Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Måns Zelmerlöf ends the year as " the Entertainer of the year " in Sweden, voted by the readers of Expressen . He's only 21 but has quite a list of big things on his curriculum already: Idols 2005, winning Let´s Dance 2006, Melodifestivalen 2007... Congrats Måns! (Oh, btw The Ark's Ola Salo managed 3rd place and Carola only 8th while Christian Luuk was voted 9th)

The second norvegian semifinal sees the fight of two songs penned by members of Wig Wam, return of last year's Crash! that came third and very awaited MGP debut of Maria Haukaas Storeng of Idols fame. Zuma - Always Always Cube - Would you spend the night with me Anna Hvidsten - A little more Crash! - Get up Sven Garås - I'm in love Maria Haukaas Storeng - Hold on be strong

Bosnian TV has chosen Elvir Lakovic Laka for Belgrad with a song Pokusaj (Try) out of 31 short listed songs/artists. The entry will be premiered on March 2, 2008....

The songs that compite in the two semifinals on February 19 and 20 have been published. Last year's winning song's composer Vladimir Graic is back with a song written for Marija's backing group, The Beauty Queens. Zeljko and Jelena are after a revenge, too, and the list features several other familiar names. 1. Aleksa Jelić and Ana Štajdohar- Beli jablan 2. Andrej Ilić Band - Tijana 3. Beauty Qeens- Dobra vila 4. Betty Boop - Kvar 5. Goca Tržan- U život kockam se... 6. Dejan Vozlić- Ako me čuješ 7. Denis and Obule- Bezimena 8. Drum'n'Zez- Dunav 9. Zoe Kida u Zemlji Gruva- Čudesni svetovi 10. Ivana Ćosić- Kao da hodam 11. Jelena Tomašević- Oro 12. Lejla Hot- Da si tu 13. Marko Vulinović- Sada ili nikada 14. Mogul- Možda baš 15. Negativ- S tobom bih ostala 16. Nenad Ćeranić - Slepa ulica 17. Ognjen and prijatelji- Čućemo,čućete... 18. Sloba Bajić- Prečica do dna 19. Studio Alektik and Cveta Majtanović- Iznad nas 20. Tamara Nikezić- Nisi prvi

Željko Joksimović is back! He has entered a song to the Serbian selection called Oro sung by Jelena Tomašević. She also sung his song Jutro in 2005 and won the Serbian final but lost to No Name in the controversial Serbia-Montenegrin final.... He himself represanted Serbia-Montenegro with ever wonderful Lane moje in 2004 and finished 2nd in Istanbul behind Ruslana despite winning the semifinal. In 2006 he wrote the Bosnia-Herzegovina's entry Lejla sung by Hari Mata Hari that finished 3rd in the final.

Koldun wins the Best male performance. Best male vocal performance awards goes to Roger Cicero and the Female one to Alenka Gotar. Verka gets the Best performance award and Evridiki the Best act not to qualify one. Celine Dion wins the Previous participant and the Finnish couple the Best EDC award. As expected Melodifestivalen wins the Best national final award (again) and Måns Zelmerlöv wins the Best Male performance while Mirela wins the same female category and Monrose the Best duo/group one. Sopho wins the Best dressed award and The Ark the Worst dressed one. Hungarian Magdi Rúzsa emergers as the queen of the awards winning Best Video, Best composer and Best female performance awards. Serbian winning song also wins Song of the year and Best lyrics awards. Edsilia picks up the award for the Best traditional europop after fight with D'Nash who win the best duo/group perfomance award instead.

Merry Christmas to all of you with this video by Bearforce1, a missed opportunity for the Netherlands in 2008.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGwludVZ4jo

Ok, here we are. After endless semifinals where very few songs qualified directly the Bulgarian TV has announced the additional songs to join those previously qualified. To make things exciting some other songs has been added to the line up. These 18 songs will be performed in a final semifinal on January 26 and 12 of them will qualify for the final on February 23.... Those already qualified ones are: New Generation - Running scared , Ivelina Kolaksazova and Popcorn - Dance with me , Svetozar Christov - Pandemonium , Vlado and Zvetilo - Tired soul , Sunnie - Do you love me , Di-Do - Full of love, Svetozar Christov ft Magdalena Djanavarova - Lonely world , Nikolai Manolov - Po-dobre and Marijiana - Moonlight Those additional songs from the semifinals are: Ivan and Stani - You are magic , Simona Sivanio - Obehstaj mi , Deep Zone and Balthazar - DJ take me away , Dani Milev - Slanceto i mraka and Katina - Almost Perfect The "jokers" are: Stoyan Royanov - Sombero , Te &...

