Israel online Dana's new video clip "Love Boy "

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3420649,00.html

source oikotimes.com

Again the same story: Silvia for 2008 Icelandic selection

The controversial Silvia Night is rumoured to be re-entering the national selection in Iceland in 2008 for the eurovision in Belgrade. The rumour started on Youtube and has been spreading, Silvia night is planning a eurovision song contest comeback. Silvia Night participated in eurovision song contest 2006 but didn't make it to the final to many peoples surprise. She ended up at number 13th in the semifinal.

UPDATE
Silvia Night is having chart success after her new album "goldmine" landed at number 1 on the Icelandic chart this according to wikipedia. Her latest released single "Thank you baby" was also number 1 on the single chart in Iceland. Silvia Night is rumoured to be re-entering eurovision song contest 2008 in Belgrade but its still a rumour.The video to her latest single is one of the most viewed videos on youtube right now.
Source of News: oikotimes.com
Source of Video: youtube.com

Cyprus: Lisa Andreas or Despina Olympiou for 2008?

Lisa Andreas was born in Kent, UK, of a British mother and a Greek Cypriot father. She represented Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004, that took place in Istanbul, Turkey and she is thinking of doing it again if Cyprus’s national television, CyBC , offer her the opportunity to do it.

Lisa Andreas recently declared that if she is asked by the Cypriot broadcaster to represent her country again she would happily do it. Although there are already rumors that Despoina Olymnpiou will represent Cyprus in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade, it remains to see if Lisa’s declaration will be taken in consideration by the Cypriot national television.

Lisa represented Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest in Turkey in 2004 and she placed 5th with Stronger every minute with 170 points giving this way the opportunity for her country to qualify directly to the finals. Lisa has released her new single, Hypnotised, in May 2007.

You can listen to Hypnotised by clicking http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=160613258 through the Beat Factory Myspace.

source esctoday.com

Cyprus: CyBC's plans for JESC 2008

CyBC, the Cypriot broadcaster who will be hosting the 2008 Junior Eurovision Song Contest, have released the promo video clip they submitted to the EBU for the country's candidacy. Information on the Arena, the staging and the activities planned for the participating artists has been made public by CyBC who state they are already prepared to face the greatest challenge in the channel's history.

The 2008 JESC will be held in Lemessos, Cyprus's largest resort very popular with international travelers, at the Spyros Kyprianou Athletic Center just outside town. The stadium is already complete with a Press Center and Press Conference rooms, several large halls, a restaurant with views of the Arena and more than 20 dressing rooms. The commentary booths are already in place and the vast underground garage will be used for technical equipment storage. The arena itself will seat 7.500 spectators.

George Papadopoulos, the CyBC production designer, promised a 15 metre in diameter, sealed glass pool-stage from where goddess Aphrodite will rise. There are going to be large screens at the back of the stage, the largest being 12 metres high by 30 metres long. There are going to be projections on all the screens, and this year's innovation from Cyprus will be that some of the screens will offer the children the opportunity to interact, something that has never been done before.

The postcards have been already designed. The children will also shoot their own messages during JESC week. A lot of fun activities have been planned for the young artists and their escorts to make their stay an educational and unforgettable one. They will sail the seas like pirates on a specially designed pirate ship and take part in a Treasure Hunt.

CyBC have invested heavily on new technical equipment and training to meet with the JESC challenge. Cypriot key production staff will work together with experts from the UK to deliver an imaginative and high quality show.

You can watch the entire promo video http://www.cybc.com.cy/junior/junior2008_video.html
(in English), where you can see computer generated images of the stage.

source esctoday.com

8 acts compete for Rotterdam Sweden: JESC national final line up announced

TV4 has announced the complete line up for the national Junior Eurovision Song Contest final. Eight acts will be competing on August 31 for the chance to represent Sweden in the 2007 edition of the contest in Rotterdam.

The complete line up as exclusively revealed to our partner site escsweden.com is as follows:

2 Times 2(Conrad, William, Shenie and Nikisha, 10-12 yeqrs old from Stockholm)-SuperstarFelicia Warvne (14 years old from Goteborg)-Upp & ner (Up & down)Emmalisa Norrhamn (14 years old from Kristianstad)-Bara du kan (Only you can)Roshanak Hosseini (14 years old from Falun)-Ta min hand (take my hand)Marcus Sjöstrand (13 years old from Goteborg)-Utan dig (Without you)Rufus Blad (13 years old from Stockholm)-Superhjälten (Super hero)Vendela Palmgren(13 years old from Stockholm)-En som dig (One like you)Frida Sandén(13 years old from Stockholm)-song to be announced

Molly Sanden's younger sister, Frida, will be competing this year in the hope of following her sister's success in the Swedish Junior national final last year.

Source of News: esctoday.com

RTP (Portugal) announced rules for JESC 07 and repeats the last year's formula!

RTP, the Portugal broadcaster of Junior Eurovision Song Contest announced rules for the portugal national selection on 29/6.
The main points are:
1. The age of the participants must be between 10-15.
2. The childrens who want to participate have two months to write and compose original songs and send it to RTP channel.
3. After, twelve songs will performed in the live portuguese final.
4. The winner will be choosen via televoting system

All the rules translated from Portuguese channel:

FESTIVAL OF THE SONG JÚNIOR 2007 It consults the regulation and it participates! The Festival of the Junior Song is in return with the 2007 edition! If you are a young talent you do not wait more, consults the regulation the low e participates!

