Bashana haba'ah - Ensi vuonna

This is the last day of the this year . It's time to ponder of what's coming in the next year. And this song fits in well. Marion Rung recorded "Ensi vuonna" (Next year) in 1981. It was on the album "Rakkaimmat lauluni" and released as a single, but didn't fare well chartwise. Marion has versioned several songs of Hebrew origin, and this was one of those. The song was written by famous Israeli conductor and composer Nurit Hirsh. Internationally she's perhaps best rememberd by conducting in the 1978 Eurovision Song Contest the Israeli entry A-Ba-Ni-Bi, which won first prize. This "Bashana haba'ah" (Next year) -song was first made popular by Israeli vocal duo Ilanit (finnpicked before, see here) & Ilan. You can see them perform the song, here. In Usa it was a minor hit for Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme. You can hear their version, here.

So, what we are doing next year in Finnpicks. Well, we are presenting the remaining (third week) of Chinnichap covers, continuing the "Finnpicks for Kids" and "Finnpicks Goes To Movies" -series, and of course presenting again some Eurovision Song Contest covers in the spring, and last by not least, we're taking a "Finnpicks Tour Across USA" at some point. Of course we'll be delivering the usual bunch of more or less obscure Finnish covers of hit songs from all over the world.

Happy and Prosperous New Year 2011!

Here's the pair:

Ey Sham - Sain muiston

Marion has represented Finland in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1961 with "Tipi-tii" and in 1973 with "Tom tom". In 1973 she also recorded an Euro-cover, "Sain muiston", which was the Israeli entry in that year. This was Israel's first time in ESC, and the performer was famous Israeli singing star Ilanit (b. Hanna Drezner-Tzakh). The success was great for a first-timer. Israel placed 4th with this song called "Ey Sham" (Somewhere). The second participation by Ilanit was in London in 1977 with a song entitled "Ahava Hi Shir Lishnayim".

Here's the pair: