3440 songs entered for Sweden National Final

SVT, the Swedish national broadcaster,has announced that 3440 songs have been entered for the national final Melodifestivalen which serves as the country's selection for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest.

Melodifestivalen is the most watched show on Swedish television every year with approximately 4 million Swedes watching the exciting final which usually takes place in Stockholm's Globen Arena.
Lots of the 32 songs that reached the semi-finals in the previous years have become big hits in the Swedish charts and this year's compilation CD was awarded 6 times platinum.



source:eurovision.tv

The Toppers will represent the Netherlands at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest

Dutch broadcaster NOS officially confirmed that The Toppers will represent the Netherlands at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest.




The Toppers consists of Gerard Joling (48), Gordon (40) and René Froger (47).



A national selection will take place on the 1st of February.
TV viewers will get the opportunity to pick the song that will represent the Netherlands in Moscow.

Songwriters and composer are invited to send in their songs, contributions are welcome until the 23rd of November.



source:eurovision.tv

Bulgaria: 45 songs, nine heats

On Thursday 2nd October, the first heat of "Be a star in Bulgaria" will open the national finals and preselections season for Eurovision Song Contest 2009.

Every month (October, November and December) will have 4 shows. In the first 3, 5 of the participating songs will be presented, and in the 4th one the televoting results will be presented. The top three songs from each month will qualify for the semifinal.

In the semifinal, to be held in January, 18 songs will take part - nine that qualified from the heats, and another nine that will be chosen by a committee. Nine of those songs will be sent to the final by a jury where they will be joined by three wildcards, commissioned by BNT.

read more on esctoday.com

Slovakia back to the Eurovision Song Contest

Slovakian public broadcaster STV announced that it will bring Slovakia back to the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow next year. It will be the first time that the country participates in eleven years.

Slovakia has entered the competition three times in the past, with poor results on each occasion.
They entered for the first time in 1994 with Martin Durinda and Tublatanka singing Nekonečná pieseň, winning just 15 points. In total, they have picked up only 42 points.




source:esctoday.com

Dima Bilan special guest star at Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008

Dima Bilan, winner of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest, will be the special guest star at the 6th Junior Eurovision Song Contest on the 22nd November in Lemesos, Cyprus!



He will also meet all this year’s participants of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest to offer them some last-minute advice after Friday night's dress rehearsal. During the live final on the Saturday night, Dima will also perform his winning song Believe on the stage of the Spyros Kyrianou Arena.


source:eurovision.tv

First ever Asiavision Song Contest in mid-2009

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU)announce that the Eurovision Song Contest format was purchased by Asiavision Pte. Ltd., to hold the first ever Asiavision Song Contest in mid-2009!

The plan is to organize the first ever Asiavision Song Contest in mid-2009, with 15 represented countries, including China and India. It will be based on the highly popular Eurovision Song Contest, which is an annual competition for active Members of the EBU, represented by the public broadcasters in their respective countries.

The annual song contest is planned to be a six-month regional and national tournament culminating in the Grand Final. The song contest will be distributed in the following countries: China, Cambodia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, Macao, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. Targeting the most populous region in the world with more than three billion people the show has a potential audience of over 500 million viewers. A number of broadcasters have indicated their desire to be the Host Broadcaster for the first ever Asiavision Song Contest.

Read more...

Estonia decided to participate in ESC 2009

ETV, Estonian national broadcaster, decided to take part in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest.
The country won’t boycott the festival. The decision was based on a poll organized by the national broadcasting association, where 66% of the public voted YES to the Estonian participation.

Margus Allikmaa, ERR Chairman of the board, is still not convinced Estonia should participate in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest.

"Eurovision was never free of politics", every country has used the contest for political reasons and so will Russia!. It is very naive to believe that singing and politics can be kept apart. But as our poll showed that the majority of Estonians wish our country to participate, I have to respect that", said M.Allikmaa.



sources:esctoday.com;oikotimes.com

Natalia Barbu and Natalia Gordienko in Greece

Natalia Barbu, who represented Moldova at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki with the song Fight, composed by Alexandru Brasoveanu and Natalia Gordienko, who also represented Moldova in Athens in 2006 with the song Loca, duet with Arsenium, will visit Greece for a big promotion of their new songs and albums that will be released soon.

The two female pop idols were invited by a Greek manager to promote their new work in Greece. They have a huge and busy program including TV shows, Radio interviews and meetings with Greek Eurovision stars and composers as both of them want to represent their country again next year looking for new ideas and styles.

