Note to self: watch Bulgaria

Tonight, Miro, the Bulgarian representative at this year's Eurovision, will present the 5 songs competing in the national final.

We suspect that the winner will be Angel Si Ti.  Why? Well it probably is the best song, and it's the one entry that the singer himself has composed.  Take a listen below:

Slovakia sneaks in one day early

We had anticipated the Slovakian final to take place on Sunday, but apparently the national ice hockey team is doing well in the Winter Olympics and a live match will be shown on Sunday. So the national final is now on Saturday.

We've not really paid much attention to the selection process, but 12 songs have made it through a number of knock-out rounds.  The favourite to win is Kristina with Horehronie.  In her semi final she won both the jury and televote.

We have to say we can't see anything beating this either.  Take a listen above.

Will Sopho Shine for Georgia?

Last year Georgia got their fingers burned, and the song they selected to represent them wasn't allowed into the competition.

This year things look a lot brighter for Georgia, as Sofia Nizharadze performs all six songs in their national final (taking place this Saturday).  The half dozen entries are all very well produced, and are written by a number of composers well known to Eurovision fans, including the likes of Svika Pick (Diva, 1998) and Andrej Babic, whose written numerous entries. 

Listen to snippets of the six entries below. Our tip for the top is Shine, co-composed by Hanne Sorvaag, who is half of the team behind this year's Norwegian song, My Heart is Yours.

A look at Latvia

Latvia is one of two countries choosing its song for Oslo this Saturday (the other is Georgia).  10 acts are competing, and our two favourites are placed 9th (Ivo Grisnins-Grislis singing Because I love you)
and 10th (Kristine Zaharova with Snow in July) in the running order. 
 
Songs that performed in the penultimate position in the Slovenian and Spanish national final both won, and we reckon Ivo's got a really good chance of being the Latvian entrant in Norway.  It's another simple, slightly old-fashioned song, but that's no bad thing!
 
Take a listen to the 2 songs below:

Spain goes for Daniel!

Well Spain has chosen its entrant for Oslo and, no it's not Coral!  She came 2nd with both the jury and in the televote.  The resounding winner is Leo Sayer lookalike, Daniel Diges (pictured below) with Algo pequeñito. 

Here at Eurovision Express we feel very sorry for Coral who had a fantastic song, but we have to admit that Daniel just felt like the winner on the night.  The song seems more authentic, and Daniel is a great performer. 

We think Spain could do very well with this song, especially with juries.  It's certainly their best entry since 2003, if not 1995. 

Coral Por Favor!

Spain choose their Eurovision entry tonight for Oslo. The song we want to win is the excellent "En Una Vida" by Coral who is performing last in the final. It is a very strong ballad which could turn around the fortunes of Spain at Eurovision, after a disappointing placing last year. The full line-up is as follows:

1. VENUS - Perfecta
2. AINHOA CANTALAPIEDRA - Volveré
3. FRAN DIELI - Cuando se trata de ti
4. LORENA - Amor mágico
5. SAMUEL Y PATRICIA - Recuérdame
6. JOSÉ GALISTEO - Beautiful life
7. JOHN COBRA - Carol
8. ANABEL CONDE - Sin miedos
9. DANIEL DIGES - Algo pequeñito
10. CORAL - En una vida  

You can (hopefully) follow the action online here, but it may only be available within Spain.
It all kicks off at 22:15 CET.
 
Buena Suerte Coral!

Back to the 80s with Slovenia!

Ok, we got it wrong with Slovenia, but who cares?  Slovenia is sending a real fun song.  Sure to divide opinion, Narodnozabavni rock, performed by Ansambel Roka Žlindre & Kalamari, is a 'mash up' of a rock and folk song, and not dissimilar to what Yugoslavia sent in the late 80s. Think Rock Me and Mangup and you'll have a pretty good idea of what it sounds like.

Check out the video, along with all the other songs so far selected, on the right hand side of the screen.

Slovenia: Langa v Manca

EMA - the contest used to choose Slovenia's entry to Eurovision - takes place tonight, and we think it's between Langa with Roko mi daj, and Manca Spik and Tukaj sem doma, written by Eurovision veteran, Andrej Babic.  Which is best? Choose for yourself below:

This weekend: FYR Macedonia, Malta and Slovenia

This weekend another 3 countries will choose their entries for Oslo.  On Saturday, after two semi-finals, FYR Macedonia host Skopje Fest. We'll be taking a listen to the finalists and picking our winner tomorrow.

Saturday is also the night for Malta EuroSong 2010.  We've been dipping in and out of the numerous weekly heats, but don't see a clear winner amongst the 20 finalists.  It seems to be between Claudia Faniello (who should have represented Malta a couple of years back with Caravaggio) and Lawrence Gray, but our favourite is Foxy Federation with Fired Up (below).  Unfortunately they are performing in the dreaded 2nd place....



