The a capella group Fool Moon will sing in the finals of A Dal 2014 this Saturday evening. Miklós Németh, a member of the group, recently caught up with our Hungarian correspondent Judit Sebok to discuss their song, a cappella, rehearsals and the history of their humorously-named group.

Members of your group provided the backing vocals for Csézy at Eurovision 2008. What encouraged you to try to compete at Eurovision for yourself?

We wanted to move into a capella. Two years ago we were asked to compose and perform the theme song for the youth movie “The name of Sherlock Holmes”, which we took with great joy. This was the first step that we should write our own songs inside our own genre. This turned out well. Recently that single appeared on the Best of American A cappella 2013 select disc. Members of the band have been on the Eurovision stage and now we felt that Fool Moon could also apply to Copenhagen. As an additional lucky event, the composer Máté Bella and his manager looked us up, and said that Máté would like to write a song for us.

In 2011 Belgium sent an a cappella group to Düsseldorf, but it missed the final. Will Fool Moon do better?

The Belgian team’s performance was not a failure altogether. Indeed, they called attention to the fact that this genre exists, and that certain bands can do it professionally. Our strength is that we come from a Hungarian choir past. We have clear intonation and resonance. The biggest strength of our performance is the modern, innovative orchestration, and our perfectly timed flick-applause choreography. The melody is easily remembered and the refrain are strengths of the song.

Is singing a capella an advantage or disadvantage in A Dal??

Very few people know the genre in Hungary, or that a cappella could be a popular music genre where the listeners don’t miss any kind of musical instrument, and it is possible to dance. One of the disadvantages of this is that the domestic audience and media know it is difficult to sing this way, and then one does not believe their ears when they hear it. Another disadvantage is the imperfection of the tellies’ loudspeakers. Anyway disadvantage even the imperfection of the tv’s loudspeakers, so we always say listen to a cappella in a live concert.

People have no idea how you prepare a performance like this. How do you put it all together?

We generally rehearse weekly or bi-weekly. We didn’t have much time in this case. It was necessary to draw up the visuals and the sound at the same time. This week we got together three or four times. First, everybody learns his own part. Next we work together, we experiment until the performance. We know it will not be perfect. The past month was the most intense in our lives, but was worth it very much.

Who is your strongest rival? Did you have any favourites?

We cheered Gájer Bálint and Polyák Lilla on, and New Level Empire. Viktor Király is our biggest favourite.

What do you think about the Eurovision Song Contest? Have you got any favourites?

ABBA was one of my favourite. By the way we supported Denmark last year. [Emmelie] dared very much. I liked the happiness of their song and its ease. Fortunately I was not alone with this.

 Judit Sebok contributed this report from Hungary. Follow her on Twitter at @sjudy03 You can also keep up-to-date with the latest Eurovision news and gossip by following the team on Twitter @wiwibloggs and by liking

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Arianna
10 years ago

Love them and it would be a pleasure to see them win! Their melody is certainly memorable and they’re definitely a step up from Witloof Bay’s entry.