Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

It may be Halloween or ... I don't know what they have been thinking but the guys of Il Volo are sporting a new look for Rolling Stone magazine. Now I want them to perform like this some arias in their next world tour .... Piero Barone is literally someone else with this beard and no glasses..... Proudly Italian Gianluca Ginoble....   ... and proudly something else in this one?

And here are some more entries that have stuck in my head since listening to them. Out of the 61 a jury will select 12 for the live prime time tv show on December 12, and six of them will make it to Teatro Ariston. Will any of these make the cut? Check out the previous post by clicking the SANREMO banner on top.  Marco Colonna tried his luck in X Factor but didn't make it to the live shows. But he's back with a very catchy Il cuore fa rumore .... Sounds like a summer 2017 hit already. Flo aka Floriana Cangiano has already won awards and her singer-songwriter style meets some retro catchiness in Cassandra . Makes me think of Gerardina Trovato a bit.... Leo Stain offers Ciò che resta , I kinda liked it when hearing first but it just gets better each time. Well sung, well produced, very Sanremo in a way. But can he make the cut or disappear in the crowd? Santiago . His La stanza was my immediate favorite and I just love it! I haven't featured it before f...

As written before Cristal Snow keeps releasing new songs and videos every week and here are the two latest, Higher ground and Indestructible feat Kristina Wheeler... Enjoy!

EBU has finally made public the list of participating countries in the Eurovision song contest 2017 in Kyiv and no, there are no new countries but with the return of Portugal and Romania, and Australia in once again it's up to 43, the highest number since 2011, and overall the highest ever shared with 2008 and 2011.  Here they are: Albania, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France,Germany,, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, F. Y. R. Macedonia,Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and United Kingdom Missing out are Andorra, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Luxembourg, Monaco, Slovakia, Turkey and Morocco.

After Cyprus it's time for the Netherlands to reveal their cards. Not a surprie at all as O'G3NE was announced as their chosen one. The three sisters (Lisa, Amy and Shelley) have been rumored for years by now, and more than ever this time around.  They already did Junior Eurovision song contest for the Netherlands back in 2007 (placing 11th with Adem in, adem uit ). In 2014 they won The Voice of Holland. They released their third album We got this in September 2016. and it charted as #1.  Who knows if the entry will come from that album or will be written especially for the contest. Below are their latest two singles.....

The primetime show on Raiuno on December 12, 2016 to select the six Newcomers for the festival - and announce the two that made it through from the AreaSanremo selection - got just a tiny bit more interesting! Carlo Conti will in the same show reveal the 20 Big. A smart move from the Sunday afternoon shows or some random last bit of the tv-news to let the world know. This will also attract surely more viewers for the newcomers and hype up Sanremo in general. Apparently we will also know his co-host(s) who could and should be Laura Pausini .  Meanwhile the guessing and wishing for the Big artists has also started. Chiara, Nina Zilli, Francesco Sarcina, Michele Zarrillo and Giusy Ferri are given as sure thing. Marco Carta (well, he has treid to get back to Sanremo many years by now), Clementino, Fausto Leali, Syria, Nesli and Elodie are also highly tipped, as is last year's newcomers winner Francesco Gabbani . One to propose themselves - once again - is  Jalisse . ...

Marco Mengoni has released his Ricorderai l'amore in duet with Grace Capristo for the German market. Grace is no one else but Mandy Capristo, ex-member of girl band Monrose, that tried to get to Eurovision 2007 with Even heaven cries . 

Time for another foursome aiming to reach the top12 first and then the top6 and Teatro Ariston in Sanremo 2017, and who knows maybe even Eurovision in Kyiv? Lelio Morra from Naples tried to get to Sanremo already last year and has a long career behind him. He's been playing in the streets, in bands, has won awards as songwriter. His song is Domani , a traditional singer-songwriter song with catchy beat. Luca Tudisca is a Sicilian singer-songwriter who found fame in Amici. and is now looking for life after reality with Il ritrattista , a tender beautiful ballad. Marianne Mirage is an allaround artist; actress, writer, singer, photographer and musician who has lived in London, Paris, Berlin and Turkey among other places that all have left traces in her. She has just released her debut album and is backed by Caterina Caselli's Sugar who's artists usually end up winning. One to watch out. Her entry is Le canzoni fanno male . Marie and the Sun , or Giulia Magnani...

