There’s only a few days left until the Eurovision Song Contest unveils itself in an explosion of bad rhymes and worse costumes, and hecklerspray with Betfair.com are continuing our mission to profile every entry.
Yesterday saw the second rehearsal for the semi-final round. And we’ve learnt the following nuggets: The Romanians are upset because they can’t use real fire in their performance, and have to settle on a projection… a Finnish backing singer is hungry to be selected as a real entry next year… the Macedonian performance will incorporate a long wooden stick.
Today we’ll be looking at Poland and Portugal…
Poland (pop. 38,626,349; a democratic country located in Central Europe)
The Eurovision entry for Poland are Ivan & Delfin, not a duo but a six-person band lead by ‘outspoken’ singer Ivan Komerenko. They are singing Czarna Dziewczyna, a song with no available English translation! The meaning of the song is obviously lost on us – all we can say for sure is that the chorus is the word "Laj" repeated 20 times in a row. And that’s enough for us. Current odds – 339/1
Portugal (pop. 10,566,212; a democratic republic located on the west and southwest parts of the Iberian Peninsula)
Hoping to bring Eurovision glory to Portugal are 2B, a male/female duo named after a grade of pencil lead. One of them has won every karaoke contest she’s been in this millennium, the other is a star of a comedy musical. Their song is called Amar (To Love), a song so blindingly cheerful it makes Shiny Happy People look like No Surprises. "Happy pretty way, happy shiny day, happy place to stay", it goes. Possibly not the best hangover song. Current odds – 449/1
That’s all for today. The odds list is changing faster than Cruella DeVille changing puppies into jackets, so head over to Betfair.com to see just what’s happening. Put some money on your favourite and prepare for the dramatic excitement you can only get from Eurovision.
[story by Stuart Heritage]