Summertime bits and pieces part 1.

Eurocovers has not fully collapsed yet under the heat, but lazyness prevents indepth analysis of the high standards you are used to from yours truly. I didn't even tie in with the footie and the vuvuzela madness, for which you probably are thankful
But here's some found food and bits and pieces people have been sending.

Perla
Remember Perla? In this Eurocovers post (UPDATED in 2021) you can read all about the beautiful Brasilian pop singer and her covers of your favorite Eurovision songs. There was one version missing which now can be found in this YouTube. It's the Spanish language version of Mia Martini's 1977 entry Libera.
It's one of 90 Perla songs you can listen to on the Perla Radio Youtube channel. Thank you Perla Radio!

Leon Calvert
Easy listening blog Detour features an LP Captivation by Noel Trevlac including an instrumental version of Puppet On A String. Not only is this a must hear track because it is exceptionally good, it's also interesting because Mr. Trevlac is actually Leon Calvert, acclaimed British jazz trumpeteer who probably didn't want to have his name attached to some cheap covers LP. But the quality of the arrangement and the trumpetering betrays him. Thank You Detour Blog!

South Africa
Music news from South Africa is a bit slow at the moment. Several Eurocovers are on the brink of release (or not, as postponing is the word of the day). You can find one little teaser for a forthcoming release at the Jasmyn website.
You can hear a part of Iemand Soos Jy, a coverversion of the ill fated Barbara Dex song that ended last in 1993. Jasmyn will also have two other Eurocovers on her album, but there's not much info on her website yet.
Another anticipated but overdue album is Die Enigste Manier (The only way) by Lee Scott (of Hi-5). It includes Wonderland, an Afrikaans version of Fairytale, last years winner and Wens Ek Kon (2009 runner up Is It True? from Iceland). You can listen to excerpts from the album tracks including the Eurocovers at the Lee Scott website. update: There's also a cover of Chiara's Malta 2009 song titled Vandag.
Moniqe Foxx tackles the forgotten Malta entry Believe 'n' Peace by Times 3 (1999) as Ek Glo for her new album.(very short clip at the Moniqe Foxx website). The album will also include a version of Secret Combination (Greece 2008). The album will be out on Markon records.
Lea Le Roux covers the luscious Andorran 2009 entry La Teva Decisio (Susanna Georgi) as Ek Es Gereed on her album due in november. (small clip at Rea Le Roux website).

A lot of small excerpts which are of course useless to the Eurovers fan, so I'm pleased to end this shortlist of Afrikaans covers with two full versions:

It's Henk Grimsell with his interpretation of Soraya's La Noche Es Para Mi (Spain 2009). The song is titled Vanaand Is Net Vir My from his new album Dis Tyd (Southern Buzz records). And the girls love him!

South African Bachelor Of The Year Stefan Ludik also has an album out. Burn This Town is out on CD in South Africa and also digitally available at Play.com, We7 and MusicMe. It has one Eurocover, Lose Control, last years clubby Finnish entry by Waldo's People. It's in English and a bit louder than the original.
At MusicMe you can listen to the full tracks of the album.

Totally Off Topic Extra Bit Of Afrikaans Info 
Cooler As Ekke by Jack Sparow is heading for a massive hit in the Netherlands. It's a soft hippy hoppy track of which I don't understand a word (maybe just as well) but it can be considered quite cool in a Borat kind of way. It's the first Afrikaans language hit in the Netherlands since Thembi took a medley of discofied Afrikaans folksongs to the top 10 in 1976. (Take Me Back To The Old Transvaal)

2010 coverversions
Currently at #4 in the German charts is Schland O Schland by Uwu Lena. The football hymne to the tune of Lena's 2010 Eurovision winner Satellite was released on cdsingle after some initial hesitation. The number 4 is a lucky number for the Germans. #1 next week?. (update: erm, no , #5)
There's also a Finnish version of Satellite, it's called Kiertokuu by Charlotte Kero.
Read more about all the Satellite Eurocovers at Lena's page at the Oslo Collection. More news on the Keistad Street Organ CD (with a cover of the Dutch entry) can be found at the Oslo Collection Sieneke page.

