Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Tarkan is back with Yolla and makes this blogger want to have Turkey back in Eurovision.  Maybe it's Tarkan's job to make the come back a bang? Polina Gagarina has had enough of drama in her latest  Драмы больше нет .  It's a very typical Russian pop song Anni& is a Finnish talent yet to be discovered. Listen to Falling from grace and this Cracks .  Great stuff and worth so much more exposure. Spread the love! Jonas Blue ft. William Singe deliver summer sounds at its purest form in Mama . 

In the Eurovision bubble there are names that are being mentioned every year (from Dima Bilan to Tarkan when Turkey was still participating) as possible entrants, and eventually some of them actually do it, like Hare Skaat, or Sergey Lazarev last year and Demy and OG3NE this year. In the Netherlands there's also another name circulating already for years and has been dragged to the rumor mill already again: Alain Clark.  Alain (38) is a soul pop singer, songwriter and producer. He has released five studio albums since 2004 and is currently working on the next one. All but the debut one have been top-5 in the Netherlands and he has scored also eight Top-20 hits over the years.  His comment to these rumors? "I'm always ready for Eurovision. They have my number....." Well, this blogger hopes he gets the call.... finally. 

Endless are the ways to select the Eurovision entry. November 2, 2012 a special advisory board will meet with the TRT committee to discuss the next Turkish entry. All this after TRT's general director İbrahim Şahin earlier this year said Turkey is done with Eurovision and will be in Baku 2012 only because it's Baku. He also criticized the televoting system maybe forgetting Turkey is one country that has benefited from it the most perhaps! All this is now past them and Turkey will indeed be in Malmö 2013.  The advisory board includes several previous Turkish represents along with other musicians, TV and radio personalities. I wonder what the outcome will be? I hope Turkey would bring back the real flavor of their music and hopefully also the language! Will they all agree it's time for Tarkan finally? :-) Can Bonomo (2012), Ferhan Akgül (maNga 2010), Harun Tekin (Mor Ve Ötesi 2008), Sertab Erener (2003), Kayahan Acar and Demet Sağır...

Tarkan is having another hit this summer with  Ozan Çolakoğlu  titled Aşk Gitti Bizden and it's very good with a beautifully shot video!

The host country's long selection process comes to an end when tonight the five remaining artists will give their all to be the one in homesoil and on stage of Chrystal Hall in Baku in May 2012. Most likely they will sing covers, like last year, and a song for the winner will be selected internally (or better bought from somewhere like Sweden...). Anyways, here are the finalists: Orkhan Kerimli, Sabina Babayeva, Elton Ibrahimov, Faqan Safarov and Arzu Ismayilova . My favourite is from the first semifinal the Azeri Tarkan, Orkhan.

Tarkan is providing the soundtrack to a new Turkish hit movie Entelköy Efeköy’e Karşı . It's a satiric film about citypeople moving back to countryside and what happens. A lot of humour at least. His song Benim Sadık Yarim Kara Topraktır has now also a rather simple yet stunning video.

The first week of selection in Azerbaijan is over and Tarkan-esque Orxan Kərimli came out as the winner and thus qualifier for the next stage. His Eurovision cover was Harel Skaat's Milim and he also did Everytime (I see your smile),   Gəl Ey Səhər  and this medley . Not bad result at all. Tonight another round of hopeful start their weekly process. The candidates are: Rufat Aliyev, Mehriban Sadygova, Farid Gasanov, Ilham Gamidov, Hussein Abdullajev, Mariyam Kerimova, Sehri Ragimova, Live or Leave and Elvin Babazadeh.

While we are at the rumour mill here's another from Turkey. Hande Yener might have said yes this time to TRT's offer to go to Baku 2012. She apparently was already going for 2008 but negotiations didn't go anywhere in the end. Just like Chenoa in Spain she has been in many fan wishlists and polls for years now, but on the other hand Turkey is always full of rumours and speculations and then we get something totally different in the end. Has no one started the Tarkan for 2012 rumour yet? But for Hande it's different this time: now she's going to the UK to record an English language album (apparently) so the timing would be perfect right? Time will tell but here's her latest single Bana anlat .

