Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Blogilkar guest writer Daniel Motiño Camúñez reports: Mecano is propably the most popular Spanish band till now. In 1981 Ana Torroja and the brothers José and Nacho Cano formed the group in Madrid. They were really innovative and advanced by the time in Spain . Now they get a musical makeover by some Spanish eurostars. The country was starting to walk on democracy and they introduced synth-pop sounds to a boring grey musical scene which was dominated by stupid sangria, fiesta and playa hits by then. Hoy no me puedo levantar (I can't get up today) was their debut single, followed by the album called "Mecano". They released their last album in 1991 but only one year later decided to have a break of at least 3 years; things turned up and they ended up with a polemic split in 1998 after releasing a greatest hits album with seven unpublished songs which sold over 1 milion copies only in Spain. Overall Mecano released six studio albums in Spain and Latinamerica...

Eveliina (20) is no stranger to various singing contest. At 13 she won Teinitähti, at 14 Oridolis and at 15 Ponnandus pinnalle contests. In 2000 she also took part in Tenavatähti . She studies music and amongst her hobbies is also jazz ballet and playing piano. She has done some work as demosinger, chorists and sung in various combinations. She's very thrilled by the opportunity and names Alexander Rybak her all time favourite Eurovision artits and also like Lena's winning song a lot: "It's pretty much what kind of music I want to do really. Simple with catchy tune. That's how you can describe also my entry." Eveliina was picked up by YLE from the open internet contest and is produced by Tacy Lipp. Eveliina will perform in the third semifinal on January 28, 2011 and her entry will be made public on November 29, 2010.

The Italian speaking RSI has chosen it's participant for the Swiss final and it's Orpheline (Deborah Bough), with Surrender produced by Mara Maionchi, one of the Italian X Factor judges and the lady behind Tony Maiello, winner of Sanremo newcomers 2010, just to give an example. Even if not singing in Italian at least she's a Swiss, born of Swiss mother and American father. The German part of the Swiss TV has three slots to fill and send in Dominique Borriello with Italian sung Il ritmo dentro di noi and Duke with Waiting for ya and finally The Colors with Ilira singing Home . Rest of the songs and artists will be revealed shortly. The Swiss final takes place on December 11, 2011.

Sami Hintsanen (38) is most known as the host of a very popular music quiz show Tartu mikkiin . But he is also the Finnish champion in schlager singing and karaoke who wanted to become the new Bon Jovi. His past include one participation in Euroviisut in 1996 with Auringonkukka (8th) and one CD under name Hintsanen party Project, eurodance covers of Finnish classics. "I deeply regret that album. Record label believed it would score big in ski resorts and cruise boats and the idea was good but it just didn't work out and I wasn't right for it. I was just too shamed to get on stage and perform those songs, like this one " .  He has also experience from musicals and other bands but maybe Euroviisut 2011 will finally make him known also as a serious singer. The rumour is his song is written by Antti Kleemola and he has said it's "more Johnny Logan style Eurovision". Sami will paeticipate in the third semifinal on January 28, 2011 and his song will be made pu...

Hanna Pakarinen has released a video for her second single Se yksi ainoa (That one and only) Has she ever looked so beautiful? Watch the video here . She has also recorded once again a song to a children's music CD Ipanapa 3 with Hevisaurus. She has also been to two different cooking programmes on TV and she will headline the Helsinki pride's Christmas party and her success continues on air play lists..... She's BACK!

Saara Aalto (22) is no stranger for Euroviisut. She has been in the backing choir of Heidi Kyrö in 2004, Hanna Marsh in 2008 and Riikka in 2009. In 2010 she participated in the internet selection for the first time and now again and she made it and qualified to the semifinals with her ballad Blessed with love . In 2007 she also participated in Talent Suomi and reached the top-3. At the moment she's prepairing her solo debut album with her partner Teemu Roivainen and arranger Pessi Levanto. It will be released March 5, 2011. At the moment she's also in Wicked musical that runs in Helsinki City Theatre. She's a real Eurovision fan and tells in Viisukuppila's interview: "I've been a fan since 2002 when I was 15. My favourites are Stronger every minute , I'm not afraid to move on and Molitva . Even if these are all ballads I also like the Eurovision dance songs, they're great to party with! The best Finnish song is Signmark's Speakerbox . I was in t...

