Eurovision from A to Z

Welcome back to Eurovision from A to Z! Summer is usually a period of holidays, also for Eurovision, but music never has a rest. For this episode, we count again with our friend Lukas from Austria, who talked about the pros and cons of the cities candidates to host the festival in 2026 (which finally was Vienna). Also, we talk about rumours and recent news like M. Österdahl's end of contract with EBU. We will deal with the festival held in Dublin in 1971, a year where many things happened as Javier will remember in the facts and trivia section. Didrik, Javier and Lukas will analyse the songs in this festival which supposed the return of the boycotting countries of the last editions and the debut of Malta. You will enjoy classics like Clodagh Rodgers and her "Jack-in-the-box", or music legends like Serge Lama or Massimo Ranieri. You can also listen our 1971 playlist and enjoy most of the songs of this edition. Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5r3tUkIPeaDCCfEyNbD60k?si=737b001f400f4944&pt=68fbe54117246dddb91e0211239df777 Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/es/playlist/14232623241 The snippets used for this episode (apart from the Eurovision 1971 songs) are the following: JJ - Wasted Love Martin Österdahl gets booed by the crowd in Malmö Arena Loïc Nottet - Beaux rêves Dimash - Там, где живет любовь (Where The Love Lives) Kesh You - Ризамын L-Innu Malti - National anthem of Malta Terrifying Moment ITN Reporter Caught in Belfast Explosion (1971) The Amchitka Program underground nuclear test Prime Minister Edward Heath two day meeting with French President Pompidou Nixon suspends the gold patron temporarily in 1971 The Doors - The End The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again Black Sabbath - Children of the Grave Ozzy Osbourne - Mama, I'm Coming Home Led Zeppelin - Stairway To Heaven George Harrison - My Sweet Lord Karina - Romeo y Julieta You can watch the full show at Youtube, where some snippets have been taken to illustrate this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1A9J1ljmfg&t=4473s

Welcome back to Eurovision A to Z! We begin a new season with new look, new logo and a new jingle! Many thanks to Marco for creating this great jingle, thanks to Didrik for the design of the new logo, and also many thanks to Joy for designing the blog for this podcast. This episode is about 1970 edition, but there are a lot of news about the festival. At the moment of the recording, we have the first selected artist like Theo Evan and some entries like Albania or Montenegro got the ticket to Basel. As we know this is the time where national finals and internal selections are under way. Our trip lands in Amsterdam 1970, a crucial edition. Dutch television had to face the controversies aroun the four-way tie in Spain and the boycott of several countries. Eurovision decided to achieve a great makeover with great success, setting the standards of the show that we know now, as you will listen in the episode. Some of the trademarks of the festival begin here, like the intervals with dancing and, above all, the postcards. Didirk, Javier and Robert will analyse this festival with only 12 countries but full of great and iconic songs. This is the festival Dana won with the iconic "All Kinds of Everything", but also this is the festival where Mary Hopkin sang "Knock, Knock, Who's There" and Katja Ebstein's first appearance. The three of us will also praise Julio Iglesias, the most universal Spanish singer in her first international appearance, and his distant relative the Norwegian model, actress, and TT celebrity Triana Iglesias. You can also listen our 1969 playlist and enjoy most of the songs of this edition. Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1iiLYJOSC9WoVSqTVv3qgo?si=7118721820874a6b Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/es/playlist/13087594063 The snippets used for this episode (apart from the Eurovision 1969 songs) are the following: Theo Evan - Save me from myself Adonxs - No Common Measure Claude - Ladada (Mon dernier mot) NeonoeN - Clickbait ina Žižić - Dobrodošli Shkodra Elektronike - Zjerm Cornelia Jakobs - Hold me closer Måns Zelmerlöw - Should've gone home Viktoria Silvstedt - Hello Hey! Melody - Esa Diva Måns Zelmerlöw - Heroes Agreement 25 First Major Clash of the Troubles Captured in Dramatic Report (1969) 1970 This photo of a German chancellor went down in history. Why History Stories The Who - Pinball Wizard (Live at the Isle of Wight, 1970) The Beatles - Let it be Black Sabbath - N.I.B. Shocking Blue - Venus You can watch the full show at Youtube, where some snippets have been taken to illustrate this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJQADBeej4c&t=2267s Disclaimer: Marina Satti's "ZAri" didn't finish fifth in ESC 250. It was Joost Klein and "Europapa" who got this position. Marina got ninth place.

