The final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 takes place live from the Helsinki Arena in the Finnish capital on Saturday 12 May. Irish trad band, Dervish, will be carrying Ireland’s hopes of an eighth Eurovision win.
Ireland have an early start this year as we have been drawn fourth, so be sure to tune in at 8pm to catch Dervish perform “They Can’t Stop The Spring”.
DERVISH: Dervish are one of the most successful and respected ambassadors of traditional Irish music and have performed to audiences around the globe. Critically lauded, they have shared centre-stage with some of the world’s most respected artists, including James Brown, The Buena Vista Social Club, Oasis, Sting, REM and Beck.
Formed in 1989, in their hometown of Sligo in the West of Ireland, the band are made up of Cathy Jordan (vocals, bodhrán, bones), Tom Morrow (fiddle, viola), Shane Mitchell (accordion), Liam Kelly (flute, low whistle), Michael Holmes (bouzouki) and Brian Mc Donagh (mandola, mandolin). Over the past eighteen years they have released numerous albums which have been huge hits in Ireland and in World/Music charts internationally.
Dervish are delighted to be performing “They Can’t Stop The Spring” in Helsinki. The song,written by renowned Irish journalist, John Waters and his childhood friend Tommy Moran, was inspired by comments made by the Czech leader Alexander Dubeck in 1968 and according to the songwriters “it’s kind of a Celtic celebration of the Eastern European revolutions”. For more information on the band go to www.dervish.ie
THE 52nd EUROVISION SONG CONTEST: The theme this year is “True Fantasy” and Finnish television presenters Jaana Pelkonen and Mikko Lepplampi will be presiding over the proceedings. Last year’s surprise winners Lordi will also performing their monster hit “Hard Rock Hallelujah”. This is the 52nd year of the competition and the biggest competition to date with 42 countries competing in the event. Only 24 countries will make it into the final which is made up of the top 10 scorers in last year’s competition, 10 who qualified through the semi-final and the four largest players in the EBU who automatically qualify each year, the UK, France, Germany and Spain.
THIS YEAR’S COMMENTATOR: Irish Eurovision expert Marty Whelan will, of course, be commentating on the event and tele-voting lines will be open once all 24 countries have performed their entry. Information on the voting lines will be made available on the night.
THE SONG: RTÉ is delighted that this year’s Eurovision entry, “They Can’t Stop The Spring”, performed by Dervish, is now available as a free download on the RTÉ Eurovision website; www.rte.ie/eurovision. This is the first time Ireland’s Eurovision entry has been made available to the Irish public free of charge as a download. The song is now available exclusively on the site for the next two weeks.
“They Can’t Stop the Spring” is written by John Waters and Tommy Moran.
THE LYRICS:
The curtain has been raised
The wall no longer stands
And from Lissadell to Latvia
We’re singing as one clan
The curtain has been razed
And Europe’s all one stage
And the archipelagic icicles
Have melted like the cage
We don’t need no party
Just a party band.
A continental choir
Singing hand in hand
Chorus:
They might scare the blackbird,
But they can’t stop him sing
They may steal the honey,
But they’ll never steal the sting;
They may crush the flowers,
Trample every living thing,
But they can’t stop the spring