Those Kids Of Today: Nútímabörn

In Februari 2008 I did a Eurocovers post about some seemingly non traceable Icelandic Eurocovers including one from an LP with this fantastic sleeve.

Good things come to those who wait, so I'm happy to be able to present one of the songs here. 

The ultra cool looking band called Nútímabörn (Modern kids) recorded a version of the Eurovision winner La La La for their LP Nútímabörn. As given away by the sleeve, the song is a bit more mellow, slightly flower power typical late 60's pop. And of course it's utterly lovely.

Nútimabörn were Drífu Kristjánsdóttir, Ágústi Atlasyni, Snœbirni Kristjánssyni and Sverri Ólafssyni, and they only released one album, the eponymous Nútímabörn from 1969 (SG - hljómplötur SG 023).

La La La, originally by Massiel is of course the Spanish entry that kept Cliff Richard from the #1 spot in 1968.

Very Special Thanks to Dr. Gunni.
You can watch Dr. Gunni in action here. It's the first of four shows reviewing the 2010 Eurovision entries. Dr, Gunni is on the panel and the show is hosted by Paul Oscar, King Of The Couch.
For another track by Nútímabörn (We Can Work It Out in Icelandic) check out Dr. Gunni's fab webspace at this page and scroll down halfway. It's part of the Bítlarnir á íslensku series. There's also a great version Fool On The Hill by Björk as a 11 y.o. just added.
The picture sleeve is from this wiki page.

More La La La at Eurocovers: Lesley Gore, Merit Hemmingson, Leelo Karp

Teddy Scholten 1926-2010

Another sad goodbye in Eurovisionland. Teddy Scholten, winner of the 1959 Eurovision Song Contest died last week at the age of 83.
She was one of the popular stars of 50's and 60's Dutch radio and television entertainment. In the 70's and 80's she worked for the Red Cross.

Even though she was a frequent face & voice in Dutch entertainment, Teddy Scholten wasn't a top 40 singer, and people remember 'n Beetje, the 1959 winning Eurovision song best.
The reception Teddy Scholten received when she arrived back home was unprecedented with 100's of people at Schiphol Airport with banners and flowers and set the tone for heroes' arrivals in years to come.

'n Beetje (A little bit), written by Dick Schallies and Willy van Hemert, was the 2nd victory for the Netherlands at only the 4th Eurovision (how times have changed). It was a #4 hit on the (then monthly) Dutch charts (4 months on chart).
Teddy Scholten recorded two Dutch versions of the song and also versions in German (Sei ehrlich), French (Un p'tit peu) and Italian (Un poco).
The Italian version was a top 20 chart hit in Italy.
Teddy Scholten sang a Swedish version Om Varen on Swedish radio (1959, details wanted) but it was never recorded by Teddy. An English version, The Moment, was also written but never recorded.
In the preselection (Nationaal Song Festival) 'n Beetje was also sung by John de Mol (sr.) (released on 7" Telefunken UH 9323A). His version was a #3 hit (3 months on chart)

Eurocovers
The only Eurocovers recorded by Teddy Scholten are from 1959, her own Eurovision year.
For the Post Eurovision releases of 'n Beetje she recorded the French entry Oui Oui Oui Oui and the British entry Sing Little Birdie (with husband Henk Scholten).
Sing Little Birdie, the #2 at the contest, originally recorded by Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson, was recorded as the b-side to the 'international' versions.

Teddy Scholten Eurocovers
Oui Oui Oui Oui (in dutch)
- on EP 'n Beetje (Philips 422366 PE)
Sing Little Birdie - Teddy & Henk Scholten
- Zing Kleine Vogel (in Dutch) on EP 'n Beetje
- (Philips 422366 PE) & 7" (Philips 318 227 PF)
- La Chanson De La Grive (French) on 7" (Philips B318254)
- Canta Uccelino (Italian)  on 7" (Philips 318 255)
The German Sei Ehrlich single has an instrumental version of Sing Little Birdie on the b-side by Orchestra Jack Bulterman.


En Smule
I have over 40 coverversions listed of 'n Beetje, most Dutch, many instrumental and a handful of other languages.
Remarkable is the popularity of the song with Danish recording artists from the era.
There are at least seven full Danish versions of the song, all titled En Smule, and there are a few medleys and instrumentals also recorded in Denmark.

