Swiss singer Michael von der Heide was knocked out of the Eurovision song contest on Thursday evening.
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The performer from St Gallen sang his own composition, Il pleut de l’or, (It’s raining gold) at the semifinal in Oslo.
Von der Heide was up against favourites like Azerbaijan, Armenia, Israel, Ireland, Denmark and Turkey. Performers from Georgia, Romania and two surprises – Cyprus and Ukraine – made the finals.
Those singers will compete on Saturday against the ten best performers from the first semifinal as well as Germany, France, Spain, Britain and Norway.
After DJ Bobo, Paolo Meneguzzi and the Lovebugs, “Gold-Michi” was the fourth Swiss participant in a row unable to make it past the opening stage of the contest.
The last Switzerland-born performer to make it to a top slot was in 1991, when Sandra Simó, now Studer, made it to the fifth round. She sat on the jury this year.
Initiated by the Geneva-based European Broadcasting Union in 1956, Eurovision is one of Europe’s most popular annual music events. Switzerland has only won twice, the last time in 1988 when it was represented by Canada’s Céline Dion.
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It’s a long time since Switzerland has had a Eurovision Song Contest hit. It’s hoped that Michael von der Heide will ring in the changes in Oslo this year with his song, ‘It’s raining gold’, chosen from 60 possible titles. The competition will be held at the end of May. (SF1, swissinfo.ch 6.01.2010)
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