Let's go on with some other entries running for SanremoNewcomers selection. Out of these 60 shortlisted 12 will make it to the live show on Raiuno in December, and six of them to Sanremo festival next February. And could also end up in Kyiv for Eurovision should the Big winner decline the offer.... Tommaso Pini is a singer-songwriter from Florence and sings Cose che danno ansia . He's also from The Voice and tried to get to Sanremo also last year. His song is.... errr, interesting? Ethan Lara is the most recent Castrocaro winner, the contest for new talents that has given us for example Gigliola Cinquetti who went on to win Sanremo first, and Eurovision right after. He's 19 and also from Florence. His entry is Pensami , a classy and classic Sanremo song. Maybe too much so. He got a free ticket to this selection thanks to his win. Enrico Nigiotti is from Amici, and already did Sanremo Giovani in 2015 losing to eventual winner Giovanni Caccamo in the semifinal du...

Finland The YLE jury has done its job and the #UMK2017 entries will be revealed on November 23. If it's like the previous years we will get full videoclips as well. The rumor is there will be only 10 of them this time around, and one off final in the end of January.  Spain Objetivo Eurovision returns for Spain but with some modifications. Anyone who's Spanish or has residence in Spain can send in entry for #eurocasting until November 27. Rtve will pick up 30 for the online voting. Out of these 10 will qulaify for the jury voting that picks up 3. Another online voting will pick up one for the national final to join in with the internally invited "young" artist in February.  Armenia Armenian marathon Depi Evratesil continues each week. The first round ended with 37 qualified artists. Now in the second round each of six jurors has a chance to pick up four artists for the team and mentor them to the victory. A bit of a X Factor really it s...

Here are again some entries from the #SG 2017 that this blogger finds worth a mention. All are fighting for the 12 places in the December live final for the six places in the festival in February.  Jo M or Giovanni Mazzara from Catania presents L'Uragano non ci prende , a nice pop song from his debut album to be released shortly. He started as a drummer and is now ready to breakthrough, he has a very famous production team behind him. La Rua has done Castrocaro, Amici and has tried to get to Sanremo 2012, 2013, 2014... and now they are back with Tutta la vita questa vita . Will they make it this time? LaKurA or Laura Carpani is singer-songwriter with pop and r'n'b influences. Pagine di noi   sounds like a Swiss Eurovision entry. Not sure if that's a good thing really... Lele ( Esposito) is another ex-Amici, fron Naples. His Ora mai is a majestic pop tune with lovely arrangement. If he gets through he's going to be strong in televote at least..... at...

Il Volo hasn't really stopped since their Sanremo 2015 win and Eurovision song contest in Vienna. Last month they released their latest live album+DVD Notte magica - A tribute to the three tenors recorded live last summer in Florence. The album entered the Italian charts at #2. Next they are taking the show all over the world.  Below are the confirmed dates so far starting from New York's legendary Radio City Music Hall. Next is some concerts in Italy, followed by an European leg of the tour in April-June  (dates and venues yet to be confirmed). Then it's time for Latin America (July-August) before Australia, China and Japan later in 2017. 

Let's have a listen to some more of the entries running for the six places in the next Sanremo festival in the Newcomers section. Francesco Guasti , ex-The Voice, tries his luck in Sanremo with Universo , a lovely modern ballad with piano and his rusty voice. Maybe a bit Mengonian as style? Ivan Granatino , also ex-The Voice, is an urban Napolitan hip hopper who offers Chapeau , a fusion of sounds.  Hugolini from Florence with his Semaforo has also an nteresting sound. Hard to say if these will appeal to the jury who selects the 12 for the live shows, and then if people will vote for the six finalists. Enjoyable anyways.  Frè Monti is a singer-songwriter, musician and producer and offers us delicate Ciao amore buona fortuna , a lovely intimate little song. In the past he has played a year in London, and as a street musician all over Europe. 

