Gotta be Gunesh!

Tonight Belarus will be choosing its representative for Eurovision 2009. The field's been whittled down to 5, and Eurovision Express reckons that the winner just has to be Gunesh's Fantastic Girl.

It's a pretty decent song with some interesting choreography featuring girls in white dresses and odd headwear. The other songs aren't really that good (so we can't imagine what the songs that didn't get this far were like).

If Belarus wants a decent position in Moscow then it's gotta be Gunesh. Enjoy the semi final performance below.



UPDATE: Gunesh loses, Petr Elfimov goes to Moscow. See video on right-hand side of this page.

A snippet from Slovenia....and Brigita is best

This time last year Eurovision Express spent a few Sunday afternoons tuning into Slovenian TV to hear a quick burst of the songs taking part in their national selection.

But this year it looks like we've missed the first instalment! How careless of us! Anyway, we've caught up, and are pleased to report that, going on the 90 second snippet below, we really like Brigita Šuler, who had the best song in last year's EMA, Samara. This year she returns with Druga Liga, which apparently means Second League.

Brigita, don't do yourself down - we reckon this is Premier League!

Lithuania's answer to Sestre and Scooch....YVA!

Songs with an airline theme haven't done that well at Eurovision.

Sestre gave the whole trolly dolly thing a go in 2002 for Slovenia, and came 13th. Five years later Scooch decided to Fly The Flag for the UK, landing in at 2nd to last position. In fact there must have been something in the water in 2007 because Annette Heick decided to go airport-tastic when she tried, and failed, to represent Denmark that year with Copenhagen Airport.

So the message seems clear. Don't bother pursuing anything to do with aeroplanes if you want to do well at Eurovision. Nonetheless this hasn't deterred girl group, YVA trying a similar idea in Lithuania, with their song, I Dangu (video below). To be fair it's not a bad entry, and has progressed to Lithuania's semi-finals. However, only achieving 6th in their heat, it seems unlikely we'll be seeing YVA in Moscow. Looks like this is one song that's not really going to take off.

We're Waldo's People

Eurovision Express loves to boogie, and we think that the winner of the 2nd Finnish semi final - Waldo's People with Lose Control (below) - is pretty groovacious.

It's got a great 90s style chorus and, thankfully, not too much rap. After Lordi it seemed that Finland were destined to send rock songs to Eurovision forever, but this song could take things in a new direction. It's a little way off from the heights of Eläköön Elämä, but, it's still pretty darn good.

Let's hope Waldo wins!

Andorra may "Get a Life"

The first of 3 programmes to select the Andorran entry for Eurovision was broadcast tonight. The first song is Get a Life (La teva decisió) sung in English and Catalan by Danish-born Susanna.

This is not the first time Susanna has been seen at Eurovision - she was one half of the Danish pop duo Me & My who took part in the Danish MGP in 2007 with the song Two Are Stronger Than One, which finished 6th. She also called in the televotes for Denmark in 2007.

As for this song, it's a little bit unoriginal but quite likeable, pleasant and bouncy all the same. Apparently this is the favourite to represent the principality in Moscow. Whether it's the best of the three, we'll wait and see. We'll hear song 2 next Wednesday, and the final song a week later.

Here is "Get a Life" from Andorra.

Mediocre Malta!

Here at Eurovision Express, we've always had a soft spot for Malta, and we would dearly love the small meditteranean island to win Eurovision one day. However, we're struggling to find a favourite amongst the 20 songs in their national final.

Chiara is better than her song What if We and Claudia Faniello should have entered Caravaggio this year instead of the less impressive Blue Sonata.

Maybe Malta should go down the tacky route and send Tonight at The Opera by Classic Rebels written by Eurovision legends Ralph Siegel and John O'Flynn (aka Bernd Meinunger).

Sadly, we can't see ourselves in Valetta in 2010 unless Chiara's song is vastly re-worked for the national final.

An Iced Gem

In amongst all the UK and Malta hype last night, a little gem of a song in the Icelandic semi-final almost passed us by. The excellent Is it true sung by the very lovely Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir was the highlight of the offerings from across Europe last night. A very well presented and polished song.

Thankfully the song made it to the Icelandic final on 14th February, and we would be very happy to see this represent Iceland in Moscow.

UK recruit song-writing legend

It's all shaping up nicely for the UK this year. Not only have they got Andrew Lloyd Webber to write the music for their entry, but we have learned tonight that the well respected Grammy award-winning Diane Warren (pictured above) will write the lyrics. Diane has written some of the most well known songs of recent years. Check out her credentials here.

As for tonight's show, we were disappointed to see Damien leave the contest but were very impressed with both Jade and Mark. We hope they make it to the final on 31st January when we will hear the much anticipated UK song for Moscow.

OK Malta, this is your last chance!

Tonight we see the final instalment of songs in the Maltese pre-selection show Euro Showbox. Having been disappointed with Chiara's song last week, we're hoping that there is a Maltese gem in the final offerings later tonight. Otherwise, Malta may not be in the final in Moscow if they pick any of the songs played so far. Fingers crossed for you Malta!

