Elitsa Todorova and Stoyan Yankulov become heroes in a comic book

Elitsa Todorova and Stoyan Yankulov, the Bulgarian duet, which ranked fifth in the Eurovision contest in 2007, became comic book heroes.
Todorova herself came up with the idea for the story of the comic book, avtora.com said.

Her character would fight against dark forces. She restored the people and animals desire for love with rhythm, songs and dances.

A giant and a skilled hero, resembling Yankulov, help Todorova’s character fight against evil.
The comic book’s message was to keep Earth clean. Todorova and Yankulov would support the cause with their new song Zemya (Earth).

Japanese publishers were already interested in the comic book and planned to release it in Tokyo, avtora.com said.

Currently, Elitsa was writing the second part of the story.

It would be sold with a set of drumsticks, carrying Todorova and Yankulov’s signatures.

source:sofiaecho.com;

photo:elitsatodorova.com

JESC 2007: The complete schedule

The schedule for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest week in Rotterdam has been finalised.

On Monday 3rd December, the event kicks off with an opening party at the Hilton Hotel in Rotterdam.

The first rehearsals and excursions are scheduled for Tuesday 4th December. Find the complete schedule below.

Monday 3rd December

19.30 – 22.00 . Opening party, Hilton Hotel

Tuesday 4th December

09.45 – 16.00 Excursion in Rotterdam

Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, The Netherlands, FYR Macedonia, Ukraine, Sweden, Malta, Greece, Lithuania, Belarus

13.45 – 14.30 . Georgia rehearsal, Ahoy Arena

14.30 – 15.15 . Belgium rehearsal, Ahoy Arena

15.15 – 16.00 . Armenia rehearsal , Ahoy Arena

16.30 – 17.15 . Cyprus rehearsal, Ahoy Arena

17.15 – 18.00 . Portugal rehearsal, Ahoy Arena

18.00 – 18.45 . Russia rehearsal, Ahoy Arena

19.30 – 22.00 . Dance-rehearsal joint song One World, Off-Corso

Wednesday 5th December

09.45 – 16.00 . Excursion in Rotterdam

Georgia, Belgium, Armenia, Cyprus, Portugal, Russia

08.30 – 09.15 . Romania rehearsal, Ahoy Arena

09.15 – 10.00 . Bulgaria rehearsal, Ahoy Arena

10.00 – 10.45 . Serbia rehearsal, Ahoy Arena

11.00 – 11.45 . The Netherlands rehearsal, Ahoy Arena

11.45 – 12.30 . FYR Macedonia rehearsal, Ahoy Arena

13.15 – 14.00 . Ukraine rehearsal, Ahoy Arena

14.00 – 14.45 . Sweden rehearsal, Ahoy Arena

14.45 – 15.30 . Malta rehearsal, Ahoy Arena

16.00 – 16.45 . Greece rehearsal, Ahoy Arena

16.45 – 17.30 . Lithuania rehearsal, Ahoy Arena

17.30 – 18.15 . Belarus rehearsal, Ahoy Arena

20.00 – 22.00 . Sinterklaas evening, Off-Corso

Thursday 6th December

08.30 – 11.30 . Run through, Ahoy Arena

Georgia, Belgium, Armenia, Cyprus, Portugal, Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia

12.00 – 13.00 . Press conference, press centre

12.45 – 15.30 . Rehearsal opening show and joint song One World

15.45 – 18.25 . Run through, Ahoy Arena

The Netherlands, FYR Macedonia, Ukraine, Sweden, Malta, Greece, Lithuania, Belarus

20.00 – 22.00 . Euro disco in Off-Corso

Friday 7th December

15.30 – 17.45 . First dress rehearsal, Ahoy Arena

20.15 – 22.30 . Second dress rehearsal, Ahoy Arena

Saturday 8th December

14.00 – 18.00 . Make-up for all countries

20.15 – 22.30 . Live broadcast Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2007

23.00 – 02.00 . After party

source:belgovision.com

San Marino joins Eurovision

SMTV, San Marino's state broadcaster confirmed they will join the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade next May.

There is an official application to the European Broadcasting Union.

The attention turns into Italy now because half of the broadcaster is actually owned by RAI, the Italian national broadcaster.

source:oikotimes.com

Verka Serduchka a.k.a. Andrei Danilko in hospital

Verka Serduchka a.k.a. Andrei Danilko has been hospitalized recently with pains in his back.

