Albania ready to go!

Last Saturday, Albania picked their entry for Eurovision 2007. This will be their fourth time participating in the contest, and they will begin the contest in the semi-final after Luiz Ejlli's "not bad" Zjarr E Ftoht failed to qualify from it last year.

So what's the song that Albania will pin their hopes on in Helsinki? Well, winning their national final well just 3 points is...

• BALADA E GURIT
• Aida & Frederik Ndoci

Balada E Gurit translates as 'The Stone Ballad', although a more appropriate name for this might be 'The Shite Ballad'.

No, maybe I'm being too harsh. On first listen, it's interesting to note that the song lasts for four and a half minutes, 90 seconds over Eurovision rules. Don't panic though! The song will be edited down into a three minute chunk, as have the last three Albanian entries which all won their national final despite being about four minutes long.

Perhaps it's just that four and a half minutes makes Balada E Gurit seem a little overlong. It begins (and continues) with a lot of ethereal wailing over the top of a rather ethnic beat. It's certainly common these days for Eurosongs to be quite ethnic, but Balada E Gurit goes all the way by including some eastern instrument that sounds quite like a sheep. You can hear it after about 30 seconds.

In fact, the whole song just seems to be a lot of ethnic noise. There's little tune and no hook. If this qualifies from the semi-final in its current state then I'm Celine Dion.

Songs like this do tend to win me over in the end though, but at Eurovision first listen is everything, so I don't think it's going to do very well. My current ranking list for Eurosong 2007 therefore stands as thus:

1. MOLDOVA - Fight
2. ALBANIA - Balada E Gurit

Hope you enjoy the little picture of Frederik that I've put up. The song may be a bit crap, but he's got great hair, you can tell.

UK OK

Finally some news from the UK!!! And what shocks they are!!! It's been confirmed today that:

a) our entry will be picked in mid-March in a 'primetime special', and
b) Terry Wogan will be involved.

Wow. Groundbreaking news there. Although this 'primetime special' sounds interesting, as people are beginning to wonder if the current Making Your Mind Up formula will be used or not as the BBC didn't mention it at all. Could we have a brand new preselection show to finally get the UK's Eurovision record back on track? Possibly.

However, the most exciting things so far are the names that have been spreading around the internet that might be involved with the UK entry next year. It is rather traditional to see a lot of speculation regarding the UK's entrant, with names popping in the past such as Claire Sweeney, Jane McDonald, Cheeky Girls and, in 2005, Kym Marsh (although it turns out they were just one year early). In fact it's become traditional for bogus lists of artists and songs to appear on Eurovision messageboards. It's quite bizarre that the UK has that following but there you go.

Anyway, here are the names that have so far been popping up in the UK rumour mill...

MORRISSEY
The whining snivelling vegetarian bastard is apparantly tipped to be one of our hopefuls. Brilliant. Let's make Europe suicidal.



ACE OF BASE
Yes, the Swedish pop makers said that if they were going to represent anyone in Eurovision it would be the UK cos of the massive following they have. I'm unaware of this following, but they do write a good pop song.

QUEENTASTIC
More Swedes here, the act that came 3rd in last year's Melodifestivalen. Unbelieveably, despite the UK constantly taking-the-Jemini out of Eurovision, we've never sent a drag act. Now is surely the time!



SCISSOR SISTERS
Now I think this may just be wishful thinking. To be fair, Eurovision is right up the Scissor Sisters' street, and I wouldn't put it past them to go for it. But after selling 1m copies of their new album this year, it would be an odd career move. But I hope they represent the UK cos we'd bloody win.





And finally, my personal favourite name out of all the rumours...

DAZ SAMPSON
All hail Saint Daz! He went to Athens last year convinced he was going to win and, alas, scored 25 points. Last year, we woz robbed. And Daz has said he feels he has some scores to settle. And I feel the same, cos last year, we should have won.