Hello dear listeners! We're happy to be back with a new episode of Eurovision from A to Z. Holidays are coming to their end, and an new year is about to begin, so Eurovision New Year! We conclude our second season with a visit to Teatro Real in Madrid. This is the only festival held in Javier's country, Spain, so it is a festival full of siginificances, not only in the personal matter. The dictatorship took Eurovision as an opportunity to show a modern and attractive country as well as to appeat as a more "open" country. We have some of the most iconic singers of Eurovision like Iva Zanicchi from Italy, Tommy Körberg from Sweden, the Norwegian Kirsti Saprsboe, the British Lulu, the Spanish Salomé or the Monegasque boy Jean-Jacques singing to her mom. At the same time, this festival is famous for its controvesrsial ending, with the only tie in the ESC history. Four winners were declared ex aequo: Spain, United Kingdom, Netherlans and France. Do you want to know who is our winner? Will we break the tie? Do you agree with us? Listen this episode full of music and history. You can also listen our 1969 playlist and enjoy most of the songs of this edition. Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3Qi2GnDpGdx4QSIvo29Zlx?si=b9338f9dfe464859 Deezer: https://deezer.page.link/1G5MitvWfeB7pmBC6 The snippets used for this episode (apart from the Eurovision 1969 songs) are the following: Rodolfo Chikilicuatre: Baila el Chiki Chiki Mustii: Before the party's over Los Stop: El turista 1.999.999 Olof Palme criticises on US atrocities in Vietnam Joe Cocker: With little help of my friends (Live at Woodstock 1969) The Archies; Sugar Sugat Margaret Williams: Y Cwilt Cymreig (Can i Gymru 1969) Vetty: Un beau matin You can watch the full show at Youtube, where some snippets have been taken to illustrate this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DkU6ckTUBM&t=5149s

Hello dear listeners! We're glad to be back with a new episode of Eurovision from A to Z. Holidays are here and Eurovision New Year hasn't begun yet, so it's time for few news about the festival or the national finals. This time we travel to the Royal Albert Hall in London, to the first festival held under the current name Eurovision Song Contest and the first one produced in colour. Also, it is a festival full of significance for Didrik and Javier, the hosts of this podcast. It is the first victory of Spain with Massiel (also with dramas and controversies) and the first Swedish Eurovision hit with Claes-Göran Hederström. And of course, it is the first appearance of a British iconic singer: Cliff Richard. Do you want to know who is our winner? Do you agree with us? Listen this episode full of music and history. You can also listen our 1968 playlist and enjoy most of the songs of this edition. Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1kB4DEzmKJrkbUKle8NKEi?si=32c7f5dd5d014773 Deezer: https://deezer.page.link/5tnMmziqQ31mbRWD9 The snippets used for this episode (apart from the Eurovision 1968 songs) are the following: Joost Klein: The Bird Song Joost Klein: Europapa Claude Channes: Mao-Mao The Doors: Hello I Love You The Rolling Stones: Sympathy for the Devil You can watch the full show at Youtube, where some snippets have been taken to illustrate this episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRgOsgGwW8Q&t=3777s

Hello dear listeners! After a long time we go back with a new episode. Real life issues sometimes surpass you and it's been really difficult to have this episode edited after the recording some months, so apologies to our listeners for not enjoying a fresh episode for such a long time. In fact, when we recorded this episode only we knew Mustii and Silia Kapsis as representatives of Belgium and Cyprus. This time we go to Vienna's Hofburg to enjoy the 1967 edition, a year where the European Union began to have the shape we more or less know now. The Großer Festsaal der Wiener Hofburg hosted this edition with the return of great names like Claudio Villa, Raphael and Kirsty Sparsboe, and the presence of a legend named Vicky Leandros. But at the same time, this is the year of one of the conerstones of Eurovision: Sandy Shaw had a sweeping victory with the hit "Puppet on a String", a timeless classic and a song everyone knows. Please, enjoy a listen who is our winner.

