Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

As expected Miro's self penned Angel si ti (You're an angel) won the national final in Bulgaria scoring over 48% of the votes. Twist & tango was second with 27% followed by Eagle, Ostani and Moyat pogled v teb .

Or should I say Miro decides as the reports from Bulgaria suggest he has been heavily promoting his own song Angel si ti. But hey, I don't care as it is the best one by far! Miro will sing five songs, Deep Zone is the guest and you can follow it online. When? 19.30 CET. Where? Here . 1. Eagle 2. Moyat pogled v teb 3. Twist & tango 4. Ostani 5. Angel si ti

After last night's first semifinal here comes the second one including Brand, Mbeyeline and Pavel Turcu who qualified from the SMS second chance voting. Also in this one two last minute withdrawels and replacements. Listen to the songs here . Update; the qualifiers. 1. Boris Covali - No name 2. Pavel Turcu - Imn Eurovision 3. Gloria - I'm not alone 4. Pasha - You should like 5. Alexandru Manciu - Ramii linga mine 6. Mariana Mihaila - Say I'm sorry XX. Alex White - Towards the sky (withdrawn) 7. Vitalie Toderascu - Ti-aduci aminte 8. Gicu Cimbir - Cine sunt eu 9. Irina Tarasiuc - Lucky star 10. Cristy Rouge - Don't break my heart XX. Victoria Mahu - Padure, verde padure (withdrawn) 11. Veronika Lupu - Poza ta 12. Valeria Tarasova - See you soon 13. Mbeyeline - Never step back 14. Brand - S.O.S. 15. Cristina Croitor - My heart

Aisha and her laundry ladies have won the Latvian final with What for. Add shaky vocals and acccordeon.

Kristina has won the final in Slovakia with fan favourite Horehronie . Complete results No.      Performer               Jury      SMS       Total 1 Kristina 11 12 23 2 Mista 12 11 23 3 Tomáš Bezdeda 9 8 17 4 Aya 8 9 17 5 Miro Jaroš 6 10 16 6 Pavol Remenár, Klára & Liquid Error       7 7 14 7 Soňa 10 3 13 8 Martina Schindlerová 4 4 8 9 Marián Bango 5 2 7 10 Robo Opatovský 2 5 7 11 Mayo 1 6 7 12 Free Voices 3 1 4

I have had my moment. That Moment when you think you are listening to the Eurovision winner. I had it with Fairytale when I first heard in the Norwegian semifinals. With Believe . With Molitva when I first heard it once the Serbian songs were out in 2007... . And I got it with This is my life . I might be completely wrong but we will see... At least it's Is it true? moment. In meantime she qualified directly to the final in Globen and if she wins there, too, we might be back there in 2011?. Noll Dicipline I didn't think would go to top-5 but was thinking Sibel or Lovestoned would take that last place but I got it rest right. Peter Jöback went to the final as expected and Pernilla and Neo meet again in Second chance round next week. This was all in all the best Swedish semifinal this year so SVT was saving the best for last and used some simple but very effective special effects but what was wrong with Måns jacket???

Sopho sung her six songs and was rather visibly uncomfortable with the uptempo songs akilling especially Never give in and clearly favoured herself the last song, Shine . And hey, it won! Ok, no problem. Nice song. Nothing more though. Hanne Sørvaag will have exciting times in her home country Norway as she has also co-written the Norwegian entry.

After two disqualifications the rest of the Greek national selection songs have been finally made available on line. Greece has had a rather troubled selection this year. Previously Eleftheria Eleftheriou's song Kendro tou kosmou leaked and was disqualified. The same happened earlier to Katerina Avgoustakis's Enjoy the day , Both were considered favourites to win. Christis Hatzinasios - Illusion Sunny Baltzi & Second Skin - Game of life Manos Pyrovolakis - I kivotos tou Noe  Giorgos Alkaios & friends - Opa Giorgos Karadimos - Polemao  Melisses - Kinezos  Emigré - Touch me deep inside

