Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

NDR and EBU had their first meeting concerning the 2011 edition of the Eurovision song contest. The dates were set to May 10, 12 and 14 - once again football dictates the dates. There are ten cities bidding for hosting the show and we won't know until September where it will be held. This NRD/EBU meeting was held in Hamburg, a very strong candidate to host the show. But the big news is Lena Meyer-Landrut who brought the contest to Germany will try for a bis and will defend her victory on home soil. The only time a winner has returned a year after was Lys Assia who won the very first Eurovision back in 1956 and returned in 1957 but it didn't go so well: 8th out of ten songs. (But she returned yet again in 1958 and gained a respectable 2nd place!) She has recently expressed her wish to represant Switzerland again in 2011, at thender age of 85 years, 55 years after her first victory....

Safura has released her first album It's my war . After her war to win the Eurovision 2010 and losing that battle things haven't maybe gone exactly as she and her team had hoped. The single Drip drop only charted (so far at least) in four western European countries (#15 Norway, #26 Germany, #38 Belgium and #40 Sweden) but maybe things will change with the release of the album?  And hey, the album is pretty good! I like several songs on it and none is bad really. Obviously it includes Drip drop in various versions, including the Balcan version with Zeljko Joksimovic and various remixes like this . Also Soulless is there. Listen samples from the album here .  If you liked Drip drop you are going to like this album I guess. Nothing Azerbaijani in it but full force Swedish Americanized pop but I like From her, from love as well as Too many times , Gonna let you know and That means you don't. And here is Lena's infamous remark on Safura.... lol.  

And here it is, the number one. A total of 215 votes against runner ups 138. Teuvo Loman's cover of Pet Shop Boys New York city boy turns into Helsinki city boy. I would like to point out he's no singer and this must be a joke. Luckily his singing career was very short lived. Campier than camp itself and I refuse to believe gays like this so who does??  Just when you thought it can't get worse here's more, the English version ! Unfortunately. (I apologize everyone for this post! :-) ) The only decent way out is the original version - sounds like a different song though!

Bobbysocks (Hanne Krogh and Elisabeth Andreassen) have released a best of album to celebrate their 25th anniversary of winning the Eurovision song contest in 1985. The album includes also a duet with Alexander Rybak, Thank you . That's also their new single, the first in 23 years! Or rather Alexander playing the violin! The winning song is featured in both in Norwegian original version and the English version Let it swing . Waiting for the morning is also included. Originally the due released three albums: Bobbysocks! (1984 and re-released in 1985), Waiting for the morning (1986) and Walkin' on air (1987).

EBU has finally revealed the votes given by the national juries and the televotes for each country. In the first semifinal we can see than Finland actually finished 6th in the televoting but only 15th with the juries - on the contrary as we Finns believed! In the second semifinal also Sweden was dropped from the final because of the jury and here's the irony: both Finland and Sweden were saved by the juries last year. So those in Finland who are now shouting "Get rid of the juries" shut up and refresh your short memory! Here are the full results for the semifinal one: Place   Televoting Jury Jury + Televoting 1 Greece (151) Belgium (165) Belgium 2 Iceland (149) Portugal (107) Greece 3 Belgium (146) Greece (99) Iceland 4 Russia (92) Albania (96) Portugal 5 Serbia (92) Bosnia & Herzegovina (86) Serbia 6 Finland (69) Iceland (85) Albania 7 Albania (68) Malta (66) Russia 8 Belarus (63) Serbia (65) Belarus 9 Portugal (58) Estonia (64) B...

At number two we have Tavaramarkkinat's Kevät (Spring) and the song takes place in.... Hakaniemi ! Tarharyhmä was the first girlgroup in Finland but what they lacked in beauty they had in talent. They made only two albums in 1984 and 1985 and Kevät was their final single but now a classic. Another love story gobe wrong, in spring time. In Hakaniemi. Kotiteollisuus has covered the song in 2008.

