There are more Italians on our radar when the best fans in Eurovision are to be presented. This year is Alessandro Banti’s 10th Eurovision live and we’ll be happy to see him in Kyiv. Won’t we also be happy for this guy to see his fellow country man Francesco win on the big stage?
Name, age, occupation, where are you from?
Alessandro Banti, 50 next July, journalist and office worker for a telephone company, born and live in Pisa (Italy)
Time to remind you fans very often have a professional role at the Eurovision events as well. Or was it the other way around? Either way, here’s our favorite TV producer, Tahir Aliyev. We are really sorry he won’t be joining us in Kyiv this year, as last time we saw him he showed up with 200 bottles of cognac in the press center. Also, we figure Tahir must be pretty good at his job, as he always make us do unquestionable things in the name of Azerbaijan, even when we weren’t exactly fans to begin with. Stay warned as we introduce him to you:
Name, age, occupation, where are you from (we will welcome alternative facts here if needed)?
Tahir Aliyev, 38, Senior TV and Sports Broadcast Producer , Baku, Azerbaijan.
Attending parties and events is the ultimate fan behaviour, says the next person up in our fan interview series, Ian Fowell. We couldn’t agree more, and we are always very happy to meet Ian in most events we go to. Now let us introduce him to you:
Name, where are you from?
My name is Ian Fowell. I am from Liverpool, England. I write for www.esccovers.com.
While we in GEE tend to make every year Italian, most people agree 2017 is all about a certain Italian and his ape. What better then, than to present a few of our favorite fans from Italy to you? Please welcome the president of the Italian OGAE fan club, Signora Cristina Giuntini:
Name, age, occupation, where are you from (we will welcome alternative facts here if needed)?
I’m Cristina Giuntini, 50 years old, I work as an employee in an office, I was born in Florence but live in Prato.
Good Evening Europe might not be the largest Eurovision website in the world. After all, we are just a couple of middle aged chicks rambling away from the top of our heads. But we do claim to have the best readers to be found. Every year we are so amazed that the glorious Eurovision fans drop by us, and some even return year after year. Meet one of our favorites, Conor McGoldrick:
Name, age, where are you from (we will welcome alternative facts here if needed)?
I’m Conor McGoldrick, 45, in the UK, and I do Clinical Research Compliance here at the University of Birmingham – although I have a degree in music. Which I then throw in the face of anyone who dares to disparage Eurovision to me.
Nevermind the music. This is the real deal. We continue to present all the fabulous fans that make Eurovision the best contest in the world. Today, let’s meet Hildur. Together with her partner in crime, Eyrún Ellý Valsdóttir, she has been a significant part of many a fun night at Euroclub for us, and they write a great blog on Eurovision, Allt um Júróvisjón. Let’s hear her story:
Name, age, where are you from?
Hildur, 35 from Reykjavik Iceland.
You might think Eurovision is all about music. That is partially right, but behind every great artist is a bunch of even greater fans. Nowhere is that more true than in Eurovision, where the fans are more glorious and dedicated than anywhere else. We always feel so lucky to meet all these people, both in real life and online, and decided to introduce a few of them to you.
Where better to start than with Alexandru, one of our favorite encounters from Romania? Let’s hear what he has to say:
Name, age, occupation, where are you from (we will welcome alternative facts here if needed)?
My name is Alexandru Busa and I am 25 years old. I’m currently studying International Relations for my Master’s Degree at the University of Bucharest and at the same time I’m working for the Bucharest Natural History Museum.
It is a funny thing this Eurovision. Here we were, confident Italy was going to win this whole contest and that Scandinavian countries were stuck in the recycle bin once again and that all the Spanish fans were bonkers yet again and nothing else interesting was in line for us in 2017. Enter Joci Pápai. A Romani slash Hungarian bloke with a traditional Romani slash hiphop entry we couldn’t stop listening to in a golden shirt with a dancer and a violinist. And a man bun!
We needed to speak to him immediately, of course.
– OMG, Joci. Congratulations on winning A Dal! We didn’t even dare to hope for such an amazing song for Hungary yet again! Did you expect to win or were you surprised?
– Thank you very much. I really believed in my song but I never dared to dream of being in the top 4 or winning. It was the biggest surprise ever. My loved ones encouraged me all the way, but I didn’t think it was possible for a Gipsy boy to win with such a crossover track. I am incredibly grateful for all the votes from the audience!
Finally. After harrassing most of Hungary’s publicists on a daily basis for a few months and sleeping outside Freddie’s hotel since the 1st of May, we managed to get an interview with the fabulous Hungarian contestant. In a bar! Alone! We had a great private conversation, and here’s what came out of it:
– Congratulations on making it to the final! Were you happy?
– Yes, of course I was! I felt our performance was pretty good. To tell you the truth I felt like I did everything, and that “this must be enough”. Of course I was nervous, but I really believed in the song.
– So did we. We have been keeping a very close watch for you in EuroClub with no result. What have you been doing in Stockholm?
– We’ve been here since the 1st of May, so we’ve had time to go on excursions and cruises, which was highly needed to refill some energy. We also saw a lot of the city and it is breathtaking. I have never been to the Nordic countries before. I love the fresh air.
– Yeah, we have to work on our image, we know more than air. But don’t you want to sing and party with us?
The buzz is high for France this year, as they actually have a song that a) their own people like and b) might end up on the left side of the score board. How very unusual of them!
The fact that “J’ai cherché” is climbing the odds, is perhaps also due to a certain someone. Who is this Amir Haddad and is he anywhere near as nice as he seems in his self edited videos? We called him up to find out.
– You came third in The Voice France in 2014. How has your career been after that?
– I didn’t prepare for a musical career. I just wanted to have some fun before opening up a dental practice. Then the feedback from my participation in The Voice was so strong. Every stage and every level of that ride made me more confident that this is what I truly wanted to do. Back then I didn’t even have a deal with a record company. I just started to write songs and collaborate with people I knew. We prepared an album for two years before presenting it for several record labels. Everybody liked it, so we chose Warner. It’s being released this spring.