Preview: Iceland’s Söngvakeppnin Final

Saturday at 8:45 PM CET, Icelandic network Ríkisútvarpið (or RÚV to the less-linguistically-adept) will broadcast the final of Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins and decide who will represent the nation in Denmark.  Iceland’s running on a bit of a hot streak, having qualified every year since Eurobandið sang “This is My Life” back in 2008…who’ll have to face the challenge of keeping the positive trend going?

Following two semifinals, ten contestants were whittled down to six (with four having been selected by public televote, and two by wildcard).  Here are the contenders:

  1. F.U.N.K. – “Þangað til ég dey (Until I Die)”
  2. Ásdís María Viðarsdóttir – “Amor
  3. Sigríður Eyrún Friðriksdóttir – “Lífið kviknar á ný (Life Turns On Again)”
  4. Gissur Páll Gissurarson – “Von (Hope)”
  5. Greta Mjöll Samúelsdóttir – “Eftir eitt lag (After One Song)”
  6. Pollapönk – “Enga fordóma (No Racism)”

None of these artists have been featured on the Eurovision stage before, but there are a few familiar faces scattered about the roster.  Half of the group Pollapönk (which primarily produces childrens’ music) were members of the group Dr. Spock, who came in 3rd place in the 2008 selection with the absolutely bonkers “Hvar ertu nú?”  (Don’t say I didn’t warn you…)  Two of the members of F.U.N.K. are alums of the 2012 Söngvakeppni runners-up Blár Ópal, who gave us “Stattu Upp“.  But the winner of this year’s “Most Interesting CV Award” has to go to Greta Mjöll Samúelsdóttir, who is not only a singer, but also works behind-the-scenes at the television show “Lazytown” and was a midfielder on Iceland women’s national football team until her retirement last year.

The show will be available for viewing at Eurovision.tv, starting at 20:45 CET.

Posted on February 15, '14, in 2014, Iceland and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink. Leave a comment.

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