Blogilkar guest writer Daniel Motiño Camúñez reports: José Galisteo has just released the official video with a new version of Beautiful Life . The video was presented the 1st of June and has been directed by Karim Bena who also directed his previous two videos Lógicamente No and Big In Japan , the production was managed by Label Sound Records. The song is now remarkably more dance orientated as the one he presented in Destino Oslo and it is also performed entirely in English. Beautiful Life is then the official second single from José after Logicamente No( Obviously not) both included in the album Luces y Sombras (Shadows and Lights) , recorded in Paris and containing 13 tracks. Beautiful Life maxi single was released in April including 5 version with remixes from Danny Oton (Barcelona) y Mitchel Roland (Madrid), it has achieved 30.000 downloads iTunes being so far the most successful single from José. He will be touring this summer in Spain including performa...

At #4 we have Fredi! His Kolmatta Linjaa takaisin is also a cover ( Beautiful in the rain) but propably no one in Finland know s about it as this has become a real evergreen. Originally from 1968 this video is a remake in 1983 in the real street in Hakaniemi district. At #3 we have Jos Helsinki on kaunis by Leevi and the Leavings. Translates to If Helsinki is beautiful and tells about the alcoholists and homeless people in the streets of... you guessed it, Hakaniemi! Everything is so beautiful for a moment when the first snow falls and covers it all....

Another milestone. 400.000 visits. Another time to say thank you to you all who follow me. Thank you! Grazie mille! Kiitos!

Michalis Hatzigiannis or Μιχάλη Χατζηγιάννη has a new song out, To kalokairi mou and it fits perfectly this post-midsummer night when sun shines at its brightest at 9pm here in Finland after a partly cloudy day and the atmosphere is very relaxed and kinda sleepy.... this song makes me feel the summer heat, longing for a drink and a pool and some lounge chairs....and maybe take a few dance steps... here . And I like the word "kalokairi" :-) And here's the live performance!

At #7 we have Katupoikien laulu , written by Georg De Godzinsky -also an Eurovision conductor - that has been covered by most everyone since its first release in 1941 in a movie Onnellinen ministeri. Liberally translates to Song of the streetlads and tells about well, street lads in Helsinki! Or rather Sörkkä or Sörnäinen district. A true classic! Number 5 is Tuomari Nurmio's Tonnin stiflat , another song with heavy dialect lost to most people even in Helsinki but then he was born and raised in the most characterist parts of town in Hakaniemi .

It's the time of the year again when Finns escape to their cottages by the 188.000 lakes, get drunk and be eaten by the mosquitos. It's juhannus ! Don't be surprised if you see a naked woman staring at the source or a lake at midnight - she's only looking to see her future husband! Or if you see a fern flowering, they only do it at midsummer night. And again if you see naked people rolling around in misty fields before sunrise, they are just looking for a good marriage fortune. Also, if you tie nine different flowers together and place them under your pillow your future partner will appear to you in your sleep. Same thing if you wear the left foot's sock upside town while sleeping. And if you are by the bonfire and the smoke turns into your direction, beware you're gonna get married soon.... And so on. It's a magical night. But a busy one as the sun sets in Helsinki 22.50 and rises again 3.55 and in Lapland it stays up all night.... And to light up the rest ...

Franco Battiato is organizing Note di merito tonight in Rome with a cast of various ladies, amongst them Alice. More information here and here .

Sweden is slowly recovering from the royal wedding but today finally Peter Jöback married his Oscar Nilsson, nicely on midsummer! They must have been thinking of this day in the royal wedding where they were also invited. See the newlyweds right after the wedding here . Pernilla Wahlgren was there, so was Andreas Lundstedt and Sarah Dawn Finer, another royal wedding performer. Congrats Peter & Oscar!