Let's have a listen to some of the entries running for the six places in the next Sanremo festival in the Newcomers section. Alberto Guarrasi aka APE'H, singer-violinist is back as solo this time with Proteggimi , a tender ballad. He has tried to get to Sanremo twice before with his ex-band Motovario. Cantiere 164 is an alternative rock band from Savona with touch of grunge, post punk and Italian singer-songwriter tradition. Their Se chiudi gli occhi is a catchy pop rock tune. Chiara Grispo is another familiar names from reality talent shows, from Amici. She tries her luck in Sanremo with Niente è impossibile , a song that could be written by Modà for Emma, and maybe it is. Catchy and easy song that she delivers with gusto. Carola Campagna , familiar from The Voice, has already picked up various awards here and there but is now trying the definite breakthrough in Sanremo with  Prima che arrivi il giorno , a classic piano driven ballad.

Sandhja told MTV3  at ELLE Style Awards that the Eurovision hangover is finally over and she feels sober again, full of energy, inspiration and new plans. Finnish media didn't exactly treat her nicely after the semifinal, and some ever before Stockholm to be honest. She deserved fair game and didn't get it. It has taken awhile, five months to be exact, but she thinks her trip to Stockholm was very useful and she learned a lot about music business for example, how everything works for real.  "Eurovision song contest it self is a huge machine. One always thinks the artist is the main thing but there are so many things behind it. I think the people who are involved in it all the time have a hard time.  Changing from a nobody to a worldstar in a moment and for a moment can be hard to anyone" "Krista has helped me a lot how to deal with it all. Especially what happens after Eurovision. She's been such a support. Our talks got really deep at times"....

There was not a shadow of doubt in this blogger's mind Margaret would walk this with Cool me down . And she does bring Poland its first ever victory. Sweden once again scores well with the fans placing second (which this blogger doesn't understand) but the rest of the top is rather in line what I thought. Finland's Mikael Saari did better than I believed and Switzerland's Vincent Gross way too low for my liking....  Check out the full results after the jump

The 60 Newcomers are already online for the next Sanremo festival. Out of these the jury will select 12 in the live auditions in Rome for the prime time live show on Raiuno December 12, 2016 where six of them will qualify for the festival itself, to be joined by the two winners from AreaSanremo selection.  It's worth remembering that according the rules this year should the eventual winner of Sanremo festival decline the Eurovision ticket, these newcomers are in game as well as Rai will pick up someone else from the festival. It might as well be the Newcomers winner just like happened with Raphael Gualazzi.... Once again many names from the other reality and talent shows: 8 are from The Voice ( Alberto Guarrasi, Cristiano Turrini, Dylan Magon, Carola Campagna, Frances Alina Ascione, Francesco Guasti, Tommaso Pini, Frè Mont i ), also 8 from Amici, including two winners ( Chiara Grispo, Gerardo Pulli, Valeria Romitelli, Julia Vertaldi, Lele, Luca Tudisca, La Rua, Martha Rossi ...

Here he is, next year's first confirmed artist for the Eurovision song contest 2017 in Kyiv. Cyprus will again order a song from Swedish Thomas G:son and it will be sung by Hovig , and will be revealed later. Hovig Demirjian (27) is a Cypriot-Armenian and no stranger to Eurovision as he has tried to get there twice before in the Cypriot selections, 2010 with Goodbye (3rd) and 2015 with Stone in a river (4th). Before that he did X Factor Greece.

