Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Elena Gheorghe with The Balcan girls has won the Romanian selection as I predicted. Actually my favourites Blaxy Girls won the televote followed by Elena and Catalin, my other favourite but the jury ranked the girls so low that Elena won. Shame! Here are the televotes and jury votes: Blaxy Girls 4861 = 12, jury 6 = 18 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdNsUt-MOv4 Elena Georghe 3503 =10, jury 12 = 22 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcuZt6hi0II Catalin 2360 = 8, jury 10 = 18 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlnL3gWK_tQ Tina Geru 2328 = 7, jury 1 = 8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF_NMmlPFxY Dalma 1834 = 6, jury 5 = 11 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMHPkc1KiUs Zero 1322 = 5, jury 7 = 12 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h026NKoR_Hg Tabasco 1293 = 4, jury 8 = 12 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6fK1REfVls Alin Nica 1178 = 3, jury 0 = 3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbCRguavqFw RedBlonde 878 = 2, jury 2 = 4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qADtgMmkwCY Popas Band 612 = 1, jury 4 = 5 http://www.youtu...

Slovenia had a semifinal tonight wherefrom these entries joined the invited finalist for tomorrow night's final: 01. Lea Sirk - Znamenje iz sanj 02. Cuki - Mal 'Naprej Pa Mal' Nazaj 03. Quartissimo - Love Symphony 04. Omar Naber - I Still Carry On 05. Brigita Suler - Druga liga 06. Ne me jugat & Slavko Ivančič - Kaj me briga 07. Eva Cerne - Vse 08. Karmen Stavec - A si želiš 09. Alya & Rudi - Zadnji Dan 10. Bjonde - Blond Power 11. Samuel Lucas - Vse Bi Zate Dal 12. Nexys - Vsaj za en dan 13. Langa & Manca Spik - Zaigraj Muzikant 14. Nuška Drašček - Kako lepo

Niels Brinck has won the Dansk Melodi grand prix 2009 superfinal against Hera Björk with Believe again , a song co-written by Irish Ronan Keating. Also Hera's song has interesting authors: a group of Danish and Swedish Eurofans! Congrats to everyone, especially you guys! This said, I think Believe again was a better choise. It's very catchy, easy on the ear and memorable. In short it sounds like a hit and might go very far in Moscow.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAeF2QgQ8Ro The Danish televoters first chose 4 songs to be paired and Hera Björk beat Sukkerchok and Brinck beat Johnny Deluxe in this round. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pexBmEk262A , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmuTvkY-YH8 , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FejRRzd9rAc , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GToi8F7yDX4 , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqjsMskz-Nk , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TC42erX21K8 , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwUgqsPLB-Y , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRd0V2VhHLc , http://www.youtub...

Tone Damli Aaberge with Butterflies and Alexander Stenerud with Find my girl qualified directly to the final in Norway. Alexander reached second chance round last year with his band Zuma. Publiners' Te stein and Janni Santillan's (Like you did) yesterday will have a second chance. Eurovision dinosaur Wenche Myhre didn't make it any further....

Waldo's People wins Euroviisut 2009 and has to cut his hair off, as promised if he wins! So he lost his control after all. The fight with Sígnmark ft Osmo Ikonen was tough: 1. Waldo's People - Lose control 45,1% 2. Signmark ft Osmo Ikonen - Speakerbox 41,2% 3. Passionworks ft Tony Turunen - Surrender 13,7% Waldo's People won also viisukuppila.fi's Fan Award. Total of 275.000 votes were given tonight. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yym5iP1ptjE

Jade Ewen (21) has won the UK talent search Your country needs you and therefor will represant UK in Moscow with My time , a song written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Diane Warren. The Twins were second and Mark third. After hearing the song I must say I'm very, VERY disappointed. Standard boring musical ballad. I don't think UK will do any better than recent years. Shame.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dmdZc6kHEc , The Twins version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0PdlCXCfDw and Mark's: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95NmuQlaX3Y

Jaana Pelkonen and Peltsi Peltola are presenting live from Tampere Fair and Sports Center the Finnish final for Eurovision song contest 2009 in Moscow. Tonight's propably the coldest night of the year with temperatures around -20C in most parts of Finland but in the sold out hall it's hot with 1.800 people! Before the final there will be a second chance round for the songs that didn't qualify directly. The entry chosen tonight will be Finland's 43rd entry. Finland has had a very rocky past in the contest finishing usually in the last places until the monstreous victory of Lordi in 2006. Finland has now been present in the final ever since. The show has started with Teräsbetoni presenting a new version of their last year's winner Missä miehet ratsastaa .The stage looks pretty fantastic! Jaana looks very glamorous tonight and Peltsi, well... casual as always. THE SECOND CHANCE ROUND : 01. Passionworks fr. Tony Turunen - Surrender Passionworks is the big fan favourite...

