World Song Contest

THE WINNER

Country: Canada
Artist(s): RyanDan
Song: The Face

RyanDan are a Canadian musical duo, comprising identical twins Ryan and Dan Kowarsky, whose music is a mix of pop and classical. Originally from Toronto, they are now based in London, England. Born in 1980, the youngest of five children in a Jewish family, they grew up in the upscale Forest Hill neighbourhood of Toronto. In high school, they shared the lead role in their school's production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. When they were age 18, they presented themselves at the offices of Sony Music Canada, and attracted the attention of record company executives when they sang "Show Me the Way to Go Home" in the reception area. They were signed to a record contract soon after, forming the boyband B4-4 along with their friend Ohad Einbinder. They received a Juno Award nomination in 2001 for Best New Group, but lost to Nickelback. They eventually wanted to cultivate a more adult sound and fan base, and in 2006, they moved to London to pursue their career. They recorded their self-titled album with producer Steve Anderson, who has worked with Kylie Minogue and Paul McCartney. Their album gave them the distinction of being the first identical-twin duo to have a top-ten album on the British charts.

Official website: http://www.ryandan.com/

Lyrics

This edition of the World Song started in October 2007, with 55 participants from all over the world (a new record). Famous artists like Amy Winehouse, Sinéad O'Connor or Lebo M took part but it's certainly the participation of Tose Proeski, as an hommage after he died in a tragic car crash, which will be remembered.

Some could think, FYR of Macedonia would have had an easy way to the final as voters would probably be sad, or give that country vote of sympathy. It didn't happen like that: FYR of Macedonia didn't manage to qualify, showing that people here mostly voted for the songs, not for the singer or what ever can happen in the life of an artist. But by giving the right to FYR of Macedonia to be represented by Tose Proeski (while rules couldn't allow that), the World Song Contest wanted to share the sadness and the pain of a nation. Tose Proeski was one of the artists which take part several times in WSC history, with a record of 7 participations including this one.

For the first time, more songs qualified from the semi finals and a total of 34 countries took part in the final. For once, countries which won their heat during the semi finals managed to reach the top 10 of the final. On the other songs, some songs which took part in the final as lucky losers did a really good job in the final. Austria came 11th, and Ukraine also managed to be in the top 20.

From the start of the live coverage, it came clear that the winner was among 4 countries: Canada, Finland, South Korea and Spain. It has to be noticed that Canada, which eventually win the contest thanks to RyanDan and the song "The Face", recieved votes from less countries than Spain (23 votes received), South Korea (21) or United Kingdom (20) which came 8th, and the same number than Finland and Bosnia & Herzegovina.

Gallery of Participants

Yiruma

Scandinavian Music Group

Emmy Rossum

Amy Winehouse