Totallympics Annual International Song Contest 2022

[Werloc 3,164]

 ESTONIA 

 

One of the more famous Spotify artists of Estonia with near 100k monthly listeners both, Púr Múdd and Shira should have been the ones to represent Estonia in Eurovision this year, but alas, they didn't even make the national final, thus they're going to represent their country in the festival of music.  Hope you enjoy.

 

Púr Múdd & Shira - Golden Shores

 

[OlympicIRL 5,532]

Totallympics Annual International Song Contest - Top 40 Chart

 

 

 

 

 

It's time to resume our countdown of the Top 40 TISC Annual Songs of All-Time. We return to the list at position #25 where we "say hi" to Amy Shark of Australia, the bronze medalist from the TISC Annual 2019.

 

 

 

25

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amy Shark - I Said Hi

 

 

Edition: TISC Annual 2019

 

Placement: 3rd

 

Points: 145 points

 

Points-Per-Jury Average: 3.92 pts

 

Number of Juries That Voted For The Song: 18 / 37 (48.65%)

 

Medals Won: 1 Gold, 0 Silver, 5 Bronze

 

Juries Who Awarded Their 12 Points To This Song: Tunisia

 

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24

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mohsen Yeganeh - Behet Ghol Midam

 

 

Edition: TISC Annual 2017

 

Placement: 4th

 

Points: 135 points

 

Points-Per-Jury Average: 3.97 pts

 

Number of Juries That Voted For The Song: 18 / 34 (52.94%)

 

Medals Won: 1 Gold, 4 Silver, 2 Bronze

 

Juries Who Awarded Their 12 Points To This Song: Argentina

 

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23

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Carrie Underwood feat. Ludacris - The Champion

 

 

Edition: TISC Annual 2018

 

Placement: 3rd

 

Points: 161 points

 

Points-Per-Jury Average: 4.03 pts

 

Number of Juries That Voted For The Song: 20 / 40 (50.00%)

 

Medals Won: 3 Gold, 3 Silver, 3 Bronze

 

Juries Who Awarded Their 12 Points To This Song: Iran, Finland, Greece

 

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22

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sigrid - Strangers

 

 

Edition: TISC Annual 2018

 

Placement: 2nd

 

Points: 161 points

 

Points-Per-Jury Average: 4.03 pts

 

Number of Juries That Voted For The Song: 22 / 40 (55.00%)

 

Medals Won: 3 Gold, 4 Silver, 1 Bronze

 

Juries Who Awarded Their 12 Points To This Song: Brazil, Colombia, Malta

 

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21

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saša Kovačević - Zamalo Tvoj

 

 

Edition: TISC Annual 2017

 

Placement: 3rd

 

Points: 137 points

 

Points-Per-Jury Average: 4.03 pts

 

Number of Juries That Voted For The Song: 19 / 34 (55.88%)

 

Medals Won: 2 Gold, 1 Silver, 5 Bronze

 

Juries Who Awarded Their 12 Points To This Song: Russia, Moldova

 

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[Vektor 3,326]

Team Challenge Host City

Budapest

 

 

The lineup of the Capitals

•  New Zealand @Wanderer
•  Croatia @dcro
•  Serbia @NikolaB
•  Great Britain @Cinnamon Bun @Quasit

 

In the next few days we will visit the 10 host cities of the team challenge. Our first stop needs no introduction, it's the capital city of Hungary, Budapest. It's by far the largest city in Hungary with its 2 million population and 23 districts. There are so many sights... I could be here all day listing them, so instead of that just watch this video and then I will mention a couple of them that made the biggest impression on me when I lived there.

 

 

I loved the Danube most when I lived in Budapest. I have been in a couple of other cities that the Danube crosses, but there's something special about the river in this city that makes it a unique experience every time I walk on the shore or on one of the bridges. You can see the best of what Budapest can offer here: the Parliament, the Chain Bridge, the Buda Castle, the Gellért Hill, and the Danube itself. If you visit Budapest, go to the Danube first and then pick the locations you find the most interesting there. I would say that the only major sights you can't see at the Danube are the Heroes Square and the Andrássy Avenue, which you can find in Pest. 

 

 

There are many cultural and sport events in Budapest. Pretty much every year Budapest hosts at least one big sport event, this year we had the Men's Handball ECh here and will have the Aquatics WCh. If you are a foreigner who can't speak Hungarian Budapest is by far the best place to be in Hungary, you will find the most people who can speak English here and this is the only city where you will find English language screenings of all the movies that we have in the cinemas. And there's also one big cultural event that I must mention: the Sziget Festival. It's insane how large this event got over the years, it had 500 thousand visitors in 2019, which makes it one of the largest music festivals in the world. You should visit it at least once if you like music festivals.

 

 

Before we move on to the next city let's talk about the sport clubs of Budapest. As you can imagine we have many of them here and the most popular of them is Ferencváros. If you follow the UEFA Champions League you must have heard of them. They have won the national football league 33 times and they also have a very successful women's handball team. Other notable clubs in the city are Újpest, MTK, Honvéd and Vasas. The biggest rivalry is between Ferencváros and Újpest, it's our version of the Real and Barca rivalry.