In four hours the Finnish second chance show will start followed directly by the final and around 21.10 CET we will know if it's Signmark, Waldo's People, Tapani Kansa ... or someone else! Live commentary here coming up as always. The interval acts will be provided by Scandinavian Hunks, a show dance group in Chippendales genre, and Northern Kings, a group made of heavy metal singers including Teräsbetoni's J.Ahola and Nightwish's Marco Hietala. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLHR25SWMV4&feature=related , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKwQKqQ8MMY

Russian TV has claims to have received over 1.000 songs for their selection, to be held in early March. Not many artists have however publicly admitted to have sent in songs. Zhenya Rasskazova from last year's selection is one though. She has sent in Neskulko slov . Also names of Sergey Agayan, Olga Fomicheva and Oksana Feldsherova have been circolating. Romeo, or Roman Bereshed has sent in a song called Another day that you can listen here: http://musicdepo.ru/users/ROMEO/

One of the busiest weekends this spring is here. Today we got the semifinals sorted out and the news from Czech Republic. Tomorrow, Saturday we will have 4 semifinals (Lithuania, Slovenia, Iceland and Norway) as well as four finals! UK, Finland, Denmark and Romania will choose their entry, and on Sunday the Netherlands and Slovenia will follow suit making it six new entries at one weekend! No need to ask " Is there anything on telly tonight ?" FINLAND Euroviisut 2009 final at 19.00-21.20 CET ROMANIA Selecţia naţională final at 19:15-22:25 CET UK Your country needs you final at 19:40-20:50 CET NORWAY MGP 2009 2nd semifinal at 19:55-21:05 CET SLOVENIA EMA 2009 semifinal at 19:55-21:40 CET DENMARK Dansk Melodi grand prix 2009 final at 20:00-21:50 CET LITHUANIA Dainų daina 2009 1st semifinal at 20:00-22:00 CET ICELAND Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins 4th semifinal at 21:05-22:10 CET

Serbia has announced the songs and artists in its national selection. The Beauty Queen are back, as well as Zemlja gruva and Lejla Hot. Also a band made of Operacija Trijumf member and local media superstar Natasha Bekvalac. And a perfect addition to silly Eurovision titles: Ha ha ha. Ten out of these will proceed to the final on March 8. 01. Aleksandra Jankovic - Nauci me 02. Andrej Ilic- Nemam te 03. Vanja Mijatovic - Led i zar 04. Danijel and Milica - H8ER 05. Dusan Zrnic - Tvoje drugo ime je greh 06. Etar - Sanjaj me 07. Zbogom Brus Li - Ha ha ha 08. Zemlja gruva - Svejedno je 09. Ivana Selakov - Moje odbrane 10. Lejla Hot - Cekajuci prince 11. Marko Kon – Cipela 12.Minja Samardzic - Petak uvece 13. Natasa Bekvalac - Bili smo najlepsi 14. Oscar & Beauty Queens ft DjorDje Marjanovic - Superstar 15. OT Band - Blagoslov za kraj 16. Pozitivan haos – Gloria 17. SevdahBABY and Miki Element - Previse reci 18. Sonja Bakic - Nista novo 19. Tijana Bogicevic - Pazi sta radis 20. Trio Pas...

