Cyprus – Eurovision Song Challenge – Heat 1

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Start your Schlager engines as Christer Bjorkman jets into Cyprus to lend his well-trained Eurovision ear to the 20 acts remaining in the Cypriot National Selection for Eurovision 2015.

The show starts at 21:20 CET and you can watch LIVE HERE and we are hosting our LIVE BLOG here.

You have the company of John Stanton tonight and he will be the 7th judge on the virtual panel.

Just refresh the page to get my views and predictions on the acts that I think should make the Top 10. If you don’t agree with me then make sure to let me know. The official Twitter Hashtag for the night is #EurovisionCy – SO USE IT!!!

So we’ve started the next stage of CyBC’s innovative approach to picking a song and, hopefully, a winner at the 60th Eurovision Song Contest.  In addition to the evergreen Christer Björkman, Alex Panayi and Elena Patroclou will be getting involved.  Our hostess, as you may have guessed already, is Cyprus’s Miss Universe.  So if you want pedigree, look no further.

20 Acts 

1) Aimili Charalambous – “Right In”

Our first song is definitely a floor filler.  Aimili is dressed simply in a white top and black leather dress with a rather eye-catching slit showing some thigh.  It’s very striking and she sells it, so it could have a chance.  If it gets further, it will need backing dancers.  Papa Schlager likes it.

2) Doody – “Magic”

Doody looks very young.  There’s a bit of a 1998 Michael Hajiyanni about him.  The vibe is very boyband – imagine something mellow by N-Sync and you’re there. He particularly seems to be impressing the female jury members, and our Miss Universe (who’s now backstage).  Towards the end, the song takes a little rap-like turn – it would wake a weary televoter up – before a nice safe key-change.

3) Nearchos Evangelou feat. Charis Savva – “Deila Den Agapo”

Our first duo has a big crowd backstage to cheer them on.  And this is ballad territory.  A simple stage suits this one and they have a good pair of voices on them.  A quick shot of Christer shows in deep thought (he likes it, just so you know).  It’s heartfelt but maybe suffers from the fashion of singers standing a foot apart and shouting at each other.  But it’s not that off-putting.  In keeping with the song, it ends very dramatically, but perhaps a little abruptly.

4) Christos Rialas – “Meine”

Another ballad, but starts with an ethnically-themed flute.  He opts for the static mike to he can express himself more clearly.  The chorus demonstrates quite a powerful voice.  To my British ears, it’s the most Cypriot song we’ve heard so far.  There’s an instrumental break that features local stringed instruments before he leaves his mike stand and drops to his knees.  This is dramatic in spades.  It has a very big finish.

5) Maria Maskofian and Christiana X’ Ioardanous – “Sailing Ships Pirates And Dragons”

Duet time again and our two hopeful ladies are in long black frocks.  Nothing casual for them.  Another ballad, but it is operatic in its overtones.  I’d wager they wouldn’t need their mikes to reach the back of a very large auditorium.  The act is very Mira Awad & Noa, even if the song isn’t.  Another very striking performance. Papa Schlager was a little critical, but in a constructive way.

6) Minus One – “Shine”

Our first group of the night are a collection of bright young things who all play their own instruments.  There’s a bit of the nonchalant style of guitar playing that has a young sound about it.  It’s rocky and a break from the ballads we’ve heard so far.  Very un-Cypriot you might say and it has a lot of energy about it.  The youth vote will love it if it gets that far.  And what’s not to like about a baby bouzouki (I think it’s a bouzouki anyway).  Big applause for this.  Christer calls it ‘cool’.

7) Giannis Karagiannis – “One thing I Should Have Done”

A Mike Connaris song no less (he wrote for Lisa Andreas in 2004).  Giannis sings this little number straight from the heart but appeared a tad nervous at the start.  The look is a little ByeAlex sans the beard and surprisingly seems to suit the song.  He’s opted for the keeping it simple strategy and I like that.  Who needs dancing penguins and fans?  Papa Schlager really likes it.

