Η συνέντευξη είναι στα αγγλικά σύντομα θα υπάρξει μετάφραση και στα ελληνικά..
Hello from Norway, here are my answers to your questions, and if I may say: Very good questions - I went down Memory Lane here:)
Hopefully your readers will find them interesting, and perhaps a bit entertaining as well :)
Best regards, Merethe T:)
- We go back in time and go to the 1992 competition where you were on the Eurovision stage. What were your feelings at the time?
- M: For me this was a long time dream coming true - since I was a little girl, I've loved ESC, one of my first memories from this spectacular competition is from 1975, Ding a Dong, and Kisses for Me in 1976, since then it was a huge dream to one day be able to participate, we tried already in 1985, Pastel became nr 3, right behind Bobbysocks and Anita Skorgan in the norwegian final - and 7 years later (including some ups and downs and more artistic exsperiences), my manager presented Visjoner for me along meeting Robert and Eva, the composers - I admit I was a bit sceptical at first, but being so close to a dream, I chose to say yes. Smart move :-D
- Were there any predictions? if so, where did they classify you?
- M: The whole week in Malmø, Visjoner was pretty much at top 4/top 5 on the betting lists. Didn't quite go that way, hahaha :)
- Your song was talking about visions, what were your visions when you were on stage?
- M: I don't remember being scared, I was looking very much forward to performing on stage - we were well prepared, during rehearsals we were so lucky to be able to do the song over and over again without interruptions, technical problems ore anyting. So I felt quite safe, and with that huge orchestra, Rolf Løvland as conductor, and the absolute fabulous choir around me, my visions on stage were to have fun, go on stage, do the best we can, do as we did on rehearsals, and hope for the best:)
- You would changed something from your presentation that night?
- M: Only two things: Another arrangement for the orchestra, using the version from the norwegian final in Oslo Spectrum - wayyyy more energy in that version, far better than what was used in Sweden:) And last, but not least: The horrible dress - funfact: Before the TV-show, I was standing in the wardrobe, crying over the length of the skirt, I looked like a freakin' evil aunt from a horror movie, 22 years old it was about 50 years to late for that dress, hehehe. So one of the seamstresses helped me at the last minute. But that dress......OMG - you have THREE minutes on international television, and looking like I worked on Loveboat was not OK :)
- How did you feel right after the competition with the results?
- M: We beat Sweden, hehehe - we were not sad about the results, we did the best we could, maybe Visjoner could have ended up a bit higher, who knows, I think one of the reasons may be that we went on stage pretty late in the show - if we had performed last, as the Netherlands, it might have been a different result. Or maybe not:) But at one point, it was satisfying to beat Sweden in their own homeland: During the whole week, swedish journalists wrote pretty harsh stuff about every other artist/song, me included of course - "Well stuffed turkey", they called me :) Nice... "sadly" for Sweden, their own participant, Christer Björkman (nice guy by the way), became nr 24 out of 25 in 1992.....the newspapers predicted victory: "Sweden wins. Everyone else sucks"....yeah, right - for the tird time, Johnny Logan won with his song Why Me, beutifully performed by Linda Martin. 92, 93, 94, Ireland won three years in a row, only "interrupted" by Secret Garden in 1995, and then won again in 1996
- Are you still watching the contest? If so, what does all this development look like to you?
- M: Yes, I'm still watching the contest - and I miss live orchestra - sometimes it feels like light/magic/special effects overrun the song - and as far as I'm concerned, ESC is still a song competition. Who writes the song that hits the hearts of the european people? So when the lovely Salvador Sobral won for Portugal a few years ago, I cried tears of happines - just because of that: He stood right up and down, just:singing. Singing a simple, timeless song. No special effects, no dancers, just: singing a beautiful song. That's all it takes <3
- Would you participate in the competition again?
- M: I'm not sure - I feel I have "done my duty" , but you never know: What if there is a song that hits the heart, and it feels right - maybe. I write music and lyrics, and made a record a couple of years ago, so perhaps if I was to join the eurovision again, I would have to by one million% convinced in my heart to do "the right ting" :) Nothing is more scary than to present your own music to others:)
- Really, whο is your favorite participation in the competition?
