Eurovision 2007: the lowdown

I thought I best post a few facts about the next contest, so that if you're a random outsider who's happened to stumble across this very blog and haven't got the faintest clue what this Eurothingy is, you'll soon be able to amaze/delight/bore your friends with these slightly tedious, but very essential facts.

- The 2007 Eurovision Song Contest will take place on Saturday 12th May next year in Helsinki, Finland (for the first time!) thanks to Lordi's runaway win with 'Hard Rock Hallelujah' last year.

- The Grand Final will consist of 24 countries made up of the following:

• The ten countries that finished with the highest scores last year (Finland, Russia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Romania, Sweden, Lithuania, Ukraine, Armenia, Greece and Ireland)
• The four countries who financially contribute the most to the contest, formally known as 'The Big 4' (Germany, Spain, France, UK)
• Ten qualifiers from the semi final...

- The 2007 Eurovision Semi-Final will take place on Thursday 10th May next year, also in Helsinki. There can be up to 26 countries taking part in the semi final (although this may change, watch this space...). For now though, those 26 countries will be made up of:

• The ten countries that finished with the lowest scores last year, excluding the Big 4 (Turkey, Croatia, FYR Macedonia, Norway, Switzerland, Latvia, Denmark, Moldova, Israel, Malta)
• Any other country that wishes to take part, either any of the 13 countries that didn't qualify from the semi-final last year, any returning countries or any debut countries.

This is where it all gets a bit confusing. At the moment, there is supposedly a rule that says that only 40 countries are allowed to take part in the Eurovision. But with the influx of new countries, old ones returning, and some countries dropping out, it's hard to know if a) the limit will be kept to 40, and b) who the heck will take part! Still, a definitive list is meant to appear in November, which should clarify matters.

Another few tit-bits for you...

• All songs have to be under three minutes long.
• There can be no more than six performers on stage.

And a question I'm always asked about...

• You don't have to be an unknown artist to represent your country! In many European countries, they send some of their most established artists. Anyone can enter from the UK, even the Scissor Sisters if they wished...

But they're not British, I hear you cry!

• Ah, well likewise, you don't have to be from a country to be able to represent that country. Gina G (Australian) and Katrina & The Waves (yanks) were both able to represent the UK because of the British writers of their songs. It can be the other way round to - national artist, foreign writers. As long as there's some link somewhere to that country, anyone can take part. Elton John could fobb off Bernie Taupin and exchange him for popular Balkan songwriter Zeljko Joksimovic allowing him to represent Serbia if he wished...

Well, I think that's pretty much it for now. Lots of tedious rules, but all vital to one's Eurovision knowledge.