A-ba-ni-bi - Grupo Música

The Portuguese Grupo Música released their last single in 1978, featuring covers of 'A-ba-ni-bi', the Israeli winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest that year, originally performed by Izhar Cohen, and 'Det blir alltid värre framåt natten', the Swedish entry originally performed by Björn Skifs. 

Grupo Música remains as anonymous as the sleeve of this single looks, and after 1978 no futher singles were released. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6920
Found: Discogs.com, received 21 March 2023
Tracks: 'A-ba-ni-bi' / 'Quando a noite vem'

A ave e a infancia - Grupo Música

Grupo Música is another one of those anonymous acts who were busy recording covers of Eurovision songs. This single is their first release, I think, featuring the winning song of the 1977 edition, 'L'oiseau et l'enfant'. In Portuguese that becomes 'A ave e a infancia'. The B-side is a cover of 'Mathema Solfege', the Greek song which ended up in fifth place that year. 

According to Discogs, António Sala is the only identified member of Grupo Música. It's always a bit of a mystery who else was involved in this recording, although producer Correia Martins at least gets a mention on the back sleeve.

My collection: 7" single no. 6919
Found: Discogs.com, received 21 March 2023
Tracks: 'A ave e a infancia' / 'Licao de Solfejo'

Guarda os teus beijos para mim - Acetato

There's some more Portuguese covers of Eurovision songs in the batch of singles I received recently. This one was released in 1976 and features the number 1 and 2 of that year's competition: 'Save your kisses for me' (UK) and '1, 2, 3' (France). In Portuguese, that would be 'Guarda os teus beijos para mim' and 'Um dois tres'. 

The tracks were recorded by Acetato, an anonymous act who released nothing else, just this one single. As a result, the names of the four members of Acetato, pictured on the back sleeve, remain unknown.

My collection: 7" single no. 6918
Found: Discogs.com, received 21 March 2023
Tracks: 'Guarda os teus beijos para mim' / 'Um dois tres'

Eurovisão 1966 - Isabel Fontes

I do love covers of Eurovision songs, for some reason, and sometimes there's a particular twist that really interests me. This EP features not one, but four Eurovision covers, all from the year 1966, in Portuguese. It includes the winning song from that year, 'Merci Chérie' (Austria), 'Dio, come ti amo' (Italy), 'Ne vois-tu pas?' (Switzerland) and 'Yo soy aquel' (Spain).

The EP was recorded by Isabel Fontes, a Portuguese singer who has gone missing in the mists of time. A listing on Discogs reveals that she released three EP's between 1966 and 1977, but Wikipedia has no information about her at all. These days, Isabelle Fontes is a Brazilian model who lives in the USA.

My collection: 7" single no. 6917
Found: Discogs.com, received 21 March 2023
Tracks: 'Deus, como te amo', 'Mas, tu nao ves?' / 'Merci Cheri', 'Eu sou aquela'

Um grande, grande amor - José Cid

Although I already own 'Un grand, grand amour' 13 years already, somehow I never got my hands on the original Portuguese version of this Portuguese entry of the Eurovision Song Contest in 1980. Fortunately I was finally able to correct this omission recently by way of an order from a Portuguese dealer on Discogs.

'Um grande, grande amor' finished seventh in a field of 19 competitors, which was Portugal's best result up until then. It's easy to see why: with its catchy refrain of  'Addio, adieu, auf Wiederseh'n, goodbye / Amore, amour, meine Liebe, love of my life' it was accessible to all those who couldn't understand Portuguese and the disco tempo also did its thing.

My collection: 7" single no. 6916
Found: Discogs.com, received 21 March 2023
Tracks: 'Um grande, grande amor' / 'Barbara'

Ka' du se hvad jeg sa'? - Kirsten & Søren

Kirsten & Søren represented Denmark three times during the Eighties, and always with schlager-informed ditties that were either infectious or irritating depending on your own preferences. I already owned the original version and the English and French versions of their last attempt, but I didn't know until recently that there was also a 12" single featuring four versions of 'Ka' du se hvad jeg sa'?'. 

This 12" single, housed in a beautiful picture sleeve by the way, adds a German version and it completes the set for me. 

My collection: 12" single [unnumbered]
Found: Discogs.com, received 7 March 2023
Tracks: 'Ka' du se hvad jeg sa'?', 'Who is wrong and who's right?' / 'Hab ichs dir nicht gesagt?', 'Ecoute moi mon amie?'

Efter stormen - Marie Fredriksson

I discovered Marie Fredriksson's solo material after she joined Per Gessle and started the Roxette phenomenon. During the Nineties they were always on the radio with their pop songs, sometimes great, sometimes inane. But what Marie did as a solo artist was much more interesting. Certainly her albums 'Den standiga resan' and 'I En Tid Som Vår' are among my alltime favourite albums by any artist.

'Efter stormen' was taken from an earlier album of the same name, released just after Roxette had started, in 1987. The title track is a decent pop track although the rest of the album never really grabbed me. 'Efter stormen' was Marie's first top 10 hit in Sweden, peaking at number 7. 

My collection: 7" single no. 6915
Found: Discogs.com, received 15 March 2023
Tracks: 'Efter stormen' / 'Varmt och djupt'