Tonight: Final in Estonia

Estonia is one of the four countries having its final tonight. Last year they did well and tonight's line up is very interesting once again. When? 20.30 CET. Where? Here.

3 Pead - Poolel teel

Marten Kuningas & Mahavok - Oota mind veel

Mimicry - New

Tiiu Kiik - The one and only love 

Violina ft Rolf Junior - Maagiline päev

Disko 4000 - Ei usu

Iiris Vesik - Astronaut

Lenna Kuurmaa - Rapunzel

Groundhog Day - Tesite seest kõigile

Robin Juhkental - Siren

Tonight: Final in Greece

Only seven songs remain in the Greek final after two disqualifications and one withdrawel. The fan favourite seems to be Opa but my favourite would have been Eleftheria had she been here. Read more here. Final tonight unless they strike again over there.... When? 21.00 CET. Where? Here.

Christos Hatzinasios - Illusion
Second Skin - Game of life
Manos Pyrovolakis ft Eleni Furreira & Don't Ask - I kivatos tou Noe
Giorgos Alkaios & Friends - Opa
Yiorgos Karadimos - Polamao
Melisses - Kinezos
Emigre - Touch me deep inside

Tonight: Final in UK

Your country need you! pr the UK national election for Oslo 2010 will take place tonight. The concept os the same as last year: a famous composer, one song and several artists belting it out and televoters deciding who did it the best. This time the song is written by Peter Waterman with Mike Stock of PWL fame, the late 80's-early 90's British hitfacotry modelled by the 60's original Motown in the States. Alexis, Miss Fitz, Josh, Karen, Uni5 and Esma made it to this stahe from the internal selections. Graham Norton presents again.
When? 21.30 CET. Where. Nowhewre outside UK.

Tonight: Final in Germany

Tonight the final in Germany. Two girls made it to the final in the casting shows by Stefan Raab & co. Lena Meyer-landrut or Jennifer Braun for Oslo 2010? And the song for Germany 2010? It will be all out tonight starting at 20.15 CET. Where? Here.

Welcome #181: British Virgin Islands!

Just when I was recovering from wondering who visited be from Uganda here comes another one: British Virgin islands! The number 181! Welcome!

Ex-winners: Does it pay off to return?

Every now and then previous Eurovision winners want to try it again and this year we have Ireland's Niamh Kavanagh. She won back in 1993 with wonderful In your eyes and tries again this year with It's for you. Let's see how it has been for the previous returning winners in the past....

So far only Johnny Logan, also for Ireland, has managed to win Eurovision twice; in 1980 with What's another year and in 1987 with Hold me now.

Italy's Gigliola Cinquetti came close in 1974 with Si as she was only beaten by ABBA. She won ten years earlier with Non ho l'etá. Also Lys Assia for Switzerland and Elisabeth Andreasson for Norway have scored a second place after their win. Lys took part three years in a row and came 1-8-2 in 1956, 1957 and 1958. Elisabeth on the other hand won with Hanne Krogh in 1985, came 6th with Jan Wener in 1994 and finally went solo in 1996 and scored a 2nd place. 

Isabelle Aubret won in 1962 for France with Un premier amour and went on to score a third place 6 years later with La source.

Another French lady, Anne-Marie David first won for Luxembourg in 1973 with Tu te reconnaitras and then also scored a third place 6 years later for her native France with Je suis l'enfant soleil.

Israel's first winner Izhar Cohen returned in 1985 with Olé olé and came 5th after winning in 1978 with A-ba-ni-bi.

Same fate for Sweden's Carola who won in 1991 with Fångad av en stormvind and came 5th in 2006 with Invincible.

Sometimes it doesn't go that well. Corry Brokken won for the Netherlands in 1957 and the year after came to shared last place. Hanne Krogh who won with Elisabeth Andreasson returned with another group Just4Fun in 1991 but scored only 17th. 

Even worse for Sweden's Charlotte who won as Nilsson in 1999 with Take me to your heaven but didn't even make the final in 2008 as Perrelli with Hero The juries saved her though, and eventually she made 18th in the final. Surely not what she was expecting.... So, generally returning goes well. Don't you think?

