Welcome back to our new daily series, as we travel back in time and one of our editors picks out a song each day from Eurovisions gone by and puts it into the spotlight. Today is Thursday, which means we move to the 90s and Wiv brings you her pick from the Eurovision archives.
Iceland 1991: Stefán & Eyfi – Draumur um Nínu (15th place, should have won…)
1991 is one of my favorite Eurovisions, with in my opinion at least three winners (none of which won, of course…). And this is the one that speaks to my heart the most.
This is one of those songs that, at least in its own country, takes on a life entirely of its own, totally unrelated to Eurovision. In Iceland a lot of people regard this as their “second national anthem,” some actually refer to it as “the real national anthem”. There is not a single person who can’t sing along to this song, not even among those who claim to hate it. And in the early hours of the morning, at drunken parties, someone is bound to pick up a guitar, and everybody will sing along. If you ever visit Iceland, this has to be on your “to do” list.
My first Icelandic teacher told me that the fact that this is my favorite Icelandic Eurovision entry proves that I have an Icelandic soul. And at my first ever concert in Iceland, Stefán and Eyfi performed this song in the city square, and I sang along, together with thousands and thousands of Icelanders, with tears pouring. This little old man next to me (no, seriously, he must have been 90!) kept patting my shoulder, telling me “everything will be okay.”
On a more serious note, though; for Stefán Hilmarsson this song was the beginning of a massive career in Iceland. He is still to this day one of the best loved singers in the country, and this summer he had a hit with his band, Sálin hans Jóns míns. And he’s one of the “Eurovision greats”, with his six participations; two as lead singer, two as backing vocalist and two as songwriter.
