Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Intars Busulis with Sastrēgums has won the Latvian selection and goes to Moscow. He told earlier he might sing the song in Russian ( Probka or Traffic jam) in Moscow. Kristina Zaharova & Annija Putnina with Angel of mine came second so Kristina was runner up in both Ireland and Latvia! Well, what to say? At least we didn't get another ballad? The song is not my cup of tea, that's for sure! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wrFOFPCNjLs , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I5zxA7t7WQI

Igor Cukrov with Lijepa tena has won the Croation selection, Dora 2009. He came second in both televote and jury vote while Feminnem won the jury vote and Tomislav Branic the televote. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQagJ1axM1o 01. Igor Cukrov (jury/televote) 15 + 15 = 30 02. Tomislav Bralic & Klapa Intrade 13 + 16 = 29 03. Feminnem 16 + 12 = 28 04. Ivo Gamulin Gianni 14 + 13 = 27 05. Aria 11+ 8 = 19 05. Cager Zoc & Papak Dance Company 10 + 9 = 19 05. Ana Bebic 8 + 11 = 19 08. Franka 4 + 14 = 18 09. Drazen Zanko 10 + 7 = 17 09. Mario Battifiaca 7 + 10 = 17 11. Mijo Lesina 12 + 2 = 14 12. Danijela Pintaric 10 + 3 = 13 13. Denis Dumancic 5 + 5 = 10 14. Hari Roncevic & Kvartet Bravo 7 + 1 = 8 15. Ruswaj 3 + 4 = 7 15. Viva 1 + 6 = 7

These three have made it to the superfinal: Kristina Zaharova & Annija Putnina - Angel of mine Intars Busulis - Sastregums Natalija Tumševica - Dinamite It looks like there's no way Kristina & Annija wouldn't win, is there?

Here we go again and let's see if Sweden can provide any competition to their neighbours Norway, Finland and Denmark in Moscow as all three are very good! The chances are getting slim.... Anyways, have to start once again saying Petra mede is fantastic! Agnes opened the show with a 70's disconumber I quite enjoyed. For some reason it made me think of Diana Ross - must be the golden bodysuit and huge hair! Catchy feel good music. Starpilots followed with a performance that was so gay it was almost painful but I like the song. Catchy with a great beat to 40somethings like me, pretty good vocals. I would be very curious to see how this kind of song would do in Eurovision as national finals here and there always have these but they never win.... Susanne next on stage making her Melodifestivalen debut with a ballad that is propably the best ballad på svenska this year. Well done. Deserves a place in final and I wouldn't be surprised if she makes it. Sahlene and Maria . Oh we...

The night starts with the third semifinal, that was originally ment to be the main course tonight but is now reduced as an opening number. Santa Fé, Mirela, El Segreto de Alex, Julia Bermejo, Biquini, Dulce, Isi, Beatriz, Remembrances and Solydo fight for the place in the sun. I hope Mirela, El Segreto de Alex and Julia Bermejo will make it to the final and Solydo for the second chance (and win it).... In the second chance we will have Gran Baobab, Salva Ortega and 4th placed song from the third semifinal. In the final we will have Melody, La La Love You, Noelia Cano, Soraya, Virginia and Jorge Gonzalez joined by the three qualifiers from the third semifinal earlier tonight and the qualifier from the second chance round. And after the final we will finally have a winner! Any bets what time it will be clear?? It is supposed to be a catfight between Melody and Soraya, just like in the internet voting process. Melody has to do without Los Vivencos though as they flamencoed their way out...

