Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Today is 100 years of Titanic's disaster where 1.517 people lost their lives. The legend lives, not at least thanks to Cameron's movie and it's theme song My heart will go on by Céline Dion (who didn't want to record the song at first!). But did you know who the character, Rose, played by Kate Winslet was liberally based on? Alina Backberg, from Helsinki! There were 63 Finns abroad and only 20 made it, Alina and her daughter Eleanor Shuman amongst them. In 1996 Eleanor, 85,  took part in a cruise to commemorate Titanic, threw flowers and said prayers on the spot. And we all know this is quite similar to the opening scene of the movie when elderly Rose in present time (played by Gloria Stuart, 85). Next year Eleanor was invited by David Cameron to the movie's premiere in Chicago, and is (probably) the only Titanic survivor he met in person. So, there's a Finnish connection, and an Eurovision connection, to one of the tragedies of the 20th century. And ironica...

Some of you may have asked that question after my previous post. And what is OGAE? OGAE (Organisation générale des Amateurs de l'Eurovision) is the international fan club of the Eurovision Song Contest . It has branches in 37 European countries. It all started back in 1984 in Finland and now most participating countries have their own clubs. Lebanon also has one and then there's "OGAE Rest of the world" for all the fans in countries that don't have one. Yet. The OGAE Song contest is an audio contest where each and every club can sent an original song for their country released in the previous 12 months. Naturally, as the fans are Eurovision fans, many Eurovision artists are involved every year but the songs themselves cannot be Eurovision related. Unlike in Eurovision itself the "old Eurovision countries" have done well: France and Spain have 4 wins, Italy 3, Germany and Greece two. Only 12 countries have managed to win in 22 editions, and if Sweden rule...