Eurovision 2008: Belgrade Weeks: Ljubim Te Pesmama

Ljubim Te Pesmama (I love you in my songs) by Belgrade born Extra Nena was the last Eurovision entry for Yugoslavia.
But when the song was selected in the national final Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Hercegovina and Macedonia* had already declared independence. So the national final was organized by Serbian TV only, even though some Bosnian artists and songwriters participated. (see the first Belgrade weeks post for some more info).
Ljubim Te Pesmama starts as a melancholy ballad but bursts into full blown Balkan Schlager in the refrain. Extra Nena recorded it in Serbian, English, French and Italian. The song finished 14th in the competition in Malmö, 1992.
http://www.extra-nena.com/
* later officially known as Former Yugoslavian Republic Of Macedonia, I know….



Two artists covered Yugoslavia's swan song. (as far as I know)
A Finnish version Miksi Luokesi Jäänyt En was recorded by Paula Koivuniemi who released the song on a single (Fazer Finnlevy 100302) and on the LP/CD Rakkaudella Sinun (Fazer finnlevy 200311/312, 1992)

Earlier Paula Koivuniemi recorded Switzerlands 1980 entry Cinema in Finnish as Sunnuntainäytös (for a 1980 LP Eurovisio Special 80)

http://www.paulakoivuniemi.fi/

Eurovision star Siw Malmkvist recorded Ljubim Te Pesmama in German and in Swedish.
The German version Ein Hauch Von Florenz can be found as an extra track on cdsingle Geh Nicht In Den Rosengarten and on CD Musik Ist Wie Ein Freund. The title track of the album is a German version of the Croatian 1995 entry Nostalgija. (by Magazine & Lidija). (Both cdsingle and album on the Funny Artists label, 1999)
Swedish version Ge Mej En Doft Ifrån Rom was released on a very rare cdsingle by Siwan & Sivan (Siw Malmkvist & Siv Wennerberg) issued on the Debit & Kredit label (DK-001). This cds also includes a cover of Nostalgija (as: Musik Är Ingenting För Dej, in Swedish)
Siw Malmkvist represented Sweden in 1960 with Alla Andra Får Varann (10th place) and Germany in 1969 with Primaballerina (9th). You can read more about Siw Malmkvist and her Eurocovers in the Year Of The Puppet Post Siw Malmkvists Sprattelgummas



ANNO DOMENICO meets BELGRADE WEEKS
I've been trying to locate a Serbian version of Volare to tie in with the Domenico Modugno year, but I haven't found any sung in Serbian which is actually by an artist from Serbia. But here's an interesting one in Italian. Multi instrumentalist Slađan Jovanović recorded a mellow bossa-version of the song as a bonus track for his album Ginko.
And you can listen to / download all tracks from the album at his website at http://sladjan.net/. Volare is track 14.

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

CD Releases: Volare in the 10's

It's 55 years ago since Domenico Modugno's Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu) conquered the world. You probably all know that Eurocovers loves a bit of history, so the Eurovision classic features in many posts, including the 2008 series Anno Domenico.

I hadn't looked into it much recently, but after a rainy morning browsing the net I noticed that the everblue evergreen is still being recorded in it's 7th decade.

Emma

Followers of the Italian Festival di Sanremo, the mother of all songcontests, know Emma.

Emma Marrone entered the 2011 Sanremo together with Modà and the song Arriverà.

In 2012 she went it alone and won Sanremo with Non è L’Inferno.

As a true Sanremo star, Emma knows her classics and she recorded Volare for the film Benvenuti Al Nord. It’s a comedy about the rivalry between the Italian North and the Italian South. Emma’s Volare accompanies the end credits. (video)

The track was released on the re-issue of her 2011 album Sarò Libera (2012) which also added the Sanremo winner in two versions. (Universal music Italy). 

Emma cites Gianna Nannini as one of her main inflences. She accompanied Gianna on her 2011 Io E Te tour (see below)
Emma's latest album is Schiena, released in April 2013.

2014: Emma Marone is selected to represent Italy in the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen, Denmark. Read all about that here at the Copenhagen Collection.

Emma website

Chico and the Gypsies with Nana Mouskouri
Chico is Chico Bouchikhi, one of the founding members of the Gypsy Kings. in 2012 Chico and the Gypsies released an album with duets titled Chico and the Gypsies....and Friends.
Since the Gypsy Kings 1989 hit, Volare became a staple song for any self respecting Gypsy / Rumba outfit. So it's not unexpected the song found its way to this album. But the guest star on the song is a surprise: our Nana Mouskouri.

