European Vibe Magazine’s art director and biggest football fanatic Phily McIvor brings us his all-time top ten football-related songs. To celebrate the end of the tournament and Spain’s victory, here are Phily’s top three football songs ever.
1 - Baddiel/Skinner/Lightning Seeds - Three Lions [England] - Euro 96
2 - New Order - World In Motion [England] - World Cup 90
3 - Horselips - Put ‘Em Under Pressure [Ireland] - World Cup 90
This month, European Vibe Magazine’s art director and biggest football fanatic Phily McIvor brings us his all-time top ten football-related songs.
6 - Del Amitri - Don’t come home too soon - (Scotland World Cup) 1998
5 - Luciano Pavarotti - Nessun Dorma (Nobody Sleeps) - (BBC theme) World Cup 1990
4 - Andres Calamaro - Maradona - 1999
This month, European Vibe Magazine’s art director and biggest football fanatic Phily McIvor brings us his all-time top ten football-related songs.
10 - Glenn & Chris - Diamond Lights – 1987
9 - Tottenham Hotspur - Ossie’s Dream (Spurs Are On Their Way To Wembley) - FA Cup Final 81
8 - Liverpool FC - Anfield Rap - Cup Final 88
7 - Collapsed Lung - Eat My Goal [used in Coca Cola ad] - World Cup 98
By Will Cade
When I first came to Europe, I was amazed by how much my Erasmus friends knew about the U.S. I was even more amazed at how almost all of them who spoke English as a second language used more American slang than I did. When my friends started asking me questions, though, I discovered why. “Does everyone at American parties really drink out of red plastic cups” they would ask, “like in the movies?”
The American film and television industry spreads my native tongue across the continents, where the majority of countries just add subtitles to the original American English. Along with my favorite linguistic nuances, the industry also spreads a commercialized, well-packaged image of American culture. But this culture consists of more than red party cups, gas guzzling cars, and gun fights in the street: it has a darker side which rarely shows itself in the blockbusters exported to the rest of the globe.
Before seeing the prescreening for “An American Crime,” due out in Spain on June 13th, I didn’t know anything about the film. Judging by the name, I expected another American cop and robber caper flick, slam-packed with hot blondes, fast cars, and catchy one-liners. It wasn’t until I saw “Based on the State of Indiana vs. Baniszewski (1966)” on the screen that I realized I was in for a totally different ride.
Two sisters, Sylvia and Jennie - whose parents are traveling carnival workers - are left to live with a poor mother of six, Gertrude Baniszewski, just outside of Indianapolis, Indiana during the mid 1960s. Mr. and Mrs. Likens may be traveling with the carnival, but Sylvia and Jennie find themselves in the middle of a circus. Instead of lions to tame and rings of fire to jump through, these sisters have to navigate a dysfunctional family overflowing with sickness, teenage pregnancy, and sexual perversion, topped off with a Baptist’s penchant for shame, repentance, and punishment. A few teenage misunderstandings take place, and gradually these horrendous tendencies snowball into one of the most emotionally disturbing films to have ever come out of the North American Continent. The physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual torture is as upsetting as “Schindler’s List,” yet it takes place within a family and a small town instead of an entire nation.
This family, however, represents many of the heinous tendencies underlying the glamor and success of American culture. This may not be obvious at first glance, but if you pay attention to some of the symbols in the film - like the basement and the coke bottle or the bibles and the cigarettes - it might become more clear. Just bear in mind that throughout its history American culture has been struggling with the same conflicting forces that originated from its first two colonies: Jamestown and Plymouth Rock. Essentially, Jamestown was an experiment in Capitalism, while Plymouth Rock was an experiment in Christian Extremism. Up until today, most political and social issues in the U.S. have strong traces if not direct links to these same cultural forces, sometimes intertwining in extreme and grotesque ways.
In any case, this is most definitely not a date movie, but if you want to stomach the inner demons of American culture for a few hours, never again able to see the U.S. in the same light, than I admire your courage - and if it weren’t for the weak American dollar, I might even buy you a ticket.
By Khilen Mehta
Well it´s official. Votes have been counted, political bias has been taken into account and a professional career has been forged. Televoters from 43 countries have decided that the winner of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest is Dima Bilan representing Russia with his song Believe!
Russia won this year’s edition receiving 272 points. The runner-ups were Ukraine’s Ani Lorak and Greece’s Kalomira in third place. Great Britain continued to proved what years of colonisation have done to their reputation as they finished joint bottom with Poland.
Dima Bilan said this was a commemorable day, and he sincerely thanked the team behind him. They did not always smile, Dima Bilan said, but it has been a long, hard journey. Moreover he gave a personal thanks to Eugeni Pluschenko, who was the figure skater next to Bilan during his performance of Believe. He has also decided to donate the Eurovision trophy to the composer of the song.