- M: Oh my, that's a tricky question: My first memory of being totally struck by a song in Eurovision: Ding a Dong, and Kisses for Me, followed by the one and only Johnny Logan - What's another Year, Bobbysocks of course - changed my life in a way, Hold Me Now, once again the one and only Johnny Logan - Almost forgot: ABBA: Waterloo, Herreys in 1984, Tomas Ledins JUST NU - loved it, Secret Gardens Nocturne: endless beauty - and Ireland 1994: Rock'n Roll Kids: Once again: just performing a beautiful song - Alex Rybaks Fairytale: A fairytale in 3 minutes, and I loved Silent Storm (Carl Espen). But the ultimate favourite of all times (plenty of runner ups here: Alan Sorrentis Non so che farei, and last years magical SOLDI, and Treni de Toseur from 1984) Number 1 for me is MIA MARTINI with RHAPSODIA. Almost like an opera and a passionate romantic/tragic film in just 3 minutes. Pure magic <3 RIKI SORSA, Finland, REGGAE OK - LOVED IT!
- Do you remember any Greek participation and which one?
- M: I remember Elpidas Sokratis from 1979 - Jesus Christ Superstar in greek:) And lovely Kleopatra from 1992 - I also loved Be My Lover, who went straight to the top :)
- Do you believe that music unites the world, you think that Eurovision has succeeded?
- M: I absolutely believe that music unites the world - what do we do at dark and difficult times in our life, in the world? We seek to art, we seek to music. After july 22 in 2011, our whole nation was devastated. And we united with roses and huge concerts with the best musicians and singers - some of the songs everybody sang together, comforting each other with, feeling stronger together with was the norwagian version of Pete Seegers My Rainbow Race - translated to norwegian by on of Norways best folk song artists Lillebjørn Nilsen: Barn av Regnbuen (children of the rainbow), imagine 150000 people singing the song together in Oslo Square, holding roses up to the sky. That's power. It's unity. Love. Love is music. Music is love. And watching reactions from all over Europe as this years competition was cancelled, says it all. We are united with this contest. And for more than 60 years, we unite in music. Not bad <3
- Eurovision was canceled this year due to the pandemic, how dο you feel about it?
- M: This virus must be the biggest party pooper of the year, with no Eurovision in 2020, I think all fans of ESC feel like something is missing - and after listening to all national winners, it's very sad that noone of them got the chance to live the dream. Especially because this year had really really good songs to offer: Switzerland, Greece, Italy (of course, hehehe), and maybe Island finally had the chance to go all the way to the top. What A "Happy Pill" of a song - sticked immideatly to my mind, and never left......Ulrikke was very unhappy - can't blame her, she is a beautiful soul, and there was no doubt that this was The Dream, I hope she still after the cancellation will have the motivation to try again. And I think that next year will be the biggest party ever, Europe wants this competition, we need it :) And more than 60 years of history proves the necessity of it:)
- Do you still deal with music, what music means for you? And what is your future plans?
- M: Yes, I still do - it's my daily work - as I said earlier, I write music and lyrics, I do some concerts and event gigs, mostly I sing in funerals - which sometimes is mentally challenging, but seing what music does to people in grief, fills me with gratitude: all you can say by choosing the right song with the right words to comfort, maybe making the last farewell a little bit easier to go through is a very meaningful task. I haven't left the eurovision universe complitely: Every year in Norway, the norwegian broadcasting arranges MGP Jr - in english: Norwegion Eurovision Junior Edition, talented artists/songwriters/singers between 8-16/17 participate, and I'm their coach, to make them feel safe and shine like stars on stage. It is fantastic to experience that my own experiences can contribute to making them better performers :) The pandemic almost stopped this years final, but as things develope here in Norway now, we can do the show in august, looking very much forward to that, especially because of my "artist children", that they can live the dream - it needs of course to be run within infection control rules, but there will be a show:)
Best regards, Merethe
Σε αυτό το σημείο θα ήθελα προσωπικά να ευχαριστήσω την Merethe που είχε το χρόνο να μας μιλήσει.