Also tonight,the UK kicks off the elimination rounds of Your Country Needs You. We're hoping Mark, Damien and Jade are safe tonight.

Elsewhere in Europe, Iceland and Lithuania also start their pre-selections.

Looks like the national final season has well and truly started...hurrah!

Norway's giving us Butterflies!

Norway has a special place in the heart of Eurovision Express. When Bobbysocks won the Contest in 1985, we were delighted. Despite being unfairly labelled with the 'nil points' tag, Norway always seems to enter a high quality song, culminating in the best entry from Eurovision 2008 - Maria Haukaas Storeng's Hold On Be Strong.

So what has Norway got to offer this year? Snippets of the 21 songs competing in Melodi Grand Prix are now available to listen at NRK's website

It's a mixed bunch of songs, including rap, schlager, R'n'B, American soft rock, something from the 1920s and some pretty contemporary sounding stuff too. We were however a tad disappointed to discover that there doesn't seem to be a strong ballad.

Our favourites (on 30 seconds of each song) are Butterflies, a catchy number sung by Tone Damli Aaberge (pictured above), and the kicking toon, Tricky by girl group, Velvet.

There's also something about Alexander Rybak's song, Fairytale, which may mark it out from the rest of the field.

The first of three qualifying rounds kicks off on 24 January. Norway's selection last year was one of the most exciting and well produced, so let's hope for as much fun this year!

Birthe is back!

The legend that is Birthe Kjær is back on the Eurovision stage - albeit it as a presenter rather than participant.

Birthe will co-present the Danish Melodi Grand Prix on 31st January. We narrowly missed seeing Birthe live in 2005 at the Eurovision Song Contest's 50th anniversary celebration show in Copenhagen. Unfortunately she had to withdraw at the last minute due to illness.

Hopefully she'll be fighting fit for the Melodi Grand Prix in a few weeks time.

Let's relive that stalwart of many a Eurovision disco - Vi Maler Byen Rød which really should have won in 1989!

UK in Eurovision U-turn!

Last night was the first airing of what will be the UK selection process - Your Country Needs You - and what an opening. We were very impressed with the new professional attitude being adopted in the UK with regards to Eurovision.

The BBC and Andrew Lloyd Webber have done their homework this time and have quite openly admitted that something needed to change to restore the UK to a respectable position on the Eurovision scoreboard.

They have realised that the UK needs to market their Eurovision song abroad before the contest, and start embracing the Eastern countries and their Eurovision credentials if they want to get votes for their song. This was illustrated by Lord Webber's visit to the Russian Prime Minister! Can't imagine Mr. Wogan ever doing that!

The acts themselves were of a good standard, and our initial favourites are Damien, Mark and Jade. Of course, the real star must be the song, and we won't hear that for a while yet.

Overall, well done BBC! We welcome the new positive and realistic attitude towards Eurovision - the UK doesn't have to take the contest seriously, just professionally, and this is a good start! Douze points!

Disappointment from Malta

After the much anticipated return of the Maltese Eurovision legend that is Chiara, we were very excited when she took to the stage last night in another of the Euro Showbox shows on Maltese tv with her 2009 effort to represent Malta in Moscow.

However, this excitement soon turned to disappointment when we heard the song - What if We. Having had the superb The One That I Love in 98 and the equally superb Angel in 05, songs that almost won the contest, we don't think it's going to be 3rd time lucky for the Maltese songstress. Chiara, as always, has impeccable vocals, but this song just isn't good enough for her! What a shame.

It's not looking promising in Malta so far this year! Perhaps they have kept all of the really good songs until the final week of Euro Showbox...let's hope so!

Here is Chiara's performance from last night.

Thank The Lord!

Ahead of the UK's bid to regain some Europride, which begins tomorrow (Saturday 3 January) with the start of Your Country Needs You, Andrew Lloyd Webber has been speaking about his plans for the UK's entry.

And, having read an interview with the man himself on the BBC's website, Eurovision Express is pleased to see that the composer of this year's UK song looks like he's done his Eurovision homework.

In response to why he thinks Eurovision has such a poor reputation in the UK, Lloyd Webber seems to hit the nail on the head: "It's because our entries have been absolute and total rubbish.

"I get a little bit of an advantage because I've got quite a lot of shows running round Europe so I have got a kind of grass roots support. I canvassed all the casts in my shows and they said the reason why they don't vote for Britain is because we don't bother. They resent it.

"Let's face it, some of the acts have been rather ludicrous, but from their point of view, what we've done to Eurovision is almost worse."

So it's goodbye to the gimmicks of yesteryear; for Lloyd Webber it's all about 'the song and the performer". Hooray to that!

A small taster of tomorrow night's show can be found here.

The second song of the season from Turkey

Well here's Hadise's song for Moscow, representing Turkey.



It seems the Turkish recipe for Eurovision 2009 is:

A dash of Sakis
A splash of Paparizou
A dollop of Sertab
and a sprinkling of Kalomira!

