I told myself never to use the word 'tune' as I have done in my title but now I have. So... yeah. Anyway, as Eurovision if over for another year (why, God, why?!) I can finally share some music that has nothing to do with the contest. That's right, I do listen to other stuff too. So, what's new on my iPod?
Emeli Sandé - Abide With Me
Emeli Sandé is a fantastic singer, there is nothing I've heard from her that I dislike and Abide With Me is no different. As I'm sure many of you will know Sandé featured rather heavily in this year's Olympic ceremonies having performed this song in the opening ceremony as a tribute to those who died in the 7/7 bombings, and it truly was a beautiful tribute. Sandé's vocals are truly beautiful and soft, something which is evident in the final moments of the song when she sings a capella. The music, or general lack thereof, gives the song a haunting, mournful side which is emphasised by the beginning bell chime, the heartbeat throughout and the violins which play later in the song. This is the kind of song that makes you fall silent when you listen to it. It will make you stop in your tracks and think. All I can say is that the American's really missed out by not broadcasting this section of the opening ceremony. Dragonette - Live In This City
Dragonette - you know, Martina Sorbara (lead singer) provided the vocals to Martin Solveig's Hello? Yeah, that's the one! Anyway, the point in my opener there was that NOT ENOUGH PEOPLE LISTEN TO DRAGONETTE!!! This song is their 2nd single from their upcoming 3rd studio album, Bodyparts, the previous single being Let It Go which is equally/more amazing than this song. Live In This City is a fun, upbeat song which reminds me of Rogue Traders (Voodoo Child) before they went downhill after Natalie Bassingthwaighte left as lead singer. If you fail to enjoy this song, fail to enjoy the rock elements then I really don't see how you ever manage to have fun. Carrie Underwood - Blown Away
This is the first time I've ever paid attention to Carrie Underwood, winner of American Idol 4, mainly because she is a country singer and country isn't really my thing. This song however is less country and more rock/pop. The biggest draw to this sing, for me anyway, are the lyrics. There are some fantastic lines such as "There’s not enough rain in Oklahoma/To wash the sins out of that house/There’s not enough wind in Oklahoma/To rip the nails out of the past" and "Listened to the screaming of the wind/Some people called it taking shelter/She called it sweet revenge". The lyrics are dark, the song in general is dark and has a kind of 'twisted fairytale' theme that, as some of you will know, I love. There are, of course, other songs I've acquired lately that I like but they're more mainstream and what would be the point in sharing those?! I hope you give these songs a chance and maybe even go crazy and add them to your iPods or whatever. Liam
As widely predicted by bookies, fans and even me Loreen won the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with "Euphoria" - the song won with 372 points, the second highest score in Eurovision history, just 15 away from Alexander Rybak's record. Euphoria did break the record for most '12 points' awarded, namely 18. Out of the 41 countries that could have awarded Sweden points, 40 of them did, Italy being the only country not to award Sweden anything - crazy!
Euphoria is currently number 3 in the British charts making it the most successful winning Eurovision song since 1997 and the most successful foreign Eurovision entry/winner since 1987. It's great to see Euphoria doing so well here especially as it is expected to become a massive summer hit in many parts of Europe.
For those of you who didn't see it (what were you doing that was more important?!?) here's Loreen winning the contest and her victory performance of Euphoria at Eurovision:
A quick note about the UK, while the song was pleasant and very well sung there's no escaping the fact that it was boring and completely lost amongst the fantastic competition this year, we should be grateful just to have avoided last place (poor Norway). The media and public have gone a little mental saying we should pull out of the contest because it's all political (very, very sore losers) but I will defend the contest to a hilt, I do not believe that the contest is political, countries voting for their neighbours is not political, it's a cultural thing. Singers who are successful in Russia, for example, will be famous in Ukraine, Belarus, Georgia, etc because they share media and music tastes and the same goes for the Nords (Sweden, Norway, Finland, etc) and even the UK and Ireland. It is not Europe hating us, it is the BBC selecting the most random people and allowing us to be represented by frankly inferior songs. Also, we don't consistently do badly, in recent years we've come 11th (2011), 5th (2009) and 3rd (2002) - the BBC just needs to put the effort in!
And that is it for another year, Eurovision is over - how depressing! Though I imagine a lot of people will be pleased that I will finally stop posting, talking and whatnot-ing about Eurovision on a constant loop but Euphoria has earned itself a permanent place on my iPod so it's not all bad!
If you haven't already, go and buy Euphoria, it is a fantastic song! Don't let the fact that it is a Eurovision song dampen the fact that it is a genuinely good song that would chart well out of Eurovision x
No, I haven't misspelled 'Norway' - I've spelt it the Welsh way, think of my blog as a very long Welsh lesson. Anyway, why a post on Norway? Surprisingly, this has nothing to do with Eurovision but does have a lot to do with this BBC report. The report is about the trial of Anders Behring Breivik, a Norwegian man who ruthlessly murdered 77 people. 8 people died in an explosion in Oslo after Breivik planted a bomb outside the Norwegian Prime Minister's office and, following this, Breivik travelled to the small island of Utøya where the Labour Party youth wing were at camp, disguised as a policeman. There, he shot the island hostess and a security guard before summoning campers to stand around him under the pretence that he was there to talk about the Oslo bombing. He opened fire on those who surrounded him, on those who ran away from him and later on those who attempted to swim away from the island. Breivik killed 69 people in all on Utøya on 22 July 2011. A further 319 people were injured.
I remember when I first saw the news, I couldn't sleep so I was up all night and I first saw the report on BBC News early in the morning. Of course I was totally shocked, no one expects this kind of travesty to occur in Norway, credited as a very tolerant country, but I was also surprised at the lack of reactions from people online, mainly on Facebook. The vast majority of Facebookers seemed much more concerned about the death of Amy Winehouse, and while any death is tragic, I felt a bit uncomfortable that so many people were so concerned and apparently upset with her death and completely unaffected and in many cases oblivious to the travesties in Norway, the deadliest attack in Norway since World War II, and on average 1 in 4 Norwegians knew a victim affected by the attacks. I am NOT saying that Winehouse shouldn't be mourned and that her death wasn't notable, what I'm saying is that I was slightly annoyed that her death was very heavily publicised and seemingly more important than the deaths of 69 Norwegians.
Breivik has confessed to the crime and wants his day in court. He says he committed these crimes (and would do so again) because he is "on a mission to save Norway and Europe from being taken over by Islam." This notion is, of course, ridiculous. I like to think that Europe, and members of the EU especially (Norway is not a member of the EU, but is practically tied into it), is home to very tolerant governments and tolerant people, the best in the world - save for the odd xenophobe here and there. However, several countries in Europe have small but loud right-wing extremists even in countries where you may not expect them, such as in Norway or Finland. I have long thought and made clear that the Nordic countries are leading examples in many things: democracy, the economy, healthcare, education, international relations, etc and it's about time people started following their example. Having said that, I really do hope that the Nords stay true to who they are and fail to allow people like Breivik to change them. I don't think they will change, and that they will remain the leaders in the things I have mentioned and so I hope that one day governments, like that of the UK, realise that they are no longer 'the envy of the world' but are years behind our Nordic friends.
Breivik's trial begins 16 April 2012 and is expected to end June 22, 2012. The trial is expected to cost £10 million (€12.1m), a price worth paying for the Norwegians to get the answers they desperately want and to put a dangerously volatile man away for life.
This is my first foray into current affairs, and everything above is of course MY OPINION. If you agree or disagree with anything do feel free to comment and I will be more than happy to reply :) Diolch am ddarllen!
