Totallympics Open International Song Contest 2020

[dcro 10,210]

56 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

Just noticed it now, but are you sure that wasn't Annemiek van Vleuten?  

At least you didn't mistake her for Niki Terpstra.

[heywoodu 15,135]

Delegation location 9 - Vierhouten

We go up north from Apeldoorn once again and find ourselves not very far away from Staverden in yet another small location: Vierhouten, a little and pretty quiet town in the woods. The name literally translates to something like 'four woods', most likely this name came into existence because of the four forests surrounding it.

It's a bit of a touristic place, since it's located in the forests and next to what's apparently called heathland in English. For a very long time, Vierhouten was a typical farmer's village, which lasted until somewhere in the mid-20th century. A lot of the centuries old farms disappeared, were rebuilt or burned down - basically only one, built before 1820 and possibly already in 1650, is still intact, although not really operating as a farm anymore, but as a holiday house instead.

 

De Jonge Stee, the main former farm still in existence in Vierhouten

There is one main thing around Vierhouten and that has to do with relatively recent history: a few kilometers outside of town, there is the 'Hidden Village'. During the Second World War, a relatively large amount of people were hidden from the German occupiers there, including Jewish people, resistance fighters and a British pilot who was shot down not far away and escaped being caught.

 

Entrance to one of the rebuilt living quarters in the Hidden Village

The Hidden Village, sadly, has a tragic ending, but in between all the fun stuff, I do think it's an important story to tell for history's sake: one day a young boy was getting some water, but when crossing a small opening in between the trees, a German soldier spotted him. He got some reinforcements and the hidden village was hidden no more. A total of 78 people managed to escape, but eight were caught and all of them were executed basically immediately - apart from one elderly lady, who died due to sickness. Part of the village has been rebuilt, so one can go there and enter the (rebuilt) living quarters while walking around in the forest.

 

Inside the forest, next to one of the forest roads, a small monument has been made for the Hidden Village inhabitants who were caught and executed in October 1944, six of them at roughly this location

 

To close out Vierhouten, we would like to point out there is of course not just tragedy there - otherwise we wouldn't place anyone in the town. There's a hotel which was often used by the royal family when going on their hunting vacations - not to worry, they're not doing that anymore. The main positive thing about Vierhouten is it's market in the autumn, when the new season starts for all kinds of meat - deer, boar and so on. They are majestic animals indeed, but if numbers are not controlled to some extent, the entire ecosystem is endangered, especially the boar can be...destructive.

 

The end of summer and the beginning of autumn is an excellent time in Vierhouten!

 

Delegations in Vierhouten

 Denmark

Mexico

Israel

[heywoodu 15,135]

And apologies for entering a tragic tale like that of the Hidden Village into this otherwise festive event, but I really couldn't let TOISC at the Veluwe go by without giving it some attention. I've picked my bike and went there a few times and even though the village itself is really not big (there's three or four of these reconstructed living quarters I believe), walking around there really makes one think about times long gone.

[dcro 10,210]

Cobi: "Official Languages Give More Diversity to the Competition"

 

 

Cobi has taken over his nation's TISC duties by storm, leading Spain to two Top 10 results in as many participations. What is the secret? Well, we will attempt to uncover the secret of Cobi's voting patterns in an interview to follow...

 

Q: How do you go about evaluating TISC entries? Do you use a specific system when picking out your Top 12?

A: I have used the same system the three times I have participated. During my first listening, I classify the songs into 3 different groups: very likely to get points, possible to get points and unlikely to get points. In case I have at least 18-20 songs combining the first two groups, the songs of the third group are discarded from the second listening. During the second listening, I rank the songs within each group, and I discard a couple more songs from the second group.

 

I try to have 16 songs for the third listening when I listen to the songs following the inverse order of my personal ranking. During this listening, I just rearrange some positions, but the order is usually quite similar to the one I reached in the previous listening. In case I have doubts about a particular position, I listen again to the songs before taking a decision.

 

Q: And what about the maximum 12 points? Can you recognize it immediately? Or do you take a certain amount of time before deciding on it?

A: It depends. I usually have 2 or 3 songs fighting for the 12 points after the first listening, but I take the decision after listening to the songs a second time.

 

Q: Do you have a favorite music genre? Is there any genre you would like to hear more of on the TISC stage?

A: I do not have a favorite music genre. I would like to hear more songs in the official language of the country. In my opinion, it gives more diversity to the competition.

 

Q: How important are lyrics to you?

A: It depends on the genre and the language. When the song is in a romance language (Spanish, Portuguese, Italian or French) or English, I usually pay more attention to the lyrics when rating a song. In other cases, I focus more on music and only look at the lyrics if I find that the content might be relevant to understand the purpose of the song.

 

For example, in this edition, I felt the necessity of understanding the meaning of the songs of Croatia and Hungary before deciding my ranking, but it was not the case with Indonesia. Analyzing the lyrics of the song does not necessarily mean that I am going to rank the song higher. In fact, sometimes this has a negative impact if I consider that the lyrics are inconsistent or do not complement the music.

 

Q: And finally... How can we get 12 points from Cobi?

A: That's a difficult question to answer! Instead of specifying a genre, I would say that I am more likely to give 12 points to those songs that impress me. Maybe because the song is different compared to the other participants, catchy music...