TVR has put the songs for the Romanian national final 2011 online here .

All didn't go fine in Russia for Lordi. We know we need to have visas to get to Russia - but how to get OUT? Namely, the band and all its entourage had visas organized for them by their local manager to go and perform but they ended at midnight. At 4am in the train on the way to Tallinn after their gigs in Moscow and St.Petersburg the group was woken up at the border in Ivangorod and kicked out of train because of "expired visas". They were kept at the station in the rain and wind with all their instruments and gear until afternoon before matters were settled and they were let to cross the border. By foot! Luckily a bus was waiting for them at the Estonian side and managed to take them in Tallinn at time for the night's concert. "I'm from Lapland and Russia is the big monster. It's in my genes. Nothing else in that country is sure but unsure ", comments Mr Lordi. "I would understand if they didn't let us in but not letting us out!? The loc...

Paradise Oskar or Axel Ehnström (19) is a total newcomer and was invited by YLE to the semifinal directly from the internet selection. He comes from Kirkkonummi near Helsinki and was very surprised when YLE called him telling his song was accepted. "I thought it was accepted for the internet selection and didn't first realize I was accpeted for the semifinals instead directly! I was overjoyed! " he tells in a recent interview.Here's a little teaser of what to expect. Maybe. He will close the seond semifinal on January 21, 2011 and his entry will be made public on November 29, 2010.

Romania is one of the first countries to select its song for 2011 and will have its final on new year's eve. Blaxy Girls and Costi Ionita are back at it, will they we third time lucky? Hotel FM - Change Directia 5 - Cinema Love Laurentiu Cazan - We Can Change the World Bogdan Dima - Bang Bang Elena Laeticia Moisescu - Dreaming of You Dan Helciug - My Facebook Girl   Dragos Chircu & Anthony Ikwuagwu Uchenna - Open Your Eyes Jakab Noemi, Miciu Elena & Stamiloiu Cristina - Take Me Down Blaxy Girls - It's so Fine Adrian Cristescu - One by One Dalma Kovacs - Song for Him Silvia Stefanescu - I Can't Breath Without You Claudia Cream - I Want U To Want Me

Eurovision fans in Italy must have given a long sigh of relief when Stefano Filipponi was finally kicked out of X Factor and therefor for sure won't go to Eurovision - if the winner actually does go there. He ended up in duel with Kymera, the real life gay couple and lost. Nevruz Joku, Nathalie Giannitrapani and Davide Mogevero are still in the race, too.

Milana Misic (40) got the invitation to Euroviisut 2011 - maybe to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Finnish debut when her late mother Laila Kinnunen sung for us in 1961? But this blogger is quite happy to welcome her in, anniversary or not! Milana released her debut album already in 1991 and two more followed in 1993 and 2001 but it was only in the late 2000's when she finally gave in started performing and recording some of her mother's songs that she made it big. Her repertoire has remained since then 1950's and 1960's covers and styled songs that suit her very well. Her latest album title song Jos itken, jos nauran is none other than cover of the Italian entry in 1965, Se piangi, se ridi. She has told previosuly her entry will be a typical Eurovision ballad performed in Finnish and eventually in English should she go all the way. Milana will take part in the second semifinal on January 21, 2011 and her song will be made public on November 29, 2010.

The Melodifestivalen 2011 webjokers have been voted: Jonas Mattson with On my own and Julia Alvgard with Better or worse . Both worthy additions to the line up and way better than last year's horrid addition....

"In 1991, a four year old Kurdish girl journeys hundreds of kilometres by foot from Northern Iraq to Turkey. Together with her family - Kurdish guerrilla fighters - she is escaping from an infamous dictator's regime of terror and oppression. She has spent her early years in the midst of a war, where her only means of escape is listening and singing to her favourite songs by Michael Jackson and Ray Charles. After two years spent hiding away from the Turkish government, the family finally ends up and settles down in Helsinki, Finland. There she starts school and falls in love with theatre. And, of course, keeps singing - always singing.  Ten years later, a major label executive is literally moved to tears after hearing a demo with her voice, and signs her two days later. She soon starts writing her debut album together with Finnish songwriters. "  That's copied directly from her website. Enough said. The result of all that,  the album Drifter will be release...

