"Kaelakee hääl" ("Voice of the necklace") is a song performed by

Maarja-Liis Ilus Maarja-Liis Ilus, sometimes better known by her performing name Maarja (born 24 December 1980) is an Estonian pop musician and presenter. She has represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest twice. She was only 15 when she participated in ...

and

Ivo Linna Ivo Linna (born 12 June 1949 in Kuressaare) is an Estonian singer. Eurovision Song Contest and Eesti Laul He represented Estonia alongside Maarja Liis Ilus in the Eurovision Song Contest 1996 in Oslo with the song " Kaelakee Hääl" (The Sound ...

that represented in the

Eurovision Song Contest 1996 The Eurovision Song Contest 1996 was the 41st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held on 18 May 1996 at the in Oslo, Norway. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcaster (NRK) and presented by Ingvild Bryn and ...

. The composer was and the lyrics were written by .Lyrics
/ref> In the Estonian preselection Eurolaul, the winner was selected from 13 entries by an international jury. After the voting, "Kaelakee hääl" was tied by points with "Me rõõm ei kao" ("Our happiness won't disappear") by , but was declared winner because it had received more top votes of 10 points. The song was performed eleventh in Eurovision, following 's Mariana Efstratiou with " Emis forame to himona anixiatika" and preceding 's

Elisabeth Andreassen Elisabeth Gunilla Andreassen (; born 28 March 1958), also known simply as Bettan, is a Norwegian-Swedish singer who has finished both first and second in the Eurovision Song Contest. Career Her talent was discovered in 1979 by Swedish musician an ...

with " I evighet". At the close of voting, it had received 94 points, placing it 5th out of 23. On stage with Maarja-Liis Ilus and Ivo Linna were instrumentalists Taavo Remmel (bass), Glen Pilvre (keyboards) and Roland Puusepp (drums). Backing vocal was provided by Anne Värvimann. It was succeeded as Estonian representative at the 1997 contest by Ilus, performing solo, with " Keelatud maa". The female solo had not been written for Maarja-Liis Ilus in the first place but for another popular singer,

Evelin Samuel Evelin Samuel (born 13 May 1975) is an Estonian singer, songwriter, musical theater performer, author of children's books and participant in the Eurovision Song Contest. Career Evelin Samuel has been singing since childhood and was even record ...

who had to turn the offer down for an upcoming tour in Japan. Priit Pajusaar then asked Ilus at short notice. She then recorded her parts whilst Evelin Samuel got her tour cancelled shortly after the replacement. The male lead on the other hand had been sung by Ivo Vanem in a demo version but was later replaced by a more experienced Ivo Linna. Maarja-Liis Ilus' and Ivo Linna's significant age difference initially caused some questions, because the songtext talks about the separation of two lovers. The author, Kaari Sillamaa, therefore wrote alternative lyric, however both Ilus and Linna felt that the original text was better and jointly decided to stick to this. Ilus and Linna did not meet in person until actually performing the song on stage. Even then, during Eurolaul final, Linna was on a tour and Maarja-Liis Ilus had to mime to Ivo Linna on a big screen.

Translations

Two English versions were made of the song, the first "Away from Home", sung by Ilus and Linna, and the second titled "Just a Dream Away", which was recorded by Ilus and Swedish singer Mojje in 1997 for Ilus' album ''First in Line''. Ilus also recorded the latter with Greek singer Yiorgos Doukas (Duke), including a version with some

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

lyrics added in, titled "Pali esena that onirefto" (). Cover versions have been made in various languages, including in Finnish and Swedish, and a

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

version by a group from the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaelakee haal Eurovision songs of Estonia Eurovision songs of 1996 Male–female vocal duets 1996 songs Maarja-Liis Ilus songs Songs in Estonian