Tonight Croatia chooses its song for Moscow 2009. Croatia has always been one of my favourite countries in Eurovision but this time I'm not going crazy for its songs. The big favourite seems to be 25-year-old newcomer Igor Cukrov and I agree. This time the ethnic Balcan ballad might come from Croatia instead of Bosnia-Herzegovina or Serbia. I also like Franka's One way ticket rip off and Feminnem. Also Denis Dumančić has a nice song and there are a few others but you never know how they vote.... 01 Ana Bebić - Mrzim spore stvari 02 Hari Rončević i kvartet Bravo - Još uvik 03 Ruswaj - Što će mi ljubav 04 Mijo Lešina - To nisam ja 05 Dražen Žankoo - Samo ti 06 Franka - Pjesma za kraj 07 Mario Battifiaca - Ma gdje bila 08 Viva - Opet 09 Ivo Gamulin Gianni - Daj mi jedan razlog 10 Feminnem - Poljupci u boji 11 Denis Dumančić - Srce moram seliti 12 Danijela Pintarić - Zlatna rijeka 13 Čager Zoc i Papak dance company - Ritam da se ritam 14 Tomislav Bralić & klapa Intrade - Ne dam...

Here comes the third and last Spanish semifinal adding three more songs to the final. In this one one of the favourites Mirela that I think should go to Moscow.... and right after the second chance will follow, followed by the final. All these changes thanks to bad viewing figures but I guess we will have a winner before Sunday morning.... Maybe.... Santa Fé - Samba House (latin - 130.278 - 3rd) El Secreto de Álex - Por esta vez (pop/rock - 102.534 - 6th) Julia Bermejo - Ya no estás (ballad - 82.406 - 9th) Biquini - Una chica normal (indie - 62.662 - 12th) Solydo - Tú (electronic - 46.363 - 20th) Mirela - Nada es comparable a ti (r & b - 51.542 - 18th) Beatriz - ¿Dónde te metes? (qualified from the auditions) Dulce - Bésame (qualified from the auditions) Isi - Ahora no (qualified from the auditions) Remembrances - Espejismo (qualified from the auditions)

After all confusion Latvia pulled together rather good looking stage and some good songs, too. I admit I didn't bother to listen any of them beforehand and I mostly agree with the ten that went ton to the final tomorrow. I guess the race is now between Simply4, Aisha feat G-Point and Kristina & Annija as the police girls were voted out. I hope Aisha's crazy gang will win. They would stand out the most in Moscow... Simply 4 - When the sun is going down Aisha feat. G-Point - Hey, hey Kristina Zaharova & Annija Putnina - Angel of mine Sabine Berezina feat. Per - Bye, bye Iveta Baumane & Ivo Grisninš-Grislis - Tic tac Intars Busulis - Sastregums Natalija Tumševica - Dinamite Camillas - Time Goes Trianas Parks - Call me any time you need a problem Ketta - Without you

All's fine that ends fine. Martina Schindlerová and Janais qualified by televote. Jury saved Zachariáš Hubáček.

Luckily there are up tempo numbers already in the final as Croatian televoters sent these six to the final tomorrow and they're mostly ballads: Tomislav Bralić & Klapa Intrade - Ne damo te pismo naša Ivo Gamulin Gianni - Daj mi jedan razlog Mario Battifiaca - Ma gdje bila Feminem - Trebam Te Dražen Žanko - Samo ti Čegar Zoc i Papak Dance Companz - Ritam da se ritam And these are out: Marko Tolja - Stranci Sane - Dečko Alen Vitasović & Lela Kaplowitz - Tamo gdje ljubav poeinje Richard Luque & Maja Vasilj - Ljubav ima tvoje lice Jelena Radan - Voljet ću te sutra Sandra Bagarić - Kao jedno Maja Vueić - Tebe imam ja Marta Kuliš - Makni Se

The winner of Sanremo 2009, Marco Carta picked up a platinum disc for his album La forza mia after 4 days of sales. His debut album from 2008 has also sold platinum, and a live album also from 2008 gold. This is good news to Sanremo where most songs have no life afterwords, and have no place but Teatro Ariston. He was helped to win by his huge fanbase and who can blame him or them if he was against to nobody? This year the most radio-friendly songs were kicked out before the final (Dolcenera, Gemelli Diversi) and if Eurovision have managed to renew itself over the years and produces hits and follows the times, Sanremo seems to have stuck into its past. It is worth mentioning Carta was the youngest Artist this year (23) while Sal Da Vinci at 39 being the third youngest and Povia there in between. Several artists around 60-70 took part. When is Sanremo getting a facelift? Have again more than 1-3 songs that will make it in radio and sell records? Enjoy here some videos from Sanremo incl...

