Czeching Out! (aka an excuse for a dreadful pun headline…..)

Ah, summer. Don’t you just love it? Long days, short nights, family outings to the seaside, Pimms on the terrace (Eh? In whose world exactly? – Ed) and that time of year when we traditionally take a break from Eurovision Blog since there is usually bog all to report.

However we were shaken out of our seasonal stupor today with the shock news that the Czech Republic will not be returning to the Eurovision fold next year! Yup, after just three attempts at Eurovision glory, during which they amassed a grand total of, er, ten points (let’s see, that’s about 3.333333333333 points per contest), national broadcaster Czech Television has confirmed they won’t be back in 2010, citing a lack of public interest in the contest.

Thinking about it, you can’t really blame ’em to be honest. They scored only one point – courtesy of the Estonians – for their debut effort in 2007, a less than impressive nine points for Tereza Kerndlova’s bouncy Have Some Fun in 2008, and this year their gipsy rap number Aven Romale (or as it’s known around Eurovision Blog’s way, a ‘misunderstood classic’) became the first semi-final  song for five years not to score any points at all. And given the energetic, quirky performance they put on, it certainly wasn’t for lack of trying. By contrast, the Slovakians appear to rather like the fact they’re back in Eurovision and will be present and correct in Oslo next year (let’s just hope that they can come up with a better song next time).

So – is it true that the Czechs really have little interest in all things Eurovision or have they in fact done a spectacular flounce (a la Austria and Monaco) after failing to do well? We’ll probably never know, but it would be nice to think the door has been left open for a possible return at some point in the future. After all, Lithuania had a pretty inauspicious, nul-point flavoured debut and look at them now. Just look at ’em! Er……

The Great Big Eurovision Experiment 2009 – Czech Republic

And it’s a great big Aven Romale! to the lads and lasses of Gipsy.cz….

How does it feel to be representing your country at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest?
We feel good, and will do our best for the audiences and TV viewers, as everytime we are on the stage. We feel the same responsibility like in Glastonbury or at the Bestival or at Notting Hill Carnival in the UK, while cooperating with the famous british foundation CM,  or in Brussels and Lisbon, Amsterdam Kiev or Seoul and Ulsan in South Korea. We have been trying to do the best we can at every show in all the 15 countries we played at till now…

What are you most looking forward to about taking part?
We want to have the fun with millions of TV viewers, that would be a nice party! 🙂

What can we expect from your performance? Are you planning a lavish stage show?
Aven Romale means Come On, Gipsies: We invite everyone to feel like gipsy,  to have some fun, to discover the miracle of music, to see into the mirror of rhythm. We want everyone to join us in the wagon of modern european gipsies, adding a bit of Czech sense of humour and irony. We dont need a big show effects, just with the help of Supergipsy we will entertain the people. Good music is the best show…

Have you ever been to Moscow and are you looking forward to it?
Not yet, but we are looking forward to be there,  It would be a good new experience.

Which of this year’s other songs do you rate?
We think there is a lot of good songs, hope to meet some of them in the Final …

Which is your favourite Eurovision song of all time, and which is your favourite from your home country?
We don’t have favourite songs – we simply like the music…

What do you think about the debate over so-called ‘political’ voting?
Every voting is political, we don’t care: we have the political message too: Aven Romale!  Aven Cech, Jagr, Beer :-)))

How do you think the return of jury voting might influence the final result?
Most important is to influence the jury – we will do our best with our music and the power of Supergipsy 🙂

Why do you think Eurovision is still so popular, even after all these years?
People are probably still searching for the right song… 😉

Have you heard the UK’s song this year and what do you think? Any chance your country could give us some points this year (please…….? 🙂 )
Jade Ewen is very charming woman with the great voice, we are sure she will find the voices here…

Good grief…….!

It’s the entry from the Czech Republic, courtesy of gypsy rappers Gypsy.cz, and to be honest we’re speechless. Leaving aside the video for a moment, which looks rather like a micro-budgeted Central European homage to the Beastie Boys, we can’t decide if this is a) a work of genius or b) a dreadful load of old crock, nor can we decide if a) this will ‘do a Bunica Bate Toba’ and soar into the top ten of the final, or b) get no points whatsoever thus sending the wacky lads back to Prague with their collective tails between their legs. Er, decide for yourself. The words acquired taste spring to mind……