In Eurovision titles Nana Mouskouri would probably be the Grand Duchess of Eurovision or something.
In 1963 the Greek singer entered the Eurovision songcontest for Luxembourg with A Force De Prier (By the power of praying) and ended 8th.
No further explanation is needed, Nana Mouskouri continued to superstardom ever since and she is still touring the world with her emotional and uplifting encyclopedia of songs.

Other guests on the Chico CD include Charles Aznavour and Eurovision stars Gerard Lenorman and Patrick Fiori.
Here's a live video of Chico and Nana doing Volare

Chico and the Gypsies website

Gypsy Queens
U.K. based Gyspy Queens recorded Volare for their eponymous 2012 album. The band, led by Didier Casnati, presents a more jazzy style of gypsy music. Check out a BBC breakfast performance of the Queens' Volare here at their Youtube.

In 2010 Casnati already recorded Volare with Peruvian singer Jaime Cuadra for his album Latino (watch video)

Gypsy Queens just played the Isle Of Wight festival and you can also catch them at this years Glastonbury.
Their new single, also on the album, is a cover of L'Italiano, the Toto Cutugno classic. (video)

Gypsy Queens website

ケツメイシ
In Eurocovers Galaxy it's a small step from Gypsy music to Japan. Ketsumeishi is a Japanese hip-hop-pop boy/man band going since 2000. Their albums are simply titled Ketsunopolis (ケツノポリス) 1to 8.
1 was released in 2000 and 8 saw the light in 2012. Ketsunopolis 8 includes their coverversion of Volare in Japanese (ボラーレ).

Their 2012 hitsingle Love Love Summer includes two versions of Volare: The original album version and the FPM Everlust remix.
Volare is mostly a Gypsy Kings cover with some rappy bits thrown in, but still a great tune, especially the remix.

Ketsumeishi website

And some more

In 2010 actress / model / stylist / sex symbol Valeria Marini released Volare on a cdsingle with DJ Roberto Onofri. The cdsingle was only avalable with a magazine (Di Più) and allegedly sold 300.000 copies (of 500.000 pressed).

All proceeds were for the victims of the Abruzzo earthquake.

Source: ADNkronos

Vanessa Neigert recorded a German version of Volare fore her 2012 album also titled Volare. The album also includes a version of Piove (Ciao Ciao Bambina), the 1959 Modugno Eurovision classic. Vanessa Neigert specializes in the classics from the 50’s and 60’s. She recorded the German 1962 entry Zwei Kleine Italiener for her debut album Mit 17 Hat Man Noch Träume (Ariola, 2009).

Vanessa Neigert website

Gianna Nannini is a famous singer in Italy, but attempts to make her success global have not resulted in world domination. Pity, really as she made some incredible albums. Her biggest claim to international fame is probably Un Estate Italiana (with Edoardo Bennato), a theme tune to the 1990 football world cup. In the 80's she scored a few European hits with I Maschi and Bello E Impossibile.

She released Volare on her 2011 album Io E Te. (Sony Music Italy) The song was also included on the live edition of the same album. Nannini probably had no trouble remembering the lyrics as she was one of the singers who recorded Volare For Ethiopia back in 1985 (see this Eurocovers post)

Gianna Nannini website

Andrea Bocelli never recorded a real studio version of Volare except for a Barilla pasta commercial. But he has been performing the song live on many occasions. Live album One Night In Central Park, recorded in (you guessed it) Central park, New York features a live version with David Foster at the piano. (Sugar Music, 2011)

Other stars guesting are Tony Bennett and Eurovision Royal Celine Dion. 

Andrea Bocelli website

Francisco recorded a Spanish live version of Volare with Santiago Segura for his album La Voz. 

Now, many singers are named Francisco, so I don’t really know who this is. He must be someone, as the album has some impirtant guests.
Update: Francisco won the OTI contest (Spanish language Song contest) twice. (1981 and 1992) and is a well known singer in Spain. (Thanks José Antonio!)

Well worth mentioning is that La Voz also includes a version of Al Di Là  (Más alla in Spanish) the Italian 1961 Eurovision entry, as it's a duet with no one less than Pastora Soler of Baku Eurovision fame. 
And there's Dio Come Ti Amo (Dios como te amo in Spanish) performed with Paca Ribes. This is Domenico Modugno's 1966 Eurovision song.
Other people guesting are Julio Iglesias Jr. and Daniel Diges (Oslo 2010) (Warner music Spain).

2008 Anno Domenico - Io e i Gomma Gommas

Punk Rock version of Volare by Io e i Gomma Gommas. From their CD 50's...Morti 60's...Feriti.

http://www.gommagommas.it

Anno Domenico: Volare for Ethiopia (1985)

Do They Know It's Christmas, We Are The World. The 80's saw a host of allegedly well meant millionselling songs aimed to raise money for the starving and to Feed The World. I can try to be as PC as possible, but after 20 years people still are quite hungry. What's Going On?

