Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014
Austria participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 with the song Rise Like a Phoenix, written by Charlie Mason, Joey Patulka, Ali Zuckowski and Julian Maas. After a promotional tour of several European countries, Austria was seen as one of the countries most likely to qualify for the grand final. In the second of the Eurovision semi-finals Rise Like a Phoenix came first of the 15 participating countries and this was Austrias second win in the contest, having previously won in 1966. After the show, the song went on to chart in several European countries, reaching one in Austria. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, Austria had featured in two finals. Austrias least successful result has been last place, which they have achieved on eight occasions, Austria has received nul points on three occasions, in 1962,1988 and 1991. The Austrian national broadcaster, Österreichischer Rundfunk, broadcasts the event within Austria, for the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest, ORF held an internal selection to choose the artist and song to represent Austria at the contest.
This method had last been used by ORF in 2007, ORF confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest on 6 September 2013. On 10 September 2013, the announced that they had internally selected Conchita Wurst to represent Austria in Copenhagen. Wurst is the stage persona of Tom Neuwirth, who in 2007 finished second in the third season of Austrian talent show Starmania. Neuwirth went on to join the boy band Jetzt Anders, along with other contestants from Starmania in 2007, which disbanded that year. ORF confirmed in October 2013 that the song to be performed by Wurst at the contest would be chosen internally, on 18 March 2014 at a ORF press conference in Vienna, the song Rise Like a Phoenix was announced as the Austrian entry for the contest. The song was written by Charlie Mason, Joey Patulka, Ali Zuckowski, Wursts first live performance of the song was on 22 March 2014, during an episode of Dancing Stars, the Austrian version of international franchise Dancing with the Stars.
As part of the graphic design, special postcards were commissioned by the Danish host broadcaster DR to introduce each of the participating countries before the acts took to the stage. For the 2014 contest the contestants were asked to take a photo of their countrys flag, the selection of Wurst caused some controversy in Austria and the rest of Europe. A Facebook group which amassed approximately 38,000 members protested the decision by the publicly funded broadcaster ORF, aram Mp3 apologised and insisted his statements were a joke. In response to petitions in Russia and Ukraine asking for Wurst to be removed from the competition, irelands representative Kasey Smith, said that everyone should be allowed in to Eurovision and that she totally disagree with what they are doing. Before her appearance at the contest, Wurst went on a promotional tour, on 28 March Wurst appeared at the 2014 Euroschlager Party, held by OGAE Spain, in Madrid
Fly on the Wings of Love
Fly on the Wings of Love is a song by the Olsen Brothers, which was the winner of Eurovision Song Contest 2000, performed for Denmark, singing in English. The song was performed fourteenth on the night, following Spains Serafín Zubiri with Colgado de un sueño, at the close of voting, it had received 195 points, placing first in a field of 24. Fly on the Wings of Love is a ballad, with the singers describing the beauty of a woman. Unusual for any pop song, its lyrics imply that this is a beauty which has improved with age - a theme made more explicit in the Danish original Smuk som et stjerneskud. The song was not expected to score highly, as it was an old-fashioned ballad and performed by two of the oldest performers to enter the Contest. In spite of this, it led the voting from start to finish and became a favourite among fans of the Contest. The brothers in fact performed part of the song onstage and were greeted with rapturous applause, renārs Kaupers, hosting the show, made several references to being beaten by a pair of Danish brothers.
The song is memorable for the vocoding effects given to the voice during the final chorus. These effects were the subject of a protest by the Russian delegation, however they were not found to be against the rules, the song was succeeded in 2001 as winner by Tanel Padar and Dave Benton representing Estonia with Everybody. It was succeeded as Danish representative at the 2001 contest by Rollo & King with Never Ever Let You Go, the Olsen Brothers have most recently performed Fly On The Wings Of Love at the Romanian national Final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, on 6 March. The Olsen Brothers were afforded a hit with Fly on the Wings of Love, most notably in Sweden, the Eurovision 2000 host nation. In the Olsen Brothers native Denmark, their native language rendering Smuk som et stjerneskud afforded them a #1 hit spending three months in the Top Ten, Fly on the Wings of Love has been covered by several eurodance acts. In 2000 Danish producer Holger Lagerfeldt released a version under the name DJ Cookie with vocals by Linda Andrews.