In Spain itself almost 14 million tuned into the television on saturday night to watch Chiki Chiki debut to the rest of Europe, a record of the last six years. Unfortunately although the performance entertained everyone, it was never going to win over the hearts of all of Europe.
By Khilen Mehta
Although Kylie Minogue is a likeable personality, she has never been to everyone’s taste. Her career has often seemed a series of attempts to expand on this basic likeability. But in her two decade career, the tiny Aussie wonder has dominated the charts by providing non-stop fun in her performances.
Throughout her battle with breast cancer, everyone’s favourite pop princess was constantly thanking her followers for their loving support, and judging by the success of her most recent comeback performances, her fans couldn´t be more pleased in seeing her back on the stage. Her huge grin, her flamboyant costumes and the over-excited crowd are everything that makes a Kylie gig so memorable.
Throughout her career, Kylie has won countless awards, and had plenty of top tensingles. In the 2008 Brit Awards, she won Best International Female Artist and she also received the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 2008, which is France’s highest cultural honour. With a tally of over thirty top ten singles, Kylie is the second most succesful woman in British chart history after Madonna. Kylie’s biggest single was “Can’t get you out of my head”, which reached number one in over twenty countries and sold more than four million copies worldwide.
It was reported that every ticket scheduled for her UK tour was snapped up in an unbelievable thirty minutes after going on sale. Tickets are likely to go fast for her performance in Madrid as well, so make sure you snap yours up nice and early!
Here is an example of what you could be missing out on…
Long live the Pop Princess!
By Khilen Mehta
Do you see yourself as young? Dynamic? Urban? Well, even if you don’t, you can still head on down to Spain’s greatest hip hop festival, Cultura Urbana. The festival has continually established itself as the one of the most modern and innovative events on the European Cultural Scene.
The festival, taking place on the 30th and 31st May in Parque de La Marina de San Sebastian de los Reyes, boasts a line-up which promises to be one of the most exciting in the history of the festival. Along with the participation of some of Spain’s finest such as Violadores de Verso, Nach and Falsalarma, Cultura Urbana hosts some of the most stellar international performances such as Talib Kweli, The Game, Immortal Technique and IAM amongst others.
Within its extensive programme, Cultura Urbana will also play host to other activities such as the Urban Culture Documentary Festival, the IV Red Bull Batalla de los Gallos, the 3rd Eastpak Break-dance Battle, the Urban Culture Art Gallery in FNAC, sports zones and many other activities.
So get yourself down there at the end of this month! There’s 20,000 people expected there each day. Make sure you’re not the only one missing out! Here’s how to get there…
METRONORTE: LÍNEA 10 / STATIONS: REYES CATÓLICOS AND BAUTANAL
BUSES FROM AND TO PLAZA DE CASTILLA: 152 A, B Y C (STOP PLAZA DE TOROS) 154 A, C (STOP AVENIDA BAUNATAL)
By Will Cade
On the bus ride out to the Ciudad de Rock, the other journalists and I were shown a video with a virtual tour of what the festival site for Rock in Rio Madrid should look like. As I saw an animated crowd rocking out in front of digital architecture, I thought I was watching a trailer for a new video game - some type of mix between The Sims and Guitar Hero. When we arrived and I saw the unfinished construction and patches of Spanish desert, I doubted this digital vision could be made into real life. But when the organizers began explaining what Rock in Rio will offer and how it will function, I began to change my mind.
First and foremost, it’s a music festival. The diverse line-up balances popular music with world famous DJs, upcoming talent, and veterans from the Woodstock era, even if it lacks proper rock groups. At 7:30 every night, the biggest names will start to play on the World Stage - a 100 m long and 28 m tall monument to modernist architecture. The artists will have 2,100 m2 at their disposal, and the audience will have 200 photovoltaic panels spread throughout the 2,500 m2 façade, creating a light extravaganza and intensifying the live performances during the last weekend in June and first in July.
June 27th
The first night on the World Stage will be a relaxed but fulfilling start to the festival. With Neil Young headlining, you can expect to see lighters in the air and hear smooth, classic rock favorites like “Heart of Gold,” “Southern Man” and “Keep on Rocking in the Free World.” He may be more from our parents generation, but don’t forget that Pearl Jam and Nirvana labeled him as the godfather of grunge. Jack Johnson will also play beforehand, filling the air with head-nodding beach music just outside of landlocked Madrid.
June 28th
The Madrid based El Canto del Loco will headline the second night. The group won best Spanish Artist in the 2005 MTV European Music Awards and will give a night of Spanish guitar infused alternative music. Tokio Hotel, the German youth sensation, will play beforehand. Their teenage appeal may have been their first claim to fame, but their melodic rock style is catchy, even if you don’t want to admit it in public.
