OSLO 2010 SNEAK PEEK Over the last five years "All Kinds Of Everything" has given fans a chance to hear the songs competing for a place on the Eurovision stage, months in advance of the contest. For 2010, we once again look forward to the  competition in Oslo by providing some information on the songs vying for a place in Oslo. With 39 countries competing in May and only six likely to make internal selections, the vast majority of the entrants will be chosen through open national selections of various types. Between now and March, we will be looking at and and listening to the songs in contention for Eurovision 2010. Please remember that any MP3 files will available for a limited period. You can find the previous Sneak Peek here.
	POLAND "Love Me" - Anna Cyzon
Next Sunday evening, February 14th, ten songs will compete in "Krajowe Eliminacje" the Polish Eurovision selection show. This year all the artists are Polish nationals and half the songs are in the Polish language with the song for Oslo  being chosen by a national televote and jury. One of the finalists is 26 year old Anna Cyzon, who was born in Kraków and who, together with her family, emigrated to Canada in 1990. There she attended the University of Toronto where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Criminology. In 2004 she auditioned for the "Canadian Idol" talent show. Her performance on Idol landed her a position as a correspondent for CTV's eTalk, where she worked for 2 years, making a move to MTV Canada in 06. In July 2009 she released her debut single in Canada entitled "Young Boy". Anna is also pursuing her acting career, appearing in Warren P. Sonoda's "Unrivaled" and "Textuality", as well as the next instalment of the "Degrassi" movie. Now Anna returns to her native country and she is among the favourites to represent Poland in Oslo. Her song "Love Me" is a pop/r'n'b style track and like the other entries in the Polish selection, there is already a music video for the song.
	LITHUANIA "I Love A Boy Who's In Love With A Fairytale" - Ruslanas Kirilkinas
Next Saturday night (February 13th) sees the first of three semi-finals in the Lithuanian Eurovision selection. Former Eurovision entrants Sasha Son (2009) and 4 Fun (2007) are competing, but the favourite to get the ticket is the popular local band InCulto featured in a previous "Sneak Peek". One of the more unusual entries in the selection is the song "I Love A Boy Who's In Love With A Fairytale", which as the title might suggest is a tribute to 2009 Eurovision winner Alexander Rybak. To give the song a rather unusual twist,  the performer is 26 year old Ruslanas Kirilkinas, making it something of a gay love song. Ruslanas is a former member of the group Omega. He then left Lithuania and moved to Finland where he took part in the Finnish version of "Pop Idol". He followed that by appearing in the television reality show, "Music Academy". Ruslanas's potential Eurovision entry may be a little controversial, but the song is already generating a lot of commentary on various websites. The song will compete in the second semi-final on February 20th and should it qualify, the Lithuanian final awaits on March 4th. You can find Ruslanas' website here.
	ARMENIA "Apricot Stone" - Eva Rivas
Just like Poland, Armenia will choose its 2010 Eurovision entry on Sunday night next. Again ten songs will compete for the support of the public, through a televote and a jury. Last week, Armenian television put the audio files of the finalists on its website.  One of favourites to go to Oslo is 21 year old Eva Rivas. Eva is an Armenian, born in Rostov On_Don in Russia. She has already found successes in several music competitions and at 17 she moved to Moscow to pursue her music career. Eva now has the chance to fulfil a personal and professional ambition by representing Armenia at the Eurovision Song Contest and her song "Apricot Stone" has a high power songwriting team behind it. Armen Matirosyan wrote the first Armenian Eurovision entry "Without Your Love", which finished in the Top 10 in Athens, and Karen Kavaleryan who already holds the Eurovision record, for writing songs for five different countries and who has come close to winning the contest in 2006, writing "Never Let You Go" for Russia and in 2008, when he co-wrote the Ukrainian entry "Shady Lady" for Ani Lorak".
	CROATIA "Lako Je Sve" (Everything Is Easy) - Feminnem
The 2010 Dora, the show which chooses Croatia's entry for Oslo will be staged over two nights on March 5th and 6th in the now famous Crystal Ballroom of Hotel Kvarner in Opatija. Sixteen songs will compete in the semi-final on March 5h with eight progressing to the final, on the following evening, where they will be joined by eight automatic qualifiers. One of the songs that will be competing in the semi-final in the ballad "Lako Je Sve" (Everything Is Easy) by the all-girl group Feminnem. Feminnem (Neda Parmác, Ivana Maric and Pamela Ramljak) have already Eurovision experience under their belts. "Call Me" for Bosnia-Herzegovina in the 2005 contest in Kyiv. Since then they have tried to represent Crotia on two occasions, finishing 9th in 2007 and 3rd in 2009. Their potential 2010 entry could not be more different from their previous Eurovision entry and is among the favourites to qualify from Croatia. Feminnem's website is here.
	SLOVAKIA "Horehronie" - Kristina
We are now in the second phase of Slovakia's mammoth Eurovision 2010 selection process. Sixty songs have already competed in six quarter-finals which ran from January 22nd to February 7th. Now just24 songs remain to compete in two semi-finals, to be staged on February 14th and 21st, with six qualifying from each semi, to compete in the final which will be held on February 28th and like so many other countries, a public televote and a jury will pick the entry for Oslo. Having seen all the songs remaining in contention, we are now tipping 22 year old Kristina Vaša to for Slovakia's Eurovision ticket. Kristina is already regarded as one of Slovakia best new performers and already has several music videos to her name. Her potential Eurovision song "Horehronie" is an unusual fusion of folk music and pop, and the slick stage routine helped the song take one of the highest televote figures in the quarter-final. While the song may need some work if it's chosen for Oslo, this could be the song that finally gives Slovakia its first Top 10 Eurovision entry. You can find Kristina's website here.