In 2002 German trance group Topmodelz consisting of Pulsedriver and SveN-R-G vs. Bass-T released a version on Aqualoop Records. In May 2003 a cover version was released by Spanish dance group XTM & DJ Chucky featuring vocals by Annia and it was very popular at nightclubs in Europe, and the single peaked at number one in Ireland. The song charted well in the United Kingdom, where it reached #8 on the UK Singles Chart, spending eight weeks in the top 10 and it reached #31 on the Dutch Mega Single Top 100 in the Netherlands
Dansevise
Dansevise was the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 1963 performed in Danish by Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann representing Denmark. This was the first entry performed by a duo to win the Contest, the song was performed eighth on the night, following Finlands Laila Halme with Muistojeni laulu and preceding Yugoslavias Vice Vukov with Brodovi. At the close of voting, it had received 42 points, the song is a moderately up-tempo tune in which the singer hymns the praises of dancing, specifically with her beloved friend. The song was succeeded as contest winner in 1964 by Gigliola Cinquetti performing Non ho letà for Italy and it was succeeded as Danish representative at the 1964 Contest by Bjørn Tidmand with Sangen om dig. The Danish band Outlandish has made a cover of the song called Kom igen which is featured in the game FIFA07, DR decided to include Dansevise in the opening sequence of the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 Grand Final. Jörgen Ingmann died on 23 March 2015 in Denmark at the age of 89, after he separated from his wife Grethe in 1975
Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest
Denmark has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 45 times since its debut in 1957. Having competed in ten consecutive contests until 1966, Denmark was absent for eleven consecutive contests from 1967-1977, since 1978, they have been absent from only four contests. Denmark has won the contest three times, the Danish qualifying competition for the contest is the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix. Birthe Wilke and Gustav Winckler placed third at the countrys first attempt in 1957, Denmark won the contest for the first time in 1963 with the song Dansevise performed by Grethe & Jørgen Ingmann. The country would not return to the top five for over twenty years, Hot Eyes finished third in 1988, as did Birthe Kjær in 1989. In the 1990s, due to performances in the previous years. They did make the top ten three times, with Aud Wilkens fifth place in 1995 being Denmarks only top five result of the decade, the second Danish victory came in 2000, with the Olsen Brothers defying the odds to win with Fly on the Wings of Love.
In 2001, as hosts, Denmark finished second with Never Ever Let You Go performed by Rollo & King, in 2002, Malene Mortensen became the first Danish entry to finish last. Denmark were absent from the 2003 contest, in 2005, Copenhagen hosted Congratulations,50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest, an event to commemorate the 50th anniversary. Denmark achieved its best result for nine years at the 2010 contest, a Friend in London finished fifth in 2011. Denmark won the contest for the time in 2013, with Only Teardrops performed by Emmelie de Forest receiving Denmarks highest ever score with 281 points. Denmark has placed in the top five a total of 14 times and has a score of 65.261 points. Denmark first participated at the Eurovision Song Contest 1957, held in Frankfurt, the country had intended to compete at the first contest in 1956, but had submitted its application past the deadline and was, not allowed to compete. Denmark was the first Nordic country to take part in the contest, with Sweden, iceland, did not take part until 1986.