Every European country had it's own version of the charity explosion and that's where Volare comes into the frame. In 1985 a host of Italian stars recorded Modugno's song to raise some cash for Ethiopia: Musica Italiana Per L'Etiopia. You know the images: priviliged people in casual daywear, headphones in check, eyes closed, passionately acting and singing one whole line to do their bit for the needy.

The Italian effort featured the popular recording artists at the time, some has beens and even the occasional Eurovision artist* (or to be). And lovely Milva! (her solo version of Volare is here)
Angelo Branduardi, Banco, Claudia Mori, Dik Dik, Dori Ghezzi*, Enrico Ruggeri*, Eugenio Finardi, Fabrizio De Andrè, Gianna Nannini, Gianni Togni, Giuni Russo, Ivano Fossati, Loredana Bertè, Lucio Dalla, Maurizio Fabrizio, Milva, Patty Pravo, Riccardo Fogli*, Ron, Rossana Casale, Tony Esposito and Vasco Rossi.

The song was released on a 7" inch single (Ricordi ET 0100) at 3500 Lire and a 12"inch with an extended version (Ricordi ETX 0100) at 7000 Lire. Both discs also have the instrumental version. It was a #2 hit in the Italian charts in may 1985 and was the 27th best selling single of the year. We Are The World was the best selling hit in Italy that year.

----Ethiopia is here

2008: Anno Domenico - Volare meets The Beautiful Game (1)

After Eurovision there's another event that enjoys some popularity in the European communities this year, the European Cup Football, Euro 2008. Similarities enough: It attracts colourful fans waving flags and what have you, there's joke entries, Diva's and Drama Queens and whole hordes of people migrate across Europe to catch their favorites in action.
There's some leg action, opening ceremonies and people drink a lot. It has all the ingredients of Eurovision except maybe neighbourly voting.
Tonight it's Oranje against the Azzurri in the Group of Death (a bit like Belgrades second semi final this year) and here's a little tribute to Dutch Football squads from the past. Oh, and it's Volare, Song #1 if it comes to Football related coverversions.

1990 Oranje Sjampagne
------ Duo de PelikaanDutch comedy version for the World Cup in Italy when the Dutch were kicked out in the second round by Germany.
1998 Oranje Oh Oh Oh
---- - Danny Lukassen
This was for the World Cup in France where the Dutch made it to the semi finals, but got out-penaltied by Brasil after a 1 all draw. In the match for third place Holland lost to Croatia.



More Volare meets The Beautiful Game coming soon

Rocky Roberts - Yes Yes My Love

Reply Songs are (obviously) songs that reply to a big hit and it was Michael Jackson untimely departure that got me thinking. Bear with me, I'll explain.
Back in the days I loved Off The Wall and Billie Jean just as much as anyone else, and I still do. Just like any other popmusic fan I have been swept along in the Michael Jackson craze and I am fascinated by the charts being stuffed with Michael Jackson hits. All the sad events transported me back in time and had me reliving the 80's, which were pretty fantastic times for me.

Of course there's no Eurocover by Michael Jackson and it's not really possible to celebrate the King Of Pop within the confines of Eurocovers.

Reply Songs
In those Thriller days I used to DJ and a favorite cliché of mine was mixing Billie Jean with the reply song Superstar by Lydia Murdock (I'm Billie Jean And I'm Mad As Hell).
The question arose, has there ever been a reply song for a Eurovision song? (Any excuse for a Eurocovers post with a Michael Jackson tie).

I actually found one, and even though it's a song heavily featured in some recent Eurocovers posts it's here again. Researching it of course lead to finding more about the singer etcetera, Eurocovers style. And incidentally there turned out to be more Michael Jackson links than I expected.


Rocky Roberts (1941 - 2005)
An interesting CV for Rocky Roberts. Born in Miami, spent some time in the U.S. navy, was a welter weight championship boxer and got his first musical cudo's with the Airedales, recording in the U.S. and in France. In the second half of the sixties he moved to Italy where he recorded most of his songs (as a solo artist) and he was a guest in every other popular TV music show. His American accent didn't stop him from having a great hit with Stassero Mi Butto (amazing YouTube link restored), watch the footwork MJ fans) and he was well known for his energetic Italian language coverversions of Motown and Atlantic soul hits, live and on record. Reach Out I'll Be There (Four Tops, also recorded by the Jackson 5), Chain Of Fools (Aretha Franklin) and Same Old Song (Four tops)

