4 X 40 - Madrid 1969 - De Troubadour

The first of the four winners of the 1969 Madrid contest in 4 X 40 is the Dutch entry De Troubadour by Lenny Kuhr. The Dutch had a good track record back then and Lenny Kuhr was the third Eurovision winner for the Netherlands in 14 years.
Lenny Kuhr wrote De Troubadour with David Hartsema and only just won the Dutch national selection one point ahead of Conny Vinks De Toeteraar.
The song is a simple but effective folktale about a traveling singer from the olden days. He sings, touches peoples hearts, rich or poor, dies in the end but won't be forgotten.
Lenny Kuhr recorded De Troubadour in Dutch, French, German, English, Spanish and Italian as it was properly done in those days. She also recorded several new versions and the song has always been a vital part of her live repertoire.
You can find a new live version on her 2007 anniversary CD 40 Jaar Verliefd.

El Trovador
In Spanish it became El Trovador and that version was recorded by Sabrina (Spanish 60's singer), Luis Alberto Del Parana Y Los Paraguayos from Paraguay, Los Alegres (a Dutch/Latin party combo) and one of Chile's greatest, Gloria Simonetti.

Gloria Simonetti
Gloria Simonetti is a popular singer from Chile. In her 40 year career she released 15 albums and scored hits with Lo Que Pasa Contigo, Hijos, La Violeta Y La Parra, Gracias A La Vida and Ojalá. She participated in festivals in Chile, Puerto Rico, Spain and Bulgaria.
Her first festival appearance was at the Viña del Mar International Song Festival in 1968. She went on to win that festival a year later with Mira Mira and for the 2009 edition next februari she will be one of the judges. She celebrated her 40 year career with a national tour.


Gloria's Eurocovers
Gloria Simonetti recorded two of the 1969 winners on her 1970 LP Gloria (RCA). El Trovador and Un Dia, Un Niño (France's entry, more in part 3) and later she recorded a coverversion of the 1988 Italian entry Vivo by Luca Barbarossa titled Viva. A song that no one else covered as far as I know. (CD Dedicado)
On her live album 25 años de Gloria Simonetti there is a medley including Dio Come Ti Amo and Al Di Lá (Italy 1966 & 1961).

More Troubadours / Help!
Other versions of De Troubadour have been recorded in Finland Portugal, France and (recently discovered) in Estonia.
And then there may be one someone out there might help me with. Someone I know that knows someone etcetera claims that De Troubadour was also recorded in Polish and even was popular on radio. But of course I don't know who the singer is. So if anyone has any idea about a Polish 60's or 70's coverversion of De Troubadour, please let me know

Click to enlarge

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Lenny Kuhr homepage (In Dutch)
Gloria Simonetti page and Fanpage (In Spanish)


De Troubadour Youtube

4x40: Introduction

4x40: De Troubadour - Lenny Kuhr

4x40: Vivo Cantando - Salomé

4x40: Un Jour Un Enfant - Frida Boccara

4x40: Boom Bang A Bang - Lulu

4x40: The Losers

4 X 40 - Eurovision Madrid 1969

Remember Eurovision 40 years ago?. Today we have over 40 countries in the contest, but back in 1969 we all were poor and there weren't many points to spread. And there wasn't any rule to prevent more than one country winning. So it was bound to mis-happen and in 1969 four countries tied for first place ending up with 18 points each.
And they all won one of the coolest Eurovisions in history.
It was held in Madrid, (not that happening at the time with Franco and all that). Salvador Dali made the posters (pic right). Actress Laura Valenzuela hosted the show and all outfits were stunning.
Many of the songs are still classics in their own right.
Bonjour Bonjour (Switzerland), Primaballerina (Germany), Judy Min Vän (Sweden) and Desfolhada (Portugal) should have won too. But it was the Netherlands (thanks to a 6 pointer from France), United Kingdom (thanks to Lulu), Spain and France that won.
Coming up in the next weeks is a four-part look at the winners and of course how well the songs traveled over the World.

Read more about the 4 winners from 1969 and their Eurocovers:
United Kingdom - Lulu - Boom Bang A Bang
France - Frida Boccara - Un Jour, Un Enfant
Spain - Salomé - Vivo Cantando
The Netherlands - Lenny Kuhr - De Troubadour
And you can read about the 'losers' here
------------------------Here's a taster from Paraguay

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Yo Soy Aquel - Montecristo goes Russia.

In this Eurocovers post from April 2007 you can read about the Spanish 1966 Eurovision entry Yo Soy Aquel originally by Raphael and all its 21st century revivals.
One main reason the Manuel Alejandro song is so alive after 40 years is the use in the TV series Montecristo first made in Argentina.
Now after adaptations from Chile, Mexico and Portugal there's a Russian version of the telenovela and they stuck to the same song.
Yo Soy Aquel becomes Ti I Ja and is sung by Alexej Vorobyov. (Алексей Воробьёв - Ты и я)

Singer, actor, X-factor contestant Vorobyov participated in the Russian preselection of 2008 and ended 5th with New Russian Kalinka, a song which surely wouldn't have stood the tests of plagiarism rules. He ended 5th (New Russian Kalinka Youtube) and of course Dima Bilan won with Believe, the song that takes Eurovision to Moscow this year.

