Ticket to Tel Aviv: Meet KEiiNO from Norway
27 April 2019 at 09:00 CESTKEiiNO won their ticket to Tel Aviv on 2 March of this year when they won Melodi Grand Prix 2019, Norway’s national selection show to pick the nation’s Eurovision entry. After the trio made it through the first part of the 10-act show, they qualified for the ‘Gold-Final super-duels’, where they overcame fellow finalist D'Sound to reach the final round where they beat Adrian Jørgensen.
Who are KEiiNO?
Fred Buljo, Alexandra Rotan and Tom Hugo are the 3-piece vocal collaboration that has risen to fame as KEiiNO. Mixing electronic pop with Nordic folk melodies and join, the three have been received enthusiasticly at this year's Eurovision pre-parties. KEiiNO have also promised a debut album in the near future after Spirit In The Sky became number 1 in Norway.
READ MORE: KEiiNO’s participant profile
You can follow KEiiNO on the following social media platforms:
KEiiNO's Song
KEiiNO will sing Spirit In The Sky at the Eurovision Song Contest. The song is written by Alexander Olsson, Tom Hugo, Fred Buljo, Alexandra Rotan and composed by Tom Hugo, Henrik Tala, Fred Buljo and Rüdiger Schramm. It is the first time since 2011 that Norway’s entry will feature a language other than English. This year, the song features some Northern Sámi words.
LISTEN: Stream or download Spirit In The Sky via your favourite music service
About Sámi and joiking
Spirit In The Sky is party sung in Sámi and includes joik (also spelled yoik). This is a traditional Sámi song form thought to be one of the longest-living music traditions in Europe. The verb for presenting a joik (e.g. Northern Sami juoigat) is transitive, which is often interpreted as indicating that a joik is not about something, but that the joiker evokes something (a person, animal, thing) through song.
Norwegian broadcaster NRK is proud to bring joik back to the Eurovision Song Contest. Norway sent a Sámi-Norwegian song (Sámiid Ædnan) in 1980. In fact, the first-ever Norwegian entry in Eurovision in 1960 was called Voi Voi and the Norwegian lyrics mentioned a Sámi girl. 59 years later the Sámi culture is no longer represented in a story told by the majority, but instead communicated through the contemporary voice of Fred Buljo.
Norway at Eurovision 2018
Last year in Lisbon, Norway was represented by Alexander Rybak for a second time. After winning the Eurovision Song Contest in 2010, he returned to score 266 points and win the second Semi-Final in Portugal with That’s How You Write A Song. In the Grand Final, he scored 144 points, finishing in 15th place.
READ MORE: Norway's country page
How do you like KEiiNO’s Spirit In The Sky? Let us know in the comments!
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