Good evening Europe ! Good morning Australia ! Tonight Iceland hold their Second semi Final of Songvakeppnin 2024 to select two more acts to go forward to next week’s Grand Final , where Iceland will select who will represent them at the Eurovision Song contest in Malmö,Sweden, in May.

The five acts competing tonight for those coveted Grand Final places are :

Hera Björk – “Við förum hærra

Heiðrún Anna – “Þjakaður af ást”

Bashar Murad – “Vestrið villt”

Sigga Ózk – “Um allan alheiminn”

Maiia – “Fljúga burt” 

Our hosts tonight are Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir ,Siggi Gunnars and  Unnsteinn Manuel Stefánsson. Join me , Sarah as Eurovision Ireland brings you our live blog all the way from the fun and action in Iceland. Please feel free let us know your own thoughts on the acts as we proceed during the evening . You know the drill by now, to keep up with the blog, all you need to do is to REFRESH THIS PAGE .

You can watch the action for yourselves via RUV’s weblink HERE

LIVE BLOG STARTS HERE

You’re a bit too early , it’s about an hour to go until proceedings kick off in Iceland . In the meantime , let’s take a look back to last year when Dilja won the 2023 edition of Songvakeppnin with “Power “. Sadly the power wasn’t enough to get her to the Grand Final in Liverpool .

Welcome back ! We’re through already to the RUV livestream and waiting for the show to begin. While I watch the Icelandic weather forecast , just take time to get your drinks and snacks and #join me for the night ahead.

Looks a bit cold in Iceland …..brrrrr !!!

Just experiencing the delights of the Icelandic adverts now ! :-) Just waiting for the show to start .

Here we go….looks like we’re off ! Starting off with a rather mean looking man playing a guitar !Joined then by two rapping singers !

Have to say it’s not the greatest of openers, it’s so repetitive and a bit boring, in my view.

We meet our hosts Ragnhildur,Siggi and Unnstein

Now, I don’t understand a word of Icelandic, so I can only guess what they are talking about !

We meet the acts who are contesting tonight …and it looks like our first performance is coming ….soon! Just to let you know, all the acts are being performed in icelandic tonight but in the Final, they will have to sing in whichever language they intend performing in, should they get to Malmö.

It’s a long introductory video ! Sigga has a lot to say !

Sigga Ózk – “Um allan alheiminn”

Sigga starts sat down on the floor, withe blue /green LED effects on stage .Joined by four backing dancers , wearing skimpy white skirts and tops and furry oversize ugg boots ! Sigga herself equally as scantily dressed in a short silvery dress. It’s very Eurovision in style ,lively .Reminds me a bit of Kalomira ( Greece 2008) . It’s an ok song but I feel needs something a bit extra to give it a chance of doing well, should Sigga get to Malmo

Another very long introductory video.As there are only five acts performing, guess they have to fill time .

Heiðrún Anna – “Þjakaður af ást”

An electro pop song , this , for me is like a cross between Margaret Berger and the four backing female dancers could almost be the successors to Paul Oskar’s backing dancers in 1997 , in the way they strut and cavort around the stage and around chairs on the stage . I can’t help but feel that Heidrun ‘s outfit seems a bit too frumpy compared to her backing dancer’s .The LED graphics are a bit off putting for me and not very easy on the eyes with so many colours put together. You could be forgiven for thinking you’re visually hallucinating ! For me, the song is a bit monotonous in tone and there’s nothing that really grabs your attention enough to vote for this .

Interview with Sigga and she seems happy with her performance, as does Heidrun

A lot of banter from the hosts now , followed by a commercial break !

And we’re back !

Bashar Murad – “Vestrið villt”

We’re off to the Wild West. Bashar is of Palestinian origin, based in East Jerusalem and he says that he’s living his dream in appearing at Songvakeppnin. As expected , cowboy outfits appear here , with Bashar joined by four backing dancers , who dance around him on stage. Bashar is in white with a red sash across his jacket .It’s quite funky and a bit different from what we have seen so far. The backing dancer cowboys/girls look a bit mean ! There’s stripping off of jackets . Think pyros would add a bit more power to the staging . Good performance.I have a feeling that Bashar may perform this in English should he get to the final as it’s a language he is more comfortable with and I think that may add a bit more to the song as mixing Icelandic and Wild west seems a bit strange for those who don’t speak Icelandic

Maiia – “Fljúga burt” 

Maiiaa is alone on stage . White, short dress with a lace half skirt from the waist down and knee length boots . LED effects are smoke like with purple effects. Now I have to say that I really don’t think the outfit suits Maiia .I can’t put my finger on what it is but I think something more elegant would be better and suit the mood of the song better. She’s joined towards the end by two backing singers/dancers . The song itself makes for a decent radio song but I don’t feel there’s enough power there in the performance for it to succeed at Eurovision .

Hera Björk – “Við förum hærra

Big cheer for this lady , who needs no introduction as she represented Iceland in 2010 with ” Je ne sais quoi”. Now this is very much like a reincarnation of her 2010 entry , with a very similar red , sparkly dress , four backing singers and even similar coloured stage effects. It’s an uptempo number very much like Je ne sais quoi , but I don’t feel has the same power and easy to engage with tune that Je ne sais quoi had. A good performance nevertheless and I think Hera will comfortably make the final as she was easily the best tonight.

And that’s it , you have heard them all !Who is your favourite tonight ?

They are just interviewing Bashar and complementing him on his Icelandic .Have to say I admire anyone who can tackle the Icelandic language . Compared to the other Nordic languages it really does sound very different !

Interviews with the other artists now, just to fill in time while the Icelandic public vote .

Maiia and co doing a rendition of “House of the Rising Sun” !

Hera gives us a singing lesson !

We get a recap of the songs…finally !

We go into another ad break ! This is feeling a bit like some of the Southern European national finals where ad breaks seem to play a part in spinning out the length of the show !

And we’re back and straight into another recap of the performances.This is really getting dragged out !Not sure if the voting has closed yet !

Looking now at past Icelandic Songvakeppnin songs .

Wish I could get English subtitles , so that I knew what they are talking about !

Some of the old Icelandic performances go as far back as the 80’s , ahhhhh the memories of those hairstyles and fashions !

We have an interval act now , with Unnstein , one of the hosts ,giving us a song .

Another recap…..

And we have the results

Hera Bjork is through…….No surprise there .

Who will join her ?

That’s annoying ! we have another ad break before we find out the second qualifier !

We’re back !

And………

Bashar is the second qualifier ! He looks like he doesn’t believe it !

But that’s not all.. we could get a 5th finalist which has been selected by the producers out of the acts that didn’t qualify .

And……Sigga has made the final as the RUV producers’s choice to go through !!

So we have the finalists for next week ? What do you think? Do you think the right choices were made tonight?

That’s our coverage done for tonight. Thanks for joining me. Keep a look out for more of our Live National Final Blogs. Those of you who are prepared for a late night might want to join my colleague John for his Live Blog of San Marino’s Una voce per San Marino now !

Good night Europe.

Author: Sarah Rudman

Source : RUV, Eurovision Ireland , You Tube