Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

What a time to be alive, would someone say. Nine Eurovision 2021 songs are in the official Finnish singles Top-20 (week 21). Add winner's another song in the mix and voilà..... history is happening right in front of your eyes! And that's not all. Five Eurovision artists albums enter the Top-40 albums!  I let the charts speak to themselves: Official singles chart 1. (6.) Blind Channel - Dark side 2. ( - ) Måneskin - Zitti e buoni 5. ( - ) Gjon's Tears - Tout l'univers 6. ( - ) Måneskin - I wanna be your slave 7. ( - ) Elena Tsagrinou - El Diablo 8. ( - ) Dadi Freyr - 10 years 10. ( - ) Barbara Pravi - Voilà 17. ( - ) Go_A - Shum 19. ( - ) The Roop - Discotheque 20. ( - ) TIX - Fallen angel Official albums chart 2. ( - ) Måneskin - Teatro d'ira, vol. 1 9. ( - ) Måneskin - Il ballo della vita 21. ( - ) Måneskin - Chosen 23. ( - ) Dadi Freyr - Welcome 39. ( - ) Blind Channel - Blood brothers Radio play charts 2. (3.) Blind Channel - Dark side 79. ( - ) Måneskin - Zitti ...

The Eurovision song contest 2021 was a great success in every way, there's no doubt about that. It managed to keep the virus out (well, almost....) and gave people all around Europe what they wanted: a live show. That is proven by the viewing figures that are all over Europe the best ones in many years if not record breaking. (Well, almost...) 183 million people turned in to watch the shows on television or online where over 50 million people in 234 countries joined in! But the real success comes afterwards in streaming platforms. I have never witnessed such a rush to download and stream the Eurovision songs. And so many of them! Besides the winners Italian Måneskin who has really taken over the globe with their music, not only the winning song but their music in general, notable success has been evident for Ukrainian Go-A and Finnish Blind Channels, but that's just to name a few.  I have already lost of Måneskin's records including the most streamed Italian song within 24 ...

Mahmood is the cover boy of Italian Vanity Fair in the very nice interview he is asked about his dreams and he says: Uno è incontrare il maestro Franco Battiato. Per quella volta che mi rapì dalla radio di una macchna, mentre andavo verso una spiaggia; con I treni di Tozeur io scoprii l'estasi. Salutarlo come fossimo in quel capolavoro della sua Alexander Platz : "C'era la neve, ci vediamo questa sera fuori dal teatro, "ti piace Schubert?" One is to meet maestro Franco Battiato. Since the time I heard I treni di Tozeur on car radio on my way to beach and I found heaven. I would greet him like if we were in his masterwork Alexander Platz . "There was snow, let's meet outside the theater tonight: "Do you like Schubert?" Sadly this dream will just stay a dream as Franco Battiato passed away last Tuesday. 

Alice will honor her late friend Franco Battiato in a very exclusive concert in Auditorium Centro Gaetano in Padua/Padova On June 6, 2021 singing his most beautiful songs accompanied by Carlo Guaitoli in piano, Battiato's long lasting collaborator. There's space for only 115 people in the intimate concert due Covid-19 restrictions. Alice will also tour Italy in July-August bringing his music to the people again.  The concert is a part of Padua's van Gogh exhibition, a continuation to the one in Bologna in 2014 when Battiato did a musical performance La ragazza con l'orecchino di perla linked to the exhibition featuring Alice and a young Francesca Michielin.  

  "Siamo fuori di testa, ma diversi da loro"  they wrote in Instagram already in May 2017. The street musicians from Rome have gone a long via X Factor to Sanremo and to Eurovision in a short time. As I didn't do any artist presentations this year, and to be honest I'm not so familiar with Måneskin, let's do a short biography who they are and what they have been up to in the past few years. The band is made of lead singer Damiano David (21), Victoria De Angelis (20) in bass, Thomas Raggi (19) in guitar and Ethan Torchio (20) in drums.  Novembre 2015. Damiano asked Victoria to form a band, she brought in her friend and school mate from Monteverde Thomas. Ethan was found after an ad in Facebook. The year after they took part in a competition Pulse - High school band contest and won it.  The same year they had their official concert and usually they were found playing in the streets of Rome, their hometown.  2017. They took part in X Factor when they all were j...

It's been just hours when the first cities announced they want to host it ( read more here ) but also first proposals to conduct it. Who said Italy wan't willing to win & host Eurovision? Or is it a classic case that everyone wants to have a piece of action now? But just like with the lack of suitable arenas Italy has also a problem of suitable hosts for the simple fact the conductors must speak fluent English and quite a lot of French, too. Or, let me phrase it again: There are those who can do the job but it might take awhile before the audience and people in charge realize they can't put there some random Amadeus & Fiorello to attract home audience to the screens (Amadeus indeed has said he'd consider it) like they did in 1991 with Toto Cutugno & Gigliola Cinquetti . That was then, this is now. The show must be hosted in English and a little bit of French, it must be aimed to the European audience, not the locals. Something that is very uncommon for Rai ...

