Introducing 2011: Spain

by Marcus Klier 108 views

All songs for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 have been selected. During the weeks between the national final season and the actual Eurovision Song Contest, we will introduce all 43 entries in random order. We are half way through and part twenty-five of the series is dedicated to the Spanish entry.

Basic information

Performer: Lucía Pérez
Song: Que me quiten lo bailao (They can't take the fun away from me)
Language: Spanish
Music: Rafael Artesero
Lyrics: Rafael Artesero
Draw:

22nd in the final

The song

Que me quiten lo bailao is a mid-tempo folk pop song. Through the lyrics, the protagonist tells about her optimistic look into the future as no matter what comes, she will always have her memories of the fun she had in the past. The title of the song is a saying that literally translates as May they take away from me what I've danced.

Y aunque sé bien
Que podrán venir tormentas
Y me caeré
Sé que a fin de cuentas he “disfrutao”
De todo lo “bailao”

Ouo uo oo, ouo uo oo
Y ahora que me quiten
Que me quiten lo bailao

And although I know well
That storms may come
And that I'll fall down
In the end I know
About the fun I had

Ouo uo oo, ouo uo oo
Today they can't
They can't take away the fun I had

The performer

Lucía Pérez is from Galicia. In 2002, at the age of 17, she won the local talent search Canteira de Cantareiros. The year after she recorded her debut album Amores y amores, which went on to become a hit in Galicia. More albums followed over the years. Furthermore, she represented Spain twice in the Viña del Mar Song Festival in Chile.

In 2011, she competed in the Spanish national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest. She made it to the finals thanks to her performances of hte Eurovision classics Non ho l'età and Boom bang-a-bang. She later won the national final with the song Que me quiten lo bailao.

The songwriter

Que me quiten lo bailao was written by Rafael Artesoro. He has already composed the Andorran entries in the Eurovision Song Contest semi finals in 2005 and 2006. In 2005, Marian van de Wal finished 23rd out of 25 with La mirada interior while in 2006, Jenny came 23rd and hence last with Sense tu.

The national selection

The Spanish national selection started as a talent search. In two heats and a semi final, the 24 contestants (who all performed Eurovision classics) were narrowed down to the final three. These three acts all performed three songs in the national final. In the first round of voting, the favourite song for each artists was chosen before the eventual Spanish representative for Düsseldorf was decided.

Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest

Spain has entered the Eurovision Song Contest in 1961 and they have not missed a single edition since. Victories came in 1968 andon homeground in 1969. In other years, the results were mixed but Spain finished second four times and third once. The latest streak of successful results came in the early 2000s with four top ten placings in a row (2001-2004).

Statistics

This will be Spain's 51st participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. For the 18th time only the country is represented by a female solo performer. Spain also remains one of the countries that had all of their entries at least partly performed in the national language.

Que me quiten lo bailao is the 22nd song to be performed in the final. In recent years, the Spanish results have not been affected in a positive way by late positions in the draw. In 2008, Rodolfo Chikilicuatre finished 16th from number 22 and in 2009 Soraya came 24th and hence second last after performing at the final spot. Last year, Daniel Diges was drawn in second position but allowed to perform his song again as the last one in the final. He finished 15th.


¡Deseamos a España y a Lucía Pérez mucha suerte y un buen resultado en Düsseldorf!


Videos

Live performance in the national final:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaU43vEzw28

The preview video:

Performing Boom bang-a-bang in the semi final:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQPMR_YP76s

Que haría contigo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TBk8AfFhv5Q

Tomorrow, we will take a look at the Belarusian entry.

Previous parts of the series:

  1. Estonia
  2. Italy
  3. Croatia
  4. Slovakia
  5. Lithuania
  6. Finland
  7. Switzerland
  8. Ukraine
  9. Norway
  10. Moldova
  11. Belgium
  12. Azerbaijan
  13. Ireland
  14. Portugal
  15. Austria
  16. Latvia
  17. France
  18. Bosnia & Herzegovina
  19. Romania
  20. Sweden
  21. Bulgaria
  22. Armenia
  23. Denmark
  24. Cyprus