Category Archives: 2012
Pastora Soler for Spain!
Pastora Soler, Spain's choice for Baku
During a mid-day chat show today on RTVE, it was announced that veteran singer Pastora Soler would be representing Spain in Baku. The 33-year old Seville native started performing at the tender age of twelve, released her first album at fourteen, and has been recording and performing consistently since then. Her typical style blends pop and flamenco, and she has a flair for the dramatic. Here’s the video for her most recent single, “Demasiado amor (Too Much Love)”:
Confirmed: Poland Withdraws
Despite the promising news of the return of Montenegro hinting at a record-breaking 44 entries for Eurovision 2012 (even though we have yet to hear confirmation from Armenia…and who knows what’s going on in Slovakia…), the ESC community got the news today that Polish broadcaster TVP would not be sending a representative to Baku. As the network is focusing time and resources on 2012’s Olympic coverage, as well as that of the European Football Championship (being co-hosted in Poland and Ukraine), the ESC sadly is sent to the back-burner for this year. However, this does not mean that Poland will be permanently out of the Contest, nor does it mean that they’ve ruled out the idea of broadcasting the show in a non-participatory capacity. Read the rest of this entry
Sneak Preview: Belorussian Semifinal
On Wednesday, December 21st, Belorussian broadcaster BTRC will hold the first public portion of their National Final, where a list of fifteen names will be whittled down into a Top Five. Those top contenders (selected by a jury and televote) are scheduled to duke it out sometime in January.
The fifteen candidates (in their scheduled running order) are: Read the rest of this entry
Maja Sar for Bosnia and Herzegovina!
Following months of speculation regarding BHRT’s participation and representative (including a major rumor that Hari Mata Hari would be returning to the competition), we finally have a confirmation from Bosnia and Herzegovina. It has just been announced that singer-songwriter Maja Sarihodžić, better known as Maya Sar, will take the stage in Baku. Sar is no stranger to Eurovision; she sang backup for Deen in 2004, and eagle-eyed Eurofans might recognize her as the giddy piano player behind Dino Merlin during this year’s performance of “Love in Rewind”…SITO!
Montenegro has chosen: it’s Rambo Amadeus!
Fresh on the heels of Switzerland’s national final this weekend, returning participants Montenegro has announced who will represent them in Baku. Following this year’s Balkan precedent of sending veteran artists set by Serbia and (FYR) Macedonia (not to mention Dino Merlin last year), RTCG has chosen, via an internal selection, Rambo Amadeus. the 48-year old native of Kotor released his first album in 1988, and as been going ever since. As of the writing of this article, Rambo (real name: Antonije Pušić) has released ten studio albums and three live albums. His style tends more towards surrealistic, somewhat political motifs, tongue firmly planted in cheek, and some have even compared him to Frank Zappa. Here’s a little sampling of what Rambo Amadeus serves up, both from the early days of his career and a bit more current: Read the rest of this entry
Switzerland has decided: Sinplus to Baku!
After a long National Final process that brought together four networks in three languages, we finally have a winner. Beating out other competitors from all over Switzerland (as well as one “Canadian Idol” alumna), Losone-born brothers Gabriel (vocals) and Ivan (guitar) Broggini, better known as Sinplus, will take the stage in Baku with their pop-rock number “Unbreakable”:
Swiss National Final preview
Now that the dust has settled on another year’s Junior Eurovision, it’s time to start looking forward to a brand new National Final Season. Between now and the middle of March, the roster of at least three dozen (and likely more) nations will fill up, one by one…and where better to start than the nation that hosted and won the first Eurovision back in 1956: Switzerland. This Saturday, December 10, thirteen songs from all over the country (as well as one bonus Canadian) will vie for the ticket to Baku, determined by a 100% televote. As I’ve mentioned in an earlier post, Switzerland has actually been working on their National Final for some time now, working through four regional “pre-preselections” in order to winnow the acts down to their Top Fourteen: Read the rest of this entry
Welcome back, Montenegro!
Eurofans the world over got the happy news today that Montenegrin broadcaster RTCG has confirmed their return to Eurovision! The network has undergone a change in leadership over the last year, and while the previous director tended to be a bit skittish about the contest (and, of course, its cost), new director Rade Vojvodić has embraced the ESC (and its potential for international exposure for the country, which only declared its independence in 2006). More details are still to be announced, but it’s wonderful to have Crne Gore back at the party.
Anggun: France’s Choice for Baku!
Within the past few hours, France has announced their representative for Baku 2012: Indonesian-born R&B singer-songwriter Anggun. The 37-year old Jakarta native (full name: Anggun Cipta Sasmi) has recorded over a dozen albums in French, English, and Bahasa, and has had hits all throughout Europe, and Asia. She is also tangentially connected to the Eurovision world; her work on the soundtrack for the 2002 Danish film Elsker dig for evigt/Open Hearts had her collaborating with Neils Brinck, who represented the Scandinavian nation in 2009.
- Anggun: France’s hope for Baku (image courtesy of wikipedia.org)
We don’t know yet what Anggun’s song will be; if past years are any indication, it might be a bit of a wait until we get all of the details on what broadcaster France 3 will present. (A month went by between the announcement of Amaury Vassili and the presentation of “Sognu”, and the same went for Jessy Matador and his “Allez! Ola! Olé!”. However, Patricia Kass revealed “Et s’il fallait le faire” only a day after she was revealed as France’s artist for 2009, so you never know what will happen!) Anggun’s latest album, Echoes (or, in the French version, Echos) was released just this month, so it might be possible that she will use a single from this new album, just as Kass did when she released “Kabaret”. Read the rest of this entry
Finalists Announced for Malta
Tonight, on TVM’s evening program “Xarabank”, the top 24 songs for the Maltese Preselection were announced. Similar to last year, these songs will go up against each other on February 3, to be winnowed down to an exclusive list of 16 Finalists. We should know the eventual Maltese representative on February 4th. After much ado, the semifinalists are (after the jump):
The ESC Insider 