More Mostly Off Topic Great News
Samantha 'Touch Me' Fox and Sabrina 'Boys Boys Boys' Salerno have teamed up for an ace coverversion of Blondie's Call Me (Youtube). Welcome back girls, the world just wasn't the same without you.
The cdsingle is only released in Italy so far, but the digital release is widely available. I bought my cdsingle at favorite shop Juno, who also stock a picture disc 12" inch.
Sam Fox's old band Sox once tried to go to Eurovision with Go For The Heart, but they ended 4th and Love City Groove went on to the contest somewhere in Ireland.

O Vento Mudou - UHF
After all that schlager and pop it's time for a bit of Rawk. Portuguese rockers UHF have recorded the Portuguese 1967 entry O Vento Mudou (Eduardo Nascimento) for their new album. And it's great!
You can listen to the song at the UHF MySpace . Thanks Ed!

Perdon Cariño Mio
Two versions of the Italian 1971 entry L'Amore è Un Attimo can be found at the website of Pino Lucciano. One in Spanish (Perdon...) and one in Italian. Eurocovers loves that song, so that's why it's here. There's also a version of Volare if you scroll down a bit on the site.
Another Tex Mex version of the song by Los Reyes Del Camino can be found in this Eurocovers post from 2007.

Spain 2003: Silvia Swart - Laat me Leven

The new single by Dutch singer Silvia Swart, Laat Me Leven (Let me live) is a coverversion of the Spanish Eurovision entry Dime (By Beth who ended 8th in 2003).
http://www.silviaswart.nl/
The cdsingle is now available at BeaRecords. It has the Dutch version plus the karaoke.

Tom Kruse - Wunder gibt es immer wieder ( Der WM Song 2010 )

Another World Cup classic in the making

Spot The Eurocover

Douze poing for you if you can find the Eurovision song hidden in this great summer soundtrack. Mama Yé by Nazareken ft. Dady.

More About The 2010 Eurovision winner Lena At The Oslo Collection

2010 The Oslo Weeks - Part 6 And then some...

Tonight is the night, the final of the 55th Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo. Some of Eurocovers favorites made it, but of course many were slaughtered. Why Finland didn't make it is beyond me and pet favorites like Inculto from  Lithuania and sweet Sieneke will be sorely missed. Some that made it are completely useless, others are great, but you can decide that for yourself.
I have to get cooking in a moment, you gotta eat at the yearly Eurovision dinner party, but I'll leave you with just another handful Norwegian artifacts in the last instalment of The Oslo Weeks.

For the latest release news on the CDs of this years entries please visit The Oslo Collection. Who has a proper cdsingle out (not the U.K., that's for sure) and which 17-copies-promo-only-cdr will be the unobtainable holy grail this year?.
Read about the recordings in all kind of languages and remixes by the great local djs. You can also find the latest information on chart movement from all your favorite 2010 songs.

Norwegian Eurocovers, you gotta love 'em, here's a few more:
1975 U.K. - Let Me Be The One (The Shadows)
- La Det Vaere Mig by Staccato
1976 U.K. - Save Your Kisses For Me (Brotherhood Of Man)
- Du Får Det Beste By the Bendik Singers  on 7"(Triola TN 701)
1977 Switzerland - Swiss Lady (Pepe Lienhard Band)
- By The Four Jets  on LP Four Jets' Langspillplate (Arctic ARC 8616).
The Four Jets were a Norwegian band who recorded many coverversions of popular hits from 1963 to 1989. Several guest singers appeared on their records. The recorded this Swiss Lady but also Bad Old Days (U.K. 1978), Boom Boom (Denmark 1978), Making Your Mind Up (U.K. 1981), Dag Efter Dag (Sweden 1983), Det Lige Det (Denmark 1984), Sku Du Spørg Fra No'n (Denmark 1985) and Für Alle (Germany 1985)
1979 Israel - Hallelujah (Milk and Honey)
- by Lilian (Askeland) & Big hand
1982 Germany - Ein Bisschen Frieden (Nicole)
- Litt Mere Frihet by Jenny Jenssen
1993 France - Mama Corsica (Patrick Fiori)
- Mama Korsika by Nattsvermerne

2010 The Oslo Weeks - Part 5: The Classics

Just one day until the first semifinal of the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest.