Latvia will have its one off final tonight. Several familiar names in the line-up but missing the one outstanding song. Propably they will send Reiniks or Zaharova but I think their efforts are rather mediocre. My favourite is and stays Ivo Grisnins-Grislis but I also have a soft spot for the two somehow Brazilian mood songs by Konike and Kristine Karkla-Purina. When? 20.15 CET. Where? Here . 1. PeR - Like a mouse 2. Trianas parks - Lullaby for my dreammate (Diamond Lullaby) 3. Aisha - What for? (1.) 4. Lauris Reiniks - Your morning lullaby 5. Dons - My religion is freedom (3.) 6. Konike - Digi digi dong 7. H2O - When I close my eyes 8. Kristine Karkla - Purina - Rishti Rashti 9. Ivo Grisnins - Grislis - Because I love you (2.) 10. Kristine Zaharova - Snow in July

Slovakia's lenghty selection process comes to an end tonight, a day before planned due to Olympic success. Twelve songs made it to this stage. My favourite is Kristina with her fantastic mix up of everything Eurovision and Miro Jaros. Also the familiar names from last year Robo Obotovsky, Martina Schindlerova and Tomas Bezdeda would be ok. As long as Figaro won't win! (Let's see if I did it again.... ref. Slovenia)  Listen them here . When? 20.15 CET. Where? Here . Remener, Klara & Liquid Error - Figaro Kristina - Horehronie Free Voices - Z osnov Robo Obotovsky - Nieco mas Martina Schindlerova - Mozes ist Aya - Do neba volam Marian Bango - Ty tu ticho spis Tomas Bezdeda - Na strechach domov Mista - Emotions Miro Jaros - Bez siedmeho neba Sona - Skus ma viest Mayo - Ton

Sopho Nozharazde, internally chosen will perform six song in tonight's show. The songs are not very Georgian and I'm not so sure I like this ever more common behaviour by some authors to spent their songs to every country possible and see what goes through where.... At least Sopho is Georgian!  That aside, Imy favourites are Never give in and For eternity. If Call me or Shine wins, that's okeyish, too. Listen all songs in 3 minutes here .  When? 17.30 CET. Where? Here . Never give in (co-written by Tina Japaridze, who also co-wrote Is it true ) Call me Our world Sing my song (written by Svika Pick, who also wrote Diva , Light a candle and Hasta la vista ) For eternity (written by Andrej Babic, who also wrote Senhora do mar , Vise nisam tvoja , Call me , Cvet z juga and Love symphony ) Shine (written by Norwegian-Swedish team that co-wrote also My heart is yours )

Lithuania will have its third and last semifinal tonight. Three songs will qualify for the final. Amongst tonight's songs 4Fun from Helsinki 2007. When? 20.30 CET. Where? Here .  Update : Here are the qualifiers: InCulto: East European funk Soliaris: So high Sirdeles: As ir tu Eva: Nes tu pamirsai Vanilla Sound: Faces 4Fun: Don't you know Ramunas Difartas: Blues of life Evelina Sasenko: For this I'll pray Eden: Nirvana The Cavaliers: We are about to love Gaudi (Gaudentas Janusas): Man nieke nereikia Jurate Miliauskaite: Let it rain Merunas: Rosa

Moldova has its first semifinal tonight. Doinita Gherman and Todo have been added to this first semifinal after the SMS Second chance round with the songs that didn't make the jury cut first time. Curiously Sun stroke project and Olia Tira who have 3 songs in all in the running were all placed in the same semifinal but a few days ago they withdraw their other entris, as did Ionel Istrati and some others. Here are the original list and under their replacement songs. Listen to all the songs here . When? 19.40 CET. Where? Here .  Update: Here are the qualifiers: 1. Mihai Teodor - Ai-ai-ai 2. Cornina Cuniuc & Boris Latisev - Forever 3. Doinita Gherman - Meloterapia 4. Sun stroke project & Olia Tira - Run away 5. Millenium - Before you go 6. Marcel Rosca - If love is the thing 7. Nicoleta Gavrilita - De tristete 8. Dyma - Manipulate X. Olia Tira - Goodbye (withdrawn ) 9. JJ Jazz - So many questions 10. Todo - Dance 4 life 11. Eugen Dolbani - Love, sweet love 12. P...

