Eurovision Chat

Who do you think will the 2009 host broadcaster for the junior Eurovision be? Whatever you thought, it is Ukraine and nowhere else that the little sister of Eurovision heads next year. Kyiv and the Ukrainian national broadcaster NTU won the opportunity to host and produce the huge TV show at the HoD meeting in Lemasos yesterday.

Just a quick reminder, in order to become host of the JESC you don’t need to win the contest, but only apply for the opportunity. The country winning the chance to host the show has to have a proper hall holding at least 10 000 people, the broadcaster should be experienced enough in big events, and the EBU need to decide if the political, economic, and touristic situation in the respective place is appropriate for the contest.

This year the small contestants are lucky to travel to Cyprus, where the organizers promise 25 degrees Celsius in November. Good luck to CyBC and to all participants. We’ll let you know the running order for the show shortly.

The Finnish public broadcaster YLE has invited 12 local artists to take part in the national selection for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. The artists invited in September are as follows: Janita, Tapani Nations, Kwan, Passion Works, Remu, Riikka, Sani, Signmark, Jari Sillanpää, Tiara, Vink, and Waldo’s People. This time the broadcaster seems to be looking more closely on its candidates: there is a preference to professional artists who work with record companies.

The competition songs will be announced in the beginning of December and the actual qualifications start on 9 January. The grand final will be held in Tampere Fair and Leonardo sports hall, on 31 January next year. The Finnish audience will choose its favourite song during three national semi-finals held every Friday in January. We’ll keep you updated about the progression of the national selection in Finland.

Indeed Malta is a small country and as people on the island joke, there is at least one person in every family, who has joined Eurovision as least once.

So, it’s small wonder there are gossips and rumours around the Eurosong in Malta, especially about former Maltese Eurovision artists.

Some say that Natalie Gauci, winner of Music Idol 2007, Australia shows interest in the European contest. Ms. Gauci seems to be looking for a winning song for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow.

Bulgaria saw the start of its national television selection for 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. The show “Be a Star” (”Badi zvezda”) was launched last week. It will be aired every Thursday, and it aims at selecting three contestants every week. One of the participants will be selected by a professional jury, the other two will be the favourites of the viewers.

The jury features world renowned folklore singer Yanka Roupkina, the prominent Bulgarian jazz singer Vassil Petrov, and the notorious rap and hip-hop artist Misho Shamara (in the photo). The first selected performers are IVELINA with her song “Ready for love”, “I PROMISE” by PERFECT STRANGER and “Let’s try singing” by Venelina Milanova.

The Bulgarian broadcaster are obviously trying to make the best of Eurovision, by trying to make the pre-selection an event of national interest. We wish them good luck!

The Belarussian Eurovision Selection, aka EuroFest starts at 5 October. Until 20 November, the Belarussian Eurovision team will be accepting submissions for the contest. After this-year’s ESC, when Ruslan Alekhno did not make it to the Final, the aim of the “EuroFest” project is to choose the best song and singer to represent Belarus in Moscow 2009.

“EuroFest” will be divided for 4 parts. There will be a professional jury, who will choose 15 participants of the semifinal from all the requests. During a live TV show a jury and the spectators will further select finalists. The third part is a preparation for the final proper, which promises to be a grand show, according to the organizers. The winner, who will represent Belarus at the 2009 ESC will finally be selected by a jury

The best position achieved by Belarus so far is Koldun’s performance of his song “Work your magic” (6th place in the Final of ESC 2007).

Remember what happened last year at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam? Alexey Zhigalkovich with his song S Druzyami brought the victory to Belarus. The host of the 2008 Contest, however, is selected by application, and not by victory.

So, the sunny island of Cyprus will soon be swarming with thousands of Eurovision fans. Thrilled young singers, excited music mentors, and nervous mothers from all over Europe will join in to celebrate music.

When? The day is November 22, Saturday. And the place is Spyros Kyprianou Arena in Lemasos.

You can already buy tickets and bring your kids to this lovely concert. The party starts at 21.15 local time, or 20.15 CET. Two dress rehearsals will be held on the previous day and one on the day of the Grand Final.

The organisers promise sunny weather and high temperatures, so, don’t forget to pack your bathing suit as well

Are you having some time off Eurovision? Yes? Shocking! Some people are working hard for us to be able to enjoy the party again and again. Me being among them, I’ll let you know what’s cooking about the up-coming Eurovision Song Contest

So, above all, Mr. Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of Russia, announced that the contest will be held in Moscow and not in the Northern capital of the country Saint Petersburg as speculated earlier.

