Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Estonian Ott Lepland has used his Baku stay also for creating a new music video for his song Imede öö , or Night of wonders . Hopefully the wonders are not finished for him and he will qualify tonight for the final as his Kuula is one of the best songs in the running....

My flying reporter Robert met Can Bonomo, a singer, musicians, poet and fashion designer! They chatted about his musical background, what does he value in a person, why he is in Eurovision and his fashion sense. And why his demos have such great acoustics? And what was his initial reaction to Rona Nishliu's voice?! Read it here: How would you describe yourself, like what are your values and what you find important in life? Wow, that's a deep question. Hmmm... I think all that matters in life is the present moment, now. The other thing that is very important to me is the art. It takes a lot of space in my life. And my family of course. What do you dislike and like in other people if talk about values? Disliking is a strong word, I don't want to say I don't like something. I appreciate people who fight for themselves. A quality that I look for in my friends and people around me is that they are in peace with themselves. When did you know that you wanted to b...

The Irish Jedward seem to be having time of their life in the Eurovision, so much so they have promposed to do it for Ireland every year from now on! Anyways, in Baku the hotel's pool has seen them in it with the Trackshittaz from Austria ( here ) and doing the backing singers-dancers for Soluna Samay from Denmark ( here ). I guess that hotel isn't the most peaceful place on earth right now... :-)

The Azerbaijani selection show for the represant was as long as the selection process for the five finalists. Kurt Calleja from Malta and Can Bonomo from Turkey were present with Ell/Nikki to see Sabina Babayeva to emerge as the winner after each and every finalist had done about zillion songs amongst other guests. Now the Azeri TV will shop around a suitable song for her.

The winning duo of Eldar and Nigar, or Ell/Nikki has signed to Universal records and will be recording their joint album in Germany and Sweden shortly with local songwriters. The album will be published in varipus markets through Universal's local labels in Europe but also in Australia and New Zealand. Once the album is done they will hit the road and tour all over Europe. I am personally a bit sceptical about their chances to make it big but then, who knows...? Good luck anyways!

Axel aka Paradise Oskar was peaceful and in a good mood despite the 21st place last night. He partied the night away in the closing party. "It is useless to wonder and speculate" he says in Iltalehti "countries have voted as they have voted. That's it! " If it's any comfort many other hot tipped countries like France, United Kingdom, Ireland, Germany and Hungary saw their hopes for the Eurovision glory crash and burn last night when Azerbaijan went on to win which has caused a lot of talk and comments on various blogs and websites. Was it Azerbaijan that won? or Turkey? Or Sweden? In my opinion it's always nice when a new country wins but this year they didn't deserve it with this mediocre song, that even has nothing Azeri about it. A product bought from Sweden with two clued on singers. I doubt it will be a success anywhere really, and we won't hear about the singers until next year's contest in Baku and then never again (think Estonia 2001)...

What happens when Hera Björk meets Safura in the pool? Watch here ! :-) Isn't it a bit ironic both ladied from lands of fire play with water?!

Hmm. I'm confused now. After the first rehearsal I was still ready to count Azerbaijan as the main contender - not forgetting Sweden though - but now I have seen the second rehearsal and I'm not so sure anymore. Anna Bergendahl shined last night in her 2nd one, Safura was fine today but there's so much going on stage even she has to run from one side to another to keep up. The dress is pretty until they turn the lights on? What's that? It only makes her disappear to the similar colored backgroud filled with spots. The male dancer, no matter cute, is another distraction. Well, we will see how they will present in the dress rehearsals as it looks like they don't know it either. And Eurovision stage is not the place to start practising walking with high heals, is it? Video .

Drip drop, drip drop.... that's the sound of votes falling down on Azeris this year. Safura impressed most everyone with her vocals that were in a bit in doubt. She has two staircases on stage, one for her and the other for the four backing ladies (I suspect there will be some water effect on stage) and later a male dancer comes in. This has all the incredients Believe had back in 2008 and made it a winner. I wonder if EBU would prefer some other host town for 2011 than Baku? Watch it here .

Two more remixes of the Azerbaijan entry Drip drop have been released; one my Alex Guerrer o and the other by Maverix . I like both!