Natalia Barbu is working on her new album that will be released soon and she also thinks of participating again in the next Eurovision while Natalia Gordienko is preparing already her Eurovision entry song for the upcoming Moldovan national final.

Natalia Gordienko won last year the New Wave 2007 Festival. In the same contest Mihai Traistariu (ESC 2006) and Kostas Martakis (NF 2008) also participated, qualifing in the first 10.

Natalia Barbu and Natalia Gordienko are working with Alexandru Brasoveanu, the well known Moldovan composer who is also going to be with them during their promo tour in Greece and they will also be accompanied by a profesional dancer and new singer, Sergyo.

All the four of them are going to arrive in Greece next week and they are also willing to attend Madonna's concert that will take place in Athens on the 27th of September.

For more information about the artists you can visit their personal sites:
www.nataliabarbu.com
www.sergyo.co.nr


sources:esctoday.com;eurovisionnews.blogspot.com

The jury is back for ESC 2009 Final

eurovision.tv reports:

During a meeting in Moscow, the EBU Reference Group of the Eurovision Song Contest decided to introduce a voting model of a mix between televoting and jury votes in the 2009 Final.

No change will be made in the voting during the Semi-Finals of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Details on the balance between jury and televoting outcome are still to be determined in the months to come.

A survey amongst delegation heads from represented countries revealed that a majority is in favor of such mixed model.
A mixed voting system also has great support amongst the fans of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Svante Stockselius, Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest said:

"Nothing is more democratic than the vote of the public. But a jury takes the opportunity to listen to the songs several times, before they make up their minds. In Belgrade, we saw a difference in judgment of the public and the back-up juries, and we believe a combination will make the show more interesting."

In its next meeting, later this year, the Reference Group will decide upon the exact way the jury has to be composed, and to discuss rules to assure a fair jury vote.

The Semi-Finals will not see any changes in the voting procedure. As at the 2008 contest, televoters will again decide upon the nine songs that qualify in each of the two Semi-Finals, while the highest ranked entry of the back-up juries that didn't qualify yet through televoting will also qualify.


read also: Eurovision 'Big Four' final spots confirmed

Verka Serduchka and Andrey Danilko - Tango

Verka Serduchka and Andrey Danilko - Tango





Thanks to Nackroniz for the video and the translation:


Verka: Hello "goodbye" passion tango.
danilko: It is tango
Verka: it's goodbye passion tango.
danilko: Hello Verka
Verka: Hello Andrusha. It looks like after tango we have to get divorced forever.
Danilko: Both of us know who is manager and who is "servant"(something like that).
Verka: ax like that, began to speak this dood.
(BAR SCENE)
Verka: without me you are not interesting, without my clothes and my songs.
Danilko: You began to speak about songs, who writes them you didin't forgot?
Verka: From Moskow till Kontimanciska(city) people loves those..forms.
Danilko: those forms, Vera, it's only paralon.
(REFRAIN)
Danilko: Remember how i met you? Stupid woman with red beret..You walked throw the grass, you carried a tea for someone, and i was captivated by you...
Verka: You were young but i was not so...You were nothing, and i was a star. And in the middle of a clear day, i was captivated by you and i'm still captivated...
(CHAIR SCENE)
Verka:We can't forgot everything what was before.
Danilko: How much i loved...
Verka how much I loved...
Danilko: how sad i was...
Verka: how sad I was...
Danilko: Maybe we can start everything from the beggining.
Verka: Happy new year, Andrusha!
Danilko: Happy luck, my little soul!
Both: we'll be together forever.
(REFRAIN)
Danilko: Remember how i met you? Stupid woman with red beret..You walked throw the grass, you carried a tea for someone, and i was captivated by you...
Verka: You were young but i was not so...You were nothing, and i was a star. And in the middle of a clear day, i was captivated by you and i'm still captivated...

Dima Bilan in Vilnius - Lithuania - video

Dima Bilan singing Protiv pravil in Vilnius, Lithuania. 12.09.2008



more videos here

Moscow officialy accepted as Host City for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest

The Reference Group of the Eurovision Song Contest has officially approved the Russian capital as the Host City of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, as proposed by Channel One.

The governing body of the song contest also approved the Olympiski Arena as the venue of the event in May 2009.

Svante Stockselius, EBU's Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, said to Eurovision.tv:

"Moscow is an impressive city and the proposed venue gives us the fantastic possibility to put everything under one roof. We are confident that Channel One Russia will organize a fantastic 54th Eurovision Song Contest."

