Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Endless are the ways to select the Eurovision entry. November 2, 2012 a special advisory board will meet with the TRT committee to discuss the next Turkish entry. All this after TRT's general director İbrahim Şahin earlier this year said Turkey is done with Eurovision and will be in Baku 2012 only because it's Baku. He also criticized the televoting system maybe forgetting Turkey is one country that has benefited from it the most perhaps! All this is now past them and Turkey will indeed be in Malmö 2013.  The advisory board includes several previous Turkish represents along with other musicians, TV and radio personalities. I wonder what the outcome will be? I hope Turkey would bring back the real flavor of their music and hopefully also the language! Will they all agree it's time for Tarkan finally? :-) Can Bonomo (2012), Ferhan Akgül (maNga 2010), Harun Tekin (Mor Ve Ötesi 2008), Sertab Erener (2003), Kayahan Acar and Demet Sağır...

EFR12 radio will once again broadcast interviews my flying reporter Robert did in Baku 2012. This time it's a double treat: Nina Zilli from Italy and Can Bonomo from Turkey. 9pm  here . You can also read the edited versions here and here . 

Can Bonomo returns to singing in Turkish with his new single and follow up to Love me back , Ali Baba . Rather confusing track it is but the video is fun to watch anyways :-)

My flying reporter Robert met Can Bonomo, a singer, musicians, poet and fashion designer! They chatted about his musical background, what does he value in a person, why he is in Eurovision and his fashion sense. And why his demos have such great acoustics? And what was his initial reaction to Rona Nishliu's voice?! Read it here: How would you describe yourself, like what are your values and what you find important in life? Wow, that's a deep question. Hmmm... I think all that matters in life is the present moment, now. The other thing that is very important to me is the art. It takes a lot of space in my life. And my family of course. What do you dislike and like in other people if talk about values? Disliking is a strong word, I don't want to say I don't like something. I appreciate people who fight for themselves. A quality that I look for in my friends and people around me is that they are in peace with themselves. When did you know that you wanted to b...

Are the days of the super parties over at Eurovision? wonder Robert in Baku. Here is his photo reportage from last night! Yesterday, the opening party of the new Eurovision season was held at the Euroclub. The Euroclub? Yes, the Euroclub! Baku has so many prestigious buildings but the party ended up in the Euroclub which cannot be compared at all with the venues we had in the past. Out of my own experience, the venues in Helsinki, Oslo and Dusseldorf were far more stylish. Was the organisation saving money here because they went over their budget? I don't know but many guests were complaining and this must be marked as the worst opening party in recent history. Many artists and delegations did not stay long. On the other side, it was still a better party than a regular evening out and many people were enjoying themselves anyway.  The red carpet scenes were very enjoyable to watch and many artists looked great in their evening dresses/costumes...

Georgia . There is so much going on stage I won't even try to describe it but it includes wardrobe gimmicks and a lot of walking around and one dancer legs in the air most of the time. The song itself is a such mess it puts Turkish Opera into shame but the entertainment value is similar to Latvia's I wanna , and we all know how that finished. This will hardly do so well but considering Georgia's previous qualification record and apparently this translates well to the screens I think this will qualify. And as it often happens, more you see and hear there you become blind and deaf to the point I almost hope it already... Sad but true! More here . Turkey . The same fantastic backdrop, the same drunken sailors (maybe a bit less drunken this time...). Also here the performance and choreography is much better than the song itself. This is almost like a piece of a musical. Turkey didn't make the final for the first time last year, I'm not sure they will make it th...

After lunch we go on with Turkey . Surprise! There's a stormy sea and Can and his sailors are doing the sailor walk mixed with some local dance steps... then there's a sea of heart and the song continues the same as does the choreography.... and the storm hits again. Quite nice! But this is a kind of song, or rather way of performing that you either like it or you don't. Turkey just might miss the final second year in a row, or then they can be up the scoreboard. Hard to tell. I have no idea! More here . Estonia next, one of my biggest favorites. Nice contrast to Turkey with this ballad. Ott has fantastic voice and it's all kept very simple playing only with the lights first. He also has one backing singer and the backdrops is displayed and lights turn into purple and orange towards the end. Great stuff. maybe the best ballad of the year and so beautiful. Love it. More here .

As always, we have some artists celebrating their birthdays during Eurovision and this year is no expection. Last year Swedish Eric Saade and Finnish Paradise Oskar were more or less separated at birth but this year we have Turkish Can Bonomo and Estonian Ott Lepland who were born on May 16 and 17, 1987. Also Norwegian Tooji will turn 25 during Eurovision. Hopefully he can celebrate it with a good result in final as his birthday is on 26th!

This Saturday the 4th Eurovision in concert promo happening will take place and this year it's bigger than ever when 24 participating artists will be present to meet and greet the fans the and press, and perform in the concert at Melkweg in Amsterdam. Previous Eurovision entrant Ruth Jacott is hosting the concert with Cornald Maas. Cypriot Ivi Adamou was supposed to be there but had to cancel and we will have Filipa Sousa instead. The other artists are Valentina Monetta from San Marino, Sinplus from Switzerland, Jedeward from Ireland, Sabina from Azerbaijan, Iris from Belgium, Anri Jokhadze from Georgia, Eva Boto from Slovenia, Compact Disco from Hungary, Gaitana from Ukraine, Joan Franka from the Netherlands, Trackshittaz from Austria, Donny Montell from Lithuania, Pastora Soler from Spain, Sofi Marinova from Bulgaria, Pernilla from Finland, Rona Nishliu from Albania, Anmary from Latvia, Kurt Calleja from Malta, Mandinga from Romania and Eleftheria from Greece. For many artists...

Turkey's entry for Eurovision 2012 in Baku was unveiled moments ago. Can Bonomo will perform self penned Love me back that does sound very Turkish indeed and includes alot of jumping around. Hmmm, interesting...

The Azerbaijani selection show for the represant was as long as the selection process for the five finalists. Kurt Calleja from Malta and Can Bonomo from Turkey were present with Ell/Nikki to see Sabina Babayeva to emerge as the winner after each and every finalist had done about zillion songs amongst other guests. Now the Azeri TV will shop around a suitable song for her.

The already annual Eurovision in concert , the biggest pre-Eurovision gathering and pretty much the official kick off for the event takes place on April 21, 2012 in Amsterdam. It's the 4th edition and once again some 20+ artists from this year's contest will meet and greet the fans, sing their songs and get to know each other in an unofficial way. Already Ivi Adamou from Cyprus, Can Bonomo from Turkey and ever present Sinplus from Switzerland have confirmed their precence along with the yet unnamed Sammarinese artist. More info later right here or go to the website here . Ruth Jacott and Cornald Maas will present the show.

A surprise again from Turkey. Just like last year when names were flying around all of sudden Yüksek Sadakat was announced. And now we have Can Bonomo that I have also never ever heard. He is a jew and will turn 25 the night of the second semifinal in Baku. Quite an interesting choice for Turkey I must say. His songs include Meczup , Bana bir saz verin , Şaşkın and Süper . Fans seem to be rather negative but I think this is rather cool, but it all depends on his song for Baku. Could go either way.