Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

IBA has announced the four songs that Noa and Mira Awad will sing in Kdam 2009. The final will be held on Monday March 2. Also it was announced that Noa and Mira will take their jewish-arab collaboration further than just singing together: the selected song will be performed in Moscow in Hebrew, Arabic and English. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think it's the first time Israel will have a song in Arabic? Anyways, the songs are: Bo'i Li'rkod Iti (Come dance with me) Eiynaich (Your eyes) Yesh Yamim (There are days) Kol Shniya (Every second)

The second night in Sanremo saw the elimination of Albano, Sal Da Vinci and Nicky Nikolai & co but they all will have a second chance tonight along with Afterhours. Tricarico and Iva Zanicchi to join the remaining 9 in the final on Saturday night. Otherwise the main focus last night was on the newcomers or Proposte. The average audience was again around 14 million or 47% share so RAI must be happy. Tonight besides the second chance round the duets, including Marco Masini with Lara Fabian...

Very entertaining show last night in Greece. Those crazy ladies who presented were again hilarious even if I didn't understand a word! Also the countdown of ALL the previous winners worked even if it might have looked a bit boring on paper.... And it was quite useful to see the entrants from Cyprus, UK, Montenegro, Turkey, Belarus and Malta perform their entries one after another - some sounded stronger, some less. Anyways, after the opening miniconcert Sakis took the stage again after what felt like eternity and performed playback his entries. In the end This is our night was chosen as the winner and goes to Moscow. But it doesn't sound like an Eurovision winner at all to me. And so far it's the song most similar to Finland (talk about 90's!) so far, only that I actually do prefer Finland much more.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baCwdReNg8c

F.Y.R. of Macedonia will have a three day final with two semifinal and the final in the next three days. The first semifinal, weaker I think, will be tonight. What I could make out of the short clips Andrijana Ajnevska, Dimitar Andanovski and Daniel sounded and looked a bit better than the rest.... most of being useless crap! Watch yourself here: http://www.mmm.com.mk/default.asp?ItemID=C6A83B0F1392274E87E52E58BDDDF544 01. Kostadin Papa - Za nea postojam 02. Ana Simonovska - Dobar kraj 03. Andrijana Ajnevska - Drvo bez kraj 04. Treta Dimeznija - Isto sto si ti 05. Risto Vodoliva - Mojot Tv 06. Verce Pandilovska - Severno od mene, Juzno od tebe 07. Dimitar Andonovski - Me pronajde ti 08. Risto Samardziev feat.Zoran Dzorlev - 103 beli lebedi 09. Lili - Za kraj 10. Zarmena - Igraj so nas 11. Sleng - Gengsta oro 12. Emilija Gievska - Ptuvam niz vremeto 13. Proekt Makedonija - Poamlku Naivno 14. Daniel - Sila na ljubovta 15. Next Time - Nesto sto ke ostane 16. Jane Dunimaglovski - Gledas ne...

Stefane Mgebrishvili with 3G has won the Georgian final with We don't wanna put in. It is crap. And the title and lyrcics must be changed most likely before Moscow.... No further comment. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWhYZKUgQkM

Looks like the tricks to revive Sanremo festival are working. The first night saw an increase of 4,6 million in viewers. In average the evening was watched by 10.114.000 people with the share of 47,93%. Over 16 million people saw the act by Benigni. Meanwhile it looks like Dolcenera has risen to be one of the favourites to win this year (and I couldn't be happier!). Tonight the remaining 13 Big will reperform their songs and again 3 will be voted out. Also the newcomers will perform tonight.

Iva Zanicchi, Afterhours and Tricarico were the three eliminated ones in the opening night of Sanremo 2009. They will have a second chance on Thursday night. The night was stolen by Oscar winning Roberto Benigni and Kate Perry. Besides the 16 Big or Artisti also four of the newcomers or Proposte performed. A lot tension for Povia's Luca era gay with protests against homofobia and protests against the song itself. And protests against those who protested....

