"A WORLD FULL OF STARS" THE WINNER
Country: The Netherlands Bløf is a pop group from Middelburg, Zeeland, the Netherlands. The group was founded in 1992 by Peter Slager who was inspired by the album Open from The Scene. The band consisted by that time of Paskal Jakobsen, Peter Slager, Bas Kennis and Henk Tjoonk. In the fall of 1994 the group recorded in one week their first album, Naakt Onder De Hemel, which was distributed by themselves. This had much to do with the fact that drummer Henk Tjoonk had a mind for business. The album was well-received by critics and the band made a contract with EMI Music, who distributed the album nationwide. The single Aan de Kust becomes the new anthem of Zeeland, when national radio stations never air the record. Bløf gets an award for 'Best New Talent' for the album. The money that was included with this award was used for recording of their second album, Helder. This album was released in September 1997. The first two singles, Helder and Zeven Nachten didn't make it to the charts. In the end of 1997 the group almost fell apart, so eventually they decided to remove Henk Tjoonk from the setting. With the help of ex Doe Maar manager Frank van der Meijden they got a full contract with EMI. The new drummer of the band is Chris Götte. The changes in the group seem to work as the first single released after this, a piano ballad called Liefs uit Londen , becomes a huge success. On March 10. 1998, Bløf records live-material in The Nighttrain, a discotheque in Middelburg. This material appears on an extra edition of Helder. The next two singles are songs from this live-record, a new version of Aan De Kust and Wat Zou Je Doen. The original version of both songs appeared originally on Naakt Onder De Hemel. Both song became huge hit singles. In the summer 1998, the group performed many concerts and they received several awards. Meanwhile, they record the album XXL Live Met Het Zeeuws Orkest, a live album recorded with an orchestra from Zeeland, and a new album called Boven. This album was recorded with the help of Peter Bauwers (2 Unlimited) and Ronald Vanhuffel. This album shows more rock than before and the single Harder Dan Ik Hebben Kan became a single in less than a month. In the start 2000, the band received an Edison Award for Best Dutch Band. Before the release of Watermakers, the group released the singles Dansen Aan Zee and Hier. At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, the group gave a concert for the Dutch olympians and their crew. In October 2000, Watermakers was finally released and became an incredible success. The band gave a huge concert in Ahoy in 2001 and they received that year again an Edison for Best Dutch Band. On March 17 2001 drummer Chris Götte died in a motorcycle accident. The band remains quiet for a long time after the incident until they release the Live-CD Oog In Oog - Live In Ahoy, the last concert of Götte. Eventually, the group decided to go on and their new drummer becomes Norman Bonink, who used to play in Frank Boeijen's band. In 2002 the album Omarm appears, follow by the Live-DVD Tussen Nacht En Morgen. In 2003 the album Omarm appears. Bløf traveled to Kenya in 2003 to perform concert with local artist, which they would later use as an inspiration for their seventh studio album. The band performed internationally after this and made a single together with the Counting Crows in 2004 called Holiday in Spain. In 2005 Bløf started traveling all over the world for inspiration for their new album, Umoja, which was eventually released in 2006. Members Official website: http://www.blof.nl/ Lyrics Er is echt niets dat niet gebeuren kan vandaag Of het ooit terecht is Er is echt niets dat niet gebeuren kan vandaag Of het ooit terecht is Of het ooit terecht is YOUR COMMENTS
