Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Emil Ramsauer, of the Swiss Heilsarmee that represent the country in Eurovision 2013 in Malmö in May with You and me , celebrates his 95th birthday today! No need to add that is an Eurovision record! Congratulations, Emil! (PS. Emil was 38 when the first Eurovision took place in 1956....)

Tonight the last semifinal took place in Israel and we have three more qualifiers. Once again I agreed with 2/3 and the second chancer was also among the ones I picked up.... Hila Ben David - Beautiful Meital De Razon & Asi Tal - All night Moran Mazor - Just for him Next we have the second chance round next Sunday where tonight was sent Nicki Goldstein with We are one .

Oh what drama! La Camilla has been kicked out of Army of LOvers with an open letter while La Dominika re-enters the group following the fiasco on Melodifestivalen. Some even suggest the whole affair was only to stop her doing Melodifestivalen with her own group and Alexander Bard writing a bad bad song on purpose! This is just what we need in this rather dull season so far. SCHLAGER DRAMA! Anyways, the letter makes a very entertaining read, or what do you think? Army Of Lovers declare Sainthood for Santa Camilla – and welcome La Dominika to center stage! Our Dearest Beloved Sister Camilla, Our Hundreds of Thousands of Fabulous Loyal Fans, and The Chosen Few of the Rest of You Out There in This Cold Cold World who dare to care Please accept our sincerest and most heartfelt gratitude for the hilarious months of joy and happiness we have shared with You, Our Beloved Sister, during studio recordings, rehearsals, therapy sessions, interviews, and performances in con...

More Mengoni news for you. His Sanremo winner L'essenziale has been viewed over 4 million times on Vevo already, and the single has sold platinum in Italy. L'essenziale is also #1 in downloads followed by his another song Non passerai at #2, that was released ahead of the album. His other Sanremo track, Bellissimo will be released on March 5 and finally a song called Non me ne accorgo on March 12.  If you have bought at least one of these four track on iTunes before March 19 when the album comes out, you can download the album with a special price.  Marco Mengoni will hit the road straight from Malmö 2013 - I wonder should he win how will he manage? - as his L'essenziale Tour kicks of with an anteprima in Milan on May 8 before he leaves for Sweden and the follows with the following dates: May 20 - Turin - Teatro Colosseo May 21 - Genoa - Teatro Carlo Felice May 23 - Florence - Teatro Verdi May 24 - Padua - Gran Teatro Geox May 26 - Naples - Teatro Aug...

Marco Mengoni is making a album signing tour in Italy in major cities after releasing his #prontoacorrere album on March 19, 2013. The tour starts from Rome the day before, on March 18 where you can see and meet Marco and even buy the album before its release in Feltrinell store in Via Appia (expect a chaos...). March 23 he hits Milan's Mondadori in Piazza Duomo, then March 26 it's time for Turin and Feltrnelli in Stazione Porta Nuova, two days later he great chaos in the Sicilian capital of Palermo and its Mondadori in Via Ruggero Settimo. Finally March 29 he will be in Mondadori di Centro Commerciale Campania, in Marcianise. .. The album comes out in two versions, the second one being a special CD+DVD edition.... 18/03 ore 19:30 Roma - Feltrinelli Via Appia (con vendita del disco in anteprima) 21/03 ore 17:00 Teramo - Centro Commerciale Gran Sasso  22/03 ore 17:00 Reggio Emilia - Galleria Commerciale I Petali 23/03 ore 12:30 Milano - Mondadori (Piazza Duomo, 1) 24...

After two interesting semifinals and some rather curious choices Estonia has picked its finalists. I still consider Põhja-Tallinn the main contender but I have also warmed up to Rolf. Birgit is also classy, as is Liisi. I kinda also like Körsikud. And just love Grete! But... be afraid of Winny Puhh. I trust on Estonia people having enough sense not to send them to Malmö 2013.... On the other hand, it would be very interesting, lol. And all of sudden it's clear that Lordi did have more than funny costumes....like a song for example. And a melody. Rasmus Rändvee & Facelift Deer - Dance Elina Born - Enough Birgit Õigemeel - Et uus saaks alguse Winny Puhh - Meiecundimees üks Korsakov läks eile Lätti Põhja-Tallinn - Meil on aega veel Grete Paia - Päästke noored hinged Teele/Tuuli/ULA & DrumAttack - Ring the alarm Kõrsikud - Suuda öelda ei Rolf Roosalu - With U Liisi Koikson & Söörömöö - Üle vee

I'm nicely in sync with the Israeli voters this year even if I get it all wronf everywhere else. :) These three made it to the final: Ran Sandler - Find a way Vladi Bleiberg - We are free Moran Mazoz - Give me a sign while Yarden Tzur with Replace you will get a second chance. Change yarden and Vladi and I got a jackpot! Tomorrow night the third and last semifinal and more information here .

