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Following the victory of
Dima Bilan and "Believe" in Belgrade in May 2008, the 54th edition of the Eurovision Song
Contest will be staged in Moscow, Russia on May 16th 2009, and will
be preceded by two semi-finals on Tuesday May 12th and Thursday 14th.
THE
FORMAT
In 2008, the qualification process
for the Eurovision Song Contest final was changed to include two
semi-finals, each producing ten qualifiers who then joined the host
country and the "Big 4" financial contributors (France,
Germany, Spain and the U.K.) in the final. Despite the cost involved
in staging an extra show, the change was widely perceived as a
success and it will be repeated in Moscow.
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After a debate as to
whether the "Big 4" would continue to gain an automatic
qualification, it has been confirmed
that once again these countries will
go straight to the final in Moscow, although maybe for the last
time.
One major change to the rules will be made in
2009 and it will see the
return of juries to the contest, but only in the final and only in
conjunction with public voting. Since 1997, when it was trialled in
five countries, the votes awarded by each country have generally
been determined by a public televote. However in recent years
the impact of neighbourly and diaspora voting has been seen as
distorting the results.
While The EBU reference group, which
determines the rules of the contest has yet to publicly announce the
exact process for
voting in the final, it is now known that countries
will be asked to vote using a 50/50 mix of an "expert
jury" (made up of music professionals) and a public televote.
The jury will consist of five members and who are not connected with any of the entries in
the contest. The jury and the televote will each select a Top 10 and these separate votes will
then be combined to produce an overall Top 10 which will be
allocated points in the traditional Eurovision fashion, with each
country awarding 12 points to its favourite. The process in the
semi-final will remain as in 2008, with public televotes choosing
nine of the ten qualifiers from each semi-final and the results of the reserve juries
choosing the tenth finalist. Consequently, once again there will be
25 countries competing in the final in Moscow.
On
January 30th, the semi-final allocation draw took place in the
Mariott Aurora Hotel in downtown Moscow. The 37 countries which will
compete in the semi-finals, were each selected from six pots based
on geography and previous voting history. Below you can find the
results of the draw. On March 16th, the draw for the running order
was made and it was also confirmed that Georgia had withdrawn from
the contest rather than change the lyrics of their song which were
in breach of the rules.
In addition to the countries
participating in the first semi-final, Germany, Spain and U.K. will
transmit and vote in the first semi-final, while France and Russia
will transmit and vote in the second semi-final.
The draw for these
five automatic finalists was also made. France will be performing
third in the final, Russia at tenth, Germany at number seventeen,
the United Kingdom as number twenty three and Spain will close the
final at number twenty five..
It has
been confirmed that the rehearsal scheme will be the same as in
Belgrade, with the first individual rehearsals starting on Sunday
May 3rd. The timing of the last dress rehearsals for the live shows will be of
course be later, due to the time difference. Please note that you can now apply for press or fan
accreditation on the official Eurovision website
and there is also information on hotels.
You can now find the full rules of the 2009 Eurovision Song
Contest here.
HOST
CITY
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Following Russia's first
Eurovision Song Contest victory, there was some debate as to which
broadcaster should host the contest and whether Moscow, the
country's current capital city or St.Petersburg, the former capital
and traditional gateway to the west, would gain the honour of
staging the 2009 contest. However following the intervention of
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, it was decided to award the
contest to Moscow, with Channel One being the host broadcaster,
rather than RTR, which sent the winning Russian entry to
Belgrade.
Demonstrating the Eastern movement
in the competition in recent years, Moscow will be the fourth city
within the former USSR, to host the Eurovision Song Contest in seven
years following Tallin, the Estonian capital in 2002, Latvian
capital Riga in 2003 and Kyiv in the Ukraine in 2005. Moscow, with a population of over 12 million people,
will be the biggest city to host the Eurovision Song Contest and for
the first time in the event's history the show will begin at 23:00
local time, as Moscow is three hours ahead of the U.K. and Ireland
and two hours ahead of Central European Time.
One of the downsides for fans
travelling to one of Europe's greatest cities is that Moscow is one of the most expensive cities in the
World and hotel prices have already been ramped up for the week
before the contest. Another minor inconvenience is the need for a
Russian visa. Negotiations between the EU and Russia on introducing a
visa waiver programme will not be in place before May and most
foreigners will still need visa to enter the Russian Federation. The
only exceptions are Montenegro, Moldova, Azerbaijan, Armenia,
Ukraine, Belarus and Israel who's passport holders don't need a
visa.
Those with accreditation will get
an automatic invitation letter by email from Channel One once your
accreditation request is approved. During your accreditation process
(which will take place at www.eurovision.tv),
you will be asked where you want to pick up your visa, and you must
nominate your local embassy or consulate.
Special Eurovision Song Contest service desks will be set up at each
embassy or consulate in the participating countries. From March 1st,
you must present the following documents:
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A valid passport.
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A completed visa application
with a passport photo.
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A visa invitation letter sent
by Channel One.
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Travel health insurance, valid
for the entire length of the visa validity period.
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Money (in in local currency)
for the visa payment.
Irish passport holders can find
out what find of visa are available on the website
of the Russian embassy in Ireland. The special visas for those
intending to visit Russia for the Eurovision Song Contest are a
special one month single visit visa.
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While it has still to be officially confirmed, we believe that
the venue for the Euroclub will be the famous Moscow Menege (left)
in the city centre, adjacent to the Red Square. The Euroclub is
traditionally the venue for after-show and delegation parties and is
seen as beeen the centre of Eurovision social activities.
Designed by Spanish engineer Agustín
de Betancourt with a unique roof without internal support for 45
m, it was erected from 1817 to 1825.The structure was used first as
a traditional manège, to house parades of horsemen and a training
school for officers. The Manege was large enough to hold an entire
infantry regiment (over two thousand soldiers) as well as an invited
audience.