So he's teamed up with Carol Decker from T'Pau, and it's no secret that they've recorded a song called Goodbye, in memory of his dad, Alvin. Only Daz Sampson's dad would be called Alvin.

Either way, it seems that Daz has submitted his and Carol's song to the BBC and I wouldn't be surprised to see him doing the rounds in 2007. He was popular, charismatic and he actually wanted to do Eurovision because he liked it. Also, I think it would be incredible to see a UK national final where the Scissor Sisters were beaten by Daz, cos it would inevitably happen.

Anyway, the BBC are usually the last broadcaster to confirm anybody, so don't hold your breath. I'm sure there'll be an X-Factor/Ex-Blue/Ex-Hear'Say member in the running somewhere. But fingers crossed for Daz.

Christmas Turkey

Well, they just keep on coming don't we. As well as Edsilia Rombley, Sopho Kalvashi, DJ Bobo, Natalia Barbu and Dervish, we now know another person who will grace the Eurovision stage, this time for Turkey.

Here he is on the right. He goes by the name of Kenan Dogulu, and what you don't know about him is he is one of the most influential Turkish artists of all time. At 34, he's achieved things that Daz Sampson could only dream about.

He's had a big number one in Turkey this year, Cakkidi, and now wants to boost his profile across Europe, hence Turkish broadcaster TRT's decision to let him loose upont he Eurovision stage. He is, in fact, the first solo male to take to the stage for Turkey in six years.

Turkey have not had a bad few years in Eurovision stakes. They won in 2003, hosted in 2004 where they came 4th, and came 13th and 11th in 2005-6 respectively. Their rather brilliantly performed Superstar from 2006 fell just 2 points short of qualifying for next year's final, and so Kenan will have the job of helping them reach the Saturday Showdown. However with plenty of experience behind him, the love of the Turkish people, and rather good looks to show off, it seems he may not have too much trouble in getting to the final.

His song will be chosen by televoting, with three songs for the Turkish people to choose from, although I can't find a date for this selection so I'll have to leave this post in a sense of suspense.

Dutch Courage

As if we hadn’t already heard enough information about Eurovision 2007 while still in 2006, the Netherlands exclusively revealed this week who will represent them. And what a surprise they had in store. We thought last year was the year of the comeback as Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Israel, Malta and Greece all had artists representing them that had tried their luck at Eurovision before. This year, although we already know the Georgian, Irish, Moldovan and Swiss entrants, no returning artist had been selected.

Until now.

Ladies and gents, it’s time to welcome back that Dutch Eurovision heroine… Edisila Rombley!!!

This is very exciting although I’m not sure many of you will know who she is, so I’ll fill you in…

Edisilia (see the lovely pic) represented the Netherlands back in 1998, turning in a fabulous performance of the poppy Hemel En Aarde. It was a very strong song and could well have won had ’98 not been such a strong year. In the end, it finished 4th, although it did score a whopping 150 points and finished just 22 points behind Dana International and the winning Diva. Edisilia did however make a brief appearance giving the Dutch votes in the 1999 contest whilst quite obviously tipsy, one of the many comical moments of the ’99 show, but that’s another story for another time.

Anyway, emphasis must be paid though to just how good Hemel En Aarde actually was. It was hip, happening, and very modern, and it’s aged rather well. In fact, Sir Terry even questioned whether it was ‘too good for Eurovision? What a thought…’. What a thought, indeed!

So it’s no surprise that with not a lot of luck coming Netherlands’ way of recent times that they opted to bring back their most successful participant since their last win in 1975. Whether she’ll be able to get given a song as spot on as Hemel En Aarde is questionable, but she’s a great performer with a great voice and a very sunny personality. She’ll certainly have the fans on her side.

Welcome back Edsilia, our first returnee of the 2007 season! And, going on recent years, probably not the last…

A busy day! Switzerland and Moldova NEWS!

