Monthly Archives: November 2012
Preview: Junior Eurovision 2012 (Part 2)
Over in Amsterdam, kids from a dozen nations are hard at work putting the finishing touches on their stage shows for this Saturday. In our last post, we took a look at the first half of the running order. Let’s take a look at the last six:
7) Albania: Igzidora Gjeta – “Kam Një Këngë Vetëm Për Ju (I Have a Song Just for You)”
- Number of JESC Participations: 0
- Number of JESC Victories: n/a
- Placement at the 2011 JESC: n/a
- Age of 2012 Participant: 11
The third of our trio of JESC debuts for 2012 is Albania, who will be represented by Igzidora, a veteran of youth musical festivals in her home country. She beat thirteen other acts to win the ticket to Amsterdam, and while she might not have the polish of a Lerika or a Georgian production company backing her up, she genuinely looks happy to be performing, which could be enhanced even further by a more refined choreography and instrumentation. And, let’s face it, this is Albania. If their Eurovision entries are anything to go by, there’s always a bit of a makeover between the National Final and the big show. Igzidora might not be Rona Nishliu quite yet, but, keep in mind…she’s only eleven! Read the rest of this entry
Preview: Junior Eurovision 2012 (Part 1)
It appears that December 2012 is going to be a busy month in the Eurovision Sphere. We are expecting National Finals from Belarus, Switzerland, Belgium, Ukraine, Albania, and Lithuania, alongside further details from myriad other countries from across the EBU’s auspices. We already have two names confirmed (Anouk and Roberto Bellarossa), and there’s much more to come as the holiday season approaches.
But before Preseason really kicks into high gear, there’s event that has sort of become the final full-stop on the bleak annual period of Post-Eurovision Depression: the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. The tenth annual edition of this event, geared at performers aged 10 to 15, will be held at the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam on Saturday, December 1st. With a dozen acts competing (including a trio of debuting nations), the youth of Europe is getting ready to shine. Let’s take a look at the first half of this year’s Junior Eurovision Contestants (in running order): Read the rest of this entry
Belgium has spoken: it’s Roberto Bellarosa!
Following on the heels of their neighbor to the north bringing Anouk to Eurovision, today brought word of Belgium’s choice for Malmo (well, technically, Walloonia, but that’s neither here nor there). Fresh off of his victory on The Voice Belgique this past spring, and the release of his first album Ma voie in September, Roberto Bellarosa has been given the challenge to bring Belgium back to the Finals for the first time since Tom Dice’s 6th place in Oslo, and to possibly be the first Walloon performer to break into the Finals at all. Since his victory on The Voice, Roberto has released the hit single “Je Crois”, which might be an insight into the style of entry we might get to hear from him.
A modest National Final on December 16th (the day after the Swiss Selection, for those of you keeping track) will determine what he’ll bring to Sweden. Walloon broadcaster RTBF have been experimenting with selection styles over the past few years, with middling levels of success. Their previous entry, “With Love Baby” by acapella group Witloof Bay, was chosen by a full National Final system, but just missed out on the final. Before that, RTBF went for a completely internal selection, picking the awkward Elvis impersonator Patrick Ouchène and his appropriately-titled “Copycat”, which ended up near the bottom of the table on Semifinal night in Moscow. Also internally selected, the same fate befell 2007’s representative, the KMGs, with their funk-inspired “Love Power”. Fortunately, Roberto has already been “selected” by the people of French-speaking Belgium by emerging victorious from one of their biggest televised talent shows, and the Belgian people (or, at least, half of them) will get to have their say in the song he sings in May.
Stay tuned for more updates on Roberto, as well as all of the other news coming down the pipeline as National Finals approach and broadcasters make their announcements.
The ESC Insider 