Since 1831 The Moscow Menege has
been an exhibition centre. During the Soviet years, the building was
used as an art gallery. It was there that Khruschev infamously
chided avant-garde artists for promoting degenerate art. On March
14th 2004 the building caught fire and burnt out, killing two
fire-fighters. The wooden beams and rafters collapsed, leaving the
walls remaining on site. The official investigation concluded that a
short-circuit caused the fire. On February 18th 2005 the restored
Manege resumed its activity as an exhibition hall by mounting the
same exposition that had been scheduled on the day of its
fire.
UPDATE The
welcome reception which was originally scheduled for the grounds of
the Moscow State University on May 9th has been rescheduled to the
evening of Sunday May 10th and will now be staged in either the Euroclub or else in Red Square, assuming that
the necessary permits can be obtained.
The deputy mayor of
Moscow Valerij Vinogradov, who heads the city hall department which
is preparing for Eurovision 2009 has also stated that there will
also be a card that will allow visitors access to almost all the
Eurovision after-show parties, which will be staged in he Euro-Club.
THE
VENUE
On September 13th, it was
announced that the EBU Reference Group had agreed with Russian
Channel 1's proposal to use Moscow's Indoor Olympic Arena as the
venue for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. As the name suggests,
the venue was built for the Olympic Games, which were staged in
Moscow in 1980 and the arena hosted the major indoor sports,
including basketball and boxing. It is part of a complex of sports
buildings, including the ajoining swimming pool. As well as several
basketball tournaments, the venue has twice staged the final of the
Davis Cup international tennis tournment and has also hosted the
World Indoor Athletics Campionships in 2006.
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Over 10 million Euros is
expected to be spent on refurbishiing the venue and while the Olymic
Indoor Arena (known locally as the "Olimpiysky") may not
win any awards for beauty, it does offer an attractive option for
hosting the Eurovision Song Contest in many respects. The venue is
so large that up to 80,000 people can occupy its space, however when
smaller indoor sports are held at the arena, less floor space is
used and the capacity varies between 10,000 and 16,000 people. The
final configuration of the arena for the Eurovision Song Contest has
yet to be finalised. For the final, there will be 20,000 in the
arena, but it is believed that some sections will be closed off for
the semi-finals, reducing the capacity. There will
be about 2,500 participants, including those involved in the opening
act and the interval and together with the organisers and the press,
expectations are for up to 8,000 thousand guests.
A second advantage is that the
venue is close to the city centre and it is served by a nearby metro
station (Prospect Mira) which is just a ten to fifteen minute
journey from the downtown stations. The third advantage is that the
venue is big enough to host the Press Centre, which is a treat for
journalists trying to cover the event, following the long excursions
between the stage and press areas in Helsinki and Belgrade.
THE
SHOW
There is no question that Russia
is taking its Eurovision hosting role seriously. The Russian Prime
Minister Vladimir Putin appointed his deputy Alexander
Zhukov as
chairman of the organising committee which will deal with
coordinating federal agencies and the Government of Moscow. The
committee includes Mayor of Moscow Yuri Luzhkov, head of the Russian
Ministry of Information Technologies and Communications Igor
Shchegolev and director of Channel One Konstantin Ernst.
The budget for the event will be
the biggest in Eurovision, with one billion Russian roubles (27
million euros) being allocated from the Russian federal budget. With
almost one third going on the refurbishment of the arena and the
balance going on staging, technical facilities, transport and other
elements of event management. And additional three million euros
will come from the EBU.
The Executive
Director of the event is is Yuri Aksyuta, while
director of the shows will be Andreiy
Boltenko, a well know television director who has directed many
big event shows for Channel One, including "Star Factory"
concerts in Olimpiiski, and the Russian version of the MTV Music
Awards. One thing that is certain is that
Channel One is taking far more responsibility for the staging of the
event than many previous broadcasters with local technicians doing most of the "hands on"
work.
Channel One has now named other members of the team that will be
in charge of the contest. The production designer of the show is
Englishman John Casey, who was previously involved in the RTÉ
productions of Eurovision Song Contests staged in Dublin in 1995
and 1997. He has also been involved in the design of the news
studios of American broadcasters CNN, CBS and NBC. The producer of
the contest will be the Estonian Tarmo Kriim, who was
involved in the team that chose the venue for the contest.
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UPDATE The
opening act of the first semi-final will feature the winners of the
2006 Junior Eurovision Song Contest, the Tolmachevy Sisters.
The interval act will feature Russian choirs, and will end with
t.A.T.u's song "Not Gonna Get Us", although the two former
Eurovision Song Contest participants are not expected to perform.
The second semi-final will feature an entertaining opening act with
matrioshka-grafiti painted on stage, carnival elements and folk
orchestra performing pop music, while the interval act will see
Russian ballet in a surprising form.
The final of the 2009
Eurovision Song Contest will feature a performance of Cirque du
Soleil, and Dima Bilan featuring ice skater Evgeni
Pluchenko, who also accompanied last year's Eurovision Song
Contest winner on stage. Channel One hasn't reveal much about the
interval act of the Final, just that the arena will most likely be
turned into winter wonderland featuring 2,000 square metres of LED
surface.
UPDATE Well
known local television presenter Andrey Malahov and singer
Alsou, the runner-up in the 2000 Eurovision Song Contest will be
the presenters of this year's semi-finals. Andrey Malahov is a well
known face on Russian television and he also presented the 2009
Russian national final as well as hosting the running order draw.
Alsou, who remains a very popular singer in Russia, came second with
"Solo" in Stockholm in 2000.
The presenter or
presenters of the final to be held on the 16th May have not been
confirmed, although one name that is being widely touted is actress
Mila Jovovich. Mila was born on December 17th, 1975 in Kyiv
in Ukraine. Her actual name is Milica Natasa Jovovich.She lived in
the former Soviet Union up to the age of five and then moved to
California. At the age of eleven, she acted in the film “Two Moon
Junction” and started her modeling career. She did campaigns for
“Dior”, “Gap”, Donna Karan and “Mango”. After a great success with
the film “The Fifth Element” in 1997, she completely dedicated
herself to acting and starred in “Resident Evil”, “The Story of Joan
of Arc”, “The Million Dollar Hotel”. Mila also has a music career.
