Sanomi

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
"Sanomi"
Single by Urban Trad
B-side"Get Reel"
Released2003
GenreModern Celtic
Length3:01
LabelMercury Records
Songwriter(s)Yves Barbieux
Producer(s)
  • Yves Barbieux
  • Nicolas Vandooren
"1 Life" (2004) ►

"Sanomi" is a song recorded by Belgian six-piece band Urban Trad, written by Yves Barbieux. It is best known as the Belgian entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2003, held in Riga.

At Eurovision

This was the second time that Belgium finished as the runner-up, the first being

L'amour ça fait chanter la vie" in 1978, and it was also the country's best placing in the contest since Sandra Kim's victory with "J'aime la vie" in 1986
.

The song was the twenty-second in the running order of the 2003 contest, following

Eighties Coming Back". At the close of voting, it had received 165 points, placing second in a field of 26.[1]

The song

The song is remarkable for a number of reasons. Perhaps the most readily apparent is that it was the first occasion that a song not in a natural language had been performed at the Eurovision Song Contest (prompting the famous remark of BBC commentator Terry Wogan "they've got four languages in Belgium and they're singing in an imaginary one, the very essence of the Euro").[2][3]

Further, the song is remarkable for having featured in one of the closest finishes in the contest's history, ultimately finishing with just two fewer points than the eventual winner (

Ne Ver', Ne Boysia
").

Versions

Two versions of the song exist on record. One was the standard album version (4:08) and another version was released on single and on the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 compilation album. Often known as the "Eurovision edit", it cut down to 3:01 and it had Soetkin Collier's vocals removed.

This arose because a few months before the contest, the selectors dropped singer Soetkin Collier on the advice of the Belgian security services, who claimed that she had had

far right sympathies in the past.[4]
Collier vigorously denied the claims, and later that year after an investigation it was concluded that the accusations were exaggerated and based on outdated information.

Track listing

  1. "Sanomi" (Eurovision Edit)
  2. "Get Reel"

Charts

Chart (2003) Peak position
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[5] 3
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[6] 3

External links

References

  1. ^ "Final of Riga 2003". eurovision.tv. Retrieved 2020-04-15.
  2. ^ Caroline Westbrook (31 Jan 2016). "14 of Terry Wogan's most memorable quotes from Eurovision". Metro. Archived from the original on 1 Feb 2016. 8 - 'They've got four languages in Belgium…and they're singing in an imaginary one. The very essence of the Euro.'...very nearly won the contest...
  3. ^ "Celebrity - Yahoo News UK". Retrieved 24 April 2017.
  4. ^ "Belgium bans 'neo-Nazi' Eurovision singer", 21 Feb 2003, The Telegraph
  5. ^ "Urban Trad – Sanomi" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
  6. ^ "Urban Trad – Sanomi" (in French). Ultratop 50.
This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article: Sanomi. Articles is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license; additional terms may apply.Privacy Policy