Carola performed songs like Jag ger allt and Så länge jag lever in the Haiti charity concert last night in Stockholm. She also dueted with sarah Dawn Finer in Tro, and all the cast sung together We are the world, Man in the mirror and Pride (In the name of love). She also sung a new specially written song Wings of compassion . (Photo & video by Alexander Busk)

Another busy weekend coming. Besides the Swedish Melodifestivalen semifinal number 4 also Lithuania will have its semifinal (3rd) and Moldova its first tomorrow night. And on top of that the national finals in Georgia, Slovakia and Latvia. You can listen to the Swedish hopefuls here . They were released already earlier this week after two of them leaked. Readers of this blog know my votes go to Peter and Pernilla :-) Sibel - Stop Py Bäckman - Magisk stjärna NEO - Human frontier Lovestoned - Thursdays Anna Bergendahl - This is my life Pernilla Wahlgren- Jag vill om du vågar Noll Diciplin - Idiot Peter Jöback - Hollow

Pernilla Wahlgren is back in Melodifestivalen for the fourth time and her entry this year is called Jag vill om du vågar or I want if you dare. And she wants and dares. Her artist badge doesn't say "artist" like everybody else but MILF. And we all know what that stands for, don't we? :-) Here's Piccadilly Circus (1985), Tvillingsjäl (1991) and Let your spirits fly (2003)

As usual the Italian charts is invaded by the festival. The whole top-10 in iTunes is from Sanremo: 1. Malika Ayane 2. Noemi 3. Valerio Scanu 4. Marco Mengoni 5. Povia 6. Arisa 7. Irene Grandi 8. Irene Fornaciari ft Nomadi 9. Simone Cristicchi 10. Tony Maiello. In the album charts Marco Mengoni hits number one, followed by Malika Ayane second, the Sanremo compilation third, Noemi 4th, Valerio Scanu 6th, Nina Zilli 8th and Arisa 9th.

The three names to battle out the ticket to oslo 2010 from Serbia have been revealed today: Milan Stankovic, Emina Jahovic and Oliver Katic ft Jelena Markovic. They will all perform the song Goran Bregovic has specially written for Eurovision on March 13 and people will televote the best combination.

The chaotic selection process in Belarus involving two different TV-stations have come to and end when group called 3 + 2 with song Far away has been announced as their entry. Sounds somehow light heavy and Nightwish-esque to me. The group is put together by reality Tv programmes Musical Court and New voices of Belarus project, and includes Artyom Mihalenko, Egiazar Farashyan, Yulia Shishko, Alyona and Ninel Karpovich.

The charity concert Hopp för Haiti organized and with Carola will take place tonight in Filadefiakyrkan in Stockholm.

We have about 1/3 of the songs for Oslo 2010 selected now and it's looking rather interesting. Over the next weekend we will have another four songs to ad. Fans are complaining for choices like Spain but I think it was a wise choice. So far we are totally missing the Eurovision prototype from the recent year: lightly dressed dancing girls singing, or rather performing, some uptempo dance number with ot without some ethnic sounds. Closest to that genre are Iceland, Denmark and Switzerland but without light dressed girls and ethnic influences. And I for one am very happy for that! Instead we have some authentic etchnic tunes, classic ballads, Melodifestivalen reject, remake of previous success, a mix'n match of folk and rock, 80's pop, waltz, impressive opening tunes, some rap - and then we have the Netherlands. What do you think? Here they are: Albania , Armenia , Cyprus , Denmark , Finland , Iceland , Macedonia , Malta , Netherlands , Norway , Poland , Slovenia , Spain , ...

Now did that get your attention? That's the title of the French entry this year, performed - why I want to use that verb instead of "sing!? - by Jessy Matador. Sounds more suitable for FIFA World Cup than Eurovision indeed. Oh well... Maybe there is a little chance it is good?

The songs Sofia Nizharadze will sing in the Georgian national final have been put online. Six songs, six short titles: Our world, Simg my song, Never give in, For eternity, Call me and Shine . Listen here . Undoubtly Sofia has vocal capacities and the songs aren't bad, but none of them stroke as an Eurovision winner with the first hearing.

