Estonia, the hosts of the contest 10 years ago kicks off its televised selection process this weekend, with the first semi-final of Eesti Laul 2012. A record entry of 159 songs was submitted for the first sift, with a 10 person jury narrowing down the field to 20. So let’s meet the first 10… Song… Read more
The death has been announced of former Irish conductor Noel Kelehan. A conductor of five Irish winning songs, he was a stalwart of Eurovision for over 30 years. Noel Kelehan died after a short illness, at the age of 76. He was most famous to viewers across Europe as the conductor of Irish Eurovision songs… Read more
Enthusiastic participants Malta tonight decided to send Kurt Calleja to Baku in May. In a closely fought national final tonight, we will be hearing the uptempo song This is the night. Last night, Malta reduced the field of 22 hopefuls down to 16. Tonight that 16 would compete, via a combination of jury and televoting, for a ticket… Read more
Hungary’s national final is now complete, with the addition of four more lucky finalists. Hopes are high in Hungary of another good result at the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest.The second semi-final of the Hungarian selection show, A Dal was held tonight. Three songs were selected by a jury and the fourth selected by a public… Read more
Hungary kicked off its quest for Eurovision glory tonight, with the first of two semi-finals. We saw a variety of styles in a marathon show that featured many disparate performances. And who would qualify for the 11 February final? Hungary had a very good Eurovision year in 2011, and hopes are high for a repeat… Read more
Cypriot singer Ivi Adamou tonight gave the performance of her life (so far), giving her best to three songs, one of which would she would sing in Baku in her country’s quest for Eurovision glory. Cyprus is an enthusiastic participant in Eurovision, even though its results aren’t always what they want. After mising out on the… Read more
Austrian broadcaster ORF announced more details of the National Final, due to take place on 24 February in Vienna. Ten acts have been selected, and nine of their songs are now in the pulic domain. Trackshittaz are back for a second attempt, again performing a song in an Austrian dialect. ORF’s radio station Ö3 today… Read more
Montenegro confirmed participation in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest today by announcing Rambo Amadeus would be RTCG’s representative in Baku. As we reported recently, Montenegrin broadcaster RTCG announced that participation in Eurovision in Baku was a strong possibility. Today, Rade Vojvodic gave us a few further details. The as yet unnamed song will be recorded in Ljubljana… Read more
With a mere five months to go until the final of the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest in Baku, Switzerland again kicked off the national final season in their attempt for glory. Fourteen acts competed for the ticket to Azerbaijan. The Bodensee Arena in Kreuzlingen, in the northern Swiss canton of Thurgau was again the venue… Read more
The list of countries declaring an interest in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest in Baku continues to grow, with Montenegro saying "it is likely to happen". Montenegro is another country who’s record in Eurovision has been slightly patchy. It has participated as an independent entity on three occasions, each failing to make it to the… Read more
Latvia’s LTV is following the lead of several other European broadcasters, and has revealed 69 songs online, one of which will win the ticket to Baku next May. Everyone will be able to vote online for one of these songs. They are aiming for their second win, 10 years afrer first tasting success in 2002 in… Read more
Slovakia’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku next May has taken another twist. Only a short time after stories confirming participation, national broadcaster RTVS has now confirmed that we will not be seeing Slovakia on the Eurovision stage in Azerbaijan. Slovakia’s history in Eurovision has been wobbly since their first attempt at participation… Read more
OGAE UK, one of the largest Eurovision fan clubs in Europe, held its annual convention in Manchester over the first weekend in October. With minimal publicity, the event was still a sell-out, such is the nature of the UK fans. A full programme was the order of the day, culminating with the infamous Eurostars competition.… Read more
Former UK Eurovision entrant from 2008 Andy Abraham is starring in London’s West End, in a new show celebrating some of the biggest divas in music history. Respect La Diva is a new show celebrating five decades of hits from female music legends including Shirley Bassey, Dusty Springfield, Mariah Carey and Beyoncé. Created by the… Read more
Fans today mourned the death of singer Kathy Kirby. She represented the United Kingdom in the 1965 with I belong, coming second to Luxembourg’s France Gall. Kathy Kirby, born Kathleen O’Rourke in 1938, had been out of the public eye for a while, last appearing on television in the early 1980s. Kathy’s voice was recognised… Read more
Some viewers to the first semi-final of the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest may have experienced technical problems while trying to enjoy the show. The EBU hastily organised a press conference to explain what happened. In an operation as large as the Eurovision Song Contest, it is inevitable that sometimes problems occur. Despite a mainly smooth… Read more
Our three hosts for the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest had a press conference today, telling us about the rivalry between Düsseldorf and Köln, how scared they were, and Pippa Middleton. Stefan Raab, Anke Engelke and Judith Rakers are our three hosts this year, and will host all three shows. Stefan we all know as the… Read more
A gallery of photos from the OGAE party, held at the Euroclub on 6 May. Read more
Amaury Vassili had his final rehearsal today, belthing out his huge Corsican operatic number in front of a large crowd of journalists. The optimism in the French camp is highly justified this year. The general vibe is that we may be in Paris next year. A lot of hope rests on the shoulders of young… Read more
With the sun shining from above on a Sunday in Düsseldorf, Anastasia Vinnikova from Belarus had her second rehearsal. We had the full effect today, including a dulcimer on stage. Belarus would love to win Eurovision, and what would be better than with a song extolling the virtues of their country. Anastasia gave us a… Read more
Highly fancied band Blue rehearsed for the first time this afternoon. A huge amount of press interest has already been generated so big things are expected. Some of the members of Blue already have Eurovision connections, so it seems natural that they are representing their country. The BBC appear to mean business this year in… Read more
After a first rehearsal plagued by technical problems, Dana International took to the stage today to show us what to expect in her semi-final on Thursday. Unfortunatelty, it still failed to convince. Dana is our only previous winner in this year’s Eurovision. It’s always a high risk strategy, because if you don’t win a second… Read more
Slovakia performed their ballad at the second rehearsal this afternoon. The TWiiNS showed a marked improvement on Tuesday’s rehearsal, and made an impression. Slovakia is desperate to make a Saturday night final for the first time since 1998. To achieve this, they’ve brought a fairly established name, and a ballad in English composed by a Slovak, a Swede… Read more
Another faultless performance from Nadine Beiler this afternoon has made people sit up and take notice. The Austrians should be very pleased that a place in the final seems assured. The Austrians should be very pleased with young Nadine’s confident rehearsal today. There have been a few tweaks since Tuesday, the main one being the… Read more
One of the best singers in Düsseldorf is Evelina Sasenko. She gave this soaring ballad a great run through today, throwing in some sign language for good measure. Press in the arena were very thin on the ground for the Lithuanian rehearsal, and it could be argued they missed a treat. Evelina really got her teeth… Read more
Fan favourite Kati Wolf took to the stage today and gave us a very dramatic interpretation of her song. She gave it her all and threw everything at it, but will it be enough? The Hungarians are hungry for success in Eurovision. They last made the final in 2005 and have pulled out all of… Read more