Maxine and Franklin Brown
(apologies - its a little fuzzy)
The Netherlands picked its song, "De eerste keer" on March 3rd.
Maxine is a professional singer, and Franklin Brown is a part-time policeman. They are unrelated - Maxine is just 'Maxine'
The artists and songs for the final are shown below. The presenter was Ivo Niehe.
During the previous week 5 singers each sang three songs. From these, each sang one song on the 3rd. A pretty long show resulted, despite only five songs. There were appearances on tape from Udo Jurgens and Johnny Logan, and the interval included renditions of The Netherland's Eurovision winning songs in Operatic style by a soprano and tenor in 18th Century dress.
Points were given by 13 regional broadcasting corporations from all over Holland: 1, 2, 3 and 5 points.
Further views from Robbert Vermeulen:
"Ik wil alleen walsen met jou" is, as the title suggests, a genuine waltz. Nice to hear one of these again at a songcontest. Not a winner, I suppose. The song is nothing if little above average, but the singer lacks a good voice.
Song no. two: "De wereld is van jou" is a characteristic Euro-song, very up-tempo, it has a very strong chorus. Unfortunately, that's all there is to the song. Gina has tried three times before to make it past the preselection, but she just doesn't have the magic to make the song work. The gaps in the song are filled with a tiny 'hoo-hoo', and the conclusion to the song is one of the weakest conclusions I've ever heard in eurovision history.
Song no. three: "De eerste keer". Now this is a very strong song with great performance of both the singers. Really danceable, great chorus, good voices, Ruth Jacott (ESC 1993, Vrede) especially recommended these two. I can understand why! This is the song that's, I hope, going to win this year's preselection and score a lot of points in Oslo!
Song number four: "Neem de tijd voor mij" is, why not, a ballad. Strong voice, good melody, but too difficult for the Euro-juries. This year's dutch final has four up-tempo songs and this one ballad, and I'm affraid the ever hard to follow dutch jury might choose this song to represent the Netherlands. A deadly mistake, if that were so.
I had very high expectations of the fifth artist: Clau-Dya's. The song that has been chosen is, I.M.H.O. not the strongest one from the three they presented Friday the 1st March, (that was 'Mozart'), but I think it may score well if chosen to go to Oslo. "Als je hart klopt" has a touch of Carribean in it, in that perspective very original. The three ladies do very well on stage. Peculiar conclusion to the song, however.
Thanks Robbert!,