Jade Ewen's new videoclip - My Man

My man is the latest single released by Jade Ewen, the singer who successfully represented the United Kingdom this year in Moscow, ending up 5th with the song "It's my time".

Eurovision 2008:How the West has won

Herlad Sun
by Andrew Bolt

HOW bizarre. Russia thinks its win in last month's Eurovision song contest is a national triumph.

Even weirder is that Britain is still moaning over its assumed humiliation.

Just this week, Labour MPs even tabled a motion in the House of Commons demanding the BBC quit screening this "farcical event" after singing dustman Andy Abraham, a TV talent quest runner-up, came last, putting Britain once more in the basement with most of the rest of the West Europeans.

But steady, my tone-deaf friends. Eurovision produced the very opposite results to the ones you imagine.

Eurovision, of course, is not the most precise indicator of cultural power.

It may be the world's most popular song contest, but the acts that 100 million viewers switch on to watch each year are almost all of spectacular mediocrity. They're like pre-chewed food - tomorrow's "easy listening" music today.

Yet touchy Russia has still spent the past week and a half swaggering as if it had actually beaten Napoleon again - rather than been conquered by yet another Golden Horde. Its Dima Bilan was the first Russian in the competition's history to win first prize, leading to celebrations so mad that a Moscow News headline blared: "Russia in Ecstasy over Eurovision Win."

President Dmitry Medvedev publicly rang Bilan to congratulate him, while Prime Minister Vladimir Putin sent a telegram declaring this was "One more important triumph for all of Russia".

Except it wasn't. Bilan won not because he was being Russian, but because he was being Western. He sang in English a number inspired by Australian self-help guru Rhonda Byrne and produced by America's Timbaland which sounded, sadly, much like all that man's stuff.

It was no different with the two runners up: both the Ukrainian and Greek songs were typically Western genre songs sung in English. In fact, 17 of the 25 finalists sang in English, including even the French.

The ceremony, too, hosted in Belgrade, was conducted almost entirely in English.

So if the English had any sense of cultural history they'd take pride, not offence. Here is a tiny island nation whose language now provides the lyrics of international music, with 23 of Eurovision's 53 winning songs having been in English.

If top Western artists competed in Eurovision as top Eastern ones such as Bilan do, there'd be more trophies to take home, too, but when a Russian bear sings in English, you know the West has still won.

Ani Lorak :Eurovision winner's party at SCALA

EUROVISION winner's party at London SCALA 31.05.08 with Dima Bilan (RUSSIA)and Ani Lorak (UKRAINE).

Ani Lorak - Simply the best

Kalomoira's ‘Secret Combination’ has hit the UK top 40

Kalomoira's "Secret Combination" has hit the UK top 40 chart mid-week at No.33 (peak) download sales.


The slick performance had confirmed Greece's superb result for a competition, which is deeply revered in that part of the Mediterranean - fetching approval ratings of 76% of Greeks who tuned in.

Kalomoira took the lead from the start. She admitted to experiencing all sorts of emotions herself - thinking she was on her way to a win, but gradually witnessed Greece dropping below Russia - after I saw us 'lagging 20 points behind Dima I ruled out the victory!'

Greece netted 218 points in total - with the the full marks coming from Romania, San Marino, Albania and Germany.

The UK 12-pointer to Greece, confirmed the British opinion of her as a cute, charming yet also fiesty, charismatic performer.

The "Secret Combination" had proved a hit with the listener, which has retained the No.1 favourite tune on the LGR TOP 20 Chart for a third consecutive week, on London’s definitive Greek chart run-down.

Kalomoira had thanked the loyally obedient fan for their overwhelming generosity in supporting Greece's initiative. "Thank you so much for being so sweet and for giving out your positive energy!"


source:London Greek Radio
photo:kalomoira.net

Nico and Vlad:UK Eurovision Preview Party @ Scala

Besides the song "Pe-o margine de lume", Nico and Vlad also oferred the audience a famous duet of Andrea Bocelli and Celine Dion, "The Prayer".

It was a good occasion for the public to sing along with Nico and Vlad, as they could not sing the Romanian lyrics of the first song.

Pe-o margine de lume - UK Eurovision Preview Party @ Scala




The prayer - UK Eurovision Preview Party @ Scala

Line up completed for London Eurodance

oikotimes.com reports:

This is the line up for the contest as we will see it next Saturday at 21:00 CET live from London, United Kingdom:

01. Switzerland - Denise Biellmann & Sven Ninnemann

02. Russia - Mariya Sittel & Vladislav Borodinov

03. Netherlands - Alexandra Matteman & Redmond Valk

04. United Kingdom - Camilla Dallerup & Brendan Cole

05. Austria - Andy & Kelly Kainz

06. Germany - Wolke Hegenbarth & Oliver Seefeldt

07. Greece - Rannia Koliou & Spyros Pavlides

08. Lithuania - Gabriele Valiukaite & Gintaras Svistunavicius

09. Spain - Amagoya Benlloch and Abraham Martinez

10. Ireland - Mick Donegan & Nicola Byrne

11. Poland - Katarzyna Cichopek & Marcin Hakiel

12. Denmark - Mette Elkjaer & David Jorgensen

13. Portugal - Sonia Araujo & Ricardo Silva

14. Ukraine - Ilya Sidorenko & Yuliya Okropiridze

15. Sweden - Martin Lidberg & Cecilia Ehrling

16. Finland - Jussi Vaananen & Katja Koukkula

Enrique Iglesias to perform at Eurovision Dance Contest

Enrique Iglesias will be the guest performer at the inaugural Eurovision Dance Contest, taking place in London, United Kingdom next Saturday 1st September.