Danilko was taken to one of Kyiv's private clinics where he was diagnosed with 'infringement of a back nerve and vegetative dysfunction'. That is to say, that besides the pains in a back, hypertension was added to the medical findings.

Verka's manager Igor Klinkov explains that illness of the actor is typical of fatigue. "Last year was a very difficult one for us, It is no surprise, that Andrey is overtired and got hypertension ".

Doctors tried to get Andrei back on his feet as soon as possible, because he has to be present at Phillip Kirkorov's birthday concerts and on December 1st he has to leave for London to continue shooting of the programme for one of the Ukrainian channels.

Andrey's physicians did not give any guarantees, but have treated the problem successfully for the time being.

Andrey Danilko has been dismissed from hospital.

sources:esctoday.com;unian.net

Eurovision Song Contest 2008 format

eurovision.tv reports:

SIX POTS

To determine which country will be represented in which Semi-Final, a draw will take place in late January. Based on research conducted by the EBU’s tele-voting partner Digame, analyzing the voting of the Eurovision Song Contest since 2004, the participating countries will be divided into six pots to avoid returning voting patterns.

BIG FOUR Countries

Each broadcaster will of course have to broadcast the Semi-Final they are taking part in. Broadcast of the other Semi-Final is optional. Host country Serbia and the so called Big Four-countries Spain, France, the United Kingdom and Germany, are automatically qualified for the Final. It was decided that each of the qualified Finalists will have to broadcast and vote in one of the Semi-Final, along with those countries that are taking part in it. Broadcast of the other Semi-Final is optional. By draw, also late January, it will be decided which two of the Big Four-countries will broadcast and vote in the first Semi-Final, and which two in the second Semi-Final. Finally, a draw will determine in which Semi-Final the host country will be able to vote. The draw for the running order of the two Semi-Finals and the Final will take place during the Heads of Delegation meeting in mid-March.

BACKUP JURIES

In each Semi-Final, the top-9 from the public televoting results will qualify for the Final. The highest ranked back-up jury participant that did not qualify for the Final at the public tele-voting will also qualify for the Final. This means in each Semi-Final, 10 participants will qualify for the Final, bringing the total number of participants in the Final to 25. The voting in the Final will remain unchanged and all participating countries, including those who did not qualify for the Final, will be able to vote.

Svante Stockselius, the EBU’s Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, said to Eurovision.tv: "We are confident that the approved format revisions will take the Eurovision Song Contest to a higher level, by adding exciting elements and, above all, by making the competition more fair and the results more credible."

First Semifinal: Tuesday, 20.05.2008

Second Semifinal : Thursday, 22.05.2008

Final: Saturday, 24.05.2008

The preliminary date for rehearsals to start is Sunday 11th of May and the preliminary opening date for the press centre and accreditation desk is Saturday 10th of May.

D'NASH release new videoclip

D'NASH will be releasing their forthcoming album, including their latest single, on 4th December, titled Todo Va A Cambiar.
This is Spanish version of Amanda the videoclip of their latest song.

sources:esctoday.com;youtube.com

No Eurovision for Austria

Austrian broadcaster ORF will not be sending a representative to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008. ORF say political voting and an unclear concept for the two semifinal concept are the reasons for their withdrawal. As long as politics rule the Eurovision Song Contest, ORF won't return to the competition.

ORF programme director Wolfgang Lorenz states that the Eurovision Song Contest is a clear sign of the complicated nature of a united Europe. "We have already seen in 2007 that it's not the quality of the song, but the country of origin that determines the decision," Lorenz says. "As long as the Eurovision Song Contest is a political parade and not an international entertainment programme, ORF has no desire to send more Austrian talent to a competition in which they have no chances. Should the situation change, we will be happy to take part again," Lorenz concludes.

read more on belgovision.com

ESC 2008:Two semifinals to be broadcast live

esctoday.com reports:

Svante Stockselius, Executive Supervisor for the Eurovision Song Contest, confirmed in an email to esctoday.com that the proposal put forwards for approval is for both semi finals to be broadcast live. Each country will broadcast the semi final in which they participate in and can vote in that semi final.

With both shows being broadcast live on Tuesday 20th May and Thursday 22nd May, broadcasters will be able to broadcast both shows live if they wish to do so. esctoday.com has also learned that the provisional list of countries that have applied to participate at the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest will be announced in December, although no date has yet been decided upon.