REGULATION
1. The Festival of Song JUNIOR 2007 has for objectivo to promote talentos young in the area of fast music, as well as the apuramento of one of them to represent the RTP in the Eurovisão Festival of Song JUNIOR 2007 to carry through in day 8 of December in the city of Roterdão in Holland.
2. 1 of July enters and 31 of August of 2007, the RTP goes to open national competition for selecção of 12 songs and respective interpreters who will go to constitute one end in great format of espectáculo of television. This end it will leave a winner who will represent the RTP in the Eurovisão Festival of Song JUNIOR 2007 in Holland.
3. The competition is opened the young that until day 8 of December of 2007 has ages understood between 10 and 15 years.
4. The authors of the songs (letter and music) will have to participate in the interpretation of the song as singers or musicians and therefore to also have ages understood between the 10 and 15 years in day 8 of December of 2007.
5. Each song cannot have more of the one than eight young in palco.
6. Each song cannot exceed the two minutes and forty and five seconds (2 ' 45' ') and must have a minimum duration of two minutes and thirty seconds (2' 30' ').
7. the letter of the song must be written and be interpreted in Portuguese.
8. The songs will only be considered whose letter and music never have been commercially edited, published or interpreted in public.
9. O(s) intérprete(s) will have to concur with a song (letter and music) with mixed voice and whose register could be amateur or half-professional. The support of the song the competition will have to be COMPACT DISC.
10. O(s) intérprete(s) will have to also send the letter of the song in digital support (COMPACT DISC) and a photocopy of its Ticket of Identity.
11. O(s) intérprete(s) will still have, together with the COMPACT DISC of the proposal of its song, to deliver to a DVD with actuação in Karaoke of a subject any to its choice where they are salient you endow them vocal and the interpretation. This writing must be amateur with quality.
12. To be able to correspond to the rules of the European Broadcasting Union for the Eurovisão Festival of the Song, the RTP will have to be detainer of some respeitantes rights to the winning song, in the national and international scope.
13. The selecção of the 12 finalistas songs will be carried through by a jury consisting of the RTP.
14. The voting in the 12 finalistas songs for apuramento of the winning song will be carried through by the process of "televoto".
15. To each song a telephone number will be attributed and will be successful the one that to get the biggest call number.
16. In the case of two or more songs to be with equal call number in the first place, the sattle of matter will have to become through private voting for the remaining interpreters, being been valid each interpreter or each song a vote. If to persist ties up to it, the final classification will be determined for the vote of the interpreter new.
17. After seleccionadas the 12 finalistas songs, these will be produced by a musical producer chosen by the RTP.
18. After produced, 12 musics will have to be mixed with the respective secondary voices (it will be case of this) resulting in one play back without main voices. The main voices will have obligatorily to enter in direct in the program.
19. All the instruments that will be in palco the order of the authorized interpreters and for the RTP cannot only be amplified, serving as adereços.
20. The young artists can already have actuado the ground as main interpreters or of support in a produced COMPACT DISC professionally, or can already have professionally been represented. They can have little signed a contract of writing for one edition single before this Festival of the Song, but this contract cannot afectar the cession of rights intended by the RTP.
21. The RTP will have to receive from the parents or people in charge of education of the authors of the song a declaration certifing that the song is original, that commercially was never edited, published, or interpreted in public and that was composed for the young artist.
22. Event during the assays is not allowed to the presence of the in charge parents/of education in the place it, nor in palco at any moment. In the last general assay with wardrobe and in the proper program, the in charge parents/of education will be able to attend espectáculo in place to assign for the production.
23. In the direction to preserve image of the young winning artists, the RTP, in the 12 following months to the Festival, she is detainer of its rights of image, having of being consulted for any share of commercial scope that with them if he intends to make.
24. He fits to the RTP to guarantee clothes to each intervening finalista.
25. All the intervening ones of palco of the winning song are obliged to participate in the Eurovisão Festival of the Song Junior 2007 in Roterdão in Holland between 1 and 9 of December. 26. During this period and as prémio, the RTP will support the trips and the stays of all the elements of palco of the winning song, including a companion for element.
27. They will not be able to concur familiar of employees of the pertaining companies for group RTP, duly warned disqualification of the song.
28. Any insult of the present regulation can take to the disqualification of the song the competition, after duly appreciated for the RTP. Omissive questions in this regulation will be evaluated and determined by RTP
29. The proposals of songs (COMPACT DISC), karaokes (DVD), the letter of the song (COMPACT DISC) and the photocopy of the Ticket of Identity must be sent stop:
RTP Festival of the Junior Song 2007 Department of Programs Recreativos Av. Marshal Gomes of the Coast, nº37 1849 - 030 LISBON
Source of News: http://www.rtp.pt/programas/index.php?article=1824&visual=4
Source of Picture: http://noticias.rtp.pt/web/rtp_nova_imagem/rtp/logotipos/rtp/v/RTP%20RGB%20positivo%20vertical.jpg

NTU Announced the 12 finalists ...

NTU announced the 12 finalists for the Ukrainian Eurovision junior song contest selection. The Ukrainian entry for Jesc 2007 will be announced at 29 September at the end of the live selection. The winner will be selected via televoting.

The Ukrainian national jesc 07 finalists by NTU:

1. Belik Vladislav, 14, Lugansk
2. Borodin Dmitry, 10, Donetsk
3. Shust Yarina, 14, Brody
4. Dmitrienko Valeriya, 13, Kiev
5. Schegelskiy Nazariy, 14, Kamenets-Podolskiy
6. Barabulya Kristina, 12, Kirovograd
7. Galitskaya Ilona, 12, Nikolaev
8. Grossu Alina, 12, Kiev
9. Karaschuk Vlad, 10, Kiev
10. Petrik Victoriya, 10, Nerubaiskoe
11. "Fresh Art" band, 14-15, Vinnitsa
12. Ivanova Marietta, 11, Kiev


Source: http://1tv.com.ua/euro/childeuro/euronews/07/06/05/17/30.html

Bulgaria announces selection procedure for Belgrade

Bulgarian broadcaster BNT has revealed the plans for the selections for the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest in Bulgaria.
Songs can be submitted until 24th September.
The winner of the Bulgarian selections will compete in the final in Belgrade next year, thanks to the good result of Elitsa and Stoyan in Helsinki.

source www.12points.tv

Eurovision 2007: Evridiki gives an interview to CyBC

source www.oikotimes.com

Sarbel and Sakis Rouvas Down Under

Sarbel, this year's Greek representative at the Eurovision Song Contest will be touring Australia next month together with popular Greek singer Natassa Theodoridou. Sakis Rouvas,who represented the country in 2004 and hosted the 2006 contest will be visiting Australia as well for a single concert in April 2008, together with Antonis Remos.