Sweden: International juries have a say

Melodifestivalen 2010 has something new again. As the past three Swedish entries have failed miserably - for the Swedish stardards at least: The Ark 18th, Charlotte Perrelli 18th and Malena Ernman 21st - and have been accused of being "too Swedish" last year the international jurors had a little bit to say but this time they do have a lot more power. Six national local juries have been replaced my juries from Russia, Ireland, Norway, Serbia, Greece and France as "they represant the different musical cultures in Europe" in hope to pick up the right song this time. However, as the televoting is still on when their votes will be announced the Swedes can still turn it all around in case their favourite didn't impress the judges. Isn't there a risk of a bad compromise then? Why not just announce all the votes when the televote is closed?

Russia: Il testo di Antonello Carozza???

Ma i russi sapevano di che cosa stava cantando Antonello? Il testo piena di coca, cazzi, culi, seghe e chi piú ne ha piú ne metta.... Ecco, se non si puó mandare la canzone in Sanremo mandiamola in Russia! Bravo....  Senza respiro davvero. Ma per la veritá dal vivo si é autocensurato e la canzone tutto sommato non é male per niente. Anzi.. Scarica il mp3 qui.

Kuunkuiskaajat back to #1

Kuunkuiskaajat have re-entered the most played songs chart in RadioSuomi as #1. The girls have been busy doing some TV, interviews, the video and such since January. Today they are back to YLE to film the so called "director's video" for Oslo 2010 as well as visiting Radio Sputnik, the Russian speaking radio station in Finland, some magazine shooting and so on.... 

In the most played songs chart we have also Vuokko Hovatta (5.), Muska (8.), Paula Koivuniemi (11.), Laura Voutilainen (13.),  Janne Raappana (14.), Katri Helena (16.), Anna Eriksson (17.), Marion (18.), Ressu Redford & Jussi Rainio (19.), Johanna Pakonen & Eija Kantola (21.), Arja Koriseva (24.), Aikakone (27.) and Mikael Konttinen (37.) so the Euroviisut stars are doing pretty well! Full list here.

Welcome #180: Uganda!

African state of Uganda becomes the 180th country visiting this blog! Welcome!

ESC 2010: We have presenters!

Who will follow Åse Kleveland, Ingvild Bryn and Morten Harket? They are Nadia Hasnaoui, Erik Solbakken and Haddy N'jie! Nadia will be the scoreboard lady and takes care of that part of the show in all three nights. Erik & Haddy will be stage presenters and as they don't have to be infront of the scoreboard during the voting they will be in the greenroom with the artists. Now that's something new :-) Much better than the last year's idea of different presenters for semifinals and final. It just didn't work out well.
Nadia Hasnaoui (46) is half-Moroccan where she was born. At the age of 4 she moved to Norway and has been working in TV since 1991 on both NRK and TV2. In 2004 she hosted the Junior Eurovision song contest.
Haddy N'jie (30) is half-Gambian singer, TV-presenter, journalist, author and songwriter. She has been presenting some most succesful Norwegian shows, including an 8 hour long annual charity show.
Erik Solbakken (25) is a very popular TV-host and writer. He has been working mostly with kid's programmes and is very popular especially with younger generations.
Here they are.

Sanremo still rules the charts in Italy - now with videos!

The Sanremo acts are still strong in the charts in Italy. The winner Valerio Scanu takes over the #1 spot in singles with his Per tutte le volte che... and is #2 in albums. Malika Ayane, the moral winner who didn't even make the superfinal despite the orchestra's protests (they gave 50% of the votes) is #2 in singles with her Ricomincio da qui and #3 in albums. The runner up Marco Mengoni is #4 in singles with Credimi ancora but #1 in albums. Noemi, another televote loser is having her revenge here being #3 in singles with Per tutta la vita and #5 in albums. Arisa's Malamorenó stays at #5 in singles but her album has disappeared from top-20, while Povia's La veritá is #8 in singles and his album sits at #18. Irene Grandis' La cometa di Halley completes the singles top-10 at #9 while her album is at #16. In albums we have also Sonohra #8 and Nina Zilli at #12. No sight of Enrico Ruggeri on top but here's the video for his La notte delle fate. The other videos are only a click away!

