Category Archives: 2012
(Most of) Austria’s Songs Unveiled!
Austrian radio station Ö3, in conjunction with broadcaster ORF, have released the names and most of the tracks for this year’s national selection, “Österreich rockt den Song-Contest”. (The two outliers, to be performed by Blockstars and Krautschädl, are still currently being produced and will be released to the public shortly.)
The songs are:
- Blockstars – TBA
- James Cottriall – “Stand Up”
- !Deladap – “Crazy Swing”
- Krautschädl – TBA
- Mary Broadcast Band – “How Can You Ask Me”
- Papermoon – “Vater, father, mon père”
- Norbert Schneider – “Medicate My Blues Away”
- Trackshittaz – “Woki mit deim Popo”
- Valerie – “Comme ça”
- Conchita Wurst – “That’s What I Am”
You can listen to the available songs here. The Austrian final will be held on February 24th.
It’s Nina Badrić for Croatia!
After a general lack of news from Croatia, followed by a strong rumor that Colonia would be competing to represent the nation in Eurovision this year, we got word yesterday that veteran singer Nina Badrić had been internally selected by broadcaster HRT. The traditional national final format has been scrapped for the year in favor of a two-night event in early March. Night One will be a retrospective of DORAs past, and Night Two will focus on Nina and her song for Baku. After some strong showings in the mid-to-late ’90s, Croatia’s Eurovision fortunes have waned somewhat in recent years…will Nina bring them back to the Top Ten for the first time since 2001? Read the rest of this entry
Can Bonomo for Turkey
After months of speculation, and dozens of rumors regarding artists from all over the Turkish musical spectrum, we finally have some clarity from Turkish broadcaster TRT. After throwing us a red-herring a few weeks ago and releasing a list of five candidate artists (Duman, Şebnem Ferah, Atiye, Murat Boz, and Hande Yener), it’s alternative-indie rocker Can Bonomo who gets the golden ticket to Baku. (For those of you who understand Turkish, here’s a clip of the announcement on tonight’s news.)
Can, a 24-year old member of Izmir’s Jewish community, is a relative newcomer on the scene, having released his first album, “Meczup”, in early 2011. Since then, he’s been lauded with local praise, including winning the Altin Kelebek (Golden Butterfly) award for Best Newcomer. Soon after the announcement, Can tweeted: “This is an exciting process, and I thank everyone for their support and well wishes. I have my own style of music and will try to represent my country in the best possible way with an appropriate song.”
We should know more about Can’s song for Baku within the next month or so, but to tide us over until then, here are a few of his recent singles:
What do you think of Turkey’s choice? Let me know in the comments!
(Special thanks to Dan from EscXtra.com for the help translating!)
First Semifinalists Announced in Iceland
As expected, the first five entrants to this year’s Söngvakeppni Sjónvarpsins were announced late Sunday night/Monday morning in preparation for this weekend’s Semifinal.
- Íris Hólm – “Leyndarmál (Secret)“
- Gréta Salóme and Jónsi – “Mundu Eftir Mér (Remember Me)“
- Fatherz’n’sonz – “Rýtingur (Dagger)“
- Heiða Ólafsdóttir – “Við Hjartarót Mína (Deep in my Heart)“
- Blár opal – “Stattu Upp (Get Up)“
As is to be expected of a country with a population about the size of Minneapolis, Minnesota, we have more than a few familiar names in the running: Íris Hólm was a finalist in the 2010 National Selection with “The One“, and her song for this year was co-written by Sveinn Rúnar Sigurðsson (composer of 2007’s “Valentine Lost” and 2004’s “Heaven“) and Þórunn Erna Clausen (lyricist of 2011’s “Coming Home“). Jónsi (not to be confused with the lead singer of Sigur Rós) performed the aformentioned “Heaven” in Istanbul, and was a finalist in the 2007 National Selection with “Segðu mér” (he lost out to Eiríkur Hauksson that year, who performed…”Valentine Lost”). Finally, Heiða Ólafsdóttir was a backing singer for Hera Björk in 2010.
