Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Today the first semi-final ones (except for Malta) had their second rehearsal, this time 20 minutes that allowed them about three run throughs to see the adjustments made after the first rehearsals and try possible further ones as the next rehearsal will be already the first full semi final show rehearsal next Monday.  Photos and videos as always lovingly from  eurovision.tv   Romania has a clear idea what they want to do, but in context of Eurovision it sadly looks rather boring and unoriginal, like it was taken from any random tv-show and apparently Roxen isn't exactly at her best in the rehearsals either . Has she taken a bite of something too big for her shoes to dance that way and sing, too? I was sure Romania would qualify and do well but now I'm leaning towards a possible NQ... Azerbaijan is another act that brings nothing new and exciting, including recycling the last year' song. I do like the colors on stage and the hint of mystical east in it but the song's no...

Last year she was all about Cleopatra, this time another female legend Mata Hari. This entry is the most shameless watered down rewriting of last year's popular entry having the same sounds and effects, and it even mentions Cleopatra and that's just about all I can remember. Add the mummy murmur that is done by herself this time and awful lot of awkward posing that comes across very unnatural to her. 

AUSTRALIA - MONTAIGNE - DON'T BREAK ME First thing: the staging in the national final - I don't get it. It distracts completely from the song that when only heard is pretty fantastic. One of my favorites this year in fact. I like the sound, lyrics and her vocals on it. It's catchy and somehow melancholic that fits me perfectly. Great song that doesn't sound like an Eurovision taylor made entry, which is always a positive thing. Montaigne is interesting and a bit nuts in a good way. I have no idea how this would have done in Rotterdam though, especially with a staging like that. Could have been a non qualifier or who knows mid table in the final? Hard to say and we'll never find out. I give anyways 9/10 AZERBAIJAN - EFENDI - CLEOPATRA Cleopatrrrrrrra! Everyone's talking about the staging here. Actually it's the most interesting thing of this; How would have it been? How they were supposed to bring this live? And that's about all there is t...

Let's continue the series and kill some time having a look at the last decade and see who were the Top-10 best scoring countries in the Eurovision song contest in the past ten years. The ways to calculate are many and here I have used the simple average placement method (and it's not all so serious). Next up is Azerbaijan at n.o 5. Azerbaijan entered with a Top-10 finish and continued the trend with five consegutive Top-5 finishes including a win before all the vote buying scandal and all that exploded. Miracuslously after that they didn't trouble the Top-10 until last year again, and had even one NQ in their table.... Fair enough. Azerbaijan has sent good entries, no doubt about that, but what annoys me personally is the lack of local work in them. In fact, only their debut entry has been written by Azeris (unless its credited by alias). I remember all Azeri entries way too well thanks to their usually very original stagings. 2011 Ell & Nikki - Running sc...

Samira Efendi (28) is one of those artists who finally made it to Eurovision, having been in the national finals and/or internal selection short lists for four times before. As many others she has a past in various talent shows like The Voice, and has represented her country in various international festivals with success, too. Her recordind career started however only last year with three released singles, and Cleopatra is her fourth, and first in English. She's been however involved in many other projects in variety of languages of the region.