Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

In a funny twist of fate three of the returning artists this year all competed in the 2012 edition in Baku, and all of them also made the final. Do you think they can do better than four years ago?  Kaliopi for Macedonia did the best, finishing 13th with her Crno i belo .  And this year she is giving us Dona Just one point behind was Lithuania's Donny Montell finishing 14th with Love is blind .  This year he's singing I've been waiting for this night Iceland's Gréta Salóme dueted with Jónsi in Never forget finishing 20th.  This time she's solo with Hear them calling *We have three more returnees this year:  Ira Losco (Malta 2002), Deen (Bosnia & Herzegovina 2004) and Poli Genova (Bulgaria 2011)

Tonight's the official red carpet opening ceremony but last night among the many parties was that of Norway together with Finland, Sweden and Iceland. The party was organized to celebrate also Norway's Independence Day. Alexander Rybak was present, too, and performed to the guests. Pernilla was there of course and was kissed by Tooji and had a long chat with Jónsi while her cellist Heikki had a lot to talk with Greta, who has earlier stated Finland is one of her favourite songs this year.  Pernilla and Loreen also met for the first time and managed to change a few words. In Swedish of course!  Surprisingly we learned from Tooji that he is working with Finnish writer and producer Teemu Brunila for his album and one song, Swan song is already out there. He knows well also Jenni Vartiainen and says he's a big fan of hers! But not only Tooji has a Finnish connection.  We know Loreen's choreographer is a Finno-Italian  Ambra Succi and her wardrobe is design...

The second round of rehearsals start today when 13 songs from the first semifinals take the stage again. We are supposed to see more polished performances in this round thus giving us a better impression on how they will look like in the end.  Montenegro kicks off the show again. Now they are wearing their stage wardrobe and Rambo himself starts off as a monk and reveals then a smoking. Many write this song off as a joke but that's too easy and narrow minded. I wonder if they have really listened it at all? The backdrop features now yacht, 500 euro notes and similar stuff. They have the wooden donkey (what does it symbolize? Read in the interview below!) and the dancers use the banners and in the end of them is wrapped in one and carried away.... Effective. Different. maybe the televoters won't get this but Montenegro falls with dignity then. At least we can say the first semifinal starts with a bang! More here .  Don't forget the interview did with Rambo Amadeus he...

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 ...

My flying reporter Robert had a little chat with the Icelandic Eurovision veteran Jónsi. it nearly turned the other way round Jónsi interviewing Robert but in the end he talks about his song, 2004 experience, Zeljko Joksimovic and how difficult it is to get it all together on a stage like Eurovision. Here goes: When you heard the song written by Greta for the first time did you like it instantly? Yeap! I had the absolute emotion of saying Yes! In other words I loved the song at once. I wanted to do it and I asked my wife as we do things together and she liked it, too so.... this was more than a year ago. And then it was too late for last year's Eurovision then? I don't know if Greta was planning this song for Eurovision. She only asked me to sing a duet with her on her solo album. She's the new pretty young Icelandic artist and I'm the more established so I said yes.  And how come it then ended as a preselection song? When it was finished she...

After two days of only Eurovision songs it's good to hear something else for a change. Like most everyone's favorite Eurovision loser, Kate Ryan! She's got a new fabulously dated video and song out, Robots . And who is going to be this year's Kate Ryan? The field is rather open in my opinion and if it isn't Loreen it just doesns't feel the same... Tooji won't make the same effect, will it? Or is it Zeljko? On the other hand Jónsi would claim the title already for the second time - if it existed already in 2004...

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 ...

No, Magni still didn't win in Iceland. The top two were Greta Sálome & Jónsi, already a big favourite amongst the Eurovision fans it seems, and a bit surprisingly Blár Opal. Mundu eftir mér is then the rather boombastic Icelandic ballad this year. And the return of Jónsi. UPDATE : It was a close run with the top-3 songs in Iceland. Blár Opal actually won the televote but the jury turned the tables for Greta & Jónsi. The other four entries got only 24.285 votes in total. 1. Blár Opal   19.366  (jury 3.) 2. Greta & Jónsi   18.649  (jury 1.) 3. Magni   16.643 (jury 2.)

The third country having its semifinal tonight was Iceland. Out of five songs two made it to the final. And no, I didn't have favourites as I haven't really listened the songs nor watched this on stream :-) 01. Íris Hólm –  Leyndarmál 02. Fatherz’n’sonz –  Rýtingur 03. Gréta Salóme and Jónsi –  Mundu eftir mér 04. Blár opal –  Stattu upp 05. Heiða Ólafsdóttir –  Við hjartarót mína

RÚV has put the audiofiles of the songs in the first semifinal online and you can listen to them here . Amongst the hopefuls is also Jónsi, who represanted the island already back in 2004 with Heaven . Iceland is a bit like Albania: the national final songs are in native language but the winner usually gets a new dress in English with new arrangements and all of sudden they have a success in their hands. Iceland has made the final the past four years and Yohanna even scored a 2nd place in 2009, the best the country could have hoped in the middle of the economical crisis I guess... The first icelandic semifinal will take place next Saturday, January 14, 2012.