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Eurovision 2009: Fairytale win for Norway!
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Enlarge textEurovision 2009 was indeed a Fairytale for Norway and its charismatic 23-year-old singer-violinist Alexander Rybak.
- 71 Comments | Join the discussion
Rybak was a runaway favourite finishing the evening with a whopping 387 points.
In Second place was Iceland's Yohanna with Is it true? on 218.
Third place was Azerbaijan's AySel & Arash "Always" on 207.
Norway was the bookie's favourite from the start of the contest. Alexander Rybak turned on a confident and charismatic performance of "Fairytale," a song he composed. A former TV talent show winner, Rybak knew how to work the cameras with his boyish charm. Singing, dancing and playing the violin, he turned on a dynamic performance.
Australia's big hope, Greece's Sakis Rouvas, with his song co-written by Australian lyricists Craig Porteils and Cameron Giles-Webb, finished with a disappointing 120 points.
But Moscow turned on a sensational three shows for Eurovision this year. The two Semi-Finals and Final delivered a spectacle of musical, visual and social splendour.
The Final opened with a lavish display of Cirque de Soleil circus skills, culminating with Dima Bilan reprising, and suspiciously miming, his winning 2008 entry, "Believe."
Our hosts Alsou and Ivan were far more professional than the Semi Final hosts Natalya and Andrey. They were restrained and well in command of the English language. What a pity! Thankfully they made up for it with some dodgy interval jokes. Ahh, Eurovision.
It was fascinating watching the way some countries chose to interpret the rule of only 6 on stage. Most used all six - if not filled out with musicians then it was backing dancers and / or vocalists. France and Malta chose to create a point of difference with their female soloists. Albania even had a couple of mime artists and seemingly reprised Aquaman for their entry.
Israel's anthemic "There Must Be Another Way" was one of the few emotional songs sung in Hebrew, Arabic and English. Ukraine's lavish Clockwork-Orange semi-clad Centurians and Finland's fire jugglers were amongst some of the more visual performances.
Voting began with an instruction from the international space station. A brilliant touch.
The interval show from Argentina's Fuerza Bruta was spectacular. This arresting suspended show with performers in pools of water, is another global spectacular touring the world like Cirque de Soleil.
Once the voting started and Norway was awarded 12 points from the first
country (Spain) it effectively stayed at the top of the heap.
Sweden's host decided to sing her voting results. Naturally they went to Norway. Slovenia attempted a minute's silence for not making it to the Final once again. Ooops.
Moscow's show was arguably the best Europe has seen in many years. "Thankyou for wonderful show!"
Don't forget to vote for your favourite here at the SBS Eurovision blog. Did you agree it was Norway's year?
See you next year in Oslo!
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Comments (71)
Previous 10 |
09 May 2011 8:07 AEST
From:
alexander rybak
Alex is a great guy, and the best violinist / singer in the world.
26 Jun 2009 12:48 AEST
From: Brighton-Le-Sands
Fantastic show and Julia and "what's his name were hilarious"...Loved It !!
My sister and i just loved all the comments by our lovable Aussies, they were fabulous, we laughed all the way through it !! SBS must send them again next year ! The show was an "extravaganza" and we by far loved Sweden though it was terrific entertainment all around! Can't wait for Olso !
08 Jun 2009 19:15 AEST
From: boronia
Time for Australia to join Eurovision
Eurovision was great this year but its time Australia joined. There may not be much of Australia in Europe but there is plenty of Europe in Australia. With Qatar looking to join it appears anyone can join and SBS are already associate members of the EBU. Can you imagine the national and more importantly , advertiser, interest if Australia participated. Come on SBS - Australia for Eurovision 2010 cheers Peter ps we can always take Austria's spot.
30 May 2009 14:02 AEST
From:
Crap Commentary
Disappointed with the aussie commentary this year... especially when they spoke during some performances and over the top of the russian hosts. Sooo frustrating. I also think eurovision should be shown live, so all the other stations can't ruin the result for us...
24 May 2009 11:52 AEST
From:
Moldova - Estonia- Portugal
I can't understand the criticism of Norway, I thought musically it was a clear winner, and the gymnist dancers provided interesting visuals. I join with others in saying that Estonia, Moldova and Portugal were also great, all deserved to finish higher. As for the SBS commentary team - less is more guys. The style of commentary needed is like Richie Benaud does the cricket, or Wilko who did the Sydney Olympics opening ceremony. If you can't add anything - then just be quiet and let the show speak for itself. The quality of the sound for the final was ordinary.
24 May 2009 6:58 AEST
From: Yarraville
Uplifting, enthralling, enlivening
Hi everyone. I thought Julie & Sam were cheerful, bright and a genuine breath of fresh air. It was nice to have the Australian perspective. Yesterday, I recorded the entire repeat of the final, and was really impressed with a number of the acts, including the one from Germany, the Turkish one, and of course, Mr. Rybak with his fearsome number. The early numbers I loved the most were the one from Israel and the one from Croatia.
23 May 2009 15:47 AEST
From:
Just watched it again
The commentary by Julia & Sam was thoroughly enjoyable - loved it! I really hope SBS uses them again next year. Terry was getting too old and bitter anyway, yearning for a Cold War era Eurovision.
23 May 2009 11:31 AEST
From: Northcote
Well Done SBS
Commentary was excellent. Please send Sam and Julia next year. The production was fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Ronnnie
23 May 2009 0:49 AEST
From:
Thank you for Julia and Sam
Terry Wogan is a very funny caricature of a British Xenophobe. That is fine if you just want to stand alongside the British and laugh at the rest of Europe for being so ridiculously un-British. The whole point of Eurovision is to catch a rare glimpse of the non-English speaking world. What a relief to have Julian and Sam. It is also interesting to see how over time more and more countries started using English as a type of singing Esperanto. Sadly the songs sound stilted for it. I imagine the winning entry would have sounded heartfelt and spontaneous if sung in Norwegian. It is really quite lovely.
22 May 2009 12:17 AEST
From: Harrington
Estonia goosebumps
I agree with Anestis (20 May) that ESTONIA were the BEST. I think Anestis meant to say MOLDOVA, rather than Malta as their other preference (going on the boots and green skirt)... Moldova were my 2nd favourite too! But of course the gorgeous Norwegian and his emotionally relevant song (as so many relationships seem to have this tone of love/hate) was destined to win, as ironically, so many were attracted to his external looks .. which is what I think his 'fairytale' is about! External Love!
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About this Blog
Join David Knox as he reports on the build-up to Eurovision 2011. Who will capture the imagination of an entire continent? Knox is a media commentator with an unhealthy addiction to television and pop culture. His coverage of Eurovision is an annual fixture at SBS and
he blogs at TV Tonight.To this day, he still thinks Gina G was robbed at the 1996 Eurovision Song Contest.
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