And yes folks, that NEWS with capitals because A LOT has been going on in the World of Eurovision today with two more artists confirmed and (deep breath...) the first song!!!

Oh, let's get straight to it. After lying to you and telling you that Albania would be the first conutry to choose their entry, little old Moldova go and surprise us all. In the most bizarre selection for entries ever, 34 songs were whittled by an 'expert jury' down to 3, from which the winner was chosen...

• FIGHTER
• Natalia Barbu

Natalia is a big star in Moldova, and managed to beat 2005 Moldovan entrants Zdob Si Zdub into second place (although their song would have been disqualified anyway, has it had already been performed over the summer. Will anyone ever learn?). So what is Fighter like? Well, not bad actually! Traditionally, the first songs of the national final season are poor, but this isn't a bad start. It's all a bit up and ready, a bit Ruslana, a bit wild dances with a fiddle thrown it, and I don't think it's a bad effort. Probably Moldova's best actually, although not loads to choose from... it's only their third ever entry! Anyway, they'll be hoping that Fighter will pull them into the Final, but I'm unsure at the moment. But not a bad effort, and a strong song to open the 2007 season.

In other news, remember Chihuahua? That really annoying song by that really annoying guy DJ Bobo a couple of years ago?

Yeah, well he's representing Switzerland.

Seriously. Las Ketchup for Spain last year, now this. I'm assured that he's massive in Europe. We'll wait and see. His song's chosen in February by the way, I'm sure it'll be cheesenificent.

So, what an exciting day in Eurovision. What's more Monaco have revealed today that they didn't withdraw for financial reasons, but that they never stood a chance of getting through to the final. Now if only Belarus and Andorra follow suit, Eurovision might be going the right way again.

I feel I need to recap what we know so far...

IRELAND - Dervish

GEORGIA - Sopho Khalvashi

SWITZERLAND - DJ Bobo

MOLDOVA - Natalia Barbu / Fighter

Welcome Georgia - Sopho Kalvashi for 2007!

Yesterday, debut country Georgia became the second country to announce who will be representing them in Helsinki and in turns out that it is (da-da-da!)... Sopho Kalvashi!

What do you mean who?

Sopho Kalvashi is one of Georgia's biggest pop singers, and was chosen especially by Georgia's broadcaster GTVR. She's 20-years-old and has won singing competitions in the past. So who better to represent this nation on their very first Eurovision outing?!

We will find out what song she's going to sing in February. But for now, why don't you enjoy this picture of the Georgian flag? I couldn't find a picture of Sopho, so this will have to do. It's different, isn't it?

Monaco-ver and Out

Poor pun, but BIG STORY!!! It appears to have been confirmed that Monaco have withdrawn from the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest. After initially having their name upon the entrants list, they've now down a u-turn and, because it's before 15 December, no penalty will be incurred.

Monaco returned to the Eurovision in 2004 after a 25 year break, and have been in the semi-final ever since, their poor results no doubt playing a factor in their withdrawl.

In 2004, a girl in strange trousers called Maryon jumped around singing the rather weak Notre Planete. One year later they sent Lise Darly and her orchestrally-backed ballad Tout De Moi. Great song! What a performance! Came second bottom in the semi. And last year, there was much hope for the slightly tropical La Coco Dance until rehearsals began and it became apparant that the singer, Severine Ferrer, hot as she was (see the provocative pic), could not sing live. At all.

And so, Monaco will subtly slip out of Eurovision 2007, leaving just 42 countries now. Will any more countries follow suit? They have until Friday if they don't want to pay a penalty.

But for now we say Goodbye Monaco, maybe see you next year.

National Finals - the announcements keep on coming...

Some more National Final lineups were announced this week and, like the ones already covered, there are many interesting names in plenty of them.

