World Song Contest

"A WORLD FULL OF STARS"

THE WINNER

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

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
Paskal Jakobsen - lead vocals, guitar
Bas Kennis - keyboard, guitar, backing vocals
Peter Slager - bass, backing vocals
Norman Bonink - percussion, backing vocals

Official website: http://www.blof.nl/

Lyrics

Er is echt niets dat niet gebeuren kan vandaag
Deuren zwaaien open
Ramen klappen dicht
En hele werelden vergaan
Omdat ze daar om vroegen
Zonder het te weten
En altijd weer de vraag

Of het ooit terecht is
Dat het een gevecht is
Om gewoon ergens te zijn
Om te wonen en te leven
En al was het ook maar even
Echt een mens te kunnen zijn
En dan los te komen van je plaats en tijd

Er is echt niets dat niet gebeuren kan vandaag
Steden overstromen
Gebouwen storten in
Blauwe luchten drijven af
In donkerbruine ogen
Zonder goede reden
En altijd weer de vraag

Of het ooit terecht is
Dat het een gevecht is
Om gewoon ergens te zijn
Om te wonen en te leven
En al was het ook maar even
Echt een mens te kunnen zijn
En dan los te komen van je plaats en tijd...

Of het ooit terecht is
Dat het een gevecht is
Om gewoon ergens te zijn
Om te wonen en te leven
En al was het ook maar even
Echt een mens te kunnen zijn
En dan los te komen van je plaats en tijd

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