Song Number...

A moment before each artist begins their performance, they hear one final booming voice in the arena. It's the announcer calling out the artist's start number and song title:

His announcement sounds tame on this clip, but the artists on stage aren't as easily fooled. Terese Fredenwall, for instance, will hear "Melodi nummer 7, "Breaking the Silence" before her big debut in Malmö on Saturday. Terese sent a Tweet asking if she could put that voice on mute just before her performance to help calm her nerves. The man with the golden voice replied saying he can't be muted but making a bribe might help. (A play on words. In Swedish, mute is muteas and bribe is mutas.) His price? Orange flavored chocolate bars. Nicely played, Sir.

Who is the man with the booming arena voice? Edward af Sillén is the great and powerful wizard behind the curtain. He creates that heart stopping moment before each song with only a few words. He's not just the voice in the air, mind you. He is also responsible for directing every program and writing all those humor sketches for a solid six week stretch. He's directing Eurovision in May on top of all that. This man must be like Benjamin Franklin, who could run on five hours of sleep a night with no problem. Oh, the jealousy!

In a recent morning TV interview, the host asked him about those humor sketches. He said he enjoys writing comedic material because Swedes are so self-assured they can joke about themselves and the humor in Melodifestivalen reflects that self-assurance. I hope he's right. So far, they've joked about metal heads, retirees, and members of the Swedish royalty. If he ever runs into foul play, the police will have a long list of suspects to work through. Someone can write an international best selling mystery after it's all over: The Man who Joked with the Swedish Public.