Russia rehearsal and press conference

Dima Bilan is no stranger to the Eurovision Song Contest, having lost out only to Lordi in the 2006 contest in Athens. Hoping to go one further this year, Russia set about their first rehearsal this afternoon. There is a ladder in the middle of the stage fitting with the climbing theme within the song, Dima is seated at the bottom at the opening part of the song. He is joined by Hungarian violinist Edvin Marton, World & Olympic figure skating champion Eugeni Pluschenko who will be skating during the performance, a male dancer who meanders around the stage and on the ladder and finally two female backing vocalists. Dima ends the performance climbing part way up the ladder.

Dima Bilan - Believe - rehearsal



Press conference

The press conference followed, and as expected was very heavily attended. MTV Russia opened the questions session by asking how the partnership between Dima, Eugeni and Edvin came about. Dima answered "We are three friends, like in Heroes, the idea was born one year ago. There has never been a pop singer, violinist and Olympic Champion on the stage at the Eurovision Song Contest before" Speaking of the violin, Edvin Marton added "The violin used is a 1697 Stradivarius and was even played by Paganini over 300 years ago. I won this in a figure skating competition in Montreal."




source:eurovision.tv; esctoday.com

Greece rehearsal and press conference

Kalomira gave a powerful and well-prepared performance in front of the press and fans in the Belgrade Arena.

In addition to the singing part of the performance, Kalomira and her three male dancers do a complicated choreography, including both Kalomira being lifted up on a board decorated with glitter and extensive moves during the interlude of the song. During the performance, a gigant pop-up shaped like a heart appears on the colourful stage. Kalomira and the dancers are joined by one male and one female singer. It seemed as if Kalomira was satisfied with the rehearsal. Definitely she turned up the charm and flirted immensely with the camera.

Kalomoira Secret Combination - rehearsal



Press conference

In her press conference, Kalomira revealed that her dress in the first semi-final was designed bz Jennifer Lopez's company. As an US-American, it wasn't hard for her to keep her Greek roots as her family kept all Greek traditions. Kalomira was excited about the way her first rehearsal went and thought that she didn't face problems at all.



source: eurovision.tv; esctoday.com

Romania rehearsal and press conference

Bilingual romance for Romania

The Romanian representatives Nico & Vlad rehearsed their romantic duet for the first time today. They started their performance at distant positions on stage and moved towards each other during the song, hugging tenderly in the end. The two singers left a vocally brilliant impression of their bilingual song in Italian and Romanian language.


Romania is being represented in the First Semi-Final of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest by a mixed duo, Nico and Vlad. Nico is the female part of the duo, performing her verses in Italian language, while Vlad performs his operatic parts in Romanian. Their first rehearsal went very well today, and both were vocally brilliant and very professional. In the beginning of the performance, Vlad was on stage alone, with Nico only joining him for the second verse. They stood at distant parts of the stage first and then moved closer towards each other. In the end, they reached out their hands for each other and then hugged.

Nico and Vlad - Pe-o margine de lume -rehearsal





Press conference

In the press conference, the Romanian delegation was asked why they decided to combine the Italian and Romanian languages in one song. They answered that, being latin languages, they harmonize very well. Furthermore, they explained how difficult it was to film the official video clip for the song because they had to wait for the right light for a whole day, and then, when the setting sun appeared between the clouds, they only had four minutes to record the key part of the video clip!


source:eurovision.tv

Finland rehearsal and press conference

The Finnish rockers of Teräsbetoni rocked Beogradska Arena.

Vocally, they seemed to be in perfect shape from start to end and the whole act reminded a bit of Lordi's performance in Athens two years ago - not a bad sign for Teräsbetoni, as Lordi went on to win the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest altogether! Happy faces could be seen in the Finnish delegation after the group performed their song Missä Miehet Ratsastaa.