It's not very common (or even unique?) a same song has been covered by not one but two Eurovision winners. Now this is true when Carola covers's Barbra Streisand's megahit Woman in love , already covered by Dana International! Woman in love was Streisand's 5th Billboard number one hit in 1980.  It also topped the charts in at least 15 other countries and was one of the biggest hits worldwide that year and has become a true classic. Dana International covered the song after her victory and was the lead single from her Free album in 1999 and peaked at #40 in Belgium. Carola has recorded the song as a part of her Streisand & Presley project and will be on the album she is recording. Carola is no stranger to Gibb brothers music as she recorded with them in Miami her Runaway album in 1986.  Which one you prefer: Carola , Dana or Barbra ?

At #9 we have Jormas with Rööperiin , one of the most famous covers (Penny Lane by the Beatles) from 1967. The lyrics tell about childhood memories and longing to the old neighbourhood of Rööperi or Punavuori , one of the most identifies districts of Helsinki between the city center and the sea. At #8 we have Georg Malmsten's Stadin kundi (Lad from Helsinki) from 1952 is a real classic. The recorded version is a cleaned version while he often performed live the real dialect version - ununderstandable to people outside Helsinki.

It's no secret Biagio Antonacci is one of my favourite Italian artists. Besides he was married to Gianni Morandi's daughter and made him a grandfather. But that's not the only Eurovision connection as Janne Raappana took part in the Euroviisut 2010 internet selection (hopefully he will try again in 2011 if YLE doesn't invite him directly!). But enough of that. One of Biagio's finest songs is Iris . And Janne has made a Finnish cover of it, Jos vain voisin . Quite different ones, Janne making it sounding more like his style. Which one do you prefer? PS. Biagio has made a new version with Gemelli DiVersi here and a remake in 2008.

Here starts the countdown of the most voted songs. At #15 we have Pikku Huopalahti by Pariisin Kevät, a fairly new alternative band from Helsinki. This song's from their debut album in 2008 and kicks off with the words "houses are like biscuit boxes in Pikku Huopalahti" setting the location for the song. Anna Järvinen is a Finnish born Swede and has been very popular in Sweden with some popularity in Finland, too, mainly due to a love song to the town she was born in, Helsinki . The song is filled with longing for Helsinki and she sings a phrase in Finnish in between "Helsinki come and get me back".

Carola has been all over the place over the royal wedding week and even sung in the dinner party after the wedding but after the TV cameras were no longer present. She did The runaway as requested especially by Daniel himself as well as Fångad av en stormvind and Evighet .  But her focus is now on her coming Barbra Streisand & Elvis Presley project and she was to give two concerts in Dalhalla but the first one has been cancelled for poor ticket sales. The other one is half sold at the moment but will be filmed for TV and DVD release. She's also recording an album based on Barbra & Elvis.  Here is where you can catch her live this summer: June 25-26-27 - concerts in Finland June 29 - Allsång på Skansen on SVT July 3 - Dalhalla July 11 - Norway, Hedmarkstoppevns July 31 - Karlskoga, Putte på torget August 10 -  Gothenburg, Kulturkalaset

Wali has sold millions of records and downloads of their Cari jodoh in their native Indonesia and Asia and now Fabrizio Faniello wishes to do the same in Europe with the English version I no can do . I must admit I didn't quite get this song at first but then relistening I kinda found the hook and love it now! It's five years since his last album and three from the latest single release so maybe this is the come back to forget the second Eurovision disaster?

Is this Finnish version the very first cover of Lena's Satellite in another language? Kiertokuu by Charlotte Kero!

Helsingin Sanomat organized recently a voting for the best and/or most popular song about Helsinki. A total of 1619 votes were cast and dozens of songs got votes. There have been a lot of songs about Helsinki over the decades, some very clearly telling about Helsinki, some just letting you imagine it's Helsinki without mentioning any specific places, some even in the local dialect that is slowly disappearing. Over the next days I will present the most voted songs but first of all I have to wonder where is Heli Kajo's Annankadun kulmassa and Kaija Koo's Hakaniemen pitkä silta ? Both fall to the category of a sad love in some spot of Helsinki giving the songs a special atmosphere. And here's one of Annakatu's corners and the Hakaniemi bridge .

