Saturday, May 9, 2009

United - Kun rakkaus voittaa


Today we start the countdown to Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow. We shall present 7 Finnish covers of past years Eurosongs. But - as a kick-off - we of course listen to the Eurovision theme song. Our frequent contributor Fredi recorded "Kun rakkaus voittaa" (When love conquers) in 1972. It was a vocal version of a prelude to baroque composition called "Te Deum, H. 146" written by French Marc-Antoine Charpentier in the end of 17th century. It is better known as the signature tune for the European Broadcasting Union, heard in the opening of the Eurovision Song Contest and other Eurovision events. However, the version that Fredi actually covered, was done by German singer Drafi Deutscher. He had several hits in Germany as a singer but he also composed several worldwide hits for Boney M and and Tony Christie.

Updated on 06.08.2010: added Miguel Rios' original English language version.

Here's the pair:

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Actually Drafi Covered another version himself. "United" was first recorded by Miguel Rios in the aftermath of " Song Of Joy".

DM said...

Thank you for pointing out Miguel Rios. The song 'Unidos' was on his eponymous 1971 album. When I get hold of it, I will publish the song here.

Arrowman said...

Sorry, anom ... but as DM pointed, Drafi made it with the name "Unidos" ... "Himno de la alegría" (Hymn of Joy) was an extract of the last movement of the ninth symphony of Beethoven and Rios sang it in 1969 First in Spanish and then for US sale in English

Arrowman said...

P.S. ... "Song of joy" was performed by KIRKA in Finnish titled "Ilon laulu" It was released as a single and on his 1969 selftitled album