World Song Contest

The 42nd edition of the World Song Contest started in August 2008, and became the biggest one ever with 76 countries taking part. Tunisia, Cape Verde and Azerbaijan joined for the first time, a first time lucky as the three of them qualified for the final.

With so many entries, you could expect a lot of diversity, but you couldn't avoid the usual ESC artists or big stars, such as Gloria Estefan for Cuba, which won the semi finals of this edition. Speaking about the semi finals, it is weird to see that some songs which hardly qualified or were saved by the jury did a good job in the final, achieving a top 10 position, while other which did great in their heat of the semi finals, just crashed and finished in the bottom of the final's ranking. Songs from Andorra, Iceland and Poland, which combined quality and originality, had a hard time to qualify. Andorra and Poland qualified as best 7th, while Iceland was one of the jury's choices. They all reached the top 10 in the final. It seems some voters don't reward originality and prefer more convetionnal songs, not to say uninspired ones. This once again raise the question about the fact a potential winner can be eliminated in the semi finals. This also means a solution has to be found.

In the final, there was no surprise when the Netherlands won. Not only the song received a lot of points from Dutch players, but also from Brazilian players. Eight votes from players of Brazil and the Netherlands gave 73 points (an average of 9,1 points per player) to the Netherlands, so almost 50% of their final score. Bløf already represented the Netherlands in WSC .24 where the band helped by the Counting Crows failed to qualify. This time, and with the help from friends and Dutch patriots, they gave a third victory to the Netherlands with the song "Mens". Cuba came second, followed by Israel and Norway.

>> Your Comments

THE WINNER

Country: The Netherlands
Artist(s): Bløf
Song: Mens

A Dutch rock act made up of Norman Bonink, Paskal Jakobsen, Bas Kennis, and Peter Slager, Bløf was founded in 1992. Their first show, in 1993, was followed a year later by recording sessions for their first album, Maakt Onder De Hemel, which was released in 1995. The self-produced, self-promoted record was a regional hit, as well as a critical success, and the band landed a distribution deal with EMI. The band began recording their next album, Helden, in January of 1997. In addition, the band got major league management, as well as finalizing a full-on recording deal with EMI. It was at this point that drummer Chris Götte joined Bløf, after original trapsman Denk Tjoonk called it a day. The live record XXL followed in 1998, as well as a string of successful singles, and by 1999 the group was selling out shows with some regularity. Third album Boven was released later that year. In 2000, the band would go on to win the Edison Award for Best Dutch Group, and play at they Sydney Olympics. 2001 was to be a year of trial and tribulation for Bløf, as they lost drummer Chris Götte to a motorcycle accident. Norman Bonink was the replacement, and the band soldiered on. A live album, Oog In Oog, was released in honor of the fallen drummer, and the band went into the studio to record their next full length, Blauwe Ruis, early in 2002. Over the next couple of years, Bløf was to receive even more awards, and play even bigger shows to bigger audience, and by 2005, the group was ready to release a greatest hits compilation, entitled Het Eind Van Het Begin. The same year, the band began traveling around the world for exposure to new cultures and inspiration for a new album, and were successful in their efforts, with the release of a new album in 2006, Umoja. In their next album, Oktober, released in October 2008, the band went back to basics, with a stripped down sound, and all tracks recorded in one take with no overdubs. The recording sessions in January and February, 2008 produced enough material for 2 albums so a second album was released in April 2009, and was with titled April.