Here is finally the video of Ania on stage in Teatro Ariston performing her Buongiorno gente , the winner of Sanremofestival.59 online voting where she beat Miodio for example. Good songs and she seems to be a real artist, with her personality and charisma, and not on a big stage for the first time. Well done and auguroni, Ania! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PKQqddT70w (live), http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vigBnw43LY (video) and here dedicating the victory to late Valentina Giovagnini http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3N_AXiTwRA

The Eurovision national selections season is nearing the end in a couple of weeks but it's still all business this weekend. Tonight we will have semifinals in Croatia and Latvia, and Slovakia will also have its 4th one. Tomorrow we will have the finals in Portugal, Latvia and Croatia plus the awaited last semifinal in Sweden. Spain will have it all happening tomorrow: last semifinal, followed by second chance round, followed by the final.... I wonder what time they will finish the show? Sunday sees the last and 5th semifinal in Slovakia and Bosnia-Herzegovina will present its song and finally on Monday the Israeli final will take place. By Monday we have heard 38 out of 43 songs (including countries like Estonia where all the songs have been presented but not yet selected); we only miss Belgium, Czech Republic, Serbia, Ukraine and Russia.

The host and winning country of 2008, Russia, is getting ready for its final. And once again there are a lot of trouble with the songs meeting the EBU rules. Let's see who is going to sing what in the end. Anyways, some national final veterans (Alexey Vorobyov and Polina Griffiths) are in, some Finns are involved again (Tracy Lipp for Prinsessa Avenue and Nano (Anna Nova) has been filming vids in Finland previously. Valeriya is currently on tour with Simply Red in the UK. Alexa from Ukraine and Thomas Christiansen from Denmark complete the line up. What I have heard so far I guess there is no fear we would be back to Moscow next year, or Russia following its excellent placings in the recent years.... Alexa - Ne dumat o tebye Arishata - Breakdown Valeriya - Back to Love http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pz11j1vYs8o Alexey Vorobyov - Heart Hunting Venger Collective - 9 o'clock Moscow night http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXp-uQ7hkE0 Polina Griffiths - Love is Independent Kvatro - L...

New York based John Casey has disegned the stage for Moscow 2009. Casey's design is inspired by Tatlin's tower, Lissitzky paintings and prints, Malevich's graphic arts, Koltunovich's lithographs, Kandinsky's paintings, and other Russian artists. LED-screens once again are the main feature of the stage. Casey previously designed the stage for the Eurovision Song Contest in 1997 in Dublin, and was involved in 1994 and 1995 as well

Slovakia's high profile semifinals continue Friday night and this 4th semifinal is a very mixed group of songs. I think I liked most Zachariáš Hubáček, Miro Jaroš and Martina Schindlerová. Barbora Balúchová a Red Rose - Nakoniec Nocaden - Na čo asi myslíš Brigita - V noci Quasimondo - 16 barov Zachariáš Hubáček - Bolo bolo Zuzana Haasová a Funny Fellows - V mojej zime Palo Drapák - Kričím na svätých Janais - Taram ta rej Miro Jaroš - Malý hlas Martina Schindlerová - Krídla

Krassimir Avramov has faced some heavy critic after his 55% win. Protests in Facebook and elsewere are demanding him to withdraw and let Poli Genova to go to Moscow instead. Some are saying Bulgaria will withdraw alltogether. All that because it is quite an illusion he could make his entry sound like on record live and on stage, and indeed especially the semifinal performance was very painful for ears.... Tonight he will face another prove as he has to sing it live again in Bulgarian TV and a decision what's going to happen will be made before March 10. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ixvOxNdeQo , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja5Yic_NBLY

I wrote about the Madonna chaos in Finland a couple of weeks ago but now the real numbers are out. They are no doubt records in any way you look at them. Over 1,7 million phonecalls were made to Lippupiste's number. Between 9am and 10am they were hundreds of thousends and the whole telephone system was experiencing difficulties, and many callers were connected with other callers instead of sellers for reasons yet unknown. Over 100.000 people tried to get tickets from internet creating 600.000 pageloads. No need to say the page was frozen most of the time. On top of that 100.000 people were trying to get tickets from their offices and R-kioski's causing long lines. In the end it was a real lottery who got a ticket and how.... Despite the limit of max 6 tickets per person there are hundreds of tickets available on Huuto.net and eBay.com for prices from 250-1500 euros (original prices between 99 and 119 euros).