In 1994 she released a folk album “The Divine Comedy”. In late
1990’s she founded a band “Plastic Has Memory”. She also
collaborated with Maynard James Keenan from the band Tool, the
Crystal Method and many other famous musicians.
The "theme art" for the 2009 contest was
unveiled at the draw for the semi-finals on January 30th and
features a multi-coloured "fantasy bird". The colourful
design, was made by The Red Square, the production company
Channel One is working with for this year's Eurovision Song
Contest. It can be applied on various colours and surfaces,
both in its totality as well as in parts and various elements will
be made available to the media, to help brand and promote the event.
One change from recent years, is that the 2009
contest will not have a slogan , such as "A Confluence of
Sound" which was used for the 2008 contest in
Belgrade.
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The first artist's impression of the stage design has now been
released. The stage has been designed by New York-based set designer
John Casey who previously designed the stage for the
Eurovision Song Contest in 1997 in Dublin, and was involved in 1994
and 1995 as well.
"Even before I worked with
the Russians on the TEFI Awards in Moscow in 1998, I was inspired by
and drawn to art from the Russian Avant Garde period, especially the
constructivists," said Casey. "Everything from this
artistic time period, from the posters to the three dimensional
constructions, has interesting perspective. The art presents an
unexpected view or use of space. I've tried to come up with a
theatrical design for the contest that incorporates Russian avant
garde art into a contemporary setting, almost entirely made up of
different types of LED screens," he explained.
Other elements of the show, such
as the interval acts will not be announced until
closer to the Eurovision Song Contest. Channel 1 has however
presented the first of the "postcards" which provide the
breaks between the songs during the show. The remaining postcards
will be produced over the next few months and are expected to be
less generic than the ones used in Belgrade in 2008.
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UPDATE The
ticket sale was launched on Monday
March 16th, through Channel One's website,
in ticket offices of the Olympiyskiy complex and on the
websites of official ticketing partners of the contest: Parter.ru,
Kontramarka.ru, Ticketland (city ticketing offices of Moscow),
Kassir.ru, Concert.ru, Showtrade and also via telephone of official
call-centre.
A telephone of the
official call-centre of the contest is + 7 495 363 6060 and its
staff will answer all questions on the reservation and purchase of
tickets (including tickets for foreign visitors). Requests in
both Russian and English can be answered.
Tickets for the
semi-finals and rehearsals are still available and remaining tickets
for the final will be released in the weeks building up to the
contest.
The contest will be the first use of e-tickets in Russia. They will
have several degrees of protection, including a hologram and barcode
information on time and location in the hall. The authenticity of
the tickets will be scanned with electronic reading devices at the
entrance to the venue.
This year tickets will be sold separately and not in packages.
Prices for rehearsals will vary from 300 to 1,800 roubles (10-40
Euros). Tickets for the Semi finals (12th and 14th May, beginning at
23:00 Moscow time) - from 800 to 20,000 roubles (15-450 Euros).
Tickets for the final on Saturday May 16th, beginning at 23:00) -
from 1,000 to 30,000 roubles (20-650 Euros). The 650 euro tickets
are for the VIP area and includes not only the seats in the
parterre, but also special parking and separate pass to the hall.
There will be ten price categories for all events. The average
ticket price for the final is 150 Euros, semi-finals will be 95
Euros, rehearsals of the final will be priced 25 Euros, semi-final
rehearsals 10-15 Euros.
Schedule of the concerts, local Moscow time, please not that the
show include some pre transmission entertainment:
11th of May, 14.00 - First rehearsal of First semi-final
11th of May, 20.00 - Second rehearsal of First semi-final
12th of May, 17.00 - Third rehearsal of First semi-final
12th of May, 22.30 - FIRST SEMI-FINAL
13th of May, 14.00 - First rehearsal of Second semi-final
13th of May, 20.00 - Second rehearsal of Second semi-final
14th of May, 17.00 - Third rehearsal of Second semi-final
14th of May, 22.30 - SECOND SEMI-FINAL
15th of May, 14.00 - First rehearsal of Final
15th of May, 20.00 - Second rehearsal of Final
16th of May, 16.00 - Third rehearsal of Final
16th of May, 22.00 - FINAL
THE
PARTICIPANTS
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On November 15th the EBU the deadline passed for
countries wishing to enter the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest.
43 countries stated their interest in competing in
Moscow, the same number that competed in Belgrade in 2008. Slovakia
returns for the first time since 1998, while Georgia
originally dropped out,
for political reasons.
UPDATE There
were several changes to the list of
participants. San Marino withdrew due to financial reasons, while Georgia
withdrew, then changed its mind and decided to
participate and having selected an entry which was in breech
of the rules, withdrew once again.
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Automatic
finalists |
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Semi-finalists
(Semi 1) |
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Semi-finalists
(Semi 2) |
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NATIONAL
SELECTIONS |
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UPDATE ALBANIA : Albanian
broadcaster RTSH is sending their sixth entry to the
Eurovision Song Contest and three of the previous five have
made it to the final. Once again, Albania's song was the first
to be chosen, at the annual Festivali
i Këngës competition. Over three nights, seventeen songs
fought for the honour of representing Albania in Moscow. On December 21st, the winner
was chosen by a jury of musical experts. The winner was "Më
Merr Në Endërr" (Take Me Into Your Dreams) sung by
sixteen year old Kejsi Tola. The song will be performed
under the title "Carry Me In Your Dreams" in Moscow.