Hello again, dear listeners! We are back with another episode of Eurovision history. This time we have a special guest, Robert, from Norway, with whom we have had a really great time recording this episode. We give our opinions about Malmö as the host city of Eurovision 2024 and who are the host we would like to see. Javier will talk about "Euroblack" (the first fiction set in Eurovision) and the forthcoming interview with its author Luis Miguel Sargento. This time we analyse 1966 edition, celebrated at Villa Louvigny in Luxembourg, one of the best editions of that time and perhaps of ESC ever. We will review and rank the songs, and specially the songs of our respective countries, three living nationals myths of the music: Åse Kleveland, Lill Lindfords and Raphael.

Hello again to all our listeners! Thank you very much for your fidelity! Some Eurovision 2023 songs have been selected, so it's time to analyse them. The National Finals have begun so we will talk a bit about Spain, Albania or France among many others. Our journey through Eurovision history continues in Naples 1965, a cornerstone in Eurovision history. France Gall and her 'Poupée de cire, poupée de son' meant the entrance of pop music in the festival. Discover this and other details in this episode.

Welcome to a new episode of Eurovision from A to Z! We go back with lots of news about the festival but also in the meantime many things have happened in the world, something which we must be worried. We are going to deal with one of the most remembered editions of ESC, the festival held at Copenhaguen in 1964, for many reasons. This is the year where one of the icons of Eurovision, Gigliolla Cinquetti, won a sweeping victory with Non ho létà. You will also see 1964 is an edition full of landmarks, but also full of mystery. Like Lugano 1956,almost no video recording exists from Copenhaguen 1964. What happened? Were the copies destroyed? Is there any possibility a television has a copy of the full show? We will try to give some light to these questions.

Happy New Eurovision Year! Let's begin the new year with a new episode just after knowing that United Kingdom will organise the 2023 edition. This is a great chance to revisit London 1963, organised in similar circumstances after the winner declined to do so. This is a great festival which set the milestone of what we know now as the great TV show Eurovision is, full of innovations, great songs and great performances, with stars like Françoise Hardy or Nana Mouskouri. Join to the analysis of 1963 and enjoy the songs.

After celebrating Torino, our travel continues in Villa Louvigny in Luxembourg. But before taking the flight, Didrik and Javier will talk about the recent news concernig Eurovision 2023 (at the time of the recording the host country had not been announced yet). Didrik will also talk about the poll he has organised. What is the best Ukrainian song? After that, we will analise 1962 edition, where you can enjoy the songs of references of Eurovision and European music like Ronnie Carroll and Isabelle Aubret. As usual, we will establish our ranking and there will be surprises. Who do you think is the winner for us?

Our voyage continues travelling again to Cannes in the Festival held in 1961. In this time we are glad to host this episode with our first guest, our friend Joy from Netherlands. We analyse the festival with the highest number of entries until that moment, with the debut of classics like Spain, Finland and late Yugoslavia. After a brief analysis of the tumultous affairs about Eurovision, you will enjoy of good music and a piece of the history of music of the European continent, with classics like Lale Andersen, Lill Babs or The Allisons.

Welcome again to Eurovision from A to Z! After a while we begin a new season with the interesting decade of the 1960s. Our journey will continue in the Royal Festival Hall of London, where the festival took place in 1960. As usual, we begin with our analysis of the current news concerning Eurovision: National finals, the released songs and a special attention to Melfest and the newcomer and successful Benidorm Festival. After this, we will analyse in detail the 1960 edition of Eurovision Song Contest, making our judgement of the entries and giving the scores as if we were juries, somthing you can do with us in next episodes. Who will the winner of London? Who is your winner?

We close the first season with the las festival held in the 1950s. In this occasion we travel to Cannes, to enjoy the firs Eurovision festival held in France. After talking about the recent news, we will analyse the songs of this edition, including classics like Piove or the debut of one of the classic contendants, the Principality of Monaco. And as you know, we will determine our winner of 1959 contest, with and incredible ending.