Marco Mengoni beats likes of Dima Bilan, Sakis Rouvas and Enrique Iglesias and was voted the Best European act in the 2010 MTV European music awards. Marco (21) won last year the Italian X Factor and got a ticket to Sanremo 2010 where he places third with Credimi ancora and also won the critic's award Premio della critica given out my the journalists and radio speakers present in Sanremo. Since then he has been also elected Man of the year in TRL Awards and he also won two Wind Music awards earlier this year. He has released two EPs and both have sold platinum and recently he released Re matto live CD that made it #1 in the charts. His debut single Dove si vola was a #1 hit, and his Sanremo entry Credimi ancora made it to #3. He has also released Stanco (Deeper inside) and In un giorno qualunque . More videos here . Here is Marco's thank you speech. Auguri Marco!

We have the presenter, ex-Eurovision star Gianni Morandi with his showgirls Elisabetta Canalis and Belen Rodriguez so the guessing and gossiping for the possible artists has begun full time. So, without further comments some names in the air: Albano, Alessandra Amoroso, Anna Tatangelo, Matteo Becucci, Orietta Berti, Edoardo De Crescenzo, Emma Marrone, Loredana Errore, Fabri Fibra, Giusy Ferreri, J Ax, Luca Dirisio, Tony Maiello, Mariella Nava, Matia Bazar, Zarrillo, Ivana Spagna, Modá, Neri per caso, Nina Zilli, Paola e Chiara, Paola Turci, Paolo Meneguzzi, Piedavide Carone, Davide Van de Sfroos, Nesli, Roberto Vecchioni, Vinicio Capossela, Sal Da Vinci, Silvia Salemi, Simona Molinari, Syria..... Who would you like?

Last week three ladies qualified but this week it's men's turn when Ivan Berezovskiy , Eduard Romanyuta and Bahroma band make it. Not much to say about the songs, if you want me to put it nicely.... Para Normal’nyh, Mika Newton and Metropolitan didn't make it.

Propably the most experienced Eurovision artist in history is back at it: Elisabeth Andreasson. She has sung in Eurovision final already four times, finishing 1st, 2nd, 6th and 8th. Now beat that! Besides that she has taken part in the Norwegian final five times and now returns to Melodifestivalen for the 6th time. She has also co-hosted both the Swedish and the Norwegian final once." I have been sent songs and asked to take part every year since 2002 but I have won already so much that it had to be perfect. Now it is. It's great to be back! " she says. Melodifestivalen (Sweden) 1981. Chips - God morgon, 2nd 1982. Chips - Dag efter dag , WINNER-> 8th 1984. Elisabeth Andreassen - Kärleksmagi , 6th  1990. Elisabeth Andreassen - Jag ser en stjärna falla , 7th 2000. TV-host, with nine other artists. 2002. Kikki, Bettan & Lotta - Vem é dé du vill ha , 3rd  2011 Elisabeth Andreasson - Vaken i en dröm Melodi Grand Prix (Norway) 1985. Bobbysocks - La det swinge , WINNER -...

The rules for the 2011 Sanremo festival have been made public and what strikes at first is the number of songs we will hear: Only 8 newcomers and 14 big in total. And with that RAI will fill five (5) nights in prime time for hours and hours.... And then they don't have time for 3 hours on some odd May night to dedicate to soemthing else? Oh well. Anyways.  They kick of on February 15 when all the 14 Big (or Artisti but I'm so used to calling them Big so I keep on doing that!) will perform and two of them will be voted out by a jury in Teatro Ariston. Also the eight newcomers (or Giovani) will perform. The second night, February 16 the remaining 12 Big will perform and again a jury will kick two of them out. Half of the newcomers will perform and are voted by televote and the orchestra (You remember the controversy last year, here ) and two will be kicked out. The third night, February 17 , is dedicated to the 150th anniversary of United Italy and all 14 Big will perform a cla...