[dcro 10,210]

Where are They Now? Ninety One

 

 

Totallympics International Song Contests have always been a great opportunity for lesser known musical genres and sub-genres to emerge. Such is the case with Qazaq pop, or simply Q-Pop. Ninety One have been a true pioneers of the genre, and thanks to the Kazakh team selectors, they have been able to present it at several contests. However, ever since their third participation at the 2020 Annual, the group has gone largely unnoticed on Totallympics. Where are they now?

 

The Pioneers of Q-Pop

Ninety One (91) were formed in Almaty in 2014. The group was formed as part of the "K-Top Idols" project, whose objective was to create Kazakhstan's very first "idol group". Upon its formation, the group consisted of five members: Ace, Alec, A.Z., Bala and ZaQ.

 

The name Ninety One was chosen to represent "independence and creative freedom", as it refers to the year when Kazakhstan gained independence from the Soviet Union.

 

The group's debut single Aiyptama! was released in September 2015, to an instant success. It lead the charts in Kazakhstan for 20 weeks. The group immediately won over the younger audience, particularly female, and it was also praised for promoting the use of Kazakh language in music. The group however also faced severe backlash, with some claiming they were "corrupting the youth" with non-Kazakh influence. The backlash peaked in 2016, when numerous concerts and performances got cancelled on "public demand", and in some cases, the group themselves were prohibited from entering the concerts' venues. Insults and death threats galored. Despite the backlash however, the Ninety One's fanbase, known as Eaglez, remained loyal and coined a new term to represent the group's musical expression: Q-Pop.

 

Q-Pop is defined as a modern form of Kazakhstani pop music, sung in Kazakh language, which incorporates elements of Western pop, Kazakhstani hip-hop, EDM, R&B and Toi-pop, with heavy influences of K-pop from South Korea as well.

 

Totallympics Debut

Ninety One got first selected to compete for Kazakhstan at the 2017 Annual held in Great Britain with Qalai Qaraisyn?, a single from their first extended play Aiyptama. Their debut on Totallympics started off with a bang. A silver medal was received from the very first jury of the day (Indonesia). Unfortunately for the Kazakh fans, this is where the ball stopped rolling, as the group from Almaty only managed to add 12 more points during the remainder of the Grand Final. Notably, a score of 9 points was received from the United States. The final tally of 23 points was enough to place them 33rd out of 35 entrants.

 

 

Return in Brazil, Croatia

Kazakh selectors decided to give Ninety One another go the following year at the Jubilee in Brazil. This time they were set to perform the eye-catchingly titled Ah! Yah! Mah!. They placed 33rd again with 40 points. The participation was deemed a great success however, as the maximum 12 points were scored from the American jury. It was in fact the first gold medal ever awarded to Kazakhstan in TISC history. Additionally, a bronze medal was received from the Croatian jury.

 

 

Ninety One returned to TISC once again for the 2020 Annual in Croatia, aboard Bari Biled, an activist entry addressing the climate change. They obtained their best result to-date, finishing 31st with 51 points. Tunisian jury awarded Bari Biled with a bronze medal.

 

 

Where are They Now?

Following their third participation at the 2020 Annual, Ninety One's career at TISC has been put on a back-burner, as the Kazakh team selectors have started promoting the rising star Imanbek instead, who made his debut at the 2021 Annual and is set to return later this week in Hungary.

 

As for Ninety One, the group has continued paving the way of Q-Pop. Their latest extended play was released in December 2020, and several non-album singles have followed suit. Encouragingly, the number of Q-Pop acts in Kazakhstan has continued growing at a steady pace.

Notably however, Ninety One has since been reduced to just four members, as the rapper A.Z. has decided to quit the group in 2020. Amongst the TISC fans, A.Z. is mostly known for his signature rapping part in Ah! Yah! Mah!.

 

 

Where are They Now? Kensington

[Vektor 3,326]

Team Challenge Host City

Debrecen

 

 

The lineup of the Flowers

•  Tunisia @amen09
•  Sweden @Belle
•  Finland @Finnator123
•  Czech Republic @Hipooo

 

Ice hockey team, assemble! Yes, indeed, Tunisia was a secret ice hockey superpower all along. And their team will represent Debrecen, the second largest city in the country with its 200 thousand population. As you can guess by that number, Hungary is very Budapest-centric, all the other cities are quite small compared to it. But if there's a capital of Eastern Hungary, it's definitely Debrecen. 

 

 

I haven't actually been to Debrecen since I was a child so I had to refresh my memory for this post. What I remember the most from my family vacation there is the Déri Museum, their vast collection of paintings, including some from our famous painter Munkácsy, and many other interesting exhibitions. You will also find thermal baths in the city like literally everywhere in the country (I had to cut that part from the Budapest post because it got too long). I hope you like thermal baths because we got a bunch of them in Hungary. There's also the Reformed Great Church of Debrecen, which is the symbol of the Protestant Church in Hungary and was built in the 19th century. 