Press conference

During the press conference Teräsbetoni revealed that they were pretty happy about the way their first rehearsal went and that they thought the Belgrade stage was beautiful. Asked why they were singing in their native language Finnish instead of English, the group said that there would already be many Finnish hardrock bands singing in English and that they wanted to stand out.

sources:eurovision.tv; esckaz.com

Netherlands rehearsals and press conference

Hind performs in front of several chandeliers which appear on big screens behind the stage.
Her vocals are very clear with perfect diction. It is always very easy understand the words while she is singing.








Press conference

At the press conference after the rehearsal, Hind expressed that she was very satisfied with her team and their mutual performance. Hind thought that the stage was really beautiful, so she really enjoyed rehearsing.
Hind had a surprise at the press conference: she brought a Serbian guitar player, called Vladan, and together they performed Your Heart Belongs To Me.


sources:oikotimes.com; eurovision.tv; esckaz.com

Armenia rehearsal and press conference

Sirusho appears on stage with three male dances and two male backing singers.
Her backing dancers spend a lot of the time withering on the floor around Sirusho, they also perform some very energetic gymnastic moves.

All in all, the performance looked very energetic and it illustrated the oriental motives in the song very well.

Sirusho - Qele Qele rehearsal





Press conference

In the press conference, Sirusho was asked what the song title Qele Qele stands for. She explained that "Qele" means "Come on" in English, and that it fits the message of the song well. Furthermore, Sirusho claimed that she received most of her influences as an artist and musician her parents, who are well respected artists in Armenia.


sources:esctoday.com;eurovision.tv

Bosnia-Herzegovina rehearsal and press conference

Laka is joined on stage by his sister for this excentric stage performance for Pokusaj. She starts the performance by hanging clothes on a washing line. She then collects bouquets from the four female backing singers who are dressed in white bridal gowns.

Laka - Pokusaj rehearsal






Press conference

In his press conference, Laka joked that the chicken that could be seen in the Bosnian preview video wasn't allowed to be on stage with them, so it ended up in a soup - which got roaring laughter from the many journalists and fans in the press conference group.


sources:esctoday.com; 12points.tv; eurovision.tv

Andorra rehearsal and press conference

Gisela's entry Casanova was performed successfully at today's rehearsal, and nobody can doubt on the vocal strength of this young female singer.

Casanova is sung in English, but a tiny stanza in the Catalan language has also been incorporated into the song.

Gisela - Casanova



Press conference

At the press conference, Gisela and the Andorran delegation expressed their content with todays rehearsal. Gisela explained that due tothe fact that the stage is much more different from what they are used to, they have to make afew changes in the choreography. "The sound is not ready yet", Gisela said, butshe is very optimistic about thenext rehearsals.

source:eurovision.tv;

Ireland rehearsal and press conference

Dustin's rehearsal went very smoothly, the stage is dark as the group arrive, and they are all dressed in black cloaks. When the music starts, the cloaks disappear. Dustin is in the shopping trolley as he was in the Irish national final.

There are a few alterations to the props, the main one being a heart shaped monitor which alternates various European flags. Dustin also has a doll spinning around on his revolving record decks. There are two male dancers sporting feathers in the Irish colours, and the same two ladies from the national final are backing Dustin, one of whom is the niece of 1994 Irish Eurovision Song Contest winner Paul Harrington. Finally, there is a fifth man who pushes Dustin around at various intervals during the song.

Irelande Douze Points



Press conference
Dustin commented "We want to bring back respect to the Eurovision Song Contest, there is a message about change in the song, and since the song was written the Irish football and rugby manager have changed and so has the president!"




sources:eurovision.tv;esckaz.com

Poland rehearsal

Poland is being represented by a singer from the United States of America this year. Isis Gee just finished her first rehearsal. She was accompanied on stage by four violinists and her husband, who was playing the piano.

The Polish representative Isis Gee performed in a short white dress and created a warm atmosphere with her soft voice. During the rehearsal, there had been problems with the sound, but of course this can still be improved in the second rehearsal. Overall, Isis gave a confident performance. The main colour of the background scenery was red, and smoke effects were used during the stage act.

The Polish press conference was cancelled.