Sarbel will be performing in Melbourne on July 6 at the Metro Night Club, and at the Westgate Entertainment Complex on July 7. The following week he will be in Adelaide on July 13 at the HQ Headquarters and in Sydney, at the Enmore Theater on July 14. More information on tickets and booking can be found here.

Sakis Rouvas will also be visiting Australia for a single appearance at the Melbourn Vodafone Arena on Saturday 12 April 2008, together with popular Greek singer Antonis Remos. The four-hour concert is expected to sell out due to the popularity of the two singers. Tickets will be available from October 1 at ticketek. More information can be found here.

source www.esctoday.com

Marija cancels trip after hospitalisation

Marija Serifovic has been forced to cancel her trip to Norway where she was supposed to be performing tomorrow night at the Eurovision Memory Lane concert in Oslo in front of an estimated 5,000 crowd tomorrow night. Marija is currently hospitalised after straining her vocal chords and will not be able to travel to Oslo.

The producer of the memory lane event told Gaysir website "this is very sad, especially for a young talent such as Marija. She has promised to come to Norway this autumn but until then, she has to rest her voice". He went on to wish Marija a speedy recovery to the problem which is most likely down to her gruelling schedule since winning the Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki. Marija played at the Budva festival on Sunday before seeking medical help after pain in her throat.

Although the contest winner will not be travelling to Norway, this year's home entrant, Guri Schanke has stepped in to fill the breach and will be performing tomorrow night. We are also promised some surprise appearances in what is expected to be the largest Eurovision Memory Lane event so far.

source www.esctoday.com

Two semi finals in 2009!

At the annual EBU press conference, the supervisor of the contest, Svante Stockselius, among other things explained about the future of Eurovision.

The format currently in use will be in use one more year. After that, a two semi final system will be introduced. Exactly how everything around this will be solved is not yet decided, but what Svante made very clear is that the way the countries will be divided into the two semi finals will be decided by a draw and not by time-zones, in spite of rumours that have been circulating the media. If the big four countries will participate in the semi-finals or not is yet to be decided.

The preliminary dates for next year's contest are 22nd and 24th of May.

source www.escnation.com

Nana Mouskouri on This Morning ITV

Nana Mouskouri who came 8th the Eurovison Song Contest for Luxembourg in 1963, appeaerd on ITV 1 at 12:15 - 12:30 Today. Nana is considered to be one of the most successful female singers in history, reportedly having sold over 350 million records world-wide. Now, the 72 year old legend, after 45 years of stage , has decided to say Farewell with an extensive world wide tour.
Her appearance on today's This Morning show, was to promote her performances this October in the UK as part of her 4 year farewell tour. The tour began two years ago in Scandinavia and it will take her all over the globe. She has played Germany, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Asia as well as parts of Europe.

Nana came on in a Black dress with a red jacket, She was introduced with a exclusive clip of her performance back in 1963, at the Eurovision Song Contest. She then was interviewed by the 2 hosts which commented on her fluency in 5 languages, and her 1350 songs all in 11 different languages!

She then talked about her Fairwell tour, which Nana described more as a Thank you tour. The tour started in Germany and will end in Greece.

Nana then talked about her childhood and growing up in Nazi occupied Greece. "Children need to be heard and by singing I was heard".

Nana was congradulated by the hosts, for not changing her image to fit with modern sterotypes, but as a one off, Nana tried on several new pairs of designer glases for the show, including DKNY and a nice pair of Red spectacles.

Nana said "I never thought that I would grow that old. It is better really to stop while you are standing well on your feet. I just want to be proud and in very good form and thank the audience for all this love." Nana's fluency in manylanguages; Greek, French, English, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese has enabled her to reach audiences all over Europe, the Americas and even Asia.

The Show ended with a quick reminder about Nana's Thank you tour, coming to London in October. At various dates at the Royal Albert Hall. You can book tickets on Nana's Website.

source from esctoday.com

Greece: Mad video music awards held yesterday

The Mad Video Music Awards 2007, took place yesterday, 25th of June, in Athens, Greece. Many Greek Eurostars performed live on stage and Helena Paparizou, Sakis Rouvas and Michalis Hatziyiannis were amongst the night's big winners. Elitsa Todorova and Stoyan Yancoulov, this year's Bulgarian representatives in the Eurovision Song Contest won the Bulgarian MAD TV Best video clip award.

Many Greek Eurovision stars and hopefuls participated and performed live at last nights' MAD TV Awards show. Elena Paparizou, the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, appeared on stage with her 70’s black style dress. She was the one to start the show and she performed her new song “Mi figeis”.Michalis Hatziyiannis, who participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 1998 for Cyprus with the song “Genesis”, was actually the big winner of the night, walking away with a total of four awards. Michalis also performed on stage with Reamonn, the famous German band, singing the greek-english version of Tonight(Simera).

Tamta who participated in this year’s Greek national final with the song “With love”, sang Mika's Relax-Take it easy, remixed with her new single "Agapise me".

These are wining artists in this year’s Mad music awards:

• Best dance video clip: Sakis Rouvas for the song “Ola giro sou girizoun”
• Best pop video clip: Mihalis Hatzigiannis for the song “Ola I tipota”
• Best Greek (laiko)video clip: Peggy ZinaBest video clip by a male artist: Mihalis Hatzigiannis for the song “Ola I tipota”Best video clip by a female artist: Helena Paparizou for the song “Gigolo”
• Best video clip: Kostas Kapetanidis,director of Elena’s Paparizou nr.1 video clip 2005
• Best video clip of the year: Mihalis Hatzigiannis with the song “Ola I tipota”
  Best dressed artist in a video clip: Helena Paparizou for the song “An eixes erthei pio polly”
• Best video clip by MAD-TV Bulgaria: Elitsa Todorova and Stoyan Yankulov
  Best artist of the year with the most played video clip: Michalis Hatziyiannis with the song “Ola I tipota”

Source esctoday.com

Winner for JESC Romania 2007 is:

Winner for jesc Romania 2007 is: 4 Kids - Sha la la


This is a strong dance song. A member of the band is Alina Ieremias -Romania 2005 brother. They are dressed in red.
The show is chatchy and a Eurovision style song.