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ANDORRA : Despite
failing to qualify for the final since first entering the
contest in 2004, Andorran broadcaster RTVA will once again be
sending an entry to Moscow in May 2009. After allowing a
private company to select the 2008 entry, RTVA took complete control of the Andorran selection
process and invited
both composers and singers to enter their selection An
expert jury selected the three entries to compete at the 2009 Andorran national
final, staged on February 4th. A combination of a jury and a
public televote chose the song "La Teva
Decisió" (It's Your Decision) sung by 32 year old
Danish born Susanne Georgi. Susanne who now lives in Andorra
was half of the popular duo Me & My who previously competed
in the Danish Eurovision selection. |
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ARMENIA :
While others led
the change in the voting process, the former Armenian Head of
Delegation, was known to be quite satisfied with the previous
100% televoting option and Armenia was seen as a beneficiary
of diaspora voting. Armenian television opted for a
national final staged on February 14th. Twenty acts
compete dand the winner was chosen by a mixture of a
televote and a jury. The winning song is called "No
Par" and is performed by the sisters Inga and Anush
Arshakyans. The duo combine the folk traditions of Armenia
with some modern arrangements.
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AZERBAIJAN
: One of
two countries to make its Eurovision debut in Belgrade in
2008, Azerbaijan finished in 8th place after a very lavish
promotional campaign. Azeri television
interviewed
potential candidates to represent them in Moscow and announced that 19-year old singer Aysel Teymourzadeh was selected
from the forty nominees.
ITV has put up a webpage on the selection, including a
video of the rehearsals, which includes Aysel's
performance. On February 5th it was confirmed that the
song that Aysel will perform in Moscow is called
"Always" written by Swedish-Iranian songwriter Arash
Labaf. The song was chosen from a selection of thirty entries
submitted to Azeri television. It is now confirmed that the
song will be performed as a duet in Moscow with Aysel being
joined on stage by Arash. The song was made public on March
3rd. |
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BELARUS :
Belarus has
made the Eurovision final on just one occasion since entering
the contest for the first time in 2003. For 2009, Belarussian
television had a lengthy
selection process called "EuroFest". A professional jury
selected fifteen songs which
participed in a semi-final on December 15th. In that semi, a
jury chose five songs which progressed to the final on January
19th. In the final a public
televote chose the winner and by an overwhelming vote, local
rock star Petr Elfimov won the ticket to Moscow, with a
song he has co-written; "Eyes That Never Lie".
Petr will now go on a
promotional tour before Eurovision. |
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UPDATE BELGIUM : Four
successive semi-final failures is the unenviable recent
Eurovision record of Belgium. In 2009 it will be the turn of
the French language broadcaster RTBF to send the Belgian entry
to Moscow. It has now been confirmed that RTBF have once again used an internal
selection and chose the performers last autumn. On February
16th the Belgian media reported that the entry in Moscow would
be sung by 43 year old swing and rockabilly singer Patrick Ouchene. You can find out more about the singer on his MySpace site. The song which was
unveiled on March 10th. "Copycat" is written by legendary songwriter
Jacques Duvall who has written hits for Sparks, Jane Birkin,
Etienne Daho and Eurovision singers Amina, Pierre Rapsat and
Telex. The the entry will be performed by a group called
Copycat, fronted by Ouchene. |
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BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA : The Bosnians have been one of the
few ever presents at Eurovision finals since semi-final
qualification was introduced in 2003. Following an internal
selection, the group Regina were chosen to go to
Moscow, with
"Bistra Voda" (Clear Water) a song written and
composed by the group member Aleksandar Covic. The entry was unveiled in a special show on March
1st. Regina is a Bosnian rock band founded in 1990 in
Sarajevo. The band who's music is inspired by the Irish group
U2 released the first of eight albums in 1990, but started
perusing solo careers in 2002. In 2006, they reunited, releasing their most recent album "Sve
Mogu Ja" in the same year. You can find the group's
MySpace page here. The entry is the subject
of plagiarism controversy due to its similarity to the song
"Oltar" by Kiki Lesendric.
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BULGARIA : They
have only qualified for one final since making their
Eurovision debut in 2005, but Bulgarian broadcaster
BNT was the first to begin their
selection for Moscow. The first
of nine heats in "Be a Star" took place on October
2nd. Three songs in each heat (one chosen by jury and two by
televoting) qualified for the quarter-finals, held on October 23rd, November 20th and December 18th. The top
three songs in each quarter-final qualified for the semi-final on January
24th, where a jury selected
nine songs to go forward to the final where they joined
three "wild cards" chosen by BNT. The overwhelming
winner of the public telvote was Krassimir Avromov, a
Bulgarian born singer with a four octave range who is based in
the U.S.A. The winning song which was one of the
"wildcards" is titled "My Illusion". Since
being selected, the entry has been disputed, due to perceived
problems with the live performance. BNT are reviewing the
situation before confirming their participation. |
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UPDATE CROATIA : Croatia's recent results may have been disappointing, especially
compared with the 1990s when they twice finished in the Top
5. Nevertheless HRT stuck to the
same multi-artist national final as before, with the 2009 Dora
taking place over two nights on 27th and 28th of February in Opatija.
The winning song was "Lipeja Tena" (Beautiful Tena) sung
by casting show discovery Igor Cukrov which was
chosen despite only finishing second in both the televote and
with the jury. The song is being re-recorded to add vocal by
Andrea Susnjara, who will join Igor on stage in Moscow.
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CYPRUS : Three
successive semi-final failures have not diminished Cypriot
interest in the Eurovision Song Contest and RIK was one of the
first EBU members to state its intention to compete in Moscow.