The international superstar is following in his father's footsteps, Julio represented Spain at the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Gwendolyne.

source:esctoday.com

Brendan Cole "dancing alone"

The People.co.uk reports:

Strictly Come Dancing star Brendan Cole has told how dirty-dancing with Natasha Kaplinsky cost him his fiancee.

Former dance partner Camilla Dallerup, 33, broke off their engagement after seeing him getting close to the newsreader.

Now sad Brendan, 31, is trying to win her back. He said: "We started fighting. I enjoy partying, but it's not as exciting as our relationship. I'd rather have that than parties."

Danish-born Camilla said: "It was painful to watch him dancing with Natasha. We began to fight.
"Ours was a beautiful story but it ended in a mess."

Brendan reunites with Natasha for the Eurovision Dance Contest to be shown on BBC1 on September 1.

source:people.co.uk

Fringe show celebrates Eurovision kitsch

Eurobeat - almost Eurovision mercilessly sends up the kitsch contest every night at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival where flag-waving, wolf-whistling fans take audience participation to new heights of surreal lunacy.

Eurovision is mocked for its mishmash of power ballads, ethnic rhythms and bubblegum pop with critics complaining that tactical voting by East Europeans is skewing the results.

Full article here

source:stuff.co.nz

Spice Girls' Mel C says 'Eurovision is a joke in the UK'

oikotimes.com reports:

The first thought when Spice Girls announced their return to the music scene was that the girl band would be an ideal solution for United Kingdom to make a good revamped come back to the contest and ultimately to the scoreboard after many years of plunge. A video interview is uploaded online with Melanie C saying some interesting things about the Eurovision Song Contest.

At first she was surprised that Eurovision Song Contest is popular across Europe (where does she live anyway). She backed up the opinion that the contest is not popular in the UK.

Mel C said that she wouldn't try to participate in a national selection since she considers a joke that Scooch got the ticket to Helsinki this year. She 'offers' though herself to Europe if BBC give her internally the ticket to Belgrade. Her favourite Eurovision entry is 1981 UK win entry Making Your Mind Up.





sources:belgovision.com;oikotimes.com

EBU launches official Eurovision Dance Contest website

On 1st September, the first edition of the Eurovision Dance Contest will take place in London. Today, one month exactly before the competition, the EBU has launched the official website of the show called EurovisionDance.tv, where you can find information on the show itself, the dancing couples and dancing in general.

The website features information about the event, the 16 participating couples and will soon be expanded with information about Latin- and ballroom dancing in general. In the lead up to the event, the site will be updated frequently with information about the preparations in London and the various national selections that are still scheduled to take place.

You can go directly to EurovisionDance.tv by clicking here.

source:eurovisiondance.tv

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

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.

read more....

Free tickets to Eurovision Dance Contest

The first ever Eurovision Dance Contest is being held at BBC Television Centre, in London, United Kingdom and we are looking for an enthusiastic international and UK audience to join us for the 2 hours and 15 minutes LIVE SHOW on Saturday 1 September, at 20.00 (BST).

Please note the following:

Only 1 pair of tickets will be given per booking
You must be over the age of 18
You will be issued tickets only – no hotel or flights are included in this offer
As an international visitor, you will be guaranteed entry

Ticket application form

source:eurovision.tv

Eurovision Nominated at NTA Awards

esctoday.com reports:

The Eurovision Song Contest and the United Kingdom's presenter, Terry Wogan have been put on the nomination shortlist for the United Kingdom's National Television Awards shortlist. Sir Terry's copresenter at Making your mind up, the country's national final, Fern Cotton is also nominated.

The Eurovision Song Contest has won a place on the shortlist for 'Most Popular Entertainment Programme' for the second year running. Although it did not reach the final shortlist last time, the show's ratings increased this year and it stands a chance of success.

Terry Wogan is shortlisted for 'Most Entertainment Presenter', against Fern Cotton, his co-presenter at the national final, Making your mind up. Paddy O'Connell and his cohost Sarah Cawood on the British broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest semi final miss out. One other Eurovision name competing for the award is popular chatshow host and host of the upcoming Eurovision Dance Contest, Graham Norton.

The public are invited to vote for their favourites across 11 categories and the finalists will be shown during the NTA Awards show on October 31st and to be broadcast on ITV.

You can vote here

TV's greatest ever scams - Scooch used backing singers

UK Eurovision song contest entrants Scooch scammed viewers, and voters, when they used backing singers to boost their performance in the preliminary run up to the contest.