At Vorobyov's website there's a list of downloadable songs (click АУДИО) and the last one in the list is Yo Soy Aquel.

МонтекристоThe Russian series was cast in Russia and Belarus and received good ratings since the start last summer. The original Argentine series was broadcasted in 45 countries including many CIS states.
Remakes of the series in Spain, Greece, Italy and Turkey are currently in production or negociation, so maybe there will more Yo Soy Aquels to come

Special thanks to Nikolai!

Happy New Year !

愛你的只有一個我 - A new A Ba Ni Bi from Taiwan

Thanks to a tip from Anonymous from Hong Kong here's some details on a great new version of Israels 1978 Eurovision winner A Ba Ni Bi.
Taiwanese singer Harlem Yu, (庾澄慶, Yú Chéngqìng) has recorded a version sung in Mandarin for his latest CD.
The title 愛你的只有一個我 translates as I Am The Only One Who Loves You. This version has been released as the lead single for his new album Lady's Night which was released on Linfair records earlier this month.
Singer, Songwriter & TV-show host Harlem Yu is a pioneer of Taiwanese RNB and he is responsible for the first ever Mandarin rap song (source: Wiki)
You can hear the song here and see the video here.(YT)


Very Special Thanks to Anonymous from Hong Kong.

An updated version of the Chinese and related Eurocovers list is here / here (word doc)
And a highly recommended blog for Chinese all kinds of coverversions is Favorites In Original.

If you missed the Thai version of A Ba Ni Bi, check out this Eurocovers post or this one for the video. A grungy version can be found in the post Push The Button, Noisy Israeli's from 2006.

UPDATE - Volare by Slađan Jovanović

I received a message from Sladjan Jovanovic concerning the Belgrade Eurocovers post where I stated that I hadn't found any version of Volare in Serbian.
It was my mistake as there is actually such a recording on the website mentioned.
A reworking in Serbian of Volare is track 9 - of the Ginko album featured here at Sladjan Jovanovic's website. It's titled Between The Sky And The Bottom. This version has the same arrangement as the Italian version (track 14).
Here you can listen to all tracks from the Ginko album and also find an English translation of the lyrics.
Thanks to Sladjan Jovanovic, your help is much appreciated!

Tobi Jooste - Engel

The 2005 Eurovision runner up Angel, originally by Malta's Chiara, here in an Afrikaans version by South Africa's baritone superstar Tobi Jooste.

Zwei Kleine Italiener - Happy Birthday Conny!

O.K., I'm a bit late, but belated best wishes go to Conny Froboess who celebrated her 65th birthday last month.
Conny Froboess was a German teen idol in the late 50s and early 60's and scored hitsingles and hitmovies in several European countries.
Only eight years old she scored her first hit with Pack die Badehose ein, a chirpy song about packing up your swimsuit for a day out at the beach. The song, written by her father, was covered in many languages in every beach loving country.

Hits like Teenager Melodie, Kleine Lucienne and Midi Midinette followed but it's of course the Eurovision entry Zwei kleine Italiener that remains her biggest evergreen.
Conny Froboess recorded the song in German, Dutch (pictured), English and Italian. A rumoured French version has not yet emerged.
The song only ended 6th at the contest but it became a big hit in Europe. I blame Conny for my love affair with Eurovision as I was exposed to the song while happily frolicking in the womb. It was a #1 hit in my country when I was born.
Zwei kleine Italiener is written by Christian Bruhn (Music) and Georg Buschor (lyrics)

Coverversions
Zwei kleine Italiener is a top 20 most covered Eurosong with currently 105 coverversions listed. The most famous cover is of course by the other Connie, Connie Francis, who recorded the song in Italian (single MGM K 2065). The song was covered in at least 12 languages, but I haven't found an English coverversion yet.
Eurovision singers that have covered Zwei kleine Italiener are Gitte, Lisa Del Bo, Mary Roos, Mathé Altéry, Colette Déreal, Anita Thallaug (see below), Monica Aspelund (with the Four Cats) and the German group Wind (although no original members were in the group when they recorded the Italiener).

Tohama
Tohama (1920 - 1995) was born in France as Nadia Altman, and the age of 12 she moved to Brussels, Belgium.
Her father was painter Alexandre Altman who'se work I don't know, but he has streets named after him, so he must have done something right.
Nadia adopted the name Tohama (Tahitian for I love you) as her artists name in 1937, the year she released her first record Le Vent M'a Dit Un Chanson. (A song made famous in German by Zarah Leander).

Tohama released many 78's from the late 30's to well into the 50's, both romantic songs and comedy songs including popular hits like Gigi, Le petit cousin, Suzanna Youpi You La la and Dis-moi oui, Dis-moi non. Even though she toured the world her fame was restricted to France, Belgium and Canada. Her work up to the mid 50's has been released on several compilation CDs but the Eurocovers from the early 60's are hard to find items on the original vinyl releases only.
At the dawn of the 70's she packed in her career and Tohama died in 1995 aged 75.

