Dec, 2008

Dec 11th, 2008

Eurovision symbol key already in Moscow

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Yesterday, at a special ceremony in Moscow’s GUM shopping mall, the mayor of Belgrade Dragan Dilas handed over the symbolic keys to the «Eurovision» Mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov. “Heavy burden!”, Mr. Luzhkov said assessing the weight of the Eurovision symbol. “But, we will keep it!

The mayor of the Serbian capital, Dragan Dilas handed Moscow’s mayor the symbolic key emphasising that he was pleased to bring the key to a congenial city, which Moscow is. The ceremony of handing over the key first took place in Belgrade, and was initiated by Helsinki, the 2007 host city.

The final of one of the oldest European music contests will take place from 12 to 16 May in the capital’s Olimpiyskiy Sports Complex. The Russian government already assured the city of Moscow that it will make sure to fix the potholes on the roads in the capital till May next year. Twenty-two hotels in Russia’s main city have already been booked for the Eurovision week.

Dec 10th, 2008

Dima Bilan gets two awards after a great tour in Gemany

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On December 6th, the German city of Essen welcomed the 2008 Eurovision winner Dima Bilan for a second time, and saw his biggest concert in Germany so far. The Grugahalle concert venue was crowded during a one-night concert – more than 8 thousand people came to see the Eurovision star. The great demand of tickets was also the reason why the concert was rescheduled earlier to the day of St. Nicolas.

Not only due to the concert, but for all his merit, Bilan’s popularity grows greater and greater. So much so that he was nominated in two categories of the third edition of ESC Radio Awards and got the two trophies, as expected. Now Dima can bring home the Best Song and Best Male Artist Awards for Eurovision 2008. Would you agree that he deserves these awards?

The complete list of the 2008 ESC Radio Award winners is as follows:

Dima Bilan (Russia) – Best Song, Best Male Artist
Ani Lorak (Ukraine) – Best Female Artist
Euroband (Iceland) – Best Group

Dec 5th, 2008

Macedonia opens competition for Eurovision 2009

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Just a week ago the Macedonian Radio Television announced the start of its national Eurovision campaign, called Festival “Skopje 2009”. The festival will be held on 19, 20 and 21 February 2009 in the Universal Hall in Skopje, Macedonia.

Fresh changes have been introduced this year: two Semifinal and a Great Final shows will decide the fate of the Macedonian song, which will participate in the 54th ESC, in May 2009. A professional jury will pick up 32 songs to compete in the two Semifinals (16 in each). Only 8 entries from each Semifinal will survive to see the Great Final on 21 February 2009. The winner will be decided by a blend of jury/televoting procedure.

It’s fascinating how the rules of the local selection suggest that all the songs have to be performed in the Macedonian language. Over Christmas, to be precise 25 December, is the deadline for submission of entries. The 32 songs to compete for the ticket to Moscow will be announced in January next year.

Special thanks to Gordana Andrasevska, MKRTV HOD ESC 2009 for this piece of news