If you are one of the unlucky Eurocovers readers without any TV channel broadcasting the contest onto your couch, no problem. It's quite easy to catch the broadcasts this year. Just go to the Streaming TV page of the official Eurovision site. There you will be able to catch all three evenings of Eurovision extravaganza. Needs an octoshape install, but that doesn't hurt.

In the meantime here's just a few of the golden oldies recorded in Norwegian over the years. Some by Norways greatest stars and others by the lost and forgotten. And there's some links to Norwegian treasures featured previously at Eurocovers.

1958 Italy - Volare (Domenico Modugno)

Already featured in 2008: Anno Domenico, Norwegian versions of the Italian Classic by Nora Brockstedt  and by Inger Jacobsen with the Monn Keys  (Original post)
1959 Netherlands - 'n Beetje (Teddy Scholten)
- Det Kommer En Sommer - The Monn-Keys  - 7" (Triola TN 165) & EP

The Monn Keys were a Norwegian vocal outfit founded by Egil Monn Iversen and Sølvi Wang. In fact it was some kind of supergroup with different well known Norwegian vocalists joining the group off and on. (including Eurovision singers Inger Jacobsen, Nora Brocktedt and Arne Bendiksen).

Their recording career started way before Eurovision was invented but they picked up on a few of your favorite Eurovision tunes, dressed them up in Norwegian sweaters and even scored a few hits with them. The Monn Keys lasted from 1948 to 1964. They toured Scandinavia, most of western Europe and also America.

The b-side to the Det Kommer… single is Syng Lille Sangfugl, a cover the the U.K. entry Sing Little Birdie. (Still looking for that one though)

source: More about the Monn Keys (in Norwegian) at Balade.no where I also nicked this picture sleeve.

1960 France - Tom Pillibi (Jacqueline Boyer)
- by the Monn Keys with Sølvi Wang - on 7" (Triola TN 202)
1962 Germany - Zwei Kleine Italiener (Conny Froboess)
- Anita Thallaug - Tina Og Marina - on 7"(NorDisk NOR 67)
Anita Thallaugs place in Eurovision history was earned in 1963. In Eurovision she performed Solhverv (Solstice) which became Norways first nil-pointer. Thallaug was appointed to go to Eurovision even though two other artists had performed the song in the national final (Jan Høiland & Nora Brockstedt). Anita Thallaug never released the song.
Zwei Kleine Italiener, probably the biggest hit from the 1962 contest, was already widely covered in this Eurocovers post.
1962 Finland - Tipi Tii (Marion Rung)
- by Jan Høiland,  release details wanted
1966 Yugoslavia - Brez Besed (Berta Ambroz)
- Uten Ord - Karin Winje on 7" (Triola TN 487)
1967 U.K. - Puppet On A String (Sandie Shaw)
- Sprellemann - Benthe Aaseth .
Already featured in The Year Of The Puppet post Sprellemann
1967 Luxembourg - L'Amour Est Bleu (Vicky)
- Blå, Blå, Min Kjærlighed - Åse Kleveland  - on 7" (Polydor NH 66 814)
1969 U.K. Boom Bang A Bang (Lulu)
- Anne Mette in this post.
1973 Spain - Eres Tu (Mocedades)
Inger Lise (Rypdal) - I Mitt Liv on 7" (Talent TS 009). See comments

2010 The Oslo Weeks - Part 4: Intet Er Nytt Under Solen

More never than often I get the question: 'Dear Eurocovers, What's the best Norwegian entry ever?'