The Slovenian final is set for Sunday.  There's a semi-final on Saturday so we'll see which songs emerge from that before making any predictions.

More updates over the weekend!

A word on Armenia

Armenia chooses its Eurovision entry for 2010 today.  For us it's a 2 horse race between Razmik Amyan with My Love and Eva Rivas with Apricot Stone.  Razmik's song is perhaps a little more formulaic, with Eva's entry being slightly more original, but they are both of a high standard.  Choosing between them will be quite difficult!

Judge which you think has more chance of doing well in Oslo below.

In 'Pole' Position

After the excitement of last weekend's national finals, this Sunday sees Armenia and Poland choose their songs for Oslo. 

10 songs are battling it out in Poland, and amongst the favourites are Aneta Figiel with the catchy Mysl o tobie, Anna Cyzon with the rocky Love me, and Marcin Mrozinski with the Balkan sounding Legenda.

However our favourites here at Eurovision Express are Iwona Wegrowska with the mid-tempo ballad, Uwiezionais, and the girl duo Dziewczyny (pictured) with the laid-back, jazzy Cash box.  With cheeky lyrics like "Do you wanna be my cashbox? Do you wanna be my boy?" it seems this is a quirky song about the girls wanting to find Mr Rich.  Enjoy the song below.

Norway - 12 points!

Eurovision Express has now just about recovered from its very first trip to the Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix.  And what a great time we had!

We arrived in Oslo on Friday afternoon, and made our way to the Hard Rock Cafe, where the Norwegian Fan Club were holding a get-together.  And what a friendly bunch of people they are!  Of course, everyone was chatting about who was going to win, with most thinking it was a battle between Keep of Kalessin and Didrik Solli-Tangen. 

The highlight of the evening was when MGP hosts Per Sundnes and Marte Stokstad arrived with the MGP competitors (although, alas, Alexander Stenerud couldn't make it) in tow!  Venke Knutson, our favourite, was the life and soul of the party, but we also managed a quick chat with Maria Haukaas Storeng too.

Saturday meant meeting up with the guys who run the Schlagerblog.  After a bit of sight-seeing and a bite to eat, we made our way to the Spektrum, where we'd been kindly granted access to the dress rehearsal by NRK.

All eight acts appeared calm and gave great performances, and, although we still thought Didrik was going to win, we knew it was going to be a fantastic evening's entertainment.  It became even more exciting when we, together with the Schlagerblog boys, were asked to take part in the show in a quick interview after Venke's song.  Per was keen to know what we thought about the MGP as visitors from outside Norway.

So, after a few drinks, the final came.  The atmosphere in the hall was electric. Just after the second song we were ushered backstage to meet with Per and get ready for the 'interview'.  Ben from A1 introduced himself and we wished him luck.

The 'interview' was good fun, especially as we were slightly 'naughty boys' and revealed that Venke was our favourite (not that it did her much good!)

The rest of the show passed by at top speed.  We thought all the acts came across really well, and were especially impressed with Alexander Stenerud, and Venke of course!

Didrik's win came as no surprise, and we're convinved Norway is in with a good chance of claiming a second victory.  After the show we mingled with some of the contestants before heading off to the Latter Club, where former MGP hopefuls Jenny Jensen, Queentastic and Birgitte Einarsen entertained us with some of the songs they had sung in the Norwegian finals.  A good few hours later we staggered back to our hotel after a brilliant evening.

We had a fab time in Oslo.  Yes, it is expensive and we're going to need to save our pennies for our return trip in May, but the welcome is incredibly warm.  We can't wait to go back!

Denmark, Iceland, Cyprus and The Netherlands

It's been the busiest weekend of the national final season so far.  Eurovision Express was in Norway for MGP, and there will be a full report on our time there posted soon.

Saturday night also saw Iceland and Denmark pick its songs, and we're delighted that the wonderful Hera Björk (pictured with Örlyg Smára, with whom Hera wrote the song) will be in Oslo with Je Ne Sais Pourquoi.  Having met Hera last year in Moscow we can't wait for the fun to begin in a few months time.

We haven't had time to watch the Danish Final yet, but reports say that national broadcaster DR put on a great show.  Chanée and N'evergreen (pictured above) will fly the flag for Denmark with In A Moment Like This, a catchy song that's really grown on us.  We can't claim to have picked it as the winner, although we did list it on this blog as one of three songs to keep an eye on.

The first heat of the Swedish Melodifestivalen began on Saturday, with Ola and Sakim Al Fakir making it through to the Final. 

Sunday saw two national finals.  Our web connection to the Cypriot Final wasn't the best, but it was clear for us there was only one song to send to Norway, and thankfully it was the one chosen! Welsh singer, Jon Lilygreen will perform as Jon Lilygree and The Islanders with the excellent Life Looks Better in the Spring.  It's our favourite Cypriot entry for a long time. 

