Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Now as Slovenia has withdrawn from Eurovision song contest at least in 2026, let's have a look of some Slovenian favorites of mine over the year. I have always had a soft spot for their debut entry in 1993.  Enjoy! 2011 Maja Keuc - No one (13th) 1997 Tanja Ribič - Zbudi se (10th) 2001 Nuša Derenda - Energy (7th) 2006 Anžej Dežan - Mr Nobody (sf 16th) 2015 Maraaya - Here for you (14th) 1993 IX Band - Tih deževen dan (22nd) 2008 Rebeka Dremelj - Vrag naz vzame (sf 11th) 2019 Zalagasper - Sebi (15th) 2012 Eva Boto - Verjamem (sf 17th) There would have been quite a few to pick up as well but these sounded the ones at this time and space.  Special mentions go to: 1996 Regina - Dan najlepših sanj (21st) 2002 Sestre - Samo ljubezen (13th) 2023 Joker Out - Carpe diem (21st) 2018 Lea Sirk - Hvala, ne! (22nd) 2025 Klemen - How much time do we have left (sf 13)

The fifth and last episode of AmaSanremo aired on Thursday night and delivered us the last two Sanremo Giovani finalists. The guest of the evening was last year's winner Leo Gassmann.  You can watch the show here and read more about the previous episodes here , here , here and here . Folcast - Scopriti was both panel's and televoters runner up but ended up winning the  evening. A very nice song that gets better with each listen and I gave it already 8, surprising myself, too. Franco Battiato was mentioned as a reference tho his song.  Alioth - Titani was last with both panel and televoters but it's not that bad. I kinda liked it, but this said it's not very original or interesting and he gave rather shaky vocal performance. This said I gave 7. Galea - I nostri 20 won the panel's vote but the televoters didn't warm up more than third place. Rather interesting song, strong vocals and 80's beat and her singing style was compared to those of Alice and Giuni...

Slovenian EMA 2016 final takes place tonight. Ten songs in the competition. First a jury will pick up two of them for the superfinal, then televoters will choose the one. I have only heard the short snippets so no further comment. Let the best one win! Two Eurovision veterans in the running, Nusa and Regina! Anja Bas – What If Anja Kotar – Too Cool D Base – Spet ziv ManuElla – Blue And Red Nusa Derenda – Tip Top Raiven – Crno bel Regina – Alive In Every Way San Di Ego – Brez tebe Sebastijan Lukovnjak – Tales Of Tomorrow Zan Sercic – Summer Story

Slovenia has released EMA16 snippets. This is going to be interesting....

Slovenia has revealed its artists for EMA 2016 and we have two very welcome returns: Dusa Derenda and Regina! More information coming up...... Anja Baš Anja Kotar D BASE ManuElla Nuša Derenda Raiven Regina San Di Ego Band Sebastian Lukovnjak Žan Serčič

The national broadcasting network in Bosnia & Herzegovina is close to collapse, states EBU in a statement that you can read here . This network includes BHRT, that has been responsable for the country's Eurovision song contest participations. In this light it's very unlikely we will see Bosnia & Herzegovina in Sweden 2016. Shame.  The country has been last seen on Eurovision stage back in 2012, when Maya Sar placed 18th. They debuted back in 1993 with the legendary voting call from the war zone and we finally heard "This is Sarajevo calling" to a spontaneous applause in the arena. They also survived every semifinal and were always present in the final scoring six top-10 places and 3rd at best, with Hari Mata Hari's Lejla in 2006. After a shaky start they gave us some great entries the lst few years. You can check them all below...

Regina has released a very beautiful song Na balkanu . From the category "I don't understand a word but believe it all"....  Saara Aalto (Talent, Euroviisut and The Voice runner up) has released her new single and video You had my heart . She's really aiming for the Asian market and both Japanese and Chinese versions will follow in due time. Arash features Sean Paul in his new She makes me go that could have been released some 20 years ago really. Finns must feel nostalgic as it has hit the charts here...  Ramdadamdamdigidigi! ABBA's Agnetha Fältskog has made a comeback and the first single When you really loved someone is really a nice tune..... relaxing, sad and wonderfully old fashioned at the same time. And on top of that oh so familiar voice of Agnetha :-)

The rumours are telling Slovenia is seriously considering its participation in Eurovision 2011 due to financial problems and also country's poor results in the last few years. One solution might be skipping EMA and selecting internally, the other skipping Eurovision 2011 altogether. I hope it's only a rumour as EMA is one of the most entertaining national selections around year after year providing us with such eurokitch and bubblegum pop that it's hard to think it has any life outside Eurovision! And even if the Slovenian entries often have been "the wrong ones" they still have sent some goodies over the years, like Tih deževen dan , their debut in 1993 (22nd), Dan najlepših sanj in 1996 (21st), Zbudi se in 1997 (10th), Energy in 2001 (7th), Samo ljubezen in 2002 (13th) and Mr Nobody in 2006. However in the past seven years Slovenia has reached the final only once, in Helsinki 2007 with Cvet z juga , that came 7th in the semifinal and 15th in the final even...

Marcel Bezençon Award 2009 awards were given moments before the final this year and Patricia Kaas won the best artist award and Bosnia-Herzegovina's Bistra voda was chosen as the best composition. Norway was the Press favourite. These awards assigned by the delegations in Moscow are named after Marcel Bezençon, the father of the Eurovision song contest. He got the idea in 1955 after Sanremo Festival in Italy and the first Eurovision took place in 1956. It was also a special night to Patricia Kaas in many ways. Her mother died on this day exactly 20 years ago, and since then she has never performed on May 16 until now. She finished 8th, the best placing for France since 2002.

Bosnia-Herzegovina is one of the favourites and indeed the song has something special. Like Finland they're bringing the preview video live on stage with its full communist era symbolic and love revolution. This is a good example how only 6 people can fill the huge space on stage and screen. Simple yet massive. Stunning performance and a sure qualifier. http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-PfTZt9CSk

Tonight Regina, the group chosen internally for Bosnia-Herzegovina presents their song for Moscow 2009, Bistra voda or Clean water. Many this years artists performed their songs in the show as well from Sakis Rouvas to Jade, from Andrea to Hadise. Regina has been around since 1990 so they're no amateurs. This entry is very different from anything else this year and it's hard to predict how it will do. Not so instantly likable as Balcan ballads, or not crazy enought like Laka last year. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJX0Ij3WD3M , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gs-_9NNL45o