Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

New series start: Let's kill some time having a look at the last decade and see who were the Top-10 best scoring countries in the Eurovision song contest in the past ten years. The ways to calculate are many and here I have used the simple average placement method (and it's not all so serious). First out Serbia! 2010 Milan Stanković - Ovo je Balkan (Ово је Балкан) - 13th *** 2011 Nina - Čaroban (Чаробан) - 14th * 2012 Željko Joksimović - Nije ljubav stvar (Није љубав ствар) - 3rd ***** 2013 Moje 3 - Ljubav je svuda (Љубав је свуда) - NQ (11th in semi-final) *** 2015 Bojana Stamenov - Beauty never lies - 10th *** 2016 Sanja Vučić ZAA - Goodbye (Shelter) - 18th **** 2017 Tijana Bogićević - In too deep - NQ (11th in semi-final) ** 2018 Sanja Ilić & Balkanika - Nova deca (Нова деца) - 19th **** 2019 Nevena Božović - Kruna (Круна) - 18th **** As a remainder, Serbia would have been represented by Hurricane (incl...

Hurricane was only formed in November 2017 but has already taken the Serbian (and not only) music scene by like a.... hurricane. The three girls all have already experience in the music business before their joint effort. Sanja Vučić (26) is no stranger to Eurovision having already represented Serbia back in 2016 with Goodbye (Shelter) . She studied opera singing before joining band ZAA that did most everything from ska to dub and punk. She studies philospohy and Arabic among other things. Ivana Nikolić (24) has studied moderm dance and music and has done some collaborations before joining Hurricane. Ksenija Knežević (23) has done Eurovision as backing singer to her father Knez in 2015 for Montenegro with Adio . She started as a child star and has ended in Hurricane after being in various other groups. Hurricane has been busy releasing singles and videos, and Hasta la vista is their 9th but they have already released another two after that, Guellame el pantalon and Roll ...

Serbia is having a three night Beovizija 2020 from February 28 to March 1 to find their entry for the Eurovision song contest 2020 in Rotterdam, a mini Sanremo if you like. As usual there are some big names taking part like a succesful girl group Hurricane inclusing Eurovision veteran  Sanja Vučić (2016), Ivana Nikolić and Ksenija Knežević who is Knez's (2015) daughter and backing singer . Neda Ukraden (69), a big name from the 70s and 80s who has refound fame and success and multiple talent shows winner Bane Mojićević, Bora Dugić who was Jelena Tomašević's flautist at home in ESC 2008 while Ana Milenković and Sanja Bogosavljević both were Beauty Queens aka Marija Šerifović’s backing vocalists when she won in Helsinki 2007. Add a few returning artists and composers (incl. ESC winner Vladimir Graić) plus Thea Devy who claims her entry made it to top-3 in Austria's internal selection (but as we know now they chose Vincent Bueno instead).  There...

Five hours. That's all I had in the wonderful Eurovision bubble. Just enough time to meet some dear friends and fellow bloggers, delegation members and OGAE friends and enjoy the glittery sunlight in Stockholm. But now back at home and enjoying the event from home sofa......  Amir's J'ai cherche welcomed me to the Globen area on tha music bridge, there couldn't have been a better start for the day. Next two hours were spent next to Sanja, Frans, Amir, the guys from Minus One, Francesca Michielin, Gabriela Guncikova, Ivan, Månz Zelmerlöw, quite a few head of delegations and commentators, waiting two hours for Ira Losco who didn't show up, and all things Eurovision. Life's good. Next stop EuroClub/Fan cafe meeting Justs and Aminata.  The most famous Eurovision beard  Frans Justs Then I had just enoug time to check out Eurovision vilage, NK's lovely Eurovision windows  and their very, VERY sad "Eurovision shop"..... and wo...

It's not a goodbye! Listen to music, have a good time and vote!

A couple of artists returning in this one, a country returning and one country returning to more autenthic sound. And here are the other two non-English including songs besides Austria this year. MACEDONIA - KALIOPI - DONA (Romeo Grill) Kaliopi returns to Eurovision after her 2012 experience. Once again she was internally selected - due to public demand by her fans it seems - and her song is written by her ex-husband. Blogilkar: I adore Kaliopi. This out of the way let's get to the song. It wasn't quite what I expected after 2012 and her songs since. It's been labeled dated and oldfashioned and boring and ridiculed with references to donuts. The fact remains she's amazing live and can make this work on stage no mattr what. And I do like the song, too. It starts off a bit like a lullaby but even if I don't understand a word I believe every word. She deserves the final as this is a real song, not manufactured for Eurovision. 9 Jack:  The Macedonian queen...

Latvia's Riga kicks off the major Eurovision promo events this year. Spikeri Concert hall in Riga has ten of this year's artists on stage with special guests from Sweden: the Eurovision 1984 winners The Herreys, and Schlagerfeber quartet made of four experienced Melodifestivalen and Eurovision backing singers belting out some hits.  This event is rapidly growing; two years ago when it was organized for the first time there were ony 3 artists, last year 8 and now 10.  This year's artists are: Belarus - Ivan Bosnia & Herzegovina - Dalal & Deen feat. Ana Rucner and Jala Bulgaria - Poli Genova Estonia -Jüri Pootsmann Israel - Hovi Star Latvia - Justs Malta - Ira Losco Serbia - Sanja Vučić ZAA Spain - Barei Switzerland - Rykka

Tonight also Serbia and ZAA aka Sanja Vučić released their song and it's a classy ballad titled Goodbye. Makes me think of Nina Zilli and Sanremo for some reason..... Very nice. Shame it's not in Serbian though as then it would be awesome.