Good luck Romania!

TVR decide for Junior Eurovision now!

01. În jurul lumii (Mera Alexandra)
02. Fetiţa deocheată (Trupa A+)
03. Zbor (Loică Andrei)
04. Bum, bum, bum (Ghiţă Karina)
05. Mă dusei ziua la coasă (Trupa Fifty – Fifty)
06. Mama nu ştie (Mateiuc Alexandra Gabriela)
07. Suntem mereu OK (Trupa Chic)
08. Duby Duby (Trupa D @ D )
09. Putem fi prieteni (Lazăr Ovidiu)
10. Rebele (Trupa R.B.L., Iaşi)
11. Rock şi Cha Cha (Trupa Iforti)
12. Trece (Niculae Norina Sânziana)
13. Sha-la-la (Trupa 4 Kids)
14. Asta-s eu (Pânzaru Stănescu Iulian)

Source www.TVR1.ro

San Marino wants to participate in Esc

The microstate of San Marino is one of the last European countries never to have participated in the Eurovision Song Contest. However, it seems that this could change in the next few years - Sammarinese broadcaster SMRTV has confirmed to esctoday.com that they are watching the Eurovision project with a possible participation in mind.
SMRTV considered joining in 2007, but its stockholders, many of whom are related to Italian broadcaster RAI, decided not to support the idea. Whether they will have changed their minds in a year seems unlikely, but SMRTV is aiming to participate at some point over the next few years, according to a spokesperson for the broadcaster.

San Marino is a tiny country surrounded entirely by Italy, and is often reported as being the world's oldest republic. Success for microstates has happened in the past - Monaco won in 1971, for example, and Malta has had 4 top 3 placings to date, the most recent coming in 2005 when Chiara placed 2nd.

As Italy is not participating in the contest, and seems unlikely to return in the near future, San Marino could act as a representative for the Italian language and music tradition in the contest in their absence. As a debuting country, San Marino would have to start in the semi final, should they enter. esctoday.com will keep you up to date on all potential new and returning countries as it finds out the information!

Source: esctoday.com

Promo Video! Eurovision JESC Cyprus 2008

Enter Georgia !Bosnia & Herzegovina withdraw from JESC

Georgia's participation in this year's Junior Eurovision Song Contest can be considered as a lucky break for the new Eurovision enthusiast country as it was made possible by the withdrawal of Bosnia & Herzegovina.

Originally, there had been 19 applications for this year's JESC in Rotterdam with Georgia being the 19th. As the rules of this year's contest dictate that a maximum of 18 countries participate, Georgia was excluded. But a sudden withdrawal of Bosnia & Herzegovina made it possible for them to take part after all.

The final list of participants is as follows (in alphabetical order):

1. Armenia (ARMTV)
2. Belarus (BTRC)
3. Belgium (VRT)
4. Bulgaria (BNT)
5. Cyprus (CyBC)
6. FYR Macedonia (MKRTV)
7. Georgia (GPB)
8. Greece (ERT)
9. Lithuania (LRT)
10. Malta (MTPBS)
11. The Netherlands (AVRO)
12. Portugal (RTP)
13. Romania (TVR)
14. Russia (RTR)
15. Serbia (RTS)
16. Spain (TVE)
17. Sweden (TV4)
18. Ukraine (NTU)

Source from esctoday.com

Constantinos Christoforou in support of Bryan Adams

source: oikotimes.com

Bryan Adams will be in Limassol for a concert on June 29 at the Tsireio Stadium. The preparations for the concert have been undertaken for two months now with technicians and managers from London and Milan. Their wish was for a well known Greek artist to open Bryan's concert. And the name decided: It will be Constantinos Christoforou.

Constantinos who recently won the award of Best CD Single of the year in the Cyprus Music Awards has represented Cyprus three times. In 1996, 2002 (leader of boy band ONE) and 2005. The decision of Bryan Adams' management team to have Constantinos as opening act in his concert reached Constantinos himself who accepted as he felt honoured, loveradio.gr reports.

Constantinos therefore will open Bryan Adams concert with the songs Thes Na Kanoume Schesi and She's No Fool a song which came second in the 2005 Cyprus Song Selection. This is the second Greek Cypriot artist in support of a well known artist. Evridiki will open Evanescence concert this Saturday in Athens.

Local media claim Despina Olympiou in talks with CyBC

The Cypriot media discuss for days now the potential participant of Cyprus for the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest representation. According to the claims, Despina Olympiou is in discussions with CyBC to represent the country in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade.

CyBC has made no official statement on the story and it is not really expected to do so. Though the name of Despina Olympiou might give an explanation to our previous article on why Michalis Hatzigiannis is not any more gaming with ERT for Greek representation in Belgrade for the 2008 Eurovision edition. Michalis Hatzigiannis and Despina Olympiou are a couple in life and it wouldn't be nice for both of them to represent 'competative' countries in an ESC edition.
Source from oikotimes.com

Moldova to make participation decision in October

The Moldovan broadcaster TRM is one of the poorest participating in the Eurovision Song Contest, something which nearly caused the country to pull out of the 2007 edition held in Helsinki. In the end, however, a compromise was reached stating that Moldova would participate as long as its representative paid the fees connected with the contest themselves.
However, another part of the agreement was that should Moldova enter the Top 10 in Finland, TRM would refund the participants' expenses - something which did indeed happen after Natalia Barbu placed 10th with Fight.
This means that TRM did not actually save any money and since their financial situation has not improved in the meantime the same doubts about their participation in 2008 remain the same as last year. TRM will consider their budget before making a final decision on participation in Belgrade in October of this year.
As Natalia Barbu finished Top 10 in 2007, Moldova is one of the countries prequalified to the 2008 final by right. The next in line for prequalification, should they withdraw, is Bosnia & Herzegovina, who finished 11th.

