Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Kati Wolf had a casual coffee at home Andras walked his dog Compact Disco cooked something Cascada met Jane Eric met Kikki Amir had tongue in cheek fun on stage Douwe - the city cowboy Michal undressing Vaclav in shower Valentina and Monica aka Harem B as Kesslers Zoe - the girl with a guitar Lucia at a Hawaii themed birthday party Jamala, the horse girl JOWST are up to something Senhit celebrates Gucci's decision to stop using furs Imri's last night before back to school Gabbani is feeling Foglie al gelo . Winter is coming .. . and beware: CAROLA IS BACK!

Hungary will have its first semifinal this Saturday. My favorites are Ádám Szabó, Karmapolis, Zoltán Mujahid, Vera Tóth, Timi Antal.... Now that was a very little review wasn't it? This said Szabó seems like the strongest one here, Antal could be very strong if she gets her act together, Vera can be hypnotic and mysterious and Zoltán has a very good act. I like Karmapolis a lot, but isn't it a bit same as Compact Disco? I still need to warm up to Boggie that scored so well with the juries and left me wondering why.....  The songs were selected in three semifinals, five qualifying by the jury (you can see their given points below) and then one song was selected by the televoters from the remaining). I suppose the same goes for the semifinal (4+1). As usual the standard of the songs is very high, without being Eurovision plastic and Eurovision by numbers like is the case in many national selections unfortunately. Hungary will be a top contender in Vienna once again, unless s...

Hungarian hipster popstar Alex Márta aka ByeAlex is the next one being interviewed by the Bicycling reporter Robert in Malmö 2013. Alex might be a man of few words but certainly he is a very interesting personality. Tattoos. Philosophy. Music. Metal band. Book. Gym. Is he too pop? What about humanity? And guess what? He's Eurovision virgin! Thank you Alex for this interview. Why ByeAlex? There's really no answer to that.  I used to say "pa" all the time which some find very annoying, so somehow it became ByeAlex... So you like to be annoying at times? Yes! Ha ha How long have you been using this name? 1,5 years... So that's also how long you have been in the music business.....? I always liked music. At 16 I started making music but not very seriously. I started taking it seriously only in the past five years or so. I started making electronic music, metal... and the ByeAlex project is about 1,5 years old. My real job is journalist, used to ...

In this weeks videos we have Matt Zarley with his OUTmusic Awards winning single of the year Change begings with me from the OUTmusic awards winning album of the year. A perfect Eurovision song it would have been.... Compact Disco has released Flying with you that recaps nicely the images from their Eurovision year from Amsterdam to London to Baku and more,  a real nostalgy trip! Melanie Zammit would have been an interesting choice in Malta but she didn't even make the final with Loverdose :-( And finally ever so succesful Jesse Kaikuranta scoring yet another hit with Näytän sulle rannan .

Hungary's A Dal starts tonight. In a rather lenghty process there are first three semifinal with ten songs each and six qill qualify for the semifinals; three by televote, three by jury vote. The jury is made this year of Csaba Walkó (Compact Disco, ESC 2012), Philip Rákay, Jenő Csiszár, Viktor Rakonczai (ex-member of VIP, ESC 1997) and wonderful Magdi Rúzsa (ESC 2007). Apparently Hungarians don't see anything strange in the fact another ex-VIP member Rácz Gergö is competing this year.... You can listen to all songs here . This blogger kinda enjoyed with the first hearing the songs by Tibor, Tamás and beforementioned Gergö. Agárdi Szilvi-Pál Dénes - Szíveddel láss   Background - Neonzöld   Baricz Gergő - Húz   Bogi - Tükörkép   Fehér Zoltán - Nincs baj   Gyurcsik Tibor - Örök harc   Keresztes Ildikó - Nem akarok többé játszani   Mrs Columbo - Play / Játszd újra   Palcsó Tamás - Ezt látnod kell   Rácz Gergő - Csak áll...

Hungarian TV received 240 and now a jury will pick up the 30 ones for the selection. And it will be a lengthy  process with three heats, two semifinals and the grand final on March 2, 2013. The shows start on February 2, 2013. Once again there is a expert jury, this time including Compact Disco's Csaba Walkó, Philip Rákay, Jenő Csiszár, Viktor Rakonczai and the nicest girl in Helsinki 2007, Magdi Rúzsa. Many Hungarian pop starts have announced their intention to take part, among them several X Factor, Idols and other reality finalists and also names from the previous A Dal finals the past few years, like  Kállay Saunders András ...

