EUROVISION SONG CONTEST:RTÉ NEEDS to stop looking at the past if it is to win the Eurovision again, pop impresario Louis Walsh said yesterday.
He said the song contest had moved into the 21st Century with Saturday night’s Eurovision, and we would have to do the same if we wanted to have a winning chance.
Harking back to past winners such as Johnny Logan was all very well, but “that’s too old”.
Walsh said while Niamh Kavanagh was a great singer, she was “a little bit long in the tooth” for the Eurovision when you looked at the age of the other performers.
“The buck stops with RTÉ. We need to find a contemporary song with a contemporary singer or a group. But they must be able to deliver the song with conviction.”
Other countries were sending some of their biggest stars but the Eurovision still had an image problem here for people in the music industry.
Asked if we should admit defeat and pull out of the contest, he said: “No, that’s too easy. We can definitely win again.”
Former Eurovision winner Dana Rosemary Scallan also noted the young age of many of this year’s performers. She was 18 when she won 40 years ago.
“This year’s contest was full of young performers with up-to-date chart songs. The good news is that good chart songs are back in mainstream competitions and on television.”
Shay Healy, who wrote the Eurovision winner What's Another Year?said Ireland had three options. It could pull out of the contest; enter a "quintessentially Irish" song with a modern twist by singers such as The High Kings; or "step up to the mark" by producing an entry with high production values and a slick set with professional dancers.
He said the production values of Saturday night's show were exceptionally high. What's Another Year?would have "sunk like a trace" this year. We had sent out one of our best singers in Niamh Kavanagh but it just wasn't enough.
Reporter and veteran of 16 Eurovision contests Dermot Manning said Ireland would be “crazy” to pull out of the contest, particularly because Germany would be hosting it next year.
Germany had been at the bottom of the Eurovision heap for years but had “got its act together” this year and had won by a mile. The song had been widely promoted and was a hit in Germany and in central Europe before the contest.
He said the event was watched by 325 million people and attended by more than 2,000 journalists so it was an opportunity that couldn’t be missed.
RTÉ was putting a brave face on the result, noting that Ireland had done better than in previous years by making it through the semi-final stage.
“Now we’ll sit down as we do every year and review the process,” a spokeswoman said.
NUI Maynooth’s Adrian Kavanagh, who specialises in electoral geography and voter turnout, noted that Ireland had come joint ninth in the semi-final which selected 10 songs.
“We got a lot of low votes in that semi-final and I think it wasn’t a case that our song wasn’t liked,” he told RTÉ. “There’s a lot of songs that people like generally but not enough to get into the top 10 in a country’s voting.” He said there were too many ballads in the contest this year and they drowned each other out.
Ireland was more successful in another contest at the weekend when it beat Germany on home ground. The North West Film School, based in Leitrim village, was awarded the first prize in the junior category at the Berlin International Youth Media Festival.
The short film House Trapwas directed by Megan Devaney (15) from Dromahair, Co Leitrim and starred Caroline Allen (14) from Sligo. School tutor Ruth Earley said the film had also won the award for best group film in the Fresh Film Festival in Limerick in March.
