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1997.written.by.vanja

I watched this one originally in Sarajevo, on BHT, and now after 3 years, I was able to watch it again, thanks to my friend Noah. (I'm your friend? Funny, no-one told me about that...) Lovely contest, fantastic songs, very good presenters, and night full of fun! All in all, more like Mediterranean night for me!

1. Cyprus
Very catchy tune, I remembered I liked this one in 1997, too. Most of the people like this, but many Greeks complain about it…well, anyway, great opening!

2. Turkey
Superb! I always liked this one, and many people have it in their all time top-10, or so… Great performance, nice Turkish ethno touch, and I am so glad that jury of my home country (Bos-Her) gave it a 12! Bravo Sebnem!

3. Norway
Garbage! Deserved NULL completely! Certainly the most awful entry in 1997, with terrible qualities (if there were any)… really, really bad!

4. Austria
One step forward, und zwei zuruck…come on, this must be the worst song in Austrian modern history. I really do appreciate many Austrian songs, but this was really bad! At least they could dance!

5. Ireland
How did this manage to climb to 2nd position? This is so outdated song, one of the worst Irish entries ever! Please, this was just unnecessary… so many better songs in 1997!

6. Slovenia
Beautiful song! I usually do not rate Slovene entries very high, but this is one of my all time favourites. As it was mentioned million times before, song was written by a Bosnian guy, and song has a lot of Bosnian melodic influence, so it must sound great! hehe… anyway, one of the best songs of the evening!

7. Switzerland
Hated it, but I must admit, it grew on me. I still do not adore it, but certainly not bad! Performance was ok, for this kind of song.

8. The Netherlands
I kind of like this one, even though it is not my cup of tea! However, it has that sound that was always attracting me to Eurovision. Didn't deserve much higher placing, but it is a goodie!

9. Italy
Lovely. Expected votes from the Mediterraneans. I hope this was not the last Italian entry, because I miss them. Damn Italians, you want to dislike them, but you just can't…Great song, with beautiful lyrics.

10. Spain
Grrrr! I hate this kind of songs! That song just irritates me, and I have to press FF button. It does have an artistic quality, but it does not belong in ESC!

11. Germany
Bianca seems like a nice person, but the song was outdated, and I believe she wanted to adjust her clothes with the song, but since not many people understood the lyrics, it did not do well. I like the diversity of ESC songs, but this one isn't my type of song.

12. Poland
Ale jestem is a really beautiful and interesting song. I do not want to know the meaning of the lyrics, because I find this song great in the way it is…I can understand quite a few words in it, but some awful English translation would destroy it for me. Nice performance!

13. Estonia
Nice melody, but a bit boring. Estonian language suits these kinds of songs, and I must admit that I liked Maarja's 1996 entry much better than this. She really looked bored…got a bit more than what it deserved, imho.

14. Bosnia & Herzegovina
Goodbye. Silly me, I really though this would do well, with all that hand-clapping from the audience. Anyway, song did fairly OK, with traditional generous points from Turkey & the Scandis. Moreover, all of those backing vocals are people closely connected to BHT, and are trying to develop their careers by being boring with completely outdated songs. Alma was ill the day of performance, that’s why she looked so "white." Anyway, song itself is outdated, but I like the lyrics, and it is far from being the worst song of ESC1997.

15. Portugal
Why NULL? This song is one of my favourites from 1997. It has that something, that makes me listen to it all the time. It is different than the other songs of the night, and somewhat unique. Poor Celia. Well, no one deserves to walk away with NULL, at least not because of the enthusiasm.

16. Sweden
Blondies, well, they could actually sing, and they performed well, and the song was not all that bad. Not bad, but not good either. God, no further comments on this one!

17. Greece
Why are you all complaining about Marianna's performance!? I think it was very good, because it is hard to sing this kind of song, afterall. Horepse is beautiful song, and one of my favourite Greek entries by far, together with Ellada & Pia prosefhi. It should've done much better, but again, if Greece starts voting for certain countries, they will surely get something back, too.

18. Malta
This "feels" good. This song takes me somewhere, like some dream, because it is rich with melody, and I think this the best Maltese entry ever! Very good performance, and I wish it scored better.

19. Hungary
Yeah, boys from Magyaroszag. Dressed quite modern, but the song was very plain. It certainly attracted gay votes, and it scored pretty good. Nothing memorable about this one.

20. Russia
Good old Alla! There was some vodka for sure, and those high-heeled shoes were really contributing to this song. There is some quality in this song, even though I detest Russian language in some way. Se is experienced singer, and she didn't do all that bad after all. 12 from Slovenia? Now that was suspicious!

21. Denmark
Well, you can say what you want, but this was fun and unique! I didn't take it seriously because it is from Denmark (?), afterall. Anyway, I love it!

22. France
Ah those French! You have to like them! Sentimentes songes is a simple, but yet lovely song that fits into my top-10, and it was the one I remembered right away, from 1997. Young girl, with obviously, some singing experience. I wish French would enter something like this more often!

23. Croatia
Except 1993, there is no ESC song from this country that I disliked. ENI were very young at that time, and even though they were very nervous, there performance was very good with dancing and singing at the same time. Before the ESC, this song was doing great in CRO, SLO and BOS charts, and I was hoping they would score higher! Anyway, outfits were "proper" for the girls of that age! Good job Croatia, again!

24. United Kingdom
I didn't specifically like it, but I knew it would win. Draw, performance and all that was working good for the UK. Song is powerful enough and sometimes, I actually listen to it. Worthy winner, I'd say.

25. Iceland
Controversial and very good performance, but the wrong song!

1. Turkey Dinle
2. Slovenia Zbudi se
3. Greece Horepse
4. Cyprus Mana mou
5. Poland Ale jestem
6. France Sentimentes songes
7. Portugal Antes do adeus
8. Italy Fiumi di parole
9. Denmark Stemmen I mit liv
10. UK Love Shine A Light
11. Malta Let Me Fly
12. Croatia Probudi me
13. Bosnia & Herzegovina Goodbye
14. Estonia Keelatud maa
15. Russia Primadonna
16. Switzerland Dentro di me
17. Sweden Bara hon alskar mig
18. The Netherlands Niemand heft…
19. Iceland Minn hinsti dans
20. Hungary Miert keel…
21. Germany Zeit
22. Spain Sin rencor
23. Ireland Mysterious Woman
24. Austria One Step
25. Norway San Francisco

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