The weekend closed with the Dutch National Final.  5 acts sang their own versions of Ik ben verliefd (Shalalie), written by Pierre Kartner. 

The voting was incredibly dramatic.  The 4 person panel each voted for one act, and, combined made up a staggering 80% of the vote, with the public vote being worth a mere 20%.  2 members of the jury picked girl group, Loekz, and 2 picked 17 year old Sieneke.  The public preferred Vinzzent.  So there was a tie between Loekz and Sieneke, and the composer had the unenviable choice of choosing between them.  Initially he refused, but after much pressing, he eventually plumped for Sieneke (pictured above). 

It will be very interesting to see how the Dutch song does this year, as it's very obviously an old-fashioned.  It makes us feel nostalgic for Eurovisions of old, but our fear is that, unfortunately, the Netherlands may struggle to qualify for the final yet again.

Weekend Roundup

Eurovision Express is back from Oslo, and we had a great time.  We'll be posting a full report on our Norwegian activities tomorrow, and will also be taking a look at what's been happening at the weekend's other national finals.

Meanwhile you can enjoy the 8 songs selected so far on the right-hand side of this page.

Stay tuned!

Greetings from Oslo

Eurovision Express is reporting from Oslo this weekend as we attend the final of the Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix. And what a final it promises to be! We've seen our favourite songs get through each week during the heats and today it's time to choose the song that will represent the host country in May.

The running order for tonight's final is:
1. A1 - Don't Want To Lose You Again
2. Maria Haukaas Storeng - Make My Day
3. Venke Knutson - Jealous Cause I Love You
4. Bjørn Johan Muri - Yes Man
5. Maria Arredondo - The Touch
6. Alexander Stenerud - Give It To Me
7. Didrik Solli-Tangen - My Heart Is Yours
8. Keep Of Kalessin - The Dragontower

The standard is very high this year, and we really like most of the songs on offer.  Our favourite is Venke Knutson's Jealous Cause I Love You, a catchy and quirky entry, but we think it will end up being a battle between Didrik, A1 and Keep Of Kalessin. 

And, surprise surprise, we're tipping Didrik to win.  In fact if he wins, he may well go on to come very close to securing a 2nd Norwegian victory just down the road at the Fornebu Arena in May.

For those of you who can't be in Oslo tonight, you can watch the excitement unfold here

Danish Delights?

Don't think Eurovision Express has forgotten about the Danish Final!  We'd never do that.  Denmark gave us the legendary Hot Eyes in the 80s, who cemented our love of all things Eurovision.  And we've really enjoyed their more recent entries too.  We tipped Brinck to win the MGP last year, and Simon Mathew the year before, so let's see if we can get it right this year too.

It's actually quite hard to predict who will come out on top this Saturday evening, as there doesn't seem to be a stand out song from the 10 on offer.  All are pretty good. 

Amongst the favourites is Simone with the ballad How Will I Know, but this seems to lack that certain something.  For us it's a toss up between Chanee and N'evergreen with In A Moment Like This (although this might be just a tad too Swedish sounding for the Danes), Bryan Rice with Breathing, and girlgroup Sukkerchok with Kæmper For Kærlighed.

We're going to plump for Sukkerchok. They were in last year's Danish final with Det Det, and this year they are back with another good uptempo song.  We wish them well, and hope to see them in Oslo.

Judge which song you think is best from the snippets below.

Semi-Final Draws - This Sunday!

The draws for the running order of the 2010 ESC Semi-finals will take place on Sunday 7th Feb at 14:00 CET. There will be 17 countries in each semi-final, drawn from the following pots:

Pot 1: Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, FYR Macedonia, Serbia, Slovenia, Switzerland


Pot 2: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden

Pot 3: Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Israel, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine

Pot 4: Armenia, Belgium, Cyprus, Greece, Malta, the Netherlands, Turkey

Pot 5: Bulgaria, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia
 
The draw will also be made to decide which semi-final the big 4 plus Norway will vote in! You can watch the draw live here.

Hera for Iceland!

This Saturday is the first Super Saturday of the season as Norway, Denmark and Iceland all choose their representatives for Oslo.

We're hoping that the fantastic Hera Björk will triumph in Iceland with the uptempo Je Ne Sais Quoi (video below).  2009 was the year of coming 2nd for Hera, seeing her take the runner-up position in both the Danish final with Someday, and in the Eurovision itself, as one of Yohanna's backing singers.

The main competition for Hera this Saturday will come from Íris Hólm with The One, a strong ballad.  But we have a feeling in our water, a certain je ne sais quoi you could say, that Iceland is going to pick Hera. 

In Moscow Hera was the life and soul of the party, and her brilliant sense of humour contiunally shone through.  We're hoping this year's contingent of Eurovision singers will get to experience Hera's friendly attitude in May. 

Bon chance Hera!