Macedonia is the third country to make its song public tonight. Internally selected Esma Redzepova and Vlatko Lozanovski presented Imperija , a song that mixes new and old, tradition and pop in a very good way. Nice, me likes!

Also Croatia presented its song today and also the band's name has been confirmed as Klapa s Mora, The song Mizerja is a traditional one and very pretty indeed. And certainly more autenthic than most every other song in the contest and feels like a breath of fresh air. Hopefully it will be rewarded in points, too!

Georgia has presented its entry today, titled Waterfall sung by Sophie & Nodi and penned by Thomas G:son. And how is it? In short, a watered down version of Quedate conmigo (check the 2'15'' mark and Pastora some 5-10 second before). The singers are excellent though and surely will appeal to televoters if the song lacks all the emotion and passion Pastora managed to fill it....

The Spanish final with ESDM was rather Italian show, when  Marco Mengoni was one of the judges, Luca Barbarossa sent a video postcard to Raquel (they dueted in Sanremo 2011with Fino in fondo ) and  Nek duetet with ESDM But also Pastora Soler was there.... ... so was Rosa! I kinda liked all of their three songs equally. Dame tu voz reminded me somehow Mecano, but the other two were very ESDM indeed and either of them winning will be ok for me. In the end they all agreed; the jurors and televoters all put Dame tu voz 3rd, Atrevete 2nd and Contigo hasta el final first. What an agreement, untilt he end!

The first semifinal in Israel is over and three songs and artists qualified directly: Shany Zamir – Forever Ron Weinreich – Love is one Kathleen Reiter – Back to me while  Judah Gavra with We’re beautiful gets second chance before the final. All in all I'm pretty happy with the results, but I didn't watch the show so have to check the live videos later. Tomorrow follows the second semifinal. Read more here .

Today 30 years ago, February 26, 1983 a star was born and an epic song. A song that most every Swede knows and most of them at least parts of it by heart. A 16-year-old, the  unknown Carola Häggkvist read bible backstage and shined on stage and collected 88 points, full marks from every regional jury leaving Kikki Danielsson far behind with her 45 points. Her first words after the win where the immortal "I thank God!" Later that spring she charmed Europe and ended up third in Eurovision behind Corinne Hermes and late Ofra Haza. The rest is history. And now, March 9, 2013 she will be back on Melodifestivalen stage and offer as a new version of the same song, with new arrangements. Aren't we excited yet?  You can relive that historic moment here . And yes, this blogger was in Sweden and watching that night (mind you, internet and streaming wasn't even invented back then.....)

Israel starts its selection tonight with the first of three semifinals before the second chance round and the grand final. You can read more here . Among tonight contestants also model, singer, actor Judah Gavra , who has caused a little stirr on internet but not necessarily for his singing skills or the song..... Showtime 20.00 CET here . A mixed jury-televote will send top-3 to the final and 4th placed song to the second chance.... Laila - Bo  Adir Getz - As long as I sing  Ortal Ofek - Tell me why  Adi Cesare - We will never let you fall  Shany Zamir - Forever  Ron Weinreich - Love is one  Aderet - Victory  Kathleen Reiter - Back to me  Judah Gavra - We're beautiful  Lihi Griner & Omri 69 Segal - Just like me

All is set in Spain. El Sueño de Morfeo was internally selected in December ro represent the country. Then they decided to use ESDM as the band's name for the occasion (very clever, if they bomb they can always go back to the original name and in no time no one remembers ESDM was them...).  Then two songs were put online to be voted by the public for the third song in the line up. Atrévete won over Revolucion with 69,9% of the votes and join the other two songs in the final; Contigo hasta el final and Dame tu voz .  There will be combined televote/jury in the final. Next we learned the Italian Sanremo winner and Eurovision 2+13 entrant Marco Mengoni will join the special jury along with Rosa Lopez (ESC 2002) and Spanish commentator Jose Maria Iñigo. Carolina Ferre will be hosting the show and ESDM in duet with various singers: last year's entrant Pastora Soler, Alex Ubago, Musicalite and Italian Nek . Destino Eurovision will be streamed live on TVE's webs...

Wanna get married? How about doing it in Riihimäki on May 5, 2013 on a special Marry me? Wedding day.  The idea is inspired by the Finnish entry for Malmö 2013, Marry me by Krista Siegfrids. The Evangelical Lutheran church is aiming to get 19 couples married in a wedding marathon, 30 mins for each couple. One couple will be selected to be The Couple and in exchange of an open wedding ceremony they will be treated to free wedding buffet of their choice to the whole of their entourage.  And no, Krista won't make an appearance as a bride nor a performer as she's already in Sweden. The day in Riihimäki church starts at 1pm with wedding marches and songs. At 2pm The Couple will be married and after that, from 3pm to 11.30pm the other couples. Get married! Now! Ding dong!

