Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

I'm off to Greece for holidays so here's meanwhile some Greek artist for you  to discover and enjoy....

The semisecret supporting group of ex-ESC winners had a public meeting once again, it's springtime after all! The alcohol is free was apparently more than a song title the way  Alexander "I want to come to Greece and play with children" Rybak  and Ruslana shouting for sex acted while Dima Bilan and Marija Serifovic looked on buzzled with the hosts.... Helena Paparizou and Vicky Leandros showed how to do playback while ESC-winner wannabes Eleftheria and Ivi Adamou had to do with a smash up of their entries last year... And there's nothing like non-English speakers mis-translating and mis-understanding each other among foreigners.....

Stockholm Pride is over once again and was filled with music, and a lot of Eurovision. Loreen was there performing a rather interesting version of Euphoria , Jedward  was there, so was Agnes , Ivi Adamou ,  Eric Saade , Eleftheria , Star Pilots , ... and many more! Lena Philipsson theme song Du följer väl med? gets a flash mob treatment here . And it was indeed Lena Ph who stole the show in the end and bounced back after her divorce to the arms of her loving and adoring fans. Here . 

Stockholm Pride is happening and the line is pretty amazing as usual. We have Lena Philipsson, Loreen, Eric Saade, Ott Lepland.... see the full list below....

Eleftheria Eleftheriou is looking ahead with her new summer single Hearts collide , another Swedish production and rather easy tune - in from one ear and out from the other - but then aren't most of the summer songs so? The video is nice and filled with eye candy for all genres though ;-p Here . 

I can only say. Wow what a season! My blog broke all the previous records this season in daily and weekly hits and it's easy to predict a significant raise in the annual hits as well.  Only the top days (or the Sundays after the final) of 2011, 2009 and 2010 resisted in top-10 while the rest was replaced by 2012 days and the Sunday after the final registered more that twice the previous record! For these three Eurovision weeks (from the start of the rehearsals until today) the raise in hits was more than 54%! And in total more than 120.000. New countries found me and climbed to top-10 followers, namely Turkey, Azerbaijan and Russia. Also Serbia and Australia figured well.  Hottest names that attracted readers more than others were not surprisingly Loreen and Jedward but also Donny Montell, Roman Lob and Eleftheria Eleftheriou had their fair share! Eternal to do well Dima Bilan did zero impact on number of hits - is his time over? A special  huge thank y...

Errr... click "Like"! Call me later, ok? I'm kinda busy now.... NOOOOO! Don't touch my hair!!! CUCCOOO! Damn it, where's my prince?

Greece follow and the backdrop features even a dancing clam?! Behind the backing singer... ??? Is the clam the maniac she sings about? Now this is starting to make sense... The song is what it is, the choreography is what it is and unfortunately Eleftheria's vocals are what they are. And is this what they are going to wear?? But this is Greece so most likely they will qualify after all. Or will they do Turkey/Armenia this time finally? They have used this recipe one or to times too often in my books by now and even if the song isn't that bad I'd rather not see making it anymore. But Eleftheria is one bubbly and eager girl, an Eurovision fan herself even and we had a nice interview with her. Here . Latvia follows. Anmary and her ladies are also wearing their dresses and it's all in pastel colors, the fashion of spring 2012. Her own dress is long while the other have short ones. The kaleidoscopic backdrop is there and the choreography really follows the song. Anma...

The technical rehearsals continued with the first half of the second semifinal. No surprises here either as most did a great job. None were doing worse than expected, none much better I have to say. Some backdrops were questionable, like Serbia that I didn't fancy that much but then one must wait to see it on TV. On the other hand Portugal  was great on that. Ukraine dragged some props along as expected while Bulgaria brought nothing but Sofi in contrast. Today's best vocals were I suppose tose of Kaliopi and Zeljko. Want to read my first impressions of all of them? Here , here and here . My flying reporter has been busy and I'm publishing his chats with various artists as soon as I have time to edit them. But we have Jónsi from Iceland here . He proved to be a very friendly and co operative guy! Then we have Eleftheria from Greece here . She's a real Eurovision fan and very eager. And there's one more coming from Mr Eurovision himself who celebrates 40 years ...

