Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

So, it happened. All the songs made in Sweden in the semifinals made it to the final where they join the other four so there will be ten songs among 26, or 38,5% . I'm not sure what I should think about this really.... 01. United Kingdom:  Engelbert Humperdinck –  "Love Will Set You Free"  Martin Terefe, Sacha Skarbek. 08. Cyprus:  Ivi Adamou –  ”La La Love”   Alex Papaconstantinou, Björn Djupström, Alexandra Zakka, Viktor Svensson. 10. Italy:  Nina Zilli –  "L'Amore È Femmina"   Nina Zilli, Christian Rabb, Kristoffer Sjökvist, Frida Molander, Charlie Mason. 12. Norway:  Tooji –  ”Stay”   Tooji, Peter Boström, Figge Boström. 13. Azerbaijan:  Sabina Babayeva –  "When the Music Dies"  Anders Bagge, Sandra Bjurman, Johan Kronlund, Stefan Örn. 16.  Greece:  Eleftheria Eleftheriou –  "Aphrodisiac"   Dimitri Stassos, Mikaela Stenström, Dajana Lööf. 17.  Swed...

Or so the Swedish tabloids write today. All this because if that sensitive question in last night's winner's press conference. Margarita Antidze of Reuters Georgia asked about Loreen's political activities and her visit to meet the opposition in Azerbaijan. The EBU's spokesperson stepped in and asked the journalists to ask only questions relevant to the Eurovision song contest before Loreen answered she has two sides, the private one and the artists one. Here and now she is the artist one and would like to keep the good energy going they have created in the contest and in the press conference. Had she answered with a political response, according the rules she might have been disqualified from the contest. (Really?) End of story. 

My flying reporter Robert chatted a bit with Pastora Soler the other day. Read about her initial reaction to TVE's proposal and her plans after Eurovision here: Pastora, thank you for this interview! You are pretty much an estasblished artist in the Spanish speaking countries. What do you wish to gain with this participation? I wish to enjoy this experience. I think this is a very imporatnt event in Europe and for me it's very important stage to sing in and to promote my music not only in Europe but in Latin America, too. I hope to cross over to the non-Spanish speaking markets and release my music there, too. Did you concider Eurovision before or is this the first year when you thought it might be a good idea? No! I never thought to go to Eurovision before. Never in my life! It was a surprise when TVE asked me to do it and first I was a bit afraid as it's also a risk but then I thought it will be a wonderful experience and here I am. What are your plans aft...

EBU has its press conference yesterday and some interesting provisional facts were announced about the next year's contest, wherever it will be: - The provisional dates are May 14 and 16 for the semifinals, 18 for the final .  -  Possible that future contests may be on a smaller scale and there may be possible changes to rehearsal schedules to economise on time and financial costs . This indeed sounds good. The venues don't work well if too big in my opinion (remember Denmark?) and kind of lose a bit of the feeling. Smaller is cosier and much more fun! Even when you look at it on TV. I think a venue with 15-20.000 is ideal. How they will shorten the rehearsal schedules? I have no idea. Longer days for everybody? This year's timetables were very friendly if you compare to Helsinki 2007 for example but on the other hand if you look  country like Iceland, they have to be in Baku for over 2 weeks and that can't be very cheap! -  60th anniversary is a...

Spain has the best chances to win wih Pastora Soler's Quedate conmigo since 1995 in my opinion. Is it because of that the Spanish TV and Pastora herself (apparently) have declared Spain is not willing to win because "it wouldn't be the right moment for Spain and the Spanish" and "Spain wouldn't be able to organize next year's contest due financial situation". Oh well. What can one say to statements like that? Stay tuned for an exclusive interview with Pastora Soler coming up here later today!

Well, what can I say? I got 8+2 right in my prediction. Only Georgia missed the final and I can only be happy for that, lol! Out of my three reserves for the last spot two made it replacing Georgia and the 10th place. So, pretty much a jack pot. I still got it! ) Actually I changed Malta as a reserve and Georgia in the very last minute so it was pretty close being 9+1.  As for the performances I think this one had much shakier ones compared to the semifinal one. The Netherlands, Ukraine, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Estonia and Bosnia & Herzegovina clearly were not at their best. Still some managed to reach the final which is good and we can only hope better performances from them come Saturday's final. The interval act with the former winners was painfully bad. Did they have any rehearsals? All of them sounded pretty awful and over performed their entries... and we don't even talk about the version of Waterloo .... And why did they perform Waterloo in the first place? Offci...