En Smule - Danish versions of n'Beetje
Birgit Falk on 7" single (Heliodor HE 45 0800).
- This one is recorded with the original orchestra backing of Teddy Scholtens own pre-Eurovision version. (Orch. Jan Corduwener)
Raquel Rastenni - on 7"* (HMV 45-X 8391)
- Raquel Rastenni is the Danish Eurovision singer for 1958Birgit Bruel - on EP* 4 Grand Prix Melodier (VA) (427 933 PE Philips DK)
- Birgit Bruel went on to sing for Denmark in 1965
Lisbeth Frandsen - on 7" * (Triola TD 45-35)Rose Lundstrøm - on EP* 4 Grand Prix Sucess'Er (RCA DEP 107)
Rita Storm - on 7" * (Polyphon XM 61912)Inge Strauss - on 7" * (Sonet T 8023)Lone Helmer - on EP* Grand prix cocktail 1959 (Tono ST 41080)
Two medleys with 3 songs each, five Eurovision songs.
* All releases marked * also feature Danish Eurocovers of Sing Little Birdie.

Special thanks to Mikael.

'n Beetje - Document.
I have uploaded a list with all details on Teddy Scholtens 'n Beetje releases and 47 coverversions of the song. It's a word document.
In the Eurocovers 2007 Finweeks a Finnish version was / is featured. A Swedish version can be found in the Marie Dieke Eurocovers post from November 2006. For an Italian version by Carla Boni, check this Eurocovers post.

Spring Is In The Air, Happy Birthday Agnetha

Happy 60th Birthday Agnetha! Seen here in a field* of her own on her 1969 LP Som Jag Är. The LP includes Sov Gott Min Lilla Vän, a coverversion of Un Jour, Un Enfant by Frida Boccara, one of the 4 winners of Eurovision 1969.
* I know, the field looks a bit autumny

Sun is shining. Take your little lamb out for a walk, the girls will love you.

Poupée De Cire, Poupée De Son (lux 1965) - Ann Morre and Jean Claudric Ensemble

Alex Chilton 1950 - 2010

I was very sorry to hear that Boxtops / Big Star singer Alex Chilton died yesterday.

There's an article with his coverversion of Volare in this Eurocovers post.

Bits and bobs and wonderful dreams

We're fast approaching the end of the 2010 Eurovision preselection season. In a week all countries should have made their minds up and we'll know all the songs. (see below)
Then the long wait starts....
With all the new stars it's busy busy busy at Eurocovers headquarters and I don't really have the time for in-depth dissections of Eurocovers artists and their discographies right now.
So here's just a few lovely ones I got recently.Wonderful Dream, an English language version of the Luxemburg 1973 winner by Malaysian singer Anita Sarawak.
Гелена Великанова - Лечу я: Letayu, an old Russian version of Volare by Gelena Velikanova

Mary Ann (U.K. 1979). Not covered very much, but Ragnar Kuusk & Agrofon from Estonia did. From a real MC.

成吉思汉 - 张碟. Another fabulous cover of Dschinghis Khan (Germany 1979) by some kid named Joshua. I think it's sung in Cantonese, correct me if I'm wrong.




The Oslo Collection: Latest News
Ukraine: Goodbye Vasyl, Aloysha breaks the rules *** Belgium: Tom charts in 2 countries! *** 2010 Promoconcert *** France: *** Belarus: new song selected *** Russia: Peter Nalitch, listen *** Azerbaijan: It's Drip Drop *** Switzerland: new Video *** Serbia: This is the Balkans *** Sweden: Anna Bergendahl wins MF ***Germany: Satellite - Lena Meyer-Landrut, cdsingle news ***Greece : Opa - Giorgos Alkaios*** United Kingdom: Josh Dubovie gets the Waterman song*** Netherlands: Sieneke to Oslo, cdsingle coverversions galore ***

Aurore Kimberley - L'Oiseau Et L'Enfant

13 year old French singer Aurore Kimberley has recorded a new gipsy tinged version of France's 1977 Eurovision winner l'Oiseau Et l'Enfant (original by Marie Myriam).

The song is included on her album Artistes De l'Ombre which should be out by now.

Listen to the song and read more at Aurores SkyRock blog or check her Youtube channel.

Dutch street organ Anton Pieck - Sha-La-Lie

The much debated Dutch 2010 Eurovision Ik Ben Verliefd (Sha-La-Lie) in a street organ version. Now if you don't love this.......