Sweden: Erik Saade attacks the idols

This year's Melodifestivalen final has three ex-Idols (four if you count in also presenter Måns Zelmerlöf) in it and that has made one other finalist, Erik Saade give out some harsh critic: "I'm so glad I have done it the long hard way and not through some Idols. I have worked my career myself". Well, he seems to forget he isn't unknown to TV either after having been a presenter in Disney Channel! Anna's response was that she is very proud to have been part of the Idols, and Darin says it has been a great school for him about working in TV and it gave him a chance as an artist. Ola says that if they all four are still around and here now, proves they have it, Idols just gave them the chance to be heard.

Darin is from Idols 2004 where he was the runner up. Ola Svensson and Måns are from Idols 2005 where they finished 8th and 5th. Finally Anna Bergendahl is from Idols 2008 and she finished 5th.

Sweden: Anna Bergendahl hits #1

Anna Bergendahl is concidered the biggest favourite by the bookmakers and Aftonbladet readers (and me, btw) to win Melodifestivalen and go to Oslo 2010 for Sweden. A lot has changed since a nervous and shy 16-year-old took part in the Swedish Idols two years ago. "I have been to India. It changed my whole way of thinking and seeing things. A year ago all this fuss would have been just so stressful, now it only makes me stronger" she says. "It feels great to be a favourite but I still hardly can believe I beat names like Peter Jöback and Pernilla Wahlgren in the semifinal!" She spent her time in India doing a project, living in an orphanage, visiting hospitals and health centers. "I saw it all. It gave me a new perspect for life". Her biggest adversary in Oslo 2010 would be Tom Dice from Belgium who has a similar song and presentation. "I saw his video. I's fantastic, what a voice! I don't see him as a threat even if his performance is a bit similar to mine. It would be an honour to meet him, just like Saturday night to be on same stage with Jöback and Salem, my idols!"

Her This is my life went to #1 in the Swedish Single's chart and also  #1 in Digilistan!

Anna Eriksson: Mad girl's love song

Anna Eriksson has released second single and video Mad girl's love song from her first album in English, self-penned and self-produced Garden of love. Watch it here and the first single Garden of love here. Her risk is paying of and now she is eyeing the Scandinavian markets to start with....  And just for the sake of it, here is cover of ABBA's When all is said and done live in 2008. Her album made it to #3 in the Finnish album charts last week equaling her previous record, let's see if she still goes up this week....

Darin's acoustic You're out of my life

And here's another Melodifestivalen 2010 finalist and wildcard Darin with an acoustic version of his You're out of my life.

Peter Jöback's Hollow video

Peter Jöback, one of the Melodifestivalen 2010 wildcards and finalists has released the video for his song Hollow. Here.

Tu te reconnaitras... 37 years later

One of the finest Eurovision winners of all times is Tu te reconnaitras sung by Anne-Marie David in home soil in Luxembourg in 1973. She was visiting Israel recently and got together with Israel's 2010 hope Harel Skaat. Together they make magic again. A good song is a good song and actually Harel does a great job with it, too! This has made already most blogs and websites but it is so good I want to share it here, too. Enjoy!

Germany: 4 becomes 2 tonight

The German selection of the singer for Oslo 2010 is wrapping up this Friday but tonight we have the last elimination round where the four remaining acts become two. Kerstin Freking, Lena Meyer-Landrut, Jennifer Braun and Christian Durstewitz are still in the running. When? 20.15 CET.
Update: The finalists are Lena Meyer-Landrut and Jennifer Braun.

Round up - the 2010 songs so far, vol 2

I presented the first 14 songs here and here are another 15. We only miss 10 now to be selected mostly over the next weekend. Some very strong entries here like Turkey and Ireland and I personally like also Bulgaria and Belgium.

Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Turkey, Ukraine

Me and my guitar for Belgium

Belgium goes very James Blunt-ish with Tom Dice and his Me and my guitar. From the "less is more" school of Eurovision.  Hmm, it could work.

