2006

 

• Hosted in: Bucharest, Romania

• Won by: Russia – Vesenniy jazz by The Tolmachevy Twins

2006 is the first of 16 subsequent editions of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest that the UK didn’t participate. Part of the reason that caused the inevitable withdrawal is the lack of interest from the show’s target audience in the UK – which affected a small part of their blunder the previous year, therefore lost their motivation over an otherwise novel contest. Despite this, the show continued to be presented in English. Not that it helped anyone, but at least the commentators had it, given their basic knowledge of the language.

Last year we saw the winner’s honor going east – to Belarus. So it’s no surprise that the contest itself is heading east too to Bucharest. Still no “winner gets to host”…

We were immediately greeted by Ioana Ivan – the first kid to either host or co-host the song contest. The opening act consisted of a circus-like act so crazy Ioana couldn’t stop it. She had to rely on a Vampire instead because Romania. The rest of the show saw her being so loud, so annoying, so irritating, that before the interval act, even her hosting partner Andreea Marin had to admit that she’s naughty. Everyone would eventually agreed that only kids more mature than Ioana should host, and in later years, former JESC contestants.

With Belarus winning last year and Romania hosting, the Eastern European bloc showed up hard. Serbia returned—but now solo, without Montenegro—and brought a group of fearless foreign language teachers. Yes, that’s their band name, singing in an array of languages. They finished fifth. FYR Macedonia gave us a literal song called “Vljubena” by Zana Aliu. And yes, it was as aggressively catchy, she’s kind of born in the wrong country here because her song is a literal Samba with some traditional Macedonian flavor. Unfortunately to made the great wooden spoon list this year. Our hosts meanwhile sent “Povestea mea” by New Star Music. They really desperate to catch some votes since clearly I saw Harry Potter and Spider-Man there! The Netherlands gave us Kimberly, who sang “Goed.” Just “Good.” It was… okay. Meanwhile Greece sent Chloe, who crooned her way into our hearts with an elegant ballad and angel wings so large they might have caused a stage hazard. Both of these however would find themselves on the bottom half of the table.

As for the surviving members of the big three that used to dominate the first two years of the contest – no member of the big three actually finished on the podium for the first time – Spain actually just missed it by a whopping 26 points behind Sweden. Another ballad for Spain, which no doubt would made Maria Isabel dig her own grave. While Croatia also hit a low – not an all-time low because of recruiting Dino Jelusick’s sister last year, But sixth from last.

Russia decided to show up for the first time and immediately took the trophy. That’s right, The Tolmachevy Twins walked in, sang “Vesenniy jazz” (Spring Jazz), and won the whole thing with a level of precision and stage charm that made everyone else look like they were at a school recital. Matching outfits? Check. Perfect harmonies? Check. They slayed. Not only did they win, but they did it by a comfortable margin and set up a future adult Eurovision comeback in 2014, where they find themselves in a see-saw.

Presentation and format

As aforementioned, the show was co-hosted by Ioana Ivan (the most annoying Eurovision host in history) and Andreea Marin, and was hosted at the Polyvalent Hall of Bucharest. This was the first JESC to be held in December. The voting procedure is exactly the same last year, albeit the live feed of the spokesperson appeared BEFORE the host reads out the first five points given by the relevant country. Which leads to some awkward stuff. The phone lines now opened at the start of the show. This year’s trophy is a pinwheel on a plinth and additionally received a batch of actual pinwheels. Despite Ksenia Sitnik was present, it’s clear that Ioana Ivan broke tradition by handing over the trophy instead.

While the contest is yet to adopt a logo that is similar to its adult counterpart, the wordmark of the contest now uses Eurostile Extended Bold – the same as the adult version, alongside the penultimate version of the singing girl icon holding a – you guessed it – pinwheel. A similar logo would be used in 2007.

The postcards starts with an animation of the singing girl then the performers introducing themselves and their song on a cartoonish background, as this has been the case since 2004.