They did it! It's truly a "Fairytale"! Even TIME Magazine is reporting the news.
Alexander Rybak and the guys from FRIKAR, representing Norway, won the famed Eurovision contest — with no contest! — and on the eve of Norway's biggest national holiday, the 17th of May (Constitution Day / Syttende Mai).
In fact, the entry was record breaking in a number of ways.
- It received the most votes in Eurovision history – winning 387 points
- It received the highest amount of "twelve point votes" – 16 in total – in a single contest
- It won by the largest point margin ever – 169 points between first and second place (Iceland).
The video below is of the winning performance from FRIKAR's YouTube channel. A clearer version is also available. Eurovision has put up the video of Rybak and FRIKAR's performance after their win was announced, but I think this one is better because it has the "edge" of the competition.
Rybak wrote the song, plays fiddle and sings. He's backed by a fabulous group of male dancers from Norway's FRIKAR dance ensemble, some of the country's best halling / laus dancers: Hallgrim Hansegård, Sigbjørn Rua and Torkjell Lunde Børsheim. Their dance steps are based on the traditional male show-off dance known as laus (meaning "loose" or "free") and halling and the dance was choreographed by Hansegård.
They had updated the look of the FRIKAR group since winning Norway's national Eurovision competition, Melodi Gran Prix (MGP) — and I really liked the change. The look was simple "gammaldags" (old-time) and utterly masculine.
I was able to watch the entire Eurovision contest through Eurovision.tv's Internet stream this year. It is not broadcast in the USA, so it was a real treat to watch it live. The whole experience was enhanced by the ability to Twitter about it in real time with other viewers around the world — especially those in Norway.
I'll eventually blog about my impressions of Eurovision as an American. But for now, I think it's best to just savor the moment.
Congratulations to Alexander Rybak and FRIKAR! Well done!