Alexander Rybak was to perform in the live broadcast of Lotta på Liseberg and was rehearsing with the other stars when something went wrong. After playing a bit his violin he stopped and smashed the violin to the sofa on stage breaking it and walked away mumbling "I'm not feeling good" before disppearing to his hotel room. He was to perform besides solo also in a duet with Charlotte Perrelli. "It was seen by so many people we can't pretend it never happened " says Perrelli. "I know what he is going through. I have been there ."  Rybak has been having problems with his voice the last a couple of weeks and had a burnout already last year. He is his own manager and doesn't want to let his fans down and keeps on performing in scheduled shows against maybe his better advice. Lisa Nilsson who met him last Sunday for rehearsals says he was lacking energy and the sparkle already then. Here's the video . 

We all remember the fabulous parody/tribute video by Bastien Venturi and Dekel Ben Avi of Kuunkuiskaajat's Työlki ellää ( here ). As they say it may seem simple but it's not easy being blonde . Enjoy the bloopers here .

The underwater theme continues in the Eurovision stars's videos when Igor Cukrov's new video Mjesečar mainly takes place ... underwater! This single was released as the follow up to his Eurovision 2009 entry for Croatia Lijepa Tena . His latest single is Moja draga that he participated in Pjesma mediterana earlier this month with. He's still to release his debut album.

The happy wedding couple Victoria & Daniel has left for honeymoon in some secret location but the Love Stockholm 2010 is still here and here's Darin's contribution. He wrote Can't stop love inspired by the couple in like 5 seconds the other night. Sometimes all you need is an inspiration and beautiful things happen.... (and you end up wearing some weird things, too). He's going on a summer tour shortly and will release a new album on August 25.

First Class Knight of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav Jahn Teigen. How does that sound to you? That's what he was awardeb by the King Harald V for his services to the public as a musician and  for his humanitary work. No one can deny his influence in the Norwegian popular music even if the past few years he has pretty much retired to a house in the Swedish countryside with the exception of a summer tour in Norway last year with Anita Skorgan. He started with Eurovision back in 1974 and since have participated in the national final 16 times and won three times ( 1978 , 1982 , 1983 ). His last participation to date is in 2005 with fantastic My heart is my home .

Eurovision 2009 winner Alexander Rybak releases a new album No boundaries today. Eleven new songs including the first official single Oah , the song he premiered in the Euroviisut 2010 final Europe's skies and a song dedicated to Finland, Suomi , amongst them. His debut album Fairytales sold double platinum in Norway and gold in Sweden and Finland. It charted in 11 countries making it to #1 in Norway and Russia and #2 in Sweden.

Jenni Vartiainen has released second single and video from her platinum selling Seili album. Nettiin entered the Finnish charts at #14, dropped to #17 and climbed back to #15 this week. Meanwhile her previous single En haluu kuolla tänä yönä climbs to #12 after 20 weeks in the charts!

Lena Meyer-Landrut has scored some more credits to her CV. She's been topping both the single and album charts at the same time and the single Satellite has gone double platinum with sales over 600.000 copies. Only Lady Gaga's Pokerface and Cher's Believe have sold more in the recent years. (Even if it took Cher six years from 1998 to 2004 to sell than many!). The latest German artist to sell that is the first Idol winner Alexander Klaws with Take me tonight in 2003. Satellite is also topping the European Top-100 and did so in various iTunes charts all over Europe right after her victory in Oslo 2010. Jennifer Braun's Satellite charted at #32 in Germany and at the moment the football version by Uwu Lena is being released after it hit big in the net. Meanwhile the album My cassette player has sold already over 500.000 copies in Germany alone. She's soon goin on tour and will star in a film Sammys abenteur to be released next spring.

Agnes Carlson & Björn Skifs sung to Victoria and Daniel in the wedding When you tell the world you're mine

Maria Haukaas Storeng who hold it and was strong in Eurovision 2008 worth of a 5th place has recently released her 3rd album Make my day . She tried again with the title track in 2010 and was even involved in the Swedish melodifestivalen 2009 with Sahlene with Killimg me tenderly . On this album she has teamed up with another Swede, Måns Zelmerlöv in Precious to me and it all works much better!

