Hungary 2016: A Dal shortlisted artists announced

372 entries were submitted for A Dal, the Hungarian Eurovision national selection. These were narrowed down to 30 and have now been officially announced – the list includes a certain András Kállay-Saunders and his band…

It was down to a ten member jury to select the 30 artists for A Dal 2016. Balazs Medveczky, director of  Duna TV (part of the MTVA umbrella co-operation of Hungarian public media services), sounded pleased in regards to the entries submitted:A lot of good applications were received’, he commented.

On consecutive Saturdays, there will now be three quarter finals (23rd January, 30th January and 6th February) followed by two semi finals (13th and 20th February) before the Hungarian representative for Stockholm is decided at the A Dal 2016 Final on 27th February. The result will be decided by four professional jurors: Zséda, Pierrot, Miklós Both and Károly Frenreisz whereas, according to A Dal’s official website (in Hungarian), ‘the fifth member of the jury this year will be the audience’. Singer Zséda, a multi award winner, is a new addition to the A Dal jury: ‘Already, I have really enjoyed the pre-selection, I feel good with the other judges and members of the production team, I am looking forward to continuing with great excitement’, she stated.

Indeed, after the good publicity that the Hungarian national selection has received in recent years, there seems to be extra confidence around the production of A Dal 2016, which is to be presented by Csilla Tatár and Levente Harsányi. Among other additions, the revamped website for the event at www.mediaklikk.hu/adal will now include extra backstage and participants material as well as fan competitions.

See what you think by listening to the short audio clips (released on the official A Dal website) provided next to each song title of the 30 strong participants list, which is alphabetically as follows:

  1. André VásáryWhy LISTEN
  2. Anna PataiColors LISTEN
  3. B The First – You Told Me You Loved Me LISTEN
  4. Bálint Gájer – Speed Bump LISTEN
  5. Benji – Köteltánc LISTEN
  6. ByTheWay – Free To Fly LISTEN
  7. C.E.T. – Free LISTEN
  8. Egy Másik Zenekar – Kéne közös kép LISTEN
  9. Fatima Mohamed – Ott leszek LISTEN
  10. Freddi – Pioneer LISTEN
  11. Gergő Oláh – Győz a jó LISTEN
  12. Group’n’Swing – Szeretni fáj LISTEN
  13. Ív – Love Kills Me LISTEN
  14. Jázmin Török – Power Of Love LISTEN
  15. Júlia Horányi – Come Along LISTEN
  16. Kállay Saunders Band – Who We Are LISTEN
  17. Karmapolis & Böbe Szécsi – Hold On To LISTEN
  18. Laci Gáspár – Love And Bass LISTEN
  19. Maszkura és a Tücsökraj – Kinek sírjam LISTEN
  20. Misztrál – Reggeli Reggae LISTEN
  21. Mushu – Uncle Tom LISTEN
  22. Nika – Beautiful Love LISTEN
  23. Odett – Stardust LISTEN
  24. Olivér Berkes – Seven Seas LISTEN
  25. Parno Graszt – Már nem szédülök LISTEN
  26. Passed – Driftin’ LISTEN
  27. Petra Veres-Kovács – Singing Peace LISTEN
  28. Petruska – Trouble In My Mind LISTEN
  29. Reni Tolvai – Fire LISTEN
  30. Szilvia Agárdi – It Is Love LISTEN

Of note is the presence of Kállay Saunders who, along with his ‘Band’, appears on the list (no. 16). The artist represented Hungary as a solo act in Eurovision 2014 with Running and ranked 5th out of the 26 countries performing in the grand final that year, thus achieving one of the best Eurovision results for the country to date.

Hungary in the Eurovision Song Contest

Hungary tried to compete in 1993 but failed to qualify from a special preliminary round set up for seven former Eastern bloc countries wishing to debut in Eurovision that year. The country got the chance to compete the following year however when, with Friderika Bayer singing Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet? (To Whom Can I Tell My Sins?), it achieved its best Eurovision placing to date. Hungary has since missed eight contests, in 1999-2004, 2006 and 2010 and, since its return to the contest in 2011, has never failed to qualify for the grand final. This year in Vienna, the country finished 20th (out of a record 27 countries performing in the grand final) with Boggie and Wars For Nothing.

In our video below, you can watch András Kállay-Saunders performing his top ten finisher entry Running on the 2014 Eurovision stage of Copenhagen’s B&W Hallerne.

Source: EuroVisionary, mediaklikk.hu (A Dal), Wikipedia.
Read more in the news archive

Liked what you've read? Subscribe to our Eurovision news!