Entries from anywhere in Europe were accepted. A jury chose ten songs that proceeded to the Cypriot final
where the public
selected the 2009 entrant. To create a level playing pitch in
the final, none of the songs were made public before the
show, which took place on February 7th. The clear winner
was "Firefly" sung by Christina
Metaxa. The song's success in the selection is most likely
the result of the popularity of the songwriter, Nikolas
Metaxa, Christina's older brother and runner-up on the Greek
version of "X Factor". |
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UPDATE CZECH REPUBLIC
: There were rumours that the Czech Republic's second
Eurovision participation in Belgrade in 2008 would be their
last CT has chosen the
group Gipsy.cz to represent Czech Republic ain Moscow. The
band presented two potential entries and the winning song
was chosen by two weeks of text voting and winner "Aven
Romale" will be
performed in a special show on March 21st. The band is known
for its rap music in the Romani language and they are very
popular in the Czech Republic. The leader of the band is Radosla "Gipsy" Banga, who was born in Prague. Gipsy
has worked with many well known artists. In 2006 Gipsy was
nominated by the academy of Popular Music at the Angel Awards
2005 (the Czech Grammies) for the Best Album in
Hip-Hop & R´n´B category. In the following year the band
Gipsy.cz recieved two nominations: for the Best Album in the
World Music category and as a Best New Artist, winning the
latter. The band have previously competed in the Czech
Eurovision selections in 2007 and 2008. |
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DENMARK
: Danish
broadcaster DR opted for a slimmed down selection for
2009. The two semi-finals were dropped and instead ten
songs went straight to the final on January 31st. Six finalists
were selected from an open selection where over three entries
were submitted and the other four finalists were especially invited by DR.
Over three rounds of voting the finalists were reduced to four
songs who competed head to head in two semi-finals and then to
a two song knock-out, where the public chose the Danish entry.
The song "Believe Again" will be performed in
Moscow by Niels Brinck a singer, songwriter, composer
and producer living in Copenhagen. Niels released his first
album in 2008. The Danish entry was written by Lars Halvor
Jensen, Martin M. Larsson and Irish singer Ronan Keating. |
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ESTONIA
: Estonia shares the record of five semi-final participations,
without qualifying. In August, Estonian participation in
Moscow was in doubt during the war between Russia and Georgia.
Estonian Minister of Culture Laine Jänes suggested a possible
boycott by Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Latvia immediately
rejected the idea and in September, a public poll was held on
whether Estonia should participate in 2009 and 66% were in
favour. Estonian broadcaster ERR staged a new selection called
"Eesti Laul 2009" on March 7th, with ten songs competing for the Estonian ticket
to Moscow. Over two rounds of voting, the public chose the
female vocal and instrumental group Urban Symphony and
"Randajad" (Travellers). The song will be the first in the
Estonian language since 1998. |
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FINLAND
: Finnish broadcaster YLE were one of the first to
announce their plans for Moscow, as they aim for a
fourth successive appearance in the Eurovision final. The
Finnish Final was staged in Tampere on January 31st and hosted by Eurovision 2007 presenter Jaana Pelkonen
along with Mikko Peltola. Before the final there were four
semi-finals with the top two songs in
each semi, chosen by televoting, qualifying for the
final. The 3rd and 4th placed songs in the first three semis
got a second chance 4th semi-final which was held on
January 31st just before the final. In the final, two rounds
of voting reduced the field from ten to three "super
finalists" before the public finally chose dance act Waldo's
People and "Lose Control". The five piece band enjoyed
their greatest popularity at the start of the decade, releasing two
successful albums, before taking a break and coming back in
2008 with
a "Greatest Hits" collection, including new
material.
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FRANCE : French
television has confirmed that it will be in Moscow and it has
now been confirmed that the participant will be made
through an internal selection, with French television working
with local record companies to find a suitable entry. After the controversy which surrounded Sebastian Tellier's
"Divine" being sung in English, a
commitment was made to have future French entries sung in
their national language. It has now been confirmed that 42
year old French singer Patricia Kaas will sing the
French entry in Moscow and the song will be unveiled in a
special show on French television on February 9th. Kaas has
been a major star on the French music scene for many years and
previously rejected the idea of entering the Eurovision Song
Contest. In a newspaper interview published on February 1st
Kaas stated that her entry in Moscow will be the lead single
from her current album "Kabaret. the song "Et S'il
Fallait Le Faire" (If It Had To Be Done). The song was
presented officially on February and you can now watch the
live performance below. |
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GERMANY : Despite a
run of disappointing results , which has seen only one Top 10
result in the last seven years and declining television ratings, German
broadcaster NDR was one of the first to confirm its
participation in 2009. With a guaranteed place in the final in
Moscow, a bigger German national final was expected, however
in a surprise move, the German broadcaster has announced that
it willl make an internal selection, something it hasn't done
since 1995. Over three
hundred submissions were received and the entry was announced on February
9th. The song is called "Miss Kiss Kiss Bang" and will be
performed by the duo Alex Swings Oscar Sings. Alex is
Alex Christensen, a well known producer and songwriter, who
had a minor hit on this side of the world with a dance version
of the theme from "Das Boat" under the name U96.
Oscar is American born singer Oscar Loya, who has already
worked with Christensen. The song was presented during an
awards ceremony on February 21st. |
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GREECE : Greece is the only country to finish in the Top
10 in the last five years and Greek broadcaster ERT announced
its Eurovision performer for 2009 a full ten months before the
contest in Moscow. 2004 entrant Sakis Rouvas who also
presented the contest in 2006 will return to Eurovision in
2009. ERT also confirmed the song selection process, the
songwriter and the choreographer. Sakis performed three
songs written by Dimitris
Kontopoulos, a well known songwriter who has had three
songs in previous Greek selections, including "Welcome To
The Party", which although beaten in the Greek selection
in 2006, was used as part of the Eurovision opening act. The Greek selection
took place on February 18th with a combination of a jury and a
public televote selecting "This Is Our Night" for
Moscow.
