Portugal

Todas As Ruas Do Amor Flor-de-Lis

"Sou a voz do coração numa carta aberta ao mundo..."

There aren't many countries in Eurovision that have been as frequently and unfairly overlooked as sunny, pine-scented Portugal. Over the years they have given the contest some of its most poetic entries, set amid swaying stalks of golden corn and along coastlines peppered with picturesque Portugueseness. No other nation has stuck as proudly to the now largely defunct requirement for its songs to exhibit some national flavour, and in doing so it has made the top 10 just nine times in more than 40 attempts and never troubled the top 5: as learners they are either very slow or very principled. Either way, 2009 once again sees them attempting to win the hearts of the European audience with a song that couldn't come from any other country: the gloriously colourful Todas As Ruas Do Amor.

Flor-de-Lis should take some solace from the fact that Portugal's best ever result at Eurovision came in 1996 with the equally charming and upbeat O Meu Coração Não Tem Cor and that its most recent crack at the top ten came in the form of their entry of two years later, Alma Lusa's similarly themed Se Eu Te Pudesse Abraçar. In fact, bookended in the 1st semi by Finland and Malta, Todas As Ruas Do Amor forms part of a trilogy that harks back to the 1990s in a number of ways. Unlike the preceding Finnish entry, which is a perfect specimen of the kind of '90s music we never got at ESC, the Portuguese song is a perfect example of the kind of '90s music that made the decade one of the more successful for the country at the contest.

Uncomplicated without being simple and straightforward without being one-dimensional, Todas As Ruas Do Amor is likely to appeal to far more viewers than just those in neighbouring Spain and Andorra. Its delightful orchestration should strike chords from the shores of the Atlantic across the Mediterranean to the Gulf of Aqaba, while standing it in good stead with juries for its effectiveness and lightness of touch. The fact that it sounds like nothing else in the entire contest - let alone the 1st semi - would suggest that if the audience are going to go for it at all, they'll go for it in a big way. With a memorable performance, Portugal may at long last be looking at its first top 5 finish.

Of course, that's precisely where Flor-de-Lis could come unstuck. Gone are the days when your Lúcia Monizes could do nothing other than be perky behind a microphone with a ukulele and expect it to translate into lots of points; not in the televoting era. And yet lead singer Daniela Varela seems as stuck for staging ideas as Alma Lusa's Inês Santos, making do with a couple of twirls and a bit of clapping. Whether this will be enough to engage an audience already treated to men on stilts and girls in hotpants is anyone's guess: we can only hope so. I'm certainly not advocating an overweening production number that detracts from the charm out of the song. As sunny, upbeat folk songs go, Todas As Ruas Do Amor is one of Portugal's best, and deserves to do well on its own merits.