MALTA
Malta love Eurovision. They really do. And they want to win – they’ve finished twice this decade already. So imagine their annoyance when last year they scored a measly 1 point. I suspect they will be looking for a good result this year, and here are the 14 songs and competitors that will be going for the honour:

Places To Go – Tarcisio Barbara
Night Wish – Annabelle Debono
My Love – Isabelle
Whenever – Kevin Borg
L-Imhabba Ghamja – Claudio Faniello
All About A Life – Pamela Bezzina
Look At Me – Julie Pomorsky
Forever Mine – William Mangion
Little Islands In Your Heart – Daniela Delicata
She Gives Me Wings – Klinsmann Coleiro
Roller Coaster Ride – Rosman Pace
Starlight – Trilogy
As Long As You Know – Konrad Pule
Vertigo – Olivia Lewis

I know what you’re thinking. Little Islands In Your Heart?

Some interesting observations then. Nice to see an artist named after the footballer Jorgen Klinsmann and you don’t see the name Konrad with a ‘K’ very often do you?

So who are all these people? Well, if I was to list the amount of Maltese national finals these folks had previously appeared in, we’d be here all day, so let’s just say that they’re all rather established artists. Most interesting is Olivia Lewis. 2007 will see her THIRTEENTH attempt to represent Malta. Unlucky for some, but you can’t get much more unlucky than coming runner-up in their national final for the last three years. Now that is most definitely unlucky.

More lucky is William Mangion, veteran Maltese rocker who represented the tiny island back in 1993 finishing 8th with the rather bland This Time, of which the highlight was the backing singers. The most interesting thing about him was his bizarre slightly permed hair. These days he’s bald. Whether or not through choice is unknown.

ESTONIA
As if the plethora of former national final entrants in Malta wasn’t enough, then take a look at Estonia! Go on, look!

Artists confirmed to be competing in their NF include five acts who are no strangers to the Eurovision Grand Final. Koit Toome sang for Estonia in 1998 and finished 12th with his piano ballad Mere Lapsed and Estonia’s superstar Ines sang for them in 2000 finishing 4th. The group Soul Milita were the backup for Dave Benton and Tanel Padar when they won Eurovision in 2001, Laura Poldvere finished 20th in the 2005 semi-final as part of Suntribe, and Vanilla Ninja, who are Estonian, finished 8th in 2005 for Switzerland, who poached them as part of their ‘let’s get a good result’ scheme.

Nowadays, Estonia are looking for a good result after failing to qualify for the past three years. But with such experienced artists, they must be hoping for a good result.


DENMARK
Denmark’s recent Eurovision rollercoaster ride has been rather eventful. After finishing 1st in 2000, they came runner-up the year later, last the year after that and were subsequently relegated. They then failed to qualify from the 2004 Semi-Final but did in 2005 and finished 9th meaning automatic qualification for 2006. However, they picked the godawful Twist Of Love and, thus, they’re back in the semis for 2007.

Like Estonia, Malta and everybody else, the Danes have got their hands on some ex-Eurovision veterans to come and have another go. Here’s the list of the 16songs that Denmark will be choosing from.

Copenhagen Airport – Annette Heick
Fly – Annika Askman
Husker Du – Aud Wilken
It Ain’t For The Money – Cammille ft. DJ Mary
Paparazzi – Christoffer Broderson
Meaning Of Life – Danni Elmo
Flammer Inden I – Dariana & Olou
Drama Queen – DQ
On Top Of The World – Heidi Degn
Vi Elsker Bare Dansker Piger – Jorgen Olsen
Listen To Love – Jacob Anderson
Say You Love Me – James Sampson
Merhaba – Julie Lund
It’s A Beautiful Day – Katrine Falkenberg
Two Are Stronger Than One – Me & My
Sa Naer Som Nu – Stig Rossen

What an excitingly named collection of songs.

So who’s back? Well, Aud Wilken finished 5th for Denmark in 1995 with Fra Mols Til Skagen, a bizarre little song with banjos that I’m still not quite sure whether I like or not. She’s a strange woman, so it’ll be interesting to see if she’s retained her ‘pixie-like features’ that Wogan commented on twelve years ago.