Till Hamingju Hera!

I haven't done any Road To Oslo style features this year as all Eurocovering favorites who had their discographies featured at Eurocovers seemed to fail miserably (see Eurocovers, A Jinx?)

But now I'm very happy to congratulate Hera Björk with her victory in Iceland. Her song Je Ne Sais Quoi is the Icelandic entry for Oslo 2010.
Hera Björk was featured in this Eurocovers post in 2007 and a bit in this one in 2009.

Je Ne Sais Quoi is not dissimilar to the mighty Eurobandiđ's This Is My Life but it's probably because both songs share songwriter Örlygur Smári (Öggi).

Hera Björk Þórhallsdóttir entered the Icelandic preselection in 2007 (with Mig Dreymdi) and in 2009 she ended 2nd (behind Believe Again) in the Danish final with Someday.
She also was a backing singer for the Icelandic entries of 2008 (Eurobandið) and 2009 (Yohanna).

Composer Öggi previously co-wrote the Icelandic entries of 2000 (Tell me - Einar & Telma) and 2008.

Hera Björk released two albums: Christmas album Ilmur Af Jólum in 2000 and Hera Björk in 2006. The 2006 album features an Icelandic coverversion of Alvedansen, the Norwegian 2006 entry.
In 2008 and 2009 Hera Björk was a part of Frostrósir.
-
-
-
Hera Björk MySpace
Hera Björk Website
Örlygur Smári MySpace
Hera Björk at 2010 The Oslo Collection
-
-
For all your Eurovision 2010 needs like release info, details on recorded versions and charts you can check out The Oslo Collection.

Moscow revisited: Believe Again

2010 is here and so is the new Eurovision season. Preselections, National finals, Melodi Grand Prixes or whatever you call them, are in full swing and a few days ago Denmark announced their 10 hopefuls. (info here at DR TV)

Song # 2, All About A Girl by Joakim Tranberg is written by the same team as last years Danish entry Believe Again: Lars Halvor Jensen, Martin Michael Larsson & Ronan Keating.
Ronan Keating is Mr. Rollercoaster of Boyzone, but you already knew that.
Of course there's 9 more songs and if the quality is as good as last year you should put some cash aside for the DMGP 2010 CD which will be released early februari.

Last year in Moscow the Danish entry performed by (Niels) Brinck ended 13th in the final, which is respectable but not exactly winning.
Believe Again scored a #1 hit in Denmark and got a platinum award. It also spent 2 weeks on the Swedish charts reaching # 44.
Who knows what could have been if there had been a proper release in Europe.
But almost a year later Believe Again is a winner at Eurocovers with the most successful coverversions of the year. Brinck homepage Brinck at The Moscow Collection

Jeroen Van Der Boom
Jeroen van der Boom, one of the Toppers (Dutch entry 2009) has recorded a Dutch version of Believe Again on his new album Verder (Red Bullet Music, released in September). The track is titled Weer Geloven.

In november it was released as a cdsingle which also includes an acoustic version of the song.
In Christmas week the cdsingle took the #1 spot on the Dutch singles-sales top 100, a second # 1 hit for Jensen, Larsson & Keating.
Jeroen Van Der Boom Home

South Africa
Four South African singers have recorded Believe Again song in Afrikaans, but it's Heinz Winckler who gets the clearance to release it. Wincklers version, Ek Kan Weer In Liefde Glo (I can believe in love again), is released on his new album which is out on Selekt Musiek in September.

Heinz Winckler was the winner of the first Idols (Pop Idol) in South Africa in 2002. You probably have seen him on the (one off) international show World Idol in 2003, where he finished 4th performing Aerosmiths I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing. (The winner was Kurt Nilsen from Norway).
Winckler released three albums, all sung in English and the new one is the first with songs in Afrikaans (although five songs are in English).
You can see the video in this post. The clip is also at Heinz Winckler MySpace where you can listen to some earlier songs (in English).

The first Afrikaans coverversion of Believe Again was recorded by Henri Alant. The track is called Ek Glo (I believe) and was originally planned to be on Alant's forthcoming CD, which seems unlikely now.
Ek Glo is already issued on a 6-track advance promo CD Sal Jy by Artists Warehouse.
Two other artists in the battle for Believe Again were Kobus Muller and Francois Marais.