I know five Eurovision songs covered by Tohama, al songs in French
1959 France - Oui, Oui Oui Oui (original by Jean Philippe)
- released 7" single (Decca 922988)1960 France - Tom Pillibi (Jacqueline Boyer's winner)
- released on EP (Decca 460.734)1960 U.K. - Looking High, High, High by (Brian Johnson)
- Qu'il est Haut Haut Haut, on same EP as Tom Pillibi1960 Germany - Bonne nuit, ma cherie (Wyn Hoop)
- on EP Itsy Bitsy Petit Bikini (Decca edge 71420)1962 Germany - Zwei kleine Italiener by Conny Froboess
- Cheveux Fous et lèvres roses (Details wanted)

Another celebrated version is the Swedish version by Tina och Marina. Tina and Marina named themselves after the characters in the song. It was released on various EPs and singles including a solo EP by Margareta Rudebro, who is Tina (Karussell).

Zwei kleine Italiener - The List
As usual, I have prepared a list with all versions of the song I know about. There are details on Conny's own versions and on 105 coverversions. It's a word document and you can get it  here (Updated April 2011)
Looking for…As I am a sucker for Eurocovers from Brasil there's one version of the Italiener I'm especially looking for. A Portuguese language version titled Os dois Italianinhos was released on an EP in 1963 by Brasilian singer Meire Pavão with Conjunto Alvorada.



EUROCOVERS vs THE MAN
The Man has got to Eurocovers. Blogger has been forced to remove some Eurocovers posts from the blog. I don't exactly know who filed the complaints (the promised letters haven't arrived yet) but I'm not going to make too big a deal of it.
The main posts that have been removed are the Belgrade Weeks post about Lane Moje (Serbia Montenegro 2004) and the 10.000 coverversions top post about Domenico Modugno's Volare.
Especially the latter is a shame as it's a bit silly to have a top 10 without it's #1.
On the bright side, I know of several artists who are in the process of recording Volare after they read the Eurocovers posts about it.
Concluding: Some posts may be gone and therefor some links may not work. I still hope to bring you interesting articles on Eurocovering artists, the latest release news and must read web tips.

Spain 1970 - Pitingo - Gwendolyne

Eurovision 1970 saw the entry of Julio Iglesias to the international music stage, and he's still there. His song Gwendolyne ended 4th. This is a video of a new flamenco tinged r'n'b version by Pitingo with Juan Carmona. It's from the 2008 Pitingo CD Souleria. Special Thanks to José Antonio.

1966 Dio Come Ti Amo - Cabaret Short Circuit

I don't think it happened before: I just received a new CD and while enjoying the virgin listening out of nowhere an intriguing Eurocover pops up.The CD in question is Disastro by Sonny J. which I bought because I totally love Handsfree (If You Hold My Hand).
Handsfree is a sampladelic reworking of Donna Hightower's* If You Hold My Hand.
I didn't suspect anything reading the tracklist, but track 4, Cabaret Short Circuit is a reworking of Jack Jones' fantastic live version of Oh How Much I Love You, which is Dio Come Ti Amo, only one of my favorite Eurovision songs and a honorable member of the Gallery Of Most Covered Eurovision Songs. And it's written by Mr. Volare: Domenico Modugno.
Sonny J. speeds up Jack Jones's version, adds the necessary crackle and umph and makes a nice use of Jones talking bits.
Of course all you Captain Stubing fans know Jack Jones of the Theme From Love Boat !
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Oh how Much I love You by handsome Jack was originally released in 1967 as a b-side of Don't Give Our Love Away (Kapp K880) and on his LP Our Song (Kapp 3531) .
The live version used on Cabaret Short Circuit is from the 1970 LP Jack Jones In Person, Live At The Sands (RCA SF 8149 , 1970, & Laserlight CD reissue, 1993)



Sonny J.'s excellent Disastro album is available at a record shop near you or your PC. Highly recommended if you like cut'n'paste dance - pop genuis. I know I do.


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Sonny J. Myspace & Sonny J. Homepage and Sonny J TV (all the videos)
Jack Jones Official Site - Jack Jones Studio Audio at Youtube
Mike Patton's live version of Dio Come Ti Amo is in this Eurocovers Post
The 10.000 coverversions post about Dio Come Ti Amo is here and in this post there's a version by Angolan Duo Ouro Negro.


* I think Donna Hightower had a go at the Spanish preselection for Eurovision in the 70's, but my mind is blank about that just now. Her best known hit is This World Today Is A Mess from 1972 (and a hit in 1974).

ANOTHER ONE
Another new(ish) version of Dio Come Ti Amo was recorded by Tereza (Kesovija), Croatian singer who entered Eurovision in 1964 for Monaco (Bien Plus Fort) and for Yugoslavia in 1972 (Muzika I Ti).
Her CD Zaustavi Vrijeme from 2007 includes a Croatian version of the song titled Bože, Kako Te Volim. (Youtube)

Introduction to music of Ex-Yu & Croatia
Which brings me to another recommended read. Sasha has a new Rate Your Music site where you can find out about the most important Yugoslavian artists from the past 50 years.

You can find an 'Introduction to music of Ex-Yu & Croatia' here. It's written in English.