Lordi's Deadache Europe Tour 2009 continues tonight in Italy, at Milan's Rolling Stone and Alpheus in Rome tomorrow. Milan is the 20th concert of 39. The tour started from Germany on January 29 and moved to the Netherlands, Ireland, UK, France, Spain before Italy and will go on to Switzerland, Bulgaria, Serbia, Austria, Hungary, Slovenia, Poland, Czech Republic, Finland and Sweden. Two concerts in Japan will follow in April.

Latvia's Eurodziesma takes place this Saturday after all after presenting the songs, then withdrawing from Eurovision, re-entering Eurovision, calling back the songs (everyone seems to have accepted). Amongst the participants Eurovision veteran from 2005 Valters who sung Latvia to 5th place with Kaza. 01 Camillas - Time goes 02 Dace and Friedis - Running around 03 Girts Zebulinš - Place to be 04 Johnny Salamander - Party 05 Miks Dukurs - Aizejot 06 Iveta Baumane - Tic tac 07 Ginta Eke - Be yourself 08 Natalija Tomasevica - Dynamite 09 Trianas parks - Call me any time you need a problem 10 Intars Busulis - Sastregumi 11 Christina and Annija - Angel of mine 12 Astra- Have to say goodbye 13 Edijs Šnipke - Make my day 14 Ketta - Without you 15 Policistas - In love we trust 16 Fidji - Don't want to say goodbye 17 Aisha - Hey 18 Simply four - When the sun is going down 19 Sabine Berezina - Bye, bye 20 Valters Fridenbergs - For a better tomorrow

Festival da Canção in Portugal will have its final this Saturday. 12 songs reached the final after a Spanish style internet voting. Eurovision veterans Nucha (1990) and Luciana Abreu (2005) are in, and Luciana is the most likely winner.... Listen the entries here: http://ww1.rtp.pt/wportal/sites/tv/festival_cancao09/concorrentes.php 01. Nucha - Tudo Está na Tua Mão 02. Romana - Acordem Olhos Doirados 03. Filipa Baptista - O Teu Lugar (Pela Vida Adentro) 04. André Rogriguez - Não Vou Voltar a Mim 05. Luciana Abreu - Juntos Vamos Conseguir (Yes We Can) 06. Nuno Norte - Lua sem Luar 07. Tayti - Amore Mio, Amore Mio 08. Fernando Pereira - É o Amor (Que Nos Faz Acreditar) 09. Eva Danin - Amar Mais Forte que o Vento 10. Francisco Andrade - Voar é ver 11. Flor-de-lis - Todas as Ruas do Amor 12. Nuno & Fábia - Não Demores (Quero-te Aquecer)

Israel is getting ready for the final on Monday March 2 and has put the songs online. Noa and Mira Awad will perform four songs, all sung in Hebrew, Arabic and English. My favourite is Faith in the light. Bo'i lirkod iti ( Will you dance with me ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4SAFsiTJPg Eineich ( There must be another way ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUEvHNp5ioI Na'amin bachalom ( Faith in the light ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQm_W5d4opI Kol-Shniyah ( Second chance ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrVHTRWwICk

Croatia has announced the songs and artists in Dora 2009. Six songs from the semifinal on February 27 will join the direct finalists on February 28. I have heard most of the songs but didn't really get so wild over any of them. A wild guess would be Franka Batelic - OGAE Song contest 2008 winner - to go to Moscow.... Semifinal Dora 2009 Čager Zoc & Papak Dance Company - Ritam Da Se Ritam Alen Vitasović & Lela Kaplowitz - Tamo Gdje Ljubav Počinje Marta Kuliš - Makni Se Feminnem - Poljupci u boji Maja Vučić - Tebe Imam Ja Marko Tolja - Stranci Ivo Gamulin Gianni - Daj Mi Jedan Razlog Jelena Radan - Voljet Cú Te Sutra Mario Battifiaca - Me gdje bila Ricardo Luque & Maja - Ljubav Ima Njeno Lice Sandra Bugaric - Kao jedno Sane - Dečko Tomislav Bralić & Klapa Intrade - Ne Damo Te Pismo Naša Dražen Žanko - Samo Ti Final Dora 2009 Viva - Opet Ana Bebić - Mrzim Spore Stvari Franka Batelic - Pjesma Za Kraj Aria - Istina Je Ruswaj - Što Će Mi Ljubav Igor Cukrov - Lijepa Tena H...

Robo Opatovský and Peter Bažík & Andrea Sulovská qualified by televote, and the jury chose Komajota. So I got two my faves in. Not bad at all....

Lordi has released its very first greatest hits album just to prove those who consider then one hit wonders that they have had a string of big hits since their debut with Would you love a monsterman . The album is compiled by Mr Lordi himself who is also responsable for the art work as usual. There is also a strictly limited version of the CD with an extra CD including 11 song from Live in Stockholm and 5 rare B-sides and non-album tracks. On top of that also the Helsinki Market Square concert after winning the Eurovision song contest 2006 is included. Track listing for disc one: 01. Hard rock hallelujah (Euroviscious radio edit) 02. Bite it like a bulldog 03. Who's your daddy? (Decapitated radio edit) 04. Devil is a loser 05. Blood red sandman 06. Get heavy 07. They only come out at night 08. My heaven is your hell 09. Beast loose in paradise 10. Deadache 11. Would you love a monsterman (2006 version) 12. Bringing back the balls to rock 13. Forsaken fashion dolls 14. Supermonster...

Hopefully we will be third time lucky as it is already third time Hungary is announcing it's entry in Moscow 2009. After the Zentai Márk disaster they chose Tampos Kátya only to find out she was way too busy to do such thing and withdraw within days. Now enters Ádokzoli (or Àdok Zoltán) with Dance with me , originally in Hungarian Tánclépés . Zoltán is a 32-year-old singer, dancer and coreographer. Watch & listen various versions of the song here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANW9RIP3CqM , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7jf_J4FTdY , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wmzq1vOTGSQ

It has now been confirmed, as rumoured for some time already, that Lovebugs will perform the title track from their latest album, The highest heights , in Moscow 2009 for Switzerland. Not exactly a music genre I go wild for but there's something about the song I like. Fits in very nicely! Listen to it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vFjBwpyslo

Marion's choir from Helsinki was the last choir to drop out from Kuorosota, or the war of the choirs. The two choirs that reached the final are from Espoo (hooray!) lead by Mikki Kauste and Lappajärvi, lead by Timo Kotipelto. In next week's final they will both perform three songs. Maybe Marion should have made her choir to perform Tipi tii or Tom tom tom to stay in contest? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLyFvE5WodY , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lD212Fr8XQ

Slovakia continues its search with the third semifinal tomorrow instead of tonight, delayed by a day for the day of mourning in the country on Sunday for a car/train accident that killed several people. Tomáš Bezdeda and Mária Círová qualified with televote from the 2nd semifinal, and jury saved Mukatado. Anyways, I don't know if it's me or something else but this semi feels very good songwise (not so sure for Eurovision though). I liked more or less almost all the songs. Rock is almost absent this time, and so are the lyrics in one of the songs (old trick?). Anyways I may have liked most the first two ones Komajota and Katka and the last one, Robo Opatovský. Listen to the songs here: http://www.stv.sk/eurosong/44512/sutaziaci 01. Komajota - 7 nocí 02. Katka Koščová - Pri sebe 03. Milan Lieskovský - Bliss 04. Peter Bažík a Andrea Sulovská - Nebudem stáť 05. Roman Galo Galvánek - Láska z papiera 06. Ivana Kováčová - Všetko 07. ENS - Už je čas 08. Dáša Šarkozyová - Krídla 09. G-...

