One of the things I love about music is its complexity and relatability, the way it helps you to not just make sense of life but to add to it too, even if it all it does is lift you up for a moment. At the end of a Continue Reading
Music
Now that the glitter has settled: Eurovision Song Contest 2017 wrap-up
This was an oddly quiet year for the Eurovision Song Contest. Granted yes there was the kerfuffle over Russia sending along an act to compete who had, in contravention of well-documented Ukrainian law, performed in Crimea, a brazenly provocative act that saw them withdraw from the event this year, Continue Reading
I have been waiting for these Visitors: @gezanthony’s amazingly evocative ABBA videos #Eurovision2017
If there is one thing that really made ABBA’s name, apart from their superlatively good music and a handy high-profile win at the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest, its the way they pioneered the use of visual images, in concert with now-famed director Lasse Hallström, to promote their songs as Continue Reading
Now this is music #88: Klyne, BRÅVES, Billie Eilish, Perfume Genius, Bipolar Sunshine
Life, you may have noticed – oh go on, you must have! – is a pretty complicated business. It zigs when you think it will zag, rises when you’re convinced it should fall, and never quite makes sense; well, not enough of the time anyway. Which is why you Continue Reading
Road to Eurovision 2017: Week 7 – The Big Six: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Ukraine, United Kingdom
What is the Eurovision Song Contest? Started way back in 1956 as a way of drawing a fractured Europe back together with the healing power of music, the Eurovision Song Contest, or Concours Eurovision de la Chanson – the contest is telecast in both English and French – is open Continue Reading
Road to Eurovision 2017: Week 6 – Norway, Romania, San Marino, Serbia, Switzerland, The Netherlands + Russia
What is the Eurovision Song Contest? Started way back in 1956 as a way of drawing a fractured Europe back together with the healing power of music, the Eurovision Song Contest, or Concours Eurovision de la Chanson – the contest is telecast in both English and French – is open Continue Reading
Road to Eurovision 2017: Week 5 – F.Y.R. Macedonia, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Lithuania, Malta
What is the Eurovision Song Contest? Started way back in 1956 as a way of drawing a fractured Europe back together with the healing power of music, the Eurovision Song Contest, or Concours Eurovision de la Chanson – the contest is telecast in both English and French – is open Continue Reading
Now this is music #87: Emma Gatrill, Soleima, Lunch Ladies, Floor Staff, Crooked Colours
Love and despair. Sadness and happiness. Upbeat and downcast. Life has many moods, many of them contrary and intermingled, and these five talented artists, who hail from around the world, are enormously adept at capturing these glorious inconsistencies and setting them to beautiful, arresting music. Its insight and melody Continue Reading
Get Ur Freak On with Missy Elliott and the Teletubbies
It’s true what they say – you can’t keep a freaky good Teletubby down! Actually no one likely says that at all, but they should with a brand new mash-up video, by YouTube user Robert Jones, giving the Teletubbies, who ran for 365 episodes in 1997-2001, before being revived Continue Reading
Road to Eurovision 2017: Week 4 – Austria, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia
What is the Eurovision Song Contest? Started way back in 1956 as a way of drawing a fractured Europe back together with the healing power of music, the Eurovision Song Contest, or Concours Eurovision de la Chanson – the contest is telecast in both English and French – is open Continue Reading