MUSIC GROUP OF PETER NALITCH FOR RUSSIA!

Apparently I didn't learn my lesson last year and am watching the Russian final again. 25 songs. I ranked 7 as ok and 15 as total crap. Three songs can be saved and they are Elena Esenina with her elegant ballad, Buranovskiye babushki or the grannies from the mountains - by far the most entertaining and sympathic entry of the evening - and Princessa Avenue. I hope one of these will be the winner.... But what an earth was Antonello Carozza doing there with his Italian song? It was one of the better of the evening, which tells it all... And now Dima Bilan on stage. Not participating but as a guest, doing Believe. And after him the Russian JESC runner up Ekaterina Ryabova. She's much better than ... well, most everyone tonight! And now we have Alexander Rybak again. He opened the show with Fairytale and now we hear Europe's skies.

Well, I never saw this coming. Lost and forgotten by Music group of Peter Nalitch won! Some Slavic melancholy with 70's feel, guys next-door in flannel shirts.... It was lost and forgotten amongst the others indeed. I didn't even realize it was in English the first time around! Russia surely tuned down the Eurovision brightness!
It got 20,9% of the votes followed by Oleg Bezinskih with 16,1%, the grannies with 12,9%, Jet Kids with 11,8%, Pavla with 10,9%, Alexander Panayotov with 10,6% and Ana with 10,1%. 

Belgium: The entry presented tonight

Tom Dice was announced the Belgian entrant already last year, actually he was the second name known after Bulgarian Miro. But only tonight we will hear the song that gets number 28 our of 39. Since he was selected the Eurovision 2010 has turned very male and ballady. But who is Tom Dice? Found out in tonight's show and hear the entry. I wonder if they have had several songs in the running and if the chosen songs in other countries have influenced them as they have been able to take account of that? The show will be available here. 21.15 CET.

Israel: Harel's songs online

The four songs by Harel Skaat for Eurovision 2010 are now online. Listen to them here. The Israeli KDAM of national selection will be held March 15. Four equally nice songs in my opinion. Hard to tell them apart in the first listening. That's not maybe a good sign is it?

Tonight: Final in Russia

Russia will have its final tonight and after listening most of the entries this year one can only think Dima Bilan's White nights would have been easily on top of the list, which tells a lot! Expect changes in the line up or at least in the songs and titles, and possible wildcards. After all it's Russia! My hopes are on Princessa Avenue. The rumours insist Dima Bilan would be a wildcard and designed winner. Let's see.

When? 19.00 CET. Where? Here.

1. Princessa Avenue - Lovers
2. Jay Stever - I love, I love, I love you
3. Ana - Dva golosa
4. Miusha -
5. Para-bellum - Ptitsa
6. Pyotr Suhov - Ya uletayu
7. Oleg Bezinskih -
8. Natalia Terekhova - Everything
9. Jet Kids -
10. Pavla - Infatuated
11. Ekaterina Frolova - Tout va bien
12. Ed Shulzhevskiy - Without you
13. Peter Nalitch - Lost and forgotten
14. Buranovskiye babushki -
15. Alexander Panaiotov - Maya showtime
16. Nano - Take it away
17. Natalia Damas and L'brand - Much closer
18. Alena Roxis - My tears
19. Antonello Carozza -
20. Polina Kozhikova - For you
21. Los Devchatos -
22. Yulika - Delate
23. Elena Esenina - Mir bez tebya
24. Alaska - Piastry
25. Scenakardia - Styokla

FILIPA AZEVEDO FOR PORTUGAL!

Filipa Azevedo beats Catarina Pereira with one point and goes to Oslo 2010 with Há dias assim. These two songs were the only ones I noticed in the very mediocre Portuguese final. The jury favoured Filipa giving 12 while the televoters came 12 to Catarina.