Charl Stone
A fifth South African singer who has recorded Believe Again is Charl Stone.
Newcomer Charl is a policeman from George (on the south coast). He recorded Believe Again in English for his album 'n Nuwe Geur (a new scent).
You can listen to Believe Again and some other tracks from his debut at his MySpace.
Excepts of all album tracks are at RhythmMusicStore.




AustraliaOrianthi Panagharis is an Australian rock singer/guitarist who covers the song in English on her new album Believe (Geffen records).
The track is now titled Believe without the Again.
Read more about Orianthi at her website and find out about her Michael Jackson This Is It auditions at Popdirt.
The first single from Orianthi's album is According To You which is currently on the Australian charts (reaching #8 last december).
According To You also charts in the US Billboard hot 100 (currently at #26) and in various Canadian and Japanese charts.
Please note there's also a track called Believe on Orianthi's 2007 CD Violet Journey, but that's a different song. Obviously.

Special thanks to Roy & Songfestivalweblog and Dominique.
Parts of this article have already been featured at Eurocovers and the Moscow Collection.

Jeroen Van Der Booms cdsingle is available at BeaRecords who also stock the Brinck CD.
Both the Heinz Winckler & Charl Stone albums are available at Kalahari. (Heinz, Charl)
Digital versions are available at Rhythm Music Store. This South African download store offers mp3's worldwide, but I haven't tried it yet.
Orianthi's CD is available through all regular uni-ama-play-tunes webshops.

South Africa CD news: Dancing On Splintered Glass

Eurocovers has regularly featured CD info of South African artists recording your favorite Eurovision songs. Often in the Afrikaans language, or other exotic tongues like English.
So, when all eyes are on South Africa in 2010 , because of the Football (Soccer….) World Championship, Eurocovers continues to track the Afrikaans music scene for those artists covering your favorite Eurovision tunes.

Many popular and up and coming artists have selected one or two Eurocovers for their latest albums but this is the first time an artist decided to fill a CD with Eurovision songs only. And an interesting eclectic collection it is.
Since the South African Eurocovers boom started Dominec has been working on his CD Dans Ons Op Splinterglas and now it finally sees the light.
15 tracks are here. All are songs that have graced the Eurovision stage in the past 30 years, the oldest being Peter Sue and Marcs Io Senza Te (Switzerland 1981).

Here is the full tracklist of Dans Ons Op Splinterglas, released on Saturn Records.

Winde Van Verandering (Winds Of Change)
- Netherlands 1990 - Ik Wil Alles Met Je Delen - Maywood
Tornero
- Romania 2006 - Tornero - Mihai TraistariuBemin My Vanaand (Love Me Tonight)
- Belarus 2005 - Love Me Tonight - Angelica Agurbash
Sonder Jou (Without You)
- Andorra - Sense Tu - Jenny
Wat Kan Ek Doen (What Can I Do)
- Switzerland 1981 - Io Senza Te - Peter Sue & MarcJy Het My Verraai (You Betrayed Me)
- Bulgaria 2006 - Let Me Cry - Marianna Popova
Jy Het Myn Hart Gebreek (You Broke My Heart)
- Slovenia 2006 - Mr Nobody - Anzej DejanLa Dolce Vita
- Finland 1989 - La Dolce Vita - Anneli SaaristoBly Net By My (Just Stay With Me)
- Iceland 2004 - Heaven - JonsiSe Jy Vir My (Tell Me You're For Me)
- Russia - Never Let You Go - Dima BilanJy Is Die Een Vir My (You're The One For Me)
- Croatia 2004 - You Are The Only One - Ivan MiculicOns Laatste Nag (Our Last Night)
- Sweden 1995 Se På Mig - Jan JohansenJe T'adore
- Belgium 2006 - Je T'adore - Kate RyanOns Somersaand (Our Summer Evening)
- Malta 2001 - Another Summer Night - Fabrizio Faniello
Die Lewe Is Wat Jy Daarvan Maak (Life's What You Make It)
- Norway 2004 - High - Knut Anders Sørum


You can listen to the songs at the recordcompanies pages Saturn records where there is also some order information. I don't have the details on international orders, but you can drop them a mail for information.

-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
With Eurovision 2010 upon us and preselections in full force, the 2010 Oslo Collection is now launched. Here you'll find all release info on the entries of the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest in Norway. Bookmark now.