 

Munkácsy trilogy, Déri Museum

 

But why it it the Flowers? Debrecen's main cultural festival is the Debrecen Flower Carnival which has been held since 1966 on our national holiday, the State Foundation Day on August 20th. The Carnival is now a week long event where you will constantly say "Oh, look, that's *insert something here* made out of flowers!". And there are also a bunch of other cultural programs at the Carnival for the whole family to enjoy. 

 

 

The nickname of Debrecen's football club is "Loki", which comes from their Soviet era name, "Lokomotive". Nope, there isn't a Hungarian sports club with the "Thor" nickname. The Debreceni VSC is actually one of the most successful football clubs of the last two decades, they won the national league 7 times and even qualified for the Champions League group stage once in 2009. I am sorry @dcro, one of my most vivid childhood memories is when Loki, in their first ever Champions League qualifying round, beat the Croatian champion Hajduk Split 3-0 at home and then 5-0 in Croatia. Truly one of the most wtf results of that era for Hungarian football. (And then Manchester United easily eliminated Debrecen in the next round). 

 

[dcro 10,210]

16 minutes ago, Vektor said:

The nickname of Debrecen's football club is "Loki", which comes from their Soviet era name, "Lokomotive". Nope, there isn't a Hungarian sports club with the "Thor" nickname. The Debreceni VSC is actually one of the most successful football clubs of the last two decades, they won the national league 7 times and even qualified for the Champions League group stage once in 2009. I am sorry @dcro, one of my most vivid childhood memories is when Loki, in their first ever Champions League qualifying round, beat the Croatian champion Hajduk Split 3-0 at home and then 5-0 in Croatia. Truly one of the most wtf results of that era for Hungarian football. (And then Manchester United easily eliminated Debrecen in the next round). 

Don't worry. There is no love lost between Hajduk and me.

[Werloc 3,164]

 BELGIUM 

 

One of my favourite R&B-Soul artists is from Belgium and in 2022 she released her third album "Persona" and this one is my personal favourite from the album, hope you find it enjoyable  

 

Selah Sue - Pills

 

 

And with that, I'm actually leaving for four days, funnily enough, amidst all the chaos, the date of the final remained safe (because people that were trying to book me really lowballed the price), so see you on the day of the final  

[Makedonas 2,155]

@Vektor Budapest is a very beautiful city, I went in 2015 (thanks to cheap Wizz Air flights from Thessaloniki ) and spent 4 days there. I loved it! I will have to go back someday to explore other parts of your country as well 

[Vektor 3,326]

Team Challenge Host City

Miskolc

 

 

The lineup of the Cavers

•  Poland @rybak
•  Slovenia @justony
•  Mexico @mrv86
•  France @Benolympique @Bohemia

 

Miskolc is one of our industrial cities, known for its heavy industry. It's the largest Northeastern city in Hungary with its 160 thousand population. It has been inhabited since the Paleolithic times 70 thousand years ago.

 

 

Miskolc is one of the Hungarian cities that I visit annually because one of their main events is the Cinefest International Film Festival, which is the largest film festival in Hungary. You can watch the best movies from Sundance, Cannes and Karlovy Vary here every year in September. And hey, we got a castle in here! (You will say that a lot in Hungary.) The Castle of Diósgyőr was built after the Mongol invasion in the 13th century and it's in great condition, it was renovated in the last decade.

 

Castle of Diősgyőr

 

You might be wondering about the nickname "Cavers". Well, you see, we don't just have a lot of castles and thermal baths in Hungary, we also have a lot of caves, especially in this region. You will learn about the most special one during the Opening Ceremony, which is located North of Miskolc. But Miskolc itself also has a very special cave. Because if we got caves and thermal baths, we must have a thermal bath inside a cave! And so we have here in Miskolc, the Cave Bath, a cave where you can swim in hot water. 

 

Cave Bath

 

Miskolc also has their own famous football club, Diósgyőr, which is currently in the second division, but they quite regularly play in the first division as well. And they have been very successful in the Hungarian ice hockey league, they have won it three times in the 2010s.

[Vektor 3,326]

Team Challenge Host City

Pécs

 

 

The lineup of the Scholars

•  Bulgaria @Federer91
•  Indonesia @Griff88
•  Ireland @OlympicIRL
•  Ukraine @Illya

 

Pécs is the largest city in Western Hungary with its 140 thousand population. It was one of cities selected to be the European Capital of Culture in 2010 and thanks to it the city has seen a lot of development in the past decade.

 

 

The name of the team comes from the fact that Hungary's first university was founded here in the 14th century and today one of Hungary's largest universities is located in Pécs. The city also has a very unique flair to it because it was under Ottoman rule for 150 years, which means that you can find some quite unusual buildings for a Christian country. The most well known is the Mosque of Pasha Qasim, which is one of the largest remaining Ottoman structures in Hungary. Today it functions as a church.

 

Mosque of Pasha Qasim

 

Pécs also has its own football club, but their must successful club was their women's basketball team Mizo Pécs which won the Hungarian championship 11 times and was in the EuroLeague Final four 3 times. Sadly the club ceased to exist in 2012, but two other clubs in Pécs took its place.