Yes Yes Dear Dear, Perhaps Next Year, Or maybe even never…

It's with the Airedales that Rocky Roberts recorded a reply song (in English) to Gigliola Cinquetti's Non Ho L'eta (Per Amarti).
Yes Yes My Love from the French 10"inch LP Rocks Et Slows - T.Bird from 1964 (BARCLAY 92.107)

The original track by Gigliola Cinquetti is about being too young to love and Rocky Roberts, always a gentleman, is prepared to wait. I don't know if they ever got together…

Here's some lyrics excerpts from both songs:
Non ho l'eta (from Italian)
"I don't have the age to love
I don't have the age to go out with you
I wouldn't know what to say as you know so much more than me
If you want to wait for me one day all my love will be for you".

Yes Yes My Love (original is in English)
"Yes Yes My Love, I know you're too young.
I'll wait for you
These tender years, I'll think of you
when the waiting is through, no more can I do
I'll watch the moon and the stars when I think of you
I'll wait with all my heart to be standing by you".

The track and album are from Rocky Roberts time in France where he mostly recorded French and American classics in English.
This Is My Prayer, the 'original' English version of Non Ho L 'Eta didn't have the being too young theme, which was just as well, as Vera Lynn from the previous Eurocovers post was well into her 40's when she recorded her version.

Volare
Yes Yes My Love is not the only Eurocover by Rocky Roberts. In 1970 he recorded Volare as an amazing soul ballad. Accept my apologies for overlooking that one in last years Anno Domenico posts, it's a Eurocover that is not to be missed.
Volare was a b-side to I Won't Think Hard Of You, released in the U.S. on the Chess label (Chess 2096). It can also be found on the compilation CD I Grande Successi Originali.

In 1969 Roberts entered the San Remo contest with La Belle Donne and in 1970 with Accidenti (together with Il Super-gruppo).
Rocky Roberts died in 2005, but his son Randy Roberts continues the family tradition, and hey presto, his MySpace features some nice acoustic Michael Jackson coverversions.


Rocky Roberts MySpace tribute.

One final link for the anoraks: The Airedales continued in the late 60's and 70's with band member (bassist) Wess Johnson as the new lead singer who took over from Roberts in 1967. And Wess is of course known from the 1975 Eurovision entry Era by Wess and Dori Ghezzi, which ended third for Italy and was a reasonable European hit. Contrary to popular myth only Dori is a Ghezzi.

Anno Domenico in Russia - Who is it? and some more bits and pieces

Here's a Russian version of Volare I have no clue about.

The song is probably titled Letayu (Летаю) and it sounds like an old recording, really old.
The second part of the song is Casetta in Canada, a 1957 San Remo song.But it doesn't really sound like a medley, so I'd like to find out if there's a full version of Volare and who actually sings this song.


If you know, please leave a comment or send a message.-------♫ Летаю / Летаю


2008 Release News: Jennifer Zamudio
An interesting coverversion will be released at the end of this month. It's the Norwegian entry of this year Hold On Be Strong, originally by Maria Haukaas Storeng (Youtube here). This very early coverversion is by Jennifer Zamudio from South Africa. The song is titled Ek Wag Op Jou (I wait for you) and can be found on Jennifers new CD Hier's My Hart. Find out more at Jennifers thuisblad (in Afrikaans).
On her previous CD Hoor Hoor she covered the Eurovision entries of Romania & Lithuania 2005 plus the Spanish 1991 ballad Bailar Pegados.

Jacques Aylestock
Oh, well, let's do another song then. Here's a charming unusual version of the French 1960 winner Tom Pillibi (Jacqueline Boyer). This sweet version is by Jacques Aylestock and what I know is that he was a 10 year old multi octave child prodigy soprano singer from Quebec who was launched as the next big thing in 1963. He eventually released two albums simply titled Jacques Aylestock Vol. 1 & Vol. 2. Tom Pillibi is on the first one (Select 298.066). Whatever happened to Jacques?


The Belgrade Collection
If you're interested in finding out about the cdsingles, versions and promo's of the 2008 contest you can get the Belgrade Collection File, a word doc. with all the info you need. (updated 2009)
If you haven't got a clue, Eurovision 2008, a three-nighter for the first time, is on May 20, 22 and 24 in Belgrade, Serbia. More about that later in the Serbweeks*

* Last year we had the Finweeks and I know Serbweeks doesn't sound as catchy, I tried Belgraweeks but that's too Belgium. Any suggestion for a good title?
The Helsinki File word doc., with all the details on last years Eurovision releases is still here.

Anno Domenico: The Volare Stamp