Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

And also Estonia has made public the songs and artists taking part in the semifinals on February 16 and 23 before the final on March 2, 2013. These 20 were picked out from the 157 songs submitted. Several familiar names here, too. Tenfold Rabbit, Birgit Õigemeel, Liisi Koikson and Rolf Raasalu at least. Will Rolf finally make it? Or is it Birgit? And many songs in Estonian!  Tenfold Rabbit – Balance of water & stone  (Andres Kõpper, Meelik Samel, Martin Petermann) Facelift Deer – Dance (Rasmus Rändvee, Paal Piller, Karl Kallas) Elina Born – Enough (Stig Rästa, Fred Krieger) Birgit Õigemeel – Et uus saaks alguse (Mihkel Mattisen, Silvia Soro) Rosanna Lints – Follow me (Rolf Roosalu, Kristel Aaslaid, Mattias Hapsal) Neogeen – Lune surnoise (Raido Lilleberg, Kalle Raudmets, Mare Sabolotny) Marie Vaigla – Maybe (Raul Vaigla, Marie Vaigla) Winny Puhh – Meiecundimees uks korsakov läks eile lätti (Silver Lepaste, Indrek Vaheoja) Põhja-Tallinn – M...

Eesti laul 2010 finalists have been announced today and a couple of familiar names is amongst the ten finalists, chosen from 155 sent songs. Rolf Junior has participated already twice and Iiris Vesik once. Lenna Kuurmaa is of Vanilla Ninja fame. Here they are: Iiris Vesik - Astronaut Disco 4000 - Ei usu Violina ft Rolf Junior - Maagiline päev Nikita Bogdanov - Made me cry  disqualified* Mimicry - New Marten Kuningas - Oota mind veel 3 Pead - Poolel teel Lenna Kuurmaa - Rapunzel Groundhog Day - Teiste seest köigile Tiiu Kiik - The one and only - Love *Robin Juhkental - Siren

As it often happens the minor festivals are strongly influenced by the one and only Eurovision song contest. The troubled Golden Stag or Cerbul de Aur seems to be back for another year. Started back in 1968 it lived only 4 years (with winners coming from Belgium, Romania, the Netherlands and Sweden) before being relaunched in 1992 (with winners from Indonesia, Lithuania, USA, Russia and Romania) before hitting another break until 2001 when Romania won it again as it did in 2002. China, Malta and Italy won the next editions. In 2008 the festival was relaunched again with a Romanian win and so this 2009 is the 16th edition. And the list of singers is mainly very familiar reading from national selections or Eurovision itself: Sergey for Armenia, Raffaele for Belgium, Orlin "Kaffe" Pavlov for Bulgaria, Marios Tofi for Cyprus, Rolf Jr for Estonia, Laura Voutilainen for Finland, Antonino and Massimo Bertacci for Italy, Roberto Meloni for Latvia, Claudia Faniello and Glen ...

Tomorrow Estonia will have some sort of presentation show but while researching for it I found already these live performances of half of the songs... Including my favourites Rolf Junior, Lowry and Traffic. Enjoy! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBvHnHrHZ90&feature=channel_page , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmyZ67lkWLY&feature=channel_page , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17iw7xx25PI&feature=channel_page http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLBEdVY4MPg , http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0LIuqaEfB8

Estonia has puts its songs online, too. Quite a modern group of songs it is, maybe even too much so. My favourites are in no particluar order Laura, Rolf Junior, Lawry and Traffic. Hear the songs here http://etv.err.ee/index.php?0551251 by clicking "kuula laule!"

Estonia has announced the finalists in the revamped Eurolaul, I mean Eesti laul 2009. Laura (of Suntribe 2005 fame, and fantastic solos Moonwalk and Sunflowers ) and Rolf Junior ( One on one in Eurolaul 2008) welcome make a return. 1. Laura - Destiny 2. Rolf Junior - Freedom http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Qr2J7Y6dNk 3. Chalice - Nelikümmend http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAB7UTcwGrE 4. Ithaka-Maria - One Last Dance 5. Sandra Nurmsalu - Rändajad 6. Traffic - See Päev 7. Janne Saar - Too Good For You http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbPi82iDmjw&feature=related 8. StereoChemistry - Öösiti kõndides http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkEHToTAC_0&feature=related 9. Köök - Üürnik 10. Lowry - You ain't what I need

Belgium's K3, Sweden's Peter Jöback, Estonia's Rolf Junior and Lithuania's Aiste all have one thing in common: they have all participated in their countries national fnals for Eurovision. Aiste has the record with six tries. She has been getting closer and closer (1999 unknown, 2004 11th, 2005 9th, 2006 6th, 2007 3rd and 2008 2nd) so will she give it another try in 2009? Estonia's Rolf Junior also tried his luck in Eurovision after Estonian Idols with a very respectable 4th place. He has also gained a lot of experience in musicals. Sweden's Peter Jöback came 2nd to last in Melodifestivalen 1990 but has then built up a very creditable career in musicals besides being a pop star. K3 didn't reach the final in Belgium's 1999 selection.