More informations on esctoday.com

Marija Serifovic meets with Azerbaijani officials

esctoday.com reports:

Marija Serifovic, the Serbian 2007 Eurovision Song Contest winner, met with Azerbaijani officials on a state visit to Serbia. Marija was presented with a traditional Azerbaijani scarf especially embroidered for her by the members of her newly-found fan club in the country.

read more on esctoday.com

Sakis Rouvas: New CD and DVD soon

Towards the end of the month, Sakis Rouvas will be releasing his live CD and DVD, called This is my Live. Both were recorded during his live concert at the Lycabetus theatre in Athens, Greece, last September. The album will also contain Sakis’ latest track Stous 31 dromous, soundtrack of the homonymous TV series filmed in Astoria, NY, USA.

Sakis Rouvas - Stous 31 Dromous


sources:esctoday.com;youtube.com

Mihai Traistariu wants to do Eurovision again

Mihai Traistariu, the artist who represented Romania in the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest given an exclusive interview to esctoday.com about his plans, about his new album and its final release date, about the trip to USA for the L.A. Awards and of course about his possible participation in a future Eurovision Song Contest.

Mihai Traistariu definitely wants to walk on Eurovision stage once more, the contest has changed his entire life and he would happily participate again but only when the right song comes along.

In his interview, exclusively for the esctoday.com readers, he spoke about Love is... his forthcoming album about to be released sometime around Christmas, and about the charity concert with Marija Serifovic in Serbia.

Mihai will soon be travelling to the USA for the LA Awards ceremony where he hopes to walk away with one of the awards and a record deal with an American label.
You can read the full interview here

Europe prepares for Belgrade

eurovision.tv reports:

With still more than five months on the count down counter towards the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest, Europe is looking ahead with the following question in mind: Who do we send to Belgrade?

In Iceland and Bulgaria, the respective national public broadcasters already kicked off with their national selections. After numerous semi-finals, national finals should then decide who will represent Iceland and Bulgaria in Belgrade.

More than 3,000 entries in Sweden

Several other countries already announced details about their selection methods for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest.

In Sweden, more than 3,000 songs were submitted to broadcaster SVT, out of which a selection committee hand-picked the 28 songs for Melodifestivalen 2008.

After four semi-finals, a second-chance heat and a grand final at Stockholm's Globen Arena, Europe will know Sweden's representative for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest.

For those who can't wait to find out, we have disappointing news; The Swedish final takes place on 15th March, which leaves plenty of time to speculate about the performers of the songs and the potential finalists.

On the 14th and 15th of December, the national semi-finals in Albania take place. On the 16th, we will know who will succeed Frederik NDOCI and his wife Aida. They represented Albania at the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki, Finland.

Selections underway across Europe

Several other broadcasters announced how and when they will pick their country's representative for Belgrade. From Finland to Malta and from Estonia to Denmark, preparations for the national selections are underway. The Dutch-speaking part of Belgium, Flanders, is looking forward to the Eurosong 2008 semi-finals, while Dutch broadcaster NOS has announced that the artist representing the Netherlands will be picked internally.

What to expect

Eurovision.tv will keep you posted about the national selections on a regular basis.

In January, Eurovision.tv will unveil the website for Belgrade 2008. Between January and mid-March, we will extensively cover the national heats and the preparations in Belgrade. The second half of March and April are completely dedicated to the upcoming contest and the preparations of the participating singers.

Maximum 45 countries at Eurovision Song Contest 2008

belgovision.com reports:

Maximum 45 countries will be allowed to take part in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade. That means that no more than 20 countries will compete in each of the two semifinals.

Five countries are directly qualified for the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2008: host country Serbia and the Big Four countries Germany, France, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Since the maximum number of countries allowed to take part in next year's festival is 45, maximum 40 countries will be allowed to compete in the heats, consisting of two semifinals.

Until 15th November, all interested broadcasters can subscribe for participation. Until 14th December tey can withdraw without any cost. At the end of 2007, the participant list for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 can be expected.

Elitsa and Stoyan win the Crystal Lyre Award 2007

An annual award ceremony "The Crystal Lyre 2007" held earlier this month brought a victory to Elitsa & Stoyan, who represented Bulgaria in the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki.

The duet won in the category "Pop & Rock". This award is one of many received throughout the year by the duet, but many consider it the most important .

A week ago, Elitsa and Stoyan returned from their tour in Japan where they successfully presented their new single Earth together with a comic book entitled "The Elements", written by Daniel Atanasov. Both the the song and the comic book are part of the duo's environmental project which aims to raise awareness for the preservation of the planet.

