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;