The gipsy hip hoppers Gipsy.cz have been internally chosen to represant Czech Republic in Moscow. The band is third time lucky in Eurovision. They were the runner ups in 2007 when Czech Republic entered the Eurovision family (and finished last in semifinal with only 1 point!) with Muloland: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffUcGCF5hlY . Last year they presented Benga beating : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDUdHl4C3Lk

I have had a poll on this blog to see who your favourites are in Euroviisut 2009. In line with the other polls Kwan, Passionworks and Waldo's People are the close top-3. Signmark - who I think at this point looks very likely to go to Moscow - and Tapani Kansa, Jari Sillanpää and Remu are not amongst your favourites.... Thank you for all voters!! 01. Kwan - 10.000 light years (60) finalist 02. Passionworks ft Tony Turunen - Surrender (59) 2nd chance 03. Waldo's People - Lose control (56) finalist 04. Vink - The greatest plan (34) 2nd chance 05. Riikka - Meren (23) 2nd chance 06. Janita - Martian (22) 2nd chance 07. Signmark ft Osmo Ikonen - Speakerbox (14) finalist 07. Sani - Doctor, doctor (14) 2nd chance 09. Jari Sillanpää - Kirkas kipinä (12) finalist 10. Remu - Planeetta (11) finalist 11. Tiara - Manala (7) 2nd chance 12. Tapani Kansa - Rakkautta on, rauhaa ei (3) finalist

The allocation draw took place today in Moscow and a lot of other info was given there about the coming Eurovision song contest 2009, including the presentation of the sublogo, a fantasy bird. I like it! But... is there no slogan? What happened to True Fantasy, Awakening, Feel the rhythm and Under the same sky? I thought Russians would come up with something.... Anyways the countries in semifinal 1 are: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Sweden, Israel, Belgium, Andorra, Czech Republic, Montenegro, Iceland, Georgia, Bulgaria, Portugal, Switzerland, FYR Macedonia, Finland, Belarus, Turkey, Romania, Malta and Armenia. The countries in semifinal 2 are: Slovenia, Denmark, Azerbaijan, Netherlands, Latvia, Hungary, Serbia, Norway, Ukraine, Greece, Lithuania, Poland, Croatia, Estonia, Moldova, Cyprus, Ireland, Slovakia and Albania.

The people in Romania as well as the jury have spoken and here are the finalists for Saturday's final from the 2nd semifinal. This time I got 4-5 out of 6 right and am not at all surprised by IMBA's and Red Blonde's qualification, shame for Irina Popa though. Is it too early to say Elena might get the ticket to Moscow? Costi Ionita - Can you forgive Red Blonde - Nu am cu cine Elena Gheorghe - The Balkan Girls Catalin - Stop Alin Nica - Don't leave IMBA - Round & round

UPDATE: Today, January 30 the French TV confirmed Patricia Kaas will be their represant. Yippee! The question whether Patricia Kaas will represant la France in Moscow or not is still unconfirmed and Patricia herself finally comments the news: "I will decide after my Parisian concerts, after January 31st. I'm tempted but on the other hand... I used to like Eurovision before, then I lost interest but the past a couple of years it's been getting interesting again, so... We will see." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro6Ujd4PvcY , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP_a_jjsgUQ

Here are the pots for the semifinal allocation draw. Equal number of countries from each pot will be drawn into the two semifinal based on geography and previous voting history. Both semifinals on May 12 and 14 will have 19 songs. The Big 4 and host country Russia will be also divided in semifinals for the voting rights. The draw happens tomorrow in Moscow at 13 CET. POT 1 : Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden POT 2 : Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Netherlands, Turkey POT 3 : Andorra, Latvia, Ireland, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania POT 4 : Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia POT 5 : Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Israel, Moldova, Ukraine POT 6 : Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland

And here it comes, the third and last song for Andorra performed by Lluís Cartes. Here is the video for his song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKcURAfwnGE . Unfortunately for Cartes I think Susanne Giorgi will win this without difficulty... Next week on february 4 the national final will be held and we will know if Susanne will be Andorra's sixth entrant in the Eurovision and who knows the first one to bring the tiny country in the final? So far the best placement is by Anonymous in Helsinki 2007 when they finished 12th in the toughest semifinal in history with 28 countries. Any other year they would have sailed to the final....