 

In the case of Open events, I have to admit that I am slightly biased towards nostalgic songs that remind me of past times. Still, even though I am quite likely to give points to these songs, I have never given them the 12 points yet, so it is a way to get some points from me, but probably not the first spot of the ranking.

 

If Cobi's musical preferences still feel like a jigsaw puzzle - maybe this will help. Our new Spanish juror has outlined the following entries as favorites during his two TISC participations...

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

Stay tuned for more user interviews to come, as we count down to TOISC 2020...

[konig 1,504]

17 hours ago, dcro said:

VOTING POSITIONS		18	Argentina
1	Israel	19	Croatia
2	Denmark	20	Portugal
3	Italy	21	United States
4	Slovenia	22	Netherlands
5	Poland	23	Serbia
6	India	24	New Zealand
7	Spain	25	Germany
8	Moldova	26	Egypt
9	China	27	Indonesia
10	Bulgaria	28	Canada
11	Brazil	29	France
12	Lithuania	30	Czech Republic
13	Ireland	31	Hungary
14	Slovakia	32	Kazakhstan
15	Great Britain	33	Greece
16	Tunisia	34	Mexico
17	Romania	35	Malta

 

 

 

Team Allocation

 

 

 

	Staverden Ghosts
1	Israel
8	Moldova
15	Great Britain
22	Netherlands
29	France

 

 

 

 

	Ermelo Riders
2	Denmark
9	China
16	Tunisia
23	Serbia
30	Czech Republic

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

	Harderwijk Dolphins
3	Italy
10	Bulgaria
17	Romania
24	New Zealand
31	Hungary

 

 

 

 

	Elburg Botters
4	Slovenia
11	Brazil
18	Argentina
25	Germany
32	Kazakhstan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

	Veluwe Vipers
5	Poland
12	Lithuania
19	Croatia
26	Egypt
33	Greece

 

 

 

 

	Apeldoorn Gorillas
6	India
13	Ireland
20	Portugal
27	Indonesia
34	Mexico

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

	Nunspeet Wolves
7	Spain
14	Slovakia
21	United States
28	Canada
35	Malta

Can be this in thye first page?

[dcro 10,210]

  

Dnl: "Catchy Tune and Good Message Are the Ideal Combo"

 

 

We love our debuting nations, and the most recent one has been Israel, who joined us for the first time earlier this year in Croatia. Their leading juror Dnl is no novice, however. A former radio D.J., Dnl's music insights extend beyond the TISC stage. As Israel is scheduled to open up the voting proceedings in the Netherlands, we are anxious to get some sort of an idea of what to expect...

 

Q: How do you go about evaluating TISC entries? Do you use a specific system when picking out your Top 12?

A: When I listen to any entry, I use my elimination system. I listen to the song and read the entry details in the thread, and also read the lyrics if I don't understand them. Then I let it "sink in" and then go on to the next song.

 

I repeat this process for 3/4 days. If I still enjoy listening to a song, for me, it's a top 12.

 

Q: And what about the maximum 12 points? Can you recognize it immediately? Or do you take a certain amount of time before deciding on it?

A: I need to finish my 3/4 days to truly know. Also, I tend to put the songs I like to my close ones to see and hear their reactions, it's always essential for me that they share their opinions to find my top 12-6-3, and eventually the number 1. Also, I find it helpful to put certain songs in certain situations, in order to really "feel" them.

 

Q: Do you have a favorite music genre? Is there any genre you would like to hear more of on the TISC stage?

A: Even though I'm still young I had the opportunity to work at a local radio station and had my own choice of songs, so after a while, I started not to have a certain genre [type]. I really enjoy songs from the '80s, and earlier, so they are more of my "type" I guess.

 

Q: How important are lyrics to you?

A: For me, lyrics are important. I find that a good combination of "catchy" tune or music, that give me a sort of feeling, and a good message are the ideal combo.

 

 Q: And finally... How can we get 12 points from Dnl?

A: For me, the song must be a song that will get "stuck" in my head, the type you occasionally hum to yourself and the kind that I could work on my program and put in the background.

 

If Dnl's musical preferences still feel like a jigsaw puzzle - maybe this will help. The Israeli juror has outlined the following entriy as favorite during his TISC debut...

 

Spoiler

 

 

Stay tuned for more user interviews to come, as we count down to TOISC 2020...

[dcro 10,210]

One day following the 2020 Annual live draw - Zagreb, Croatia was hit by a destructive 5.5 earthquake

One day following the 2020 Open live draw - Croatian coastline was hit by a 4.7 earthquake, second strongest of the year

 

But this is TISC we are talking about, so no surprise here...

[mrv86 3,138]

7 hours ago, heywoodu said:

Just noticed it now, but are you sure that wasn't Annemiek van Vleuten?  

You're completely right.

 

My apologies to van Vleuten.

[mrv86 3,138]

6 hours ago, dcro said:

At least you didn't mistake her for Niki Terpstra.

Or Wüst for Kramer 

[mrv86 3,138]

6 hours ago, heywoodu said:

Delegation location 9 - Vierhouten

 

Entrance to one of the rebuilt living quarters in the Hidden Village

 

Delegations in Vierhouten

 Denmark

Mexico

Israel

I just love my location. Small, surrounded by woods  and with a link to WWII.

 

Thank you.