Tonight in Ørland, near Trondheim, Norway’s Melodi Grand Prix kicked off, selecting three finalists from a group of eight competitors.  The lucky trio, who will move on to the Finals at the Oslo Spektrum Arena on February 11 are:

3rd Place: Reidun Sæther – “High On Love”

2nd Place: The Carburetors – “Don’t Touch the Flame”

1st Place: “Nora Foss Al-Jabri – “Somewhere Beautiful”

So, we’ve got schlager, hard rock, and a fairytale ballad…MGP 2012 is shaping up to have a rather diverse selection of genres!  And it’s not a Eurovision selection without a few familiar names, and Norway is no exception;”High On Love” was written by prolific songwriter Thomas G:son (who has written five ESC entries for four different nations) and Ovidou Jacobsen, better known to the ESC world as Ovi, who came in 3rd place when he sang for Romania in 2010.

Let’s see what happens next week!