July 4th
Shakira will headline the third, dance-filled night. This will be the Queen of Latin Pop’s second time shaking across a Rock in Rio stage and her only concert in Spain during the summer. “Underneath Your Clothes,” will surely echo out into the crowd, with even guys shamefully getting into it. Jamiroquai will play beforehand, gracing our presence with his quirky hats and eclectic dance music. Before the dancing begins, Amy Winehouse will get us in the mood with her jazzy, soul-filled voice.
July 5th
The fourth night will be perfect for eclectic music lovers. The Police will headline with their satisfying mix of punk and reggae, for sure blessing us with a rendition of “Every Breath you Take.” Alejandro Sanz will play beforehand and show us why his romantic voice woven between Cuban beats, hip-hop, and flamenco won him a Grammy for Best Latin Album in 1991. And for you die-hard flamencophiles, a once in a lifetime collaboration of the biggest names in flamenco called Flamenco All-Stars will hit the stage to start things off.
July 6th
The fifth and final night will bring the perfect close to the World Stage. Bob Dylan will set the scene with his quintessential music festival aura, before Franz Ferdinand comes on and lets us jump around. Lenny Kravitz will then headline, with his smooth guitar riffs and melodic voice, but the true closer is DJ Tiesto, coming on at 2:00 a.m. The highlight of his career is when he mixed the opening ceremonies for the 2004 Olympic Games in Greece, so it is only fitting that he will begin the end of the World Stage.
If your tastes aren’t geared towards more established groups, the Hot Stage will give you a dose of experimental and upcoming artists. Starting every afternoon at 5:30 and playing until 7:50, groups from Spain and abroad will mount the 22m long and 14 m tall cubic stage. Three groups will play every night, with bands like Zucchero, Draco, The Right Ons, Mando Diao and Standard balancing out the festival with blues, latin rock, funk-soul rock, indie rock and electro rock, respectively.
If the other stages don’t do much for you, the Electronic area will get your heart pounding, even without the use of chemicals. The architecture alone could make it the 8th Wonder of the Modern World. Based on Stonehenge, the design takes six massive gramophone speakers with projection screens and laser lights and arches them back in on the 900 m2 circular dance floor. The party starts every night at 3:00 a.m. and goes until sunrise, with world famous DJs like Carl Cox, Satoshi Tomiie, DJ Vibe and Cristian Varela brining us the best dance music from England, Japan, Portugal, and Spain, respectively. The line-up doesn’t actually have a set time for the DJs playing each night, so expect everyone to be mixing until the sun comes.
After staying the whole night, you will probably start to wonder how you’re going to get home. Alsa has arranged for a fleet of 340 buses to take ticket holders to and from the festival sight. The buses will depart every 15 minutes outside of the metro station Santiago Bernabeau, beginning at 3:30 p.m. and running until midnight. Buses returning from the festival will start at 7:00 p.m. and run every 15 minutes until 7:00 a.m.
Driving there yourself will be tricky, being that the festival site itself only has 6,000 parking spaces, which have to be purchased beforehand. Free parking is available near the Hospital del Sureste in the closest town of Arganda del Rey, but even then you would have to take a quick bus to the festival site. Especially if you’re up all night partying, your best bet will be to take the bus.
by Maja Gojkovic
The Eurovision song contest 2008 kicks off this evening with the first leg of the competition, the semi final. For the first time in the history in the competition there will be two Semi Finals held to decide which 25 countries will be represented in the Final.
The first Semi Final takes place today, Tuesday, 20th of May.
The countries participating in the first Semi Final will be Montenegro, Israel, Estonia, Moldova, San Marino, Belgium, Azerbaijan, Slovenia, Norway, Poland, Ireland, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Armenia, The Netherlands, Finland, Romania, Russia and Greece.
The 19 participants are getting more and more nervous and tension is rising as they all are hoping to qualify for the Grand Final that will be held on Saturday.
The Semi Final competition will be aired live and will be shown live in all the 19 participating countries and also live on German NDR and Spanish TVE.
Other countries may also broadcast the competition as well, so check the timetables of your local broadcasters to see if the Semi Final will be shown in your country.
If you miss the Semi Final you will have the opportunity to watch it again as it will be available for 7 days on Eurovision TV.
The Semi Final televoters from the 19 participating countries will be able to vote for their favourite songs as well as the TV audience in Germany and Spain. The local televoting numbers will be displayed on screen during the show and will also be available on your national broadcaster’s website.
We at European Vibe will be following the competition, so if you’re a Eurovision Song Contest fan like me, I will be covering the highlights and lowlights of the show. So stay tuned for all the latest Info.