The Icelandic semifinals are coming to an end it's time for the 4th one this Saturday. As always you can listen to the songs here: http://www.ruv.is/songvakeppni/ and I think my faves are Elektra and Halla.... or Unnur? Unnur Birna Björnsdóttir - Cobwebs Elektra - Got no love Jógvan Hansen - I think the world of you Halla Vilhjálmsdóttir - Roses

Ok, it's time to have a look at the songs in the second semifinal of Romanian selecţia naţională tomorrow. Six of these will qualify for the Saturday's final. Besa opens this one. She makes me think of Celine Dion for some reason, maybe the color of her voice or the way she pronounces as the song is not up for la Dion's standards, I'm afraid. Red Blond follows with some girlpower I suspect but the only thing that comes across is "Sex! Sex!" or I might be even wrong about that.... Things get a bit better with Adrian Molnar . He's in the same genre with first semis Zero and Tabassco. Pleasant but I guess it will all come down to the performance again. Catalin is one of the favourites I hear and he is mine for sure. I was a bit surprised for the performance though! I hope he won't ruin it all with that. Song's great but the performance is not! Soundcheck provides with their jazzy nightclub number the first candidate for null points in Moscow if sel...

Oh well, I got 3 out of 6 right. Well, almost 4. Anyways my 3 top favourites Blaxy Girls, Popas Band and Zero made it so all's good that ends good. Second Romanian semifinal on Thursday and the final on Saturday. To the final: Popas Band - Striga http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9tNMcK7lis Blaxy Girls - Dear Mama http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpV-Ad-pmoY Zero - Sunny days http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcH8igVTqls Tabasco - Purple http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgLrylhRPbI Dalma - Love was never her friend http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyr6lnQ8-Dw Tina - Pleaca http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biRON_KEF9k

Uncle Ralph is back it looks. He has apparently written the Montenegrin entry revealed last week! This would be his 19st Eurovision entry and Montenegro joins Germany, Luxembourg and Switzerland as a country that his songs have been sung for. You can also add Malta as he revamped their 2004 entry On again... off again. Here's a little reminder of his doings in Eurovision .... so far: 1974: Bye, Bye I Love You - Ireen Sheer (Luxemburg) (4.) 1976: Sing Sang Song - Les Humphries Singers (15.) 1979: Dschinghis Khan - Dschinghis Khan(4.) 1980: Papa Pingouin - Sophie & Magaly (Luxemburg) (9.) 1980: Theater - Katja Ebstein (2.) 1981: Johnny Blue - Lena Valaitis (2.) 1982: Ein bißchen Frieden - Nicole(1.) 1985: Children, Kinder, Enfants - Margo, Ireen Sheer, Chris Roberts, Malcolm Roberts, Franck Olivier & Diane Solomon (Luxemburg) (13.) 1987: Laß die Sonne in Dein Herz - Wind (2.) 1988: Lied für einen Freund - Maxi & Chris Garden (14.) 1990: Frei zu leben - Chris Kempers &...

Slovenia will have its EMA 2009 this weekend. Eight songs from the Saturday's semifinal will join the six invited songs in Sunday's final. Amogst the semifinalists previous winner Karmen Stavec. 01. Nexys - Vsaj za en dan 02. Petra Slapar - Skrivnost 03. Lea Sirk - Znamenje iz sanj 04. Brigita Suler - Druga liga 05. Ne me jugat & Slavko Ivancic - Kaj me briga 06. Gianni Rijavec - Gloria 07. Aynee - Zdaj vem 08. Krema - Ob meni si 09. Quartissimo - Love symphony 10. Tadeja Molan & RetroBeat - Sanje 11. Bjonde - Blond power 12. Karmen Stavec - A si zelis 13. Nuska Drascek - Kako lepo 14. Mitja - Mission These songs/artists have been already invited directly to the final, including previous winner Omar Naber: 02. Cuki - Mal naprej pa mal nazaj 04. Omar Naber - I still carry on 07. Eva Cerne - Vse 09. Alya & Rudi - Zadnji dan 11. Samuel Lucas - Vse bi zate dal 13. Langa & Manca Spik - Zaigraj muzikant

YLE has announced the running orders for the second chance and the final for the next Saturday's show. Two songs from the second chance will join the finalists after being performed and televoted. Then the real final starts right way. After televote the top-3 will be reperformed and televoted again to find the winner and the song that will represant Finland in Moscow 2009. SECOND CHANCE: 01. Passionworks ft Tony Turunen - Surrender 02. Tiara - Manala 03. Riikka - Meren 04. Vink - The greatest plan 05. Janita - Martian 06. Sani - Doctor doctor THE FINAL: 01. Kwan - 10.000 light years 02. Jari Sillanpää - Kirkas kipinä 03. Signmark ft Osmo Ikonen - Speakerbox 04. Tapani Kansa - Rakkautta on, rauhaa ei 05. Waldo's People - Lose control 06. Remu - Planeetta 07. from second chance 08. from second chance