Georgia to participate in Junior Eurovision

Georgia, for the first time ever, will participate in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest which will be held in the city of Rotterdam, Netherlands on December 8, 2007. Georgian Public Broadcasting (GPB) will present the Georgian participant, who will be selected through a national contest.

In addition, the song, which will be performed at Junior Eurovision – 2007, will be revealed through a competition as well. The essential precondition for entrants is to sing a song in the Georgian language. Children between ages of 10 to 15 will be eligible to participate.

The national contest will be held in three tours. All applications will be discussed during the first tour. Then the regional casting of participants will be held with the 12 best ones being selected. At the final concert, a person, who will depart for Rotterdam, will be revealed.

Deadline for submitting applications is July 10. The selection tours will be held under the auspices of Georgia’s First Lady Sandra Roelofs.

Svante Stockselius visits Belgrade and RTS

source : oikotimes.com

RTS REPORTSMarija Serifovic's win at the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest has brought much joy to the people of Serbia, but it also implies obligations and responsibilities. Svante Stockselius, the supervisor of the ESC, has come to Belgrade to provide the Serbian Broadcasting Corporation with the details of the tasks to be performed. Mr Stockselius talked to the head people of the RTS, visited the Sava Centre and the Expo Centre, the possible venues for the press centre and the fan club, and the Belgrade Arena where the 2008 ESC will take place.

Mr Stockselius was very impressed by Belgrade. 'It is a beautiful city, full of greenery. I was given a wonderful reception. The Belgrade Arena is impressive. It is neither too big, nor too small, which is perfect because we need a certain amount of intimacy, ' said Mr Stockselius. The supervisor of the ESC is satisfied with the way things are going. He pointed out that the RTS should be aware of the fact that there is a lot of work to be done. The RTS Entertainment Department will have the leading role in carrying out the project.

The Cyprus Music Awards 2007 winners

The Cyprus Music Awards 2007 winners

Last night the second edition of the Cyprus Music Awards took place in Nicosia, Cyprus. The show attended by many Greek and Cypriot Eurostars some of them performing on stage. The show will be aired by Sigma TV next week while a Greek TV station will also air it within the month. Here are the gatherings of awards which the Greek and Cypriot Eurostars got last night.

Best Newcomer - Tamta
Best Song Of The Year - Constantinos Christoforou - Stasou Ena Lepto
Best Female Singer - Evridiki
Best Male Singer - Michalis Hatzigiannis
Best Album - Michalis Hatzigiannis - Fili Kai Echtri
Best Single - Michalis Hatzigiannis - Ola I Tipota
Best Video - Anna Vissi - Everything

Καλώς ήρθατε στο νέο ανανεωμένο EUROVISION - CYPRUS

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Malta won't withdraw

Many rumours have been circulating on the Internet about the possible withdrawal of several countries for 2008, one of the most popular ones being Malta. However, the Maltese broadcaster has confirmed today that Malta will be present in Belgrade, despite having to start in the semi final of the Eurovision Song Contest for the second consecutive year.
Estonia, who have so far failed to qualify on every single occasion since the semi final was introduced, will also be playing in Belgrade, although ETV are considering their options for Eurolaul, the national final.
Montenegro, who failed to qualify in 2007 on their first attempt as an independent state, have also confirmed their presence in Serbia.
The continued participation of the Czech Republic, however, is more of a confusing matter. After coming last with only one point on their first ever participation, with one of the country's most successful bands, it is as yet unknown whether Czech broadcaster CT will be willing to finance another entry in 2008. However, while esctoday.com awaits confirmation from CT itself, the Czech Eurovision site is still being updated with Eurovision news in Czech, suggesting a continued interest.

Mihai Traistariu builds career

Mihai Traistariu hopes to work with famous producer Tommy Motolla, but the Romanian artist who finished 4th the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest is exploring all his options. That’s why he has also applied to take part in the L.A. Awards, and he is also currently participating in the international New Wave Festival where he is a finalist for that contest.
If anyone in Romania doubted Mihai Traistariu when he declared his intentions to succeed in the international arena, the singer is working to prove them wrong. He is taking many small - but steady - steps on his way to realizing his career dreams. Naturally his 4th place finish in Athens introduced him to a larger audience. Now, he is taking part in the New Wave Festival where he has qualified for the finals in Latvia with the highest score from the semi-final round. This exposure will only benefit him should he attempt to represent Romania in another Eurovision Song Contest.
However, Mihai has recently said that his biggest dream is to make a career overseas in the USA - although he had not tried to get in contact with any US-American managers until a very well-known producer from Portugal and a good friend of Tommy Motolla heard his song contest entry Tornerò during a shopping trip. The Portuguese producer contacted Mihai and suggested they record two songs for Motolla. These songs are finished, one of them is a duet with the famous female Romanian singer Nico (who also took part in various Romanian national finals) and now he is waiting for the producer to visit Romania: ”He will come in the 1st of July to listen to the songs and to find out the results. It’s a formality that has to be done”, Mihai declared.
The singer has also applied to take part in the L.A. Awards. Many prominent international singers like Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas and Anastacia first attracted notice at these awards.
Next week Mihai will be visiting Norway with his girlfriend, perhaps he's also looking for a little summer vacation.