Mikael Konttinen who broke through in the 2006 Independance Ball's entertainer and made it to a household name in Euroviisut 2008 where he also won the fan's award and went on to represant Finland in OGAE's Second Chance contest has released a new album to pretty good critic. Ota kiinni entered the Finnish Top-40 at number 30 last week. He also charmed the folks in Miss Finland pageant and reports from his live gigs tell he is a natural born entertainer. And his music? Schlagerpop? Jazzpop? Old dance band music? Hard to say, maybe he is just an entertainer. The album includes also a duet with Anna Eriksson. Here is his the title track Ota kiinni and the beforementioned duet with Anna Eriksson, Marraskuu . Is it me or does Ota kiinni sound very familiar, somewhat Spanish perhaps?

Germany continues with its search with Stefan Raab. Two more names will be dropped tonight and only six move on to the next step. Lena Meyear-Landrut has taken a little lead as public's favourite artist to win. Katrin Walter Sharyhan Osman Cyril Krueger Jennifer Braun Christian Durstewitz Lena Meyer-Landrut Kerstin Freking Leon Taylor Update: Cyril Krueger and Katrin Walter got the smallest number of televotes and were eliminated from the race.

The Avvenire newspaper has published the "secret" results of the Sanremo televote. How they got them as well as the whole voting is under investication as apparently - or should I say as we are in Italy - there seems to be something not quite right. In other countries all sort of tricks are being used, mainly internet hackering. What do they do in Italy? No, you don't my telephone cards, you buy call centers! However, the orchestra in Teatro Ariston formed 50% of the vote and as their top-5 was 1. Malika Ayane, 2. Noemi, 3. Arisa, 4. Marco Mengoni and 5. Simone Christicchi and non of their top-3 made it to the superfinal one can undertand their outburts and protests.  Here are the televotes in the first round of the final night: 1. Pupo, Emanuele Filiberto & Canonici   212.482 (32,95%) 2. Valerio Scanu   135.588 3. Marco Mengoni   80.287 (jury 4.) 4. Povia   61.125 5. Arisa   37.069 (jury 3.) 6. Irene Fornaciari ft Nomad...

Another milestone! 300.000 hits! And visits from 179 different countries/territories so far! The hitcounter has been working overtime this year: in January I have had in average 629 daily hits, in February so far already 770. Thank you for following me and I can't wait for May and the hectic times! By this rate I should reach 400.000 in Oslo!

Yuhuu, my favourite won, what happened?? He was really good and won both televote and the jury votes beating Coral. John Cobra insulted both public and jurors and behaved like an idiot and gor a deserved last place. Amen to that. And waltz for Oslo 2010. 1  Daniel Diges 58 60 118 (jury - televote - total) 2  Coral Segovia 47     50 97 3  Lorena 37 40 77 4  Venus 24 30 54 5  Samuel y Patricia 30 20 50 6  José Galisteo 14 35 49 =.  Ainhoa Cantalapiedra 24 25 49 8  Anabel Conde 32 15 47 9  Fran Dieli 19 5 24 10  John Cobra 5 10 15

One of the most anticipated national finals will take place in Spain. RTVE has put rehearsal videos of the entries here   With the exception of John Cobra it's a pretty solid offering. If I now say that I can live with any song winning but that, will it win? (See Slovenia). Destino Oslo tonight at 22.15 CET. Here . Coral Segovia - En un vida José Galisteo - Beautiful life Ainhoa Cantalapiedra - Volveré John Cobra - Carol Samuel & Patricia - Recuérdame Venus - Perfecta Daniel Diges - Algo pequeñito Lorena - Amor mágico Fran Dieli - Cuando se trata de ti Anabel Conde - Sin miedos

Harel Skaat and his team have chosen the songs he will perform in the Israeli selection Kdam on March 14. The songs will be first presented in a preview program on March 6. Le'an? (Where to?)   written by Sahar Hagay & Eyal Shahar Millim (Words) written by Noam Horev-Tomer Hadadi Ela'yich (To you)  written by Noam Horev- Ohad Chitman Le'hitkarev (To get closer)   written by Sahar Hagay-Nitzan Keikov

Noa, who represanted Israel with Mira Awad in Moscow with There must be another way has given birth to her third child last Friday. Counting back one can only come to one conclusion: Moscow was very productive time for her! Congratulations! Life must be beautiful for her right now. She comments on her Facebook: "i am in mother mode. dedicating myself to milk and love. separatng myself from reality. its been years since i've had this quiet. sometimes its confusing. mostly it´s like floating in a warm bath in a candle-lit room. for the moment, the world outside can wait. Yum , Enea and Ayehli are all the news i need."

