Hadise Ready for Take Off on Stiletto Heels

Hadise Ready for Take Off on Stiletto Heels

The first Turkish press conference was one of the best attended on the first day of rehearsals. On being told that Hadise was leading some Eurovision polls, the singer was very happy at the news. “I’m happy to have the opportunity to perform on stage; I really enjoy it every time,” she said.

Hadise is an accomplished and experienced singer. She has been singing since she was five; she went in for show-business when she was 15.

The song ‘Crazy for you’ Hadise has brought to the Moscow contest is at the top of many European hit parades, including Belgium, her current country of residence. Hadise declined to accommodate a journalist who asked her to sing her song in Turkish since she did not believe it necessary to translate the original.

Hadise was particularly enthusiastic to talk about her music preferences. She is an ardent fan of performers like Tina Turner, Tony Braxton, Frank Sinatra, Prince. Her style was also shaped by other famous Turkish singers listen.

When asked about her stage clothes being too sexy, she answered without batting an eyelid: “I like looking sexy on stage, though I never overdo it.” listen

She was the only singer at the press-conference to be accompanied by bodyguards. However, they were for protection against falls, not fans, she explained, as she often sings wearing stiletto heels on stage.

• Preview the Turkish Music Video and Stage Show


• Vote for Turkey in the Australian Radio Televote.


• Watch Turkey, 9th song in the First Semi-Final on SBS Australia

The Turkish delegation was represented by: Kursat OZKOK (Head of Delegation), Hadise ACKGOZ (lead artist), Mustafa GURSOY (producer), Eva SMEENK (back vocal), Steve KASHALA (back vocal).

Elvis at the Eurovision

Belgian artist Patrick Ouchene was a bit upset as he greeted the journalists: he had lost his comb. “The artist without a comb is nonsense”, complained Patrick who is famous for his devotion to the stylish image of Elvis Presley.

Belgian delegation admitted that the artist had had some problems with Elvis Presley fan-club listen. Patrick said, however, that he had never pretended to the glory of the king of rock’n’roll. His song is comic and a bit of rock'n'roll at Eurovision contest will not do any harm: “We are fond of Elvis. Just like anyone who is related to rock”.

Many journalists were interested why they could not see at the rehearsal the animation cat – an important character of the Belgian artist’s show listen. Representatives of the delegation promised that this artist would appear at the next rehearsal. “This cat is an important character. Its presence on the stage reflects our sense of humor. Our cat likes chocolate and it is always aware of problems of its society”, said the artist about his scenic partner.

To the question what is more important for him – a show or a song, Patrick answered that the show was not a priority. “We try to perform without many special effects, because Eurovision is a song contest”, said Patrick Ouchene.

• Preview the Belgian Music Video


• Vote for Belgium in the Australian Radio Televote.


• Watch Belgium, 3rd song in the First Semi-Final on SBS Australia

The Belgium delegation was represented by:
Leslie CABLE (Head of Delegation), Patrick OUCHENE (lead artist), Marina de WAHA (Head of Press), Lenn DAUPHIN, Marie-Ange TCHAI, Desta HAILE (backing artist).

Elvis is back and he’s heading for Moscow

“Le Chat” (the cat) is a Belgian institution who has been offering his social observations and critique of the human condition daily in the main Brussels newspaper Le Soir since 1983. It was therefore only natural that he be entered into the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 for Belgium - with one difficulty.

Le Chat appears in a comic strip – with grey fur, pointed ears, a large nose and generally indiscernible mouth; he wears clothing like a human and has not particularly cat-like habits such as driving a car and visiting a bistro.

The popularity of the comic strip by artist Philippe Geluck is based on Le Chat’s humour which mixes Belgian surrealism with clever wordplay. Sayings of Le Chat include:

La mort c'est un peu comme la connerie. Le mort il ne sait pas qu'il est mort, ce sont les autres qui sont tristes. Pour le con c'est pareil…
(Death is a bit like stupidity. The dead person doesn’t know he is dead, it’s everyone else who is sad. And the same applies to stupid people…)

On prétend que l'être humain n'emploierait son cerveau qu'à 50% de ses capacités. Personnellement, je n'y crois qu'à moitié.
(They say that humans only use 50% of capacity of their brain. Personally I only believe the half of it).

The difficulties of taking a comic-strip character without physical form who has never spoken a word let alone sung a complete song, and entering him into the world’s largest song contest are not to be underestimated. Belgian Television needed some help from on high, which they received from the King, Elvis Presley, or rather from Elvis impersonator Patrick Ouchène, and “Copycat” his tribute song to Le Chat.

The song is a great rockabilly number bringing the mood and style of 50s music to a modern-day audience. watch Belgian TV has ambitious plans to make Le Chat appear on stage during the live Eurovision broadcast, and we will see how successful they have been in May.

Some of the lyrics to the song proved too controversial to Elvis Presley fan clubs in Belgium and Holland, including:

He’s a copycat, trying to steal my soul,
but he’s too fat to rock ‘n’ roll
…
He’s too dead
To rock ‘n’ roll,

The fan clubs lodged official complaints with the organizers of the competition, claiming the lyrics of the song were disrespectful to the memory of their idol. A former songwriter for Elvis Presley, 71-year old Michael Jarret, even went as far as offering to write new lyrics for Patrick’s song.

Read the full lyrics here

Unlike Georgia, Belgium was not excluded from the competition, but the legions of Elvis fans across Europe may affect Belgium’s place in the Eurovision voting.

Crocodile Tears of Joy for Belgium

The Belgian group Ishtar came to their second press conference armed with numerous crocodile teddy bears - it was left to the Serbian Television moderator to explain why listen. The group demonstrated their vocal dexterity by singing a Serbian song they had only just heard on the bus on the way back, to the utter surprise and delight of the Serbians in audience listen.

Ishtar delight with song in Serbian

Belgian folk music group Ishtar delighted the watching journalists at their first press conference today by unexpectedly singing a song in written by the group in the Serbian language listen. Ishtar's contest song is in a made-up language of the group's own creation, however it carries a special message which they described as follows listen.