Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Incredible but true, Mietta is turning 50 today, Auguri! The Southern Italian beauty mainly known as a singer but also an actress and a writer has been keeping low profile since 2010 when she gave birth to her son but made a comeback with summer hit  Milano è dove mi sono persa , and is ready to relaunch her singing career full time and who knows, maybe we will see her again in Sanremo, too? I have been a fan since her Sanremo debut 1988 with Sogno . The year after she was back and won the Newcomers with Canzoni , and the year later scored massive evergreen with Vattene amore together with Amedeo Minghi (also OGAE Song contest winner). She has returned five times to Sanremo since, last time so far 2008 with Baciami adesso . She won Vota la Voce three years in a row 1989-1991 as the female artist of the year. In 1990's she also started acting in both films and television and has continued to do so ever since. In 2000's she has participated in various reality shows an...

  I got to know Amedeo Minghi late 80's and discovered also his back catalogue, even if he really hit on me in the 90's, with collaboration with Mietta being the real turning point. I may have lost him in the 2010's but he has written some beautiful music over the decades, I ricordi del cuore being one of my all time favorite songs that still gives me goosebumps every time. And there's OGAE Song contest winner Vattene amore with Mietta. And a majestic hymn to his hometown, Rome.  Check out also

The oldest OGAE fans organized contest, OGAE Song contest has come to its 30th edition this year and is doing better than ever. Wolrdclass acts like Adele, Delta Goodrem, Mariza and Enya battling it out along with Eurovision stars Anna Vissi, Dina Garipova, Sirusho, Amir, Kati Wolf, Eva Boto, Marija Serifovic, Lena Philipsson, Daniel Kajmakoski, Helena Paparizou and Softengine and all the others the local clubs have chosen to represent themselves. A total of 28 great songs to choose from - what would be a better past time? You can listen to all the entries here and have a look at the voting here .  The past few years the victories have all went to same nations: United Kingdom (2009, 2010, 2011), Spain (2013, 2016) and France (2014, 2015), only Italy breaking the trend in 2012. And these four countries do have the most wins ever in the contest anyways. At least the Big5 is ruling here.... One can only wish and hope Alvaro Soler would be one of the shortlisted and invited a...

France wins again OGAE Song contest when Kendji Girac follows  Indila 's footsteps proving once again France could also do very well in the Eurovision song contest if they only sent some of their most popular and current artists. And check out the point difference! There really was no competition for the winner..... 

France with Indila's Derniere danse has won overwhelmingly the OGAE Song Contest 2014 beating runner up United Kingdom with 84 points. And this blogger couldn't agree more, also my 12 points went to France.  Unlike in the real Eurovision the past years the Big5 ruled this show as they all placed in top-6, only Israel placing 5th five points ahead of Italy that finished sixth. You can relisten all entries here . You can check out the full results and the voting here .  OGAE Song Contest has been running since 1986 and this is France's fifth win, a record shared now with Spain. Italy has four wins, United Kingdom three.

Giorgia again. The winner of OGAE Video 2012 contest with È l'amore che conta (but she did represent Italy in Video contest the year before, too, and in OGAE Song contest already in 2003 as well) returns to OGAE contests with Quando una stella muore the first single off her latest album Senza paura (followed by I will pray (Pregherò) in duet with Alicia Keys, Non mi ami and Io fra tanti so far). She has collected also a triplet of Sanremo trophies: winner in 1995 with Come saprei , third in 1996 with Strano il mio destino and second in 2001 with Di sole e d'azzurro . This blogger is only waiting, whishing and hoping she would do Eurovision some time soon! Some other favorite songs by this Roman singer include E poi , Marzo , Gocce di memoria and Il mio giorno migliore .She may be tiny as a person but her voice is huge. If she was American she would give a run of their vocal cords to likes of certain Célines, Cristinas and Beyonces, not to mention late Whitney. S...

Janna has won the Finnish selection for the OGAE Song Contest 2014 with her first Finnish language single Sä et ole hullu (You are not crazy). The song was released last year and became a #2 hit on download, #3 in radios and #13 in singles chart. The follow up sngles have been Läpinäkyvä and Tytöt lähtee tanssimaan . Before this #1 self titled album in Finnish she has released two albums in English in 2007 and 2008 that were also released in some Asian and European countries. Her homepage is here and Facebook here . Janna is daughter of Maarit Hurmerinta, a multiple Euroviisu participant since 1973. Finland is yet to win this fan contest.

