Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

  Dolcenera won Sanremo newcomers 2003 with Siamo tutti là fuori , a song and personality I fell in love with immediately. She's been back a few times, had her ups and downs, has released many songs that would have fit Eurovision as a glove (in a good way) and I had hopes for her for many years. She's been collecting awards, touring, releasing music but somehow she's not in the spotlight she deserves.  But there's always Sanremo 2025 and Eurovision..... One can hope!  

  Sergio Cammariere made jazz succesful in Sanremo way before Raphael Gualazzi in 2003 with Tutto quello che un uomo placing 3rd. His step to popdom didn't last long but he did have another go of Sanremo in 2008 placing 7th, but his career is still going strong in other circuits. And this song is simply great!

Here comes Senhit's second offering on her #FreakyTripToRotterdam and this time with a video filled with Hollywood "glamour", quote from Marilyn Monroe and reference to Hitler she has covered Everyway that I can , that gave Turkey its first and so far only victory in the Eurovision song contest in form of Sertab Erener and one of the most exciting votings ever in 2003.  Check out also CHEESECAKE

Now what can I say? Carola is one of my favorite artists, an ultimate Eurovision Diva and we go back a long time. Flashback summer 1983: I was spending summer at my aunt's in Sweden. And Sweden was all about Carola after her Melodifestivalen win (full marks from each and every jury - for the first and last time ever) and 3rd place in Eurovision (6,1 million Swedes watched her there!!!) with Främling   (fate is I was also in Sweden when the Mello took place and saw it live on tv. However then I was all for runner up Kikki Danielsson's Varför är kärleken röd ...) Her album was the best selling album in Sweden ever (over 1.000.000 copies). She was everywhere, including a Folketspark near Fagersta where I saw her live.  The tour broke all previous records in 24 out of 25 parks. The year after I saw her live in Finland. And again in the years to come . But then Carola, a controversial figure retired after 3-4 years of success and even an album with the BeeGees in the USA to...

  Spain is turning into Operación Triunfo to find their Eurovision entrant for Lisbon 2018. But there's a twist: there will be a specially staged Eurovision final for the five finalists - before the OT is over! The five finalists will have songs written by experienced composers to compete and televoters will choose the winning compination. After that OT continues to its end so the OT winner may not be the one going to Eurovision.  Nine out of original 18 singers are still in the competition, but four more has to go before we get to the Eurovision stages. The next episode will air after New Year's so February looks likely for the OT/ESC final. Then again, this isn't something new either: Beth who represented Spain in those OT years didn't win OT either. She only came 3rd in OT behind Ainhoa and Manuel Carrasco but beat them in the special Eurovision selection. The year before when the first OT was used as Eurovision selection the winner Rosa took her runner u...

It's already 14 years since Turkey scored its first (and maybe last as they're long gone) win at the Eurovision song contest with Sertab Eerener's Everyway that I can . She's now joined a street & ferry musician Evrencan Gündüz for this stripped down jazzy 'n bluesy version of the winning song.  When not jamming with his idol Sertab,  this up and coming musician can be found singing in the streets of Kadıköy in Istanbul -  since singing in the ferry between Europe and Asia is now forbidden..... PS. Never to be ut down, she's went to sing on the ferry anyways, allowed or not!

Namely Italy. This French Eurovision veteran - with wonderful Monts et merveilles back in 2003, with rather unfortunate live hair performence though - has solid roots in L'Aquila, Italy where her mother comes from.  Her new album Terra mia will be released on November 2.  "An ode to the memory, which like the ritornello of a music box  sings the scent of our sunny lands." Listen to her new album here . And a reportage here . 

I have been following, liking, loving Dolcenera since her debut by winning Sanremo 2003 newcomers with Siamo tutti lá fuori . Careerwise she's been through ups and downs since but her music has stayed great. Amazing voice, memorable personality, talent to match. Fantastic in one word. And Fantastica is her latest release that follows the awesome Niente al mondo and  Accendi lo spirito , all from a worthcoming album, her first in four years. And guess what? She's be just perfect for Eurovision. I am not the only one thinking so as there's even a Facebook page for it. Join it and let's make it happen! Dolcenera for Eurovision 2016! 

Carola's Det bästa av mig tour landed helsinki's Kulttuuritalo last night. The venue was sold out and when I looked aroud the crowd before the concert I thought this is going to be one dull evening - mostly middle aged couples. Mostly Finnish speaking. A very few Eurovision fans (those that you see everywhere) and even fewer young people. But how wrong I was! Carola entered the stage with the Orup version of Främling before moving on to Tell me this night is over and by third song, Gatorna tillhör oss she had the audience on their feet, eating from her hand and dancing around. I have never witnessed so many middle aged Finns letting their inner teenager out that way. When she continued with her hits from the early 1980's like Tommy tycker om mig and Mickey I noticed I wasn't the only one knowing stil all the lyrics by heart. Even she noticed that something special was going on and commented from stage "I see this is going to be a very interesting evening!...

Kaliningrad born Tanja (Tatiana Mihhailova, 30) isn't a new comer to Eesti laul as she already was a runner up back in 2002 with NightLight Duo and Another country song and took part again in 2003 . Since then she has become a household name and much admired person in theater, musicals and TV-shows. Several bands, talent shows and international festivals later she lands Copenhagen 2014 with partly self-penned Amazing . Robert: Like previous years, a very interesting preselection in Estonia. I like many songs of this Eesti laul like Maiken , Sandra Nurmsalu, Lauri Pihlap, Körsikud, Lenna Kuurmaa and MiaMee but in the end Traffic's song Fur Elise is the best for me. The winning song by Tanja is not at all appreciated by me. No final. Blogilkar :  I have to admit I didn't pay much attention to this among the Eesti laul semifinalists. The dancing & singing performance seemed a bit akward and yes, a bit Loreen-ish. The Estonian final was full of worthy songs, ...