Well, there's an easy answer, but it's not very nice to name a song that is decades old while the Norwegians have done their utmost best ever since with some amazing winners and fantastic plonkers. But for me it must be the 1966 song Intet Er Nytt Under Solen (Nothing is new under the sun) by Åse Kleveland. (YouTube)

It's a jazz-folky repetitive tune in the vein of Danish 1963 winner Dansevise and it clocks in at 1 minute 41 which of course adds to the fabulousness of the song. It has a chirpy sadness with gives it the Je Ne Sais Quoi (to coin a popular Icelandic phrase) that makes it the intriguing classic it still is.

Åse Kleveland ended 3rd at the contest, a result Norway didn't come close to anymore for almost 20 years.
She went on to host the 1986 Eurovision Song Contest in Bergen and was the Minister of Culture in the Norwegian government from 1990 to 1996.

The Arne Bendiksen penned song was performed twice in the Norwegian preselection. Åse Kleveland did the 'small combo' version and Grynet Molvig sang the song with the grand orchestra. Both versions were released on single. It's the only time both singers released the song in all 13 occasions Norway did the double-artist-each-song-twice-selection thing.

Åse Kleveland recorded the song in Norwegian, Swedish and German and I know of just a handfull of coverversions (see the full list below)
She also recorded the 1967 smash L'Amour Est Bleu, Love Is Blue on single
Blå, Blå, Min Kjærlighed ♫ (Polydor NH 66 814, 1968)

Intet Er Nytt Under Solen
Originals and Eurocovers Discography
xx
Intet Er Nytt Under Solen (norwegian) - Åse Kleveland
- on 7" (Polydor NH 66774)
Alles War Schon Einmal Da (german) - Åse Kleveland
- on 7" (Germany: Polydor 59 040)
Intet Är Nytt Under Solen (swedish) - Åse Kleveland
on 7" (Sweden: Polydor NH 59713)
Inter Er Nytt Under Solen - Grynet Molvig
- on 7" (Triola 434)  Grynets version is only 1 minute, 32 seconds long!

- coverversions -
Janh Teigen Experience (norwegian)
- on cdsingle Are you Teigened? (AMI 866038)
The Janh Teigen Experience does not involve any real Jahn Teigen involvement. Their Are You Teigened? cdsingle includes three other Eurocovers A Ba Ni Bi (Israel 1968), Vi Gratulerer (U.K. 1968) and Jengis Khan (Germany 1979). Their Intet… is a fantastic bit of hypno-rock, what ever happened to them?
Pitsj (Acapella femtet, norwegian)
- on CD Pitsj from 2006 (Grappa 2006)
---Pitsj Website & MySpace. (MySpace has their Voi Voi)
The Vineyards (norwegian)
- new digital release, see below Norwegian digi 2010, on album later
Oscillate? (norwegian)
- on cd EP Sønbreak (2002)
Jette Ziegler (danish)
- Intet Nyt Under Solen on 7" (Life NP 1533)
I like to think there are more coverversions, do you know any that's not mentioned here?

Intet Er Nytt I 2010?
Intet Er Nytt Under Solen also happens to be the new single of noisy Norwegian Guitar wielding alternative rock band The Vineyards and the digital release is this week.

Their version with bluesy space twang guitars and some staple groovy 60s organs is very 2010 and recommended listening to any music adept.

Go on, have a listen to the song at the Vineyards website or MySpace. You won't be disappointed.




Wot! No Sha La Lie?
The Puma Hardchorus European Song Contest.
There's always some smug grumpies inventing an alternative contest in the Eurovision weeks because they think Eurovision is crap but this years Puma Hardchorus European Song Contest is something different.

Golden voiced friendly football supporters from four countries give the Eurovision songs of their country the Wiener Sängerknaben makeover. Two even have a go at their 2010 entry.
Eurovision relic Terry Wogan introduces the competition of which you can find the clips at the Puma Youtube channel and you can vote until May 29.

