Eurovision and MGP artists to cover each other’s songs on TV2 this fall

“Hver gang vi møtes” (Every time we meet) is one of the most popular shows on Norwegian tv. It is a concept where seven artists meet once a week over the course of a couple of months to cover each other’s songs. Every week “belongs” to one of the artists, and all the others perform their own version of one of his/her songs. This coming season will be the seventh in the series.

Previous editions

In previous seasons we have met artists such as Alexander Rybak, Anita Skorgan, Wenche Myhre, Åse Kleveland and Margaret Berger. Some of the covers have turned into huge hits in Norway, while others have been received less kindly. Last year we saw Margaret Berger and Åse Kleveland do rather alternative cover versions of each other’s MGP/ESC entries. Listen to Margaret’s cover of “Gi meg fri” (Set Me Free), Åse’s other entry from Melodi Grand Prix 1966, here.

This year’s participants

TV2 never comment on names until later in the summer, but several Norwegian entertainment sites have revealed six names today. This means there is one name still to come, as there are always seven artists taking part. Since the names haven’t been officially confimed, we might have gotten some of them wrong, but we don’t think so!

Finn Kalvik

Finn Kalvik represented Norway at the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest with “Aldri i livet” (Never in My Life). He finished last, giving Norway their second 0 points in four years, their third in total. Aldri i livet has later grown to be a classic in Norway. Many people claim that it is a song that is carried by its lyrics, and because of that it was never going to do well at Eurovision.

Tor Endresen

16 years after Finn’s participation it was finally Tor Endresen’s time to go to Eurovision! He had taken part in Melodi Grand Prix no less than nine times, so it was probably just his year. Most Norwegians believe that he should rather have won MGP with either “Café le Swing” (90) or “Radio Luxembourg” (92).  Both these songs became very popular in Norway, and they are still played on the radio fairly regularly. It is of course hard to say how well either of these songs would have done at Eurovision. However, they could hardly have done worse than “San Francisco”, which finished last, with 0 points…

Tone Damli

Tone Damli participated in Melodi Grand Prix in 2009 with “Butterflies”, which became a big hit in Norway. She finished second, beaten only by Alexander Rybak. Tone first rose to fame in Norway in 2005, after finishing second in Idol. She has released six albums, so the others have enough songs to choose from when deciding which song to cover.

Tshawe Baqwa

After Norway’s third time hosting the contest, in 2010, one of the biggest hits was…the interval act! “Glow”, which was performed by the duo Madcon, became a hit all over Europe, charting in 14 countries! It also got loads of airplay in several Asian countries, Australia and the US. Tshawe Baqwa, one half of Madcon, is the fourth participant in this year’s “Hver gang vi møtes”.

Silya Nymoen

SiLyA is another familiar name for those of you who have been following Melodi Grand Prix in recent years. She participated in MGP 2011, with her own song “Euphoria”…and she also hosted Melodi Grand Prix alongside Kåre Magnus Bergh in 2015 and 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsGu_Az0O3Y
So far, the only non-Eurovision/MGP singer to take part in Hver gang vi møtes this season, is Christel Alsos.
So; will we get Eurovision artists covering each other’s Eurovision entries? Tone doing Euphoria? Finn doing Butterflies? Tor doing Glow? SiLyA doing Aldri i Livet? Tshawe doing San Frencisco? For now; I haven’t the foggiest idea! But fear not; if this happens, we will let you know!