Marco Carta (23) has won Sanremo 2009 with La forza mia . Povia came second with Luca era gay and Sal Da Vinci third with Non riesco a farti innamorare . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35EtLhHmECU , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTVuDZbw6AE , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFDJv8I8LZg

This week the Spanish jury and televoters agreed almost totally with the exception of jury preferring Roel and televoters Leather boys. However, Soraya qualified easily with Virginia and Jorge González. Here are the full results (jury/televote) Soraya 12 + 12 = 24 Virginia 10 + 10 = 20 Jorge González 8 + 8 = 16 Salva Ortega 7 + 7 = 14 Roel 6 + 3 = 9 Diqesi 5 + 4 = 9 Angeles Vera 4 + 5 = 9 Leather Boys 3 + 6 = 9 Calipop 2+ 2 = 4 Electonikboy 1 + 1 = 2

Next Time with Nesto Sto Ke Ostane has won the Macedonian final. Next Time is made of twins Martin and Stefan Filipovski and they released their succesful debut album last year. They were runner ups in October 2008 in MakFest, an important Macedonian festival. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdslZI5uCRs Hre are the full results (jury/televote): 01. Next Time 7 + 12 (4176) = 19 02. Kaliopi & Naum 12 + 6 (3055) = 18 03. Risto Samardziev 10 +7 (3151) = 17 04. Vlatko Lozanoski 8 + 8 (3402) = 16 05. Slang 3 +10 (4168) = 13 06. Vlatko Ilievski 4 +4 (1608)= 8 07. Andrijana Janevska 6 + 0 (218) = 6 07. Aleksandar Belov 1 + 5 (2595) = 6 09. Daniel 5 + 0 (528) = 5 10. Bravo 0 ? 3 (1011) = 3 11. Kristijan 2 + 0 (621) = 2 11. Rok Agresori 0 + 2 (985) = 2 12. Proekt Makedonija 0 + 1 (972) = 1 13. Dejan Trifunovski 0 + 0 (537) = 0 13. Verica Pandilovska 0 + 0 (108) = 0 13. Kostadin Papa 0 + 0 (738) = 0

Sanremo festival has gotten its top-3: Povia with his gay themed and most discussed and protested song; Marco Carta from Sardegna, famous from a TV-reality show; and Sal da Vinci who made his way back to final from second chance round. Their votes have now been zeroed and they will reperform their songs....

Alex C. feat. Oscar Loya presented their entry live tonight at ECHO Awards in Germany giving us a taste what to expect in Moscow 2009: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-TxgXMkboI&fmt=18

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97q8ThPBus4 and the videoclip http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyAthqewF2g

Alexander won the Norvegian final in a monsteresque Lordi way. I couldn't be happier. One word: Oslo 2010? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw_OO3SldGE 01. Alexander Rybak - Fairytale - 747.888 votes 02. Tone Damli Aaberge - Butterflies - 121.856 votes 03. Alexander Stenerud - Find my girl - 73.380 votes 04. Publiners - Te stein - 62.683 votes

Another semifinal of Melodifestivalen has just ended and once again it was a great show visually and in my opinion musiclaly the most solid one. It was very hard to predict who would go further and what the Swedes would end up voting. Mikael Rickfors made it to top-5 but did not reach duels where first E.M.D beat Rigo & co, and then surprisingly Molly Sandén beat BWO. My favourite in the end was E.M.D. When they join Måns Zelmerlöv in final there will be many young sharp dressed guys, it looks.... BWO did a risky choise by trying with a ballad-esque song instead of their usual dance anthems but with the second hearing it sounded fantastic, too....

