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

Belgium plans internal selection for ESC 2009

Belgian broadcaster RTBF will again internally select the Belgian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow.

"I can already confirm that there won't be an open national selection," Jean-Michel Germys, RTBF's Director of Entertainment,told Belgovision.com.

Whether RTBF will go for a pure internal selection or a variation of it, will become clear later. French-speaking Belgian artists who have the ambition to represent Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest, will be disappointed. In no way an open national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 will be organized.

source

Kostas Martakis and Dessislava at MAD VMA 2008

Kostas Martakis and Dessislava "Mercy" at Mad VMA 2008

Finland starts earlier the selection process for 2009

escfinland.eu reports:

Finnish broadcaster YLE has published the rules and dates of their selection process for 2009. The competition is again going to be between invited artists and songs selected in co-operation with their record companies. The biggest change from last year is that the whole process starts much earlier and the songs can be made public already on the 10th of December 2008, and even earlier on YLE's own channels.

There will be 12 artists competing in three semi-finals on the 9th, 16th and 23rd January. Already now the head of YLE Entertainment, Ms Tuire Lindström is making a point that they will concentrate extra hard on the selection process of the competing artists, who will range from male and female solo singers to bands. The full artist line-up will be announced already in September. Ms. Lindström also promises some surprises. "We are very happy with our Eurovision project this year with Teräsbetoni making it to the final in Belgrade, so we will use the same process to select out next entry", she concludes.

From every semi-final two artists get voted straight to the final, which will be broadcast on the 31 January. Just like last year, there will be a second chance vote to start off the final between the 6 artists who did not make it directly to the final taking the number of participants in the final to 8. The final will be again in two parts and the winner will be decided by a tele- and SMS-vote. There is also a mention of a compilation CD of all the entries planned for a January release.

The host city and the venue have not been announced yet. YLE TV entertainment and TV channel 2 hosting all the Eurovision shows reside in the city of Tampere, and the semi-finals have in the past few years been transmitted "as live" from the Tohloppi TV centre studios there. Also the hosts will be announced later. Jaana Pelkonen, YLE's host for Eurovision shows since 2005 and one of the hosts of the 2007 Helsinki final has previously been reported to be looking for a career in politics after finishing her university studies earlier this year and might thus not be available to host Eurovision shows anymore.

source

The story behind Dima Bilan's song

esctoday.com reports:

Dima spoke about his song and the inspiration behind it and stated that the version heard in the Russian national final is not the finalised one as some improvements are underway.

"My song was made in just 2 days." Dima says, "but these were such magical days, in which we gave all of our energy, all our emotions and feelings. I composed the song with Jim Beans, famous songwriter, composer and producer. Personally I wrote the refrain." read more...

Serbia:Jelena Tomasevic with Oro

Jelena Tomasevic will represent the host country at this year's Eurovision Song Contest with the song Oro.

The composer of her song is Zeljko Joksimovic, who is also one of this year's hosts and has represented Serbia and Montenegro in 2004 and composed the Bosnian entry in the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest.



source:esctoday.com

Mi Odio represents San Marino!

Eurovision.tv can exclusively report that the group Mi Odio, which means "I hate myself", will be the first ever representative of San Marino at this year's Eurovision Song Contest. The group will sing the song Complice, which is in Italian language.

The song and group that will represent San Marino in Belgrade has been selected internally, after artists, composers and song writers were openly invited to submit their entries.

The group Mi Odio consists of three Italian members and two San Marinese. "Complice is a fresh, young and original song," the head of the jury said to Eurovision.tv.

Here is a sample of the song "Complice"



source: eurovision.tv;youtube.com

Russia:Dima's winning moments at Russian National Final 2008 -video

Watch Dima Bilan's winning moments at Russian national final. As the results were announced and Bilan was called on stage, the singer was crying not making it to the stage immediately.

Russia:Dima Bilan again to Eurovision

Dima Bilan won last night the Russian national final having gathered maximum points from the jury and from the televoting. He sang a song produced by Timbaland titled Believe.


As the results were announced and Bilan was called on stage, the singer was crying not making it to the stage immediately. Eventually, through tears of joy, he performed once again his entry. Maria Serifovic, the last year's winner, handed the prize certificate which states the right to represent the country at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade.

Dima Bilan - Believe


SEE ALSO: Dima's winning moments at Russian National Final - video

Lyrics:
Even when the thunder and storm begins
I'll be standing stong like a tree in the wind
Nothing is gonna move this mountain
or change my direction

I'm falling off the sky
And I'm all alone
The courage that's inside is gonna break my fall
Nothing is gonna dim my light within

But if I keep going on
It will never be impossible
Not today...

Cause I got something to believe in
As long as I'm breathing
There is not a limit to what I can dream
Cause I got something to believe in
Mission to keep climbing
Nothing else can stop me if I just believe
And I believe in me

Even when the world tries to pull me down
Tell me that I can try to turn me around
I won't let them put my fire out without no
But if I keep going on
It will never be impossible...
Not today...

I can do it all,
Open every door
Turn unthinkable to reality
You see
I can do it all and more!

