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Balada e Gurit

It's Eurovision time again, and I bet you are as excited as I am. So for those of you who have not yet heard Albania's entry for this noble cultural experiment, here it is in both Albanian and English (the volume on the English version is very low so turn yours up if you can't here anything.) The song is Balada e Gurit in Albanian; Hear My Plea in English. The performers are Aida and Frederik Ndoci. You can also read this interview with Frederik.

For what it's worth, I think the Albanian version is better, though I think they will be performing it in English on the night. Also, Frederik should shoot his hairdresser.

Good luck chaps.




Comments

ITS said…
I don't like!
I don't like it one bit!

The Eurovision festival/bar thingie is the lowest form of national pride display, anyway...

Can you say worthless competition to make the eastern european countries feel better about themselves?

I am certain most of the English/French/German people have never heard of this competition...
Anonymous said…
i think that this singer won because the older generation respects him for what he sang in the 80s. Now his musical style is a bit oo slavic. Even his beard and hair style look Macedonian/Serbian.

He doesn't represent us.
Anonymous said…
To the Albanian emigrants in New York and Toronto,

you can watch Eurovision live from the website on Thursday May 10th at 3 pm, and on Saturday May 12th at the same time.

"We are the winners, we are we are, we are we are."
Anonymous said…
anonymous...how does frederik ndoci look slavic? What do you consider a slavic look?

That's a very strange comment to say the least! I think the song is just fine and will do well in Eurovision.
Anonymous said…
i hope the song will do well in eurovision. if they do it to make easter countries feel better, well we definetly deserve to feel a little better. in december i attended the "Festivali i dhjetorit" (after smth like 6 years) and i did heard frederick singing the song. was ok.
to me one of the best songs describing what it means to be away from yr country is still "jon" of ardit gjebrea. i heard it a few days ago after ages and it did touch me. cant say the same for frederick, but hey its us he is representing so SUKSESE!
Anonymous said…
I agree with you, Jon is timeless. Mainly because it captured the nation's feelings of 91-92'.

I thought that Frederik had changed his style into Slavic because for the past decade he has been working with Slavic artists and has been influenced by them. Compare the song to Goran Bregovic's "Erdelezi" from that movie with the lives of gypsies. If you want to know more about a people, listen to their music. Frederik's new song has a lot of melancholic long "aaaa"s exactly like the female shrieks in Slavic songs. Albanian music is more happy, sunnier and positive. Also, if you listen carefully the male choire voices in the background, they sound typically Slavic. 100%! Fiks fare!
He should have his beard shaved and get a clean well-groomed haircut! Right now he looks like Avdiu, from the Portokalli show.
The video is lame as well. Too much exaggerated drama for no reason. And I agree with Omit, it sounds fake in English. I wish they kept it in Albanian because it matches the music better and the public wouldn't understand his nonsense. He looks like count Dracula and his wife like Draculina with those clothes. It's all right by Eurovision standards. There has been worse, such as the monsters winning last year, for example. In the beginning i was ashamed by the scandalous artists representing Albania on Eurovision(except for Anjeza), but now i know there is always lower performances than ours. That's the fun of the show. The songs are not that good, the artists are clowns but somehow the end result of the show is entertaining. IT's fun to get together and sing once a year. Anyway, that's not an excuse for not picking a decent song and preparing a good performance. We can do much better.
PS. I don't like Frederik's wife make-up. Too much black liner. It makes her look scary. A freak, just like the lead singer in the Pussycat Dolls. Dark eyed babes should take it easy on the liner. I think it suits better light eyed women because it gives them bigger eyes and definition that Mediterranean women already have naturally.
Anonymous said…
LOL...Ok, I'll give u this one...your comments were very funny. But these artist types, thats how they usually are. Especially singers, wear all sort of weird makeup...eg. look at any contemporary rock band in north america. AS far as translating songs...hum..i am against any translations (except for books..we cant learn all the languages, although it would be nice to read the author's original). But songs and movies especially shoud not be translated, doubbed. Movies should be subtitled (for those who complain of having to "read" during a film a for "dummies" version in a for "dummies" theatre should be shown), whereas pop songs should stay original...no reason to translate them. Translate club hits, dance, trance etc..but not meaningful songs.

ps...that comparison to adviu had me cracking up..lol.
Anonymous said…
yes, I was wishing that they put subtitles on Eurovision songs as well
Geoff said…
its - English people have most definitely heard of the competition, it's incredibly popular in the UK (about 8 million viewers annually).

And thanks to the BBC, we have the option of having the non-English language songs subtitled in English, which is quite handy.
Selfmaderadio said…
The song is stupid pathetic and Ndoci is definitely the most ugly singer of the planet. Is anybody there going to tell him to change his look? Otherwise, the albanian entry is going to be forever remembered as the entry where the singer is uglier than the song.
ITS said…
geoff: "8 million viewers"?

How many immigrants from eastern Europe do you you have in England?

:-)
Anonymous said…
its
I thougt that onl Eastern Europe watches it, so i asked last year a friend of mine from Belgium. It's popular there as well.

Eurovision made The ABBAs and Celine Dion famous. That's why it is important not to ruin the tradition and to send good music there.
olli said…
We are having an expat Eurovision party on Saturday. The music isn't important - it's just an excuse to have some fun, and some beer.
Anonymous said…
Yes, we got together with family and food too. It's just an excuse to have fun and see everyone's taste but it's becomeing an European tradition everywhere.
Ireland got only 5 points and that was from Albania. They are an island and have no neighbours to vote for them on provincialism. Their song was my fav last year. Slowly,
I think, that we are not giving votes based on religionalism anymore. This year we gave 12 to Spain, last year we gave a lot of points to Sweden.
I'm proud that we were the only country to give a big zero to Ukraine! Politicizing art is shameful and it ruins the show.
Serbia won because it was the only country that managed a "normal dignified" performance.
Our man, what countries did the expats vote for?
Mine went to France.

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