Et cetera by Sinead Mulvey & Black Daisy has won the Irish final last night. The song's written by Jonas Gladnikoff & Christina Schilling who already came 2nd in Denmark this year together with Niall Mooney and Daniele Moratti. The song won in all jury groups except Dublin where it came second and was also the televote. I like it! Kristina Zaharova who switched the Latvian final for the Irish one was left second. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ch0b0wNpGpo Here are the results: 01. Sinead Mulvey & Black Daisy 78 02. Kristina Zaharova 56 03. Laura-Jayne Hunter 41 04. Lee Bradshaw 26 05. Johnny Brady 24 06. M.N.A 23

Spain continues its search with the second semifinal from Barcelona. In this one we have Soraya who was fighting with Melody for the first place all the voting time as well as my favourites Roel (who has Anabel Conde in his backing group) and Jorge González. Soraya - La noche es para mí (pop/rock - 202.198 - 2nd) Roel - Y ahora dices (pop/rock - 99.534 - 7th) Virginia - True love (ballad - 70.836 - 11th) Jorge González - Si yo vengo a enamorarte (latin - 60.511 - 14th) Calipop - Burbuja (indie - 60.409 - 15th) Electronikboy - Mon petit oiseau (electronic - 57.428 - 17th) Diqesi - Subiré (indie - 59.059 - 16th) Leather Boys - We're livin' in a bar (qualified from the auditions) Ángeles Vela - Vístete de primavera (qualified from the auditions) Salva Ortega - Lujuria (qualified from the auditions)

Bulgarian selection that started months ago last year will finaly reach the final tonight. The favourite seems to be Grafa but I like also Stefan Ilchev. Krasimir Avramov is great on video and record but his semifinal performance was painful to watch. My favourite of them all is Poli Genova. Fantastic track. If it wins Bulgaria will be on top of the ballads! 01. Stefan Ilchev - Get Up 02. Moto - Razstoyaniya 03. Poli Genova - One Lifetime Is Not Enough 04. Dani Milev - Nyama vreme 05. Ivelina - Ready For Love 06. Grafa - Vrag 07. Sahara - Don't Kiss For Money 08. Mariana Popova - Crazy 09. Jura Tone feat. Lady B - Chance To Love You 10. Stefan Dobrev - Everlasting Love 11. Krasimir Avramov - Illusion 12. Nora - It's Not Right

Dolcenera has been voted out by the jury that was that of the orchestra in Teatro Ariston last night. One could call that a scandal. With her out also another sure radiohit, Gemelli Diversi. Now one can start talking about Alexia's second possible victory or that of debutant Marco Carta, known from a reality-TV.... Sigh. Otherwise there were the duets, Playboy playmates and an accidental pornostar on stage. Tonight the big final.

Arisa, or Rosalba Pippa has won Sanremo Proposte, or the newcomers selection. Friday night was supposed to be their night, but they got on stage after midnight only, performing only 1,5 minutes of their songs. WTF?? Ridiculous! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6-Tax4uCMU

Last night in Sanremo the newcomers sung their duets with the big names. After that the six Big or Artisti performed again their songs and two of them were voted back to final on Saturday night.... but how many were still up at 00.45 when the last one sung? Anyways, as it was televote no wonder the southern boys Albano and Sal Da Vinci made it to the final. Tonight in Sanremo the newcomers final.... and the Playboy playmates. Dozens of them....

The Georgian choice for their song in Moscow has made headlines all over the world. In Finland the story was picked up by TV-news and most newspapers. Today's Ilta-Sanomat has a comment by Dima Bilan's producer Jana Rudkovskaja who in an interview with Eho Moskvy radiostation demanded the song's disqualification " It is immoral and insult to our country. The song casts a shadow over the whole contest and it is not acceptable!" Even harder critic in Nashe Vremja newspaper: "Let's cancel the whole contest". In Iltalehti Georgian TV's producer Kakha Tsiskaridze admits the song does have a double meaning that most everyone in Europe surely understands: "As we decided to take part after all, we had to send a message to Europe and most of all, to Russia." As we remember Georgia already withdraw from the contest originally but was then brought back by EBU. Official Russia has not yet reacted to the song. Meanwhile online poll shows Finns ...