You can download the song here

Elitsa & Stoyan EARTH

sources:esctoday.com;elitsatodorova.com;stoyankoulov.com
photo:elitsatodorova.com

JESC 2007:AVRO provides Sinterklaas, ice ring and museum visit

Like at the Eurovision Song Contest, the Junior Eurovision Song Contest is joined by a varied social programme, however on a child's level. Dutch broadcaster AVRO and the city of Rotterdam joined forces to offer the candidates of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2007 a splendid time in Rotterdam.

To start with, the seventeen delegations taking part in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2007 will be welcomed by Ivo Opstelten, the Mayor of Rotterdam, and a special junior mayor of the city.

Furthermore the kids will visit the Maritime Museum of Rotterdam, make a boat trip and go ice skating on an ice skating ring in the centre of the city.

On Wednesday 5th December, the European kids will be introduced to Sinterklaas, the friend of all children who is world famous in the Netherlands and Flanders for bringing sweets and toys.

On Thursday, a party is scheduled in a local disco.

On Friday 7th and Saturday 8th, the serious jobs have to be done: the dress rehearsals and the live broadcast of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2007.

source:belgovision.com

ESCTODAY.COM AWARDS 2007

Last year, esctoday.com launched the annual esctoday.com awards. The scheme captured the hearts and minds of the Eurovision Song Contest community, international media, singers and record companies. Almost 18,000 people cast their votes. The 2007 Awards nominations are now being prepared and next week, the nominees will be announced.

Voting will begin on 23rd November and will remain open until December 23rd. The polls for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest awards will open the day after the event. To vote, you must be a registered esctoday.com member. Membership is free and allows you to vote in our online polls, react to articles and enter all competitions on the website.

Read more and register on esctoday.com

The full list of esctoday.com award categories:

EUROVISION SONG CONTEST 2007:

SONG OF THE YEAR

PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR

COMPOSER OF THE YEAR

LYRICIST OF THE YEAR

COMMENTATOR OF THE YEAR

VIDEO OF THE YEAR

BEST MALE PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR

BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR

BEST BAND PERFORMANCE OF THE YEAR

BEST ENTRY NOT TO QUALIFY FROM THE SEMI FINAL

BEST DRESSED PERFORMER(S) OF THE YEAR

WORST DRESSED PERFORMER(S) OF THE YEAR

NATIONAL FINALS 2007:

BEST NATIONAL FINAL 2007

BEST NATIONAL FINAL PERFORMANCE (EXCLUDING WINNER) OF THE YEAR

BEST MALE PERFORMANCE NOT TO QUALIFY FOR EUROVISION

BEST FEMALE PERFORMANCE NOT TO QUALIFY FOR EUROVISION

BEST BAND PERFORMANCE NOT TO QUALIFY FOR EUROVISION

JUNIOR EUROVISION SONG CONTEST 2007:

BEST SONG

BEST SINGER(S)

BEST PERFORMANCE

EUROVISION DANCE CONTEST 2007:

BEST PERFORMANCE

BEST COSTUMES

ESCTODAY.COM TEAM AWARDS:

BEST ARTICLE

EDITOR OF THE YEAR

BEST NEWCOMER

BEST REGIONAL PARTNER WEBSITE OF THE YEAR

OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTION TO EUROVISION AWARD:This award will be given based on services to the Eurovision Song Contest, whether it be by broadcaster, artist, individual or fan.

Dima Bilan's new single Gore-Zima. Watch the video!

According to the official website of the singer,Dima Bilan released a new single called Gore-Zima.The song was heard for the first time on "Russkoe Radio"on 3 november. But the same song was uploaded on youtube 4 weeks ago. Is this the new song?

Dima Bilan won MTV Best Russian Act

Dima Bilan won the MTV European Music Award (EMA) for the Best Russian Act, was announced last evening live from Munich, Germany. The other Eurovision Song Contest stars included in the Regional Best acts looses the prizes: In Turkey Sertab Erener and Kenan Dogulu, and in Sweden The Ark.

Avril Lavigne was elected artist of the year during the EMA. The female pop star defeated her US rival, Justin Timberlake. Linkin Park won Best Band Award. The Canadian/Portuguese artist Nelly Furtado won “Best Album” to her last hit "Loose".

You can see the complete list on oikotimes.com

source:oikotimes.com

European Songfestival for people with disabilities

12 countries in European Songfestival for people with disabilities.

Portugal is the host country of the 7th “European Songfestival for People with Mental Disabilities”, held next November 9.

Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Great Britain, Holland, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Portugal are the European selected entrants, in a contest unfortunately little spread in the media.