Also the Greek represent and Eurovision fan Eleftheria Eleftheriou fall to victim of my flying reporter Robert's questions. All between her song and the Greek economy. Here: You have tried to get to Eurovision already a couple of times before. Why is Eurovision so important to you? Actually I tried in Greece in 2010 ( And in Cyprus 2006, Ed.note) but my song leaked to internet too early and I was disqualified. Everything happens for a reason. I signed a contract with Universal Music Greece one month before they were put in charge to take care of the national selection. Then they told me they have this project and asked if I want to do and I was like Are you kidding me? Of course! And here I am! But what does Eurovision mean to you personally? Do you follow it? Actually I'm a fan of Eurovision! I've been watching it since I was a young girl, since I can remember actually and I can't believe I'm part of it now. It's a dream come true! And is it impo...

Montenegro has kicked of the rehearsals and we have besides Rambo Amadeus a drummer, a guitarist, three breakdancers, a banner and a wooden donkey on stage. Flashing numbers among other things in the background. The dancers seem to be lost most of the time but this is the first rehearsal and maybe they are off screen most of the time. The donkey seems to be there just standing still, or will it have a more active role later on? Hmmm.... it's cute though! And Rambo sounds just like he should. More here . Iceland looks stunning with its icy mountains and blue setting that turns into flaming red at the climax and enter the wind machines... Rather static performance like we have seen in the Icelandic final but it fits this dramatic ballad. Four backing singers complete the stage act. And we know they will be wearing black but at least Jónsi was today in casual wear. More here . Greece . Now how cliche can you get? There is absolutely nothing new in this performance ...

What to say? Greece has finished in top-9 the past eight years. Always with a similar kind of song, will their string of good fortune come to an end? Cyprus on the other hand has flopped every year since 2004. Will the tables turn in Baku? Both countries send a foxy lady, an easy pop song in English co-written by Swedes and surely will have a dance choreography to match. This is a bit schizophrenic as I think both will make the final but I won't be surprised at all if they don't. On the other hand I'd rather see Cyprus make it, and Greece not but most likely it'll be the other way around. Or will it? For me it's 2-1 for Cyprus. Cyprus - Ivi Adamou - La la love  **** First of all I'm not convinced about Ivi's vocal skills live or even her stage presence as at the moment it seems like she's missing both totally. The song itself is rather annoying piece of anonymous summer hit but yet there's something in it that makes it kinda enjoyable while ...

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...

Pernilla has been so invisible since winning the UMK that it makes one to want to report every word she says if she says or does something somewhere. Now she has been talking to YLE's radio voices Jorma Hietamäki and Eurovision expert Sanna Kojo. And this is what she had to say freely translated: "I don't stress about Eurovision. People have chosen me. I will be myself, do my best and take it day by day. I'm already content I won the UMK. I'm not worried about the stage in Baku. I will be in the Eurovision in concert this month and will gain more stage experience. I already learned a lot in UMK. I will also meet the foreign press there for the first time."   She also tells the staging will be pretty similar to the one in the UMK final, but the dress will be main focus. She hopes this is just the start of her music career and it won't end in Baku. "Or so I hope, this is my dream job" she says. Negotiations are underway for a record deal a...

Greece concludes the season with its multiartist national final as there are only song presentations left for the rest of the week. After the usual huge amount of gossips and chaos ERT got together four more or less unknown artists for the line up and rather mediocre group of songs.  1. Baby I’m yours – Dora ( Ilias Pantazopoulos – Franc, Nektarios Tyrakis) Not bad in general, just heard about a zillion times before and sounds like an Antique album track. But even Antique is no longer existing....  2. Killer bee – Cassiopeia ( Christos Dantis, Leonidas Chantzaras) A Greek girl band? A bit rockier sound that turns into a mediocre pop tune but better than the first one. A lot of posing on stage to be expected, probably added with shaky vocals. Sigh 3. No parking – Velvet Fire ( George Samuelson, Leonidas Chanztaras) Why this sounds so Finnish, in a good way? And is that why I like it? They have a memorable look, the song has a catchy chorus and this is ...