Eurovision Swing Contest

Roffaswing loves some silly ideas! And we love to have fun dancing and enjoy good music. So here was the latest delight and camp mockery: the Eurovision Swing Contest.


The songs & results

Spain 10 points
Snake Rag - Mr. Dixie Jazz Band

France 9 points
Savoy - Hot Sugar Band

Germany 9 points
Well All Right - Andrej Hermlin & His Swing Dance Orchestra

Slovenia 9 points
Wednesday Night Hop - The SwingTones

United Kingdom 8 points
Sheik of Araby - Shirt Tail Stompers

Lithuania 6 points
Viper Mad - Rhythm Junkies

Norway 6 points
I've Found A New Baby - David Skinner & Jazzombies

Slovakia 6 points
All That Meat and No Potatoes - Fats Jazz Band

Austria 5 points
Artillerie Lourde - Diknu Schneeberger

Czech Republic 5 points
Four Or Five Times - Ondrej Havelka and his Melody Makers

Israel 5 points
Living In A Great Big Way - The Betty Bears

Sweden 5 points
All of Me - Gentlemen & Gangsters

Switzerland 5 points
Ivory Cliffs - The Blue Flagships

Greece 4 points
Parla più piano (Love Theme from "the Godfather") - The Speakeasies' Swing Band

Netherlands 4 points
House Hop - Doctor Bernard Swing Orchestra

Belgium 3 points
I'm Beginning to See the LIght  - The Hop-sh-Bam Connection

Denmark 3 points
St. James Infirmary - Brassflavour

Poland 3 points
Alice Blue Gown - Boba Jazz Band

Croatia 2 points
Beautiful love - Mel & Little Thunders

Italy 2 points
Muskrat Ramble - Black Bottom Jazz Band

Ireland 2 points
Love me tender  I Saw Stars

Russia 2 points
Doctor Jazz - The Kikipickles

Portugal 1 point
Sweet Georgia Brown - Desbundixie Jazz
 

The game
Each dancer at the event received 3 ballots and could vote during and in between songs. A dancer could use all votes for one song or vote for 3 different songs. The name of the country had to be written on the ballot and put in the ballot jar. After the last song in the contest we had a quick run through with clips of all songs to make last voting decisions. The ballot jar was closed, it was time for the intermission during which votes were counted. After intermission the runners up from 3 to 1 were called out. The winning song was played again.

The choice of music
We decided on contemporary European swing music, or "close enough" for swing dancing. So, yes to trad jazz and gipsy swing. All had to be done in a swift fashion, so the choices of songs were the best possible we could find with the available resources and time. Sometimes we were restricted to use youtube or online streaming as music was not alwya avialalbe for easy download at the usual internet stores.

We asked DJs and dancers around Europe to guide us to their local favorite bands. So thank you: Gas, Christian, Stephan, Marc, Ben, Paulo, Marta, Mitya, Sharon, Gašper, Goran, Egle, Becky, Nasos for your input! It was very much appreciated and we couldn't have done this without your help.

The good thing about contemporary music is that you can actually enjoy these artists live at several events or concerts, you can find and purchase their music and look them up on the internet!
So, we didn't cover all European countires, but hey, there's always room for improvement. So don’t hesitate to share other bands and songs we should know of!

The Eurovision Contest night
This was really nothing serious, it was fun to collect songs from other European scenes and play them for our local dancers at the weekly social  dance called RoffaSwingPraktijk.

The aim was to enjoy a night of dancing to good music with a twist:
- all songs played in the hour before the contest were European
- the contest kicked off with the eurovision tune: Te Deum from Charpentier
- the  final results were phoned in by the Queen of the Netherlands, Maxima (not!)
- we did Green Room interviews during intermission with our local dancers that come from several countries in Europe (and beyond)
- our presenter of the night, Zoë, shouted all entries in English and French into her hairbrush microphone
- Waterloo by Abba was played during intermission, and it turns out it's not bad for lindy hopping.