FYR Macedonia has also made public the list of songs and singer taking part in the 3 day national selection with 2 semifinals and the final between February 19-21. There have a been a few changes since the first list of the songs and artists was published earlier this month. Treta Dimenzija - Isto sto I ti Aleksandar Belov - Zastani Solzi Izbrisi Ana Simonovska - Dobar kraj Emilija Gievska- Patuvam niz vremeto Bravo band - Ne igraj si devojko Andrijana Janevska - Drvo bez koren Kristijan - Nema da zboram Venera - Povtorno ljubena Proekt Makedonija/Pere, Franc, Tuna , Igor - Pomalku naivno Dejan Trifunovski - Ljubovta doaga Risto Samardjiev - Samo son ke ni ostane Verce Pandilovska - Severno od mene, juzno od tebe Vlatko Lozanovski - Blisku do mene Amir Ibraimovski - Otvori go srceto Zarmena - Igra so nas Filip Jordanovski - Volsebnik Rock Agresori - Ding Dong Stefan Cvetkovski - Zemi se Vodolija - Mojot TV Kostadin Papa - Za nea postojam Ohrid rules - Gengsta oro Pampersi - Zboguvanje ...

Romania's selecţia naţională kicks off tomorrow and you can see the preview vids here: http://www2.tvr.ro/eurovision/ . I had a go and watched the vids and here are some comments. Unlike last year I don't have an instant favourite and it will be interesting to see what the Romanians like! Zero opens the show with a middle of the road radio friendly pop-rock. The singer is very good and they come across good. Not bad at all. Last year's entrant Nico has teamed up with another national final veteran Moni-K and they offer a very dated, rather boring italodisco number. This might qualify, or then not. In the later case fans will propably shout for a scandal. It is much much better than the next one though. D.D offers a boring rock ballad from the 80's. Romeo Zaharia follows with self penned song that sounds suspiciously familiar? However it's very Melodifestival in all. His strong accent is the main negative thing about it. Next we have Floriana Pachia with a song ...

Today Toše Proeski would have been 28 years old had he not died in a car crash in October 2007. He was putting finishing touches to his first English album at the time and it finally is published tomorrow. The hardest thing is both the title of the album and the first single from it, released already last year and the first Balcan hit from it. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKRrADJ7j3E In his home town Skopje a square will be named after him. Four large pillars will represant his band members and a fountain in the middle will represant Tose himself.

The Swedish born TV-format of the battle of the choirs, or Kuorosota in Finnish debuts tonight. Six choirs will battle it out with their choir leaders, one of them dropping out every week. One of the choir leaders is Marion Rung in the biggest music TV production Finland after Euroviisut. This is a welcome return to Marion on TV screens after a long absense. Watch the promotrailer here: http://www.nelonen.fi/kuorosota/

Lithuania's third Dainų daina semifinal brought us 6 more finalists - it seems to have been the night of the ballads - and they are: Donatas Montvydas - From the distance 106 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh6IE7fN7Lw Fuego - Žvaigždžių milijonai 90 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmsZ-l65qcE Ruta Lukoševiciute - Window of life 77 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r-N2xE2I_q4 Asta Pilypaite & Onsa - Labas 75 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qP-FhD03co Aurelija Slavinskaite - Part of me 59 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s10iWF_d4TE Milanno & Karina Krysko - Kelias pas tave 55 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gj3nUVKx6fA

Iceland had its third semifinal tonight and two more songs went to the final offering us Icelandic cowboys with countrymusic (that is actually quite good!) and some modern weird stuff (that is actually quite good, too!) Kaja Halldorsdottir - Lygin ein Arnar, Edgar, Sverrir and Olafur - Easy to fool http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WETEfATEGAs

Bulgaria held its semifinal tonight where half of the songs had to go. At this point I guess it's time to pick up some favourites. Mine are in no particular order Stefan Ilchev, Krassimir ( update: I just saw his live performance from last night and ... what an earth happened? it was beyond bad!), Grafa and Poli Genova. One can only ask why they bothered all those heats since October 2008 when only one of those original songs made it this far all the rest being some sort of wildcards or additional songs and god only knows how they got in... These 9 made it to the final: Nora - It's not right Dani Milev - Njma vreme Jury Tone feat. Lady B - Chance to love you Ivelina - Ready for love Stefan Ilchev - Get up Sahara - Don't kiss for money Stefan Dobrev - Everlasting love Krassimir Avramov - Illusion Moto - Razstonija They will be joined by these three wildcards: Mariana Popova - Crazy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyIvelD9Ais Grafa - Vrag http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=idDJX...