ABBA's Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus are planning and considering a possible comeback concerts and tour with the British music mogul Simon Fuller - as holograms. "Nobody wants to see us old people on stage" they have stated many times before and are searching through the material from their 1977 and 1979 world tours that could possible used for the project. Techically it would be possible as likes of Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson and Frank Sinatra regularly keep on performing in Las Vegas shows these days. Björn and Benny and their represants don't want to comment the plans at the moment except with "there are always all kinds of plans in the air"....  Meanwhile you can enjoy them as holograms in Stockholm's ABBA Museum. 

The rules for the 67th Sanremo festival are out and once again it is used as the platform for the Italian entry - or rather the entrant as nothing is said about the song - for the Eurovision song contest in Kyiv. The winner has the option to fly the Italian flag if (s)he wants to and is the first choice. In case of "no, grazie" by the winner Rai will choose internally whoever they think suitable unlike in 2016 when it clearly stated the runner up would be next in line and gave us Francesca Michielin when Stadio declined the offer. Another interesting step is shortening the entries. Now for the Big category it is set to max 3:30, and for the Newcomers 3:00. Sounds very Eurovisionesque, doesn't it? Some changes in the line up of the evenings, too. All the 20 Big aka Campioni will perform already the first night and be voted 50-50 by televote-press. Ten of them will perform again on 2nd and 3rd night each with the same voting system. After counting the votes for thes...

Ricchi e Poveri will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in business next year but since few months the trio has become a duo, when Franco Gatti (74) decided to leave the group he was part for over 48 years.   "I don't have the age anymore to travel all over the world. And since the death of my son it just hasn't been the same"   The other member Angela and Angelo fully understand and go on as duo. Franco's son, only 22.year-old, was found dead the night before Sanremo 2013 where the group was due to perform and accept an award for their musical career. In the funeral the trio became quartet once more, as also Marina was present.  Ricchi e Poveri was founded as singing group back in 1967 in Genoa, north-west of Italy. Originally a quartet including Franco Gatti, Angela Brambati, Angelo Sorgiu and Marina Occhiena came to spotlight in 1968 and several Sanremo appearences in the early 1970's (with classics like Che sarà ) made them household name in ...

Australia has been in already two years and most propably will be present also in Kyiv despite launching their our Asiavision next year. The decision to invite them - or rather let them in - is highly critizised by Eurovision purists but this blogger thinks it's just fine. But I would still rather prefer a different solution..... Now that EBU has changed the rules also on paper by  "Associates of the EBU, outside of the European Broadcasting Area, may also be eligible to enter the Eurovision Song Contest. Such decisions are taken by the Reference Group, the governing body of the Eurovision Song Contest, on a case by case basis." I would propose a rotation. Every year a country outside Europe that wants to take part would be invited as a special guest, just like Australia the first time. Or maybe even several depending on the number of the regular countries participating, after all the maximum is set to 46 countries by EBU. If several regulars decided to step ...

SMRTV presented its programming for the next season and the much anticipated confirmation for the participation didn't materialize, and with it naturally not the artist nor the song, as announced by some sources earlier this week.  Carlo Romeo underlined however it's important to San Marino to be there and be seen by 200 million viewers, and launched a message to all producers all over Europe to come forward and work preferably with a Sammarinese artist, as "without a producer we can't do it". With that he also left in doubt the microstate's presence in Kiev 2017 but Head of Delegation Alessandro Capicchioni had a cheeky grin behind him so .... No news is good news? Serhat was present in a video message and also Valentina Monetta's final place was remembered.

Cristal Snow is releasing a new song and video every October week and plans to be just as gay as he wants to. The message is that everyone can be whatever they want to be, and it's also against the fact that in 2016 one's sexuality is still an issue.  "I'm gonna sing about love until I die, and the only kind of love I know is that for a man. I don't see any point of pretending in videos and have some hot chicks in them. I had a huge fight in family about homosexuality when Pekka Haavisto was running for president (He got to second round and came close second. Ed.note) . The issue being what a gay man can do and can't do, and can a gay man be president. That fight lasted for a couple of years. I also get feedback in social medias why I have to be so gay and I'm like fuck it! I'm as gay as I want to be! But no one has right to out other people, it must come from within." Cristal Snow competed in UMK2016 with Love is blind and in Euroviis...

