21 February – Listen carefully to the sound of water

Do you remember the times when countries had to sing in their national languages? It was easy for some – German all the way, for example. Or a choice of obvious ones if you were Switzerland.

But if you were slightly clever – as some countries were – you could play with some variety and pick a language that’s spoken on your territory, even though it might not quite be official. And that happened with the song from today’s birthday boy Kali (né Jean-Marc Monnerville) is a West Indian and used Haïtian Creole in his little song in 1992. You have to admire the French for experimenting like they did, and it just made the contest just a little bit richer. And who doesn’t like a bit of this sort of thing in our favourite TV show?

Kali is 60 today.

Bòn fèt/Bonne anniversaire, Kali!