The soulful Motown inspired group ended up in Danger zone again along with Jade, that seemed to be rather shocking surprise to many. Lloyd Webber did't waste time to save Jade so she will meet Mark and The Twins in next week's final.

The Norvegian selection is getting bigger and a better show every year it seems. This year Surferosa opened it with a bang! What an earth was she wearing? There was a lot of 80's Cyndi Lauper and Toyah with a good amount of Pink thrown in. Next followed two housewifes or Chicas del coro from the 50's all dressed up doing a nice karaoke number. High entertainment value for a national final. Right after the welcome return of the wind machine and an elderly lady with high notes followed by some shouty rap by two youngsters Ke Sera . Nice intro but that's all there was for me I'm afraid.... Espen Hana, a certain kind of gentleman - the kind stuck in the 70's with challenging sideburns and open shirt to show some chesthair - followed with a song so familiar I thought it was an interval act. Next to more Eurovision friendly stuff: Charite . And as the song isn't much to talk about one question rises: what was she wearing as shoes??? And that wardrobe disaster in ge...

The Finnish Oscars, or Jussi awards will be given out on February 1, 2009. Lordi's horror movie Dark floors is up for people's choise award and you can vote for it here http://www.nelonen.fi/jussi/aanestys.html until January 30.

Five happenings tonight in all corners of Europe, all of them still semifinals (next weekend we will have 6 new entries!!), some countries going on with their selections while others just starting. All will be live on webcast. UK - Your country needs you CET 19.30 - UK will drop out the last artist before last week's final. Each of 4 artists will perform 2 songs BULGARIA - Blgarska pesen na Evrovizija 2009 CET 19.50 - Bulgaria returns to business after a break with their semifinal. 18 acts will be cut to 9 that will be joined by 3 wildcard in the final NORWAY - MGP 2009 CET 19.55 - Norway kicks off with its first semifinal. Only 2 out of 7 will qualify directly for the final. The songs placed 3rd and 4th will get a second chance later LITHUANIA - Dainu Daina 2009 CET 20.00 - Third semifinal in Lithuania. Again 6 out of 12 will qualify ICELAND - Söngvakeppni sjónvarpsins 2009 CET 21.05 - Third semifinal also in Iceland. 2 out of 4 will qualify.

Signmark has won with 46,5% the third semifinal, and it is actually the highest score this year! Also Jari Sillanpää qualified with 34,0%. The finalists in Euroviisut 2009: Signmark ft Osmo Ikonen - Speakerbox 46,5% http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhB7DLdJWPU , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghdojpRrOTY Jari Sillanpää - Kirkas kipinä 34,0% http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Gu8b9p3Gxw Waldo's People - Lose control 44,3% http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji1qCTYSxAg , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybbNQnSPseA Remu - Planeetta 28,6% http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Im-EQkI5g-I , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oE6QPkGxKhY Tapani Kansa - Rakkautta on, rauhaa ei 37,4% http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yqRfpVvLPuM Kwan - 10.000 light years 31,9% http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5qDcKrppN0 Second chance: Two of these songs will join the finalists. The second chance round will be held at the beginning of the final next Saturday, January 31. Riikka - Meren http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwfIlRpWYp...

The show is about to start live from Tohloppi TV-studios in Tampere. Jaana and Peltsi are now on stage and here we go. First a recap of what's happened so far and some Moscow info about the semifinals etc. First one tonight is Signmark & co. He has previously told this song is written specially for Euroviisut, not to promote them or their new album but to write a good Eurovision track. The song is performed in English and American signlanguage. They also tell they stand for all minorities. Signmark ft Osmo Ikonen - Speakerbox The band is on stage, rapping is good and clear, Osmo's vocals are great and Signmark's signs flawless. Well I can only guess about that obviously. This would be a very interesting choise for Moscow. If Lordi got all the heavyrockers in Europe to vote for them, could Signmark get all the deaf people vote for them? And they are millions.... Next is Janita, who is seeking revenge for her 3rd place back in 1994. The song is from her worthcoming album ...