We move this time to the Dutch city of Hilversum, the first festival held by the winning country. Didrik and Javier will analyse the songs by classic Eurovision artists like Fud Leclerc, Margot Hielschfer, Corry Brokken and the mythical Lys Assia. And of course, the first hit-maker Domenico Modugno and his mythical Volare. And as usual, we will establish our ranking. Can you guess the wiinner?

We continue our exiciting journey through Eurovision history. In this episode, Didrik and Javier will analyse the 1957 edition of Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson Europèene held in Frankfurt an Mein, in West Germany. Before our analysis, we will talk about the upcoming events about Eurovision and how much we feel like having Eurovision again after 2020 cancellation. Of course we will give our opinion of 1957 festival and songs and establish our ranking. Do you want to guess who won 1957 contest for us?

Welcome to the first episode of Eurovision from A to Z! Didrik and Javier are very happy to start this adventure reviewing all the editions of Eurovision Song Contest. The adventure begins with the first edition of ESC, or Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson Européne, as it was called. We will give our impressions of the festival and the entries which took part in that edition and will act as a juries giving our votes. The sound quality is not the best, but we hope you like it.

Hello everyone and welcome to our analysis of the Eurovision Week! Enough time has passed to analyse calmly Eurovision 2025 in its musical aspects and beyond, including of course JJ's victory and almost all happened at Basel. This time we count with the presence of our Austrian friend Lukas. He will give us his personal point of view as a fan who lives in the winning country and valuable information about the organisation and the possible host cities of Eurovision 2026. As every year, we analyse the songs and the results from non qualified countries to the winning song, paying particular attention to the hosts' countries, Sweden and Spain, At the same time and for another year, we haven't avoided the controversies around this edition: how we feel after dodging the bullet for the second time, the presence of that country and thier manipulation of televote, all that happened with Spanish press and the EBU threats to fine Spanish television, and so on. Listen and enjly!

Hello and welcome back! As every year, we bring our special series of the current edition of Eurovision Song Contest, Basel 2025. Didrik and Javier count with two of our habitual guests, Joy Robert, to talk about the songs and many moe things. This time we bring you a compressed format, where we make our predictions about the songs. who will get final?, who won't? who are the dark horses? Will we have shocking moments? And of course we have made our ranking! We will reveal our top list of the songs of Eurovsion 2025. Who will be our winner? Listen and enjoy.

Welcome to our show again! This is our final chapter of The 2024 Series where we analyse the recently finished Eurovision 2024 edition. Believe us, there has been a lot to analyse. It's been intense, stressing and exhausting. You will listen our opinions about this year, which are not the best or the worst but ir's our personal and own opinions. Didrik and Javier plus Lukas and Joy are here again to talk about everything or almost everything that happened at Malmö. We express our happyness for Nemo's victory, the first non binary person to achieve it (Yes! We guessed it!), but also we talk about both semifinals and their NQ countries and the analysis of the entries from the grand final. What about all the extra music controversies? Of course, we haven't escaped to them, and we didn't want. Many polemics have floated around this edition and there's space to this: the presence of that country, uncomfortableness of many delegations about the use of the contest as a political and whitewashing display, press of certain country harassing and bullying artists and journalists who were against their presence, boos to this artist and Martin Österdahl, etc. And of course, Joost Klein's disqualification. Joy tells us how her country lived one of the most extreme eurodramas of all times. And because this is a matter of music (and of politics), we have discussed about the future edition: the role of the EBU about what happened and what will happen to this group of references, future partnerships, the next host country, possible returnings and withdrawals, and of course our overall impressions of the show, the songs and many more things. Listen and enjoy!

Hello and welcome back to a new episode of these special series about Eurovision 2024! After ranking our the songs competing at Malmö 2024 with our friends, now it's time for Didrik and Javier to make our predictions and other issues about this edition. At the time of the recording, we had only pictures and one-camera shoot snippets of the first rehearsals excluding Big 5 and Sweden. Who will get the ticket to the final? What will be their positions? Can we expect shocking qualifiers as well as shocking non qualifiers? Who is going to win Eurovision 2024? What about the elephant in the room? We try to answer this and many other questions and issues.