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UPDATE HUNGARY : Hungary has had a on and off affair with
the contest, entering every year between 1994 and 1998, then
taking a break before returning in 2005. After opting out in
2006, Hungary has sent entries to the last two Eurovision Song
Contests, one being chosen internally, one through a national
final. MTV made an internal
selection and 105 entries were submitted. On February 3rd,
Hungarian broadcaster MTV confirmed announced that Mark Zentai
and "How We
Party" would be their entry, however it was then
discovered that the song had been released in Sweden before
the October 1st limit. Then actress and singer Kátya Tompos and
"Maganyos
Csonak" (Solidary Boat) was announced as the entry, only
for Katya to withdraw due to other commitments. MTV will now
select a third song, to be announced shortly. Finally on
February 23rd "Dance With Me" by Zoli Ádok was chosen to go to Moscow.
The Eurovision version of the song has now
been released. |
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ICELAND : Iceland put
a run of three semi-final failures behind them in Belgrade,
when they reached the final. Icelandic broadcaster RUV ran
their 2009 selection for Eurovision,
Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins through January and February. Four
semi-finals, each with four songs, too place on January
10th, 17th, 24th and 31st, with the top two in each
semi-final, chosen by the public will take part in the final,
which took place on February 14th. The song chosen by the
Icelandic public was "Is It True" sung by 19
year old newcomer Jóhanna
Guðrún Jónsdóttir.
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IRELAND : Ireland
is going through its worst ever run of Eurovision results,
with only one Top 10 finish since 2001. Despite the failure of
Eurovision's first puppet act in Belgrade, RTÉ has confirmed
its participation in Moscow and six songs competed in a "Late Late
Show" special on February 20th. For the first time in
Irish Eurovision history, the winner was chosen by a mixture
of a televote and four regional juries. The winning song was "Et
Cetera" sung by Dubliner Sinead Mulvey and Black
Daisy and written and composed by a multi-national team of
Irishman Niall Mooney, Swede Jonas Gladnikoff, Italian Daniele
Moretti & Christina Schilling from Denmark. The song won
both the jury and televote.
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ISRAEL: Israel scored a Top 10 result in
Belgrade. Noa
and Mira Awad have come together to sing the Israeli entry
in Moscow. It appears that Noa was selected as a soloist to
represent Israel at Eurovision, and she then made her
participation conditional on performing in a duet with her
friend, the Arab-Israeli singer, Mira Awad. The song was chosen from a selection of four potential
entries in a final to be staged on March 2nd. A combination of
juries and a televote chose the entry and despite not being
the favourite of the public, the song that will represent Israel
in Moscow is "There Must Be A Better Way".
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LATVIA: Having
announced the songs in their national selection, LTV saw their
2009 budget slashed by the Latvian government and immediatly
announced that they were withdrawing from the 2009 Eurovision
Song Contest as well as making other dramatic cuts to their
programming. However in another change of mind, the
Latvian broadcaster decided to participate in Moscow and
LTV changed their selection plan, opening for a two night
selection on February 27th and 28th. The top 10 songs in the
semi-final, chosen by televoting, qualified for the final.
In the final, the winner was chosen over two rounds of voting.
The narrow winner was "Sastregums" sung by Intars Busulis.
In an unusual move, the song will be sung in Russian in Moscow,
under the title "Probka". |
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LITHUANIA : Like
Estonia, Lithuania considered its participation in Moscow,
following the war between Russia and Georgia. The selection show
"Lietuvos Dainu Dainos" featured established
Lithuanian performers and the especially selected singers performed commissioned songs from Lithuanian
songwriters. Three quarter-finals were staged on January
10th, 17th and 24th, followed by two semi-finals on January 31st and February 7th, with regional
televotes selecting the Top 5 from each semi to progress to the
Final on February 14th. In the final, the winning song
was "Pasiklydes Zmogus" (The Lost Man) by Sasha
Son. For Eurovision the song will be performed in English,
under the title "Love".
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(FYR) MACEDONIA:
After four consecutive appearances in the Eurovision final,
Macedonia missed out in Belgrade. While the Macedonian entry
finished 10th in its semi-final, it failed to progress, as
only the Top 9 qualified based on televoting, and Sweden took
the 10th place in the final based on being the jury choice. Macedonia's paricipation in Moscow
was seen as being under threat due to
financial issues with broadcaster MKRTV, but in October
Macedonian television confirmed their participation in 2009. This
year's Macedonian selection had two semi-finals on
February 19th and 20th, before the final with sixteen songs on February 21st.
The winner was chosen by
mixture of televoting and a jury and in one of the closest
races ogf the year, rock duo rock duo Next Time and
their song "Nesto Sto Ke Ostane".
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MALTA : After coming
close to winning the contest in 1998 and finishing second in
2005, Maltese fortunes have taken a severe drop in recent
years, finishing last in 2006 and failing to qualify from the
semi-final in the past two years. The 2009 Maltese Final was held on February 7th at the Malta Fairs And Convention
Centre in Ta' Qali with 20 songs participating, with the winner
being chosen over two rounds of voting. In the first round, a
jury selected the top 3 songs to progress to a televote
which in turn chose the winner. Before the final there were eight semi-finals
with a total of 56 songs. The song that will represent Malta
in Moscow is "What If We", sung by Chiara.
Theis will be Chiara's third time representing Malta at
Eurovision. In 1998 she finished 3rd with "The One That I
Love" and in 2005 she came second with
"Angel". The 2008 entry is the work of Belgian
songwriters Gregory Bilsen and Marc Paelinck, the latter wrote
the Belgian entries in 2002 and 2004. |
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MOLDOVA :
Sandwiched between Romania and Ukraine, Moldova made its
Eurovision debut in Kyiv in 2005 scoring the first of two Top
10 results, however in Belgrade, Moldova failed to make it out
of the semi-final, for the first time. Moldovan broadcaster
Teleradio-Moldova has confirmed its participation in Moscow
and set a deadline of 20th December for those interested
in entering a song for Eurovision. Performers must be
citizens of Moldova, although Moldovan songwriters can
collaborate with songwriters from other countries. Twenty
songs were selected to take part in
the national final on February 14th. Voting in the final was split between a TRM panel, a jury and televoting.
