The Swamp

We made it. The final Week of Round 1. Welcome to Week 10. From last week, Kiribati, Fiji and Taiwan advance into Round 2.

For tournament format, go to original Post.

Week 10, Round 1, Group 10 (Guinea, Antigua and Barbuda, Namibia, Krygyzstan, Djibouti, Armenia, Gabon, Tibet, Botswana)

Vote for as many as you want. Anthems are below, in most cases, I have tried to find a solo singer version. Voting is from Monday to Monday.

[+] spoiler

Guinea


Antigua and Barbuda


Namibia


Kyrgyzstan


Djibouti


Armenia



Gabon


Tibet


Botswana

Wednesday bump

A couple soul-stirrers here!

Kyrgyzstan and Armenia's anthems were so rousing, they make me want to join their armies and kill their enemies. "Your own fate is in you hands" (Kyrgyzstan) and "Blessed is the one that dies for the freedom of his nation." (Armenia)

Guinea has a nifty tonal shift when the questions are asked. I like it and Namibia's. Also Botswana ("The Happy Land") worked for me.

Djibouti sounds like a demo tape, Antigua sounds like a campfire song, Gabon goes on and on and Tibet's is a lullabye.

Friday bump

i'm definitely finding it a challenge to rank the song vs the performance. I've definitely been swayed both ways on these (e.g. Antigua as campfire song made me laugh, Pruitt, and also made me not pick it).

Namibia was traditional but honestly i found it rather stirring. Kyrgyzstan I felt like I was standing on an Olympic podium - there's some power in that one (note to Kyrgyzstan producers: cut that bitch down to about 1:20 and it's a hit; nobody needs the extended remix but i voted for you anyways). Tibet sounds almost exactly like a song that was on some mix CD we played for our daughter when she was an infant to help her fall asleep. Botswana suckered me in with their gorgeous nature video and i love the flag colours; i was able to ignore the bad production and arrangement on it this time. This time....-> if you make it to the next round, I'm gonna need the rock version.