| 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. Gallery of Participants
Gloria Estefan Naama Jofre Bardagí
Alejandro Fuentes
Yoav
Hjaltalín Stefanie Heinzmann |
click here for the results of the semi finals
101 pts 87 pts 79 pts Gin Wigmore: These Roses DNQ DNQ DNQ DNQ A.Cinco: Solo Con Mirarte DNQ1 ![]()
The Netherlands Bløf: Mens 2 
Cuba Gloria Estefan: Hoy 3 
Israel Naama: Calling For You 4 
Andorra Jofre Bardagí: Cors 5 
Norway Alejandro Fuentes: All I'm Running For 6 
United Kingdom Yoav: Club Thing 7 
Iceland Hjaltalín: Goodbye July/Margt Að Ugga 8 ![]()
Switzerland Stefanie Heinzmann: Like A Bullet 9 
Mexico Belanova: One, Two, Three, Go! (1, 2, 3, Go!) 10 
Poland Oszibarack: Anchor Up 11 ![]()
Cape Verde Salif Keita & Cesária Évora: Yamore 12 
Brazil Sandy & Junior: Love Never Fails 13 
Finland Apocalyptica feat. Adam Gontier: I Don't Care 14 
France Mylène Farmer: Dégénération 15 
Puerto Rico Luis Fonsi: No Me Doy Por Vencido 16 
Italy Tiger Tiger!: Take Care 17 
Belgium Arsenal: Estupendo 18 ![]()
Montenegro Andrijana Božović: Krila Anđela 19 
Bosnia & Herzegovina Feminnem: Ovisna 20 
Slovenia Regina: Gabriel 21 
Japan Maaya Sakamoto: Chibikko Folk 22 
Greece Nikko Patrelakis: Arco Iris 23 
F.Y.R. of Macedonia Lambe Alabakovski: Poslednja Noć 24 
Albania Berkani: Te Dashuroj 25 
Uruguay El Cuarteto de Nos: Ya No Sé Que Hacer Conmigo 26 
Luxembourg Julien Doré: Les Limites 27 
New Zealand 28 
San Marino Studio 3: Lentamente 29 ![]()
Tunisia David Charvet: Je Te Dédie 30 
Russia Maksim: Nauchus' Letat' 31 
Cyprus Apostolia Zoi: Ta 'Xo Parei 32 ![]()
Jamaica Alaine: Rise In Love 33 
South Africa The Arrows: Next Time 34 ![]()
Belarus Ruslan Alehno, Alekseï Chumakov & Aleksandr Panaïotov: Neobyknovennaya 35 ![]()
Azerbaijan Röya: Ayrılıq 36 
Chile Solo Di Medina: Hembras De Marte 37 
Spain Beth: Hacerte Feliz 38 
Sweden Sonja Aldén: Nån Som Du 39 
Czech Republic Glen Hansard & Marketá Irglová: Falling Slowly 40 
Turkey Tarkan: Vay Anam Vay! 41 ![]()
Netherlands Antilles Izaline Calister: Yudami Lubida 42 
Argentina Loli Molina: Hasta El Mar 43 
Serbia Lejla Hot: Suza Stihova 44 
Germany Wagner Love: I Know 45 
South Korea Jang Na Ra: Dahl Paeng Ee 46 
Malta Miriam Christine: Alone Today 47 ![]()
Vietnam Minh Tuyết: Chỉ Cần Anh Thôi 48 
Romania Yarabi: I Amar 49 
Vatican City Elisa & Ligabue: Gli Ostacoli Del Cuore 50 
The Philippines Cassie: Is It You 51 
Morocco Nadja Benaissa: Immer Noch 52 
Canada Deadmau5: Faxing Berlin 53 ![]()
Croatia Jelena Rozga: Ožiljak 54 ![]()
Moldova Crazy Loop: Crazy Loop (Mm Ma Ma) 55 
Belize Lu: Duele 56 ![]()
Nicaragua Cristyana: Sin Temor 57 ![]()
Latvia Cosmos: Destination: Heaven 58 
Portugal Les Baton Rouge: Chloe Yurtz 59 
Ireland Liam Lawton feat. Brian Kennedy: Ailelú 60 
United States of America Matisyahu: Jerusalem (Out Of Darkness Comes Light) 61 
Liechtenstein R.I.O.: Shine On 62 
Venezuela 63 
Australia Xavier Rudd: Green Spandex 64 
Colombia Maía: Niña Bonita 65 ![]()
Egypt Mohamed Hamaky: Ahla Haga Fiky 66 
Estonia M.i.M: Polygonblue 67 ![]()
Namibia Stefan Ludik: Vuur En Water 68 
Austria Curbs: Everybody Loves A Junkie 69 
Indonesia Acha & Irwansyah: Ada Cinta 70 
Monaco BB Brunes: Dis-Moi 71 
India Rashid Ali: Kabhi Kabhi Aditi Zindagi 72 ![]()
Mongolia Emotion: Ingen Temeenii Duun 73 
China Aytulan: Song Ni Yi Tiao Mei Gui Hua (Give You A Rose) 74 ![]()
Slovakia IMT Smile: Pozri Jak Sa Roztápa L'Ad 75 
Lithuania Žalvarinis: Ožys 76 
Bulgaria Boni: Poludqvam Li