I can’t say I like it, but here’s my contribution to the Eurovision song contest debate ’09. First som history that I kind of assume has grown to be common knowledge these days;

• 1984 – Bobbysocks wins with “La det swinge“
• 1996 – Secret Garden wins with “Nocturne“
• 2009 – Alexander Rybak wins with “Fairytale“

The above show the years, artist and song that Norway has taken home first price in this weird, European song contest that oddly enough is called “grand prix” in Norwegian. That in itself leaves room for some rather funny misunderstandings when talking about this contest to non-europeans.

Anyway. The thing I want to put the spotlight on is as follows. Bobbysocks is a duo. It consisted of Hanne Krogh and Elisabeth Andreasson. The latter is originally Swedish.

Furthermore…Secret Garden is a duo as well. It consists of Rolv Løvland, who is probably most famous for composing the hit “You raise me up“, and the Irish violinist Fionnuala Sherry. Is it clearing up?

Third…Eurovision song contest 2009. Alexander Rybak crushes all previous records, and ends up in a solid first place with a record score of 387 points. To be fair…he is backed up up by the amazing Norwegian folk dance company “Frikar“. Nevertheless the question remains;

Is it possible for Norway to win the European song contest without the solid help of “foreigners”?

Just to be clear…I am not criticising any of the winners…it’s just a though. Alexander Rybak will for the year to come find himself under siege by the united international music press. Let’s just hope the 23 year old copes with all the fuss! And to finish up; congratulations with an astonishing performance Alexander.

Edit:
It seemes that I was hitting the nail right on the head. The discussion on “RedaksjonEN” tonight was, amongst other things, about mixing “norwegian and foreign culture”. (T. Giske, 25:45)