The 63rd Sanremo festival reached the halfway point this evening with all fourteen songs left in the Campioni section performing and the remaining four acts in the newcomers ‘Novita’ section competing for the two places left in the final. The 63rd Sanremo festival reached the halfway point this evening with all fourteen songs left in… Read more
The 63rd Sanremo festival continued this evening, with the Teatro Ariston hosting the second evening of the annual extravaganza. After seven of the Campioni acts performed last night, the remaining seven had their turn tonight, together with the first four acts in the Novita section. Following the same formula as the first evening, the seven… Read more
This evening saw the first of five shows of the 63rd Sanremo Festival. Hosts Fabio Fazio, who first hosted the festival in 1999 and comedian Luciana Littizzetto, introduced seven of the 14 acts in the Campioni section for established acts. Usually, each singer has one song, but this year came with a new innovation. Not… Read more
Earlier today, Italian broadcaster, RAI, released the names of the fourteen singers and the songs they will perform in the 2013 Sanremo Festival. Among the names is Raphael Gualazzi, who represented Italy in the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest. The 63rd festival, which will the held at the Teatro Ariston, the home of the festival since… Read more
OK, I’m going to start by being honest. What you are about to read is nothing to do with the Eurovision Song Contest. This one’s for me! I need your help so please read on. Wednesday 14th November was World Diabetes Day. Two of my children have type 1 diabetes; this is the version of… Read more
Finnish broadcaster, YLE, has published the rules for the selection process it will use to find a singer and song to represent the country in Sweden next May. It’s a move which makes Finland the first country to start searching for its song for next year’s Eurovision Song Contest. The selection process will follow the… Read more
Tonight, the 57th Eurovision Song Contest was beamed live to Europe and anywhere with internet access, from the Crystal Hall in Baku, Azerbaijan. Hosts, Nargiz Birk-Petersen, Eldar Gasimov (one half of the duo who won last year) and Leyla Alieva guided the audience through the evening. After an explosive opening courtesy of some fireworks, there… Read more
OK, so I only predicted six of the ten on Tuesday (Moldova – seriously?) but here I am again, putting my reputation on the line and giving you an early indication of who will complete the line-up for Saturday night. Serbia – Željko Joksimović – Nije Ljubav Stvar – The perfect combination of musical depth… Read more
It’s that time of year again! The first semi-final of the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest is almost upon us and speculation is rife as to which ten songs will reach the final on Saturday. Never one to miss the opportunity to give my opinion, here are my thoughts. Montenegro – Rambo Amadeus – Euro Neuro… Read more
Today was the final day of delegation rehearsals and press conferences before the focus moves on to the shows themselves and included the opportunity to meet some of the ‘Big 6’ for the first time.. For some singers, performing at the Eurovision Song Contest is a very important moment in their career. For Ott Lepland… Read more
A week today, we will know who the winner of the 57th Eurovision Song Contest is. To get to that point, the rehearsals and press conferences continued apace today. The youngest contestant this year, Slovenia’s Eva Boto, was first out of bed to get to the Crystal Hall on time. At her first conference, she… Read more
With the first semi-final just days away, the pace in Baku is unrelenting as delegations continue to rehearse and hold press conferences. Today, 13 countries had to go to work in The Crystal Hall in preparation for the big day. First up was one of the most popular acts in Baku, Buranovskiye Babushki from Russia.… Read more
Thursday was a very busy day in Baku, with fourteen countries from the first semi-final completing their solo rehearsal schedule and conducting their second press conferences. The mad Montenegrin was first on set. Rambo Amadeus entered the conference and proceeded to rearrange the speakers. He is enjoying his time in Baku so far, "The people… Read more
By the end of the day, all the acts competing in the second semi-final next Thursday had had their first rehearsal and had also faced questions from the accredited journalists. First on to the stage was the youngest singer in this year’s contest, Eva Boto from Slovenia. One of the first questions was about the… Read more
The third day of activity in Baku saw the first eight acts in the second semi-final on stage and in the press conference room. Since the announcement was made that Željko Joksimović would be representing Serbia again, his first rehearsal was one of the most anticipated. When his song was [presented by Serbian television, he… Read more
After a successful first day of rehearsals and press conferences, day 2 saw the last nine songs competing in the first semi-final have the opportunity to perform on the stage and meet the media for the first time. The Israeli delegation started things off today, with the band Izabo. However, as they only arrived in… Read more
After months of concern that the Crystal Hall would not be ready in time to host the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, today saw the opening day of rehearsals and press conferences in the land of fire and ice. The first country to speak to the media was Montenegro, potentially one of the most interesting conferences… Read more
Earlier today, Italian broadcaster, RAI, confirmed that Nina Zilli will not sing Per Sempre in Baku, but will sing L’Amore è Femmina instead. When Nina was announced on the final evening of the Sanremo festival as the singer for Italy, no announcement was made about the song she would sing. A few days later, RAI… Read more
Portugal was the last of the four countries who revealed their entry for Baku this evening in the annual Portuguese selection show, Festival da Canção. Twelve songs competed and the winner was Filipa Sousa singing Vida Minha, a song in the Portuguese Fado style In an effort to boost the nation’s fortunes after failing to… Read more
Today, RAI confirmed that Nina Zilli will sing Per Sempre (Forever) when she represents Italy in Baku in May. The song, which gave Nina 7th place at this year’s festival, will be changed so that it fits within the three minute rule. It will also have new words as some of the song will be… Read more
Tonight, the fourth and last semi-final was held in the Baltic country of Lithuania. The Three acts qualified and completed the line-up for the final next weekend. Nine songs competed for the final three places available in the final: 1. Merlin – Wheels of Time 2. Ladybell – Mano Musika 3. Donata Virbilaitė – Superman… Read more
Emma has won the 62nd Festival di Sanremo with Non è l’inferno. Her victory was announced shortly after Nina Zilli had been revealed as the Italian choice for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. The final evening of the festival is still considered to be a very important event in the Italian calendar. The more formal… Read more
An announcement has just been made during this evening’s Sanremo Festival that Nina Zilli will represent Italy in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest with the song, Per Sempre. Host, Gianni Morandi, accompanied by Ell and Nikki, revealed the news minutes ago during the show on the final evening of the festival. The song she will… Read more
Tonight, among the entries chosen for Baku will be the Italian song. The final evening of the Sanremo Festival will see the announcement of the artists chosen by a special jury to represent Italy in Baku. Here is a guide to the chances each singer has of being chosen. Arisa – La Notte – Arisa’s… Read more
Tonight was a busy night in Sanremo’s Teatro Ariston. The remaining twelve acts in the Artisti section sang for the right to be part of the final tomorrow evening. It was the biggest night in the young lives of the four acts left in the Sanremosocial section for new artists as one of them was… Read more
The third evening of the Sanremo Festival saw stars from all over the world, such as Sergio Dalma, on stage at the Teatro Ariston singing Italian songs that have been hits in various languages and countries around the world. It was also an opportunity for the four acts eliminated from the ‘Big’ section last night… Read more