Three songs got a ticket to the final from semifinal 7-9 and they are as follows Ivelina Kolaksazova & Popcorn with Dance with me (12, 81%), New Generation with Running scared (9,81%) and Svetozar Hristov with Pandemonium (9,73%). The other songs in the running were Lora Vladova - Sweet love , Nikolai Mihailov - Vazduh i voda , Terry Angel - Strannitsi v noshtta , Vint - Vint , Black Rose - Malki Chuldesa , Gergana Koeva - Naykoi den , Intsident - Byagstva , Lorado - Parodoks remiks , Nadezhda Manova - The sweetest kiss , Guava Jelly - Smelly king-size bed , Pavel Mixov - Zabraven plaj , Angels - Memory , Dany Milev - Svetlinata i mraka and Katina - Almost perfect

Belarussian jury and televoters have spoken and the four finalists offer 80's glampunkrock or something, dated gay disco, male gymnastics and something else. Oldtimers Litesound and Gunesh made it to the final but the runaway winner was Ruslan, a poor man's Koldun... In theory the winner is amongst these four songs: Ruslan Alehno - Hasta la vista (6089) Litesound - Do you believe (3967) Palats - Kola mlyna (2438) Gunesh - I can't live without you (2317) Skandal - Everybody (1689) PinCode - You can (1075) Anya Sharkunova and German Titov - My budem pervye (991) Lena Voloshina - That's all I feel (858) Yuliya Guseva - Maybe (759) Dali Silver - Sky (679) Katrine - Follow me (663) The Champions - Drive me crazy (486) Po glazam - Devochka tryohtysachnih let (420) Victor Pshenichniy - Baby Blue (338) Oksana Kovalevskaya - Vsegda odna (271)

Everybody travels from Helsinki to Belgrad, except sour Austrians and will be joined by San Marino and Azerbaijan, the happy debutants. As always the Big4 (France, Spain, Germany and United Kingdom) along with the hosts, Serbia, have a place in the final. All the other 38 must survive one of the two semifinals... Albania (RTVSH , Andorra (RTVA), Armenia (PTV), Azerbaijan (iTV), Belarus (BTRC), Belgium (VRT/RTBF), Bosnia & Herzegovina (PBSBIH), Bulgaria (BNT), Croatia (HRT), Cyprus (CBC), Czech Republic (CT), Denmark (DR), Estonia (ETV), Finland (YLE), France (FT3), FYR Macedonia (MKRTV), Georgia (GEGT), Germany (NDR/ARD), Greece (ERT), Hungary (MTV), Iceland (RUV), Ireland (RTE), Israel (IBA), Latvia (LT), Lithuania (LRT), Malta (PBS), Moldova (TRM), Montenegro (RTCG), The Netherlands (NPB), Norway (NRK), Poland (TVP), Portugal (RTP, Romania (TVR), Russia (C1R), San Marino (STV), Serbia (RTS), Slovenia (RTVSLO), Spain (TVE), Sweden (SVT), Switzerland (SRG SSR idée suisse), Turkey (...

Ukrainian TV has confirmed Ani Lorak finally gets to represant the country. She was the runner up and moral winner in 2005 when Greenjolly was put into the final in the last minute and won. She has the hard job of filling Verka's shoes.... See her here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIJf0aKQRvA

The next, or second national final after Albania, will be January 12 in Cyprus. Marlain returns, Sofia is there and Nikolas gets to sing two songs while Mirto Meletiou has been hired to sing Rescue me instead of him. Here's the running order: Moments of madness - Eleni Turning to you - Myria Pambori and Alexis Manison Rescue me - Mirto Meletiou This can't be love - Sofia Strati Femme Fatale - Evdokia Kadi I can't be - Nikolas Metaxas Rejection - Marlain Angelidou Butterfly - Nikolas Metaxas Sugar Mountain - Elizabeth Calling you - Constantinos Andronikou

Hanna took part in Yle's Ylen hyvä charity red nose day show and sung an acoustic version of Leave me alone and her latest single Black ice. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZh6gRs_GkM&feature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDmwSpno4tE&feature=related