Some ladies are just ageless, like Turkish diva Ajda Pekkan. At 64 she sounds and looks better than she did back in 1980 when she sung P et'r oil in Eurovision - one of Turkey's finest moments in the contest. And there's even a fab remix of the song here . For her latest success she gets a little help from Tarkan, who is rumoured year after year to do Eurovision and who knows maybe 2012 will be the year? Yakar Geçerim is their joint effort that Tarkan wrote.

Copy-paste from this : "Today's rumor in all websites is Tarkan has (finally) agreed to do Eurovision and go for Turkey in Oslo 2010  2011. He is one of those artists who seem like made for Eurovision and has been rumored, hoped and wished for most every year since forever so it would be nice if this was true and happening!" Well, the endless every year rumours came true with Harel Skaat in 2010, maybe this time for Tarkan. Or then not. We will see... meanwhile here is his latest, Sevdanın Son Vuruşu

If Harel Skaat's name was mentioned most every year as the Israeli participant and it finally happened in 2010, will the other artist tipped every year become reality in 2011? Namely Tarkan for Turkey? This time Eurovision will take place in Germany, always a good country for him. Will that make him make up his mind this time? He is leading the fan polls who they want anyways. Again. If you are stuck with his kiss kiss days, here are his latest two hits from his 2010 album Adimi Kalbine Yaz : Sevdanın Son Vuruşu and Öp .

Tarkan, who were wildly rumoured to be the Turkish entrant in 2010 (once again) has released a new album Adimi kalbine yaz with the first single release Sevdanin Son Vurusu that already made it to #2 in Turkey. The album is his 10th since 1992 and he has sold over 15 million albums worldwide so far. Let's see when the rumours start once again that he will do Eurovision 2011 in Germany. It would be very fitting, after all he was born and raised in Germany and first discovered international success there.

TRT launched an email voting for the fans to name their favourite singer for Turkey in Oslo 2010 some time ago and apparently these four names were the most voted for: maNga , the band that won the MTV Europe music award 2009 for Europe's favourite act, Armenian-Turkish alternative rock star Hayko Cepkin , Emre Aydin who won the same MTV Europe award maNga did a year before, singer-song writer Sebnem Ferah and pop singer Murat Boz . TRT is now negotiating with the artists in question - all of them mentioned many times the past couple of years as possible entrants, or wished for - and also trying to figure out what kind of an act would do in 2010: male, female or a band. If this top-4 turns out true it is quite remarkable Tarkan is not on it.... and why no one ever mentions Mustafa Sandal ?

Tarkan surprised fellow Turkish superstar and Eurovision veteran Ajda Pekkan in her open air concert last week in Harbiye. Apparently the great diva was herself unaware of the surprise while Tarkan's voice was first heard off stage to accompany her singing before he stormed to stage to wild cheer from the crowds. They then ended up singing three songs together.... Watch them here along with Ajda's supermegafabulous Pet'r oil from 1980: http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=9e5DAuZYqvg , http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WHpgaG_DnY

Ok, here we go again. TRT had denied. Tarkan's manager had strongly denied while apparently Tarkan himself has said he will do it. Well, isn't it the same story every year? Just remember the cat and mouse game we had with Patricia Kaas this year? So, at this point my bet is he will do it. His latest album wasn't such a mega success was it? And his album in English didn't do that well either so I guess he needs some extra promotion and hysteria and what can provide that better and faster than Eurovision? http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJWjBLb7x8U http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=dslb-YdEHJI http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtJGJP50zNw http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ew2o0DnXpCI

Today's rumor in all websites is Tarkan has (finally) agreed to do Eurovision and go for Turkey in Oslo 2010. He is one of those artists who seem like made for Eurovision and has been rumored, hoped and wished for most every year since forever so it would be nice if this was true and happening! He would also be the very first confirmed artist for 2010 then, next year's Sakis Rouvas who was confirmed in early summer of 2008 for 2009. http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ga8G4xbhPW0 http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OKqRpRNSf0 http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=zA1BLfVDCVo www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOw0obywNf0 http://

Emir is a new rising Turkish star and here's his latest hit penned for him by Tarkan himself. But isn't it a bit scary how they look and sound alike? Has Tarkan cloned himself? http:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=ueLouTA7UmM