Denmarks first participants were Birthe Wilke and Gustav Winckler, who sang the song Skibet skal sejle i nat and their performance was controversial as, at the end of the song, the couple performed an 11-second kiss, which caused outcry in some countries. Nevertheless, the performance achieved a respectable 3rd place, Denmark won the contest for the first time in 1963, when Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann sang Dansevise. When Norway announced its votes, the presenter Katie Boyle could not hear the spokesperson, the final result was valid and the victory went to Denmark. Accordingly, in 1964, the contest was held in Denmark for the first time, after the 1966 contest and a record low 14th place, Denmark withdrew from the contest, as DR´s new head of entertainment Niels Jørgen Kaiser did not view the contest as being quality entertainment
Anti Social Media
Anti Social Media is a Danish pop rock band that represented Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song The Way You Are. The group consists of Philip Thornhill, Nikolaj Tøth, David Vang, in 2015, Anti Social Media was announced as one of the ten competing musicians in Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2015 with the song The Way You Are. On 7 February 2015 Anti Social Media performed the song and won the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix to represent Denmark at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015, on 4 May 2015 Anti Social Media released the single More Than a Friend. On 11 May 2015 they released their debut EP The Way, at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 they performed during the first Semi-final on 19 May 2015, they failed to qualify for the final. This was the first time since 2007 that Denmark had failed to qualify to the final, Philip Thornhill – vocals Nikolaj Tøth – guitar David Vang – bass Emil Vissing – drums Anti Social Media on Facebook
Jette Torp
Jette Torp is a Danish singer and entertainer. Born in Frederiksberg, the moved to Ry near Skanderborg in Jutland when she was five years old. She studied music first at Århus University at Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus and her career started with the trio Dirty Dolls where she worked for several years before going solo. In 1994, together with Finn Nørbygaard, she took part in the Musik & Fis show which was a resounding success, in 1995, toured Denmark with her musicshow and soon started a collaboration with Kurt Ravn, a well-known Danish singer and actor. In 1997 she was contacted by the writer Ivar Lind Greiner who needed a singer for his song Utopia that was one of the 10 songs that should be in the Danish Melodi Grand Prix contest. She was placed second in the contest but she succeeded in getting to know music director Jan Glaesel which soon led to her first album Here I Am. After another tour, she put together her own band with whom she produced her next album New Tracks in 2001, the successful musician and songwriter Jan Kaspersen was now participating actively in her work.
In late 2002, New Tracks was followed by another album in the New Country style, in May 2003, Jette Torp and her band put on a rather special show at the Colosseum Theatre in Frederikshavn which was about to close. With musicians Jan Kaspersen, Klaus Lorenzen, Kristian Fogh, Kristian Kold and Lars Wagner, the show was recorded by TV2, leading to a new release, in 2007, Jette Torp recorded her first solo album in Danish, MikrofonSangerinde. Jette Torp loves riding the Triumph Thunderbird 900 motorbike she shares with her husband Klaus Pilgaard, I like the air and speed, she explains
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austrias primary city, with a population of about 1.8 million, and its cultural, economic and it is the 7th-largest city by population within city limits in the European Union. Today, it has the second largest number of German speakers after Berlin, Vienna is host to many major international organizations, including the United Nations and OPEC. The city is located in the part of Austria and is close to the borders of the Czech Republic, Slovakia. These regions work together in a European Centrope border region, along with nearby Bratislava, Vienna forms a metropolitan region with 3 million inhabitants. In 2001, the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, apart from being regarded as the City of Music because of its musical legacy, Vienna is said to be The City of Dreams because it was home to the worlds first psycho-analyst – Sigmund Freud. The citys roots lie in early Celtic and Roman settlements that transformed into a Medieval and Baroque city and it is well known for having played an essential role as a leading European music centre, from the great age of Viennese Classicism through the early part of the 20th century.
The historic centre of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque castles and gardens, Vienna is known for its high quality of life. In a 2005 study of 127 world cities, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked the city first for the worlds most liveable cities, between 2011 and 2015, Vienna was ranked second, behind Melbourne, Australia. Monocles 2015 Quality of Life Survey ranked Vienna second on a list of the top 25 cities in the world to make a base within, the UN-Habitat has classified Vienna as being the most prosperous city in the world in 2012/2013. Vienna regularly hosts urban planning conferences and is used as a case study by urban planners. Between 2005 and 2010, Vienna was the worlds number-one destination for international congresses and it attracts over 3.7 million tourists a year. The English name Vienna is borrowed from the homonymous Italian version of the name or the French Vienne. The etymology of the name is still subject to scholarly dispute. Some claim that the name comes from Vedunia, meaning forest stream, which produced the Old High German Uuenia.
A variant of this Celtic name could be preserved in the Czech and Slovak names of the city, the name of the city in Hungarian, Serbo-Croatian and Ottoman Turkish has a different, probably Slavonic origin, and originally referred to an Avar fort in the area. Slovene-speakers call the city Dunaj, which in other Central European Slavic languages means the Danube River, evidence has been found of continuous habitation since 500 BC, when the site of Vienna on the Danube River was settled by the Celts. In 15 BC, the Romans fortified the city they called Vindobona to guard the empire against Germanic tribes to the north
Denmark
The term Danish Realm refers to the relationship between Denmark proper, the Faroe Islands and Greenland—three countries constituting the Kingdom of Denmark. The legal nature of the Kingdom of Denmark is fundamentally one of a sovereign state. The Faroe Islands and Greenland have been part of the Crown of Denmark since 1397 when the Kalmar Union was ratified, legal matters in The Danish Realm are subject to the Danish Constitution. Beginning in 1953, state law issues within The Danish Realm has been governed by The Unity of the Realm, a less formal name for The Unity of the Realm is the Commonwealth of the Realm. In 1978, The Unity of The Realm was for the first time referred to as rigsfællesskabet. The name caught on and since the 1990s, both The Unity of The Realm and The Danish Realm itself has increasingly been referred to as simply rigsfællesskabet in daily parlance. The Danish Constitution stipulates that the foreign and security interests for all parts of the Danish Realm are the responsibility of the Danish government, the Faroes received home rule in 1948 and Greenland did so in 1979.
