Belgrade Calling: What to expect?

eurovision.tv reports:

From today, until the 25th of May, Eurovision.tv will report from Belgrade, where delegations will arrive for the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. The upcoming two weeks are all about the rehearsals, press conferences, parties, dress rehearsals and the live shows on the 20th, 22nd and, finally, the 24th of May.

On the 20th, 22nd and 24th of May, Eurovision.tv will webcast the two Semi-Finals and the Final of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest live online. The next day, you can watch last night's show on-demand. The on-demand streams will be available for the duration of one week.

Read more at eurovision.tv

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

Nico and Vlad in Brusseles - video

A recording of the performance of the two singers at the concert organized by ARTHIS (House of Culture Belgiano-Romanian), which took place in Market St. Caterina in Brussels.

Nico and Vlad in Moldova and Ukraine

The Romanian tenor Vlad Mirita and the pop singer Nico have visited Moldova and Ukraine during the promo tour that has been scheduled in order to promote their Eurovision entry "Pe-o margine de lume".

Moldova, their first stop, was full of surprises. On their arrival to Chisinau, the Moldovan capital, they went directly to "Euro TV" show where for a whole hour they talked about their entry and their career.

They also appeared in many TV shows in both countries and gave several interviews in magazines, sites and radio stations.

"We were very warmly welcomed both in Moldova and Ukraine. Unfortunately, we didn't have much time to visit Chişinău, but we promised to go back and talk about us and our plans." declared Nico and vlad Mirita.

Nico and Vlad enjoyed massive media coverage in Ukraine, appearing and being interviewed in no less that 10 major media, 1+1TV, MTV Ukraine, M1TV, 24TV, included.

Nico and Vlad enjoyed thoroughly the online conversation with local fans through the e-motion website which gave them the chance to come to closer contact with the local Eurofans.

In Ukraine, the duo was accompanied by Rusalna’s PR manager Maria Dashenko. Maria gave them a nappy toy which they named Masha and promised to take along to Belgrade as a good luck mascot.

Goran Bregovic- guest at Eurovision

Blic reports:

Marija Serifovic, last year’s Eurovision winner and Goran Bregovic with his "Wedding and Funeral Orchestra", will perform in the floor show of the Eurovision Song Contest, which will be held between May 20th and 24th at the "Belgrade Arena", while special guest in the semi-finals will be Slobodan Trkulja and the well-known ballet dancer Konstantin Kostjukov.

According to Andrijana Stojkovic from the Eurovision creative team, all three evening programs (two semi-finals and a final) will have a special topic inspired by Serbia and Belgrade, and the program is expected to be really impressive.

The first semi-final will introduce the video "Video Killed the Radio Star", including new versions of the greatest Eurovision hits.
Slobodan Trkulia will perform together with 60 more artists on stage.

Evening of the second semi-final titled "Serbia for beginners" is planned as a kind of pop-circus. Namely, Serbian heritage will be presented through various music styles and the program will be hosted by the famous ballet dancer Konstantin Kostjukov.
The Belgrade National Theater will also be presenting a part of the "Who's singing over there?" Ballet.

The final will start with Marija Serifovic’s performance of the song "Molitva" in a new arrangement, followed by 21 dancers on the stage.
A mini-concert of Goran Bregovic and his "Wedding and Funeral Orchestra" will be held after, Stojkovic said.

Stage construction and decoration at the "Belgrade Arena" is planned to be finished until April 25th, while overall preparations have to be finished until May 10th, before the arrival of the contestants’ delegations in Belgrade on May 11th.

It has been estimated that about 18,000 visitors from all over the world will come to Belgrade during the Eurovision Song Contest (fans from America and Australia have already announced their arrival), out of which 2,500 will only be journalists…

Watch Bilan, Pluschenko and Marton in Prague

On 17th April, during the Ice Skating show in the Arena HC Sparta in Prague which was packed with over 10.000 spectators, Dima Bilan, Evgeny Pluschenko and Edvin Marton performed Believe for the first time in public as a trio and talked about their staging plans for this year's Eurovision Song Contest.




"Ice will be on the Eurovision for the first time, as well as Stradivarius's violin. I will be for the second time. And I hope this time we will smile" said Dima after the show, going on to reveal that there will be five more people accompanying him on the Belgrade Arena stage.

Apart from Olympic figure skater Evgeny Pluschenko and Hungarian violonist Edvin Marton, there will be two backing singers and one dancer. The three performers, each in his own way, will attempt to tell the European audience how to be strong and never stop going after their dreams.

A fighter by nature, Evgeny Plushenko, says: "This song is also about me, Dima and Edvin. Of course, we had much success and a lot of victories, but we have also faced defeat many times. That is why you should never lose heart! When I represent Russia, I want to climb the pedestal only on the first place and listen to the anthem of my country".

source:esctoday.com;youtube.com

Moldova: Geta Burlacu - "A century of love"

Geta Burlacu was born in Moldova and is a famous jazz singer.

She started as a violonist and she continued her studies as a jazz singer. Geta is married and she has two children.

The videoclip of her song "A century of love" was shot in Leusani, at 30 km far away from Chisinau. Geta Burlacu wanted to be shown in her Eurovision promo video the feeling of love in different life period by symbols.

The videoclip cost more than 12,000 USD and in it appeared professional actors, but also Geta`s daughter Elvira, who played the role of a painter.

Moldova will participate in the first semifinal that will take place on the 20th of May in slot 4.