Now that the National Finals season is finished and all songs for Eurovision 2016 have been selected we now have a period of around 2 weeks where we wait for the rehearsals to begin in Stockholm. What better way to fill the time than to look back over the 60 years of Eurovision at some of the best and worst entries that countries have sent to the Eurovision stage. There are 43 countries going to Stockholm to take part in the 2016 edition of our favourite musical extravaganza and we continue our journey with Czech Republic who have never won the contest and have  never finished in the top 10. In fact they have never qualified from the Semi Finals in four participations. Their lowest Semi Final finish has been last twice(28th and 18th) and their best 13th. You can check out the previous articles in the best and worst series for Ireland HERE ,Spain HERE, Austria HERE, Bosnia & Herzegovina HERE, Iceland HERE, Belarus HERE, Denmark HERE, Georgia HERE, Germany HERE, Cyprus HERE, Finland HERE, Belgium HERE, Hungary HERE, Switzerland HERE, Ukraine HERE,Moldova HERE, Estonia HERE, Norway HERE, Italy HERE, Slovenia HERE,The Netherlands HERE, Armenia HERE, Azerbaijan HERE, San Marino HERE, Israel HERE,Albania HERE, Poland HERE,Serbia HERE,France HERE, Romania HERE, Russia HERE and Croatia HERE.

So this year Czech Republic are represented by Gabriela Gunčíková with the song ‘I Stand ‘. We will have to wait and see if it turns  out to be more of a best or  worst song for the Czech Republic but the overall reaction is fairly positive so far. You can catch up on our recent article on our thoughts on the song HERE.

So my selections for best and worst entries are based on a combination of actual results and personal taste. Now the Czech Republic only have four entries to choose from making the task a lot easier. The Czechs have struggled to get the Eurovision Song Contest  sending three totally different styles of song the first three years all winding up with really bad results. After a break of five years they came back last year with a better effort. So I will highlight all of the entries and say whether I thought them good or bad ones.

We only have to go back to last year to find our first song that is one of the best for Czech Republic. The year was 2015 and we were in Vienna to see Marta Jandová & Václav Noid Bárta  singing the song ‘Hope Never Dies’.

 

Now this was a dramatic appearance and after a long gap since the last Czech entry gained zero points this was a welcome breath of fresh air. At last perhaps the Czechs were beginning to understand what to send to Eurovision and must have had a good chance of getting to the Final for the first time. The song was a powerful ballad sung in English by Vaclav, the composer, and Marta. Both have had successful careers in music and acting. Marta spent a lot of her time in Germany and took part in local German Festivals winning the Bundesvision Song Contest in 2007 with the song ‘Träumst Du?’. Despite widespread liking of the song among the fans in the build up to the Contest it failed to qualify for the Final coming 13th with 33 points. This is still the Czechs best result to date.

So moving along we look at one of the worst entries for the Czech Republic. We were in Moscow in 2009 to see Gypsy.cz perform the song ‘Aven Romale’.

Now the song that was sung in English and Romani. The group are a Romani hip hop group and they brought their own inimitable style to the Eurovision stage. For me it was a new low in the contest for a country that were trying to gain a foothold in the contest and failing miserably. The performance and styling were all wrong and it truly deserved to come last in the Semi Final with 0 points.

So now we move back to look at another best of entry for the Czech Republic. We were in Helsinki in 2007 and the performer was Kabat  with the song ‘Malá dáma’.

Now the song was the debut entry for the Czech Republic and they had decided to give us a piece of rasping hard rock because after all it had worked for Lordi the previous year. Now I loved this when I first heard it in the preview video and was looking forward to seeing the Czech get themselves into the Final. But sadly they forgot to give us any form of gimmick and basically stood on stage and belted it out. Fine for a concert but not for Eurovision. So although I loved the song the result was the worst for the Czechs as it ended up last with only 1 point.

Our next song that has to be considered one of the worst was in the year 2008 and we were in Belgrade to witness Tereza Kerndlova singing ‘Have Some Fun’.

This was a song that was sung in English. It was poppy brashy and flashy. It was also way out of tune and off key most of the way through. They all wore spangly silver outfits and they threw pyros into the mix too. It was their best result up until 2015. It finished 18th in the Semi Final with 9 points.

So there we have it folks, my little delve into Czech Eurovision history and some of the best and worst moments over the years. Do you agree with all or even any of my choices? Feel free to comment below. This series will continue with another look at songs over the years for each and every country competing in Eurovision 2016 so keep coming back for more reflections of the best and worst that Eurovision has had to offer us.

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Author: Andrew Main

Source: Eurovision Ireland