Azerbaijan not joining after all

Despite earlier indications to the contrary, AzTV has in fact been denied active EBU membership at the EBU meeting on the 15th June 2007. This means that Azerbaijan cannot enter the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008 to be held in Belgrade, Serbia.
The EBU decided that AzTV was not seperate enough from the Azeri state, which is one of the requirements for active membership. However, Arzu Abdullayev of AzTV has confirmed that AzTV will apply again for active membership in January 2008, and if that application is successful, then Azerbaijan may debut as early as 2009.
esctoday.com is currently collecting information from active EBU members all over the European broadcasting area, and will bring you a full rundown on the status of each country's participation later this summer.

Hanna & Evridiki to support Evanescence

This year’s Eurovision Song Contest artists Hanna Pakarinen and Evridiki have been chosen to be the support act of the American alternative rock band Evanescence. The band will be performing tonight at Hartwall Arena in Helsinki, Finland and next Saturday, 23rd of June at Karaiskaki Football Field in Athens, Greece.
The successful American band Evanescence is currently on tour in Europe, promoting their second album The Open door. The 13-track album was released last October and in its first week of sales earned the first ranking on the Billboard 200 album chart. The band’s debut album Fallen sold almost 15 million copies worldwide and for 43 weeks got a position on the Billboard Top 10.
Evanescence perform tonight at the Hartwall Arena, in Helsinki, Finland, at 19:00 CET and Hanna Pakarinen, Finland’s representative at the 52nd Eurovision Song Contest will be the support act. The band will introduce for the first time their new guitar player and drummer, Troy McLawhorn and Will Hunt, who replace former John LeCompt and Rocky Gray.
Next Saturday 23rd of June another artist from this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, Evridiki, Cyprus' representative, together with Dimitris Korgialas will support the band at their concert in Athens, Greece. The event takes place at Karaiskaki Football Field.

20 June 2007...

New esccy site on 20 June 07 back...

Greece ... explore your sences!

Hellenic Republic - Ministry of Tourism - Greek National Tourism Organisation

In Greece, you are standing at crossroads of cultures, colours and civilisations, you feel the grandeur of history and the warmth of being at the southernmost part of Europe, you discover the evolutionary process of thought, influence and experience.
A country with a uniquely affluent historical past, inhabited by people gazing confidently and optimistically into the future.
A country that although statistically small, is huge in its diversity.
A landscape that has given us thousands of postcard images but remains incredibly vibrant and impossible to capture.
Greece is a country of beautiful contradictions, a constant journey in time, from the present to the past and back again.
Walk through the olive groves, through ancient sites. Move to clusters of sparsely inhabited islands. Roam from beaches to rocky mountains and explore the breathtaking scenery.
In Greece the fusion of images becomes more than imagery and turns into reality.
Explore your senses in Greece ...

More info in : http://www.gnto.gr/

The results of esc radio awards

The voting is closed and the results are online now

During the week June 1-7, the world-wide listeners of escradio.com had the chance to vote for their favourites from this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki. And here are the results:

- BEST SONG 2007 - "I Love You Mi Vida" (Spain) , written by Tony Sαnchez-Ohlsson, Rebeca Pous del Toro, Thomas G:son & Andreas Rickstrand, performed by D'Nash

- BEST FEMALE ARTIST 2007 - Magdi Rϊzsa (Hungary)

- Best MALE ARTIST 2007 - Kenan Dogulu (Turkey)

- Best GROUP 2007 - D'Nash (Spain)

Congratulations to all the winners!

For the complete results in all four categories please visit http://www.escradio.com/awards2007

The winners will be contacted and the awards will be handed over as soon as possible.

The Romanian participants for Junior Eurovison 2007

Here are the participants in the Romanian national selection:

01 Zbor- Loică Andrei

02 Bum, Bum, Bum - Ghiaţă Karina

03 În Jurul Lumii- Mera Alexandra

04 Putem fi prieteni - Lazăr Ovidiu

05 Duby Duby - D@D Denisa Trofin & Dragoş Bistriceanu

06 Mă dusei ziua la coasă - FIFTY-FIFTY

07 Fetiţa deocheată - A+

08 Suntem mereu - OK CHIC

09 Ăsta-s eu - Pânzaru Stănescu Iulian

10 Spune da - Ciornea Ioana Veronica

11 Rebele - R.B.L.

12 Trece - Niculae Norina Sânziana

13 Sha-la-la - 4 KIDS

14 Mama nu ştie - Mateiuc Alexandra Gabriela

15 Rock & Cha Cha - IPORTI

Jesc Russia 2007: Alexandra Golovchenko

Sabrina to attend OGAE Portugal birthday party

Tonight at 21.00 OGAE Portugal are celebrating their 10th anniversary at Aldeia do Meco with a big party where everyone is welcome. Popular Portuguese Eurostars have confirmed their participation, among them Sabrina, this year's Eurovision Song Contest participant.

Tonight at 21.00, at Fiéis ao Tacho Restaurant, (Rua da Praia do Moinho de baixo, Nº44, Aldeia do Meco, about 30 km from Lisbon), OGAE Portugal are celebrating their 10th anniversary with a party that promises many surprises.

Sakis Rouvas : Will he do it again?