1982 Germany - Ein Bisschen Frieden
1997 Italy - Fiumi Di Parole
2010 France - Allez Ola Olé. The best one of the lot!
2010 U.K. - That Sounds Good To Me
There's another one, but it doesn't seem to be in the competition.
2008 Ukraine - Shady Lady has an appearance by the original singer Ani Lorak.

2010 The Oslo Weeks - Part 3: Småting

Old Norwegian vinyls are not easy to find. I'm sure many Eurovision collectors have, like me, some ugly gaps in their collections. Especially 60's singles are hard to come by, and even 70's and 80's vinyls fetch rediculous prices at your average auction site.

Same story goes for the coverversions of Norwegian entries. There aren't many around, and most of them are in Norwegian by local artists, and a fair amount of songs covered in Swedish.

But every once in a while a song was picked up outside Scandinavia and here's one of them. And a lovely one it is.

I Love The Little Things

Småting (Small things) by Benny Borg & Grethe Kausland ended 14th in 1972.
The song was performed in the Norwegian selection by the mentioned duo and also by later Bobbysock! Hanne Krogh. But Hanne Krogh didn't release the song and that leaves us with only one coverversion of the song and it's in Dutch, language of Sieneke.

The song, now titled Zomer (summer) was recorded by The Luckberries, most known by Eurovision fans for their Dutch National final evening back in 1966. Five artists including The Luckberries each had their own three song preselection evening and they all took one song to the final.

The (not yet back then) husband and wife duo took their Dromen Zijn Bedrog to the final and they ended 2nd behind Milly Scotts Fernando and Filipo.

The Luckberries weren't named after some small sort of exotic chance enhancing fruit, but after Lucas (a.k.a. as Luck) and Berrie, the names of the singers.

Their most active career was in the sixties, when they toured many countries in Europe and recorded most of their singles.

Berrie passed away in 2003 and Luck is now active as an artistic painter.

Zomer, the Dutch coverversion of Småting, was released in 1972 as a b-side to Er Is Nog Hoop (Zilvervloot records 154739)

Only Dromen Zijn Bedrog ever made it to CD as far as I know (A Eurovision/National final compilation) but it's high time some dedicated oldies re-issue company would delve into the Luckberries archives and release the whole lot on a CD. The Luckberries collection captures the Dutch spirit of the sixties so well: the typically Dutch careful 60's behavedness as well as the penchant for a fabulous tune.

Grethe Kausland, one half of the Småting duo, passed away in 2007. You can find out more about her and her career as best selling child star Lille Grethe in this Eurocovers post.

sources:

Read more on The Luckberries (in Dutch) at Koppop,

Het Nationaal Songfestival 1956-1999 (BabyBaby booklet 1999)

Thanks to Frans.

The Oslo weeks part 1 - Nora Brockstedt

The Oslo weeks part 2 - Kirsti Sparboe
The Oslo Collection has all the Eurovision 2010 release info.

2010 The Oslo Weeks part 2: Kirsti Sparboe

Modern times, who needs them. If you want you can watch all kinds of rehearsal clips and other Oslo goings on at tha Tube and all the hard working Eurovision blogs, but Eurocovers is having none of that. (i.e. I'm not in Oslo me)

Personally I like a little surprise on the night itself, so it's time to pull out some more of the old phonographs from the vaults and continue with the Oslo Weeks extravaganza to kill the time until the first semi.

Oj Oj Oj
Kirsti Sparboe is another Norwegian Eurovision Legend who deserves to have her own postal stamp.
She entered the contest three times for Norway (Norway easily is the country with the most repeat-euro-offenders).

The first time with Karusell which ended 13nd in 1965, two years later with the sublime Dukkemann which did even worse (14th). 3rd time lucky no way, the totally brilliant Oj Oj Oj Så Glad Jeg Skal Bli is as good as Boom Bang A Bang, but only finished 16th. Boooo.

Karusell was only recorded in Norwegeian but Dukkemann also got a Swedish makeover. She took it a little further with Oj Oj Oj which Kirst recorded in Norwegian, Swedish, German and French. (See below).