8) Apollonia – “Don’t give up on me – Just yet”

Our next performer is young and casual.  She’s got a pleasant little young song with a distinctive beat.  After some of the previous songs, this might struggle.  Apollonia is selling it, but if I were being harsh, I’d say that she seems more used to singing into her hairbrush in front of a mirror.  But she’s got this far, and that’s a challenge in itself.

9) Maria Evangelou – “Still”

Maria is from London and wrote this herself.  She’s got some stage presence there and her song has a slight 1960s vibe to it. It needs backing dancers but since it’s the same for everyone, that’s something she can work on if it gets further.  It’s a catchy little number that could get your feet-tapping.  We did subsequently find out that she was suffering with a cold.

10) Eleni Irakleous – “Dawn”

Eleni is the first performer after an extended break and new bulletin.  She’s singing a very pleasant ballad with a deeper voice than you would expect from her look.  It reminds me a song called ‘Sounds of the sea’ from an old Estonian Eurolaul.  She holds her own very well and this could be a real contender for the top.  Shots of Christer show him concentrating earnestly.

11) Yuri Melikov – “Victorious”

We have a song with a very familiar backing track here, although I can’t quite pin down what it is.  Yuri seems very keen to impress but he’s maybe a bit too static for an uptempo song like this.  It would need backing singers and dancers if this got any further.  Papa Schlager isn’t keen.

12) Hovig – “Stone In A River”

After uptempo. we go back to English language ballad.  It’s immediately of a good quality and it demonstrates Hovig’s range perfectly.  He may need to interact with the cameras a little better, and open his eyes, but he generally sells it very well.  Christer makes some careful notes.  On the whole, this is very good.

13) Panagiotis Koufogiannis – “Without Your Love”

Another heartfelt ballad. Panagiotis immediately finds the camera and sings to it.  A promising sign.  This is gentle and quite endearing.  If there were a dark stage with a single spotlight on him, this could also do very well.  It’s very much ‘Móno gia mas’ for the 21st century.  It gets a big cheer.

14) Valence – “Scared”

Valence is Australian, and we know that our cousins Down Under love Eurovision completely. We have a heavy beat to this and Valence, who wrote this himself, fancies his chances.  There are big notes, dramatic pauses, lots of non-verbal communication, and a trendy synthesised backing beat thrown in.  What’s not to like.  However, a mixed reaction is likely due to the variety of facial expressions on the jury.

15) Kyriakos Georgiou – “Shake Dat”

Our lengthy introduction has an accordian vibe to it before the beat picks up and is immediately catchy.  The chorus is repetitive which can do really well.  It would fill a Euroclub dance floor.  Kyriakos’s delivery is a little static wooden at times, and it would benefit from dancers.  The jury seem to like it.

16) Charalampos “Luna” Iosif – “I Wanna Dance” (I Say Tempo)

The Latino sound is how this song opens.  Luna is singing in Spanish with quite a thick accent.  This is very Tito Puente and his performance is very entertaining.  By the middle of the song, he’s really into it and believes in what he is singing.   It’s a unique performance.

17) Ioanna Protopapa – “Beat Of My Heart”

We stay upbeat with another song in English.  This is another catchy little song that develops well and gets sold to us by someone who means business.  There was a lit of applause for this dramatic song and the jury are likely to like it.

18) Christina Tselepou – “In These Arms”

Another ballad from the demure Christina.  The mix seems to be wrong as we can here the backing track but not her.   It’s a steady safe song that is not bad, but maybe not quite that good enough to make it big when it needs to be.

19) Eva Diva – “Come and Fight for Freedom”

Eva is a statuesque woman, dressed in a severe long red dress.  She’s singing a very synthesised song that you can tell Scandinavian writers have had a hand in writing.  It’s almost a breath of fresh air after some of the other songs tonight, and maybe no accident that it’s on at 19 in the running order.  A sure-fire floor-filler at any Eurovision event.

20) Pieros Kezou – “Said It All Before”

Finally, beardy-bloke Pieros regaled us with an ethereal ballad that could be straight out of a musical.  Whilst it’s not a bad song, it may not quite appeal to a three-minute performance amidst another 20-plus songs from all over Europe.

Author/Editor : John Stanton

Source : Eurovision Ireland