Italian OGAE has kicked off their selection for the OGAE Song contest 2014 and it's as good an excuse to check out some new fresh Italian musicc as any. Here you go - who's your favorite? The cast includes Sanremo 2014 winner Arisa and Castrocaro 2013 winner Davide Papasidero as well Raphael Gualazzi. Many goodies here but I'm torn between Giorgia and Arisa. But also Moreno, Giusy, Biagio, Perturbazione.... Cremonini.... Syria.... great selection! Greta - L'estate Renzo Rubino - Per sempre e poi basta Cesare Cremonini - Logico #1 Elisa - L'anima vola Arisa - Controvento Davide Papasidero - Adesso oppure mai Moreno feat. Fiorella Mannoia - Sempre sarai Raphael Gualazzi feat. The Bloody Beetroots - Liberi o no Violetta - Dimmi che non passa Giusy Ferreri - Ti porto a cena con me Patty Pravo feat. Ermal Meta - Non mi interessa  Biagio Antonacci - Ti penso raramente Noemi - Acciaio Francesco Renga ...

Italian OGAE has selected its song and singer for the OGAE Song contest 2013. Reigning champions nearly sent last year's winner Nina Zilli for the third time in four years but the Facebook "jury" put end to that and her Per le strade . Annalisa's win with Alice e il blu was a very convincing one anyways: winner with the international jury and second with the Facebook jury and the OGAE Italy members jury. Facebookers put only Emma with her 1,2,3 ahead her, and the Italy memebers Nina Zilli. Marco Mengoni came third with Una parola , Jalisse with Tra rose e cielo 11th, Raphael Gualazzi with Mambo soul 15th. Excellent choice all in all and most likely Italy will be scoring very well again this year. A 5th victory isn't out of reach either.... Check the full list of songs, the voting and the placements here . Annalisa Scarrone took part in this year's Sanremo with Scintille and Non so ballare , and apparently was also considered for Eurovision by the ju...

Earlier this fall Nina Zilli and her crew spent a night in the streets of Genoa by night filming a video for her new single Una notte . The video also features volunteer actors and comes nicely today, the morning after she won the OGAE Song Contest with Per sempre . It's an officila Nina Zilli day! Celebrate!

Nina Zilli beats Adele and wins OGAE Song contest 2012 for Italy with her Sanremo song Per sempre , the song that was also maybe ment to be her Eurovision 2012 entry. So, Nina Zilli follows Mietta & Minghi, Laura Pausini and Alexia and taken the fourth win for Italy. And this was actually  her second try, in 2010 her L'Uomo che amava le donne came 7th. Here are all the Italian entries so far. And here you can follow the voting. And here you can have a look at all entries Nina beat.

In Italy they have this very popular Tale e quale TV-show on RAI1 were a number of singers/actors each week practice and then imitate in a live show other singers. This season among the ones we have for example Gigliola Cinquetti who has done already another Eurovision legend, Domenico Modugno . She's done also Milva so far. But the real surprise has been Mietta who we know as a dark husky voiced pop singer, winner of OGAE Song contest 1990 and has delivered some great tracks in Sanremo over the years ( Baciami adesso and Fare l'amore for example). The first week she did Ornella Vanoni , then Donna Summer and this week Maria Callas! And who thought she could sing like that???  Mietta won the second show as Donna Summer and came third in the third one as Maria Calla s while Gigiloa Cinquetti won that one as Gianna Nannini ! Next week Mietta will do Jennifer Lopes while Gigilola will be Gloria Gaynor! You can follow the progress of the show here . 

Nina Zilli's Per sempre will be Italy's entry in the OGAE Song Contest 2012 after a voting that you can follow here . In all 45 people voted from Italy and abroad and La Zilli scored 303 poibts against Dolcenera ( Ci vediamo a casa ) 244 and Francesca Michielin ( Distratto ) 240.  The song was first announced as the Italian entry for the Eurovision 2012 but was changed to L'amore é femmina (Out of love ) within days.  Italy has won the contest three times previously, in 1990 with Mietta & Amedeo Minghi ( Vattene amore ),  1993 with Laura Pausini ( La solitudine ) and in 2005 with Alexia ( Da grande ). Finland will be represented by teen sensation Robin with Frontside Ollie . 

UK took its third win in a row in this year's OGAE Song contest when Adele scored high most everywhere with Someone like you . Italy's run of runner up places continues here when Modà's La notte scores second place before Spain's Malu and Blanco y negro . France, Andorra, Finland and Germany secure the western European leadership on the scoreboard. I'm very pleased with Kaija Koo's good solid 6th place with Vapaa . Re sults: 1. Someone like you - Adele (United Kingdom) 189 2. La notte - Modà (Italy) 146 3. Blanco y negro - Malù (Spain) 127 4. Je veux - Zaz (France) 117 5. Males experiences - Rocio Rivas (Andorra) 107 6. Vapaa - Kaija Koo (Finland) 99 7. Nackt - Jay Khan (Germany) 87 8. Den' bez tebya - Nu Virgos (Russia) 77 9. Klista ta stomata - Antonis Remos (Greece) 72 10. You'll be mine -The Pierces (Rest of the world/USA) 70 11. Mistakes - Brian Mcfadden (Ireland) 61 12. Perje - Milan Stankovic (Serbia) 46 13. vVorbij - Udo (Belgium) ...