Kirsti was a popular singer in Norway at the time scoring several top 10 hits. She participated in several (more) Norwegian Eurovision selections.

Next to recording in Norwegian and Swedish, Kirsti also went for a German career. And quite successfully; her Ein Student Aus Uppsala scoreda 14 week hit in the German charts. It also resulted in Kirsti's participation in the German National final with Pierre Der Clochard in 1970 (4th). After that she released more singles in Germany of which some were airplay hits. A number of songs was also released in the DDR.

Kirsti Sparboe
Eurovision and Eurocovers Discography

-

1965 Norway - Karusell

Two versions were performed by Kirsti in the preselection. One with a small combo and one with an orchestra. Both versions were recorded in the studio, but only one was released on single. Wenche Myhre was originally chosen to sing the 2nd version of Karusell, but she found the song too silly or fell ill (you decide). Kirsti's Karusell was a #7/9 weeks hit.

- Karusell (norwegian) on 7" (Triola TN 401)

1967 Norway - Dukkemann

- Dukkemann (norwegian) on 7" (Triola TN 466)

- Sprattelman (swedish) b-side to 'Kär Pa Lek' (Sweden Sonet T-7690)

---The other version in the Norwegian NF was sung by Torill Ravnås.

1969 Norway - Oj Oj Oj Så Glad Jeg Skal Bli

- Oj Oj Oj Så Glad Jeg Skal Bli (norwegian) on 7" (Triola TN 540)

- O.J.Oj, Grand Prix Jubilee (norwegian) on 7" (Triola O.J. 1)

---A special lyrics version for the 75-year anniversary of the Oslo Journalistklubb.

- Oi Oi Oi (german) a.k.a. Eins, Zwei, Drei - as Kirsti,  on 7" (Germany Telefunken U 56062)

- Oj Oj Oj Så Glad Jag Skall Bli (swedish) on 7" (Sweden Sonet T 7759)

- Oy, Oy, Oy Je Ne Peux Pas Vivre (french) on 7" (France EMI 2c 006 10178)

Songs were performed only once in the NF of 1969.

Kirsti scored a # 1 hit in Norway, 11 weeks on chart.

You can find a Flemish cover version of Oj Oj Oj in this Eurocovers post.

1968 Norway - Stress (Odd Borre)

In the Norwegian NF songs were performed twice during most of the 60's and 70's. Kirst Sparboe performed the other version of Eurovision entry Stress and also of the winner, disqualified tune Jag Har Aldri Vært Så Glad I No'en Som Deg (sounded too much like Summer Holiday by the Cliffster). Neither songs were released by Kirsti.

1968 Spain - La La La (Massiel)

- La La La by Kirsti, Oddvar & Arne (norwegian)  on 7" (Triola TN 5010)

- La La La by Kirsti, Oddvar & Arne (swedish) on 7" (Sonet T 7730)

1968 United Kingdom - Congratulations (Cliff Richard)

- Vi Gratulerer by Kirsti, Oddvar & Arne (norwegian) on 7" (Triola TN 5010)

- Vi Gratulerar by Kirsti, Oddvar & Arne (swedish) on 7" (Sonet T7730)

---Both above are A & B side of the same singles with U.K. 1968 being the a-side.

1970 Ireland - All Kinds Of Everything (Dana)

- Det Jeg Ser Omkring (norwegian ) on 7" (Triola TN 573)

- Allting Och Ingenting (swedish)  on 7" (Sonet T 7815)

1971 Monaco - Un banc, Un Arbre, Une Rue (Severine)

- På En Gammel Benk (norwegian) on 7" (Triola TN 610)

1971 United Kingdom - Jack In The Box (Clodagh Rodgers)

- Sim-Sala-Bim (norwegian) on 7" (Triola TN 610)

---Kirsti, Oddvar and Arne are Kirsti Sparboe, Oddvar Sanne and Arne Bendiksen.

If you have any correction or additions to this list, please let me know.

For all the Eurovision 2010 release info, please check The Oslo Collection

Oslo Weeks part 1 - Nora Brockstedt