Sai che is Marco Mengoni's new song and video from forthcoming live album next month that includes some new tracks and a duet.....

Cat Cat is back with a new single and a new album is on its way to celebrate their 25th year in the business. The sisters have been doing gigs all these years along with raising families and other jobs. Virpi has been through a highly public and nasty divorce from singer Tauski. She tells she sold everything but her piano and artistic wardrobe to cover the costs. But the girls don't have the legendry Dublin Eurovision 1994 dresses - YLE refuses to sell them to them. When needed they rent them and "do a watermelon diet for days" to fit back in.   They also tell they have been asked for gigs abroad as well over the years - Spain, Sweden and Germany - for various Eurovision events but have refused so far as they feel Finland is enough. With the anniversary celebrations this might change though so you might see them somewhere next year if asked. They also tell they are more secure now than when younger and these days it's guys at gigs who strip off their shirts..... ...

It's all in your head sung Lys Assia and Dima Bilan follows with   В твоей голове (In your head) and the flow's good. An uptempo song for a change that comes with a beautifully colored funny video. The song is his 22nd Top-20 hit in Russia, 

EurofestivalNews reports SMRTV is ready to make official their participation in the Eurovision song contest 2017 this Saturday when they present their next season's programming. And listen: they will also present the artist and the song! Now that sounds a bit of a madness - it's seven months to Kiev 2017 - but then again San Marino has taken the road to break records and maybe they aim to have the oldest song in the contest now.... And who knows who they will send this time? This year's participation had zero San Marino in it so they can't top that. Unless if they send Serhat again..... Anyways, the event will be streamed live n their website 8pm this Saturday. UPDATE: The artist indeed will be anounced, but not the song nor will the artist perform in the programme. Sounds like the artist won't even be there..... 

The latest rumour is there would be only ten entries in the UMK2017, aka the Finnish national selection for the Eurovision song contest 2017, and therefor only one final without semifinals and eliminations. While YLE keep quiet some artists have made their not making it public.  Like Katrin Johansson , that I wrote before . Another one coming out with the news is that Unzyme , a biomechanical pop band didn't make it either. Nor Sameli aka Sam Eli , Metallileka or Aili Järvelä .... On the other hand another rumor tells Emma Sandström is one of the finalists...

Alice and Franco Battiato joined forces for their first ever tour together this year that turned out rather triumphant and sold out everywhere and with added concerts and a second leg of the tour this fall. Now the whole affair, recorded live in Rome on March 16 and 17 with the Ensemble Symphony Orchestra will be released as a CD+DVD and even as a double-LP.  Sadly the album's art cover isn't maybe the most fortunate one and leaves this blogger (among others) rather confused, but it's the inside that counts, right? But also that's a bit problematic: Not the whole concert is included, sadly missing also I treni di Tozeur and Nomadi among others, it seems, but the tracklisting of the DVD is not yet made public so who knows? The fans of Alice haven't been very pleased with the tracklist, and her treatment in the tour as a luxury guest as someone pointed out, instead of the other headliner. Still, this is a must buy for any fan for the ure joy of her releasing so...

Marco Mengoni has finally revealed details about his November 25 release. After multiplatinum albums the circle closes with a box with two live CDs and a DVD, and also five new tracks and a duet, as he releases a new single Sai che already next week, October 14. The album box is released in three different formats: the "simple" one with 2CDs+DVD, special one with 2CDs+DVD+the 2 previous albums Parole in circolo and Le cose che non ho + photo book. The third one is a very limited edition including all of above + extra DVD Tutto in una notte , and special gadgets and even more goodies through his App. Sai che comes also with a video shot in five different states in the USA, reflecting the various emotions in the song from canyons to forests. The song almost forms a trilogy with his previous lead singles Guerriero and Ti ho voluto bene veramente . In November he will also start his new tour that will reach Italy and various cities in Europe