Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

After the qualification for the final by San Marino (2014) and Czech Republic (2016) there's only one country left that has never made it: Andorra. And as Andorra seems to have no intention to participate again in the Eurovision song contest - sadly - after their six year run of misfortunes, let's have a look what they did offer us during those years 2004-2009. They debuted in 2004 with Marta Roure and Jugarem a estimar-nos , the first ever song in the contest in Catalan. She scored 12 points in the semifinal (all of them from Spain!) and places 18th leaving behind Belarus, Monaco, Slovenia and Switzerland. Marta released her debut album shortly after but has since disappeared, at least from the internet. The year after Dutch born hotel director Marian van de Wal had the honors with Anabel Conde in the backing vocals with La mirada interior . She scored 27 points (10 from Spain and 7 from the Netherlands, and 6 from Albania and 4 from Moldova), that was enough for ...

Whatever happens Madcraft will propably be shining bright next summer in all music festivals and in gigs all over Finland. They seem funny, colorful, adorable and their bubble gum punk pop easy enough for wider audience. In Eurovision one thinks of Andorran Anonymous , or Last Panda in UMK 2013. The band's been playing since 2010 and now more than 100 gigs, 2 EPs, a few singles and videos later is to become a household name. The boys (Tom Nuorivaara in vocals and guitars, Juho Rinne in guitar and vocals, Jesse Mäläskä in bass and vocals and Otto Uotila in drums and vocals) reside in Helsinki even if none is from the city originally. And what's the story with Bam Margera? Read it here . The boys do their own music, film their own videos, design their covers.... Their influences include All Time Low, Blink 182 and Limp Bizkit. Oh, oh, oh, ooh oh! Will Finland have a slogan to shout around like ding dong last time again? Time will tell. Like their Facebook here , their w...

Today the Irish songs were presented on radio ahead of the national final on February 24, 2012. It all starts with Maria McCool's Celtic whisper that is Celtic indeed, wonderful atmosphere and beautiful melody that the good old judges would have loved. The televoters maybe less. Donna McCaul continues with Mercy , modern pop that needs a better arrangement and mix. Very Lady Gaga-ish. Andrew Mann with self-penned Here I am next. Nice vocals but the chorus is a kind of anti-climax unfortunately. Una Gobney and David Shannon offer Language of love . Sounds like an UK entry from the past. Good singers but sadly very uninspiring and uninteresting song. Last but not least Jedward with Waterline .  First reaction is it's totally different from what I thought it would be! Not sure yet if it's a good thing or not. Maybe it's good to not to have Lipstick all over again? This makes me think of Anonymous and Miodio strangely... I guess they will win again and do better than...

Sad news to those who like me waited for the return of the Andorran broadcaster RTVA to return to Eurovision. Due financial reasons the broadcaster follows Luxembourg and exists EBU altogether. Shame. But we can always remember and cherish country's less shiny Eurovision history. Many of these songs deserved better than they actually did. None of them made the final, not even the big favourites Anonymous in Helsinki and Jenny even came last... But here they are: 2004 Marta Roure - Jugarem a estimar-nos (18th in semifinal) live at ESC 2005 Marian Van De Wal - La mirada interior (23rd in semifinal) live at ESC 2006 Jenny - Sense tu (23rd in semifinal) live at ESC 2007 Anonymous - Salvem el món (12th in semifinal) live at ESC 2008 Gisela - Casanova (16th in semifinal) live at ESC 2009 Susanne Georgi - La teva decision (Get a life) (15th in semifinal) live at ESC

And here it comes, the third and last song for Andorra performed by Lluís Cartes. Here is the video for his song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKcURAfwnGE . Unfortunately for Cartes I think Susanne Giorgi will win this without difficulty... Next week on february 4 the national final will be held and we will know if Susanne will be Andorra's sixth entrant in the Eurovision and who knows the first one to bring the tiny country in the final? So far the best placement is by Anonymous in Helsinki 2007 when they finished 12th in the toughest semifinal in history with 28 countries. Any other year they would have sailed to the final....