Italian blog Eurofestival Italia has interviewed Alessandro Ragni, a member of the jury that chose Marco Mengoni for Eurovision 2013 (and the previous two entrants Raphael Gualazzi and Nina Zilli). He talks about how it's been since Italy returned in 2011 and is very confident that Italy will do once again well this year. Gualazzi and Zilli were voted by the jury and less by the televoters, Mengoni might just have it what it takes to get them voting for Italy, too. He also confirms Mengoni knows what to expect and got the basic idea of Eurovision right away. He's also to do promotion in Europe before Malmö 2013. But the most interesting fact is that most likely Italy will offer Europe what we have been asking for: a song fully in Italian! Now we can only hope that Valentina Monetta in San Marino also gets her wish come true and sing Crisalide only in Italian!

A couple of songs I remember for the line up have made the final, the rest.... Well, I have to relisten and judge everything later before the final now that the line up is ready. Anyways, these six made the cut last night: Narcis Iustin Ianău - Seven Elena Cârstea Muttart - Spinning Ovidiu Anton - Run away with me Cristian Prăjescu - The Best Thing In Life Is To Love Al Mike feat. Renee Santana - What Is Love Andrei Leonte - Paralysed

The second semifinal took place last night and pretty much the song I thought did get through. The final will this Saturday. We might just have another duet coming up for Malmö 2013... but I keep fingers crossed for My baby ... The jury sent to the final: Gigi Radics - Úgy fáj  Tamás Vastag - Holnaptól The televote sent to the final:  ByeAlex - Kedvesem  Szilvi Agárdi & Dénes Pál - Szíveddel láss

Another very busy weekend ahead. After Irish final last night this weekend is filled with semifinals and we will be presented another internally selected song, What if for Russia. On Saturday Estonia has its second and last semifinal while Sweden has its last and fourth before the second chance round next week. Romania and Hungary have their Eurovision weekend when they both have both of their semifinals this weekend, on both days. On Tuesday Spain will have its final and on Wednesday both Croatia adn Macedonia will present their internally selected songs....  (Times will be updated when available). All shows online on respectable broadcaster's websites. Saturday: 20.35-21.50  ESTONIA - semifinal 2, read more here 20.00-23.10  ROMANIA - semifinal 1, read more here 20.00-21.30  SWEDEN - semifinal 4, read more here 20.15-21.50  HUNGARY - semifinal 1, read more here Sunday: 20.00-23.10  ROMANIA - semifinal 2, read more here 20.15-21.50...

Israel's third semifinal flirts with latin rhytms, a song that recalls the slogan for Malmö 2013, an Ofra Haza inspired effort and generally okeyish songs. I have no idea what Israeli people will prefer so I'm not even try to guess who will qualify. I kinda like Bezelel, Hadar, Michael, Hila, Moran but then I'm a sucker for Israeli ballads... and Nicki could create a real boom if sent to Malmö with the slogan song, me thinks. Liran Notik - Alive Meital De Razon & Asi Tal- Toda la noche Alon Jean - Live my life Bezelel Raviv - No war Hadar Ozeri - Ten maa'wal Michael Harpaz - Dear mom Nicki Goldstein - We are one Hila Ben David - Beautiful Julieta - Fantasia Moran Mazor - Only for him Listen to the semifinal one songs here , semifinal two songs here .  The semifinals will be held next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Then a second chance round on Sunday, and the grand final on Thursday March 7, 2013.

They were there to win, make a comeback and then spread homosexual propaganda all over Eastern Europe with their Rockin' the ride. Instead they ended 6th, out of even Second chance and laughed and critizied at. So is life sometimes. This blogger thinks the song wasn't just strong enough, the show somewhere between ridiculous and tasteless (even in AOL standards)  and La Camilla miming to the lines sung by a hidden backing singer. "I have never sung. We have always done it like this" says La Camilla explaining she could even sleep there on stage and no one would notice but "miming live is so difficult, even Beyoncé didn't manage it! " Ah, now we know! Britta Bergström was the backing singer called in to do La Camilla's parts when SVT informed them their backing track had too many pre-recorded vocals. (Just imagine them winning and going to Malmö, how would have that worked out?!) The future of Army of Lovers is now out in the open but La Camill...

The Russian entry has been released titled What if . A ballad by beautiful voiced Dina Garipova.It's a simple standard ballad but in this year of strange songs and rather bland selection will stand out for sure. For me the first contender for victory so far.... if people want to go for a safe and good.

