Eurovision Chat

Thermometres show 22 - 24° C these days, of course if you are in Limassol (Lemesos) at the sixth Junior Eurovision Song Contest. It’s sun and fun in the sun!

The rehearsals kicked off successfully. Most of the participants have already had their first sound and light checks - most of them are happy with the results. The kids already met the hosts - Sophia Paraskeva and Alex Michael. They got to know each other at the special welcoming party, marked by a special spirit of friendship and joy.

I’ll try to keep you updated as much as possible about what’s going on in the heart of children’s music world.

One of the strongholds of Eurovision, Sweden, has already hit the pace of the contest. Eight artists out of 32 to compete for the ticket to Moscow have already been announced by the Swedish broadcaster SVT. This year the competition is dominated by many popular names, such as BWO, who participate for the fourth time. The complete list is as follows: Jennifer Brown, Alcazar, Emilia, Lasse Lindh, Caroline af Ugglas, BWO, Måns Zelmerlöw and Sarah Dawn Finer.

• Alcazar — Stay The Night
• BWO — You’re Not Alone
• Caroline af Ugglas — Snällä, Snälla
• Emilia — You’re My World
• Jennifer Brown — Never Been Here Before
• Lasse Lindh and Band — Jag Slåss I Dina Kvarter
• Måns Zelmerlöw — Hope and Glory
• Sarah Dawn Finer — Moving on

In an interview for the official website of SVT, Martin Rolinski from BWO say: “We saw Dima Bilan winning and thought hell, we can make it so much better. And we will certainly do much better with this song.” Caroline af Ugglas participated in last-year’s Melodifestivalen with her song “Think for yourself.” In 2009, she embarks on a long journey with “Please, please.” Alcazar has already been part of the big Swedish Eurovision show twice. Lasse Lindh made his debut in Melodifestivalen in 2007 with a sad ballad “Du behöver aldrig mer vara rädd” (”You needn’t be afraid ever again”). Unlike last year, Lasse will try his luck with an up-beat punk track this time.

You must have noticed that the Swedish people know how to make Eurovision. They always send songs that stand every chance to win the Eurovision trophy. But before that, six weeks will see a grand Melodifestivalen show - six weeks of competitions, second chances, tears and entertainment.

As I’ve already informed you, the dates for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest to take place in Many 2009 in the Russian capital Moscow are as follows:

Semi-Final 1: 12 May 2009
Semi-Final 2: 14 May 2009
Grand Final: 16 May 2009

As EBU tells us, they decided to introduce the mix of televoting and jury voting for the 2009 Final. The organisers will keep the voting system for the Semi-Finals of the Eurovision Song Contest. The final decisions will be announced after 28 November. So, keep you fingers crossed that they arrive at a decision that is favourable for the show and not only for the telephone operators and the pan-European operator.

Apart from this, we are about to have many new services introduced to the ESC, such as a mobile distribution platform, iPhone trial, possibly Android and many more. But with news on this, you’ll have to wait till next year.

But hey, before this, have you already booked your hotel in Moscow? Be quick and at lest ask you boss for a two-week leave in May. See you there!

The Danish national broadcater DR has decided to change the rules for its national Eurovision selection. For ESC 2009, Denmark’s artists will no longer go through semi-finals. There will be a single show with ten songs to compete for the ticket to Moscow. The Grand Final will be held on 31 January next year, and the programme will be broadcast live on DR, who promise a huge show.

The 2007 Danish Eurovision entrant DQ will run in the contest again. He is just one of the almost 700 songs submitted for participation. A total of 684 songs were submitted for this-year’s Dansk Melodi, which is twice as much as last-year’s number of submissions.

Hadise is the Turkish 2009 Eurovision representative. There are only a couple of days before the official presser on 6 November, when the singer will be presented as the Turkish entrant. The Turkish delightful beauty will propose three songs to the Turkish national broadcaster TRT, who are to select one of them. Details about the rules will be advised soon.

Hadise is a generally acknowledged pop star in Turkey, very sexy and provocative in her style. She was nominated in the “Best Turkish Act 2008″ category during the MTV Turkey awards. Although her music is far from surprising, she’s fun to watch and the Eurovision fans will for sure find a fascinating artist in her face.

Yet another pleasant surprise from EBU in its aim to curb competition on the part of commercial TVs. This time - the biennial Eurovision Young Dancers contest, which promises an exciting comeback. The 12th edition of the contest will take place on Friday, 19 June 2009 in Oslo’s newly refurbished Dance House, a venue specially designed for modern dance shows.

The event is aimed at young dancers aged between 15 and 21, competing in modern dances, be it sole or in couples, as long as they are not professionally engaged. Seems like freestyle will rule the show Professional international jury headed by the prominent British choreographer, dancer and director Wayne McGregor, will have its say and will try to persuade the audience into selecting the winners.

Broadcasters, which have already showed interest in participating in the contest are: ARD (Germany), BBC (UK), BNT (Bulgaria), CT (Czech Republic), ERR/ETV (Estonia), ERT (Greece), LTV (Latvia), MTV (Hungary), NPO/NPS (The Netherlands), ORF (Austria), SF (Switzerland), SVT (Sweden), TVP (Poland), VRT (Belgium), YLE (Finland).

The final running order for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest to be held on 22 November in Lemasos, Cyprus became known last week. The hosts Sophia Paraskeva and Alex Michael will lead you into the miracle of the kid’s show, appealing to children and adults alike.

Here is the list:

1. Romania

Madalina & Andrada
Salvati Planeta

2. Armenia

Monika Manucharova
Im Ergi Hnchyune

3. Belarus

Daria Nadina, Alina Molosh, Karina Zhukovich
Sertse Belarusi

4. Russia

Mihail Puntov
Spit Angel

5. Greece

Niki Yiannouchu
A Night

6. Georgia

Bzikebi
Bzz…

7. Belgium

Oliver
Shut Up

8. Bulgaria

Krestiana Kresteva
Edna Mechta

9. Serbia

Maja Mazic
Uvek Kad U Nebo Pobledam

10. Malta

Daniel Testa
Junior Swing

11. The Netherlands

Marissa
1 Dag

12. Ukraine

Victoria Petryk
Matrosy

13. Lithuania

Egle Jurgaityte
Laiminga Diena

14. FYR Macedonia

Bobi Andonov
Prati Mi SMS

15. Cyprus

Elena Mannouri & Charis Savva
Gioypi Gia

The more I experience Eurovision, the more fascinating it gets. With the advance of the Eurovision season, the continent seems to get swept by a wave of local shows, each one more attractive, curious, and colourful than the other. The name holds true for Britain too.

The prominent British composer of musical theatre, author of the scores to “Evita”, “Cats”, “Sunset Boulevard”, and many others Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber offered to help Britain out of the perennial Eurovision predicament on the Island by writing the music for this year’s UK Eurovision entry.

Sir Webber managed a semi-joking tone by addressing the Brits on the BBC in search for the best 2009 British Eurovision representative: “People of Britain: I’m here to speak to you about a subject of considerable gravity, a subject that affects each and every one of us. I refer, of course, to our great nation’s continued failure in the Eurovision Song Contest.

With the typical British sense of humour, the famous composer appealed to the nation as if it were a quest the country is about to embark on, a prompt about his attitude towards the contest, or perhaps not.

Twelve years Britain has been waiting for a success in Eurovision. I haven’t seen any such party as they have it in the UK to celebrate Eurovision. Even if they do it to mock the participants, the atmosphere that you can feel in the country is simply beyond description. I hope we’ll have the same party this year again.

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.