Norway 1998
Norway
chose the Motown-influenced "All I ever needed was you"
sung by Lars A Fredriksen (picture) in the contest staged by
NRK on 28th February.
The Norwegian version, "Alltid sommer" will be sung
in Birmingham [This news from Bård Olsen]
Read two excellent (one illustrated)
reviews of this contest by contributors on the net at this link
Original preview below the song list
The following eight songs competed:
|
Title |
Composer(s) |
Performer(s) |
Description from NRK |
T |
Tø |
B |
K |
O |
E |
Pts |
Pl |
|
A. "All I Ever Wanted Was You" |
David Eriksen, Per Kristian Ottestad |
Lars Fredriksen |
Modern Motown soul-pop |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
6 |
56 |
1 |
|
B. "Bare du og jeg" (Only you and me) |
Ulf Risnes |
Kristin Hoff and Erik Jakobsen |
Typical ' Tre små kinesere' - the composer's band |
14 |
14 |
6 |
|||||
|
C. "Som en engel" (Like an angel) |
Ingrid Bjørnov |
Gjermund Elgenes |
Tango inspired song, a bit like Tom Waits |
1 |
4 |
5 |
7 |
||||
|
D. "Always Will" |
Kyrre Fritzner, Åge Stein Nilsen |
ge'sten |
Slightly rocky poprock |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
3 |
20 |
31 |
3 |
|
E. "Winds Of The Northern Sea" |
Torhild Nigar, Rolf Graf |
Elisabeth Andreassen |
An epic and lyrical ballad |
7 |
7 |
7 |
7 |
7 |
10 |
45 |
2 |
|
F. "På do" (On The Loo) |
Finn Evensen |
Bjelleklang |
Typical Bjelleklang with humour and simple orchestration |
3 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
23 |
4 |
|
|
G. "Nam nam" (Yum Yum) |
Per Kristian Indrehus, Geir Olav Bøkestad, Tore Holm |
Tore Holm |
Happy pop a la Hanson |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
8 |
||
|
H. "En ny mårrå" (A New Morning) |
Stein Berge Svensen, Nora Skaug, Malin Holberg |
Malin Holberg |
Musicals type of ballad |
5 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
18 |
5 |
|
Key to juries: |
|||||
|
T |
Tø |
B |
K |
O |
E |
|
Trondheim |
Tromsø |
Bergen |
Kristiansand |
Oslo |
Experts |
The performer of song 4, ge'sten, is actually co-composer Åge Stein Nilsen.
Although three of the titles are in English, it has been confirmed that song 5 will be sung in Norwegian, I don't know about the others. Apparently the rules permit songs to be sung in English in the Norwegian final.
Song 6 must have one of the most interesting song titles ever entered!
Familiar
names are composer of song 3, Ingrid Bjørnov
(picture), who was half of Dollie de Luxe (1984), and of
course the song 5 coupling is the same as that of "I Evighet"
in 1996. It would be Elisabeth Andreassen's fifth appearance
at Eurovision if she wins! The song is said to be inspired by
Enya/Secret Garden.
The presenters are the comedy duo Øystein Bache and Rune Gokstad. Bache has previously hosted the final, in 1989.
Although the pair are known for comedy they say that it will be a traditional final and that there will be no joking around. They do not want to take the focus away from the performers.
Gokstad says his favourite Norwegain entries in the past are Anita Skorgan's "Casanova" and "Oliver", along with Finn Kalvik's "Aldri i livet". Bache prefers more recent efforts, "Duett", "Nocturne" and "I evighet", so he should like song 5!
Voting: Apparantly 5 000 families will be invited to ring in with their votes. Norwegian telecom (Telenor) has decided that it can't cope with more calls than that!), and these will be gathered in regional centres in the five major cities. Each region will ba called to give their votes. In addition there will be an experts jury in Oslo to give their votes.
Some of this info has been taken from newspaper VG, some from NRK, who have a page at this snappy URL: http://www.nrk.no/programoversikt/skjema/2802982040NRK1.html
Thanks for this entire text goes to Roger Fry.