HAPPINESS: May 2018

Saturday, May 12, 2018

Israel’s Netta sings ‘Toy’ and wins Eurovision 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal- Eleni Foureira’s ‘Fuego’ lands Cyprus 2nd place, Austria’s Cesar Sampsons ‘Nobody but you’ wins 3rd place and jury vote. Ireland finishes 16th. Well done Ryan O’Shaugnessy

Eurovision winners

The 63^rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest had a grand finale ending with Israel’s Netta helping her country finish 1^st with 529 points at The Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal. This is Israel’s fourth Eurovision title after winning it in 1978, 1979 and 1998. The contest saw 43 countries participate which is a record attendance equaling the same count in the 2008 and 2011 editions. As usual Netta was full of energy and with her top vocals she sang ‘Toy’ and secured her win very comfortably. The song was written and composed by Doron Medalie and Stav Beger.

Eleni Foureira, the Greek recording artist/actress/dancer/fashion designer, of Cyprus came 2^nd place with her song ‘Fuego’ and Austria’s singer/songwriter/producer/dancer/model/social worker/fitness teacher Cesar Sampson secured 3^rd place with the song ‘Nobody but you’, which also won the jury vote.

The 25 year old Netta Barzilai is not only a singer but also a recording artist and looping artist. Having completed her military service in the Israeli Navy Band and studied Electronic Music at the Rimon School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, she auditioned for the fifth season of ‘HaKokhav HaBa’, the platform for Israel’s national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest. She moved on to the 2^nd round after singing ‘Rude Boy’ by Rihanna. Though she performed ‘Hey Mama’ by David Guetta and ‘Wannabe’ by Spice Girls, she went down to Ricky Ben Ari but still advanced to the next stage after being selected by the judges. She performed a mashup of ‘Gangnam Style’ by Psy and ‘Tik Tok’ by Kesha and won the first place in the contest, thereby earning her the opportunity to represent Israel at Eurovision 2018.

It was the first time in a Eurovision contest that four female presenters hosted the event. The presenters included RTP hosts Sílvia Alberto, Filomena Cautela, Catarina Furtado and actress Daniela Ruah. The 2017 edition were hosted by male presenters. While Eurovision 2017 recorded a viewership of 182 million (22 million fewer than the 2016 edition), the EBU reported that the 2018 contest recorded 186 million.

Picture of Netta Barzilai singing Toy at Eurovision 2018 final by AFP Photo/Francisco Leong

Picture of Netta Barzilai singing Toy at Eurovision 2018 final by AFP Photo/Francisco Leong

Picture of Eleni Foureira at Eurovision 2018 final by EPA/Jose Sena Goulao

Picture of Cesar Sampson by at Eurovision 2018 final by AFP Photo/Francisco Leong

Picture of Ryan O’Shaughnessy Team Ireland

Picture of Eurovision 2018 Final Winners List- Points Table

Picture of Eurovision 2018 Presenters RTP gorgeous hosts Sílvia Alberto, Filomena Cautela, Catarina Furtado and actress Daniela Ruah by Copyright by Roger Dewayne Barkley, EuroVisionary is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Gorgeous hosts Sílvia Alberto, Filomena Cautela, Catarina Furtado and Daniela Ruah

Picture of Eurovision 2018 venue, Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal by By Reino Baptista [CC0], from Wikimedia Commons

Logo of Eurovision 2018 Lisbon, Portugal is available for viewing in this link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Eurovision_Song_Contest_2018.svg

Official music video of ‘Together’ by Ryan O’Shaughnessy in Youtube

Good luck Mark Caplice from Baltinglass- Burkes shop

Good luck

Ireland is thrilled to see that Ryan O’Shaughnessy’s ‘Together’ has taken Ireland into the finals of the Eurovision 2018 at Lisbon, Portugal. The finals will be held on May 12.

Ryan, and co- writers Mark and Laura work together in The Nucleus in Dublin, a hub of songwriters founded by Hamlet Sweeney. Ryan, from Skerries, Dublin, is already a known actor for portraying the character of ‘Mark Halpin’ in RTÉ’s popular TV series ‘Fair City’. He played this role for 9 years, from 2001 to 2010. In 2012, he appeared in ‘The Voice of Ireland’ broadcast in RTE One. He was also a finalist in Britain’s Got Talent where he performed ‘No Name’, a song he wrote about a girl he had a crush on. Ryan’s uncle Gary O’Shaughnessy also represented Ireland in Eurovision 2001, its 46th edition in Stockholm, Denmark, with the song ‘Without Your Love’.

Known for her unique voice, Laura Elizabeth Hughes released her first EP in 2014 and has since captured the hearts of everyone. The Dublin singer/songwriter has made a mark in the singing world and her success is not a surprise to many as her singing ability and songwriting ability has carved herself a much sought-after fanbase.

Mark Caplice from Baltinglass, popularly known as Cappy, performs as a member of the band Kolumbus and travels all over Ireland and abroad performing gigs. In 2015, his single ‘You know its Christmas’ hit number one in the Google Play Christmas charts in Ireland. This success helped him to contribute to the Inner City Helping Homeless and Baltinglass Lions Christmas appeal.

Good luck to Ryan, Laura and Mark. All the best Ireland!

Good luck to Mark from Baltinglass:

Good luck to Mark from Baltinglass

Mark Caplice picture from www.wicklownews.net.com

Good luck to Mark from Baltinglass

Ireland has made it to the finals of Eurovision 2018. Finalist Ryan O’Shaughnessy All the best Ireland!

Eurovision update IRELAND

Ireland is thrilled to see that Ryan O’Shaughnessy’s ‘Together’ has taken Ireland into the finals of the Eurovision 2018 at Lisbon, Portugal. It was the 1^st semi-final and Ireland rested at the 6^th place with Israel, Cyprus and Czech Republic occupying the top three places respectively. The finals of the 63^rd edition of Eurovision Song Contest will be held on May 12.

Good luck to Ryan for the finals. All the best Ireland! Well done!

Picture of Ryan O’Shaughnessy at Eurovision