Compact Disco's follow up to their Baku 2012 affair is a very catchy thing indeed. Leave it up to me  is way lighter and poppier than Sound of our hearts and very, very catcthy!

Blogilkar had the pleasure to interview the Italian Head of delegation Nicola Caligiore. How did he live those two last editions in Baku and Dusseldorf? Will Italy be back in 2013? Will there be an Eurovision night in Sanremo? What are his favorite Eurovision songs? What does he think of Italian fans behavior? Here is the interview in Italian, the English version will follow shortly. L'anno scorso l'Italia é tornata con diciamo euforia generale, accolta a braccia aperte da tutti a Dusseldorf. Come vi hanno accolto quest'anno? Siamo stati accolti benissimo, per me oramai tutto il management dell'evento e gli altri capi delegazione sono come una grande famiglia. Nel 2011 l'Italia non era tra i favoriti ed é finita seconda. Quest'anno invece la Zilli era tra i superfavoriti e finita nona. Come mai? Non so dirti con esattezza, è un concorso… si può vincere, si può perdere… fa parte delle regole del gioco, d’altronde arrivare noni su quaranta...

Yesterday I attended two parties. First there was the Georgian party. As always the Georgians were very hospitable with free drinks and food. Some delegations from other countries were spotted there: Sabina from Azerbaijan, Kurt from Malta, the great Kaliopi from Macedonia, Litesound from Belarus, Pasha from Moldova, Rambo from Montenegro. The Georgian party was in the EuroClub and this place is huge. Therefore it took some time before there was a cosy atmosphere. Anri from Georgia sang a few songs and of course his Eurovision entry I'm a joker . He later did a duet with Sabina. Litesound sang their song and Kurt did a playback of his song. A nice party but not one to remember.  Then I headed to the Slovakian party in the Marriott hotel. It was even more empty. Sofi from Bulgaria, Compact Disco from Hungary and Eva from Slovenia were there and I almost got a private concert from them. There were maybe 50 people including the artists. It was ve...

Russia kicks of the day 6 rehearsals and the act stays changed. The backdrop is good, the oven smokes, the whatevertheyarebaking gets done, the tiny little granny is out of sync as always. But it's fun and catchy and the televoters who see and hear this for the first time should fall for it like did the Russians in the first semifinal. But will they win? Probably not as it's hard to believe the juries will fall for this. Or at least they shouldn't if they are there to award musical merits but then who knows? But a solid top-5 maybe? More here . Hungary remains the same as well it seems. They seem to be wearing their outfits already and they are pretty much what you expected them to be. Vocally good except for the backing vocalist that sounded a bit off. The singer uses the catwalk a bit but otherwise it's rather static rock performance. I like the song and I'd like to like this performance much more, too, but somehow something's missing. But then again,...

My flying reporter Robert had a morning chat with the Broggini brothers Ivan and Gabriel aka Sinplus. What have they been up to since winning the ticket to Baku 2012 five months ago? Whose song could they cover? What is their parents favorite band? And what their aim is? And why don't they sing in Italian? Find it all out here: Why are you interested in participating in the Eurovision? There isn't much of a chance for a young rockband to get noticed so we decided to participate and everything's going well! And now that we are here, Eurovision can help us also to cross the borders, Switzerland is such a small market. And if you don't qualify for instance, will it hard your career? We just signed with Warner to release our album in Europe after we won the Swiss selection, some 100 million people will see us now here, so no. Eurovision is a good start for this band. Of course it's important to reach the final but it's already good to be here. When d...

After the break we go on with the grannies who apparently have refused a lodging in a hotel and stay in a villa in the outskirts of the city instead! The mere idea of someone doing their beds and fixed hours to eat were a big Njet njet for them. :-) Russia . What to say? They are adorable and the hard practice has polished the performance. The oven is on stage and apparently they will bake a cake for everybody coming to their party. The backdrop looks fantastic with that neon lit earth pulsing to the beat. Will they charm also the juries and win? More here . Hungary has the hard task of following the grannies on stage. It doesn't help their backdrop and the whole performance is rather uninspired which is a shame as the song is great. The singer also uses the catwalk a bit but the whole thing is rather static. Shame. A big shame. Or then you can never tell until you see it on TV screen. Camera work can make or kill an entry. More here . Austria . Neon ass lights have been...

