[LMBTO] "Let Me Be The One" Eurovision Show 180 - MGP begins and Benidorm Fest is nearly here!

Melodi Grand Prix (pictures by NRK) kicked off last weekend and TrollfesT caught the eye and ear with "Dance Like A Pink Flamingo" - unfortunately for a lot of the fandom, they didn't make it past their initial duel, being paired up with unexpected qualifier Frode with "Black Flowers":

Direct Finalist Elsie Bay was first on this week's show, which was a mix of National Final entries from Norway, Lithuania, Spain and Estonia, plus two tributes for Carmela Corren and Armando Gama who passed away this week just gone:

And the playlist...

 

The four Spanish songs from Benidorm Fest 2022 complete all of the fourteen entries for Spain and my second National Final series of the season:

I am determined to finish Estonia (6 qualifiers and 2 non-qualifiers left) and have made a solid start on Norway - there are so many selection processes that involve jury/public votes this year though, I will have to accept that a lot will only have a small number played on the show!  One that I hope to focus on more is Poland and you will have heard me talk about UNMUTE and who they are - their videos for “Głośniej niż decybele” / "Louder Than Decibels" are below:

We have no idea how this will be staged in Poland and how it will be judged by the voters - it is a great piece of music and the subtitles put the passion that Julia, Magda, Alina, Kuba and Zuza have for the entry across amazingly well for us non-deaf viewers to understand.  I am excited to see how this comes across on February 19th and I hope that a National Final entry by a group of deaf artists is treated the same way as anyone else.  TVP appear to have the technicalities of a song with music and signed words as being an acceptable entry - if it wins, I would hope that the EBU would too.

We in the UK have had experience of that in dance with Rose Ayling-Ellis winning Strictly Come Dancing 2021, showing us during one routine how her world is for her every day and proving that those who cannot hear do enjoy music.  I will not go on at the moment, as we do not know how “Głośniej niż decybele” will be staged - it will only be then that we have some idea how well this entry will do in Poland and if it wins, how much more interest will the entry get in the run-up to Turin.

Just the one LMBTO Eurovision Facebook Group song this week - of course that is Vicky Leandros singing "Après toi", the favourite ever Eurovision entry of Zitomir Klaricic.  We have 108 members now of the group, a superb number and I hope you love the radio show and blog content!

Next Tuesday is not only Show 181 but earlier that day we will have the Host City Insignia Handover Ceremony PLUS the all important Semi-Final Allocation Draw.  All the pots are above, no real surprises where each nation sits in which group and I will briefly discuss what happened on next week's LET ME BE THE ONE.  Of course, there is one reason why we are at this stage in Turin...