No.	Performer	Jury	Tele	Total
1	Filipa Azevedo	12	7	19
2	Catarina Pereira	6	12	18
3	Vanessa	8	6	14
4	Trocopasso	5	8	13
5	The Agency	10	2	12
6	Nuno Pinto	7	5	12
7	Ricardo Martins	2	10	12
8	Seis Po' Meia Dúzia	3	4	7
9	Gonçalo Tavares	4	3	7
10	Jorge Guerreiro	1	0	1
11	Rui Nova	0	1	1
12	Filipa Galvão Telles	0	0	0

PAULA SELIG & OVI FOR ROMANIA!

Strange night. Also the Romanian winner gets full points from both televote and jury. Paula Selig finally makes it to Eurovision after several tries previously - kust like Olia Tira in Moldova - and brings along Ovi, a Romanian who lives in Norway and participated in the Norwegian final last year. Together they Play with fire!
I wanna hear Paula belting out those high notes live. Even Monica Aspelund and Maja Bladgan have failed in that in the past....

No.	Performer	Jury	Tele	Total
1	Paula Seling & Ovi	12	12	24
2	Luminiţa Anghel, Tony Tomas & Adrian Piper	6	10	16
3	Cătălin Josan	8	8	16
4	HotelFM	10	4	14
5	Paula Seling & Kamara Ghedi	7	6	13
6	Lora & Sonny Flame	4	7	11
7	Anda Adam & Connect-R	0	5	5
8	Zero	2	3	5
9	Alexa	3	2	5
10	Răzvan Krivach	5	0	5
11	Dalma	0	1	1
12	Alexandra Ungureanu	1	0	1
=13	Pasager	0	0	0
=13	Tina G.	0	0	0
=13	Lulu & The Puppets	0	0	0
=13	Lucia Dumitrescu	0	0	0

SUNSTROKE PROJECT & OLIA TIRA FOR MOLDOVA!

Sunstroke Project & Olia Tira have won the Moldovan final with Run away. Olia has tried to get to Eurovision like a zillion times before but never won. This year she had three songs in the running but she withdraw first one, then the other in favour to this one. Also Sunstroke Project had another song shortlisted but they withdraw it as well. It paid off.

FEMINNEM FOR CROATIA!

Feminnem won both the televote and the jury vote and goes to Oslo 2010 for Croatia with Lako je sve! They already represanted Bosnia-Herzegovina with Call me in 2005 and gained 14th place.

Melodifestivalen - Second chance - Pernilla and Jessica to Globen!

After the shocker - see below - the webcast is back. A bad one it is but it is there. What happened to SVT? And off to the first duel, Pain of Salvation vs Pernilla Wahlgren. This one's hard for me as I think Pain of Salvation's Road salt is fantastic, a real show stopper and such different from the rest, or from anything really. Love it! And then there's Pernilla, my dear Pernilla I have been following since 1985... Oh well, I secretly was hoping Pain rule over her but no, Pernilla won the first duel!

Of to the next one, Pauline vs. Crucified Barbara. Both of these leave me a bit cold. Pauline is fun for sure but I am not sure it's something I would ever put in my mp3... On the other hand Barbara's song is something Hanna Pakarinen could make wonders with so... and I guess Pernilla will beat them easier than Pauline so my vote goes to them! And... OMG, I was joking but hey, they qualified and will try to beat Pernilla later!

Next we have Kalle Moraeus & Orsa spellmän vs Neo. No secret here I go for Neo! Kalle's song is far from wonderful in my books while NEO is the BWO we don't have this time around. But no, Kalle it is :-( And we have come to the next duel between real veterans, Alcazar vs. Jessica Andersson. I guess I should say Alcazar but I'm not so convinced with their entry this time - and I loved them last year.... And I have never been a Jessica Andersson fan but I do like her song a lot. A bit like Empty room did it for Sanna Nielsen for me turning my attention to her for the first time. I leave this open, anything goes. I should have said Jessica when I wanted to as it is Jessica! Alcazar goes home.,..

And 8 became 4. Next we have again Pernilla vs. Crucified Barbara. Ok, Pernilla all the way to Globen now! And the last duel is Kalle vs Jessica and for me it's Jessica!

And yes, Pernilla goes to Globen! Yuhuu! And Jessica goes with her! :-)

Sweden: Is this a joke?