The last edition, held in Austria in 2005, was win by Portugal with the duo Rita Joana and Márcio Reis.

Since its first edition in 1994, six editions was already held. The organiser is EAPH - European Association for People with a Handicap. The main sponsor of each country is the Ministry of Social Affairs. The European Songfestival for People with Mental Disabilities shows the solidarity that gathers all the participants and supporters within the same goal.

READ MORE ON OIKOTIMES.COM

Nana Mouskouri performed in London

To mark 45 years on stage the internationally-acclaimed star had initiated a four-year World Fairwell tour.

Her next stop was London where the star had performed to a sold-out crowd at the Royal Albert Hall on Monday 29 October.

The other dates:

01/11 Glasgow / Royal Concert Hall
03/11 Birmingham / Symphony Hall
15/11 Saarbrücken / Saarlandhalle (Germany)
17/11 Liège / Le forum (Belgium)
18/11 Esch / Rockhal (Luxembourg)
20/11 Geneva / Arena (Switzerland)
24/11 Paris / Opera Garnier (France)

Nana Mouskouri has sold more than 300 million records internationally, recording about 1,500 songs in 15 languages on 450 albums.

source:lgr.co.uk

Serebro - Dyshi - VIDEO

D'NASH new album out on December 4th!

D'NASH , the Spanish boyband that represented Spain in the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest, will be releasing their latest album Todo Va A Cambiar on the 4th of December.

The new album will be featuriing the song Amanda which will be released as a single.

D'NASH will be presenting their latest single Amanda on the 3rd of November in a concert in Palma De Mallorca.

The boys shot to fame last February when they won the Spanish Eurovision heats of Mision Eurovision and got the chance to represent Spain with their song I Love You Mi Vida.

read more on esctoday.com

Anna Vissi in London charity concert on Saturday 3 November

Cypriot pop goddess will visit London on Saturday 3 November for a sold-out performance at the Covent Garden Hall.

Anna Vissi is set to perform at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden at the invitation of the Oinoussian Association and the Life Action.

The Cyprus diva is to be accompanied by the London Philarmonic Orchestra - the 35-piece orchestra will perform with Anna Vissi in the first segment of the show. The final segment will see the solo section - Anna Vissi performing her greatest hits to date.

The singer had visited Amsterdam (October 5), Brussels (October 7), and in Johannesburg at the Emperors Palace (October 13) where she guided the audience through her greatest hits to date.

She surprised the audience by singing John Elton's 'Sorry seems to be the hardest word' - "a song I love singing from when I was a child - well actually not a child" in a jibe to the crowd.

Anna had spoken of Greek communities abroad as an extension of "the other Greece" and wanted her tour to "seduce the non-Greeks with the Greek sound and make them feel Greek during the concert" .

The fans were whipped into a veritable frenzy as a result of Anna's charismatic fervour. Her concerts in Belgium and Netherlands saw people come from England, Germany, Greece and Cyprus - with at least half of those non-Greeks. Those performances were intended to honour the victims which followed Greece's wild fires.

Anna will conclude her tour in March with further visits to Germany, Switzerland, Sweden and many other European destinations.

The long-awaited album is set for release prior to the advent of Christmas.

source:London Greek Radio

JESC 2007: The full running order

The final running order for this year's Junior Eurovision Song Contest has been decided by the EBU Steering Group.

01. Georgia :Mariam Romelashvili- Odelia ranuni

02. Belgium :Trust- Anders

03. Armenia: Arevik- Erazanq

04. Cyprus: Yiorgos Ioannides -I mousiki dinei ftera

05. Portugal: Jorge Leiria- So quero e cantar

06. Russia: Alexandra Golovchenko- Otlichnitsa

07. Romania: 4 Kids -Sha la la

08. Bulgaria: Bon bon- Bonboladiya

09. Serbia: Nevena Bozovic Pisi mi

10. The Netherlands: Lisa, Amy and Shelley- Adem in, adem uit

11. FYR Macedonia: Rosica Kulakova and Dimitar Stojmenovski -Ding ding dong

12. Ukraine: Ilona Galytska -Uroki glamourou

13. Sweden: Frida Sanden -Nu eller aldrig

14. Malta: Cute- Music

15. Greece: Stephanie, Suzan, Anna, Sophia, Andromachi -Kapou mberdeftika

16. Lithuania: Lina Jurevičiute- Kai miestas snaudžia

17. Belarus: Alexei Zhigalkovich- S druzyami

source:junioreurovision.tv