Well now this is surprising and wonderful! Zeljko Joksimovic has rearranged the Azerbaijan entry Drip drop dripping it off from the Americanism and adding a bit of his vocals, too, and it sounds absolutely fantastic. Listen here . Shame they don't use this version in Oslo 2010!

Here it is finally. The video that nearly drowned poor Safura. Works pretty fine for the song that sticks into your head like drip drop .... Baku anyone?

Drip here .

The entry for Azerbaijan has been re-recorded between Stockholm and Prague adding some traditional touch by the instrument nei as well as real orchestra with over 30 violins and cellos. Listen to the revamped version here . I think the votes will be dropping to the region like drip drop drip drop, causing a flood of top-3 dimensions.

Germany, Azerbaijan and Israel are the favourites to win the Eurovision song contest 2010 in 55 days time. Most bookmakers have them in the lead while various fan polls are having quite different toppers. The race is open this year and there is no clear favourite like there was last year. Denmark, Norway, Armenia, Croatia, Greece and Sweden follow while FYR Macedonia, Poland and Slovenia are at the bottom?  Listen here: Do you think Germany , Azerbaijan or Israel has it what it takes to win, and do FYR Macedonia , Poland and Slovenia deserve their spots at the bottom?

We all know Sweden is big on exporting music and their effect in Eurovision is increasing year by year it seems. Songs written or co-written by Swedes in various national finals are no exception and this year besides Sweden itself Azerbaijan, Norway and Denmark have a song co-written by Swedes.  The Swedish entry This is my life is written by Bobby Ljunggren, a real veteran with 37 Melodifestivalen entries under his belt, including four previous winners: Se på mig (1995), Kärleken är (1998), Evighet (2006) and Hero (2008) and also four runner ups: Om igen (1988), Ett liv med dig (1991), Min kärlek (2004) and Empty room (2008) - actually he took home the whole top-3 in 2008 as Lay your love on me came 3rd and was also co-written by him! Fredrik Kempe has co-written the Norwegian entry My heart is yours . He has written 13 songs for the Melodifestivalen the past few years and even two winners, Hero (2008) and La voix (2009). Cara mia was the runner up in 2007 and Manboy ...

It has been confirmed today Safura will perform Drip drop in Oslo 2010 for Azerbaijan, one of the three songs she presented in the pre-selection. It was in my opinion the best of the lot and I like it, even if I would hope Azeris would wring in something more exotic....

Tonight we get to hear finally the second last song for Oslo 2010 and it comes from Bosnia-Herzegovina. Azerbaijan will announce the song on the 19th but we have heard the songs already and my hopes are on Drip drop , as well as Israel who will select tomorrow night but the songs are online already. France will be the last to let us hear their Allez! Ola! Olé ! by Jessy Matador on 20th. Tonight Vukasin Brajic will sing his Munja i krom. The season 2010 is pretty much wrapped up! And as they have only one song to present - both in Bosnian and English - they have to fill some primetime air with this year's other entrants: Niamh Kavanagh, Feminnem , Marcin Mrazinski, Milan Stankovic , Gjoko Tanevski along with last year's Regina and Alexander Rybak and still Karolina Goceva and Ana Bebic. And if that isn't enough, Alma & Dejan will be there as well, performing for the first time since 1994 Ostani kraj mene , A lot has changed since then, including the country's fla...

The Azeri final tonight featured in the end each act performing three songs. Safura (17) emerged out as a winner but the song she will perform in Oslo 2010 will be chosen only on March 19. However, she performed Drip drop , Under my skin and Soulless. If I understood right the song will be one of these.

Azerbaijan will have it's final tonight unless it will be changed again. The selection process has changed along the way so many times it's hard to keep track. Apparently the three selected singers Maryam, Milk & Kisses and Safura have all recorded the five songs selected separately, and each will sing the one that fits them best. In theory that means they might all sing the same song and we won't hear four of them, or each and everyone will perform a different song and still we won't hear two of them. Or, in worst case scenario all three will perform all five songs and ... well, the jury will decide so the televoters don't have to bother their minds which combination to vote for! The rumour is all etchnic and Azeri influences have been dropped from the songs and they are pure American r'n b nonsense. Well, let's see how it turns out. The songs are Soulless, Under my skin, Drip drop, Cancelled and Don't let the morning come .