Loreen's troubles are not over. Just when we have been wondering if she's lost her voice or not, and if certain delegations have it with here (read more here ) she has angered the Azeris themselves. Ali Hasanov, a represent of president Ilham Aliyev's regime stated: "EBU must take action and stop this making politics" after Loreen met some opposite activist on Wednesday (wasn't she supposed to be not talking and save her voice?). The Swedish ambassador has been called to clarify the situation for the Azeri rulers. All this while the demonstrations continue in Baku. The police told they have arrested 30-35 activists near the national TV station's studios asking for freedom of expression. Loreen has also spoken out about the other contestants just being too polite and pushing the human right issues and problems aside. She condemns the regime's actions and has asked the other artists to do the same. She has also spoken her mind about the Azeri organi...

The Russian grannies Buranovskiye Babushki have become very popular and loved in Finland since they were selected and they enjoy adoring media's support here. I'm pretty sure the Finnish 12 will go to Russia this year. No wonder, as they come from Udmurtia and sing in Udmurt, a language related to Finnish. As we know their aim was to collect enough money to rebuilt their church in Buranovo and that aim is already achieved. Their other wish was a bible in Udmurt and here is where Finns can help: The Finnish bible society Pipliaseura will help and finance that! Olga Tutarjova of the grannies comments: "We would understand the bible much better in Udmurt than in Russian. The Udmurt language is very dear to us. The song we are singing was only in English at first but we refused to sing it as we are Udmurts, not English. We can only sing from the bottom of our heart and express the joy we feel  in Udmurt only."

Estonian Ott Lepland has used his Baku stay also for creating a new music video for his song Imede öö , or Night of wonders . Hopefully the wonders are not finished for him and he will qualify tonight for the final as his Kuula is one of the best songs in the running....

Tonight's it's the second semifinal and if I thought predicting the first one was hard (which ended pretty well in the end after all, here ) now I realize I'm in a serious trouble deciding on the second one. Not as serious as Iran and Azerbaijan, the former withdrawing its ambassador from Baku for consultation in Tehran over Eurovision. But the ones I wish will go to the final are Serbia, Macedonia, Malta, Slovenia, Croatia, Sweden, Estonia, Norway and Bosnia & Herzegovina. And then either Belarus or Lithuania, can't really decide between those two. But that's what I want, not what I think will make it.... So, the real prediction is this: Serbia, Macedonia, Ukraine, Sweden, Turkey, Estonia, Norway, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Georgia and then one of these: Belarus, Malta or Lithuania.

The tabloids are milking any news about the Buranovskiye babushki. We already know they are in Baku 2012 eight even if only six are allowed on stage. We also know they live outside the city in a villa and have participated only in the obligatory happenings like the rehearsals and the opening party... But did you know that out of these six on stage two are no grannies at all! Pictured on top we have Olga Tuktaryova (left). She's only 43 and has two kids. No grandchildren. No granny! Alevtina Begisheva (second from right), 54, also has no grandchildren. No granny either! But the whole Europe's favorite granny Nataliya Pugacheva, 76, the smallest of them, all has grandchildren and even six great grandchildren! Does that make it even? :-)

My flying reporter Robert had a very private interview with Kaliopi as the icing on his fantastic cake of work he did for me and for you readers in Baku. It is long, it is deep, it is fun. In one word: it's a treat! Sit back, have a cup of coffee and enjoy: Thank you Kaliopi for this interview. I have been trying to get hold of you all week and finally I have you here, just in time before I leave back to Amsterdam! I hope it's not because I'm such a big Diva! No, no... It has been so busy and you know now we have the pleasure to be alone ! Without other people around :-) No journalists, just you and me here in my hotel having coffee and tea or chai... isn't this nice ? Yes indeed. But let's get to business. Maybe not all readers know you very well so how would you describe Kaliopi? What are your qualities? What do you find important in life? Hmmm, it's always difficult to talk about yourself but I try to be honest. It's very heavy to be honest. I...

Finns have usually taken their Eurovision seriously but not this year it seems. The tabloid's poll on Tuesday to the question Will Finland qualify? stated 80% of No answers so the expectations were not very high. Even at my work place when the matter is usually discussed no one talked about Eurovision yesterday or today either, if not a laconic "Finland is out, isn't it?". I never believed Finland could make it this year. I hoped for it but never believed. It was clear since January. Even worse was the poll after the semifinal: Should Finland have qualified?  89% answered No. Pernilla has been commenting this as "a wonderful experience" and "once in a lifetime opportunity" and apparently she had a great trip in Baku 2012. She also states she is 100% satisfied with her performance and that everything went as good as possible.  YLE is doing UMK again in 2013. One can send entries from September 1, 2012 but more details on that later. 

