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

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

Don’t boycott Moscow’s Eurovision song contest said EBU to Estonia

European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is not amused over calls of prominent Estonian politicians to boycott next year’s Eurovision song contest hosted by Russia for Georgian conflict.

Svante Stockselius, executive of EBU that is organising the annual Eurovision Song Contest, told Postimees that Eurovision was an non-political event and that politicians have no right to decide whether to boycott it or not.

Stockselius said that he could not understand the proposal made by the Estonian Minister of Culture Laine Jänes and by chairman of the National Broadcasting Association Margus Allikmaa that Estonia could boycott next year’s Eurovision finals in Moscow over the conflict in Georgia.

"These issues should not be linked. We are organizing 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," said Stockselius.

The EBU official added that if Estonia wishes to stay away from the Eurovision song festival in 2009, it is up to the country. "We have many members who don’t participate every year and who return later," added Stockselius. -source-

Estonia itself hosted the Eurovision contest in 2002 after winning the 2001 edition.

Culture Minister of Lithuania, Jonas Jucas says that it is too early to speak about the opportunity to boycott the Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow with intention to express the protest over the Russian aggression against Georgia.

According to Jucas- "Spontaneous decisions might aggravate the efforts of diplomats to harmonize the conflict. It is not right time to speak about that," the culture minister noted. -source-


credit photo

Estonia rehearsal and press conference

The blondy female dancers are waving the Estonian, Serbian, German & Finnish flags on stage.
The band jump and prance around the stage shouting the song rather than singing and the grand finale features a cheerleading style finish with a pyramid of blondes above our slightly oversized gentlemen.
The performance is similar to that in Eurolaul (Estonian national selection). The song is a mixture of languages.

Estonia rehearsal: Leto Svet



Press conference

The different languages used in Kreisiraadio's entry were brought up in the band's press conference. Peeter answered "Finnish is because they are our good neighbours, German as they share big historic traditions, and Serbo Croatian as they are the host country, we think that next year lets say Greece should sing in Serbo Croatian and other countries sing in different mixtures of languages!".

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

Malta won't withdraw

Many rumours have been circulating on the Internet about the possible withdrawal of several countries for 2008, one of the most popular ones being Malta. However, the Maltese broadcaster has confirmed today that Malta will be present in Belgrade, despite having to start in the semi final of the Eurovision Song Contest for the second consecutive year.

Estonia, who have so far failed to qualify on every single occasion since the semi final was introduced, will also be playing in Belgrade, although ETV are considering their options for Eurolaul, the national final.

Montenegro, who failed to qualify in 2007 on their first attempt as an independent state, have also confirmed their presence in Serbia.

The continued participation of the Czech Republic, however, is more of a confusing matter. After coming last with only one point on their first ever participation, with one of the country's most successful bands, it is as yet unknown whether Czech broadcaster CT will be willing to finance another entry in 2008. However, while esctoday.com awaits confirmation from CT itself, the Czech Eurovision site is still being updated with Eurovision news in Czech, suggesting a continued interest.

source:esctoday.com

ESC Singers Go ABBA

from escmalta.com

Many Estonian artists are going to perform in Õllesummer, biggest beer festival in the region, at this summer in the Tallinn Song Festival ground.

Beside individual perfomances, lots of artists are going to sing greatest hits of ABBA.

Last week Lenna Kuurmaa (Switzerland 2005) and Tanel Padar (winner 2001) recorded last week Estonian version of 'Waterloo', which is introduction of the big concert, where Estonian artists are singing ABBA songs.

With this concert organisers of Õllesummer wants to celebrate 35th anniversary of ABBA.Besides Lenna Kuurmaa and Tanel Padar also Ines (ESC 2000), Dave Benton (Winner 2001), Ivo Linna (ESC 1996), Marju Länik and Gerli Padar (ESC 2007) will perform.
They will sing ABBA hits in Estonian as well as in English.

Concert takes place on 8th July at 8PM.