Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Let's continue the series and kill some time having a look at the last decade and see who were the Top-10 best scoring countries in the Eurovision song contest in the past ten years. The ways to calculate are many and here I have used the simple average placement method (and it's not all so serious). Next up is Azerbaijan at n.o 5. Azerbaijan entered with a Top-10 finish and continued the trend with five consegutive Top-5 finishes including a win before all the vote buying scandal and all that exploded. Miracuslously after that they didn't trouble the Top-10 until last year again, and had even one NQ in their table.... Fair enough. Azerbaijan has sent good entries, no doubt about that, but what annoys me personally is the lack of local work in them. In fact, only their debut entry has been written by Azeris (unless its credited by alias). I remember all Azeri entries way too well thanks to their usually very original stagings. 2011 Ell & Nikki - Running sc...

Are the days of the super parties over at Eurovision? wonder Robert in Baku. Here is his photo reportage from last night! Yesterday, the opening party of the new Eurovision season was held at the Euroclub. The Euroclub? Yes, the Euroclub! Baku has so many prestigious buildings but the party ended up in the Euroclub which cannot be compared at all with the venues we had in the past. Out of my own experience, the venues in Helsinki, Oslo and Dusseldorf were far more stylish. Was the organisation saving money here because they went over their budget? I don't know but many guests were complaining and this must be marked as the worst opening party in recent history. Many artists and delegations did not stay long. On the other side, it was still a better party than a regular evening out and many people were enjoying themselves anyway.  The red carpet scenes were very enjoyable to watch and many artists looked great in their evening dresses/costumes...

Azerbaijan next. It's pretty much the same as yesterday. The light effects on dress will surely look great on TV and Sabina sings well but the song is still what it is. Cold. It gives me nothing. And that man in the background doesn't fit in at all in this 100% Americanized affair. No matter how good he is in what he is doing and no matter how traditional thing it is in Azerbaijan. It's just clued on top of this and it doesn't fit. That's my opinion. Sabina and Azerbaijani people deserved something better and authentic for themselves in their own show....  This is a bit like Paula Abdul sampling Ofra Haza only that they did it well. More here . 

Azerbaijan . When the music dies indeed. Is this funeral of music? All is black, Sabina in one spotlight, the backing trio in another, the mourning man wailing in the background isn't helping things much.... oh dear. It's not cold, cold, cold like in the video but only cold, cold. On the positive side, Sabina sounds much better live! And that's all I can say. Probably it looks stunning on TV, I don't know. Most likely. But the song wasn't good to start with in my books. Sorry. More here .

After Amsterdam it's all about London this weekend, where the 5th annual meeting and greeting of the Eurovision artists takes place. Nine of the 2012 acts have confirmed their presence so far and also Slovenian Omar Naber (2005), Kati Wolf (Hungary 2011) will be there with maybe some other surprises. Also you can win tickets to fly to Baku for the real thing. So, Anggun from France, Compact Disco from Hungary, Donny Montell from Lithuania, Eva Boto from Slovenia, Kaliopi from Macedonia, Sabina Babayeva from Azerbaijan and Valentina Monetta from San Marino and Filipa Sousa from Portugal will meet again.  The Shadow Lounge in Soho will be the location and the doors open at 7pm on Sunday April 29, 2012.. Nikki French (UK 2000) and Paddy O'Connell are hosting. More information here . 

Two power ballads, co-written by Swedes, sung by two ladies with big voice and maturity over the younger girls. Pastora Soler (33) has already gained platinum and gold albums and various awards and is concidered as one of the best voices in Spain, a year younger Sabina has yet to score big on recording market but has already claimed a few awards on various festivals. Classy ladies indeed. But it's 4-0 for Spain. Spain - Pastora Soler - Quédate conmigo (Stay with me)  ****1/2 The song starts beautifully and Pastora's vocals are fantastic. The song slowly unfolds and grows in true Eurovision style and she belts out some long amazing notes. She comes across likable and you want her to deliver and keeps you listening and almost holding your breath. The best Spanish entry for a long, long time. But then, will the televoters have a patience to concentrate and listen, as the show factor isn't that evident. Pastora herself is the show. Nothing else is needed and I hope the...

Azerbaijan, the host country has just released the song they will have on home stage in Baku 2012. Sabina Babayeva will sing When the music dies . The song is once again written by Swedes Stefan Örn and Sandra Bjurman with Anders Bagge and Johan Kronlund. Stefan and Sandra wrote the last year's winning song Running scared. With the first hearing.... oh well. I guess I wouldn't be so sad if this music died prematurely. I was hoping the Azeris would bring something of their own to the contest for a change - no, a couple of local instruments aren't enough. 

The Azerbaijani selection show for the represant was as long as the selection process for the five finalists. Kurt Calleja from Malta and Can Bonomo from Turkey were present with Ell/Nikki to see Sabina Babayeva to emerge as the winner after each and every finalist had done about zillion songs amongst other guests. Now the Azeri TV will shop around a suitable song for her.