Jippu will perform tonight with her father, opera singer Jorma Elorinne in a Christmas concert in Martinus, Vantaa. And she promises to sing also her Euroviisut entry! See her here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohkmrn1zn1A and a piano cover of the same here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dP9K-4ko5Bc

Mixed group of artists in the first Norwegian semifinal: a tv-host, a Strictly come dancing star, a song in saami and a veteran: 1. Podium: Lystgass 2. Tinkerbells: Hold On 3. Nicholas Carlie: Colliding 4. Ann-Mari Anderson: Andagazzi 5. Michelle: Baby don't stop the music 6. Veronica Akselsen: Am I supposed to love again

Brahim pf P.O.W.E.R fame in 2006 returns, Blue's Duncan James writes (see previous post) and so does Gerard James Borg with Décadence performed by Femme Fatale. Here is the full list: Semifinal 1: 27th January 01. Katy Satyn - Magical sensation0 2. Raeven - Shut down the heatmachine 03. Brahim - What I like about you 04. Eva Darche - We breathe 05. Femme Fatale - Décadence Semifinal 2: 3rd February 01. Kenza - Breaking all the rules 02. E.F.R. - Your guiding star 03. Ishtar - O julissi na jalini 04. Esther - Game over 05. Tanja Dexters - Addicted to you Semifinal 3: 10th February 01. Ellis T - My music 02. Tabitha Cycon - Rumour has it 03. Di Bono - I’m not sorry 04. Nelson - If I can’t find love 05. Geena Lisa - Wheel of time Semifinal 4: 17th February 01. Francesco Palmeri - Vagabundo 02. Paranoiacs - Shout it out 03. Elisa - Around the world 04. A Butterfly Mind - Lonely heart on wheels 05. Sandrine - I feel the same way

Esther Sels will sing Game over in the Belgian semifinals co-written by Duncan James of Blue, and the rumour is Gary Barlow of Take That is considering to give Eurovision another try (his first attempt was back in 2004). Previously Westlife 's Brian McFadden has co-written the Irish entry in 2004... Not that his fame helped much....

Greece uses the same selection method as last year and has 3 artists, each with one song that will be published in February. Kalomoira (22) was born in New York and winner of Fame Story 2004. She has also acted in a soap opera and has co-hosted morning shows so she is a very known face in Greece. She has released 3 albums so far. Kostas Martakis (23) is an ex-model, also known from reality TV Dream Show . He has released one album and shares the manager with Sakis Rouvas. Chryspa (22) has released 5 albums so far and has no talent nor reality Tv experience...

Albania tries again Anjeza Shahini effect and sends a young pretty girl to Eurovision with an emotional ballad Zemren lame peng that translates into We gambled the heart. Second was the song by the original Anjeza team, an up tempo number called Jeta kerkon dashuri performed by Flaka Krelani Doruntina Disha. Juliana Pasha came third with a power ballad Nje qiell te ri . These three songs were amogst the best of the festival, in my opinion.... Full results: 1. Olta Boka - Zemren lame peng - 67 points 2. F. Kralani & D. Disha - Jeta kerkon dashuri - 57 points 3. Juliana Pasha - Nje qiell te ri - 54 points 4. Jonida Maliqi - S’ka fajtor ne dashuri - 36 points 5. Mira Konci dhe Redon Makashi - Nen nje qiell - 35 points 6. Manjola Nallbani - Kjo bote merr fryme nga dashuria - 27 points 7. Samanta Karavello - Pse u harrua dashuria - 23 points 8. Greta Koci - Naten te kerkove - 22 points 9. Mariza Ikonomi - Mall i tretur - 20 points 10. Eneida Tarifa - E para leter - 11 points 11. Kthj...

The last Icelandic semifinal was won by Haffi Haff and some people demanded him to be sent to Belgrad straight away... Still to come the second chance round and the final though, let's see if this new comer actually makes it all the way.... 1. Ali Mobli, Harold Burr, Hildur Guðný Þórhallsdóttir, Sigurður Þór Óskarsson, Soffía Karlsdóttir - Friður á þessari jörð 2. Hrund Ósk Árnadóttir - Í rússíbana 3. Haffi Haff - The wiggle wiggle song