The winner of all three section was "Hora Din
Moldova" (Hora From Moldova) sung by popular local
singer Nelly Ciobanu.
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MONTENEGRO : As part of Yugoslavia,
Montenegro sent two entries to the Eurovision Song Contest in
the 1980s and in 2005, Serbia & Montenegro's entry also
originated from the small nation on the Adriatic. Montenegro
gained independence in 2006 and in 2007 in
Helsinki, they made their solo debut, failing to qualify from
the semi-final, something they repeated in 2008. Montenegrin
broadcaster RTCG made an internal selection and chose "Just Get Out Of My Life" sung by Andrea
Demirovic. This is the first time that Montenegro will
sing in English at Eurovision. Andrea Demirovic was in 1985 in
Podgorica. Her breakthrough came at the Suncane Skale festival
in 2002. Andrea has since had considerable successes at regional
festivals and she finished 5th in the 2005 Serbia-Montenegro
selection. Her first album was released in 2006. While the
song is credited to Peter Match and Gunter Johansen, it is
believed that real identities of the songwriters are Ralph
Siegel and Bernd Meinunger, who include "Ein Bisschen
Frieden", the German winner in 1982 among many previous
Eurovision entries. The song was presented for the first
time at the Greeek frinal on February 18th. |
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NETHERLANDS : Dutch
broadcaster NOS is putting the semi-final failures of the last
four years behind them and announced their entrants for Moscow
in September. Die Toppers, one of the top Dutch live
acts will go to Moscow.
The group is made up of two time Dutch national finalist
Gordon, Rene Froger and Jeroen van de Boom who has
replaced Gerard Joling
who represented the Netherlands in Eurovision in 1988. Over
three hundred entries were submitted to the Dutch
selection and the song was chosen on February
1st, in a national final hosted by Jack van Gelder in
Hilversum. De Toppers performed six songs and the winner will be chosen by
televoting and a jury. The winner, thanks to the televote was "Shine"
written by Bas van den Heuvel and Ger van de Westelaken, the
latter being a disguise for Gordon, one of De Toppers. The
studio version of the song is now available but is being
remixed for Moscow. |
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NORWAY : Norwegian
broadcaster NRK, fresh from a Top 5 success in Belgrade, was
the first to announce their plans for 2009, and they have
chosen to repeat the formula from 2008. The Norwegian Meldi
Gran Prix final will be held on February 21st at the Spektrum
Arena in Oslo. Before that final there will be four
semi-finals, starting on January 24th. The top two songs in
each semi-final, chosen by televoting, will qualify for the
final, while the 3rd and 4th placed songs in the first three
semi-finals will go forward to the 4th semi-final where they
have a second chance to qualify for the final. Over 350 songs
were submitted to the selection. The winner with one of the
biggest votes in Norwegian Eurovision history is "Fairytale"
performed and written by 23 year old Alexander Rybak a
multi-talented singer, musician and songwriter, who was born
in Belarus 23 years ago. |
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POLAND : After a run
of three successive semi-final failures, Poland finally made
the final in Belgrade, only to finish in the bottom three in
the final. Having reviewed the new voting struction, Polish broadcaster TVPconfirmed its participation in Moscow. Poland sticks to
the same national selection as recent years. Ten finalists
took part in Piosenka Dla
Europy on February 14th and the entry was selected by mixture of jury and televoting. The
Polish entry in Moscow will be "I Don't Wanna Leave"
sung by Lidia Kopania.
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PORTUGAL : In
Belgrade, Portugal qualified for its first final since 2003,
and RTP has confirmed that it will be in Moscow in 2009,
following a growth in local interest in the contest. The
Portuguese final will be held at the Teatro Camões in Lisbon
on February 28th. In the first found of voting the public were
given sample of 24 potential entries and given two weeks to
vote for their favourites. Twelve songs were selected to compete
in the final and the winner
was chosen by a mixture of televoting and regional juries.
Despite only coming second in the televote, the Portuguese entry
in Moscow will be
"Todas As Ruas Do Amor" (All The Streets Of Love) by the
group Flor De Lis.
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ROMANIA
: Romania is
one of the few countries to have appeared in the last seven
Eurovision finals, with two Top 5 finishes in that time. TVR
followed the same selection
process as the last few years, with two semi-finals on January
27th and 29th, before the final on January 31st when a jury
and a televote selected the winner. This year, songwriters had
to be Romanian. After finishing as runner-up in the televote,
but winning the jury vote, the Romanian entry in Moscow will
be "The Balkan Girls" performed by Elena
Gheorghe. 23 year old Elena was born in Bucharest and has
built up a career in the local music industry through
successful participations in local music festivals. Unlike
several of the other finalists, it was her first time trying
to compete at Eurovision.
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RUSSIA : Following
the victory of Dima Bilan and "Believe" in Belgrade,
Russian Channel 1 will play the role of host broadcaster in
Moscow. After a change on plans for the Russian
selection, there was a
national final with sixteen songs on March 7th and the winner
will be chosen by a mixture of televoting and a jury. The
winner was chosen in two rounds of voting; in the first
round, the Top 3 will be chosen by televoting and in the second
round the winner was be chosen by a jury. "Mama" sung by
Anastasiya Prihodko was originally submitted to the
Ukrainian selection, but having been controversially rejected in
that semi-final, it was submitted to the Russian final, three
days before the selection. The song won the televote.
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SERBIA : Having won
the competition with its debut entry as a separate country in
2007 and successfully hosted the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest
in Belgrade, Serbian broadcaster RTS was one of the first to
confirm that it would be taking part in Moscow in 2009. Having
reviewed the option of making an internal selection, RTS decided to stick with the same formula as
before, with a two night selection on March 7th and 8th.