To say something positive it's different. And it has an impossible title Narodnozabavni rock . Full results: Rok Žlindre & Kalamari - 15907 Nina Pušlar - 3527 Langa - 3462 Manca Špik - 2264 Hamo & Gal - 1918 Marko Vozelj - 1597 Martina Šraj - 1479 Brigita Šuler - 1244 Nuša Derenda - 1040 Lea Sirk - 751 Vlado Pilja - 513 Tangels - 444 Stereotipi - 298 Anastazija Juvan - 273

The Slovenian final has just started and it all looks good. Great stage. Omar Naber (ESC 2005) opened the show and we move on to the songs. Marko Vozelj smartly dressed performs his quite nice yet a bit boring Moj si zrak . Somehow kind of Italian song. Vocally he is pleasant. Dancers inside and outside huge transparent balls complete the act. Eurovision veteran Nusa Derenda next looking royal in her peach colored dress performing her Sanjajva . Windmachine under her dress makes a nice effect :-). Besides that she has three backing vocalist and the song flows nicely with some a bit ethnic "na la la leys" Vocally she is perfect of course. The men known to abuse the use of hairgel next, Langa with their Roko mi daj .  This is so called Balcan ballad. Four ladies in black wave in the background and one guy forgot its a so called Balcan ballad and runs around trying to look like it was a rock anthem. Windmachine makes an appearence as well. Four piece Tangels next with t...

The best thing from last night's Melodifestivalen was Måns going Japanese! Here !

Watch what happened in Teatro Ariston last night here . First Antonella Clerici gives out the names of the 7 songs that didn't make to the top-3. People start protesting already when the second name Irene Grandi is announced, another explosion later with Simone Cristicchi but when Malika Ayane is announced as second last name out of the superfinal the situation gets really heated. The director of orchestra comes to stage and wants to make public the vote by the orchestra (50%) but it can't be done and then we move on to the last non finalist, Noemi. After that a total chaos. People are chanting "vergogna! vergogna!" (Shame! shame!) and "venduti! venduti!" (Bought! Bought!) while the members of the orchestra are tearing their notes and throwing the to the air. La Clerici tries to get hold of the situation. In the end we get the names of the three superfinalists including the name of Pupo & co, met with a huge uproar, whistles and boos again.... About an h...

  Tonight Slovenia chooses its entrant for Oslo 2010 when the qualified songs from last night's semifinal (songs 1, 3, 5 and so on) try to beat the directly invited songs (songs 2, 4, 6 and so on). After a quick listening I think Manca Spik might do it finally this year but we can't rule out Nusa, always dangerous Langa. Or a total change of direction for Slovenia with Tangels? Or a raspy ballad by Hamo & Gal? Slovenia's Kelly Rowland Martina? Or rather effective Nina? Or go very anti-Slovenian kitch with Vlado? My favourites are... hmmm... in no particular order Nusa, Tangels, Nina and Vlado. As long as Stereotipi or Ansanbel won't win it's ok. A good solid final in Slovenia. Once again! Marko Vozelj - Moj si zrak Nuša Derenda - Sanjajva Langa - Roko mi daj Tangels - Kaj in kam Brigita Šuler - Para me Anastazija Juvan - Nežna Manca Špik - Tukaj sem doma Hamo & Gal - Črni konji čez nebo Martina Šraj - Dovolj ljubezni Stereotipi - Daj m...

The second semifinal tonight in Slovakia. Update: These six qualified for the final next Sunday. 1 . Aya - Do neba volám 2. Smola a Hrušky - Pridaj si ma 3. Horská chata - Myslím, že vieš kto som? 4. Soňa - Skús ma viesť 5. Free Voices - Z osnov 6. Martina Schindlerová - Môžeš ísť 7. Tomáš Bezdeda - Na strechách domov 8. Peter Bažík - Paradise vs. Babylon 9. Alone - Strašne mi chýbaš 10. Mista - Emotions 11. Martin Konrád - Ja viem 12. Dáška Kostovčik - Dážď

Valerio Scanu, who was the runner up in the reality show Amici wins the 60th festival di Sanremo,.Marco Carta last year's winner came from the same show. Also, last year Carta was the youngest ever winner since Gigliola Cinquetti in 1964 but now  Scanu takes that record from him being just 19. One can only be relieved he and his Tutte le volte che won instead of the horrid trio who came 2nd. Marco Mengoni, X Factor winner 2 months ago  came 3rd. Now we can all make love "in ogni luogo, in ogni posto, in ogni lago..." Read the full report of this chaotic and scandalous night here.