The news from Baku tell Loreen has lost her voice. Well, almost. The doctors have forbidden her to talk and rest her voice for tomorrow's second semifinal. But not only. She has also angered some other delegations, namely Norwegian, Danish and now Serbian ones for only making a very brief appearance in their parties! She has also had the courage to talk about the problems in Azerbaijan, their organizing skills mainly. She comments in the Swedish tabloids: "We are here for music, not to party. We take this seriously and if we appear secure and that may cause the others fell insecure and provoke them." The tight rehearsal shedule, the promotion and dozens of interviews with the air condition has caused Loreen's voice problems. "I just need to rest my voice now and if I manage to do that all will be fine. otherwise I may not even get to the final" she concludes.  Loreen is the biggest fan and poll favorite this year along with Russian grannies and Italy...

After last year's poor viewing figures the Italian fans were all wondering how it will go this year and can RAI make Eurovision interesting to Italians again. So far it it looking good. The share on RAI5 has nearly doubled from last year as it was 64.000 or 0,23% that mirror's the channels prime time figures. So, if they didn't gain that many viewers at least they didn't lose them to other channels either! This said, the figures are of course very small compared to most other countries but it is a small step to the right direction. But also the media has treated Eurovision this week with some attention one could have only dreamed before. TV Sorrisi e Canzoni, leading TV guide dedicates to Eurovision 2012 three pages. Yes three as in 3! Something that hasn't happened since early 1980's it seems. Also the other TV Guides have mostly mentioned Nina Zilli and Eurovision with pictures in their Saturday's program guide.  But the fans have made a special eff...

San Marino and Valentina Monetta didn't make it last night to the final but so what? You have a chance to win her promo pack including her CD-single, poster and more. There are 5 promo packs to win! Just answer the following question: What was San Marino's placing in the first semifinal (11th-18th)? Send your answer by Saturday May 26, 8pm CET to the comments box here. (Please note your answer will not show publicly there as it is set private). What are you waiting for? Send your answer now! Good luck! The CD includes The Social network song (oh oh-uh-oh oh) and it's karaoke version, four Club remixes and as a bonus another song, I'll follow the sunshine . There's also the video and the making of, photos and video greetings etc.

Phew, in the end I did quite well :-) I got 8 right plus one of those I had as a reserve :-) The show was good and went on smoothly and many singers seemed to be in a good mood, relaxed and smiley which is always nice to look at. The postcards were beautiful, but then if you have such views and buildings to show.... The idea of the flags projected on Crystal Hall's outside was good. The performances were in general good, none was outstanding but then no one did very badly either. A very solid stuff. I was very pleased for the Albanian's huge applause and noticed that Romania did have some technical problems in Elena's ear piece. Once she took it off she sounded much better. Good for them! Did anyone else think the sound of the backing tracks was a bit low compared to the sound of singing? I was wondering if it was that or my poor TV but when they showed the Big5+1 videos I noticed it wasn't my TV.... So, the finalists I predicted are Iceland, Greece, Romania, C...

Ok, dear readers! It's almost time. The excitements grows and we are just about to see live again an Eurovision semifinal! Who will qualify? Results and comments right after here as usual. Now I just wish you all a great evening wherever you are, amici vicini e lontani... Let juries and televoters make wise decisions :-) Have fun and enjoy the evening!  PS. YLE has a nice "preview show" just before the live broadcast: A documentary of human right issues in Azerbaijan....

My flying reporter Robert met Can Bonomo, a singer, musicians, poet and fashion designer! They chatted about his musical background, what does he value in a person, why he is in Eurovision and his fashion sense. And why his demos have such great acoustics? And what was his initial reaction to Rona Nishliu's voice?! Read it here: How would you describe yourself, like what are your values and what you find important in life? Wow, that's a deep question. Hmmm... I think all that matters in life is the present moment, now. The other thing that is very important to me is the art. It takes a lot of space in my life. And my family of course. What do you dislike and like in other people if talk about values? Disliking is a strong word, I don't want to say I don't like something. I appreciate people who fight for themselves. A quality that I look for in my friends and people around me is that they are in peace with themselves. When did you know that you wanted to b...