The second Semi Final will take place on Thursday 22nd May.
by Maja Gojkovic
The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 is the 53rd Eurovision Song Contest, and this years competition will be hosted by Serbia. The semi-finals will be held on 20 and 22 May respectively and the final on 24 May 2008 in the capital, Belgrade.
The contest wll be held in Belgrade Arena. The arena is among the largest indoor arenas in Europe, with a total capacity of more than 20,000 seats.
Serbia will be hosting the Contest for 2008 after Marija Šerifović won the Contest in 2007 in Helsinki, Finland.
The contest will be hosted by Jovana Janković, a daily morning show host and Željko Joksimović one of the most successful musicians in the Balkan region. In 2004, he represented Serbia & Montenegro at the Eurovision Song Contest in Istanbul, Turkey, with Lane Moje, and finished second.
For this years’ competition Serbia will be represented by Jelena Tomašević feat. Bora Dugic with a song entitled Oro. Let’s hope it is as good as last year’s winning song by Marija Serifovic- Moltiva.
Belgrade is known as Beograd by the locals, is the largest and capital city of Serbia. The city has almost 1,6 million citizens. Belgrade is located confluence of the Danube and Sava rivers. It is the cultural and political heart of the country; it hosts several music- and cultural festivals across the city throughout the year.
The city is slowly becoming the new trendy place to be, it is still undiscovered by many people. The City offers various styles of beautiful architecture that dominate the city. Trendy hot-spots such as Knez Mihajlova is one of the most popular pedestrian only streets in Belgrade and offers a wide variety of quaint cafés and restaurants and is definitely a popular place to be seen.
With the help of hosting the Eurovision Song Contest, Belgrade have finally be given the chance to show off the amazing sights and exactly what the city has to offer.
The Eurovison Contest has been broadcast every year since its inauguration in 1956 and is one of the longest-running television programmes in the world. It is one of the most-watched non-sporting events in the world with audience figures reaching to anything between 100 million and 600 million internationally in recent years.
Eurovision has also been broadcast outside Europe to such places as Australia, Canada, Mexico, Egypt, United States, Hong Kong, India, despite the fact the countires do not participate. Since 2000, the Contest has also been broadcast over the Internet with more than 74,000 people in almost 140 countries having watched the contest in 2006 online.
The artists who achieved most success after thier Eurovision win that led them to a career and launched them into the spotlight were ABBA, ABBA won the Contest for Sweden in 1974 with their song “Waterloo” after this they went on to be one of the most successful bands of their time.
Other winners who have also achieved international fame due to a successful win at Eurovison include Céline Dion, who won the Contest for Switzerland in 1988 with the song “Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi”.
With regard to winners the country that had achieved most success has been Ireland. Ireland holds the record for the most number of wins, having won the Contest seven times which includes wins three times in a row in the mid 1990s.
In joint second place with five wins each are France, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom holds the best record at the Contest in terms of average scoreboard position; having finished in the top two in 20 out of 52 Contests from1956–2007.
The first few years of the 21st century produced a variety of first-time winners, from both “new” Eurovision countries, and old-timers who had entered for many years without a win. Every year from 2001 to 2007 resulted in a country winning for the first time. The 2006 winner was Finland, who had finally won after having entered the Contest for 45 years. Ukraine on the other hand did not have to wait so long, winning with their second entry in 2004. Serbia won the very first year it entered as an independent state in 2007. As of 2008, the country which has entered the longest with no wins to their name is Portugal. They started entering in 1964, and are still awaiting their first win.
For the first time in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest, two Semi-Finals will be held to decide which 25 countries will be represented in the Final. The first Semi-Final will take place on Tuesday, 20th of May.
Citizens of each participating country vote by telephone and SMS. Two of the so-called ‘Big Four’ (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) will also vote in this Semi-Final (to be decided by draw), and possibly the Host Country (also to be decided by draw). Each country’s 10 favourites are awarded 1 to 8, 10 and 12 points based on the number of votes. The top-9 of the tele-voting qualifies for the Final. The highest ranked entry of the back-up jury that has not qualified for the Final in the tele-voting also qualifies for the Final. The 10 qualified countries will be presented in randomly drawn order at the end of the show. The complete results of the tele-voting will not be announced until after the Final, to keep the tension high.
The favourites to win this years’ 2008 Eurovision Song Contest are Russia who will be represented by Dima Bilan with the song Believe. According to bookies PaddyPower the odds on favourites Russia are 10/3. Spain and Ireland stand at 25/1 with the UK in shocking position with odds of 300/1. Spain will be represented by Rodolfo Chikilicuatre with the song Baila El Chiki Chiki. Ireland will be represented by Dustin the Turkey with song Irelande Douze Pointe and the UK by Andy Abraham (Runner up of X-Factor) with song Even If.