Martin Isherwood from the United Kingdom, Sharon Vaughn from the United States and Stano Simor from the Czech Republic represent diverse music scenes in their respective nations with their contributions duly noted across the year. Their aim in joining this feature is to see what lies beneath each track of this years' edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. The first semi-final along with the three finalist countries voting there have long been concluded and yesterday marked the conclusion of the acts competing in the second semi-final as well, leaving only the remaining direct finalists, which amount to three. Attention turns to France whose broadcaster, France 3 will be represented by Amandine Bourgeois and the track L'Enfer et Moi composed by David Salkin to the lyrics of Boris Bergman. 

In 2008, Amandine won “La Nouvelle Star” (French Pop Idol). The audience instantly fell under the spell of her warm and hoarse voice, both powerful and fragile at once. In 2009, her debut album 20m² is certified Gold. For her second album Sans Amour Mon Amour in 2012 she records in the famous Abbey Road studios in London, with Amy Winehouse and Plan B’s staff. Amandine uses her inner emotions to sing, to write and feed her inspiration. Amongst some of her most beautiful memories: a duet she performed with Scorpions, and opening for Johnny Hallyday’s concerts in the historical Royal Albert Hall venue in London.

Amandine is proud and honoured to represent France at the ESC. She wanted to offer the audience a song she felt completely at ease with, a song close to who she was. L’Enfer Et Moi, written by Boris Bergman and composed by David Salkin, is in perfect harmony with her personality. For her fans and for the Eurovision Song Contest, she swears to give it her all! David Salkin began percussion. Then, he learned drums and guitar. At 15 years old, he was the drummer for the French singer Pierre Vassiliu during his first tour. He composed for Kadja Nin, Raoul Petite and Pierre Vassiliu, and played on stage and in studios with some of the best French singers, such as Alain Bashung, Jacques Higelin, Zazie, Florent Pagny, Stephan Eicher and Ismaël Lo.

Boris Bergamn is a very famous French writer. He was born in London of Russian origin, and arrived in France at the age of 14. In 1968, he created the lyrics of the song Rain And Tears, one of the big hits for the Greek band Aphhrodite’s Child. Then, he wrote for a lot of very famous French singers, such as Nana Mouskouri, Juliette Gréco, Richard Anthony, Dalida, Michel Delpech, France Gall, Patrick Juvet, Régine, Gérard Lenormand, Nicoletta, Christophe, Catherine Lara, Nicole Croisille, Marie Laforêt and Alice Dona. Boris Bergman is well-known by the fans of the Eurovision Song Contest. In 1973, he wrote the song Un Train Qui Part for Monaco (8th place). In 1975 he began again writing for Monaco with the song Une Chanson C’est Une Lettre (13th place).

Until the millennium, France was one of the most successful countries in the Eurovision Song Contest managing to reach the top ten on several occasions, whilst also managing five victories in total, the last one coming back in 1977 with the song L'oiseau et l'enfant performed by Marie Myriam. In recent years, there have been a number of internal selections but despite enlisting notable artists, at times the live performance did not live up to the success and thus the result was somewhat disappointing. Last year, the country was represented by Anggun and the song Echo (You and I) which only managed to garner some points thanks to the jury as the public awarded her the dreaded 'nil points'. Their last top ten result was achieved back in 2009 with Patricia Kaas and her song Et S'Il Faillait Le Faire finishing in eight place. 

Professional Critics Voice their Opinion

Rating: 67%

Martin Isherwood: Strong voice with loads of character Good chorus Unusual snare sound at the start and interesting arrangement. Starts out like a French Amy Winehouse with a touch of Duffy and finishes like Adele 'rolling in the deep'. In the final anyway.

Sharon Vaughn: I love the feel and texture of this track/song ... it is a little different and that is good news.

Stano Simor: Amandine has a very good voice and French lyrics in general sound extremely sexy. Due to the fact that France is already competing in the final, they will most likely not be coming with a certain attitude to achieve success. It is a pleasant song to listen to but technically with minimal ambitions to reach a high position on the night of the final.

Source: eurovision.tv

France is one of the most successful countries in the Eurovision Song Contest  by virtue of winning the competition five times but then again, their last victory came at the hands of Marie Myriam with the track L'oiseau et l'enfant way back in 1977 when the juries had a one hundred percent say in the final results and the music was played live by an orchestra. There have been a lot of changes to the event since then as well as the participation of the country with the broadcasting agency also changing hands through France Televisions. The latest host of the Eurovision Song Contest is France 3 and since having taken up the role in 1999, their results have not really been all that positive, noting only three top ten results since then, those coming in 2001, 2002 and 2009 but nevertheless, they are ready to face the challenge with a brand new attitude as they confirm their participation in Sweden where the event will be hosted next year.

Thierry Laglois said that France will not quite the Eurovision Song Contest for two particular reasons, the first being that they are one of the founders of the European Broadcasting Union and the second one being that the event is the best way to reach their respective audience noting that last Saturday there were four (4) million people who saw the event. It seems that they will not be vying to get more well known artists with Langlois adding 'we cannot afford known personalities to suffer such setbacks'. This comes to light following an interview that Anggun gave following the Eurovision Song Contest where she stated that she was humiliated by the result. It seems that Bruno Berberes' initial idea for 2013 will come into play as a national final featuring up and coming acts will be taking place next year although this is still to be confirmed by France 3. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for the latest news as soon as it becomes available.

Source: France 3