I love you... for Ukraine

Ukrainian televoters and juries (and me) agreed that Vasily Lazarovich will sing I love you.... in Oslo 2010. The jury critizised his English and the orchestration but that can be still worked on. It got 14 points or max from both and I know and Shine of your star came second with 8 points and Adrenalin and Don't wanna lose you got 3 points.

Tonight: Final in Ukraine

Vasyl Lazarovich will perform all songs tonight and the winner will be chosen 50-50 televote-jury. When? 18.00 CET. Where? Here.

Adrenalin
I know
Shine of your star
Don't wanna loose you
I love you...

Ok, after hearing the songs I think I love you will win. Or maybe Don't wanna loose you. However I love you was the one he seemed most comfortable performing. Beautiful ballad that where he was able to use his beautiful voice to the fullest. I also liked the mix of English and Ukrainian in it. Or the jazzy I know? It sure it is classy. But Adrenalin maybe has the best staging... Good staging overal for all entries. And I'm so pleased we will have something anti-Lobodaish from Ukraine for a change!
On this night of play-back while waiting for the results after a string of random Ukrainian artists here are the Oslo 2010 goers Eva Rivas, Miro, Sopho and Safura. Safura performed Drip drop which isn't yet announced as the chosen song but I think it is now chosen as it sounded very good amongst the others and the other songs considered just aren't that good while Drip drop has something.

Tonight: Final in Portugal

Portugal will be one of the five countries having its final tonight and 12 songs made it to the final after two semifinals and initial internet selection. It looks like in both semifinals we had major surprises and some pre-contest favourites didn't even make it to the final. Let's see what the Portuguese choose tonight! When? 22.15 CET. Where? Here.

Here they are:

1. Filipa Galvão Telles - O amor não sabe
2. Banda Trocopasso - O mundo de pernas para o ar
3. Jorge Guerreiro - Ai Lisboa
4. Ricardo Martins - Caminheiro de mim
5. The Agency - É assim que as coisas são
6. Seis Po' Meia Dúzia - Pássaro saudade
7. Nuno Pinto - Fogo lento
8. Catarina Pereira - Canta por mim
9. Filipa Azevedo - Há dias assim
10. Gonçalo Tavares - Rios
11. Vanessa - Alvorada
    
12. Rui Nova - Uma canção à Cid (O sol e as estrelas)

Tonight: Final in Croatia

Croatia will have its final tonight. The qualifiers from semifinal will meet the direct qualifiers When? 20.15 CET. Where? Here.

1. Alibi - Prvi pogled
2. Franka - Na tjovim rukama 
3. Marta Kuliš - Preporodena 
4. Tihomir Kožina - Za koga si se cuvala 
5. Žiga i ŽVS Druge - Blagdani
6. Sabrina - Golu si me skinno
7. Viva - Zadnja kap života 
8. Đani Stipaničev - Nek nam bude lijepo

These eight qualified last night:

• Feminnem - Lako je sve
• Valungari - Vol or ne vol
• Klapa Iskon - Vrime za kraj
• Carla Belovari - Sada osjećam to
• Swing Mamas - Trio tulipan
• Doris Teur - Ti me ne zaslužuješ
• Frano Krajcar - Jobrni je jobrni
• Giuliano Djanić - Moja draga

Tonight: Final in Romania

Romania joins Moldova, Croatia, Ukraine and Portugal and has its final tonight. Sixteen names with many familiar ones and a tribute to Michael Jackson. Many potential entries were cut out by changing the rules afterwards concerning the release date. Watch all the preview videos here. My favourite might be Dalma who sound very much like Laura from Estonia, doesn't she? Also Zero and Catalin Josan are once again amongst my favourites, will they make it this time? It's not too late is also very nice, but is it something that will work in Oslo 2010? I don't think so. Searching for perfect emotion is also pretty good, with references to the 1967 winner. :-) but where's Lulu? And then there's Ovi, who took part in the Norwegian final last year.  When? 20.10 CET. Where? Here. 