After a string of top-10 places since their return to the contest back in 2011 (2nd, 9th, 7th, 21st, 3rd, 16th, 6th, 5th, 2nd) Måneskin managed to finish the business Raphael Gualazzi, Nina Zilli, Marco Mengoni, Il Volo, Francesco Gabbani, Ermal Meta, Fabrizio Moro and Mahmood started nor forgetting Francesca Michielin and Emma. Now it's time to Rai to show what they can do and put the legend "Rai doesn't want to win" to rest for good. Italy has hosted the contest twice before but that was a long time ago and a different concept. In 1965 Naples had the honors in Rai's tv-studios there, and in 1991 originally planned Sanremo changed to Cinecittá studios in Rome due to the Gulf war in the last minute that caused some hick ups to the Italian style already a bit confused organisation. But that was and this is now.  Back then it was much small event and could be held in a theater or big studio but not now. And here comes the problem with Italy: the lack of suitable, bi...

It didn't take long but here it is, the first candidate city to host the contest next year: Bologna!   Bologna is situated in the heart of Italy, youthful University city, Unesco's Citta della musica or Music city, they have an arena, hotels, flights... everything! This blogger would be thrilled, I love Bologna, one of my favorites in Italy - with many friends! Previously when the Gabbamani was wild in Europe it has been made public that Italy was planning to host in Turin/Torino should they win.... Also Milan and Pesaro have already showed interest......  UPDATE: During the Sunday after also Turin aka Torino has confirmed they are interested and that they have been waiting for this already for years!

Let's have a closer look how Finland received votes in the semi-final and the final. In the semi-final the juries  voted less than the televoters, just like in the final: 7   France, Denmark, Estonia, Latvia 6   Iceland, Switzerland, Portugal, Serbia, Czech Republic, UK, Albania 5   Austria 4   Georgia 3   San Marino 2   Poland 0   Greece, Moldova, Bulgaria, Spain        TOTAL 84 points The televoters spread more love to the dark side placing it FIRST : 12   Poland, Bulgaria 10   Denmark, San Marino, Iceland, Estonia, Serbia 8    Czech republic, Greece, Moldova, Latvia, UK,  6    Switzerland, Portugal, Spain, Georgia 5    Austria, Albania 2    France  TOTAL 150 points                  Finland placed only 5th in the semi-final but really upped their game for the final. In the jury...

  Ommiodio!!!! What can I say? Italy wins, Finland 6th, our second best placing ever! A little sad for San Marino but ... oh well, Italy won! Finland 6th! And what an amazing string of zero points for the UK, Germany and Spain from the public! That was like WTF?! And did Natalia drop her microphone? If the 2017 plans are still current next year it will be Torino! Here are the televotes: 1. Italy 318 2. Ukraina 267 3. France 251 4. Finland 218 5. Iceland 180 6. Switzerland 165 6. Lithuania 165 8. Russia 100 9. Serbia 82 10. Greece 79 11. Sweden 63 12. Moldova 62 13. Norway 60 14. Malta 47 15. Cyprus 44 16. Albania 35 17. Azerbaijan 33 18. Bulgaria 30 19. Portugal 27 20. Israel 20 21. San Marino 13 22. Belgium 3 23. Netherlands 0 23. Spain 0 23. Germany 0 23. United Kingdom 0

It's been two long years and four days since Duncan Laurence was crowned the Eurovision champion in Tel Aviv. Meanwhile his winning song Arcade has gone viral and on Tuesday night he received a platinum record for a one billion streams globally. Tonight he was meant to perform the song again and hand over the Chrystal microphone to a new winner. But no. On Wednesday he was tested positive for Covid-19 and instead will be watching the show in quarantine in his hotel room.... Sometimes destiny just plays tricks on us. (Not to mention some other tricks played by another Destiny's delegation to anger the fandom...) This said I can only say it's going to be a great show and the strongest line up I can remember, and also the most open contest I can recall, and I have been watching since 1976. Usually at this point I have firm favorites to win, 2-3 of them, and I can't remember when last time one of them didn't win. Maybe Marie N? Quite often I have had a winning candidat...

Franco Battiato was very much considered as a Sicilian artist besides Italian and after his professional adventures up north in Milano he returned to his beloved Sicily under the shadow of Mount Etna where he was born. Now Riposto (ex-Ionia) where he was born, Milo up the Etna hill where he had his house for decades and where he died plus the capital of region Catania all have plans to commemorate the music legend. "The spectacular nature of our lungomare (waterfront) that visually unites Etna with the Ionian sea, in the context of the lava rock of the ancient eruptions of our volcano - explained Mayor of Catania Pogliese - will become a symbol of a man, an artist who has magnificently interpreted the values ​​of nature, transcending the borders of Sicily and Italy for its innate ability to grasp the deepest feelings of humanity. The great emotion that the death of Franco Battiato aroused throughout Italy convinced us that to remember a personality who has marked the feelings of g...

