It all started when some people got angry because the jury votes was worth as much as the people's decision, despite the fact that this had been known to everyone involved long before Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins started. Then some people didn't like RÚV's decision not to make the jury members' names known to the public. And, believe it or not, just to make the charade complete; some people claim that "Mundu eftir mér" is "stolen"...

(Les denne artikkelen på norsk.)

1) Jury votes vs people's decision

Ahead of this year's Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins RÚV decided to change the voting method. They wanted the same method of voting that is used in Eurovision Song Contest; 50/50 jury votes and telephone votes. All the songwriters were informed about this change when they submitted their entries to the competition. Several people escNorge has been in touch with, among others Greta Salóme Stefánsdóttir (picture at the bottom), songwriter and lyricist of "Mundu eftir mér", confirm this, and so does RÚV in this statement from February 13th.

After having checked all the Icelandic websites we thought could have written something about this, looking for previous statements about this subject, we have come up with precisely nada. Which is more than a little strange: One would think that if you're opposed to this way of doing things it would be only natural to say so in advance, not only after the fact. No one has as much as mentioned this being a problem, before now. All of a sudden it's really terrible that the jury has the same influence as the viewer's votes. This position would be a lot more credible had it been voiced before the competition. Perhaps it would be an idea not taking part in the contest if you disagree so strongly with it's rules?

Since they have received some reactions on the new voting method after this year's Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins, RÚV will now look into the possibility of making some changes for next year. The jury is here to stay, and so is the 50/50 split. A possible change is the introduction of a second voting round, based on the way it's done in the Danish Melodi Grand Prix, Jónatan Garðarsson (RÚV) says. Most likely the top two entries after the initial voting will move on to a "super final" where only telephone votes will decide which will eventually win. Flosi Jón Ófeigsson, member of OGAE Iceland (pictured above), says that this would be a good solution in case RÚV wants to make some changes.

Is it possible that these very dissatisfied people might not be as upset over this way of doing things if the result had been in their favor? Just asking...

2) The names of the jury members have not been made public

Initially, RÚV didn't want the names of the jury members made public, as they wanted the jury votes to be seen as one vote. However, after getting quite a few reactions to this secrecy, they have now changed their mind. On Wednesday February 15th the list of names was published on the RÚV website.

The members of the jury, for both the final and the semifinals of Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 2012, are;
Kristín Björg Þorsteinsdóttir, former tv host, chairman of the jury
Álfheiður Erla Guðmundsdóttir, teacher, vocal coach and singer
Davið Olgeirsson, singer and songwriter
Kristjana Stefánsdóttir, singer
Magnús Kjartansson, musician
Logi Pedro Stefánsson, bass player in the band Retro Stefson
Þórdís Schram, dancer and singer

Eyrún Elly Valsdóttir, member of OGAE Iceland informs us that both Magnús and Davið have participated in Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins as songwriters, in 1988 and 2006 respectively. So the Eurovision-connection is there, but the music competence was the main factor when the jurors were chosen.

In the televote "Stattu upp" was in first place, having beaten "Mundu eftir mér" by 700 votes. "Hugarró" got he people's third place. The jury had the same three songs "on the podium", but in a different order; "Mundu eftir mér", ahead of "Hugarró" and "Stattu upp". This means that when the points were added up "Mundu eftir mér" won, ahead of "Stattu upp" and "Hugarró". Now we also know that the jury's choice of first place was unanimous.

3) The claim that "Mundu eftir mér" is "stolen"

On Monday February 13th the small website Ný Tónlist (New music) published an article claiming that "Mundu eftir mér" is "stolen". In the article they published links to both "Mundu eftir mér" and "Álfakóngurinn" (The Elf King), the song they say has been stolen from. For good measure they also added a version of "Mundu eftir mér" where they had changed the speed of it to match the speed of "Álfakóngurinn".

Even after listening to all three links several times we are completely unable to find any similarities whatsoever. The only thing the two songs have in common is that they are both sung in Icelandic, and they share the same kind of atmosphere.

The composer of "Álfakóngurinn", Heimir Sindrason, says that he can't hear any similarities between the two songs either. He has listened carefully to both songs after being told about the alleged theft, but says that after listening to "Mundu eftir mér" he couldn't even guess which of his songs it was supposed to resemble. And after watching last Saturday's performance of "Mundu eftir mér", he says he's flattered if someone thinks his song is even remotely like it. In his opinion both songs are inspired by the Icelandic national heritage, but other than that they are totally different from each other.

Greta Salóme tells escNorge that Heimir called her as soon as he heard about the claims and they had a good laugh about the whole thing. They both agreed that the songs were nothing alike. At the time he told her that he didn't even know which of his songs they were talking about. Greta also points out that if writing music in the same style as other songs was a crime, well; in that case all the songs in the final had to be concidered stolen...

So; the so-called "news of "Mundu eftir mér" being stolen" didn't even last the day. And rightfully so.

After having spoken to a lot of people about this, both artists, songwriters, journalists and fans, it seems that claims of plagiarism or theft show up almost every year after the Icelandic entry to the Eurovision Song Contest has been selected. Eyrún (OGAE Iceland) says that finding ways of degrading the winner seems almost like an old habit, something that certain people just do, almost automatically. As Jónsi said it; "Well, it's always like this. No surprise there." 

The opinion among everybody I've talked to is quite unison; this is just a lot of nonsense. According to Eyrún most people in Iceland seem to be very happy with "Mundu eftir mér" being their entry in Baku.

Sources; ruv.is, pressan.is, visir.is
Pictures; Wivs@escNorge