Greta Koçi says she wants to bid for Belgrade's Eurovision

oikotimes.com reports:

Frederic Nodci might came 17th in the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest Semifinal last May in Helsinki but for sure Eurovision seem to attract big local names for the next edition of the Eurovision contest due to take place in Belgrade on May 2008.

Greta Koçi said to Revista Albaniac that she would be more than interested to enter for Albania in Eurovision. She said she will bid for the upcoming contest for sure.

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UK:Bill Bailey to enter Eurovision

Musical stand-up Bill Bailey is to put himself forward for the United Kingdom's next entry for the Eurovision Song Contest.

"What the public wants, the public gets. And it seems that the question on the lips of the nation at the moment is: "Will Bill be entering Eurovision?" - Bill Bailey

Interest arose from several internet petitions, asking Bailey to enter the contest.

One attracted over 300 signatures. As a result, apparently Bailey has decided to put himself forward for the 2008 contest.

He is also going to let his fans decide which song he will use.

Bailey has always had a love of music. He used to be part of a band called, The Famous Five, which consisted of only four members. Later, he formed a musical double-act with Martin Stubbs called The Rubber Bishops. Stubbs later quit the act, and Bailey teamed up with Sean Lock in an Edinburgh show called Rock in 1994.

A year later, he went solo with his show Cosmic Jam.Apart from his stand-up tours, Bailey is now best known for being a team captain on the musical panel game Never Mind the Buzzcocks, as a regular panellist on QI and for playing Manny Bianco in the sitcom Black Books.

The 2007 UK Eurovision entry was decided by a TV phone vote. The chosen band, Scooch, finished 23rd out of 24 entries.

source: The British Sitcom Guide

Elitsa and Stoyan join African duo in an ethnic project

Bulgarian representatives at this year's Eurovision final Elitsa and Stoyan and an African drum duo presented their new joint ethno project in the framework of July Jazz Fest in the town of Smolyan.

"The composition, called "Meeting on Three Continents", combines Bulgarian folklore motifs with typical African ones", the soloist of the Bulgarian duo Elitsa explained.

There have been used several unknown for the Bulgarian audience percussion instruments - balafon, skin covered hand drum, called djembe and ngoni.

"We hope that we will be given the opportunity to promote the project before the tribe of our African colleagues in Burkina Faso," Elitsa said.

Some of the ethno project's compositions are planned to be included in an album.

source:Sofia News Agency

UK: Making Your Mind Up, also in 2008

belgovision.com reports:

More than four months after the final of Making Your Mind Up 2007 took place, BBC has revealed the complete results of the British Eurovision Song Contest selections for Helsinki. Meanwhile, the British broadcaster also announced to us the Making Your Mind Up format at least until 2009.

Dominic Smith, head of Entertainment at the BBC, revealed the complete results of this years Making Your Mind Up in a reaction to Esctoday.com. In the second televoting round, Scooch received 53% of the televotes while French-born Cyndi, who was first announced as the winner by Terry Wogan by mistake, got 47%. In the first round of voting, Big Brovaz came third, Hawkins & Brown fourth, Liz McClarnon fifth and Brian Harvey sixth.

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Marija in concert in Herceg Novi (Montenegro)

MarijaSerifovic.net reports:

In the course of the promotional campaign of the new mobile phone operator in Montenegro - "Mtel", Marija gave a solo concert in the city square in Herzeg Novi in front of more than ten thousand people.

During the concert which lasted nearly two hours Marija created a fantastically excited atmosphere in the audience by her powerful way of singing.

Although she arrived to Montenegro the same day Marija had not a lack of energy.

Due to her huge positive energy Marija made a perfect contact to the audience from the first beats of the song "Molitva" which she powerfully maintained for the entire time of the concert till the end.

At the same time this was a gratitude concert for all citizens of Montenegro who gave Marija 12 points at the Eurovision Song Contest.

Marija Serifovic_Nije Mi Prvi Put in Vitebsk

source and photo:Marija Serifovic Website