Sometime ago I was asking what happened to the Swedish songwriters in Eurovision ( here ) and now it's time to ask whatever happened to the English language? Namely, since the language rule was dropped in 1999 this year we have fewer songs in English than ever! Mind you, I think these two things are extremely positive things; both the lack of English and the Swedish songwriters! In 2013 we have 39 songs in the competition and 22 are to be sung in English (or 56%) and 17 in other local languages, and for the first time none in a mix of English and something else. That was close already back in 2010 when there were only two bilingual songs including English (Poland and Bulgaria) and neither of them made the final. On the other end of the statistics is 2007 when 13 of the 42 songs were with mixed English and 22 in English alone bringing it up to 83%. But that's not the worst of it. In 2001 that was 87% when only Israel, Portugal and Spain fully believed in their own local la...

Remember Deixa-meu sonhar ? One of the finest ballads and singers on Eurovision stage ever. Rita Guerra, at tender age of 45, debuts as a club track singer in I can feel your love . With a pretty video to match. Summer galore!

One of the finest existing voices around, Edsilia Rombley released her first album since her less fortunate Eurovision trip to Helsinki 2007 last year titled Uit mijn hart . The first single was Geef je over followed by Uit het oog niet uit mijn hart , a duet with another fine voiced Eurovision lady, Ruth Jacott. And now it's time for the third single Ik laat je niet alleen .  Other songs from the album include Samen alleen  and Dat je altijd bij me bent . This girl could sing a telephone book in Dutch and it always sounds lovely.

A quartet of more or less new songs from Eurovision artists. Helena Paparizou returns with Mr Perfect that does sound quite different from her previous efforts and after initial Hmmm... proves to be rather good. Another Greek, Kostas Martakis duets with Russian Diana Diez in Sex indigo / Vres ton dropo / Sex indigo (Spanish version) which is rather nice (even if I prefer Kostas with ballads) while Julia Volkova of t.A.T.u. fame starts her solo career as well (remember Lena's Never forget ) with All because of you . Why I have a feeling the t.A.T.u. girls are singing to each other? Last but not least reigning Eurovision winner Azerbaijan's Nigar Jamal debuts solo with Crush on you . Quite frankly it lacks all personality and originality and could be anonymous album track by any female singer...

South African artists are real Eurovision fans as the most cover versions come from there these days. David Fourie has recorded several like Norway 2003 I'm not afraid to move on and MoniQue covered amongst others Finland 2009 as Ek val vir jou with Snotkop. Now they have joined forces and covered Azerbaijan's winning Running scared as My hart het klaar besluit . And in my opinion it's much more interesting than the original, rougher arrangement and Afrikaans just sounds so great!

t.A.T.u.'s ten years in business seems to be over after six studio albums and the girls are going separete ways. Lena has already her debut solo single out called Never forge t. The last significant appearance by the girls was in the Eurovision 2009 in Moscow as part of the interval act . In 2003 they represanted Russia with Ne ver', ne boysia coming third just three points short of the victory.

It's time for a little summer trip and I'm off to Riga for the very first time. Riga hosted the Eurovision 2003 when Turkey won with 167 points followed by Belgium' s 165 and Russia 's 164 - a surprise twist after the last voting round and one of the most spectacular votings ever while the Latvian winning song the year before might be one of the less spectacular ever. The song, not the performance . Latvia has finished in the top-5 also with their debut in 2000 and again in 2005 . The past three years they have missed the final even if at least this year Musiqq did deserve the final if you ask me.... See you next week!

Alcazar is taking "a creative break" after the Stockholm Pride in August but one can read between the lines this time it might be forever. The group, formed in 1998 by Andreas Lundstedt, Tess "Tessa" Merkel and Annika "Fiore" Kjaergaard, already took a break in 2005 but re-emerged two years later without Annika and Magnus Carlsson who had joined in 2002 and with Lina Hedlund instead.  Three studio albums, one compilation and one live album but 21 singles, that entered the charts in 13 different European countries along with Australia and the US and four Melodifestivalen participations later it seems it's the end. Here are their MF entries: 2003 Not a sinner, nor a saint (3rd), 2005 Alcastar (3rd), 2009 Stay the night (5th) and 2010 Headlines (-). Their other hits include Crying at the discotheque , Sexual guarantee and This is the world we live in . They also covered Don't you want me and samples most every hit in Physical - and indeed their...

Mārtiņš Freimanis, the Latvian Eurovision star died today. He was taken to the Infectology Centre of Latvia last week with severe respiratory inflamation. He was only 33 and follows Sjónni Brink, the Icelandic singer who died recently at only 36. I hope this 2011 season will prove wrong the old saying about twos and threes.... He represanted Latvia in the homeground in 2003 as part of F.L.Y and also wrote the more succesful entry in 2005 .

Italian fans are impatiently waiting for the news of who is going to mark country's return to Eurovision? Is it going to be Nathalie after all? Or perhaps Marco Mengoni? Or Anna Tatangelo? As long as it's not Roberto Meloni! So, one can also speculate on commentator as in some places like Italy it IS important and sets the tune to the whole show (see Sanremo? Sometimes I think it's not about the singers and the songs but who's show it is this time around. 2011 will be Morandi Show) so could it be the X Factor presenter Francesco Facchinetti will go on to Eurovision as well? He has many fans on his side as after all he knows music being a musicians, rapper and DJ himself. Or perhaps Fabio Canino ? He's a radio person, writer of funny books and did an excellent job commenting the Eurovision 2003 edition for Gay.tv , an Italian internet channel. Or perhaps Fiorello , the Sicilian showman and singer who would attract most Italians to watch Eurovision just with his pr...