So far, it’s not a good year for Italy’s former Eurovision singers. Two of the three singers who have represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest are now out of the festival. On the second evening of the 59th Sanremo Festival, three of the remaining 13 acts in the Artisti section of the festival were… Read more
After a health scare yesterday, Sakis Rouvas, who was one of the first singers to be selected for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, sang the three songs competing to be the Greek entry. Despite collapsing yesterday during rehearsals, Sakis was well enough to do the televised show as planned tonight. Following a montage of past… Read more
After the first evening of the 2009 Sanremo Festival, three of the 16 acts in the Artisti section, containing all the established singers competing in the festival, had their hopes dashed at the first hurdle. The band, Afterhours, male singer Tricarico, and the veteran Iva Zanicchi, failed to impress the in-house ‘giuria demoscopica’ enough to… Read more
The 59th Festival della Canzone Italiana, otherwise known as Sanremo, begins on Tuesday 17th February in the Teatro Ariston in the Ligurian town. All through the week EuroVisionary will bring you up to date with the latest news. For one week, attention will be focused on the small town on the Italian Riviera, as established… Read more
This evening, STV broadcast the first of five semifinals to find the first Slovakian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest since 1998. By the end of the evening, three songs would have qualified. Opening proceedings was a band called Alone singing Nezistí. The four members of the band performed a rock song to give the… Read more
This evening, Armenia chose sisters, Inga & Anush Arshakyanner, to succeed Sirusho, and travel to Moscow in May with the song, Jan Jan. 2007 Eurovision Song Contest representative Hayko were a guest star in the show singing Anytime You Need. Twenty one songs competed for the right to represent Armenia in a televised final in… Read more
Today, German broadcaster NDR, announced the selection of duo, Alex Swings Oscar Sings, to represent Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest in May. Alex Swings Oscar Sings (catchy, isn’t it?) is made up from the name of the two performers. Alex is Alex Christensen, a producer, and Oscar is Oscar Loya, a new name in… Read more
After two songs were disqualified for plagiarism, seven songs from the original line up were supplemented by 2 replacements to vie for the remaining five places in next week’s final. They were joined by a wild card act, chosen by LRT. The songs competing in tonight’s semi final of the Dainu Daina competition were; Saules… Read more
Only a day after announcing Mark Zentai as their representative for Moscow 2009, Hungarian broadcaster MTV has announced his withdrawal. Kátya Tompos has been chosen instead of him. She will sing a song from a film. According to MTV, his song had previously been released, and under EBU rules, this means that the song If… Read more
The UK selection process is over. The British public have made their choice and for once, they haven’t made a mess of it. They nearly did but I’m prepared to overlook that because in the end, what matters is the final result When it was announced that a peer of the realm was going to… Read more
This evening, Quartissimo won the right to represent Slovenia thanks mainly to the votes of the jury. The song, Love Symphony, is mostly instrumental. Omar Nabar who represented Slovenia at the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest came second. Quartissimo qualified for the final via last night’s semi final, where they were up against 13 other songs:… Read more
Waldo’s People will represent Finland in Moscow with the song, Lose Control. They won thanks to the votes of the Finnish public in what was a close contest. Before the main event, there was the Second Chance contest, where all the acts who didn’t qualify from their semifinals were given another opportunity to be in… Read more
In a tense finale, the British public chose Jade to represent the United Kingdom at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. She will sing It’s My Time, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Diane Warren. As usual, the show opened with Andrew Lloyd Webber entering the set, he was accompanied by even more leggy lovelies than… Read more
Emperors of Soul were Andrew Lloyd Webber’s choice to leave Your Country Needs You, the United Kingdom’s selection show for the Eurovision Song Contest. In doing so, he saved Jade, who made her first appearance in the bottom two. In an evening which saw all the acts sing two solo songs, Mark was the first… Read more
This evening saw the last of three semifinals in Finland. Four acts sang for viewers votes. Signmark feat. Osmo Ikonen and Jari Sillanpaa impressed the most and qualified by right for the final. Tampere again played host and the show was presented by Jaana Pelkonen and Mikko Peltola. As Signmark feat. Osmo Ikonen and Jari… Read more
In an exclusive interview with EuroVisionary, Marlain Angelides talks about her experience in Jerusalem and why she has come back for more. She tells us about the song she has entered in the Cypriot final this year, and gives her opinions about some of the new rules. Welcome back. Why have you decided to enter… Read more
Two shows down, two to go. Your Country Needs You is halfway through and so far, it’s all positive. The show looks fresher than the UK selection show of previous years, there’s a new frontman (hurrah!) in Graham Norton and, more importantly, there is genuine optimism about the end result. When Andrew Lloyd Webber was… Read more
In the second of four shows, the British public and Andrew Lloyd-Webber tonight combined to eliminate the youngest of the five hopefuls, Charlotte, from ‘Your Country Needs You’. The public vote put her in the ‘Dangerzone’ for the second time, together with the Emperors of Soul. At the start of the show, Graham Norton introduced… Read more
In tonight’s second semi-final in Finland, another two acts qualified directly for the final. Waldo’s People and Remu were the lucky two, while Passionworks and Sani will have to try again in the second chance round. The show came from the television studios in Tampere and was hosted by Jaana Pelkonen and Mikko Peltola. The… Read more
In the first of four live shows, Damien was the first of the six acts to be eliminated as the United Kingdom began in earnest the search for its Eurovision performer. The show began with a shot of the studio orchestra. Host and new contest commentator, Graham Norton, introduced the six finalists and then an… Read more
Tonight, the final six acts hoping to represent the United Kingdom in Moscow were revealed in an hour long show on BBC1 After some impressive opening credits, raising the standard of the UK selection straight away, we were treated to brief clips of some of the rejected acts. In a televised ‘appeal’ in October, Andrew… Read more
In an interview in The Sun, Andrew Lloyd Webber speaks about his reasons for agreeing to become involved in the UK entry for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. He talks about his meeting with Russian Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin, during which he learned how seriously everybody else takes the contest and how this contrasts with… Read more
RAI have released the names of the singers and songs competing in the 2009 Sanremo festival. Among the names are some which will be familiar to Eurovision fans. Al Bano will be aiming for his second victory and his first as a solo artist. Iva Zanicchi and Fausto Leali also return for one more try… Read more
Yesterday, Bulgarian broadcaster, BNT, hosted the ninth and final heat in the ‘Be a Star’ series to find their representative in Moscow. Five more songs battled it out to win the votes of the public and the jury. The public vote decided to of the places available in the last quarter final, while the jury… Read more
Estonian broadcaster, ETV, have announced the line up of the Eesti Laul 2009 contest. The contest was formally known as the Eurolaul. 1 – Laura – Destiny 2 – Rolf Junior – Freedom 3 – Chalice – Nelikümmend 4 – Ithaka-Maria – One Last Dance 5 – Sandra Nurmsalu – Rändajad 6 – Traffic –… Read more
Following much speculation that long standing commentator for the United Kingdom, Sir Terry Wogan, would be hanging up his microphone, the BBC announced today that Belgrade 2008 was indeed his last contest. Wogan had made on secret of the act that was fed up with what he has long seen as political voting in the… Read more