Ok, here goes. My prediction. I have to say I have never been so unsure about the qualifiers as this year. Out of these 18 I don't think no one can be rules out just like that (No, not even Montenegro and San Marino!) I have only five songs that I'm pretty sure will make it: Russia, Romania, Cyprus, Ireland and Denmark. Then we have a group of wight countries I'm not sure of. And then another group of five countries that I think won't make it (Hungary, Switzerland, Montenegro, Israel and Belgium) but even that includes three songs that I like a lot! In fact, out of 18 I like them all more or less. If I have to put someone last it's Belgium, but I even like it somehow when I hear it, the after is the problem... totally forgettable.  So, decision time: Cyprus, Denmark, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Latvia, Moldova, Romania, Russia and....  One of these: Albania, Finland or Austria! Maybe. I don't know!

Due to the terrible bus accident in Albania RTSH will not broadcast tonight's first semifinal live. Therefor also their jury votes from last night are decisive. Eurovision.tv writes: "Jon Ola Sand, Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest on behalf of the EBU, says: "We express our deepest sympathy with those who are affected by this terrible tragedy and have the utmost respect for the request of RTSH." The decision has no consequences for Albania's participation in the contest. RTSH has informed the EBU they will transmit the second Semi-Final and the Final of the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest live."

After seeing the second dress rehearsal, the one that the juries vote in hasn't make things any easier. Most of them did well and were vocally good but surprisingly many were a little off in the beginning on their songs; Jónsi, Eleftheria, Pernilla, Soluna.... just to name a few. Is there a general problem as so many are doing this? And do we want to talk about the grannies? LOL. But everyone also picked up very fast so no problems there really. The show seemed to go rather smoothly. We have a break after Albania and after Russia. Good. I think an average viewer may need a moment after those two entries to pull himself together - for different reasons though. Apparently San Marino gets the honor to be interviewed in a visit to greenroom being the smallest nation in the contest. And the green room is, as everyone must know by now, in the middle of the audience! But why is Jedward without their hairdo and in those dresses? :-( But jumping into the fountain makes it all good...

Last night Ralph Siegel celebrated 40 years in Eurovision, 30 years from the first victory, 20th song in Eurovision and basically that he is back one more time. The symphatetic man hosted a nice dinner with lots of wine and food. The tables were all nicely set. The grand old mister Eurovision was clearly moved at times. He gave speeches and awarded the whole Sanmarino team. There was a video presented with a short review of all his 20 eurovision entries starting with Bye Bye I love you by Ireen Sheer for Luxemburg and ending with the Sanmarino song of this year by Valentina Monetta. Look at the pics of the party to get an idea.:) Robert was there for you. He also previously interviewed him here.   And here's a little reminder: Bye Bye I love you, Sing sang song, Dschingis Khan, Theater, Papa Pingouin, Johnny Blue, Ein biscchen frieden, Children Kinder enfants, Lass die Sonne in dein Herz, Lied  für    einen Freund, Frei zu leben, Träume sind...

It has just begun I hear. Nearly 30 minutes late as it seems to be the habit. For the first time all the entries in semifinal one, the opening and interval acts and the presenters on same stage,one after another. And guess what? I'm not following, I rather wash my windows and enjoy this sudden heatwave we have here in Helsinki region making it feel a bit like Baku 2012. I have been trying to make my prediction of the qualifiers but honestly I still have no clue! Call me clueless but I am at this very moment. This year I have been avoiding to read what the other sites and bloggers think about everything - last year I changed my predictions last moment based too much on those comments, polls and predictions and got it all wrong. If I stuck to my own opinions I got it much closer to the real thing. In the final that is. The semifinals I did fairly well, did I have 8/10 and 9/10 or was it 7/10? Anyways, I will get to that tomorrow.... Meanwhile enjoy this interview with Nina Zi...

My flying reporter Robert managed to get hold of Nina Zilli for a quick interview even if her entourage was dragging her away but what doesn't Nina do for Blogilkar and all it's Italian readers? Anyways, she talks about her Eurovision knowledge, her dress and shoes, and reveals Italy just might be ready to win and host the contest in 2013. But where? Find it out here: Did you know what you got yourself into when you said ”si” to Eurovision? It's kind of madness here, isn't it? Yes and no. And yes, it is! Sanremo is pretty much the same but it's even worse! It's so busy there, it's one week and we have to sing every night! I kinda like this one better! Did you follow Eurovision before? Yes of course because Raphael Gualazzi and Italy came back last year. Plus I really love Raphael, he's such a great artist! I was so happy for him! But did you follow it when Italy was not in the contest? Oh no. As Italy was away for some many yea...