	LATVIA "Your Morning Lullaby" - Lauris Reiniks
LTV has reduced its Eurovision selection process for 2010 and this year there will be no semi-finals. Instead ten songs will compete in the Latvian national final that will be staged on February 27th at the Juras Varti Theatre in Ventspils. The winner will be chosen over two rounds of voting . In the first round to select the top three and the second to select the winner. Once again the voting will be a mixture of televoting  and a jury. One of the songs competing in the Latvian selection is the ballad "Your Morning Lullaby", written and performed by Lauris Reiniks. Lauris is a familiar face to Eurovision fans, as he represented Latvia in Eurovision 2003, in the group 'F.L.Y.'. He also came 2nd in the 2001 Latvian Final & 5th in 2002 as a singer and has also written several entries for other performers in the Latvian final. Last year he also competed as a songwriter in the Irish final with the song "I Wish I Could Pretend" sung by Kristina Zaharova. By coincidence, this year Kristina is one of Lauris's rivals in the Latvian final. "Your Morning Lullaby" is a very sweet melodic ballad and would surely give Latvia a very strong chance of a place in the Eurovision final. You can final Lauris's website here.
	ROMANIA "Save Their Lives" - Luminita Anghel, Tony Tomas & Adrian Piper
Like Latvia, Romania has done away with its pre-selection semi-finals and instead goes straight to a national final, to choose its song for Oslo. Sixteen songs will compete in the Romanian final which will be held on March 6th in Bucharest The winner will be chosen by a panel of experts (25% weighting), four regional juries (25%) and  public televoting (50%). There are several former Eurovision entrants and many artists that have competed in previous Romanian selections in this year's final and probably the most familiar face is that of Luminita Angel who finished 3rd for Romania in Kyiv in 2005 with the song "Let Me Try". This year Luminita is joined by Tony Tomas who has had three previous entries in Romanian finals and Adrian Piper who has competed in the last two selections. Their song "Save Their Lives" is a tribute to the late Michael Jackson and coincidently with songs dedicated to Lady Gaga competing Moldova and Alexander Rybak in Lithuania, 2010 could be Eurovision's year of the tribute entry.
	PORTUGAL "Canta Por Mim" (Sing For Me) - Catarina Pereira
Portugal has qualified for the last two Eurovision finals and with interest in Eurovision on the increase, RTP has decided to expand its 2010 selection. An online qualifier in January, reduced the field to 24 contenders which will compete in two live semi-finals on March 2nd and 4th, with six songs from each semi, progressing to the final on March 6th. The winner will be chosen by televoting and a bum-numbing twenty regional juries.  19 year old Catarina Pereira is one of the favourites to represent Portugal in Oslo, based on the internet votes. Catarina hails from Matosinhos in Northern Portugal and came to national attention through the talent show "Família Superstar" and since then she has gone on to star in the local production of "High School Musical". Catarina's potential Eurovision entry is the dance pop song "Canta Por Mim", co-written by the team that wrote Portugal's entry in Belgrade in 2008. Carlos Coelho is a longstanding Eurovision fan and Croatian born Andrej Babic has also written previous Eurovision entries for Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Slovenia. The songwriting duo also have a song in this year's Eurovision selection in Georgia.
	MALTA "Velvet Ocean" - Eleanor Spiteri
It now seems like a long time ago, since Maltese television revealed the names of the songs and performers competing in this year's "A Song For Europe" and even longer since the showcase semi-finals. The Maltese Final will be held on February 20th at the Malta Fairs & Convention Centre in Ta' Qali, and twenty songs will compete for the votes of the public and a jury. One of the songs competing in the final is "Velvet Ocean" sung by Eleanor Spiteri. This is Eleanor's first time in the Maltese final but she previously came 3rd in the 2006 Maltese Final, 2nd in 2007 & 6th in 2009 as part of the group Trilogy. The group has not split up but decided to take a break for 2010 with two of the three members submitting solo entries in this years’ edition of the national selection. "Velvet Ocean" is co-written by Joe Julian Farrugia and Paul Abela. Paul was involved in writing the Maltese entries for the 1991, 1992, 1996 and 2001 editions of the Eurovision Song Contest, all of which finished within the top ten in the contest. For more information on the Maltese selection visit ESCMalta.
	estonIA "Rapunzel" - Lenna Kuurmaa
Ten songs will compete in the Estonian national final which will be held on March 12th at the Nokia Concert Hall in Tallinn. As with so many other countries, a jury and public televote will select the entry that goes to Oslo. Estonia broke a run of bad results by reaching the Top 10 in Moscow and ETV will be hoping that the renewed interest in the contest will bring another good result in 2010  One iof the more interesting entries competing in the Estonian selection is the song "Rapunzel" performed by Lenna Kuurmaa. 24 year old Lenna was born in Tallinn and shot to local fame as the lead singer with the all girl group Vanilla Ninja, who competed in the Estonian final in 2003, before going on to represent Switzerland in 2005, finishing in the Top 10 in Kyiv, with "Cool Vibes". Since Vanilla Ninja went their separate ways, Lenna has gone on to an acting career starring in the Estonian film "Kuhu Põgenevad Hinged" (Where Souls Go) and also in a local soap opera and on stage. Lenna now returns to music and to the Estonian Eurovision selection which provide her initial breakthrough seven years ago and the quirky pop sng "Rapunzel" is one of the favourites to get to Oslo.