I am usually not so into opening or interval acts as even if they usually are spectacular or even fun they seldom leave any lasting memory. Last night's Close encounters of a special kind by Ahmad Joudeh and Dez Maarsen is an exception. I loved every minute of it even if I'm not into ballet or modern dance. Maybe it's because of Ahmad's backstory that I knew well thanks to great documentary film Dance Or Die, that everyone should search and watch (For the Finns out there it's here ). This Emmy 2019 award-winning touching documentary tells Syrian born Ahmad's journey into world consciousness. At home in war-torn Damascus, he was threatened with death until the Dutch National Ballet offered him who defied death the opportunity to dance and live, albeit still under many mental and physical pressures. Directed by Dutch Roozbeth Kaboly this short film was released in 2018. Dance or Die depicts him dancing in the ruins of the camp where he had grown up, visiting his f...

Here it is, the running order decided by the organizers based on draws for the first or second half, and the host country's drawn place at 23.  Some fans go over analyzing the order when in the end it may have less impact than we think, after all Turkey won from number four. This said, all was different back then, even more so back in the days with the juries only when a song performed first won several times.  But as a Finn it's good to see Finland and Italy are almost as far as possible even if both draw second half. And San Marino closes the show. Those three being close to my heart as countries it's going to be exciting night! The main odds favorites are Malta sixth between Russia and Portugal, both countries that were not so much considered pre-rehearsals but have risen to heights since. Switzerland and Iceland are back to back surrounded by Greece and Spain. A bit odd combination I must say.  Finland comes after chaotic Germany at 16 and is followed by Bulgaria, tha...

  Here are also the performances from dress rehearsals of the remaining Big countries:

  Oh well, I didn't get the jackpot by ignoring Moldova. Should have known better but 9/10 (and 19/20 overall I can be happy, no?)  What a moment when AHOY audience was chanting "Finland! Finland! Finland!" before the last announcement. Priceless! Anyways, here are the finalists: Albania will perform in the 1st half in final Serbia will perform in the 1st half in final Bulgaria will perform in the 2nd half in final Moldova will perform in the 2nd half in final Portugal will perform in the 1st half in final Iceland will perform in the 1st half in final San Marino will perform in the 2nd half in final Switzerland will perform in the 1st half in final Greece will perform in the 1st half in final Finland will perform in the 2nd half in final

If the first semi-final prediction felt hard - and I surprised even myself by getting a 10 out of 10 result   - this second one seems impossible at this point. It features some certain qualifiers no matter what and some biggest favorites for victory. Add Finland and my beloved San Marino with the help of Flo Rida, some of it is easy. But the rest? Oh dear..... It will be a lottery I suppose. Let's start with the easy and obvious: Switzerland, Iceland, Finland, Bulgaria, San Marino, Greece . Those should be easily in. Then I think Serbia, Albania and Portugal will qualify as well.  But then what to think about Austria? He could be a jury vote magnet with that simple staging and powerful vocals and who knows if televoters will feel it, too? And all Philippinos across Europe voting as well. Maybe. Czech Republic is a fun song and even if he seems to have been less convincing in the rehearsals apparently nailed with last night in jury rehearsal with energy and positive vibes. W...

Mahmood has released today the video for his latest effort Klan, already fifth single off his new album Ghettolimpo out next month. He certainly hasn't been doing nothing since placing second in the Eurovision 2019 behind Duncan Laurence with just a few points as this is his seventh official single besides several featuring here and there and co-writing song to other artists, like Elodie's Andromeda and this year's Sanremo runner up Chiamami per nome by Francesca Michielin and Fedez.  The video makes me think of some iconic Pet Shop Boys videos really...... 

Finally also available the full performances for The Big5 countries Italy and Germany and the Netherlands who voted and performed in the semi-final one rehearsals as well. Italy does come across very powerful indeed!

And so it happened, I predicted 10/10 this time around. Surprised even myself! Otherwise it was a fine show, that went on rather smoothly if you forget some delays in change of stagings especially for Ireland and Malta, and that the sound level in some inserts was rather bad. Nice stage, ok graphics and postcards. Things can only get better for the second semi-final and most importantly for the final. And here they are, the finalists that I guessed all right, did I mention that already? Lithuania got 2nd half in the final Russia got 1st half in the final Sweden got 2nd half in the final Cyprus got 1st half in the final Norway got 2nd half in the final Israel got 1st half in the final Azerbaijan got 2nd half in the final Ukraine got 2nd half in the final Malta got 1st  half in the final Belgium got 1st half in the final

I'm still quite shaken by the death of my biggest musical influences Franco Battiato last night and therefor it feels a bit uneasy to sit down and try to concentrate on guessing the Eurovision song contest 2021 semi-final one qualifiers. Also because this year I have followed very little the rehearsals and have seen only the official short clips and my ideas are based on that very little and maybe much more on the first impression I had when the song was selected or released this spring.  I don't know if it's because of that but this feels harder than ever. For all I know I have 14 songs that could make it really and now looking at that list let's make it 15/16.... Maybe more than ever my personal taste differs from that of fans and odds.  However I would put as sure ones Lithuania, Russia, Sweden, Cyprus, Ukraine and Malta .  Sweden when selected made me think it could win the whole thing again but somehow it doesn't feel that strong anymore. Russia and Cyprus we...