Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

A lot of memories and emotions today. Today is exactly two years when the San Marino miracle happened and Valentina Monetta qualified for the final with Maybe . I'm so happy I was part of it, and that night remains the most euphoric one ever. From the area to that totally fabulous press confeence after over to the EuroClub. There was a lot of love in the air that night! Can't wait to meet up with the legendary team again in Stockholm next week!

After the leak yesterday night today San Marino has officially presented their entry with the video for Chain of lights . If you are interested you can see a longer version of it here with some backstage photos and the lyrics of the song. The video has been shot in various places around province of Molise in southern Italy, in regions of Campobasso and Isernia.  The singers at 16 are young and fresh but the writers are real Eurovision veterans. The song is once again penned by Ralph Siegel with the lyrics by John O'Flynn aka Bernd Meinunger. This is Bernd's 19th Eurovision entry, and Ralph's 23rd. This is also Siegel's fourth consegutive entry for San Marino and they have done better every year and finally qualifying for the final for the very first time (for any microstate) last year. Will Michele and Anita better Valentina Monetta's 24th place in the final last year with Maybe ? Maybe or maybe not, what do you think? 

I was lucky enough to spend a couple of days with Valentina Monetta before and after the concert in San Marino on August 5, 2014. A concert where she presented songs from her latest album Sensibilità . An album where Valentina was able to express herself in a more personal way including songs composed by herself in collaboration with other authors, including her brother Vincenzo ( Viaggio samba , this blogger's personal favorite). An intimate concert in the magical setting of Piazza della Libertà under (almost) full moon, with intense and original interpretations of rearranged Chrysalis and Maybe and a lot of what she does best: jazzy stuff. But it's not all spotlights and glitter in the tiny intense, somewhat closeted reality of the microstate of San Marino, a small jewel of the Italian peninsula, as we spoke over a pleasant lunch and the post-concert gathering in the historic center, or during an afternoon at the beach on the Adriatic Coast (where her video for May...

Sammarinese Valentina Monetta had a busy weekend. First she was again, for the third time in a row, in the Eurovision in Concert in Amsterdam performing her entry this year, Maybe . And also meeting a lot of familiar faces, giving interviews and also having some fun. The day after she was a guest star in The Dome in Brighton where the 40th anniversary of ABBA's win with Waterloo was celebrated. She sung of course Maybe , but also Gigliola Cinquetti's runner up in 1974, Si . Dressed in a blue dress just like Gigliola, she gave a lovely Valentinalised version of that fantastic song and the audience loved it. Maybe her next project could be an album full of Italian classics performed in her style? How about Dio come ti amo as bossanova?

Valentina Monetta has released also Forse , the Italian version video for her Eurovision 2014 entry Maybe (Forse) .  Which one do you prefer? Her new album Sensibilità will be released in early May 2014....