Thanks Jim, always good to see some appreciation for it. It is ironic we were about to trade decent points with each other for the first time in ages and both failed to make the final. Best of luck to you in 2025!

I just got 'Bul Bul Bul' on shuffle this evening and still sounds great, definitely my favourite of your entries this year so thanks for the discovery even if it didn't pan out in the contest.

<3 Hopefully more Perserontvia point trades in 2025.

When spirits are calling my name

 

We fell at the final hurdle last month, failing to complete the calendar year of qualification after Bul Bul Bul sadly failed to find many fans in its semi and did not progress to the final. But it's a new year and we have... an old song. For our 171st appearance in BJSC, we look to Austria over 30 years ago as we rewind the clock back to 1994, a time where the likes of Enigma, Deep Forest, Vangelis and Karl Jenkins could be found around the top of the charts across Europe.

 

In Germany, the clothes retailer C&A (which is still a big name across Europe but closed its shops in the UK in 2001) ran one of the most notable advertising campaigns of the year for its Young Collection. The cinematic advert was soundtracked by Indian Spirits, a piece by Austrian composer Andi Slavik and German singer Susanne Kemmler, and the single was heard all across Germany that year, with the song also included on the major compilation Bravo Hits 7.

 

Ricardo Delta explained the entry choice: "World music is something we have sent before - albeit rarely - the fantastic Ilumbarada by Ortiga reaching the top five for us back in 2016, while our 2023 silver medallists Voryva and My Wing both owed a debt to world music. When we first heard Indian Spirits and watched the accompanying C&A advert from the time, we found it incredibly moving and inspiring. It is a sound that has long gone out of fashion in the mainstream, but is no less brilliant for it, with chanting, traditional flutes, and stirring percussion. Let the music take you away..."

 

 

C&A 1994 advert

 

Scouse storytelling for 172

 

After bouncing back from a DNQ with... last place in the final in January, FSR Rontvia have a renewed sense of purpose and are proud to present Loss Is Not Infinite from London/​Liverpool hip-hop duo God Colony, previously sent by Skall back in 2018, and spoken word performer Roy, aka PJ Smith, a former substance abuser turned artist, campaigner and mentor. On this classically Rontvian entry, kind of a Sunscreen for Merseyside, Liverpudlian Roy asks a number of life's big questions. The track was released in aid of Damien John Kelly House, a live-in centre in Liverpool for men recovering from addiction and has been played by BBC Radio 6 Music.

 

Roy described the song as follows: "It’s about the state of non-existence. That bit in the middle of shaking off an old identity but not yet having formed a new, better one. It’s terrifying but it’s only temporary. It’s a hopeful song, telling you that you won’t feel lost forever if you just keep doing the right thing. Basically, if you don’t make your new life better than your old one, you’ll always go back to your old one. The paradox is that the more shortcuts you try to take, the longer the feeling of loss lasts. There are no shortcuts."

 

Ricardo Delta explained the entry choice: "Loss Is Not Infinite is just wonderful, a crushing window into parts of today's society in England, backed by smooth sax and an earworm (but short) chorus. There are too many brilliantly quotable and thought-provoking lyrics to list. And the rundown Mr Blobby impersonator in the music video just adds to the gritty charm."

 

Roy quipped: "Blobby is the perfect symbol, really. He had it all thirty years ago. Prime time telly. A Christmas number one. Household name. Then what? Disappeared. Erased from history. That’s the real conspiracy. We found him. He’s back, off the gear, with a gastric band fitted, a hair transplant and a set of new gnashers. He’s trying to find out who he really is. He’s lost…but Loss Is Not Infinite. It could go either way for him."

 

Loss Is Not Infinite entered the Rontvian charts before Christmas, peaking at No.1, and is still a top ten fixture in late February.

 

Possibly my favourite FSR entry and an immediate standout after a glance through SF1

 

Less Berghaus, more Bauhaus

 

*.*

Possibly my favourite FSR entry and an immediate standout after a glance through SF1

 

Less Berghaus, more Bauhaus

 

*.*

 

<3

 

Love that line too. It's such a quotable song.

F*ck the niche, this is POP!

After three months of sending quite niche entries, which resulted in a DNQ for traditional Turkish, a last place in the final for a stirring new age piece, and then a more respectable 24th place for spoken word electronic, FSR Rontvia has come back to pop, albeit with a punk edge.

PUNCHBAG are a new London act featuring siblings Clara & Anders Bach, with Aron Murphy on drums and Darcey Beth on bass. Signed to UK label Mute, Clash described the act as having "a luminescent sense of pop imagination, one that powers past accepted boundaries" while with "day-glo colours matched to a punk-like sense of confrontation, the drama in their work is unavoidably over-powering".