They had hidden the singers from view, singing away on stage with the public unaware that they were getting help from the two singers.

Other entrants involved in the bid to be the UK’s representative in the contest were outraged when news of the sham broke.

Former East 17 star Brian said: "I was p***** off with the whole Scooch thing. I thought one of the singers was mouthing something and nothing came out. The public have been conned."

Big Brovaz star Randy, who also lost out, added: "It seems they were miming as the backstage girls were really loud most of the time.

"Also the microphones Scooch used were for miming. We entered Eurovision because we thought it was about credible acts, but it isn't."

The act went on to represent the UK in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, they finished 23rd out of 24 acts. Karma eh?

source:The Sun

Eurovision Dance Contest: logo revealed

esctoday.com reports:

The official logo of the Eurovision Dance Contest, which will be held on 1st September for the first time, has been revealed. It features the word Eurovision written in the same way as it is on the Eurovision Song Contest logos without the heart and the silhouette of a dancing couple in front of a star that contains the flag of the host country, the United Kingdom.

Furthermore, it has been revealed that the contest will be presented in both English and French. French was not a clear choice, since France is not taking part in the competition.

The show will be held at the BBC television centre and last for about 2 hours and 15 minutes.

As published before, Claudia Winkleman and Graham Norton witll host the show and Bruno Tonioli and Len Goodman will be commentators.

Camilla Dallerup and Brendan Cole the UK entrants

For the first time, since their split three years ago, Camilla Dallerup and Brendan Cole will dance together one last time as the UK entrants for the first ever Eurovision Dance Contest in September on BBC One.

Despite living and dancing together for over nine years, tensions during the first season of BBC's Strictly Come Dancing caused the pair to separate both on the dance floor and as partners.

Invited to represent the nation in the new Eurovision Dance Contest, Brendan and Camilla will have to sweep aside their angst and hot-step around a ballroom for their last dance. Prepare to see a sensational performance with passion, zeal and real life tension as the couple let the sequins fly.

Join Graham Norton and Claudia Winkleman as they host this brand new Euro-show, set to sashay onto BBC One this autumn – take your partners for the sequinned splendour of the very first Eurovision Dance Contest.

Eurovision Dance Contest is a co-production between Splash Media and Sunset + Vine with assistance from the International DanceSport Federation and in association with the European Broadcasting Union.

Jane Lush and Fenia Vardanis of Splash Media were the two main creators of the BBC's highly-successful format Strictly Come Dancing.

Sunset + Vine is the UK's leading independent sports production company specialising in live events.

Eurovision Dance Contest is commissioned by Elaine Bedell, Controller, Entertainment Commissioning and Peter Fincham, Controller, BBC One.

Eurovision Dance Contest is in its first year with 16 countries taking part; Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and UK.

The show will be performed at the BBC Television Centre and aired on BBC One, hosted by Graham Norton and Claudia Winkleman with expert commentary from Bruno Tonioli and Len Goodman, the viewing public will be asked to vote for their favourite dancing couple.

source:BBC

photo:The Sun

[UPD]Brendan Cole and Camilla Dallerup for UK?

Dancing two back for contest

BALLROOM dance champ Brendan Cole is reuniting with ex-lover Camilla Dallerup to represent Britain in the BBC’s Eurovision Dance Contest in September.

Brendan and Camilla split in 2004 after he cheated on her with Strictly Come Dancing partner Natasha Kaplinsky.

A source said: “Sparks will fly.”

source and photo: The sun

[UPD] For the first time, since their split three years ago, Camilla Dallerup and Brendan Cole will dance together one last time as the UK entrants for the first ever Eurovision Dance Contest in September on BBC One.

Read Camilla Dallerup and Brendan Cole the British entrants

OGAE UK set for Birmingham Bash 2

The UK branch of OGAE are repeating the successful event of 2006 with the announcement of Birmingham Bash 2 on Saturday 6th October. The event is open to members and non-members and will be happy to accept members of other OGAE clubs from abroad too.

For the second consecutive year, organisers have chosen Birmingham, the host city of the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest, and one of the United Kingdom's most central points as the location for the fan club's annual get-together. Birmingham Bash 2 will take place at Jury's Inn Hotel on Broad Street.

Amongst the day's activities will be a Weakest Link style quiz, an intriguing Eurovision style contest, a glitzy Awards ceremony with special 'Stars in their Eyes' performances and a fantastic disco. And, in the year when the UK sent its 50th entry to the Contest, the Bash will welcome a number of special guests to talk about their experiences of representing the UK. The names of the special guests will be announced shortly.

Paul Marks-Jones, one of the team putting Birmingham Bash 2 together, said: "OGAE (UK), the UK Eurovision fan club, is delighted to be hosting its annual celebration of all things Eurovision in Birmingham for the 2nd consecutive year. In 2006 nearly 100 fans descended on the city and had a great time. This year's Bash promises to be a day full of fun and excitement, and no Eurovision follower can afford to miss it!"

source:OGAE Malta;