Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

 Hey, we found some more lost photos in our archives this morning... Enjoy!

Belarus had invited most everyone to their Planet Solayoh and party were promotional items were brought in in industrial quantity; chocolates and biscuits and all you can get! A buffet and drinks were avalable, too, and many artists showed up. Here are the Red Wall photos: Ryan Dolan and Natália Kelly were having a cozy time..... Serbian girls looked stunning in flashlights.... Esma and Lozano were holding court... And it's Ryan Dolan again. Will he bring the trophy back to Ireland? Coming up next..... the performances!

And we continue... MALTA - Gianluca Bezzina - Tomorrow Ever smiling and tanned Gianluca next with his band doing a relaxed and some what retro feeling including song in the staging that fits it like a glove. This is a feel good song and crowd pleaser if things go right and might sail to the final. He also takes use of the catwalk. But who knows? I like it when I hear it, but pretty much forget it the second it's over. Will it get people vote? Who knows.... For me it comes across a bit over eager but then it's just me. BULGARIA - Elitsa & Stoyan - Samo shampioni This is a bit of a deja vú, but we have to remember the "normal people", that is not Eurovision fans won't propably remember they did pretty much the same act already in Helsinki 2007. Then they liked it and the drumming and banging brought then 5th place. Now they have added some "ethnic grannies" and a bare chested guy jumping around with a strange mask and indeed it will be a...

His not selling youghurt even if he looks like a picture perfect Greek grandpa from the mountains to tell us he has lived to 120 years because of natural yoghurt. Instead he is a famous rebetiko singer Agathon Iakovidis and was offering alcohol for free with some wild guys of Koza Mostra ensamble who weren't unfortunately yet wearing their kilts today. That's how today's rehearsals kicked of. Krista approves.

Albania - Adrian Lulgjuraj & Bledar Sejko - Identitet I kinda liked this when it won the Albanian final and it really worked with the big live orchestra . Not so confident it will work play-back and generally feel such a let down after last year's entry. I doubt they will bother the final this year. But then who knows? There's no other song in this genre in the line up. Greece - Koza Mostra feat. Agathon Iakovidis - Alcohol is free Same goes for this, I was rather pleased when this won the Greek final but now the joke has worn thin and hunky men in kilts and the yoghurt ad's grandpa aren't enough anymore. The chorus is irritating and only works with me if heavily drunk.... which I rarely am. This said, most viewers and voters will hear this for the very first time so they still might fall for it. I'm so hoping this will break the immaculate Greek qualification line up so far but I'm afraid that's only whistful thinking of my part... Bulgaria ...

The date for confirming the songs is near and the official videos for the selected songs are flooding the internet. This morning we have Belgium's Roberto Bellarosa with Love kills ... Yesterday Spain's ESDM presented their revamped Contigo hasta el final .... Also France presented their video yesterday, sassy Amandine Bourgeois and L'enfer et moi Greece released its video a couple of days ago for Koza Mostra ft Agathon Iakovides and Alcohol is free ... A lot of moustache action in that one... Tonight the main event is of course San Marino when 20.25 Valentina Monetta's Crisalide will be presented (also on eurovision.tv). Also Macedonia should unveil their new song, and the Russian and Icelandic videos should be out.... and maybe the Italian entry.

Koza Mostra featuring Agathonas Iakovidisperforming Alcohol is free has won the Greek ticket to Malmö 2013 as expected. A refreshing step away from the fake etnopop they have been pouring over us way too long. Etno influences also this one, too. It was my second favorite with Aggeliki Illadi so I'm happy. I just wonder if the lyrics will cause some problem? Otherwise the show took over 2,5 hours for four songs! We had a group of previous winners and wannabes (see post below) with the Cypriot entrant Despina Olympiou and that song sounded very nice indeed! And as closing notes, the male host's laughter was maybe the best part of the show!

For once the Greek rumors were true and today ERT and MadTV confirmed the four acts as the Greek national finalists. It looks like a step away from the usual and already worn out Greek formula in Eurovision. Hopefully the artists stay true to their "usual style" and don't jump on the Greek etno-pop train for the occasion! So, we have a diva like Aggeliki Iliadis, exotic Thomai Apergi, disco guru Alex Leon and then something else with Koza Mostra featuring traditional Agathonas Iakovidis. This blogger is very curiously waiting to hear the last mentioned.... and hoping they will wear their kilts! The date for the national final as well as their entries will be announced later.

In Greece ERT and commercial MAD TV have had to make peace to secure the Eurovision 2013 participation. In the end only Panik Records was ready to make a deal, it is reported and so here we have four of their artists fighting for the ticket to abroad (maybe): Aggeliki Iliadi Koza Mostra ft. Agathonas Iakovides Thomaï Apegi  Alex Leon