With Dizzie Tunes she scored 70's hits like Mere ra-ta-ta-ta and Toppop. One of her most successful stage acts was her inpersonation of Sammy Davis Jr.
In 1978 she released the well received and awarded disco LP A Taste Of Grethe Kausland and in 1979 the less acclaimed collection of re-recorded Lille Grethe songs Grethe synger lille Grethe, all in good old 70's disco style.
As an actress she starred in many TV shows and movies from 1957 up to 2005. She also did Norwegian voices / dubs in international films and animations including E.T..
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In 1991 she received the Leonardprisen for her achievements in theatre and revue.
Grethe Kausland was diagnosed with cancer in 2006 but took to the revue stage again at the end of that year. In 2007 the cancer took over again and Grethe Kausland died November 16, 2007.

Listen to Grethe's Norwegian version of the German entry Nur die Liebe lässt uns leben (Mary Roos) which she recorded in Norwegian (VA LP Norske Favoritter 1972) and in Swedish (VA LP Svensktoppar 13 or 14(?)). She also recorded the Dutch 1972 entry Als Het Om De Liefde Gaat in duet with with Odd Borre (also on Norske Favoritter LP and Svensktoppar 15).


Sources: You can find a biography / discography (In Norwegian) here.