This week have some goodies, too. Zeljko Joksimovic has released a new single and video, Ludak kao ja and no, it's not a Balcan ballad! Yet it's pretty fabulous! Loreen teams up with Kleerup in Requiem solution , a rather haunting song in Kate Bush style. Russian Elena Galitsin & Dmitry Dubinsky have made a catchy pop song with a stunningly beautifully shot video for their It wasn't me , Это не я . Last but not least from Sanremo Giovani Renzo Rubino with his Il postino (Amami uomo)

The first semifinal in Romania has also concluded and we have the result. Previous Eurovision glories had a different fate: natalia Barbu is out while Luminita Anghel proceed to the final. The qualifier are: Casa presei - Un refren   FreeStay - Criminal mind Luminita Anghel - Unique Cezar Florin Ouatu - It’s my life Electric Fence - Emilia Tudor Turcu - Hello

If Raphael Gualazzi and Nina Zilli may not have had such a clear idea what Eurovision is all about and what to do with it when they were appointed to fly the tricolore in the past two years, it's all going to change this year. Marco Mengoni seems to have a very clear picture and strong determination to make most of it. Europe beware! When the Sanremo winners usually talk about homeland promotion and concerts in post-victory interviews Mengoni made it clear already the Sunday after victory stating he has Eurovision in agenda now and starts working for it first thing Monday morning. Then came the news he's going to be in Spain for the ESDM song selection as a jury member. And he continues to push Eurovision in every interview and has mobilitated his numerous fans - sadly I'm not so sure if all of them have understood they cannot vote for him come May! Tonight he was again with Fabio Fazio in his regular show Che tempo che fa talking about his Sanremo experience and statin...

The evening has concluded also in Hungary and we have the four first finalists. The jury picked up András and Gergö as expected and well deserved, too. The televoters went for Laura and Ildikó, maybe a bit surprising leaving likes of Tibor and Lilla without a ticket.... Hmmm... Anyways, the Hungarian final is shaping one one of the bests this season! András Kállay-Saunders - My baby Gergö Racz - Czak állj méllem Laura Cserpes - Èlj pont úgy Ildikó Keresztes - Nem akarok többé jáztsani

Põhja-Tallinn went to the final with their Meil on aega veel , shortened and stripped of the children choir for the occasion. And it still works, luckily. They are very popular in Estonia and might be just heading for Malmö 2013 next week. The other qualifiers tonight were the familiar names Rolf Roosalu, Birgit Õigemeel, Liisi Koikson & Söörömöö and Rasmus Rändvee & Facelift Dee r. Looks like the jury and televoters disagreed quite a lot.... (Have to check on that)

Army of Lovers is out. And I'm not surprised. As much I like them the song just was 3 minutes of nonsense, lacking all the melody and the rest, too. Having la Camilla looking royal (wink wink) and sporting a cross in her crotch and Jean-Pierre in underwear just wasn't enough, especially when Robin Stjernberg had much more crotch action going on stage. In all the quality was once again rather low, or maybe the right word would be repetitive. Too many repetitive songs without much of an idea to last for 3 minutes. One of them being Ulrik's song that went to the final. I was pretty sure Ralf would make it to the final already today and well deserved so, despite blowing out more pyros that Lordi in a full concert. behrang came across trés sympa, as the French would say, Therese was pretty and boring, Sylvia managed to me classy and cheap at the same time and Lucia was very Adele-like somehow.  Ulrik Munther - Tell the world I'm here -> final Ralf Gyllenhammer - Be...

Lena Philipsson's En helkväll med Lena Philipsson aired last night and the most anticipated number was of course the pairing of Carola and Lena Ph in Lena's classic lovesong Om igen .... her runner up in Melodifestivalen 1988 and this blogger's favorite by her.  Also Darin visited her along the night doing Månsken i Augusti .  Rather fantastic performance that one, too. All in all a very entertaining evening. This blogger was also surprised the band was so small! I would have preferred a better and bigger one for this kind of show! Hmm...

Phew, he won after all. And the second best came second! Well done Ireland :-) Ryan Dolan will take Only love survives to Malmö 2013 Eurovision, followed by Aimee...

The Irish final was the usual rather lowkey affair. A lot of shaky vocals unfortunately and a couple of songs really didn't live up to the expectatiotns and some very hilarious comments by some "expert" of some sorts me thinks..... Zoe didn't really deliver. Yikes. I never liked the song to start with but she surely didn't make it better live on stage. Sorry.... Kiss me was rather bland, too. But at least she sung pretty well.... Aimee did sing well and it was a simple nice performance. Maybe not strong enough to win and in that case get out of the semis in Malmö.... Inchequin managed themselves well and I must confess it did sound pretty good, even if it surely isn't my favorite.... Ryan was way better than I thought even if it was my favorite to begin with. The song really came alive on stage in my books and he sung very well.  Now I can only hope he wins! And then finally we had Lordi. Not doing their latest single The rif...