Sakis Rouvas, or just plain Sakis to all of his numerous fans, spoke to Love Radio about his opinion of this year's winner, about Verka, Cyprus, Sarbel, about his own experience in the contest and whether he would like to give it another shot in the future. Sakis, represented Greece in 2004 with Shake it, hosted the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest in Athens and there are many who wish to see him back on a Eurovision stage some day.
Talking about this year's winner, Marija Serifovic, Sakis said that what he liked about her was that: "She showed she knew exactly who she is and what she wanted." and he continued to say that he felt Molitva was a song that had "power" and a deserved winner. As for Verka, the runner up, the popular Greek singer said that he found the act extraordinary and highly humorous. Sakis continued to comment on Evridiki's placing on the semi final: "I was shocked when Cyprus failed to make it to the final! I never expected this song by Evridiki and Korgialas to stay behind. As my envelope in the semi final, back in 2004, was opened ninth, I kept hoping until the very end that there would be an envelope that said Cyprus!"
Then Sakis was asked his opinion on this year's Greek entry. "Sarbel is really radiant, he seemed to love what he was doing, he did it with joy and power and that came across to people. The result was satisfactory as well" he answered. But when asked if he actually liked Yassou Maria, Sakis became evasive: "I've heard better songs, and worse of course. You can never be 100% sure which song is the ideal one to represent your country."
Sakis was then asked to look back and comment on his experience at the Eurovision Song Contest. "It was one of the most exciting times of my life, I would certainly do it again just because of that." Sakis laughed off the rumours that have already started circulating about him having agreed with ERT to represent Greece next year in Belgrade: "No, I haven't agreed. Currently, I have other priorities but that doesn't mean I wouldn't do it. I also feel that other artists must be given a chance to experience it as well. When my colleagues- even very well known ones- ask me if participating is worth the trouble I tell them "Don't think about it, just go!"
After the release of his film, Alter Ego, Sakis is headed for Los Angeles for a much needed vacation and to continue his training as an actor with the famous Hollywood acting teacher Howard Fine who coached him for his first film. Sakis will be back to do a number of summer concerts in Athens, Thessaloniki and Cyprus.

Hande Yener poised for Turkey 2008

It seems that Turkish broadcaster TRT may be the first to select its representative for the Serbian Eurovision Song Contest of 2008, as reports suggest that singer Hande Yener will be flying the flag for Turkey in Belgrade.

The singer, speaking to reporters mere days after Kenan Dogulu's sensational fourth place in Helsinki, explained that TRT officials had approached her just two days after the Finnish Eurovision Song Contest final. The contract between her and the station should be finalised within fifteen days, and the plan is to send her to Serbia with a song in English.

ESC Radio Awards 2007 voting starts(From June 1-7)

ESC Radio have announced the launch of their 2007 Awards voting period. Fans will have the chance to vote for their favourites in four categories. The voting starts online on Friday June 1 and closes on June 7.
From June 1 and for a week, Eurovision Song Contest fans will have the chance once more to vote for their favourites from this year's contest in Helsinki in the following categories:

1.Best Song 2007
2.Best Female Artist 2007
3.Best Male Artist 2007
4.Best Group 2007

You can cast your votes here http://www.escradio.com/

Marija Serifovic back in Greece(Athens and Thessaloniki)

Marija Serifovic, this year's Eurovision Song Contest winner, is returning to Greece after her last visit during this year's winner's tour organised by the EBU.
Marija will be in Thessaloniki on June 10 where she will spend the entire day at HELEXPO, the city's exhibition center, as a guest at the MODA SALONICA, Balcan Fashion Fair. Afterwards, she will travel to Athens where she will stay until the 12th. The schedule for her Athens visit will be announced shortly, so stay tuned!

Eurovision vote-rigging attempts allegations revealed

Over two weeks after John Demanuele made allegations of vote-rigging attempts involving a number of countries including Malta just days before the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest, no action has yet been taken.

During a discussion programme on a local TV station, Demanuele, the vice-chairman of the Maltasong Board, revealed that persons representing Georgia had a meeting with the Maltese delegation in Helsinki, where the Eurovision was held, in what he claimed to be an attempt to agree on how many points the two countries will be awarding to each other.

During the same programme a week later, Robert Abela, the Maltasong Board chairman, confirmed the incident but said that the account given by his second in command may have been slightly mistaken

“Can you give us points?”
But when reacting to the allegations during the same programme, three former Maltasong Board chairpersons, Gejtu Abela, Charlo Bonnici and Grace Borg, insisted that such “dealing” and negotiations for votes before Eurovision contests have been going on for years. “This is nothing new. These things have been going on since the Eurovision contest started” said Bonnici, now a top government official.


John Demanuele explained: “I can say today… Georgia, the new comers in this year’s Eurovision, we had a meeting, and they told us ‘we are new here… how many points are you going to give us? Can you give us points?’ We replied, ‘we cannot give you points because we use televoting’. They replied, ‘so we won’t give you any points.’ Full stop”.Later on, he explained that the conversation took place during an informal dinner between the representatives of the two countries. "They asked us, 'can you promise us any votes?' We answered 'no, we have televoting'... now it could have either been an innocent question, or else he was testing the waters".

Israel IBA wants once again to withdraw from Eurovision

Yediot Ahronot started the IBA soap opera earlier than ever this year. The newspaper claims that the general manager of IBA asked the board to approve his decision to withdraw from the Eurovision Song Contest. This contest is not fitting to his vision for the IBA future the newspaper continues. Instead of IBA, Channel 2 and Channel 10 eventually will restore Israel in the Eurovision family in the near future. Every year the issue with the possible Israeli withdrawal is a trend during the summer. Israel participates since 1973 and has three victories: in 1978, 1979 and 1998.

New Eurovision?

Toine Manders, a Dutch Libertarian politician and member of the European Parliament is already working for the last six months to create a new E.U. song contest within the borders of the European Community.
Manders idea, which received lots of positive reactions from EU parliament colleague members is to create a new festival that will be taking place every year on the 9th of May when all European countries celebrate the “Day of Europe”.
The annual song contest is about to include all the 27 European countries. The first show, if all comes to a happy end, is about to take place in 2008 with a real jury and with a real orchestra.
If a real jury and orchestra will be used for the new EU festival and if Manders succeeds then we may see Italy back in the new contest because one of the reasons that Italy left from the Eurovision Song Contest was the televoting process.
Manders, is already under discussion with several European TV channels. Specifically, on Friday he will have a meeting with RTL, the European TV channel which broadcasts in 19 of the 27 EU countries and has already expressed its interest about his idea. Next week he also has an appointment with the European Commissioner of communication Margot Wallstrom.Manders is also working on another idea, to organize an annual EU soccer event.

Cyprus to host the Junior Eurovision 2008

CYPRUS may not be able to get into the Eurovision Song Contest of late, but CyBC has won the bid to host the Junior Eurovision next year, it emerged yesterday.