In 2005, the Faroes received a self-government arrangement, and in 2009 Greenland received self rule, the Danish Realms unique state of internal affairs is acted out in the principle of The Unity of the Realm. This principle is derived from Article 1 of the Danish Constitution which specifies that constitutional law applies equally to all areas of the Danish Realm, the Constitutional Act specifies that sovereignty is to continue to be exclusively with the authorities of the Realm. The language of Denmark is Danish, and the Danish state authorities are based in Denmark, the Kingdom of Denmarks parliament, with its 179 members, is located in the capital, Copenhagen. Two of the members are elected in each of Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The Government ministries are located in Copenhagen, as is the highest court, in principle, the Danish Realm constitutes a unified sovereign state, with equal status between its constituent parts. Devolution differs from federalism in that the powers of the subnational authority ultimately reside in central government.
The Self-Government Arrangements devolves political competence and responsibility from the Danish political authorities to the Faroese, the Faroese and Greenlandic authorities administer the tasks taken over from the state, enact legislation in these specific fields and have the economic responsibility for solving these tasks. The Danish government provides a grant to the Faroese and the Greenlandic authorities to cover the costs of these devolved areas. The 1948 Home Rule Act of the Faroe Islands sets out the terms of Faroese home rule, the Act states. the Faroe Islands shall constitute a self-governing community within the State of Denmark. It establishes the government of the Faroe Islands and the Faroese parliament. The Faroe Islands were previously administered as a Danish county, the Home Rule Act abolished the post of Amtmand and these powers were expanded in a 2005 Act, which named the Faroese home government as an equal partner with the Danish government
Only Teardrops
Only Teardrops is a song recorded by Danish singer Emmelie de Forest. The song was written by Lise Cabble, Julia Fabrin Jakobsen and Thomas Stengaard and it is best known as Denmarks winning entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 held in Malmö, Sweden. The song competed in the first semi-final on 14 May 2013, the song competed in the final against 25 other songs, and finished in first place with 281 points. The song was an instant hit in de Forests home country of Denmark, following its victory in the Eurovision Song Contest, the song re-entered the singles chart at number one. It has since been certified gold by IFPI Denmark for sales of 15,000 digital copies and it was the fourteenth best-selling digital single in Denmark in 2013. In the United Kingdom, Only Teardrops debuted at number 99, a week later, the single rose to a high of #15 in the UK. In its third week, it dropped to No.84, according to The Official Charts Company, Only Teardrops is the seventh most downloaded Eurovision song to date in the United Kingdom.
Emmelie posted several photographs onto her Facebook account from the shooting of the video, the video is directed by Michael Sauer Christensen. It has been filmed in the forest and on the beach and it was released on 13 June 2013, in DRs official website
Eurovision Song Contest 2014
The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 was the 59th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, following Emmelie de Forests win at the 2013 contest in Malmö and this was the third time that Denmark hosted the contest, the most recent previous occasion being in 2001. The two semi-finals took place on 6 May and 8 May 2014, and the final on 10 May 2014, the shows were presented by Lise Rønne, Nikolaj Koppel and Pilou Asbæk. The host broadcaster, DR, chose the B&W Hallerne as the host venue after considering several bids from cities and venues across Denmark, thirty-seven countries participated, this includes the return of Poland after a two-year absence and Portugal after a one-year absence. Overall, there were two countries competing compared to the previous year, making thirty-seven participants, the smallest number since 2006. Bulgaria, Croatia and Serbia announced their withdrawal from the 2014 Contest, San Marino and Montenegro both qualified for the final for the first time.