After Amsterdam it's all about London this weekend, where the 5th annual meeting and greeting of the Eurovision artists takes place. Nine of the 2012 acts have confirmed their presence so far and also Slovenian Omar Naber (2005), Kati Wolf (Hungary 2011) will be there with maybe some other surprises. Also you can win tickets to fly to Baku for the real thing. So, Anggun from France, Compact Disco from Hungary, Donny Montell from Lithuania, Eva Boto from Slovenia, Kaliopi from Macedonia, Sabina Babayeva from Azerbaijan and Valentina Monetta from San Marino and Filipa Sousa from Portugal will meet again.  The Shadow Lounge in Soho will be the location and the doors open at 7pm on Sunday April 29, 2012.. Nikki French (UK 2000) and Paddy O'Connell are hosting. More information here . 

The Hungarian entry Sound of our hearts by Compact Disco has been remixed and reworked in several new mixes that you can hear here . Some are fabulous, some are interesting. And don't forget the stunning but simple video they have also done here . Famous Hungarian actor Antos Gémes plays both the rich broker and the homeless person. Things are smiling to the band as they have got a nomination both as the band of the year and the song of the year, this very same song, in the annula Bravo Otto Hungarian music awards.

My predictions were better in Hungary :-) My top-4 favourites were also the televoters top-4 or Caramel, Compact Disco, The Kiralys and Gábor Heincz . Then it was up to judges and two of them chose Compact Disco (one of them being Kati Wolff), one Caramel and one Gábor. So, Compact Disco with Sound of our hearts will go to Baku 2012 for Hungary! Great!

The Hungarian final A Dal takes place tonight. Eight songs made it to the final; six of them picked up by the jury, two by televote. I stick to my favourites Compact Disco and Caramel followed by Gabor, Tibor, Gabi and the Kiralys. If the winner is one of them I'm happy. If it is Compact Disco or Caramel I'm very happy! You can watch the final on eurovision.tv and it starts at 20.15 CET Learning to let go - Gábor Heincz Like a Child - Juli Fábián & Zoohacker Back in place  - Tibor Gyurcsík Nem kell végszó  -  Gabi Tóth Sound Of Our Hearts - Compact Disco This Love - Nika Untried - The Kiralys Vízió - Caramel

I opted for the Hungarian webcast tonight and I'm pretty pleased I did. Sadly András didn't make it to the final but my all other favourites did, namely Compact Disco, Caramel and Tóth Gabi. With addition of Heincz Gábor, that I didn't quite pay attention until tonight so it was between him and András for me then. And indeed so it was for the jury as well as Gabi came 4th with them and András 5th. Kökény Attila & Bencsik Tamara - Állítsd Meg Az Időt - (24) Kállay-Saunders András - I Love You - (32) Pély Barna, Pál Eszter & Pál István "Szalonna" - Hangok a Szívekért - (29) Dancs Annamari - Feel - (15) Heincz Gábor - Learning To Let Go - (38) Compact Disco - Sound Of Our Hearts - (39) Krisz Rudi - A Fél Veled Egész - (18) Gallusz Nikolett & Vizy Márton - Európa, Egy A Szívünk - (3) Tóth Gabi - Nem Kell Végszó - (34) - televoting choice Caramel - Vízió - (37)

Hungary came back to Eurovision last year when they chose internally Kati Wolf and made a stunning comeback. Maybe not on the scoreboard but in most every fans heart. This year they had an open call for songs and now we will have two semifinals and a grand final. Three finalists will be picked by a jury and a fourth one by televote in each of two semifinals, making it a 8 songs final. Here are the songs in the first semifinal this Saturday, January 28. My favourites are András Kállay-Saunders, Compact Disco and Caramel. Then Gabi Tóth or Annamari Dancs. Rudi Krisz - A fél veled egész Attila Kökény & Tamara Bencsik - Állítsd meg ad idöt Niki Gallusz & Márton Vizy - Európa, egy a szívunk Annamari Dancs - Feel Barna Pély, Eszter Pál & István Pál "Szalonna" - Hangok a szívekért András Kállay-Saunders - I love you Gábor Heincz - Learning to let go Gabi Tóth - Nem kell végszó Compact Disco - Sound of our hearts Caramel - Vízió