Twenty songs competed on March 7th, with ten qualifying for the
final. However after a voting irregularity an eleventh song was
added. In the final, the song "Cipala" (Shoe) performed by Marko
Kon & Milan Nikolic was chosen by a combination of a jury and a
televote. |
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SLOVAKIA : After
eleven years, Slovakia will be making a Eurovision return in Moscow. Having failed to qualify
from the pre-selection show in 1993, Slovakia made its
Eurovision debut in Dublin in 1994 and in
1998 STV sent its third entry to the contest, but having been relegated, Slovakia decided not to enter the
contest since. The first Slovak national final was held on March 8th in Bratislava
and was preceded by five semi-finals held on February 15th, 20th, 22nd,
27th and March 1st. In the final sixteen songs competed for
televotes, with the top three going to a "super final" where
a jury chose the entry. The winner was "Let Tmou"
(Night Flight) sung by Kamil Mikulcik & Nela Pociskova. |
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SLOVENIA : Slovenia's
record in the Eurovision Song Contest has been pretty poor,
with only ince qualification in five attempts, since
semi-finals were introduced in 2003. For 2009, Slovenian
broadcaster RTVSLO is making some minor changes to the
selection process. RTVSLO invited six successful
songwriters who in turn will then choose the artist or band
who performs their song and these progressed automatically to
the final. The Slovenian final was held
on February 1st and was preceeded by a semi-final January 31st,
where 14 songs were reduced to six to progress to the final. Once
again, the Slovene entry was chosen by a mixture of a jury and a
televote and again controversy followed the selection, when
the public's overwhelming favourite was ignored by the jury
and the song that was only the fourth choice of the public won
the ticket to Eurovision. The specially formed group
Quartissimo will perform the mainly instrumental entry
"Love Symphony".
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SPAIN : In recent
years Spanish broadcaster TVE has tried almost every trick in
the book to try and win the contest and while they have
increased interest in the domestic market, no Spanish entry
has finished in the Top 5 since 1995. TVE is once again using the
MySpace website to allow entrants to submit potential entries.
Candidates were divided into
ten categories (Rock & Pop, Ballads, Metal, Electronic,
Latino, Hip Hop & Rap, Indie, Flamenco &
"Canción Española", R&B and "Other"). Over six million
votes were cast.
Thirty songs progressed to the semi-finals and after a
re-schedule, the Spanish Final was held in the early hours of March
8th and a combination of a jury and televote chose "La
Noche Es Para Mi" (The Night Is For Me) sung by Soraya. |
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UPDATE SWEDEN : Despite a
run of results that has only seen one Top 10 finish in the last
four years, it was a case of "same again" for Swedish
broadcaster SVT. The Swedish Melodifestival final was
staged on March 14th at the Globen Arena in Stockholm and the
winner chosen by regional juries, televoting and this
year an additional international jury. Before the final there
will be five semi-finals. The first four semis will have two
rounds of televoting with two songs progressing to the final and
two going to a "second chance" semi. After all the semis have
been held, an international jury will award one of the losing
songs a "wild card" for the final. In a very dramatic
final, the winer was "La Voix" sung by locally well known opera
singer Malena Aernman. |
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SWITZERLAND : In the
past two years, Switzerland has started as one of the
favourites to qualify for the final, only to fall short in the
Eurovision semi-finals and you have to go back to 1993 for the
last time a Swiss song finished in the Top 5 in the contest.
SRG SSR which is responsible for selecting the Swiss entrants,
has opted for an internal selection and there is little change
for 2009. Potential entries had to submitted by October
20th and this year Swiss residence or citizenship was no longer
required. An international jury made an
internal selection and the Basel based rock group Lovebugs have
been chosen to represent Switzerland in Moscow. You can visit
the group's website here.
In February it was confirmed that the band would perform "The
Highest Heights", a track from their current album as the
Swiss entry in Moscow. |
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TURKEY : Turkey has
been an ever-present in Eurovision finals since 1995. During that
time they has won the
contest in 2003 and successfully hosted the
event in Istanbul in 2004.
In
September, TRT made an open call for entrants, and on October
24th, TRT announced that their performer in Moscow would be Hadise.
The 23-year old singer and songwriter is well-known in
Belgium, where she was born into a family of immigrant Turks. Hadise first came
to public attention when she took part in the Flemish version
of "Pop Idol" in 2003. Although she did not win the
competition, she was offered a record deal and released
several singles and albums. In recent years she has won
several music awards and also started a career in presenting
television shows. Having presented a number of potential
Eurovision entries to TRT, the song provisionally called
"Düm Tek Tek" was chosen and performed for the
first time on a New Year's special. Apparently the entry will
be re-arranged before being presented in Moscow. |
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UPDATE UKRAINE : Since
making its Eurovision debut in Riga in 2003, Ukraine has won
and hosted the contest and also finished as the runner-up in
the past two years. Rumours of financial difficulties in
Ukrainian broadcaster Channel 1, were thought to be putting
participation in 20009 under threat, however the Ukrainian selection
began on November 3rd when those interested in
competing in Moscow, were asked to submit their entries. 68
entries were received and a
jury shortlisted thirty entries which will be
asked to present their entries to a selection panel on
February 8th. Fourteen finalists competed in the final on
March 8th and a
combination of a jury and televote select the entry, "Be My
Valentine" performed by well known local singer Svetlana
Loboda. A studio version of the song has now been released. |
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UNITED KINGDOM
: Once
one of Eurovision's strongest entrants, the U.K. has seen a decline in its fortunes with only one
Top 10 finish in the last decade and two last place
results, including 2008. The BBC is known to have been one of
the leaders of the campaign to bring back juries to the
contest, in the hope of reversing its fortunes. For
Moscow, the BBC recruited well known songwriter Sir Andrew
Lloyd-Webber to write their entry and while other countries like
Ireland and Spain dropped the concept after poor results,
a television casting show, "Your Country Needs You"
chose the performer. Jade Ewen, a 21 year old Londoner
was chosen on January 31st when three finalists performed the song
"My Time" written by Lloyd-Webber and American
lyricist Diane
Warren. The song has been re-arranged and recorded and the
final version was released on March 2nd. |
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