Some good news tonight; Thea Garrett (17) for Malta. The best Maltese entry for many many years and my favourite from the beginning with Wayne Micallef who also got a respectable 6th place after being 3rd with the juries. Congrats Thea and Wayne! So, My dream for Malta! So called favourites - I would say hype created by fans and songwriters without no real reason - Claudia Faniello and Foxy Federation got the placing they deserved. I'm glad the Maltese jury and people have come to their senses! Results: 1. Thea Garrett  (jury 54 + televote 48) 102 2. Glen Vella (28 + 30) 58 3. Tiziana Calleja (13 + 32) 45 4. Pamela Bezzina (27 + 13) 40 5. Eleanor Spiteri (25 + 14) 39 6. Wayne Micallef (27 + 9) 36 7. Lawrence Gray (21 + 12) 33 8. Ruth Portelli (19 + 12) 31 8. Claudia Faniello (3 + 28) 31 10. Dorothy Bezzina (21 + 6) 27 11. Klinsmann (10 + 16) 26 12. Nadine & Clifford (7 + 12) 19 12. Priscilla & Kurt (3 + 16) 19 14. Eleanor Cassar (5 + 11) 16 15. Petra Zamm...

Like in Sanremo a chaotic end in Macedonia.... In the end Gjoko Tanevski ft. Billy Zver and Pejcin with Jas ja imam silata will go to Oslo 2010 even if people protest.... Truth to be said, Vlatko Ilievski would have been equally bad choice so I don't care. Results: 1. Gjoko Tanevski (jury 12 + televote 10) 22 2. Vlatko Ilievski (10 + 12) 22 3. Maja Vukisevic (8 + 6) 14 4. Vlatko Lozanovski (7 + 5) 12 5. Nade Talevska (4 + 7) 11 6. Bravo Band (4 + 5) 9 7. Aleksandar Belov (0 + 8) 8 8. Angela Zdradkova (6 + 0) 6 9. Susana & Darko (3 + 2 ) 5 10. Esma's Band (0 + 3) 3 11. Treta Dimenzija (2 + 0) 2 12. Kristijan Jovanov (0 + 1) 1 13. Volodija, Tumbao Salsa Band, Darko Ilievski, Viktorija Apostolova (0 + 0) 0

21.03 the show has started and off we go with Marco Mengoni and Credimi ancora . Fresh winner of X Factor where he got a place here besides the winning that show he has proved he can handle also a stage like Teatro Ariston. One of the favourites (also mine) but has divided the opinion a bit so let's see how it goes. 21.09 And next on stage Povia with La veritá. Over the years he has created an image that some like, many dislike with his songs of different topics, often critizied of being only written to create scandal and provocate  instead of real discussion, like Luca era gay previously in Sanremo. Once a winner he may find himself in the bottom of the scoreboard this year? Personally I would put it right there, 9th place. 21.14 On radio a long speculation why Sanremo has made a success again surprisingly when no one expected it after many years in crisis. One reason could be there are many faces from reality shows - like newcomers winner Tony Maiello and Marco Mengoni fr...