Moldovan preselection jury has spoken. Here are the 12 finalists and unusually also their ranking. The televised final will be in the end of January and the winner will be chosen by televoting. Maybe. 1. Olia Tira- Always will be (86 Points) 2. Alexa - We are one (82 points) 3. Edict - I believe (63 points) 4. Geta Burlacu - A century of love (52 points) 4. Cristina Rujitcaia - You make me feel crazy (52 points) 6. Catrina Pislaru - Dance with me (49 points) 7. Jay Mon - Point of view (39 points) 8. Dana Marchitan - Your name (35 points) 9. Galina Scoda - Your own vision (27 points) 10. Scroom - Jane (24 points) 11. Elena Dermidjean- Living creatures (22 points) 12. Liusia Znamensky - Don't deceive my heart (18 points)

Lordi's horror movie is almost here and the trailer is out, as well as some info on the story. Can Sarah save the people from the powers of the darkness ... being the Lordi members I suppose? Watche the trailer here: http://www.habbo.fi/groups/darkfloors

The Moldovan broadcaster received a total of 27 songs, a far cry from the 4000+ in Sweden and hundreds sent in many other countries. However, they have this lovely yet unusual idea to let us hear all of them on line before picking up the ones to the final - unlike some unnamed country last year that welcomed almost anyone into their endless semifinals that were filled with such crap.... Anyways, listen and have your say, maybe your favourite will make it all the way to Belgrad! Here: http://trm.md/eurovision/ and http://trm.md/forum/index.php UPDATE: Alexandru Bognibov, I love the girls is worth of a special mention. One needs talent to write and perform such a song so badly. And balls to send it to someone... The horrendous woman is the icing on the cake!

Albania will be, as usual, the first country to have a real contest and the winner out this weekend. Two semifinals nights and the third final night, in a good old fashioned Sanremo way the Festival i Këngës has reached its 46th edition and as usual, includes several familiar names to Eurovision followers since Albania joined the fun in 2004... Semifinal December 14th : 1. Arber Arapi - Mall 2. Besiana Mehmedi - Di te jetoj 3. Ani Cuedari dhe Mateus Frroku - Testament dashurie 4. Juliana Pasha - Nje qiell te ri 5. Produkt 28 - 30 sekonda 6. Adela Bezhani - Mos thuaj jo 7. Sajmir Cili - Ninull per ty 8. Rovena Dilo - Perjetesisht 9. Evans Rama - Drita e henes 10. J.A.Fejzo dhe Alesio - K’te nate te ty 11. F. Kralani dhe D. Disha - Jeta kerkon dashuri 12. Eneda Tarifa - E para leter 13. Teuta Kurti - Qyteti i dashurise 14. Rosela Gjylbegu - Bote memece 15. Manjola Saraci - Kjo bote merr fryme nga dashuria Semifinal December 15th : 1. Kozma Dushi - Tatuazh ne kujtese 2....

Several familiar names in the Belarussian semifinal as well: Dali, Litesound and Gunesh. These 15 will compite in the semifinal on December 15 and the then.... well, it is Belarus, we will find out eventually! The singer might be amogst these but not necessary the song... 1. Ruslan Alekhno - Hasta la vista 2. Palats - Wheel of windmill 3. Dali - Silver sky 4. Litesound - Do you believe 5. PinCode - You can 6. Anya Sharkunova & German Titov - We are to be the first 7. Gunesh - I can't live without you 8. Lena Voloshina - That's all I feel 9. Yulia Guseva - Maybe 10. The Champions - Drive me crazy 11. Po Glazam - Girl of three thousand years 12. Scandal - Everybody 13. Oksana Kovalevskaya - Always alone 14. Victor Pshenichny - Baby blue 15. Katrin - Follow me

Eva Černe, last year's worthy runner up in the national finals is back in game, as well as Denis from last year (but where is saucy Sebastian?) and fan favourite Rebeka Dremelj makes a very welcome return, too. Top 5 of both semis will proceed to the final.Here is the full list: Semifinal 1 : 1. Halgato Band - Nomadi 2. Tiana - Povej! 3. Male Malice - Spam 4. 4Play - Dj 5. Eva Černe - Dovolj 6. Rebeka Dremelj - Vrag naj vzame 7. Neza Trobec - Prav ti 8. Stereotipi -Naravnost v srce 9. Skupina Zaka'pa ne - Eo eo 10. Iris - Peti elementi Semifinal 2 : 1. Skupina Langa - Za svobodo divjega srca 2. Andraz Hribar - Corpomorto (Jutri jadram sam) 3. Ylenaia - Nasel si me 4. Eveomisn - Kako ke ne bi imel 5. Denis - Ni me sram 6. Manca Špik - Se vedno nekaj cutim 7. Mirna Reynolds - Lepi fantje 8. Johnny Bravo - Butn, butn 9. Turbo Angels - Zabava 10. Petra - Extrem http://ilkar.blogspot.com/2007/01/slovenian-delight-saucy-sebastian.html