Another triumph for the Italian band Modà. The band may have existed since 2003 but it's only the past year that things are really happening for them. First came #2 hit Sono già solo , then another #2 La notte and then #1 Arriverà , a song that they presented with Emma in Sanremo and came 2nd and also Italy's entry in the OGAE Second chance contest. The album Viva i romantici has sold multiplatinum already and went to #1. And now, La notte has been voted the Italian entry for the 2011 OGAE Song contest! Viva i Modà!

The OGAE Italy has voting going on for their represant for the 2011 OGAE Song contest. It's a good selection of what's in the pop market in Italy so here they are: 1. Modà - La notte 2. Emma - Cullami 3. Paola & Chiara - Milleluci 4. Jovanotti - Tutto l'amore che ho 5. Alessandra Amoroso - La mia storia con te 6. Noemi - Vuoto a perdere 7. Litfiba - Sole nero 8. Nathalie - In punta di piedi 9. Cesare Cremonini & Malika Ayane - Hello! 10. Paola & Chiara - Pioggia d'estate 11. Anna Oxa ft Ivano Fossati - Tutto l'amore intorno 12. Davide Mogavero - Il tempo migliore 13. Annalisa - Diamante lei e luce lui 14. Gianna Nannini - Ogni tanto 15. Dolcenera - Il sole di domenica 16. Marco Mengoni - In un giorno qualunque Italy has won the OGAE song contest three times. First in 1990 with Vattene amore by Mietta and Amedeo Minghi, then three years later with Laura Pausini's La solitudine and then again in 2005 with Alexia's Da grande . Who do you think...

The voting has started for the 2010 edition of OGAE song contest. As always there are some familiar names from Eurovision from David Bustamante to Serebro and Flor de Lis, from Glennis Grace to Miro, Elena Risteska, Marija Serifovic and Laura Voutilainen and so on. You can find all the Youtubes here . Clubs are now voting and we should know the winner in early December.

It really is Laura Voutilainen's year and her Salamataivas emerges as the winner in the OGAE Finland's selection for the Finnish entry for the OGAE Song contest. As we remember she already won the Iskelmä Finlandia award this year and also sung in Jurmala festival. Her greatest hist album will be released later this fall and she's also a favourite to win Stricktly come dancing. ... 1. Laura Voutilainen - Salamataivas 178 2. Johanna Kurkela - Rakkauslaulu 145 3. Jenni Vartiainen - En haluu kuolla tänä yönä 131 4. Chisu - Baden-Baden 101 5. Jukka Hallikainen - En tekisi toisin 89 6. Maija Vilkkumaa - Lottovoitto 89 7. Elina Vettenranta - Portti mun sydämeeni 82 8. G-Powered - Kohti unelmaa  77 9. Pariisin kevät - Tämän kylän poikii 74 10. Aurium - Pakoon 72 11. Snowclone - Työnimi 63 12. Marion - Aurinkokylpyyn 61 13. Mariska & Pahat sudet - Suloinen myrkynkeittäjä 57 14. Katri Metso - Pidä kiinni 56 15. Anna Puu - Riko minut 52 16. Virpi - Marraskuu 51 ...

Italy has already chosen its song for the OGAE Song contest 2010 ( Nina Zilli) and Finland is about to do the same. A lot of familiar names from come back Marion to Johanna Kurkela, from Laura Voutilainen to Jenni Vartiainen and CatCat's Virpi, Kuunkuiskaajat and Chisu.. Listen to all the songs here .

Nina Zilli with her Sanremo 2010 effort L'uomo che amava le donne (Man who loved women) has won the fan voting to represant Italy in this year's OGAE song contest. Nina Zilli, or Maria Chiara Fraschetta (27) started singing at the age of 13 and studies singing and piano. She also spent years in Ireland as a kid so she's fluent in English, too. She has also worked as VJ in TV and released her first self titled EP in 2009 and scores a hit with 50mila . The EP also includes a cover of The Supremes' You can't hurry love as L'Amore verrá . After Sanremo 2010 where she was the favourite to win the newcomers category with her entry she wins the critic's Mia Martini award instead and releases her debut album Sempre lontano that becomes a top-5 hit and sells gold.