Norway rehearsal and press conference

Accompanied by three female backing singers and two guitar-players, Maria integrated a fitting cheorography into her number which worked well. The stage during Hold On Be Strong is filled with hundreds of lights on a predominantly blue background and it seemed that Maria and her team were already wearing their final clothes which are also bright blue.

Norway - Hold on, be strong



Press conference

In her press conference Maria treated the present media with her enormous vocal talent. She was also satisfied with the way her rehearsal went. When asked what was her favourite song in this year's contest, she answered that she liked the Danish song most.



sources:eurovision.tv; 12points.tv; esckaz.com

Slovenia rehearsal and press conference

Rebeka appears on stage with three female backing vocalists and two male dancers, one of whom choreographed the piece. Rebeka emerges from a cage at the beginning of the song, and is followed around by the male dancers. The theme of the song is about a girl feeling imprisoned by love, and wanting to break out, with love winning in the end.

Musically the song has been transformed. Now there is funkier and clubbier sound with spanish guitars used and has a more aggresive feel.


Rebeka Dremelj - Vrag Naj Vzame



Press conference

Rebeka Dremelj started by admitting that the first rehearsal was awful and that everyone is in a bad mood because of that, without denying, however, the team's responsibility for that. Promising that everything will go better in the future, she avoided answering relevant questions. As far as the lyrics are concerned, she said she thought that the population of Slovenia is small and they should be proud to sing in their native language. Her a capella singing was warmly greeted by the journalists.


sources:eurovision.tv; oikotimes.com; 12points.tv

Azerbaijan rehearsal and press conference

Elnur and Samir were dressed as angel and devil, with Elnur and two backing dancers wearing big angel wings. While Elnur stands and shows his vast vocal range, Samir sits on a throne and performs some of his vocal parts in the typical national style of Mugham singing.

Their whole performance is very professional and elaborate. Towards the end of the song, people will see the climax of the whole stage act, with the throne falling apart and pyrotechnical effects illuminating the stage.

Day after day rehearsal






Press conference

Elnur and Samir were asked about the interest of their nation for the Contest, since it's the country's first participation in Eurovision. They replied that enthusiasm grows steadily in their country. As for themselves, they admitted that it took them two days to realise what had happened after they won in their national selection. The two contestants concluded the press conference inviting everyone to a live concert with them and other artists from their country on stage and they presented the press pack, which included a fine selection of gifts and gadgets from the Land of Fire.

sources:eurovision.tv;oikotimes.com;esckaz.com;

Belgium rehearsal and press conference

Belgian representatives Ishtar took to the stage yesterday to give their first rehearsal of their song "O Julissi".

The stage setting was a dark background, with graphics which could be described as resembling something similar to musical notes. The whole performance was very upbeat and lively, with lead singer Soetkin walking intermittantly between all of her backing musicians throughout the song. Reactions in general were very positive, as indeed was the upbeat press conference which followed.



Press conference

Soetkin, Ishtar's lead singer, revealed that this year's entries that touched her the most are Bosnia & Herzegovina's and Israel's. Then the author of the song, Michel Vangheluwe, talked about his inspiration for the song, which was his childhood memories and his youth. Words, actually "a patch of joyful sounds" as he said, came after the melody, in an imaginary language he calls Ishtarian.


sources:eurovision.tv;oikotimes.com;youtube.com

San Marino rehearsal and press conference

Miodio, delivered an outstanding first rehearsal of their song Complice. The group of five young men is joined by a female dancer on stage who interacts well with the lead singer of the group, Nicola Della Valle. The whole act looked very modern and could attract lots of votes from the younger televoters.

The song Complice is sung fully in Italian and it's one of three songs using the Italian language this year- the other too being Switzerland and Romania.

The stage during the San Marinese song is mostly black and blue with some orange in the back part of the LED screens.

Miodio - Complice - rehearsal



Press conference

During their press conference, the sympathetic group revealed that they are very happy to represent their native country. They also treated the audience with an acapella of Complice which was very well-received.


source:eurovision.tv; 12points.tv