Debut single F*ck It is an out and out spiky pop track, albeit with a punk attitude and an explicit chorus followed by a Eurodance synth breakdown where the colours explode.

Taking about the lyrics, Clara Bach commented: "It’s not nihilistic. It’s more like, we only have so much time, so do the thing you want to do. Kiss the person you want to kiss, say that thing you want to say.”

Ricardo Delta added: "We don't usually send stuff that's quite as in your face as this, but f*ck it, now was the time to send this track. For us, it's like the music of Xenomania, Rogue Traders, Dragonette and Confidence Man thrown into a blender with a heavy dose of Where's Your Head At by Basement Jaxx. It may only run for 2:16, our second shortest entry ever, but it certainly does pack quite a punch(bag) in that time, we're obsessed!"

F*ck It is currently at No.2 in the Rontvian charts, just behind the biggest selling song of the year to date, Bara Bada Bastu by KAJ.

Click the link to watch the fun and colourful video, it's age restricted!

Edited March 18Mar 18 by gooddelta

I feel nothing, nada

After big hype in the last contest, in the end PUNCHBAG's punky pop track ended up in 19th place, which was an underperformance against the odds but still a great result for us and our best of the year to date. For the 174th contest, as we head to Ajanaeda for the first time, we pay tribute to our hosts with a banging new electro-pop anthem. NADA is Lozeak's second outing in BJSC, after she was sent to 158 by Sandénia, with Used To You. The 22-year-old Norwich-born singer recently released her first album, the self-titled Lozeak, and NADA is a standout track.

Ricardo Delta explains the entry choice: "It's been a little while since we've sent back to back pop entries but it's Eurovision season and the flowers are blooming we're in a poppy mood. Lozeak's album first caught our attention due to the artwork, which pays homage to the legendary Clubland compilation series, a major success in the 00s in FSR Rontvia.

"The spiky 2:11 track NADA, our second entry in a row to clock in at a little over two minutes, was our immediate standout with the biggest earworm of a chorus we've heard this side of Bara Bada Bastu, glitchy electro-pop production that suggests Lozeak had a very Brat summer last year, and with a first line that harks back to I'm Too Sexy. We are not trying to break any mould this month, it's just catchy, fun POP - and we love it!"

NADA debuted in the Rontvian charts three weeks ago at No.8 and has steadily made its way up to its current peak of No.2 this week. NADA already has a loyal fanbase in FSR Rontvia, as you can see from the enthusiastic live performance below.

A wave of Turkish darkness for 175

After two middling results with pop songs just over two minutes long, FSR Rontvia has decided to leave the wonderful pop nations to what they do best and are ringing in the summer sunshine with... some deliciously brooding darkwave from Turkish duo Volkan and Doruk, AKA She Past Away. With post-punk guitar work, they have been compared to acts ranging in sound from The Sisters of Mercy and Siouxsie and the Banshees to The Cure and Depeche Mode. She Past Away's influence is firmly rooted in the 1980s, but İnziva was released in 2024.

Ricardo Delta explains the entry choice: "We wanted to move back away from pop for now and this track hit us straight away, the riff sounds like a lost 80s classic and the minimalist Turkish vocals are suitably atmospheric. We love the dark expressionist video and gothic soundscape, and the song has been a big hit already in FSR Rontvia, charting in the top three throughout the peak of the busy Eurovision season. We haven't fared that well with Turkish language entries in the past, with Bul Bul Bul by Kit Sebastian being our most recent DNQ at the end of 2024, but we are hopeful this song proves to be a Turkish delight for people."

Lyrics:

Sayıklıyor tanrılar

Karıştı hıçkırıklar

Gömülüyor neşe

Derin sessizliğe

Eğer vazgeçersen mutluluktan

Ne hüzün kalır, ne de korkular

Susuz bir yaz, geceler ayaz

Sonsuz yalnızlık var!

English translation:

The gods are muttering

Mixed with sobs

Joy is being buried

In deep silence

If you give up on happiness

Neither sorrow nor fears remain

A summer without rain, nights freezing cold

There's eternal loneliness!

Edited May 22May 22 by gooddelta

Great entry this month! It sounds like something that will be battling for top points from @Jade

Thanks @blacksquare <3!

I'm certainly hoping it survives the semi so Jade can at least have the opportunity to vote for it

Edited May 22May 22 by gooddelta

In predictable fashion... this is nothing short of incredible 🖤

Yay, was looking forward to hearing your reaction - so glad you're a fan ❤️