When Spirits Are Calling My Name

The song "When Spirits Are Calling My Name" (original Swedish title "När vindarna viskar mitt namn", literally translated as "When the Winds Whisper My Name") was performed by Roger Pontare in the 2000 Eurovision Song Contest, in which Pontare represented Sweden.

"When Spirits Are Calling My Name"
Eurovision Song Contest 2000 entry
Country	Sweden
Artist(s)	Roger Pontare
Language	English
Composer(s)	Peter Dahl, Linda Jansson, Thomas Holmstrand
Lyricist(s)	Peter Dahl, Linda Jansson, Thomas Holmstrand
Finals performance
Final result	7th
Final points	88
Entry chronology
◄ "Take Me to Your Heaven" (1999)
"Listen To Your Heartbeat" (2001) ►

Celebration of indigenous culture

The song extols the traditions of indigenous peoples and their efforts to protect their territories and cultures. For his solo appearance in 2000, Pontare wore a Sami costume associated with the indigenous population of Lapland in northern Sweden (and also the northern regions of Norway, Finland, and Russia). On his performance at the Eurovision Song Contest, Pontare was accompanied by an Cree Indian dancer, a Thule Eskimo and a Norwegian Sami.

Eurovision Song Contest 2000

At Melodifestivalen 2000 contest, Sweden hosted its 40th show to select their entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest which was being held in the Globe Arena in Stockholm. Roger Pontare won the right to represent after his song "När vindarna viskar mitt namn" was chosen by the Swedish public after earning 227 points in the final voting results at the 40th edition of Melodifestivalen. The song was performed in English as "When Spirits Are Calling My Name"

Pontare represented Sweden at Eurovision Song Contest 2000 which was held at the Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm, Sweden, because Swedish singer Charlotte Nilsson had won the contest Eurovision Song Contest in 1999 with "Take Me To Your Heaven" when the Contest was in Israel.

At the song's climax, flames erupted from two vents at the front of the stage.

The song performed in 18th after Croatia and before FYR.Macedonia, the song finished in 7th place among 24 other competitors including Germany's Stefan Raab and Latvia's Brainstorm, with 88 points in total.

Popularity

"När vindarna viskar mitt namn" was also released as a single in 2000, which sold Swedish platina (30 000 copies). The single peaked at #3 at the Swedish singles chart. On 22 April 2000 the song directly entered Svensktoppen, where it stayed for two rounds. On 6 May 2000 the song was down at the third place after peaking for two weeks. On 5 August 2000 the song was 9th, being at the list for 16th at last time.

Covers by other bands

Swedish bands Ultima Thule and HammerFall later covered "När vindarna viskar mitt namn".

Track listing

1. När vindarna viskar mitt namn - 2:58
2. När vindarna viskar mitt namn (singback) - 2:58