Most excitingly though is the return of… Jorgen Olsen! He’s a Danish legend and usually performs as part of The Olsen Brothers with brother Noller. They won in 2000 with Fly On The Wings Of Love and they’ve been in the Danish music business for well over 30 years. They last attempted to enter Eurovision with the superb Little Yellow Radio in 2005 – it would have won if it had got through I *swear*! This year, Jorgen goes it alone with a song that translates as We All Love Danish Girls. If there’s any justice, it’ll win. Anything Olsen = something to smile about.

Oh, and I’m not sure if James Sampson is related to Daz, but I would love it if he was.

National Final season is soon upon us – isn’t it great!

Argh! Eurovision Ticket Frenzy!

Today, the tickets for the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest Final and Semi Finals went on sale. And for those who think that Eurovision is an unpopular event, it’s worth saying that all 12,000 tickets for the grand final sold out in just 20 minutes.

As usual, the ticket buying was an absolute chaotic mess of internet buying, pages crashing, and general confusion. It seems that there are a few tickets left for the semi-final and rehearsals (yes, Eurovision’s so popular that rehearsals have tickets) but otherwise if you want to go to the Eurovision final but didn’t get your ticket today, then you won’t be going. You may well be looking like the picture on the right.

On the bright side, tickets will soon start appearing on eBay at astronomical prices. If you’ve got the money, go for it. Otherwise, I’d start planning your Eurovision party now and sit back in May while all the pissed revellers of Helsinki start waving their flags once more.

The 15 hopefuls of Belarus

Today, the Belarussian broadcaster BRTC announced the 15 songs that will take part in their national final. It gets a bit complicated in Belarus – these 15 songs will take part in a national final in December, and the top three will then go to an internal jury where the winner will be picked. No wonder, they’ve never qualified from the semi-final. What a stupid way to pick your song. The biggest travesty was last year when the attitude-rock of Gunesh Abasova’s Connect The Hearts didn’t even make the final three. Instead, the song Mum was picked, which included the lyric ‘he’s an arrant liar’. God bless the free language rule – you don’t hear words like ‘arrant’ in songs normally do you? Anyway, it was stupid word to use and a rubbish song and it came second bottom in the semi-final.

This year, Belarus are hoping for 4th time lucky. Indeed, as presumed before, Angelica Agurbash was disqualified from the final 15, and she then withdrew two other songs it turned out she’d entered. Sulky cow.

Anyway, these are the final 15, which will be whittled down to 3 before the winner is decided:

Borneo – Fingertips
New Generation – Belarus
Diana Gurtskaya – How Long
Dimitry Koldun – Angel Mechty
Lena – Call Me (September 11th)
Natalia Tomelo – So Badly High
The Project – S.U.P.E.R.S.T.A.R.
Irina Yarina – Krotkiy Dozhd
Victor Pshenichniy – Sooner Or Later
Oleg Karpenko – I Feel Good Tonight
Dali – Mechtai So Mnoy
Svayaki – Saldoki Myodzik
Anna Sharkunova – Sorvatsa I Viniz
Litesound Band – Summer Trip
Natalia Lapteva – Tears

It’s always fun to make assumptions on Eurovision songs before you’ve even heard them, and here are some judgements of mine.

The song entitled ‘Belarus’ could well be a lovely slice of nationalist mockery, in which case, great. If not, it’s going to be awful. Equally, the song Call Me (September 11th) sounds so insensitive, it hurts. The Project’s S.U.P.E.R.S.T.A.R is obviously building upon Turkey’s success in 2006 with their super Superstar – the individual letters though would suggest a chant in the style of Har Mar Superstar. Great.

I like Irina Yarina ‘cos her name rhymes.

Litesound, Dali and Dimitry Koldun have all taken part in the Belarussian national finals before. What their songs must have been like, I don’t know.