While the wedding dinner is going on in the Royal Palace tonight and if you are not invited you can head to the Kungsträdgården and be entertained by Caroline af Ugglas and Magnus Carlson with others. I have my wedding chocolate to go with the live broadcast..... :-)

You can follow it live here . Malena Ernman ( Jeg elsker dig) and Salem Al Fakir (world premiere for Princess) have already performed amongst many others in front of Victoria and Daniel, the Swedish royal family and some 70 other royalties from all over the world and 1300 other guests in Konserthuset in Stockholm the night before the wedding. Peter Jöback now on stage with She . And now ever so fabulous Sarah Dawn Finer with Kärleksvisan . Lisa Nilsson with Utan din andetag . We have had accapella and male choirs but now again Lisa Nilsson and Sarah Dawn Finer together in At last. Followed by Malena Ernman & co in hilarious Flight of a bee.  After that absolutely stunning Swanlake by some Chinese dancers and then Peter Jöback and Helen Sjöholm in Come what may. And then the icing on the cake: Roxette! And by special request by Victoria herself they did The Look! Standing ovation from all the royals, even the queen mummies! Grand finale with all the singers doing Can't he...

OGAE Song contest 2010 comes again this year and the Italian club is ready with its short list for the possible entries. A total of 22 songs from the latest new names, alternative names, Sanremo successes and even two ex-Eurovision stars in it, Paolo Meneguzzi and Miodio, with the come back of lovely Paola & Chiara. Here is the recap of all the songs, and here is the OGAE Italy page with full Youtubes to all songs. Enjoy! Who should do the honors for Italy in 2010?

Laura Pausini gathered with the help of Elisa, Gianna Nannini, Giorgia and Fiorella Mannoia the leading ladies in the Italian music business together to S.Siro stadium in Milan last June 22 to raise money for the Abruzzi earthquake victims. Now exactly a year later the 2-DVD of the event will be published with over 4 hours of music, 50 songs and 1.183.406,52 euros raised back then. Eurovision stars Alice, Anna Oxa and Alessandra Drusian join in with recent X Factor and other reality stars Alessandra Amoroso, Giusy Ferreri, Noemi and Malika Ayanae with the international superstars Laura Pausini, Gianna Nannini and Elisa added with national megastars Giorgia, Fiorella Mannoia and so on... Solos, duets, groups. Their own songs and covers. Four hours of girl power. If you can get one! Tette per un tetto! (translates to Tits for roofs!)

It's the night before the wedding and reigning Schöager queen Anna Bergendahl entertains the masses in Kungsträdgården tonight. And just if you wonder if Finns care about the wedding let me tell you this: the wedding chocolates are sold at Stockmann's and both YLE1 and MTV3 are broadcasting the wedding live on telly! YLE1 has the wedding and afterparty live plus various documents running from 11.10 tomorrow until 01.00 - total of 7,5 hours of programming. MTV3 also has various programmes about the royal family and the live broadcast for over 3,5 hours tomorrow so the answer is yes.

Carola was singing last night at the roof terrace of the Royal Opera of Stockholm as part of the pre-wedding celebrations. She did Barbra Streisand's Woman in love, a teaser from her coming Streisand-Presley concerts. She also did the song written for Victoria and Daniel, Det är bara vi . And here's a little interview where she talks about the duet with Daniel in Fångad av en stormvind in his bachelor party! Doesn't she look gorgeous here or what? Weddings suit her I guess... And here's less glamourous medley with her Melodifestivalen songs from Love Stockholm 2010.

