Life after Helsinki 2007 Eurovision

Album of the year, or a decade?  No doubt one of the best debut albums ever by anyone if you ask me. If her single releases ( Hei rakas, Tivolit, Frida ) have been just wonderful the album offers still many to come as there are no real fillers.  In many ways the whole BEHM affair reminds me of Chisu when she came out: A female artists who writes her songs and produces herself after writing songs to others and never aiming to become a singer herself. And here we are, only BEHM's debut beats Chisus's debut album in every way, Chisu blossomed only with the following alhums that earned her several awards and the historic, first ever Producer of the Year award for a female artist in Emma awards, the Finnish Grammys. I wouldn't be surprised if BEHM picks up the Newcomer, the Female artist, the song, the album awards at least next spring. The album Draaman kaari viehättää (#1) sold platinum before its release, All the songs entered the top-15 in the streaming charts.  But back ...

EBU and the Dutch organizers of Eurovision song contest 2021 in Rotterdam have made today public the four scenarios they have prepared for the next Eurovision as the Covid-19 pandemic situation is waking up all over Europe again as the Wave two is getting into full swing. How long it will last no one knows..... The scenario A is of course the normal Eurovision with full audience, press, fans and all the holabaloo in the city. Business as usual in short. Everyone's hoping for this, of course, but without being too pessimistic it seems rather unlikely but one can always hope and pray! That would demand a working vaccine, truly reliable testing etc.  The scenario B is the almost business as usual but with social distancing 1-2 meters meaning only half the audience in the arena, less media, delegation people and fans on the spot, Add masks and a lot of restrictions as we are already used to. The show on television would be almost as usual. The scenario C would be like B with ad...

 

 

La Notte della Taranta is a big Italian festival of popular folk music of Apulia region (and not only) celebrating especially the pizzica folk dance of the deep south and music culminating in the big final concert with special guest stars. This year in Salento those were local hero Diodato, Mahmood and Gianna Nannini.  It was a perfect occasion for Mahmood to celebrate his Egyptian roots with a wonderful arrangement of an old song in Arabic, the very same he sings about in his hit Giovenu bruciata , that his father sung out of tune in the car when Mahmood was a kid: "Mettevi in macchina le tue canzoni arabe e Stonavi e poi mi raccontavi vecchie favole" The song's arrangement by Paolo Buonvino isn't exactly faithful to the original but mixes also pizzica elements and Italian feeling to it even if the Arabic influences are loud and clear.  Mahmood's next surprise is a duet with Andrea Bocelli.... stay tuned! Ps. Check out also Diodato ...

The Sanremo 70+1 festival would be cancelled altogether if the Covid-19 pandemia is still around in March, there's no Plan B, Amadeus the artistic director and host of the festival next year told to the media today. They have no intention of doing a festival without audience and the live orchestra in Teatro Ariston when the festival is due to happen from March 2 to 6, 2021, they will do it only if it can happen in a normal, the usual way. If not, they rather cancel it altogether. The fact is should it happen now the restrictions in place wouldn't let it take place.  However, the production team tries to stay positive and hope that Sanremo 2021 will indeed be The First Big Event Post-Covid-19. The work choosing the artists and songs starts officially next week but according Amadeus he has already received a few hopeful proposals. Before that in October there will be five nights of Ama Sanremo   to find out the six of the eight newcomers for the festivals out of about 5...

Next on Senhit's #FreakytriptoRotterdam is the Dutch winning song from 1975, Ding A Dong that comes with a Oscar Wilde quote, Wonder sista and Teach-In's Getty Kaspers herself.. Enjoy! Check out also CHEESECAKE EVERYWAY THAT I CAN

"Se dig omkring, Var det det här vi drömde, drömde Är det någonting, Någonting vi glömde, glömde Har vi en planet fylld av mänsklighet Hela mitt liv har jag försökt att fråga Fråga och få ett svar... " Those lines of lyrics are ones that have burned into my mind like no other, since I heard them one summer night in 1983 as opening number of Carola's summer tour in Sweden. She was still behind the stage and her voice alone gave shivers to the audience listening in silence before exploding the applause and cheers when she entered the stage when the beat came in. Priceless moments.  Of course I knew the song from her debut album that I had listened by then about a half zillion times on vinyl. The song stayed with me and I heard it live again in Helsinki when she was doing concert here in 2015. And now thanks to Zara Larsson she has re-recorded and re-released it as a single due to public demand. Sometimes a simple pop song can go so far..... (And it...

    Katri Helena is no doubt THE Finnish female singer, The White'n'Blue Voice. Over six decades she has delivered hits and painted the Finnish mind landscape with her songs, many of them that have proven ageless over the years.  She has recorded nearly 500 songs, released over 50 albums and sold almost two million records and she can cover a wall or two with her gold, platimun and diamond discs. Besides doing Eurovision song contest twice for Finland, she also did Rostock 1965, Cannes 1967 and Sopot 1969. She has performed in Japan, France, Estonia, USSR, DDR and Poland. In Finland she's been touring and performing since 1963 and over the decades won several awards. She has taken part in the Finnish Eurovision national final Euroviisut six times and you can enjoy those songs below: 1965 - Minne tuuli kuljettaa (1st/3rd) The 1965 Euroviisut is still remembred but for all the wrong reasons. Katri Helena actually won the public voting - and many still b...