Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

 Now as Spain has withdrawn from Eurovision song contest at least in 2026, let's have a look of some Spanish favorites of mine over the year. Starting with totally undeserved null pointer.  Enjoy! 1983 Remedios Amaya - Quien maneja mi barca (last, zero points) 1991 Sergio Dalma - Bailar pegados (4th) 1990 Aucar Moreno - Bandido (5th) 1985 Paloma San Basilio - La fiesta termino (14th) 1980 Trigo Limpio - Quedate esta noche (12th) 2004 Ramón - Para llenarme de ti (10th) 2003 Beth - Dime (8th) 2012 Pastora Soler - Quédate conmigo (10th) 2022 Chanel - SloMo (3rd) There would have been quite a few to pick up as well but these sounded the ones at this time and space.  Special mentions go to: 1995 Anabel Conde - Vuelve conmigo (2nd) 1982 Lucia - El (10th) 1997 Marcos Llunas - Sin rencor (6th) 1973 Mocedades - Eres tu (2nd) 2024 Nebulossa - La zorra (22nd)

The reborn Spanish Eurovision  reached climax last night when Benidorm Fest final was held and won by Blanca Paloma and her flamenco Eaea . She won the jury vote, televote and came second in the demoscopic jury so most likely there won't be such a chaotic uprising like last year when Chanel won (and how did that end??). Blanca Paloma was there already last year and it is quite remarkable her Secreto de agua finished 5th. And guess what? these two songs are the only two songs she has ever recorded! As she's not a singer (with that voice!!!) but set and costume designer! Actually her last year's entry was a theme song for a tv-series she ended up singing.  So, even if not my favorites as you can read in my review I totally admire her and this song. Brave move from Spain that has too often sent plastic Europop written by Swedes. However, flamenco (inspired) songs have had mixed fortunes in Eurovision from Remedios Amaya's fantastic Quien maneja mi barca that scored a fla...

Some more Vain elämää season 13 goodies, including Pete Parkkonen, another hotly tipped for UMk 2023 covering both Meiju Suvas and Erika Vikman, and another one from Erika Vikman. Enjoy! Pete Parkkonen - Pure mua (orig. by Meiju Suvas. a cover of Azucar Moreno ) Jyrki 69 feat. Erika Vikman - Sä teit tän laulun (orig. Yona ) Yona - Valo (orig. Light by Redrama) Pete Parkkonen - Syntisten pöytä (orig. by Erika Vikman )

Spain and Eurovision..... Oh, well. ... 24th. 22nd. 23rd. 26th. 22nd. 21st...... 10th! 25th. 10th! 24th..... It doesn't sound like a success story , does it? It may have taken years but finally RTVE has woken up and decided to do something about it for real and dust off good old Benidorm festival, once modeled after Italy's Sanremo festival - just like the Eurovision itself, as we know - and send its winner to Turin 2022 Eurovision. And it seems the artists have been waiting for this as submissions rolled in and the finalist list is packed with more or less famous and established artists, including Eurovision 1990 legends Azúcar Moreno. Time will tell if Spain will finally aim for the victory and good placements again. I certainly hope so! The songs will be published as an early Xmas gift on December 23.  Azúcar Moreno - Postureo Blanca Paloma - Secreto del agua Chanel - Slo mo Gonzalo Hermida - Quién lo diria Javiera Mena - Culpa Luna Ki - Quiero morir Marta Sango - Sigues en ...

Francesco Gabbani will join a long list of other Eurovision artists in Madrid's Wold Pride celebrations starting this weekend until July 2.  Eurovision winners Loreen and Conchita are present, so are Slavko from this year's contest, Spanish entrants Ruth Lorenzo, Barei, Soraya, Rosa, Azucar Moreno, Mirela, LeKlein and Baccara, Kate Ryan, Suzy with Ivri Lider, Carlinhos Brown, Aliice, Norwood, Toby Corton, Roser, Ama Torroja, Nito, Jorge Gonzales, Rebeca, Nuria Fergò and Toby Corton. How come they forgot about Saara Aalto? ;-p

Spain opened its selection and 135 songs have been sent already for Objetivo Eurovisión. Some keep quiet, some like Brequette shout to every direction she's there (check her submitted entries below). While Ruth Lorenzo seems to have dropped the idea once she was not selected internally the other regular wannabes are at it: Jorge Gonzalez and Mirela . Azucar Moreno who provided the legendary 1990 performance seems to be game as well, as are Lorena Gomez and Maria Villalon . Same old, same old also among the songwriters from Ovi Jacobsen to Tony Sanchez Olsson and Barei. Yawn. The submission window closes in the end of this month and then 30 songs will be selected for the RTVE webste for people to vote. Three songs will be selected from that top-10 by a jury for another public vote in the final in February.

Daniel Motiño Camúñez reports: Spain is not being clear with their intentions and selection formula but TVE finally announced the names of the 24 artist bidding to represent Spain in Düsseldorf, although my previous scepticism, once I watched and heard the auditions the options could have been worse and it is still too early to judge since the selected songs have not been auditioned yet. TVE is not giving any hints about what they are looking for, taking in consideration the different kind of artists selected. Newbies, old classics, one hit wonders, popstars as much as duets, groups, crooners, nostalgics, flamenco pop, r&b, international voices (what does exactly mean?), (apparently) black voices and even a boy band. As I said All Kinds of Everything . It is not even clear if the jokers are still to come or all already there as TVE is highliting among the finalists "some of the artist are already known from our viewers like Alazán, the singer Esmeralda Grao a...