Razvan Crivaci - Jackpot
Luminita Anghel, Tony Tomas & Adrian Piper - Save their lives
Paula Seling & Ovi - Playing with fire
Dalma - I'm running 
Alexandra Ungureanu - Crazy
Pasager - Running out of time
Lora & Sonny Flame - Come along
Hotel FM - Come as one
Zero - Lay me down
Lucia Dumitrescu - See you in heaven Michael
Paula Seling & Kamara - It's not too late
Lulu & The Puppets - Searching for perfect emotion
Anda Adam & Connect-R - Surrender
Tina G - Love is war
Alexa - Baby
Catalin Josan - Around around

Tonight: Final in Moldova

Moldova will have its final tonight after a lenghty selection on internet, semifinals, withdrawels, replacements and so on as usual but here we have now 14 finalists. Most of my early favourites are gone along the way. If they want to follow last year's lead Doinita Gherman is the one. Or maybe tthey choose yet another Dima for yet another country? Or shall we have wheelchairs on stage? Or will they go for annoying joke entry and hymn for Eurovision? Tonight we will know and can expect visually good show judging these semifinal videos. When? 19.40 CET. Where? Here.

Doinita Gherman - Melotherapia
Valeria Tarasova - See you soon
Sun Stroke Project & Olia Tira - Run away
Pasha - You should like
Dyma - Manipulate
Pavel Turcu - Imn Eurovision
Eugen Doibani - Love sweet love
Boris Covali - No name
Carolina Gorun - Addicted
Gigu Cimbir - Cine sunt eu
Millenium - Before you go
Cristina Croitoru - My heart
Proiectul Monkey Mind & Daniela - Smile
Alexandru Manciu - Ramii linga mine

Sweden: The second chance round tonight

The Melodifestivalen 2010 tour in nearing its end, too, and tonight we will have the second chance round and two more songs will join the previously qualified songs in the final next week. As usual it is done in duels:

Pain of Salvation vs. Pernilla Wahlgren
Crucified Barbara vs. Pauline
Kalle Moraeus & Orsa Spelmen vs. Neo
Alcazar vs. Jessica Anderson

I'm not happy at all with the duels as the first one features my favourites and one of them is out for sure, while the second one features two songs I don't care at all! In the third one I go for Neo and in the last one for Alcazar. But... I guess I have to betray lovely Pernilla and go for Pain of Salvation who would beat whoever qualifies from the second round. Then Neo would beat Alcazar and go to Globen with Pain of Salvation. We will see....Here. 20.00 CET.

NIAMH KAVANAGH FOR IRELAND!

Ireland sends the 1993 winner Niamh Kavanagh back to Eurovision with full marks as expected. It's for you is a real Irish ballad and might get Ireland back on track!

1. Niamh Kavanagh    144
2. Mikey Graham   120
3. Monika Ivkic   98
4. Leanne Moore   78
5. Lee Bradshaw   50

UK acts announced

Your country needs you, the UK selection for 2010 has taken a step ahead by announcing the acts who will perform the Peter Waterman-Mike Stock penned entry. They are 20-year-old singer-dancer Alexis Gerred, 17-year-old Esma Akkilic or Kurdish origin but grown up in Austria, 19-year-old Josh Dubovie, 18-year-old Karen Harding and two groups; Miss Fitz and Uni5. Miss Fitz is made of Marina (25), Gemma (27) and Maiken (23). They have been mainly singing covers. Uni5 is made of Sam (22), Daniella (19), Dani (22), Amy (18) and Lee (25) and they have been put together especially for Eurovision.

Tonight: Final in Ireland

After listening the presentation of the Irish songs on radio yesterday I have only one thing to say: Niamh Kavanagh! Not that her song is nothing superextraordinary but it is a very good solid Irish ballad Niamh can lift to heights live. The other four varied from boring to rather nice to horrible. Rather nice being Lee Bradshaw, horrid being Monika Ivkic. So, tonight: Niamh all the way if Irish have any common sense! When? 22.35 CET. Where? Here.

1. Leanne Moore: Does heaven need much more
2. Lee Bradshaw: River of silence
3. Mikey Graham: Baby nothng's wrong
4. Monika Ivkic - Fashion queen
5. Niamh Kavanagh - It's for you