Save the best for last, must have SVT people been thinking when the most anticipated cat fight materializes in the last semifinal: Charlotte Vs Linda. Charlotte, previously Nilsson and ESC 1999 winner in Jerusalem finally returns while Linda after a year of break returns and tries to claim her Schlager queen crown as third time lucky asking How hard can it be ? Also Nordman returns. 1. Charlotte Perelli - Hero 2. Linda Bengtzing - Hur svårt can det va? 3. Nordman - I lågornas sken 4. Calaisa - If I could 5. Fronda - Ingen mår så bra som jag 6. Daniel Mitsogiannis - Pame 7. Sibel - That is where I'll go 8. Wildcard

This semifinal sees the welcome return of the fan favourite, pop sensation BWO as well as the first solo effort by Thérèse Andersson, ex-Pay-TV. Ainbusk (ex-Ainbusk Singers) celebrate their 25th anniversary by entering Melodifestivalen, and MySpace discovery Frida makes it big, too. Caracola after backing big schlager names on Schlagertour 2005 tries as the headliner. 1. Mikey Husic - Izdadje 2. Ainsbusk - Jag saknar dig ibland 3. BWO - Lay your love on me 4. Caracola - Smiling in love 5. Patrik Isaksson - Under mitt tunna skin 6. Frida - Upp och hoppa 7. Thérèse Andersson - When you need me 8. Wildcard

Second semifinal kicks off with another Fame Factory entrant, ex-ice hockey player Alexander. Lasse is also an actor and released his first album already 10 years ago. Sanna returns again and can be called a veteran in this company this year. Rongedal is a set of twin brothers that step to the spotlight after being backing most every artist in Sweden. Andra Generationen as the same suggest is made of second generation Swedes and Ola is the latest teenage sensation from Idols. 1. Alexander Schöld - Den första svalan 2. Lasse Lindh - Du behöver aldrig mer vara rädd 3. Sanna Nielsen - Empty room 4. Rongedal - Just a minute 5. Andra Generationen - Kebabpizza Slivovitza 6. Ola - Love in stereo 7. The Nicole - Razborka 8. Wildcard

The Swedish Melodifestivalen artists have been announced. In the first semifinal we have a girl danceband Face-84, fan favourite Velvet, schlager legend Christer Sjögren, interesting combination of E-Type & The Poodles, Brandur from Faroe Islands, Michael of Fame Factory fame and Suzzie from the 80's... They will be joined by one wild card later. 1. Face-84 - Alla gamla x 2. Velvet - Deja vú 3. Christer Sjögren - I love Europe 4. E-Type & The Poodles - Line of fire 5. Brandur - Lullaby 6. Michael Mihailoff - That's love 7. Suzzie Tapper - Visst finns mirakel 8. Wildcard

Turkey goes rock again (in Turkish?) as Mor ve Ötesi has been chosen for Belgrade. The band's been together for over ten years and has released five albums so far, the latest B üyük düşler is from 2006.

Ragnheiður Gröndal wins the tenth Icelandic semifinal and gets her ticket to the final in February with her song Don't wake me up. One more semifinal to go before the second chance round and then we just have to wait for the final in February. Þóra Gísladóttir - Að eilífu Andrea Gylfadóttir - Flower of fire Ragnheiður Gröndal - Don't wake me up

Alexey Zhigalkovich performing S druzyami (With friends) from Belarus wins the 2007 Junior Eurovision song contest. Belarus won also in 2005. He got 137 points, one point ahead Armenia. Besides Armenia also other debutants Georgia and Bulgaria did well, Lithuania less so. Sweden was the best "Western" country with its 8th place while the old Eurovision countries Cyprus, Belgium, Portugal and Greece occupy the bottom places... 1. Belarus 137 2.Armenia 136 2.Serbia 120 4. Georgia 116 5. FYR Macedonia 111 6.Russia 105 7.Bulgaria 86 8.Sweden 83 9.Ukraine 56 10.Romania 54 11. Netherlands 39 12.Malta 37 13.Lithuania 33 14.Cyprus 29 15.Belgium 19 16.Portugal 15 17. Greece 14.