The green light of the Reference Group gives the Host Broadcaster the opportunity to go full speed ahead with their preparations for the upcoming contest.

In the months ahead, Channel One organizers are to make numerous important decisions, from the creative concept of the event to the practical details of the cooperation with the city of Moscow and many, many others.



source:eurovision.tv
credit photo

New t.A.T.u album "Happy Smiles"

t.A.T.u. confirmed with a press release that their third studio album has been titled "Veselye Ulybki"- "Happy Smiles", featuring 12 tracks.






A press release states:

"For almost a year a working title of the album was "Upravleniye Otbrosami" - "Waste Management". But a month before the release - for the sake of ironic smile of those, who understand – the title changed. The essence, however, remained."

The press release (PDF) here.





















source

Ruslana to release "Wild Energy" album on October 2008

The long-awaited Ruslana album "Wild Energy" will be released on 10 October 2008.

Recorded at the legendary Hit Factory Criteria Studios in Miami and produced by Ego Works, "Wild Energy" maintains Ruslana’s unique musical components blended with modern urban influences. This release contains a first for Ruslana - the collaboration with the American Urban superstars T-Pain and Missy Elliott in two great songs with very dramatic and amazing results.

“Moon of Dreams” - The first single and video - is a duet with T-Pain and is already a smash in Poland and the Ukraine and the album was released on the 2nd of September 2008 in Canada.

"Wild Energy" combines the elements of music, video production, literature and social commitment in an extraordinary way. Dedicated to the idea of the independence of human feelings and freedoms using original and rarely heard ethnic sounds; the music blends these ancient styles and singing traditions of the Carpathian Mountain people with modern popular music. The timbre of Ruslana’s voice coupled with her unique vocal styling is unmistakable and instantly identifiable to millions of her fans.

The ESC winner in 2004, Ruslana peformed a special concert at the festival Golden Stag Romania on September 5.

source&photo

Miodio at Golden Stag Festival - video

Miodio (ESC 2008)performing at Golden Stag Festival,Romania the song Dincolo de Nori"

The song was performed for the first time by Dan Bittman, Romania at 1994 Eurovision Song Contest.

Miodio - Dincolo de nori




Dan Bittman (ESC 1994) Dincolo de Nori

The Winners of the Golden Stag International Festival 2008 - videos

Razvan Krivach from Romania won the Golden Stag 2008, Brasov, Romania

Biondo, the Swedish band who came second after Nico and Vlad Mirita this year in the Romanian final with Shine, won the Silver Stag.

Tony Poptamas & Desperado who competed in the 2007 Romanian preselection won the Bronze Stag.

Miodio, the first ever representatives of San Marino at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, and Moldavian finalist this year, Olia Tira, missed out on a place in the final.

Razvan Krivach singing "Too much love will kill you" at Golden Stag Final



via

Biondo, Sweden singing Shine and Cerul (The sky) at Golden Stag 2008




Tony Poptamas &Desperado singing "The Universe" at Golden Stag Final

Lordi - "Bite It Like A Bulldog"

Lordi's fourth studio album, entitled Deadache, will be released in the US on October 28th, 2008 and internationally in the same week.




The look of each character has been redesigned for this album. The new costumes will be revealed when Lordi headlines Popkomm in Berlin this October.


Listen the first single off the album, "Bite It Like A Bulldog"

Eurovision 2009 under threat after Russian invasion of Georgia

Next year's Eurovision Song Contest is under threat after ex-Soviet states called for a boycott after Russia invaded Georgia.

Russia's Dima Bilan won the 2008 contest thanks to ex-pats in former Soviet-bloc states banding together to vote for him.

As a result, the 2009 contest will take place in Moscow.

But Baltic nations Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia may pull out of the annual TV show.

A poll in Estonia has already backed the boycott, while pressure is also rising for a Polish withdrawal.

Estonia's culture minister Laine Janes, said: "Solidarity must exist with Lithuania and Latvia to show consolidated support for Georgia."

The European Broadcasting Union, who run Eurovision, have said the Georgian conflict cannot be allowed to wreck the contest.

Spokesman Svante Stockselius said: "These issues should not be linked. We are organising a non-political event and if the hosting country is able to ensure the safety of participants there is no reason why it should not be allowed to host the finals."

The potential eastern boycott is another problem for Eurovision, who are already struggling to allay the fears of the western countries that they now no longer have a chance in the contest.

Sir Terry Wogan confirmed last month he would be stepping down as the BBC's Eurovision host after 37 years. The 70-year-old presenter has tired of the "political voting" that determined the outcome.

source