This week has just started with the news from Belgium and the opening of Sanremo festival in Italy . Tomorrow we will have the national finals in Greece and Germany . Thursday FYR of Macedonia starts their 3 day selection process that continues also on Friday when we have also another Slovakian semifinal and the Irish final. Saturday sees again a very busy schedule: FYR of Macedonia, Norway and Bulgaria will have their national finals and Sanremo festival comes to an end. Spain will have its second semifinal and Sweden its third and also Germany will officially present its song. Finally, on Sunday third semifinal in Slovakia. Phew....

The master of ceremonies, Paolo Bonolis will be wearing Versace on stage in Sanremo 2009. As always, there are the pretty girls next to him generally known as vallette (pretty girls not talking much and often with very broken Italian. Main thing is to smile. Wear pretty dresses. Smile some more. Walk around and show some legs. And smile some more....). But Bonolis will have also five MALE vallette, or valletti : English model David Gandy, Italian model Ivan Olita who will wear Roberto Cavalli, Israeli model Nir Lavi in Ermanno Scervino, English actor Paul Sculfor wearing Moschino and Brasilian model Thyago Alves in Iceberg creations. The female vallette include TV-host Maria De Filippi, Opera de Paris primaballerina Eleanora Abbagnato and Playboy playmates....

Eddy Anselmi, a real Eurovision fan has collected all the info available you need to know (and don't need to know) about the history of Festival di Sanremo from 1951 until 2009 called L’almanacco di Sanremo. Facts and gossip, all the songs, list of all 2.200 singers and authors(born between 1900 and 1991 so far....) and more! A must for Sanremo (and Eurovision) fans. 960 pages for 19,90 euros. Available in all newspaper stands. In Italy that is..... http://www.almanaccodelfestival.com/

Today's rumour in papers is that Måns Zelmerlöv has written a song for the Russian Il Divo wannabe Kvatro and it should be the Russian entry in Moscow 2009. Well, great for Måns but there's a final first, isn't there? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxTQuvl5FY0

After all it wasn't Elvis Jr but another Elvis wannabe, Patrick Ouchène for Belgium this year. He will perform Copycat in Moscow 2009. The song seems to be a tribute to Elvis so let's see what's in store.... in March that it!

Tomorrow it starts, the 59th festival di Sanremo. Apparently the big ones will perform the first night and today also most of their duet partners have been announced, amongst them Lara Fabian, who represanted Luxemburg in 1988 in a contest won by Celine Dion. Lara came 4th and it took her some years to step out of Celine's shadow... Most everyone of the big ones is releasing new album on Friday. Here are the the big ones with their duet partners: Afterhours - Il paese é reale (Christiano Godano and Antonio Rezza) Albano - L'amore é sempre amore (Michele Placido) Alexia ft Mario Lavezzi - Biancaneve (Teo Teocoli) Marco Carta - La forza mia (Tazenda) Sal da Vinci - Non riesco a farti innamorare (Gigi D'Alessio) Dolcenera - Il mio amico unico (Syria) Gemelli DiVersi - Vivi per un miracolo (The BMB Marching Band) Fausto Leali - Una piccola parte di te (Fabrizio Moro) Marco Masini - L'Italia (Lara Fabian) Nicky Nikolai & Stefano di Battista Jazz Quartet - Piú sole...

Andrea Zimanyiova, Robo Simko & MassRiot and VIP (jury's choice) qualified for the final. Desmod & Lucia Novakova did not perform due to an injury at the rehearsals. Well, I didn't get it that right, did I? Andrea did it but I don't even remember the other two....?!