Channel One Russia will have the pleasure to host the 2009 Eurovision Song contest, to be held in May next year. The exact dates, announced recently by the EBU are as follows:

Semi-Final 1: Tuesday, 12 May 2009
Semi-Final 2: Thursday, 14 May 2009
Grand Final: Saturday, 16 May 2009

Probably, though not yet confirmed, the Olimpiisky indoor arena in Moscow will be the venue of the event.

As some Russian online newspapers have already suggested, just the repair works of the venue will cost some 10 million Euros. Russia as well as the municipality of Moscow have started drafting an action plan for getting ready for the event with keeping the expenses as low as possible. Complex reconstruction works of the venue will start pretty soon. Since its opening back in 1980 Sports Complex Olimpiisky has been hosting more than 600 events annually.

So, be quick to look for hotels, check out your friends living in Moscow, and book a flight to the Russian capital for mid-May. And don’t forget that this city is one of the most expensive places in the world. So, you have 8 months to work hard and earn enough money for this memorable week. Good luck.

So, there I am, lying in the passenger’s seat, a couple of days after the ESC Final, getting a ride from Belgrade back home, trying to catch some sleep. I start fumbling sleepily through the heap of albums and singles I got during the ESC weeks, searching for who knows what. I already know most of the songs by heart, and it’s not worth bothering, no, not this time. But an album catches my eye. Simon Mathew seems to be winking to me from the glossy cover, shouting - play me, play me.

So, the album I’ve been listening to in my car since from time to time since Eurovision 08 is Simon Mathew’s All For Fame, the perfect summer collection. It takes off with the merry upbeat tune of Get Me High, so much in Simon’s typical style. I wonder why Simon did not pick up Deep or Stay On for his Danish Eurovision entry, much deeper indeed. Great music!

Kicking Up A Storm is a breath of fresh air as well. The rest is left for you to discover. Well, if you listen to it 100 times, it might sound less and less original, and this is its major drawback. Yet, the vocal is nice and recognisable, making the “All for Fame” a must-have. Enjoy it!

Hellooooo Europe!

Finally the construction works on the Eurovision fan area, a.k.a. forum, have finished. We’re more than happy to welcome you to the old-new eurovision 2009 forum where you can discuss hot Eurovision topics, the latest news from the world music biz, and various other issues in the music sphere. In one word, you’re free to be your-eurovision-self.

If any problems with log-in of old users should occur, don’t hesitate to leave a comment in the blog, so that we can fix it shortly.

Keep up the Eurovision spirit!

Winning the Eurovision Song Contest has become a highly debated topic. Fans and professionals from all over Europe and around the world discuss this event massively. I am constantly amazed to find out that serious reserachers like Oxford scientists and students make extensive research on Eurovision and publish papers on it. It seems like this European event plays a major role in the cultural life of the old continent.

Much discontent has been voiced over the televoting procesure, which was introduced just several years ago. In fact, the major changes came after 1993, when fresh former Yugoslav republics emerged on the political and Eurovision map. 2004 competition in Istanbul also saw many changes as more and more countries showed interest in the Contest. There was the need to centralise the event, which gave ground to the appearance of a centralised voting system.

Block voting, as it is called, could only appear with the new countries taking part in Eurovision. Many experiments, however, show that even if the results of the post-1993 countries (the participants who took part after 1993) are not taken into account, the final ranking will still be the same. According to Julian Vignoles from RTE, who made a so-called ‘pre - ’93 Experiment’:

Leaving out the votes of mainly Eastern ‘new countries’ who joined from the early 90’s, the 2007 result would have been:

1. Serbia
2. Ukraine
3. Turkey
4. Russia
5. Bulgaria

instead of : Serbia, Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, Bulgaria

So, what did it take for Russia to win this year? Even with the neighbour voting, this would have brought Dima Bilan only 72 points form the “kindest neighbours” - Ukraine, Belarus, Armenia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. This is a far cry from what got Russia to the top - 272 points coming from 36 countries. In fact, this is the number of countries supporting Russia last year as well. So, if it’s neigbour or diaspora voting, why does Ireland, Turkey, Norway, Andorra, and Spain gave Russia 5 points each. I don’t know many Russians living in Romania too, or in Serbia, Cyprus, or Montenegro for that matter. Greece also supported the winner with 7 points, just like Slovenia and Malta. Hungary voted for Russia as well, giving it second place (10 points).

Numbers can go on forever, and perhaps many Russians live all over Europe and click on their mobiles like mad during the televoting window. But many other nations do it as well. I don’t feel like discussing the quality of “Believe” or Bilan’s performance. Even if it were only for Plyuschenko that many people voted for, I, as a modest viewer, thought that if the Russian team brought these professionals on stage, then they respect the audience.

We are definitely about to experience a huge show in Moscow next year, don’t you think?