On Sunday evening, in one of the oddest and most disappointing Dutch song contests, the Netherlands chose the act to sing the song 'it' had already chosen for this year's Eurovision Song Contest.
As for the song - Ik Ben Verliefd (Sha la lie) - or I'm In Love (Sha-la-lee) - the only good thing about it is that it's sung in Dutch; maybe that will disguise the total vacuous-ness of the lyric.
Believe me, I sat down to watch the National Song Contest with some vestige of hope. I'm always hopeful that the Netherlands will come up with something amazing. After all, the Dutch have won this Eurovision contest on four occasions since 1956. Last year, young Ralf even took the crown at the - much smaller - junior version of the competition, and his self-penned ditty was also in Dutch.
Go North, old man!
But, alas, the Eurovision is not so popular in the Netherlands any more. Perhaps a longstanding fan like me should move to Scandinavia where it's still a big deal. For example, Norwegian broadcaster NRK - this year's host for the main event in May - held its fifth and final episode of the Melodi Grand Prix on Saturday night. I watched via the miracle of internet and was pleasantly surprised at the standard of the songs and performers. In a country of just under five million inhabitants, around one million telephone and SMS votes were cast for the various songs during the course of the show, which also attracted the week's biggest TV audience for any programme.
And what did we get one day later here in the Netherlands? Well, the song had already been chosen: longtime songwriter and performer Pierre Kartner (better knows to the outside world as Father Abraham, the man of Smurf Song (YouTube) fame back in the 1970s) was asked to pen the Dutch ditty last year. He's had Eurovision experience after all, he wrote De Oude Muzikant - YouTube - (the Old Music Man) which brought the Netherlands 14th place out of 17 countries in 1973! Wow.
Unfortunately, his attempt this time isn't quite his 1973 vintage. Ik Ben Verliefd (Sha-la-lie) was chosen as the Dutch song back in 2009, and features such great lines as "zo gaat het ongeveer" (that's roughly how it goes).
"There's hope!"
Vintage or not, all Dutch broadcaster TROS had to do was find an act to perform it in Oslo. They came up with idea of getting well-known Dutch artists to present and coach 'young talent' to perform the song in different arrangements. "There's hope," I thought!
Unfortunately, last night's Nationaal Songfestival failed to produce any really interesting versions of the song (there were five), but it did end in chaos - which always makes good TV. The TROS may regard its membership as the "Largest Family of the Netherlands", but it didn't want them voting like the Norwegians, no... there were a total of five votes involved (an all time low, maybe?). One each from the four 'experts' (including two or three-time ESC winner Johnny Logan, and George Baker... he of Una Paloma Blanca, another 70s hit) and one vote from the entire studio audience. No sms-ing, no telephone voting for us - the great Dutch public suffering at home! The result: two expert votes for one act, the other two votes to one of the other five acts, and the single audience vote to a third.
So now it was between 17-year-old Sieneke and her barrel organ backed 'typically Dutch' version of the song, and the six-woman band Loekz, with their - vocally somewhat wobbly - attempt at making a more poppy sound. I was surprised the 'expert' jury managed to vote at all, none of them had looked particularly happy about the performances, though they tried their very best to say nice things.
Upsetting
And what had TROS prepared for such a situation (what if, for example, all five votes had been spread equally across all five songs)? Well, apparently, the solution - as presenter Yolanthe Cabau van Kasbergen explained - was to ask wise old Pierre Kartner to decide. It seemed as if no one had told him this might be a possibility. He kept on stammering that it was 'heel vervelend' (most upsetting) and that he didn't want to make the choice. Understandable, but did he not know this might happen? Why not let the studio audience decide at this point? After all, Ms Cabau van Kasbergen told us they were "representative of Dutch society".
Finally, clearly fed up with being pushed by the lovely but insistent Ms C van K., Pierre Kartner 'plumped' for Sieneke. And so this young 17-year-old (who can certainly sing, I give her that, and is very enthusiastic) gets to go to Eurovision 2010 in Oslo with her very Dutch version of a very Dutch song.
I wish Sieneke the very best, I really do. Perhaps she and her song will do what all the Dutch participants since 2004 have failed to do, get voted through from the Eurovision semi-final to the big Saturday night final! Ten of the 17 songs in each semi get a final place, so she has a more than 50-percent chance - and I would like to see NL in the final.
But I fear not, and even if does, much further than that it will not go.
'Ach' (he wrote to prove just how integrated he is) that's just 'roughly how it goes' these days with the Dutch and Eurovision... Now, where's my Norwegian phrase book?
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I was mortified when Sha La Lie did not progess beyond the semi final. I thought it the best eurovison song that I had heard this century. I like Sieneke's "Barrel Organ" style music and have aquired all her subsequent records. Outdated it may be, but at least it's tuneful, better than much modern music which is often a tuneless cacophany. Sieneke can sing. I don't speak dutch unfortunatly but I do love that sound. I hope she goes on to have a long career and makes many records.
Now, dit liedje is toch echt Nederlands? Ik vindt het een leuk liedje, en stemmen komen er veel van uit onze familie. maar ja, ik heb een Nederlandse dochter, woonde zelf bijna 5 jaar in Nederland. misschien gaat het deze keer gewoon lukken?? Anders sturen wij gewoon iets uit het Hooge Noordenvoor de volgende nationale finale..
Kop op en glimlachen!
Yes, of course the song is hopelessly outdated, bland and boring and the lyrics are merely an attempt to list as many European cities in three minutes as possible. And yes, of course the Netherlands will be the laughing stock in Oslo in May.
But why is it then that my two daughters keep singing "Shalalalie" non stop all day? And why do so many people (including those who hate this song) complain about the fact that it's a real earworm that's been stuck in their heads since Sunday night? Isn't that what a Eurovision song is all about....?
At least it gives us Eurovision watchers something to talk about for the next three months!
Your comments are all on the mark, Johan... I, too, have that song in my head. I'm also beginning to think it could well slip into the final, just because it is so .. well.. Dutch and, as you say, truly catchy. But it is very outdated, all the same.
With some polishing up of the arrangement and act, who knows? And I do wish Sieneke the best.
I had just hoped for something more original and, as seems to be the successful trend in Eurovision in recent years, more contemporary than this (I refer to songs like last year's number 2 from Iceland, or the classic French entry from Patricia Kaas).
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