The winner was Conchita Wurst with the song Rise Like a Phoenix, written by Charley Mason, Joey Patulka, Ali Zuckowski and this was Austrias first win in the competition since 1966. Jokes made about Wurst had sparked controversy, whilst Russia were booed several times during the contest, the Netherlands and Sweden finished second and third respectively with the former achieving their best result since their victory in the 1975 Contest. Armenia finished fourth, which equals their best result to date, while Hungary finished fifth, of the Big Five, only Ruth Lorenzo of Spain achieved a place in the top ten. A new record of 195 million viewers for the Eurovision Song Contest was reported, the host broadcaster, DR, and the EBU won the International TV Award at the Ondas Awards for their production of the contest. On 2 September 2013, Danish public broadcaster DR announced that it had chosen Copenhagen as the host city for the 2014 contest, the contest was held at the former shipyard Refshaleøen, in the B&W Hallerne, with the social networking hashtag #JoinUs as the motto.
The mayor of Copenhagen, Frank Jensen, declared in late August that the city would contribute to the budget with 40 million. He announced that the aim was to make the Eurovision 2014 into the greenest contest to date since Copenhagen had been elected European Green Capital for 2014. Five cities had been considered as host city of the contest, including Herning and Copenhagen, later and Aalborg entered the phase with the Messe C and Gigantium venues, respectively. The fifth city to join the phase was Horsens, with the venue being the courtyard of the former Horsens State Prison, in the event that Horsens had been chosen to host the contest, the courtyard would have been covered by a permanent glass roof. The contest was set to take place on 13,15 and 17 May 2014, however. On 17 June 2013, the municipality executive of Aalborg decided not to bid for hosting the contest due to the lack of sufficient hotel capacity. On 25 June 2013, the Municipality of Fredericia announced that the Triangle Region had withdrawn its bid on hosting the contest, DR required the hosting venue to have no pillars blocking any views and an interior height of at least 16 metres
Denmark in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013
Denmark participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö, Sweden. The Danish entry was selected through the national final Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2013, Emmelie de Forest represented Denmark with the song Only Teardrops, which qualified from the first semi-final of the competition and won the contest, placing 1st in the final with 281 points. On 28 May 2012, two days after the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Azerbaijan, DR announced their intention to participate in the 2013 contest, the national selection, Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, remained the same as in previous years. A selection jury selected six songs in open competition among the songs submitted to the broadcaster, four participants were invited based on editorial considerations. In total, ten songs participated in the national final, jan Lagermand Lundme, DR Head of Entertainment, said that DR focussed on selecting songs that had a strong chorus. When the deadline for submitting entries to Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2013 had passed on 24 September 2012,692 songs had been received - the highest number of submissions since 1988.
Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2013 took place on 26 January 2013 at Jyske Bank Boxen in Herning, the show was presented by Lise Rønne, Louise Wolff and Sofie Lassen-Kahlke. The winning song was selected in two rounds of voting, in the first round, the combination of viewer SMS voting and a professional jury selected the top 3 songs which proceeded to the superfinal. The five members of the awarded a total of 30 points. The SMS viewer vote was translated into 30 points, with each receiving the proportion of those 30 points based on the percentage of the total votes they earned. For example, if a song received 50% of the viewer votes, in both voting rounds, the viewers SMS vote accounted for 50% of the results, while the jury votes accounted for the remaining 50%. After all ten songs were performed, Emmelie de Forest, Emmelie de Forest won Dansk Melodi Grand Prix with the song Only Teardrops after receiving 11 points from the jury and 15 points from the public. To ensure fair distribution in the semifinals, the Eurovision Reference Group decided on 7 November 2012 that Denmark would compete in the first semi-final on 14 May.
In the first semifinal, the producers of the show decided that Denmark would perform 5th, following Croatia and preceding Russia. On stage, Emmelie de Forest was joined by two drummers, Morten Specht Larsen and Jacob Baagøe Thomsen, and by three backing singers, Anne Murillo, Heidi Degn and Anders Øhrstrøm, Denmark qualified from the first semi-final, placing 1st and scoring 167 points. At the first semi-final winners press conference, Denmark was allocated to perform in the half of the final. In the final, the producers of the show decided that Denmark would perform 18th, following Hungary, Denmark won the 2013 Contest placing 1st and scoring 281 points. In Denmark, both the semi-finals and the final were broadcast on DR1, with commentary provided by Ole Tøpholm
Denmark
