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“Good evening, Düsseldorf!”

An excited Julia Zemiro looks over some of this year's entries in the Eurovision Song Contest with a tip to watch out for those special effects.

As she was preparing to embark on her flight to Germany, Julia Zemiro took time out to look over some of this year’s entries in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Zemiro is again joined by Sam Pang to present the SBS broadcast for Australia. After Terry Wogan retired from the BBC broadcasts, Australia has been represented at Eurovision by the public broadcaster.

“We fly into Frankfurt and get a train to Düsseldorf and I’m so excited because I love trains, especially in Europe. This one is apparently really fast,” she said.

“I haven’t even looked up the hotel online, I love to be surprised. I’m not sure how far it is from the stadium because I quite like travelling blind.”

Having commentated in both Moscow and Oslo, the RocKwiz host knows there are no surefire ways to win Eurovision. Success hinges on a curious combination of composition, performance, costume, choreography, timing, vocal skills, placement in the running order, point of difference -and sheer good luck. 

Acts with special effects need to make sure their song isn’t overwhelmed by the effect itself.

“That girl who had the Trojans on stage with the drums and the fire was just a delight to watch for pure ridiculousness. But she didn’t win,” she says.

“Denmark, one of my favourite songs last year, had a walking travelator. But they were so unsteady on it they looked ridiculous. You could see they were nervous, they couldn’t sing properly. All you could see was they were worrying about the travelator. So don’t put something in there if it’s going to hamper how you do stuff.”

One of the more memorable returning acts this year is Moldova’s Zdob si Zdub who entered in 2005 with a “drum playing grandmother.”

“They are wacky and will be fantastic, but the granny’s not back. I think she’s getting a bit old,” she says.

“The famous story was that they were rehearsing and she lived downstairs and she kept telling them to shutup until she came up and joined the band. The street she lives in that had no name is now called Eurovision Street.”

For the last three years the bookies have tipped the winner. This year they give it to France’s popera act Amaury Vassilli.

“When we got to Russia, Norway was the big thing and they won. When we got to Norway, Germany was the big thing and they won. So maybe it’s a fait accompli,” she explains.

With her French heritage Zemiro would be happy for the bookies to be right once again, but she is also partial to Hungary’s Kati Wolf.

“They’re a pretty strong lot this year, most of them are good songs,” she says. “Hungary is growing on me because it’s a big dance number, so you never know.

“Belgium has no instruments or backing track. It’s all a’capella and there’s a boy in it doing beatbox as well, although apparently they have a click track in their ear to keep in time. That actually could be incredible, or it could be shit, but at least there’s a real point of difference there.

“There’s a very sweet boy with a guitar from Finland singing for a better world with a lot of “dum de dum de dum.” The boy who did that last year did very well.

“If you YouTube anything (Ireland’s) Jedward has done on The X Factor they can’t sing. They’re out of tune, they’re a disaster. I watched the Dress Rehearsal and they’re still not great but they’ve kind of made it as simple as possible. But they’re such little puppets of pop that it will be quite hilarious following them around and seeing how they go. They might get through just because they’re so silly.

“Sweden has such a smiley guy for the cameras and he’s not ‘on’ the whole time, unlike the Irish boys.”

Also returning are Germany’s 2010 winner Lena and Israel’s transgender aAna rom 1998, Dana International.

“Lena is doing it twice in a row, and I don’t know if that’s going to work. Apparently the Germans aren’t really that rapt in the song,” she says.

“Dana International didn’t allow a filming of her Dress Rehearsal online, and just allowed photos. But it’s a rehearsal, why should she if she’s not ready?

“(United Kingdom’s) Blue is clearly professional compared to the boy last year who was just all over the shop. So they’re a force to contend with. The trouble with their song is to me it’s just a wall of sound. It’s a bit same-y. I always think the real challenge with a 3 minute song is where can you go with it? What kind of changes can you put in it?

“Portugal could be the new ‘Dustin the Turkey’. It’s not like they’re being serious about their protest song and it’s a really boring song.”

Zemiro and Pang will once again introduce the broadcast and each act during the famous Eurovision “Postcards”, mindful not to tread across the actual performances themselves. The Semi-Finals will air on Friday and Saturday evenings and the Final broadcasts on Sunday night.

Eurovision devotees who are attending parties here will first have to survive a media blackout on Sunday, with the winner certain to make headlines in online, radio and television news. You have been warned. (NB: TV Tonight will not be approving any Comments across the site on Sunday until the winner is broadcast on SBS. Eurovision results will be published after the broadcast AEST, including via Twitter feed).

Finally, Zemiro hints at her outfit for the Final: “I’ll be wearing something inspired by the Serbian girl. Her name’s Nina and she sings one of the few songs that’s not in English. She’s like a Serbian ‘Dusty,’ with short hair, a real 60s number and I love it!”

EUROVISION 2011 / SBS ONE
7:30pm Friday: The Secret History of Eurovision Pt 2
8:30pm Friday: Semi Final 1
7:30pm Saturday: Semi Final 2
7:30pm Sunday: Final.

David Knox blogs Eurovision at sbs.com.au

14 Responses

  1. At least put the BBC commentary on SBS radio or on a side channel – these two Aussie commentators really don’t understand the show or reflect well on Australia.

  2. I like Julia but really the BBC version is better and can’t see why SBS doesn’t just take the BBC coverage or, as they did for a few years, show both (actually I do know – they are well aware of what would happen to Julia’s ratings if they gave the audience a choice). Fortunately in these days of internet access we are not limited to what SBS deigns to offer us so it’s Graham Norton for me and much looking forward to it.

  3. What’s with all the Sam Pang hate? He was great on Cup Fever, ADbc and Radio National’s Lonely Hearts Club, which is the funniest thing I’ve heard all year. His Match Committee is good too. Why would he need to ‘have photographs’ of anyone? There’s plenty of less talented people on TV.

  4. Who at SBS does Sam have a compromising photo of? Otherwise, very mysterious how he continues to get hired. Pleasant but wholly unremarkable by any measure.

  5. “Having commentated in both Moscow and Oslo, the RocKwiz host knows there are no surefire ways to win Eurovision. Success hinges on a curious combination of composition, performance, costume, choreography, timing, vocal skills, placement in the running order, point of difference -and sheer good luck.”

    And see how politically correct she was not to mention politics 🙂

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