Believing... as long as I'm breathing
There is not a limit to what I can dream
Believing... mission to keep climbing
Nothing else can stop me if I just believe
And I believe in me

Greece: First interview of Kalomoira after NF

Kalomoira at Alter.tv

Sarbel - Exo trelathei - live NF Greece

Sarbel - Exw trelathei

Romania:Nico and Vlad Mirita in Greece

esctoday.com reports:

Nico and Vlad has just returned from Greece where they were invited by ERT, the national broadcaster, to participate as guests in the Greek final where they sung their Eurovision entry "Pe-o margine de lume"(At the edge of the world).

Their program was full of interviews to almost every Greek television channel and of course the exclusive interview and photo shoot for the Greek magazine "Downtown" which was a surprise for them as it wasn't on schedule.

The two Romanian participants have talked about the plagiarism case and declared that everything is over. They also prepared the video clip of their song which will be ready in the next days while they are getting ready to continue their promo tour in other countries too.

Full article HERE

Nico and Vlad - Greece National Final


photo:TVR

Greece: Chryspa live at the Greek National Final

Chrispa singing "Give A Chance To Love" at the Greek National Final for Eurovision on February 27, 2008.



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Greece:Kostas Martakis live at the Greek National Final

Kostas Martakis singing "Always and Forever" live at the Greek National Final on February 27, 2008. This is a special Dance Version of the song.




Lyrics:
Ι walked alone and Ι lived simply my own life
and nothing matter besides my needs.
Ι used my way and my words like a bold knife
to clear the road and to where it leads.
And then Ι found you, now Ι know where I'm going
and what my life is meant to be
I feel a strength inside my heart that is growing
and it just conquers my inner me.

Always and forever with you
and no matter what I'll be there
baby you're so good to be true
and I have it all if you care.
Always and forever with you
in your eyes I see my dreams shine
ask me to be yours and I'll do
and with you I'll make the world mine.
With you together
With you forever

I place my whole life in this ring on your finger
I hold your hand and I walk ahead
I play this song for you as I am your singer
"I'll be your lover, I'll be your friend"

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Greece: Kalomoira with Secret Combination to Belgrade

At the end of the spectacular show, Greece decided that Kalomoira will represent her country in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest with Secret combination, a song written by Poseidonas Giannopoulos and Kostas Pantzis.



New York born Kalomoira Saranti, is 22 years old. She was the winner in the popular talent show Fame Story in 2004.
Her debut album, Kalomoira, went gold. Kalomoira is a very familiar face to the Greek audiences as she appeared in Lampsi, one of the longest running local soap operas, before moving on to co-host morning shows. Her next release was Paizeis in 2005, followed by I Kalomoira paei cinema (Kalomoira goes to the movies) where she sang popular all time Greek cinema classics.

Kalomoira - Secret Combination


source:esctoday.com;
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Romania: Nico and Vlad Mirita to Belgrade

Nico and Vlad Mirita won the national final in Romania.

They will represent the country in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade with the song Pe o margine de lume.

With 144 points from televote and 127 points from jury votes, Nico and Vlad Mirita won saturday night the national final in Romania.

The jury votes for the song "Pe-o margine de lume":

1.Cristian Faur - 11 pts
2. Mihai Ogaseanu - 11 pts
3. Dan Teodorescu - 11 pts
4. Dida Dragan - 12 pts
5. Victor Socaciu - 12 pts
6. Dani Constantin - 10 pts
7. Flavius Teodosiu - 11 pts
8. Florin Ionescu - 9 pts
9. Titus Andrei - 12 pts
10. George Zafiu - 9 pts
11. Sebastian Secan (oikotimes.com) - 7 pts
12. Tatiana Solomon - 12 pts.

NICO si VLAD MIRITA - Pe-o margine de lume - Final



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The complete results:

Nico & Vlad Mirita - Pe-o margine de lume - 271 points
Biondo - Shine - 264 points
Paula Seling & Provincialii - Seven days - 208 points
Catalin Josan - When we're together - 197 points
Zero - Come this way - 181 points
Leo Iorga & Pacifica - Prea mici sunt cuvintele - 164 points
Nicola - Fairytale story - 162 points
Tabasco - Love is all I need - 126 points
Rednex feat. Ro-Mania - Railroad, railroad - 96 points
LaGaylia Frazier - Dr Frankenstein - 93 points
Simona Nae - The key of life - 73 points
Yana - C'est la vie - 37 points

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related: Nico and Vlad Mirita in Greece

Romanian National Final: VH2 out, New Effect feat. Genţiana in

An anonymous email reached VH2 pointing out that their song was identical to a 10-year old song (that has not been named). The band deny all accusations of plagiarism but admit that the songs are very similar musically.

VH2 have decided to withdraw the song Follow me and now Zamira - New Effect feat. Genţiana will participate in the final.

Zamira - New Effect ft Gentiana - Eurovision 2008

Romania: Run Away - Catalin Josan -video

Romanian's national selection. 2nd semi final.

Run Away - Catalin Josan



video credit