Tomorrow night one of the 3 finals is Norway where it looks a lot like Alexander Rybak against the others. He has a good original song, performs it with gusto, plays the violin and makes right funny faces in right places, how could he not win? He could win even in Moscow for that matter! The others just won't have a chance in Moscow I think. My second favourite is Ovi who like Rybak gave a very good, relaxed performance singing from his heart. And a good song helps. Then there's Velvet with their dance track but do we want Norvegian Spice Girls? I don't think so. Stenerud is pretty good, too, but Aaberge was a big disappointment for me after all that pre-MGP hype. Hana and Brøndbo would be great choices if Norway wants to relive their fame as a null pointer. Espen Hana - Two of a Kind Publiners - Te stein Thomas Brøndbo – Det vart ein storm Velvet – Tricky Alexander Stenerud – Find My Girl Tone Damli Aaberge - Butterflies Ovi – Seven Seconds Alexander Rybak - Fairytale

F.Y.R. of Macedonia continues its 3-day selection tonight with the second semifinal, that should be a bit better than the first one last night. I would watch out for Jasmina Dimitrovska, Filip Jordanovski, Bravo, Vlatko Lozanovski, Nade Tadevska and Venera who just might be my favourite of them all (even if the bridge sounded suspiciously similar to Laura Pausini's Tra te e il mare written by Biagio Antonacci....) Listen and watch them here: http://www.mmm.com.mk/default.asp?ItemID=2CC4E0E2413343419135C78C9687D90E 01. Dejan Trifunovski - Ljubovta doaga 02. Stefan Cvetkovski - Zemi se 03. Jasmina Dimitrovska - Na moe mesto 04. Filip Jordanovski - Volsebnik 05. Vlatko Ilievski - Najbogat na svet 06. Venera - Povtorno vljubena 07. Patnici - Nasmej se 08. Aleksandar Belov - Zastani solzi izbrisi 09. Kaliopi & Naum - Rum dum dum 10. Amir Ibraimovski - Otvori go srceto 11. Bravo bend - Devojko 12. Vlatko Lozanovski - Blisku do mene 13. Pampersi - Zboguvanje 14. Rok Agresori - Ding ...

Ania wins the online voting Sanremofestival.59 and therefor gets to perform her song Buongiorno gente on stage in Teatro Ariston on final night, next Saturday. Miodio from San Marino made it to top-10. Watch the video here: http://www.sanremo.rai.it/SR_canzoni

Slovakia kicked off their national selection, the first one in ten years, few days ago and tomorrow it's time for semifinal number two. If the first one was rather rock oriented this one's much more mixed. And very solid. I have no idea who the televoters will pick for the final, and even less who the jury will take. Last time they send VIP to the final and they came last in the televote.... Listen to the song here: http://www.stv.sk/eurosong/44512/sutaziaci Babenky a týpci - Babenky a týpci Mária Čírová - Búrka Jakub Petraník - Nadomnou Golden Storm - Daj mi len deň Samo Tomeček - To čo chceš Editor - Pod parou Mukatado - Ja sa mám Marek Kravjar - Geniálny cvok Anawi - V predstavách Tomáš Bezdeda - Každý z nás

Tonight the newcomers or Proposte will duet with some biggest names in the Italian music scene, true veterans and legends. They won't be voted tonight but have been already voted the past two nights. Tomorrow the final for them and their fate will decided by a 3-way jury: radio 25%, journalists 25% and televote 50%. It would be a safe bet to say a girl will win as they are 9 against Filippo! Silvia Aprile - Un desiderio arriverá (Pino Daniele) Arisa - Sinceritá (Lello Luttazzi) Malika Ayane - Come foglie (Gino Paoli) Chiara Canzian - Prova a dire il mio nome (Roberto Vecchioni) Barbara Gilbo - Che ne sai di me (Massimo Ranieri) Irene - Spiove il sole (Zucchero, Vandelli, Battaglia, Zanotti) Iskra - Quasi amore (Lucio Dalla) Karima - Come in ogni ora (Burt Bacharach) Simona Molinari - Egocentrica (Ornella Vanoni) Filippo Perbellini - Cuore senza cuore (Riccardo Cocciante) Besides that there will the second chance round for the six unlucky ones that have been voted out Tues...