The Weekend Round-up, January 8
It’s been a busy week in the world of Eurovision, with preselections, song announcements, and other news from Cyprus, Slovenia, Latvia, and beyond. Let’s take a quick look at the past weekend, shall we?
Cyprus: On Friday, CyBC officially unveiled Ivi Adamou’s three candidate songs for Baku. “Call the Police”, “La La Love”, and “You Don’t Belong Here” have all been pretty well-received by fans, and we’ll find out which song Ivi will perform on January 25th. More information (including the songs themselves) is available here.
Latvia: The first of two semifinals took place on Saturday, January 7th, and ten songs were whittled down to the five that will make up half of February 18th. The qualifying performances are:
- Samanta Tina & Davids Kalandija – I Want You Back
- Paula Dukure – Celebration
- Andris Abelite – We Can Change The World
- Ruta Duduma – My World
- Grupa ‘PeR’ – Disco Superfly
The second semifinal will be held next week, but considering that the only song performed in Latvian was eliminated this week, it’s a pretty safe bet that Latvia will be sending another song in English in 2012. (The only time they’ve dipped into the Latvian language pool was with 2004’s “Dziesma par laimi“, which failed to qualify for the Final. LTV has also sent songs in Italian and Russian, but the vast majority of their submissions have been in English.)
Slovenia: After months of heats aired by the program “Misija Evrovizija”, the final two acts have been confirmed. Eva Boto and sister act Nika & Eva Prusnik will go up against each other on February 26th, when RTVSLO will hold “EMA 2012”. Both Eva and the sisters will perform three songs each, and the winning song will be chosen out of those six performances.
Ivi Adamou Reveals Three Songs for Cyprus
As expected, Cypriot broadcaster CyBC released the three candidate songs for Ivi Adamou, who was internally selected to represent the island nation back in August. In alphabetical order, they are:
1) “Call the Police” (written by Lene Dissing, Jakob Glæsner and Mikko Tamminen)
2) “La La Love” (written by Alex Papaconstantinou, Bjorn Djupstrom, Alexandra Zakka and Viktor Svensson)
3) “You Don’t Belong Here” (written by Niklas Jarl, Alexander Schold and Sharon Vaugh)
A National Final will be held on January 25. Cyprus has only made it into the Finals twice since the Semifinals were introduced, and one of those was due to an automatic qualification. They haven’t made it into the Top Ten since 2004’s “Stronger Every Minute“…will Ivi bring them back to the left-hand side of the scoreboard?
Albania has decided: Rona Nishliu to Baku!
After a marathon 20-song final and jury vote, we have a winner! Representing Albania in 2012 (and hoping for a return to the Finals) will be Rona Nishliu with “Suus”. After a jury-led vote, Rona took a commanding lead, grabbing five sets of maximum scores from the seven-member jury. She also took the jury’s award for “best interpretation”. Here is her dramatic performance from the semifinal:
Sneak Preview: Albanian National Final
After two semifinals and a 50th-anniversary retrospective, the final night of Albania’s Festivali i Këngës is scheduled for Thursday night. The winner (and, therefore, song for Baku) will be selected by a 100% jury vote from the twenty songs in the final. However, as is seemingly customary for Albania in recent years, there are often drastic changes from what wins in Tirana and what gets to the ESC. Changes in arrangement, timing, and language are not uncommon…what you see is not necessarily what you get! Read the rest of this entry
Eesti Laul 2012: A Closer Look
On December 12th, Estonian broadcaster ERR unveiled the twenty candidates for Eesti Laul 2012. After a pair of semifinals on February 18 and 25th, the top five from each semi will duke it out on March 3rd to see who will go to Baku. As of this moment, only about half of the songs have been released in full, but it’s a promising start for Tallinn. As is to be expected in a nation of just over 1.3 million inhabitants, there are a number of familiar names competing for the right to represent Estonia in Baku (as well as a few newcomers on the scene). Let’s take a look, shall we?
Five Finalists Announced in Belarus
The preliminary round of Belarus’s Eurofest has just wrapped up, and after a rundown of fifteen semifinalists in Minsk, a 50/50 jury/televote split narrowed the contestants down into a Top Five. The lucky finalists are:
The ESC Insider 