Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Cyprus is back in Eurovision and back with a national final for the first time since 2011. In 2012 Ivi Adamou was internally selected but people had a say on the song and she La la la ed her way to Baku. Despite being a hot favorite she only managed 16th place. The year after Despina Olympiou was graceful and elegant, internally selected both song and artist, but failed to make the final and Cyprus stayed home from Copenhagen. But now folks, it all changes: 60 songs and semifinals and who knows what before we get to know the Cypriot entrant in Vienna. Judging the number of Swedish-Cypriot collaborations among the songs it's going to be more la la la oriented stuff. Maybe. Among the composers we have also previous glories Mike Connaris , Zinon Zintilis and Constantinos and among the singers a finalist from The Voice of Greece. Previous Eurovision entrants Elena Patraklou, Alex Panayi and beforementioned Despina Olympiou will be in the special jury that will sort out the fina...

EuroClub was opened and several artists performed on stage and danced the night away. Vega has several floors and venues and appear quite small really. But at least on Monday night it wasn't too crowded.... Better that way for everyone to get to know each other :-) Hungarian Andras Kallay Saunders was there.... So where the Russian Tolmachevy twins.... And Dilara Kazimove from Azerbaijan.... Oh, it's Alex Panaiy from Cyprus! Or Russia actually.... Rui Andrade was also present. So was  Marya Yaremchuk from Ukraine....Her cover of Hora din Moldova rocked the house! And happy DJs Ohrmeister and the Latvian Joran from Aarzemnieki! And Teo offered us some cheesecake..... And DQ offered something else upstairs.... Namely karaoke!

After Croatia also Cyprus skips the Copenhagen 2014 edition of Eurovision song contest blaming the public opinion on the economical crisis and further cuts on RIK's budget for 2014.  Shame, Cyprus has been always a nice addition to the line up, and has scored 9 top-10 finished since their debut back in 1981. Yet their best placing is 5th that they have achieved three times: 1982 with Anna Vissi 's Mono i agapi , in 1997 with Hari & Andreas Konstantinou 's Mana mou and most recently in 2004 with Stronger every minute with Lisa Andreas (it is rumored she won the jury only vote so it could have been the first win for the island, if ...). In the past ten years with the semifinals Cyprus has made it to the final 4 times and left out 6 times. Ivi Adamou 's La la love was the last qualifier, placing 16th in the final despite being a hot fan favorite to do much better. Worth mentioning is also Marlain in 1999 who was a top contender for the victory before the fina...

Belarus sounds and looks good. The gimmick the guys do with microphone stands is rather fancy and hopefully it will be shot nicely for the TV screen. This is a multinational effort including Belarusian, Russian, Italian and Cypriot on stage. Italian Jacopo Massa is also doing a great extra job on FB telling the Italian readers what's going on and commenting on things very often. Then we have Alex Panayi on backing vocals. Apparently they also have a lot of fans in the east so I think they have a good chance to reach the final. More here . Portugal next. She sings very well, the song is pretty, the backdrop fantastic. And more you listen to this song more you like it. This said, an average televoter hears this for the first time, sandwiched between Malta and Ukraine. I doubt he will vote for this unfortunately. This song lacks a bit of drama to make it stand out, something to get hold on to. As it is just floats away without leaving much behind.... As much as I would li...