![[Maarja-Liis]](estoni97.jpg)
16 year-old Maarja-Liis Ilus will represent Estonia for the second year in succession, after winning the Eurolaul in Talinn on February 15th with 'Keelatud Maa' which apparently means 'Forbidden Land'.
The picture seen here is from this year's contest, and I hope to replace it with a colour one once the tape I have in converted from SECAM to PAL, but Maarja-Liis is in green.
Her 1996 entry was written by the team responsible for the other song she entered for this year's contest, 'Aeg'.
The lyricist of the 1996 winning entry, Kaari Sillamaa, also was behind 'Keelatud Maa', so Estonia seem to be trying a repeat run, after coming 5th in Oslo.
Song number 8, 'Yksik hing' came second.
There's now a full report below
The list for Eurolaul 97 was:
This list was found at: http://www.etv.ee/eurosong/efinaal.html
See their faces on http://www.etv.ee/kava/1502.html
...Tobias Larsson
And here is Tobias's report on the contest after seeing it on video:
Estonia chose its entry on Feb 15, in a live televised final held at Linnahalli in Tallinn. Eight songs were compeating, all performed live. ETV put together a good show this year, especially compared to the rather amateurish event last year. The show started with the orchestra playing the Eurovision anthem ("Te deum" by Charpentier), and a medley of the three previous winners of "Eurolaul".
The songs:
First on came a song, originally submitted to, but not chosen for, the 1993 Estonian final. A classy ballad, in some kind of Phil Collins-vein, which could very well have been a massive ballad on Swedish radio stations had it been performed by Celine Dion. Not too direct, but grows on you after a few listenings. One of the chorists, Evelin Samuel, took part in Eurolaul as a singer in both 94 and 96.
Pearu Paulus is one of Estonia's biggest stars, and this was his third consecutive Estonian final. Hanna-Liina was also visible during last years final, where she was part of the interval act. This started out as a ballad, but soon gained a pleasant pop-rhythm and developed into quite a good and catchy chorus.
The singer's real name, Tatjana Isotova, betrays russian origins, and maybe then it's better with a nickname if you consider a career in Estonia. A nice ballad, and Tanya proved to have quite a powerful voice. Not a song the jury would pick, though.
This duo, consisting of Koik and Sarah, performed a contemporary popsong which possibly lacked a hook to make it memorable, but still sounded like something you could very well hear on commercial radiostations. Most probably a hit in Estonian discos, but the chorus could have been stronger.
15 yo Hanna wrote the song herself, and this was a slightly experimental ballad with ethnic influences. Needs a couple of listenings before you can "grip" it and would probably be a risky entry for Eurovision. Hanna sang well, though, and was accompanied on stage by a violinist.
Pearu Paulus's second entry was a slightly faster popsong with a catchy chorus. Possibly a bit dated, but still a very nice entry, and Pearu Paulus is a good performer.
This was the favourite song of the Estonian radio-listeners, chosen in a phone-in poll. Written by Priit Pajusaar ("Kaelakee haal") this could have been a real killer in Dublin, if the juries still favour ethnic songs. This number combined the catchiness of "Kaelakee haal" with the strength of "The voice", helped a lot by the good voices of Maarja-Liis and Hanna-Liina, and Anne, who was the female backing singer for Estonia in Oslo. Would this one set the scoreboard on fire?
The final song was a pleasant number with an ethnic touch (a violon, bongos) and a quite clever chorus, performed by a singer who looked a lot (but sounded a lot less) like Mylene Farmer. A nice ending to the presentation, but hardly a winner.
After this came the interval act - the same girl's school as last year, but this year with no horrible disco-rhythm and no Eurovision evergreens. The whole thing started with some lines from "The voice", but developed into something looking and sounding like a mix between a musical and a horror-movie... Funnily enough, Hanna-Liina Vosa took part in this as well, even though she was among the contestants.
After a short clip of each song, to remind the viewers what the songs sounded like, the pre-recorded voting went into action. Eight jurors in eight countries had listened to the songs, and now cast their votes:
Song: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 -------------------------------------------------------------------- Spain 10 8 5 6 2 1 4 3 UK 10 4 1 3 5 2 6 8 Italy 10 1 6 8 3 5 4 2 Norway 10 3 2 6 8 4 5 1 Sweden 8 6 1 3 10 4 5 2 Germany 8 3 5 4 1 6 2 10 Slovenia 8 10 3 6 1 5 4 2 Hungary 8 3 6 2 10 5 1 4 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Total 72 38 29 38 40 32 31 32 --------------------------------------------------------------------- Place 1 3 8 3 2 5 7 5
So, the Estonians were in for a big surprise, as their favourite ended second last. This is also an interesting trend, when the jurors ignore the Irish influences and goes for something completely different. The winning song was composed by Harmo Kallaste with lyrics by Kaari Sillamaa. According to the composer, this version of "Keelatud maa" can only be seen as a demo version, since he had not foreseen the success, and had not worked to hard on the orchestration. Everybody involved will certainly work hard to improve this ballad for May 3rd.
Personally I can say that "Keelatud maa" is a good ballad, with a good finish, but probably a bit too ordinary to win in Dublin. It should secure Estonia a place in ESC 98, though. Another lucky aspect for Estonia in the draw, is that Poland (and quite probably Germany as well) will go for an up-tempo song this year, and so Estonia will be lucky enough to be the first in a (potentionally) long row of ballads drawn together.
The jurors were:
There should also have been a Russian juror, but it seems his tape with the songs failed to arrive on time for him to judge them.
...Tobias
more than pleased with the Estonian quality
Thanks, Tobias!
Why not revisit last year's Estonian contest at my attic site,
or see my report on Oslo 1996 with a picture of Maarja-Liis.
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