So last night was Eurovision Song Contest 2013 Semi-Final #1. Today Chris asked his students — who come from various parts of Europe — if any of them had watched it, they all said no. Or, perhaps, just wouldn’t admit to it in public. But never fear, Chris and I watched the whole thing, and I took copious notes throughout, the better to report back to you today about it.

You’re welcome.

BTW, since we are now completely in the know about all things Eurovision, I will henceforth refer to it as ESC 2013. That’s the real hipster way to talk about the contest, at least from what we heard them say last night.  My blog post title is also quite hip, as “postcards from the ESC” was the gimmick they used last night to have a little intro about each singer before their performance. Each “postcard” was only about 30 seconds to 1 minute before each performance, which helped to keep things moving right along. In 2 hours, they had 16 performances, down time for the call-in voting to take place, and then a short period at the end when results announced. While the very end of the results seemed to be drawn out an unnecessarily long time, overall the show moved along nicely.

Anway, here’s my quick recap of things worthy of note at the ESC 2013 Semi-Final #1:

1. There were 16 countries in the first Semi-Final. Oddly, half of the women seemed interchangeable – they looked remarkably similar: hair, makeup, clothing. All very pretty, but oddly all the same. Perhaps it was made more noteable because there was little over-the-top staging or costumes this year. Lots of flashing colored lights, smoke from dry ice machines, and plumes of lights or smoke coming up at intervals.
2. One of the cookie-cutter singers was from Russia, with a song was called What if.  As we watched the performance, I jotted down in my notes that the singer was surrounded by odd big blue globes that first seemed like styrofoam, but which lit up in time for the chorus to reveal themselves to be big white globe lanterns. Backup singers were just hanging out on the side of the stage, until they tossed 2 small lanterns into the audience, who had been asked to wear flashlight bracelets, which then lit up on cue. A little floating lantern display at the end topped it all off. Too much. The song was about the world getting along, and was sung in English for the contest. I found it really sappy. I didn’t like it, but I agree with that guy’s statistical prediction that it has a real shot at the title on Saturday. Interestingly, today I read that there was actually a plagiarism scandal connected to this song. Nothing was proven, but the official complaint said it was a copy of the song Carried Away by an obscure British pop group called Hear’say. I also saw another video that alludes to the song being a copy of many other songs. So, if you think you’ve heard it before, you may have.
3. But at least it wasn’t a copy of last year’s winning power ballad Euphoria. Germany, of course, was accused of copying that song with their entry this year. But in the first Semi-Final, it was the rare group that didn’t sound like they’d copied that song. Really – at least half of the songs sounded just like that song. So let’s give credit to Russia – if they did copy some old song, at least they copied a different one than everyone else did.
4. Ukrainia’s entry, Gravity, was sung by a woman in an evening gown standing on a rock, surrounded by billowing dry ice, with backup singers she “raised” out of the mist during the song. Oh, and there were colored lights behind her that took the form of butterflies – a not-so-subtle nod to the logo symbol of the contest this year. But, she had a butterfly ring on her hand, and did a nice wavy motion with it at times – a little bit different from the rest. But the main thing that set that performance apart was the fact that she was carried — like Faye Raye was carried by King Kong — to that rock by a giant in a horns-made-of-feathers headdress and feathered cape. No, I don’t know why.
5. If there were instruments on stage, it was usually a drum. Most often a military-type drum.
6. One exception were the Celtic drums that accompanied the otherwise unmemorable entry from Ireland sung by a singer clad in leather. The drums were played by 4 men stripped to the waist covered in Celtic designs tattoos. Well, maybe they were just temporary tattoos. The song was just a generic pop song, though, nothing special, IMHO. However, they did make it through to the finals.
7. One song that wasn’t generic, but was odd, was the entry from Holland, sung by the hard rocker, Anouk. Her song was about dying birds, and the lights behind her had dying birds. At least she and her song did seem different, I’ll give her that. The song is to be released on her upcoming album Sad Singalong Songs. Inexplicably – to me — she and the song made it through the final.  The staging on that birds song was pretty basic, aside from those virtual dying birds.
8. In a completely different vein, though, and the entry with the most intriguing outfit had to be Moldova. The “fancy dress” (as the German commentator called it) worn by the singer from Moldova was photosensitive, just like Like Carrie Underwood’s dress at this year’s Grammy Awards in the U.S. I.e. the singer stood there singing while images and lights were projected onto the folds of the dress. At one point she then “grew” and the light projection turned the dress into a volcano. Truly a spectacular dress. Of course, I’ve watched clips of it a couple of times today, and I  have trouble remembering to pay attention to the song. But that dress – that is something.
9. There were 6 entries eliminated at the end of the evening. Among them was the 6-member mens chorus from Croatia who performed a song sung in the traditional Croatian acapella musical style. Well, it was traditional acapella with instruments. Umm, what? Maybe they would have had more success by sticking to actual traditional acapella.
10. The entry from Lithuania was written by the singer. Point in his favor. However, the song was about how he had named his shoes “Love and Pain”. Strike against him in my book. But he made it through to Saturday’s final.
11. Another male singer, Roberto Bellarosa, represented Belgium. Bellarosa, who is Belgian but ethnically Italian, was the youngest competitor last night. He was born in 1994 – 2 years after Despina Olympiou, the singer for the entry from Cyprus, started her career. Chris and I speculated that perhaps she was the oldest person in this competition last night – she was born in 1975, making her almost 40. That must be old in modern Eurovision terms, no? Ok, well, last year  Engelbert Humperdinck did perform the song for England, and he’s far older than 40, but I don’t believe he’s here this year. Anyway, Despina Olympiou was a good singer, whose performance harkened back to the type of song done many years ago, when the singers were accompanied by a live symphony orchestra. However, IMHO, her song was unfortunately boring as all get out. Bellarosa, on the other hand, wasn’t as good a singer, but he had one of those power ballad things, called “Love Kills”, which are oh-so-popular this year. The lyrics at the end were “love kills over and over” and the lights at the end had an endless display of that line. Over and over.When the results were tallied, he’d made the final. but Olympiou hadn’t. But then, it is a song contest – and in all honesty, her song really was not great.
12. ESC 2013 had just a single host this year – the first time in almost 20 years that the host has gone it alone.  Petra Mede is a popular Swedish comedienne, and  she had a little comic thing to offer during the downtime while the lines were open for voting. Her main schtick  was a  look at the history of ESC – part 1 (part 2 will come during tomorrow Semi-Final #2). Like Billy Crystal did years ago for the Oscars, she’s inserted into the old clips of ESC performances in the past. Cute. It’s in English – you can see it here.

If you’re curious about all the performances, there are clips for each group now up on the ECS 2013 website – click on each country in the Semi-Final #1 list at left, and then you’ll get to a page with a link with info about the performer, plus the video of their performance.

So, one Semi-Final down, one to go. We’ll see what the next 17 entries have to offer tomorrow night. Here’s wishing them —and us – luck. 😉