A well-tested and successful formula and therefore a likely semi-final qualifier.

С Новым годом! (Happy New Year)

Welcome to 2009, the year that Eurovision goes to Russia!

If you're planning a trip to Russia in 2009, or just want to learn more about this year's home of Eurovision, then click here.

Eurovision Express will be travelling to Moscow in May and will keep you up to date on all things Eurovision-related in the run-up to the contest.

A Christmas Turkey

We already have the Albanian song, and within the next few hours we'll be able to see what Turkey has lined up for us.

The Turks have already chosen Hadise to sing for them, and tonight, probably just before midnight (UK time) after a 6 and a half hour TV show(!), we'll get to hear the song Hadise will sing in Moscow. The Eurovision season has well and truly begun!

Bye Bye Belgrade! Mornin' Moscow!

As 2008 draws to an end, let's take a quick look back at the songs of Eurovision 2008!



The Eurovision Express continues its journey in 2009....next stop Moscow!

No 'nonsense' from Webber

In an interview for the UK TV listing magazine, Radio Times, Andrew Lloyd Webber, composer of the UK Eurovision entry for 2009, has made it clear that his song will not be a 'silly nonsense song'. Asked if this means there will be no boom-bang-a-bangs, the Lord said, 'Sadly no'.

This comes as welcome news here at Eurovision Express. Don't get us wrong - we love traditional uptempo Eurovision songs as much as the next fan, but Scooch's disastrous result in 2007 clearly shows that it's time for the UK to enter something of quality.

The UK begins its quest to restore its Eurovision pride on 3 January with Your Country Needs You. We're looking forward to seeing just what ALW has got up his sleeve.

Part of the interview with Lloyd Webber can be read here.

Merry Christmas from Charlotte and Tommy

It's Christmas Day! So after you've stuffed yourself with turkey and all the trimmings or whatever your particular Christmas fare, sit back and enjoy Charlotte Perelli and Tommy Körberg's rendition of "O Holy Night" in Swedish!

God Jul/Merry Christmas from Eurovision Express!

And they're off...!! Albania out of the traps first!

So Eurovision 2009 has officially kicked off with the first song chosen for Moscow. As usual, it's Albania who are first to put their hat in the ring. Their selection is an uptempo song called Më Merr Në Ëndërr by the very lovely Kejsi Tola . The song is over 4 minutes long, but then this isn't unusual for an Albanian entry, they always shave a minute or so off it before the previews.

The song is written by the same team that produced the excellent 2004 Albanian Entry - The Image of You - and indeed Kejsi shot to fame in the same talent show as 2004 singer Anjeza Sahini. Më Merr Në Ëndërr (Take me in your dreams) has a very Turkish feel about it and is a good old Euro stomper, but it will need a better presentation if it is to get Albania into the final in Moscow. It's early days, so they have plenty of time to work on the presentation, but overall, Albania have given us a very good start to the season!

From McDonalds to Moscow?

If the rumours are true, Ireland may be sending its most famous Eurovision son to Moscow! According to an Irish newspaper, RTE is in discussions with triple-Eurovision winner Johnny Logan (1980 and 1987 as performer, and 1992 as writer) to represent his country at the 2009 ESC.

Could Ireland be hoping that the Logan magic will help their flagging Eurovision fortunes? Eurovision ain't what it used to be in the 80's, so Johnny could have his work cut out to get a good result, if RTE choose him that is!

Having said that ,it would be great to see "Mr. Eurovision" back in the contest and not flogging a McDonalds Eurosaver menu!

It's a Renault....How Divine!

The French song from ESC 2008 - Divine - is now featuring in a Renault advert in the UK. Next stop - the UK charts!

Just what the doctor ordered?

The 12 songs vying to represent Finland at next year's Eurovision can be heard here. Eurovision Express has had a good listen, and has a couple of favourites including Sani's Doctor Doctor (below)



We also like Waldo's People's Lose Control - we're not massive fans of rap (unless it comes in the form of Kool Kaj of Denmark 1997 fame...) but this is a pretty decent entry. Judge for yourself below by watching the official video.



What we are grateful for is that Finland seems to have ditched hard rock this year. Hooray!

Terry Wogan Steps Down, and Graham Norton Steps Up

As reported here, broadcasting legend Terry Wogan has now officially stepped down as the UK's Eurovision commentator.

After three decades of association with the Contest, Terry will now be replaced by fellow Irishman, Graham Norton, who having hosted 2 Eurovision Dance Contests, will also front the new UK selection programme, Your Country Needs You.

Fans' opinions on Terry Wogan have always been split, but there's no denying he's given us plenty of great comments over the years, from 'Big Hand For The Little Lady' (referring to numerous Eurovision participants) to (after Alla Pugacheva's performance in 1997) 'If the Late Great Dick Emery hadn't passed on, I'd have my doubts'...

Looking to the future, let's hope that the UK can put its recent string of dismal results behind it, and find a trace of its former Eurovision glory.