It's one month to go until deadline and we have already 21 entries chosen now and we have heard 20 of them. Besides that 5 more singers/artists has been chosen. So far we have 12 female singers, 6 groups, 4 male singers, 2 female duos, one male duo and one female-male duo. Two very succesful Eurovision veterans are in as well: Chiara for Malta (3rd in 1998, 2nd in 2005) and Sakis Rouvas for Greece (3rd in 2004 + host of Eurovision 2006 in Athens). ALBANIA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGU30s9f86E ANDORRA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHCGGmsRdvM ARMENIA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiQOs9Gv928 BELARUS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLhIq6K-P-E CYPRUS http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqFsv6GsA4c DENMARK http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo5JpHyfg5Q FINLAND http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ji1qCTYSxAg FRANCE http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITsLYay9ZEc GERMANY http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI2Xq7R6KZ8 ICELAND http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skYZeWamLL8 LITHUANIA http://www.youtube.com/wat...

Slovakia returns to Eurovision for the first time since 1998 and we will have their 4th (or 5th if we count the 1993 pre-selection song) entry, and the very first one openly selected. The previous ones have been selected internally by STV. A lot to improve here as their placements have been between 18th and 21st. After a quick listening I would go for Andrea Zimányiová's traditional Eurovision ballad, Desmod & Lucia Nováková's rock ballad or the midtempo pop tunes by Peter Kotuľa and Robo Papp. Let's see how the Slovaks will vote tonight. Listen to the songs here: http://www.stv.sk/eurosong/44512/sutaziaci Alone - Nezistím Petra Kepeňová - Odkedy nie si Robo Papp - Nádej máme EmSoft - Násilie Peter Kotuľa - Cesty sú stratené VIP - Hviezdy Andrea Zimányiová - Prines si ten kľúč Robo Šimko & MassRiot - Môj anjel spí Hudba z Marsu - Na hubách Desmod & Lucia Nováková - Posledná minúta

Spain had its first Gala or semifinal last night and the top-3 qualified for the final. The jury and televoters greatly agreed with the top-2 songs Melody and LaLaLove You, but the other placements were very mixed. Noelia qualified even if she placed only 7th in the televote thanks to jury votes (and I greatly wonder those votes as her vocals were horrible....) Normativa Vigente managed to qualify to the second chance round before Yulia whose televotes were too low.... Shame. And I can only add that I think there should be better songs/artists at this stage. How come these Vicentes and Baobabs got this far, or Carlos? Atalis? Useless waste of time and money for everyone.... Here are the results (jury/televote): Melody y los Vivancos - 12 + 12 = 24 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnSQ-Tkudc8 LaLaLove You -10 + 10 = 20 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEf1rR_ADCc Noelia Cano - 8 + 4 = 12 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uj0thho4n8k La Red de San Luis - 7 + 2 = 9 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

Amogst all the finals and Melodifestivalen Norway had its last chance round and two more entries made it to the final after a series of duels: Espen Hana and Publiners. Duel 1: KeSera - Party vs. Espen Hana - Two of a Kind Duel 2: Janni Santillan - Yesterday vs. Surferosa - U look good Duel 3: Sunny - Carrie vs. Publiners - Te stein Duel 4: Foxy - Do it again vs. Jane Helen - Shuffled Espen Hana - Two of a Kind vs.Surferosa - U look good Publiners - Te stein vs. Jane Helen - Shuffled Already qualified for the next Saturday's final: Thomas Brondbo – Det vart ein storm Velvet – Tricky Alexander Stenerud – Find My Girl Tone Damli Aaberge - Butterflies Ovi – Seven Seconds Alexander Rybak - Fairytale

Nelly Ciobanu with Hora din Moldova has won the final in Moldova. It will be interesting to see how Europe reacts to this one! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63W9hB8G1WU

So far so good. In Lithuania and Iceland the best ones won, and so did in Poland. Three great songs at once, what else can we wish for? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2pJ3wXp4E0 01. Lidia Kopania - I don't wanna leave - 22 (jury 10 + televote 12) 02. Marco Bocchino & Ola Szwed - All my life - 18 (8 + 10) 02. Renton - I'm not sure - 18 (12 + 6) 04. Artur Chamski - Kilka slów - 13 (5 + 8) 05. Ira 11 - Dobry czas - (7 + 4) 06. Man Meadow - Love is gonna get you - 9 (2 + 7) 07. Dali - Every day - 8 (6 + 2) 08. Tigrita project - Mon chocolat - 7 (4 + 3) 09. Stachurski - I nie mów nic - 6 (1 + 5) 10. Det Beatles - Jacqualine - 4 (3 + 1)

Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir with fantastic Is it true has won the Icelandic final and will go to Moscow 2009. Ingó came second. Iceland is now one of my top favourites! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gW3ivrbq7Tw

Sasha Son has won Lietuvos Dainų Daina and therefor will go to Moscow 2009. The song will be in English and titled Love. Sounds pretty wonderful! This is going to be one of my favourites this year, too. Looks like I got the top-4 right :-) o1. Sasha Son - Pasiklydęs Žmogus - 120 o2. Donatas Montvydas - Remember Last Time - 100 o3. 69 Danguje - Meilės Simfonija - 76 o4. Rūta Ščiogolevaitė - Redemption - 72 o5. Linas Adomaitis - Tavo Spalvos - 62 o6. Milanno and Karina Krysko - Kelias Pas Tave - 48 o7. Violeta Valskytė and Darius Pranckevičius - Nelytėta Viltis - 39 o8. Jonas Čepulis and Skirmantė - Uosilėli Žaliasai - 31 o9. Saulės Kliošas - Saulė - 19 10. Aurelija - Part Of Me - 13

Inga & Anush Arshakyanner will represant Armenia in Moscow 2009 with Jan jan. There's something very Ofra Haza-esque in the voices and sounds here.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SiQOs9Gv928 01. Inga & Anush Arshakyanner - Jan Jan (New dance) 02. Mher - My Heart, My Soul 03. Dorians - Fly 04. Bambir - Yolk 05. Shprot - Lucky 06. Tigran Petrosyan - Only Time 07. Hripsime Hakobyan - Eli Eli 08. Gayane Arzumanyan - Molto Bello 09. Lilu - Et ari 10. Sergey Grigoryan - Qez Hamar

The second Melodifestivalen semifinal has just finished and I'm pretty satisfied with the results... Petra was fantastic again and a few jokes about Finns were thrown in tonight considering the fact Lili & Susie and Markoolie were taking part. Lili & Susie opened the night and time stood still in a good way. I adore them, they brought me back 20+ years in seconds! They did a good job but I wasn't at all sure how Swedes feel about them these days... Lasse followed with the dullest song of the evening (and indeed he finished 8th) and then came Jennifer . She sung well and the song was ok but it didn't take her further than 7th place and I don't think it deserved mcuh more. Next was HEAT who had a serious disfunction with the look department but the song! The song is a perfect pop anthem disguised as a heavy rock song. I like it! Then Marko Lehtosalo, better known as Markoolio took the stage with his ballad. Just when I was wondering if it is a joke entry or no...

Teatro-Casino de L'Aliança de Poble Nou in Barcelona is the venue for the Spanish selection this year. Alaska and Miguel Serrano will present the three semifinals and the grand final with many guests and surprises, they promise. Melody, who is the favourite to win the whole thing is in this one along with my favourite Yulia. Three of the songs will qualify for the final after 50/50 televote/jury. Here are the songs in the first semifinal (category - votes in preselection - place) Melody y Los Vivencos - Amante de la luna (Latin - 208.481 - 1st) La La Love You - Dame un beso (Indie - 104.664 - 4th) Normativa Vigente - Alejandria, the new generation ( pop/rock - 88.217 - 8th) Vicente Casal - Tú me complementas (ballad - 79.444 - 10th) Yulia Valentayn - Uh la la (indie - 61.395 - 13th) Noelia Cano - Cruza los dedos (pop/rock - 103.361 - 5th) Atalis - Retrato frontal (electronic - 49.408 - 19th) Carlos Ferrer EAI - El patito (qualified from auditions) Gran Baobab - Despedida de...