Jimi Constantine (previously Jimi Pääkallo, real name Konstantinos Hiekkanen, born 1981) is no stranger to most Finns who follow music. Ex-leader of Technicolour and familiar from many movies, TV series and other production and most of all from Stricktly come dancing last season and the Finnish Fear factor . In spring 2011 he will release his debut solo album and is currently performing live all over Finland this winter. He has also collaborated with many other artists, including Cristal Snow, Aikakone and Princessa Avenue - already familiar from the Finnish and the Russian national selections. His first solo single is Dirty Cinderella but you can hear him also in Cheek's Koukussa , and Uniikki's Niinku elokuvis . He's also involved in Cristal Snow's Surrender just to name a few. He promises the best party on stage and afterwards so let's wait and see. For me he's the one I maybe expect the most....  I was a Technicolour fan back then:  Teach me love , Firefl...

European Music Awards by MTV will take place in Madrid tonight. But looking at the list once again one can only ask: What's so European in this awards? Out of nominations only 13 are for European artists! That's 19%  folks. If it wasn't for the Best European act we might end up having zero European winners. Why don't we have all European nominees instead and have the Best Non-European act instead with nominees from various continents like we have now for various regions of Europe? These about 80% American acts already have their own awards, and considering 11 out of these 13 European acts come from UK, we have astounishing 2 acts from non-English speaking regions nominated, that's less than 3%. European music award my ass! Anyways, running for the Best European act are amongst others Dima Bilan (Russia), Enrique Iglesias (Spain, Ivri Lider (Israel), Sakis Rouvas (Greece) and Marco Mengoni (Italy). If Iglesias wins this even this one goes to America in my books....

Apparently it has been confirmed Lena Meyer-Landrut will sing 12 songs in the German selection 2011. There will be two semifinals on Pro7 and the final on ARD. Now they are looking for songs for her, and no surprisingly Stefan Raab will write two songs, but also Alexander Rybak has expressed his will to write a song, and Guy Chambers is rumoured to do so as well. The good thing about all this is that the songwriters won't be made public until the selection is over.  Lena is the first Eurovision winner to return to the contest since 1950's when Lys Assia did three years in a row from 1956 to 1958, and Corry Brokken twice in 1957-1958.

RUV has made public the 16 lucky composers whose songs were selected amongst the 174 songs sent in. As usual they at this point published only the composers, after all Eurovision is a song contest, isn't it? They will let us know in January the artists and song titles. Amongst the composers we have as usual some familiar names, like Hallgrimur Óskarsson, composer for Open your heart , Matthias Stefánsson, composer of Out of sight , Jógvan Hansen , Ragnar and Sigurjón and Pétur Örn Guðmundsson, backing vocalist for Euroband, Hera Björk and Et Cetera.  The Icelandic final is set to February 12, 2011 so we will have a Nordic weekend indeed as Finland and Norway will choose their songs the same night.  Albert Guðmann Jónsson Arnar Ástráðsson Hallgrímur Óskarsson Haraldur Reynisson Ingvi Þór Kormáksson Jakob Jóhannsson Jógvan Hansen-Vignir Snær Vigfússon Jóhannes Kári Kristinsson María Björk Sverrisdóttir Matthías Stefánsson Orri Harðarson-Tómas Hermannsson Pétur Örn Guðmundsson...

It looks like Iezzi sisters Paola and Chiara are back big time - or where they really never gone? After the summer hit Pioggia d'estate here's the new single and title track from their new album Milleluci . Already in top-5. The girls are rumoured to be in consideration for Sanremo 2011 and indeed it could be a good break, timing seems pretty perfect for them. They have released so far six albums and one greatest hits since 1997 when they won the newcomers section of Sanremo. And meantime scored several megahits in Italy and abroad like Vamos a bailar , Festival , Cambiare pagina , Viva el amor , Hey , A modo mio , You give me love , Fino alla fine and Amici come prima .

Father McKenzie is one of the three acts that qualified from the open internet selection with their Good enough . Time will tell is they're good enough to go all the way (sorry, couldn't resist!). The band is a Finnish-Swedish coctail and has its base in Sweden. They have been playing together for a couple of years now and picked their name from Eleanor Rigb y by the Beatles. Tobias Granbacka is the singer/keyboarder, Emil Johansson bassist/vocalist, Simon Larsson plays drums and sings backing vocals and the guitarist is Jochum Juslin. That's all I found to tell about them so they're real newcomers. Father McKenzie will be taking part in the second semifinal on January 21, 2011 with Good enough .