Two days to go and the kings and queens, crownprinces and other blue blooded are heading to Stockholm. Today also the lists of the invited and selected ones have been published. We already know Eurovision and Melodifestivalen veterans have been singing all around Stockholm this week and will continue to do so tonight and tomorrow in official and unofficial receptions. Carola and others will entertain the guests in the royal wedding dinner Saturday night, Agnes and Björn Skifs will perform in the church during the wedding. But also amongst the real guest - both in church and the dinner - we also have some names: Roxette's Per Gessle with his wife, Malena Ernman with her husband, Lisa Nilsson with her husband and Peter Jöback with his husband to be shortly, Oscar Nilsson. Schlager rules in Sweden!

Helena Paparizou, the Eurovision 2005 winner with My number one , has released her fifth solo album. Three singles has been released for the radio so far Tha 'Mai Allios (#2), An isouna agapi (#5) and Pshano thin alitheia . Listen to a sample of all songs here .

A bunch of male artists on stage tonight in Kungsträdgården in Love Stockholm 2010 when the wedding's only two days away. Eurovision veteran Martin Stenmarck with Melodifestivalen stars Ola, Orup (but where is lena Philipsson??), Style and Star Pilots on stage tonight!

Kuunkuiskaajat are back at it. Tomorrow night they will take the stage again in Helsinki and their have already 20 gig booked for next month. On top of this they are the art directors and organizers for Himos Folk Festival on July 22-24, 2010. They will of course also perform there along with top names of the etno, world music and folk artists and groups from Finland and abroad. More about that here . In an interview with Iltalehti today they also say they enjoy being busy. They also comment their success or lack of it in Oslo 2010: "We cried for 30 second when we found out we didn't make it to the final but that's it. After that we were happy again. We didn't feel like we have lost! We got so many new fans and friends! We also tried to think it's not a competition, how can you compete with music? " One thing they have though that makes them think a bit: "We think all countries should be able to vote in the semifinals, too. Otherwise it's only like a...

Sertab Erener, the Eurovision 2003 winner with Everyway that I can has released a new album  that includes singles Açık Adres (Open address) and Bu böyle. They made it to #3 and #1 in the Turkish charts. Quite laidback nice album but if you expect more Everyway that I can stuff, forget it.

The Royal Gardens in Stockholm go on with the celebrations. Tonight amongst other Eurovision winner (and flopper) Charlotte Perrelli together with Magnus Carlsson perform together a special song for the occasion and their own hits. Another schlagertastic night to come!

After Titanic , you'd have thought that Celine Dion would be sick of the sight of water. Instead she has built a backyard waterpark that uses 125.000 liters of water including two swimming pools, two waterslides and a lazy river. Reports indicate that the singer’s neighbors on Jupiter Island, Florida are less than pleased with the addition of the massive aquatic center. Apparently the community was forced to adhere to water restrictions after Dion, who was fined for her water usage, used up all of the island’s fresh water supply. They are also concerned about the damage her actions will have on the environment, with one angry neighbour saying: ' I don't know how she got the well permits. The government is usually pretty restrictive with stuff like that !' Celine Dion (42), the Eurovision 1988 winner for Switzerland is pregnant with twins and already has 9-year-old son with her manager Rene Angelil (68). She may have lost her virginity the night she won Eurovisi...

Kuunkuiskaajat have had a bit quiet time - well deserved - after their return from Oslo 2010 but this Friday they will take the stage in Korjaamo, Helsinki with their live band! Three man band will accompany the girls and it's gonna be a blast! If you can be there. 9pm. The day after they will be live in Somero and go on their summer tour in Finland and in the end September-early October they will be touring Germany!

Eurovision 1973 winner Anne Marie David visits Finland this Saturday and has an open meeting with fans for breakfast in Hotel grand Marina, Helsinki at 8.45-10.00. If you happen to be around drop in! The lady who has scored 1st and 3rd place in Eurovision has had a very international career singing in various languages and living and making career in countries as different as Norway and Turkey. Recently she sung in Israel with this year's Israeli entrant Harel Skaat.

The pre-celebrations for the royal wedding in Stockholm continue. Last night Darin did his most amongst others and tonight's star in Kungsträdgården is Eurovision and Melodifestivalen veteran Nanne Grönwall!