Andrea Demirović has been internally chosen for Montenegro with song Just get out of my life. First listening judgement is it's the best Montenegrin entry so far.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ1s8ymScT8

Poland has also chosen its finalists for Piosenka dla Europy 2009 of the songs sent in, and there will be propably wildcards added later. Amogst the finalists we have Italian Marco Bocchino, Norvegian Det Betales and Swedish Man Meadow again after their fan success last year with Viva la musica . Marco Bocchino & Ola Szwed - All my life Kasia Skrzynecka - Amazing Ira - Dobry czas Dali - Everyday Lidia Kopania - I don't wanna leave Renton - I'm not sure Stachursky - I nie mów nic Det Betales - Jacqueline Micromusic - Kardamon i pieprz Artur Chamski - Kilka slów Man Meadow - Love is gonna get you Tigrita Project - Mon chocolat

Tonight in the third Finnish semifinal we make history: the first ever deaf artist is taking part. Signmark ft Osmo Ikonen's Speakerbox is really groovy song with a fantastic Motown vibe. I'm not a rap fan but I can listen to this! Several times a day! Their chances to get to Moscow are propably rather slim but you never know... All I know is this would be an entry I could be very proud of and support it 100%. Watch the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJD_4bQxIoM Live report from the semifinal right here at 20.00 CET.

Denmark has also leaked their songs online. My instant favourite is Trine Jepsen with her fantastically dated song! Hera Björk is good, too. Brinck sounds more Ronan Keating than Ronan himself and Jimmy Jørgensen has the best opening line: I used to write songs with my guitar, usually about love and bla bla bla.... Listen here: Hera Björk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Us50eIiMwqk Trine Jepsen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRYDyC7RL1o Claus Christersen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpcvouLsrqE Jeppe Breum Laursen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60yGMbHTJJE Brinck: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1AQWEwcHSE Jimmy Jørgensen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZkU69DCCfY Christina Undhjem: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWopNtICnKU Marie Carmen Koppel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekYDhR22ims Johnny Deluxe: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvrsLevo8lw Sukkerchok: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEMJQGlejqQ

Estonia has puts its songs online, too. Quite a modern group of songs it is, maybe even too much so. My favourites are in no particluar order Laura, Rolf Junior, Lawry and Traffic. Hear the songs here http://etv.err.ee/index.php?0551251 by clicking "kuula laule!"

Finland reaches its last semifinal that features four rather different songs and if last week was quite predictable in unpredictable way it's very open race in this one, too. Vink and Jari Sillanpää seem to be the most probable qualifiers but I wouldn't be surprised if they would be the two left in the second chance actually. Get ready for some unexpected results! Live report will follow as usual! Signmark feat. Osmo Ikonen - Speakerbox Janita - Martian Vink - The greatest plan Jari Sillanpää - Kirkas kipinä

Andorra made public the second of their three finalists and for some reason Mar Capdevila has replaced Marc Durandeau... Her song Passió obsessiva isn't passionate nor obsessive, just nice, and not going anywhere I'm afraid. Shame. Judge yourself here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw7aIX9xFkA

Hanna Pakarinen released her fourth album Love in a million shades last week and it entered the chart at #7. It can be describes a mix of Pink, Avril Lavigne and Shania Twain with a lot of Roxette in it. Rock pop from the 80's and 90's. The critics have noted Hanna sings better than ever and has a new sound, she's not afraid to play with her voice. Especially the ballad When we hear hallelujah has been described by the critics a masterpiece, nearly perfect interpretation. "The new album is much more poppier and happier than the previous ones. Like my hair that is now much lighter! I had a black hair for 15 years but I got enough of that angst and darkness !" she tells. The yellow press has reported she has a new boyfriend, Risto Niinikoski, who plays drums in her band and they have just moved together. Does 1+1 make 2? Hanna is a woman of interesting questions. "Yes, I'm the one who sends into magazines all the questions; ike they say it takes two days...