The Kids Are Alright, Part 3: The Angels

So, Congratulations to Alexey Zhigalkovich and to Belarus who won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest last night in Rotterdam. The voting was exiting like in olden days, although the field and the 12's were very leaning very much to the East. Just one piece of analisys from me: Don't bother sending slightly older kids, even with good songs (Sweden, Serbia), it's always a tiny one that wins.

That was the last word about the JESC at Eurocovers for now, If you want to find out more I recommend ESCKaz. But here's the third part of The Kids Are Alright, that sort of ties in nicely with the Next Big Event: Christmas.

The Kids Are Alright - Part 3 - The Angels
Hark! The lists of Eurocovers is riddled with childrens (mostly boys) choirs from France all named Les Petits Chanteurs De Something, Something.

France 1960 - Tom PillibiLes Petits Chanteurs A La Croix Du Boix from Paris (pictured above) do a mean Tom Pillibi (France's 1960 winner by Jacqueline Boyer). This boys choir celebrated it's 100th anniversary with a star studded (Nadiya, Mireille Mathieu, Lara Fabian, Charles Aznavour etc….) christmas show last December. And at the 14th of july they sang at the military parade, le defilé militaire, at the Champs Elysees.
The Petits Chanteurs have recorded many singles and albums since the 50's, mostly religious music, and they still tour the world. A bit more about their 100 year history is here (in French).
Israel 1979 - HallelujahLes Petits Chanteurs D'Aix En Provence is a boys choir with 45 years of history. On a 4CD collection Les Plus Grands Airs De Chorale (pic) they perform the Eurovision winners of 1977 and 1979. (although some of them don't seem so petit on the picture sleeve).
Hallelujah is the Israel entry of 1979, which was originally performed by Milk & Honey and won the contest on home ground.

At composer J.P. Cara's site you can find some kids choir versions of the 1977 winner L'Oiseau et l'enfant (France) by Les Petits Chanteurs D'Aix En Provence and by Les Fans and of Le Papa Pinguoin (Luxemburg 1988, Sophie et Magaly) by Le Top des Tout P'Tits.

1973 Eres TuThe Little Angels Of Korea are an all singing and dancing troupe from the Little Angels Performing Arts Centre in Seoul.
And their version of Mocedades' Eres Tu (Spain 1973) is truly angelic and should be featured on any Christmas mixtape.




Related Eurocovers PostsMocedades' Eres Tu in the top 10 most covered Eurovision songs
Hallelujah - almost in the top 10 most covered Eurovision Songs

The Kids Are Alright !!

Junior Eurovision, the JESC, who needs it?
The Kids do!
The Eurovision spin-off for the under 16s has proven to be a popular tv show for the youngsters aspiring to be the next singer/songwriter (they're supposed to write the songs themselves).
Fun for all the family to be had and the 5th edition taking place in Rotterdam, Netherlands next Saturday (8th December) is no exception.

Junior Eurovision is for the kids, so it's not really Eurocovers material, although there was this one time winner for Spain (2004) with the superbly titled Antes Muerta Que Sencilla (Rather dead than common) by Maria Isabel that wouldn't have been out of place in the adult competition and even got covered by some adults in Mexico (see comments) (Horoscopes de Durango, pictured), in the Dominican Republic (merengue by Juliana) and in Spain by Las Supremas De Mostoles.
You can also find the Youtube of the original version by Maria Isabel.

Eurovision history has been littered with pre-pubescents. Gigliola Cinquetti was too young to love in 1964, 1986 winner Sandra Kim (J'aime la vie) lied about her age to get in the competition and 1989 saw two toddlers on the stage. Israels barely potty trained Gili Natanel singing along with Galit (Derech Ha Melech) and Nathalie Pacque (J'ai Volé La Vie) for France, who was like 4 months or something. (She just got a baby, congratulations Nat!)

To get to the point, here are some youngsters doing cover versions of your favorite grown up Eurovision songs. They will melt every mommy's heart and make you want to make / adopt some of the critters yourself. And there's three parts!

The Kids Are Alright - Part 1. - The Girls
1961 Estando Contigo
Spains debut entry was performed by the ever fabulosa Conchita Bautista but it was the version by Marisol (a.k.a. Pepa Flores) that made the song really famous in Spain. She sang it in the hitmovie Ha Llegando Un Angel (An angel has appeared) and you can watch a clip of it at Youtube (Check out the guys in the backing!)



1965 Poupée De Cire,
----------------Poupée De Son
Considering the fact that the original song allegedly is about an activity unmentionable at this decent family blog, it's a bit unsettling to hear a 6 year old infant sing it. She must have been lured by all the little dollies.
Tatiana (Tatiana Eva Marie) recorded the song in 1992 on her first album Tatiana Chante when she was 6, and has since made name as a comedian, model and singer. Her latest (rather beautiful) CDs with Compagnie Zorongo: Narandilé and Rhapsodia are influeced by her Romanian, Greek, Dutch, French, Swiss, Turkish and Gipsy heritage and you can hear some of her music at her MySpace and website.
Tatiana Chante includes covers of songs by celebrated French songwriters like Gainsbourg, Michel Polnareff, Françoise Hardy and Guy Beart.
The CD also includes a song Ah! Quelle Histoire which could be Cliff Richards Congratulations or not. (Anyone knows?)

2006 Girls and Horses
In 2006 Germany sent Texas Lighting with their perfect slice of country pop No No Never, which failed to get Europe televoting (even though it's really really quite good).

Teresa Strobl loves horses, she even caught horsefever, as she is singing in her version of No No Never, Pferdefieber. It's from the Kiddy Contest 2006 CD, from an Austrian TV competition in which kids sing hits in their own style, and with kid-proof lyrics. Previous Kiddy Contests (& CDs) have featured a few Eurovision covers:
- Kiddy kids - Jungs (Love Shine A Light, UK 97, from CD Kiddy contest 3, 1997).
- Nicki Freiberger - Mein superstar (Zusammen Geh'n, Austria 92, from CD Kiddy Contest 9, 2003)
- Teresa Strobl - Pferdefieber (No No Never, Germany 06, on CD Kiddy Contest 12, 2006)The 2007 edition CD did not produce any Eurocovers.

Another hippic version of No No Never, Mein Kleines Süsses Fohlen (My sweet little foal) was recorded by the Lollipops, two girls who have released a zillion records but remain in their mid teens. The Lollipops CD with the song is Reiterferien sind der Hit, but they also have a new CD out Zusammen sind wir doppelt stark on which they cover the German 2007 entry Frauen regier'n die Welt (Roger Cicero) as Kids Regiern Die Welt (Kids rule the world).



Junior Eurovision Song Contest official website
Junior Eurovision related CDs are available at BeaRecords. OUT NOW: The 2 CD with all entries for the Rotterdam contest + all karaoke versions.

Related Eurocovers Posts:
Gigliola Cinquetti - Non Ho L'eta in the top 10 most covered Eurovision songs.
France Galls Poupée De Cire in the top 10 most covered Eurovision songs.
Boom Bang A Bang (UK 1969) - By Pippi Lookalike Anne Mette