For once I picked the top-5 right and even the finalists. Darin and the Swedish Kuunkuiskaajat Timoteij to the final, surprisingly the girls qualified directly instead of Darin, and Crucified Barbara and Alcazar went to the second chance. All is good in Sweden. :-)

Nina Zilli didn't win the Nuova Generazione category but she can consolate with the Premio Mia Martini, given to her by the critics. Out of 108 journalists 48 preferred her before La fame di Camilla that didn't even make the final, and Tony Maiello , the winner. She was also my favourite with L'uomo che amava le donne . Congrats, Nina! Here are some other songs by her: L'amore verrá or cover of the Supremes You can't hurry love (watch out for the dropping earring in the vid!) and 50mila ,

Sanremo 2010 has been a success. Last night Antonella Clerici managed a share of 50,74%, or 15,6 million - a record since 1999! A brand new opening with Bob Sinclair , Jennifer Lopez and Tokyo Hotel also helped (J.Lo reportedly got 800.000 euros for her playbacks...) . And the fact it was duets nights and unique performances. Tonight besides the ten finalists we have Mary J.Blige but Tiziano Ferro has called in sick and unable to perform. Marco Mengoni and Irene Fargo are considered favourites but I wouldn't be surprised if we got a completely different top-3. Like Malika Ayane, Arisa and Valerio Scanu ? The most discussed entry Italia, amore mio by Pupo, ex-prince Emanuele Filiberto and co. was strongly booed and whistled at last night in Teatro Ariston, let's see how televoters react. There will be a superfinal with the top-3 as usual. In the first round it's the usual 50% jury-50% telelvote but in the second round 100% televote. Other guests include talk show legend...

After all gossip and rumours and promises of big things to come after Patricia Kaas France goes... what? I don't know. Some unknown Jessy Matador (27), born in Kongo. Dancer. Two singles to his credit, Décalé Gwada and Mini kawoulé one can hardly call him a big star. But that seems not to be the point. but to create a summer hit and tittle song for the FIFA World cup this summer. Oh well, anything goes but this seems a  big disappointment but apparently it is true...

HRT has put the mp3s online that you can download here . Reviews coming closer to the final on March 6.

TVR has put the songs/videos in the Romanian national final online here . True to its usual style there are several songs for the beach parties in summer aka tasteless and smellness anonymous radiopop that is nice to listen as long as it last but is immediately forgotten when the song's over. And of course a banal trinute to Michael Jackson. This said, the selection is not that bad as it I have made it sound :-) Even if all songs are in English. Shame. Review coming up closer to the final on March 6. Razvan Krivach - Jack pott Luminita Anghel, Tony Tomas & Adrian Piper - Save their lives Paula Selig & Ovi - Play 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 Paula Selig & Kamara - It's not too late Lulu & The Puppets - Searching for perfect emotion Anda Adam & Conect-R - Surrender Tina ...

Amongst all Eurovision happenings this weekend also Lithuania is having its second semifinal. In this semifinal we have the leader of the online poll on LTV's website Mariaana Seppern as well current #3 Kirilkinas and #5 Donatas Montvydas. When? 20.30 CET. Where? Here . UPDATED Agama - Field of kings   ---> final Amberlife - Material world Andrius Zadevski - Right now Donatas Montvydas - Running fast ---> final Mariaana Seppern - My home is Europe Marta Lukosiute - Meiles ruduo Merunas - Rosa Egle Juneviciute - Amzinai Mundis & Electric Ladies - Sielos muzika Raimonda Masiulyte - Ledine sirdis Ruslanas Kirilkinas - I love a boy who's in with a fairytale ---> final Saules Kliosas - Tu atejai (tu man padejai)

Skopje Fest 2010 reached its final tonight after two days of semifinals. 16 songs in the running to go to Oslo 2010 still. Here is how the scoreboard looks like after the two semifinals (votes combined from both semifinals). Judging this it looks like it's going to be Vlatko or... Vlatko! I go for Lazanovski. Let'see how it will look tonight! When? 20.30 CET. Where? Here . 1. Vlatko Ilievski - Sreka      22 (10 jury + 12 televote) 2. Vlatko Lazanovski - Letam kan tebe      20 (10 + 10) 3. Esma's Band - Dz ipsi dens       19 (7 + 12) 4. Suzana Spasovska & Darko Nesovski - Bog Go Ima Sekoj Kljuc 18 (12 + 6) 5. Maja Vukicevic - Fama     16 (12 + 4) 6. Aleksandar Belov - Ostani     15 (7 + 8) 7. Gjoko Taneski - Jas Ja Imam Silata     15 (8 + 7) 8. Nade Talevska - Sreken kraj     14 (6 + 8) 9. Viktorija Apostolova - Zaboravi na Se ...