Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

The first episode of AmaSanremo aired yesterday and the jury on spot in the studio (Luca Barbarossa, Morgan, Piero Pelù and Beatrice Venezi) provided 33% of the result along with the selecting commission (33%) and the televote (34%). You can watch it online HERE .  Amadeus was hosting, of course Luca Barbarossa was judging Arisa (Newcomers winner 2009) was performing both Sincerità , her winning entry back then, and her Sanremo runner up La notte M.e.r.l.o.t opened the night and scored 29 points from the jury. I gave 7. Quite nice, catchy but not so sure about the lyrics..... Ginevra followed with 36 points. I gave 5. Somehow I didn't connect and was surprised about the jury's high scores and praise that I totally didn't relate to somehow. Wrongonyou scored a full 40 points. I gave 8. A lot of praise from the jury, and I did like this. Not so sure about the live performance and its sound effects but propably sounds great on studio version.  Gavio scored 30 despite heavy cri

All together now Suomi debuted in tv last night, after being postponed from spring season (having been filmed in March before Covid-19 restrictions) and has Laura Voutilainen (ESC 2002) as the captain and Jaana Pelkonen (ESC 2007 in Helsinki) as the host. She makes a very welcome comeback to entertainment television after being in politics and in the parliament for years now.  The first episode already had familiar names trying their luck with the 100 judges, namely UMK (and every other possible talent show) hopeful Ilari Hämäläinen who scored 61 but in the end didn't make it any further. The winner of the evening and finalist with 94 was a girl trio Heroines including UMK hopefuls Rafaela Truda and  fabulous personal favorite back then Ylona. Among the 100 another UMK stars spotted, namely Eini, Niki from Barbe-Q-Barbies and Jepa Lambert. Let's wait and see who pops up in the future episodes!

The live auditions are over for the 61 picked out of a total of 961 submissions and the jury has chosen the 20 who will take part in the AmaSanremo selection shows on Rai1 from October 29 to November 26. Only half of them will make the Sanremo Giovani final on December 17, and only six of them the festival itself in March 2021. The selections shows will feature four of them each night and only two of them will make the final voted ny a jury and televote. An artist who started his career from Sanremo Giovani will be present in each episode and here we have plenty to choose from Eros Ramazzotti to Andrea Bocelli, Giorgia, Mahmood and Francesco Gabbani, Ermal Meta, Fabrizio Moro and Arisa, just to name a few.  Alioth - Titani Avincola - Goal! Thomas Cheval - Acqua minerale Chico - Figli di Milano Davide Shorty - Regina Folcast - Scopriti Galea - I nostri 20 Gaudiano - Polvere da sparo Gavio - La mia generazione Ginevra - Vortice Hu - Occhi Niagara I Desideri - Lo stesso cielo Le Larve - M

Yle has revealed today that it received 278 submissions for UMK 2021 and they have now chosen the seven finalists. They will be revealed on January 19, 2021 and the grand fianl will take place on February 20, 2021.  The standard is "higher than ever" and Yle says the artists and authors wanting to take part are better known than ever before as both new and up coming artists submitted entries along with well known and successful artists, among them previous Eurovision entrants, Emma (aka Finnish Grammy) winning artists, some of them most potential Finnish music export hopefuls and hot alternative names loved by the critics. Apparently the variety of music styles will be heard in the chosen seven as well.  Who knows if the 2020 winner Aksel Kankaanranta sent in a song, and got selected for the final...? The winner will receive the new challenge cup where all the UMK winner's names will be featured from now on designed by Minna Viitalähde.

As always, Sanremo's newcomer selection is featuring many, many names from other talent shows, or even previous years Sanremo selections who maybe didn't quite make it yet to stardom or even minor notoriety. All can change in a moment, ask Mahmood for example!  This time there aren't so many names this blogger would be familiar with that much, but I have for example featured I Desideri in my Naples series, and I'm aware of Francesco Monte, a reality television figure who's now aiming to become also a singer. Thomas Cheval, Wrongonyou and Avincola also ring a bell.  Anyways, from X Factor we have Martina Attili, Cecco e Cipo, David Shorty, Nova, Sierra and Daria Huber. From Amici we have Giulia Molino, Walter Ricci and from The Voice the before mentioned Thomas Cheval and Mattia Lever. Add the latest Castrocaro winner Watt as one of their prizes is a free ticket to the auditions. That makes a total of 61 of them.  After two days of live auditions (October 19 and 20)

  RAI has made public the rules for the Sanremo 2021 festival and there's no change in the part that deals with the Eurovision song contest: The winner will be the one, if only the winner has signed the papers for it beforehand. If not, RAI will select whoever they please. That means it won't be Diodato, unless he decides to participate again and wins - or if whoever wins doesn't want to go and RAi picks him up IF he participates.  The major change comes in the Newcomers selection where there won't be those unfair direct duels anymore but half of them each night make the final and the final is between the four finalists. Other changes are in the voting system that now stands as listen here below, and the third night's covers: The First night the first ten Big will perform and are voted by both televote and the demoscopic jury. The ranking will be revealed. Also four of the Newcomers will perform and are voted the same way. Two of them will make the final. The Secon

Sweden scores a win in the OGAE Second Chance contest for the 16th time and it all makes it a bit boring really, don't you agree? Even if Anna Bergendahl with Kingdom come is a worthy winner and Finland's Erika Vikman and Italy's Elodie are the best possible runner ups in my opinion. Even more so as even if I like Anna a lot, this wasn't her best effort I think. Let's put it this way: the top-3 was my favorite, too, but the order could have been a bit different.  The results: 1. Sweden - Anna Bergendahl - Kingdom come 344 2. Finland - Erika Vikman - Cicciolina 302 3. Italy - Elodie - Andromeda 253 4. Albania - Elvana Gjata - Me tana 230 5. Norway - Rein Alexander - One last time 158 6. Denmark - Jasmine Rose feat. Roxorloops - Human 149 7. Ukraine - Khayat - Call for love 118 8. Romania - Roxen - Cherry red 113 9. Lithunia - Monique - Make me human 98 10. Croatia - Indira Levak - You will never break my heart 92 11. Israel - Eden Alene - Roots 82 12. Bàrbara Tinoco

Almost a thousend, or exactly 961, songs and videos were sent to Sanremo Giovani  selection. Now a jury (Claudio Fasulo, Gianmarco Mazzi, Massimo Martelli, Leonardo De Amicis and headed by Amadeus) will listen them all and select 60 for live auditions in Rome on October 19-20, including the Castrocaro winners Watt . Out of those sixty 20 will make it to the five televised AmaSanremo shows in late October and November. The grand final takes place on Rai1 on December 17 and only six will make it to Teatro Ariston in March joined by two AreaSanremo qualifiers.  While waiting for the chosen ones let's enjoy the most recent winners including Mahmood and Francesco Gabbani: UPDATE : The 61 chosen ones are here

Another month has passed by and Senhit has delivered another episode in her #FreakytriptoRotterdam. This time it's Cliff Richard's Congratulations, the UK's runner up in Eurovision song contest 1968 and the video plays hommage to Fellini and David Bowie among others  Check out also Ding a dong Everyway that I can Cheesecake