So, the final three songs will be announced soon – lets hope Belarus are on to their first qualifier. I love them really. Despite their now assumed 12 points to Russia every year.

From Russia with Love

Last night, the 4th Junior Eurovision Song Contest was held in Romania. I haven’t mentioned this event on my blog because it really isn’t worth a mention. It is possibly the worst TV show. Ever. As such, the UK didn’t even bother to take part this year. However, what you may lack in credibility, you can certainly make up for in comedy.

Yesterday’s event was won by Russia, a song called Vesna by the Tolmatchevy Twins. It had a 25-point clear lead over last year’s winners Belarus and was, therefore, a unanimous winner. Goodness knows why.

Imagine a cross between I Just Wanna Make Love To You by Etta James and the theme tune to The Addams Family. This is what Vesna actually sounds like.

Here’s a YouTube clip for those who are interested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ba4KqEH4sMY

You see, even the UK refuse to take this event seriously anymore. Which is a shame, because the first Junior Eurovision in 2003 was great. It was won by a guy called Dino for Croatia with a cracking little song which he performed very well to. Since then, things have gone rather downhill. A personal highlight of mine was the 2004 Dutch entry, when I began to question why I wasn’t doing anything better with my Saturday night.

Imagine a cross between a midi-file and an explosion in a whistle factory. This is what the Netherlands’ entry of two years ago – Hej Is Een Kai – sounded like.

In fact, it's so bad, I couldn't even find a clip of it on YouTube.

Hmm.

If you do want a good laugh over the festive period, I’m sure you’ll be able to get your hands on a copy on eBay soon. Otherwise, it’s back to thinking about the big boys’ contest again – only three weeks ‘til Albania pick the first 2007 entry!!!

Please let it be better than Vesna.

N.B. Is ‘Vensa’ a Russian word for ‘Shit’?

43 countries too many? Nah...

There has been much speculation over quite how many countries there will be in the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest, and it’s been confirmed by Svante Stockselius (the chubby bloke in the picture), head of the European Broadcasting Union, that the 40-country-limit has been broken as 43 countries have confirmed their entry into next year’s Eurovision! Alas, it seems the puzzle of Italy has been solved – although a lot of people wanted to see their return, it looks like someone at their broadcaster RAI decided to spoil the fun by saying ‘no’ (or whatever the Italian for ‘no’ is). So they’re not in next year, and neither are Azerbaijan, but then this is no big surprise.

The 43 countries taking part include all of the 37 taking part last year, the introduction of Serbia and Montenegro as different countries (wonder how many votes will be swapped there?!), the debuts of Czech Republic and Georgia, and the return of Hungary and Austria!

There are many downsides to having so many countries. Namely that the bloc-voting will probably be more prominent than ever with all of the debut or returning six countries likely to add greatly to eastern voting, and the voting procedure itself will probably end sometime near the start of the 2008 contest. Also, the semi-final could possibly have a maximum of TWENTY-NINE COUNTRIES.

This is a lot of countries.

Bear in mind that only ten countries qualify from the semi-final anyway. This is bad news for countries such as Netherlands and Belgium, who will not benefit very much from an influx of eastern voting countries. I demand a change in the voting system.

Does Mr Stockselius think that 29 semi-finalists is overdoing it? By the photo, it certainly looks like he’s pondering over whether it was a few too many.

The figure of 43 countries is not 100% confirmed yet, as each country will be sent the costs of entering the Eurovision and have two weeks to decide whether to withdraw or not; if they withdraw within this two week period, they will not be charged. However, if a country says they’ll take part and then pulls out later, they will be charged. Eyes are fixed on Moldova here, as it was unclear whether or not they had quite enough money to take part. They are on the list, however, but whether anyone will pull out is not clear yet.

On the bright side, us lucky Eurofans may have 43 songs to tuck into next year. Forty-three! It’s going to be a very busy national final if this is the case!