The Steering Group of the Junior Eurovision announced yesterday that it had accepted the Cypriot offer to host the 2008 song contest, choosing Cyprus from four countries that had put in an offer.

The location for Junior Eurovision 2008 will be Limassol, but the venue itself has not been announced. Cyprus has been participating in the contest since 2003, but in 2005 the Cypriot song was withdrawn amid accusations of plagiarism.

The final choice for 2008 was between Ukraine and Cyprus. “We received some high-quality proposals for next year's 6th Junior Eurovision Song Contest and after long consideration, the Steering Group decided to award the honour of hosting next year's competition to CyBC,” said Steve Deconink-de Boeck, the president of the steering committee.

Junior Eurovision takes place in December, and unlike the Eurovision, it doesn't have to take place in the country that wins the contest. This is to minimise pressure on the young contestants aged between eight and 15.

This year, the 5th Junior Eurovision will take place in Rotterdam.

Last year, only 15 countries competed in the competition and since 2005 four countries have withdrawn. The largest number that ever participated was 23. The European Broadcasting Union has promised that the contest will continue until 2007, but has not made any promises for 2008, despite having chosen a host country.

Many countries criticise the show given the pressure it puts on the young children and teens involved.

This year, 18 countries will take part, including debuts from Armenia, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Lithuania.

Just as with the Eurovision itself, in every Junior contest so far Cyprus has given its 12 points to Greece.

Μείνετε συντονισμένοι στο EUROVISION-CYPRUS...

Μείνετε συντονισμένοι στο EUROVISION-CYPRUS, που έρχεται σε εσάς ανανεωμένο και με πολλά νέα και πληροφορίες για τον Διαγωνισμό. Το site είναι υπό κατασκευή. Εμείς σαν EUROVISION-CYPRUS σας υποσχόμαστε ότι θα καλύψουμε τον διαγωνισμό JUNIOR EUROVISION 2007 και 2008.

JUNIOR EUROVISION 2008:

Συγχαριτήρια στο ΡΙΚ που κατάφερε να αναλάβει ένα τέτοιο μεγάλο διαγωνισμό για πρώτη φορά στην Κύπρο.

JUNIOR EUROVISION 2008:

Απόψε αμέσως το τέλος του δελτίου ειδήσεων του ΡΙΚ θα μεταδοθεί το φιλμάκι με το οποίο πήραμε την διοργάνωση του διαγωνισμού στην χώρα μας.

Partner site songfestival.web-log.nl confirmed that Sipke Jan Bousema will host the 5th edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. The 2007 edition of the contest will take place on December 8, 2007 at Ahoy, in Rotterdam. Netherlands will host for the first time since 1980 a Eurovision contest.

17.05.2007 . All Eurovision Song Contest entries on one double album

The double album of the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 is available since 23rd April. The two discs contain the 42 songs which took part in the Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki on 10th and 12th May. The album can also be purchased online. Visit the official Eurovision Song Contest shop, www.eurovisionshop.tv.

Malta: more complaints over the Eurovision voting

The head of the Maltese delegation to the Eurovision Song Contest, Robert Abela, has called for some televotes to be scrapped, according to reports on the BBC’s news website. Abela, who’s long been associated with Malta in Eurovision, has said he thinks many results were “not based solely on the public vote”, and said a number of other countries were angered by the perceived block voting. In interesting developments, Mr Abela has said he received reports indicating how many points Malta would get from certain countries even before the finals. “If the EBU cannot 100% monitor how the system is being done in some of the ex-Soviet countries I think they should do away with phone voting” he’s claimed.

The EBU have so far not commented on Mr Abela’s claims.

So it seems the debate about political/neighbourly/diaspora/block voting just won’t go away, whatever people’s views on the matter. Some people may want to sweep it under the carpet or see it as a bit of fuss over nothing, but it seems likely to rumble on for a while to come unless changes one way or another are made. Let’s hope for a positive outcome all round!

Cyprus: CyBC confirms participation in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest

Despite the rumours on Cyprus withdrawal after the failure of Evridiki to proceed to the 52nd Eurovision Song Contest Final, CyBC executive Mr Mavrikios, director and producer Mr Kleitou, TV hosts Ms Papamichael, Ms Komninou assured tonight during a special TV show for Eurovision outcome, that Cyprus has no intention to withdraw from the Eurovision Song Contest. The panel guests of course discussed the issue occured with the daispora and neighbour voting but they also informed the Cypriot public that there are gains from participating:

CyBC made a financial ballance between expenses and incomes, Cyprus was well advertised in Europe. The future participation for Cyprus will be decided next fall (national or internal selection). In the case of internal selection those interested to represent Cyprus (locals or from other European nations) have to submit a complete proposal for their entry and not just a song. The importance of sponsoring was also emphasised in the show, urging local and international companies to forsee gains by helping the Cyprus Public Television.

Greece: ERT begin quest for a Junior song entry

Greek national broadcaster issued a press release opening the national selection for the search of the national entry in the 2007 Junior Eurovision Song Contest which will take place on Dcember 8th in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The deadline for song submissions is set for June 29. As usual a preliminary jury will select a number of songs which will be performed later on live on a TV show and the Greek public will decide the winner.

Γράμμα στη μανούλα από τη Eurovision 2007

Ένας γιουροβιζιονιστής, στέλνει γράμμα στη μαμά του, για “χρόνια πολλά” -μέρα που είναι- και ταυτόχρονα περιγράφει τις εμπειρίες του από τη φετινή Διοργάνωση.

Αγαπημένη μου μανούλα,

χρόνια πολλά! Να σε χαίρομαι! Σε ευχαριστώ που με έφερες στον κόσμο τούτο, το γεμάτο εκπλήξεις και εμπειρίες.

Πενήντα δύο χρόνια πέρασαν, μανούλα, από τότε που με γέννησες. 1956 ήταν. Την ώρα έπεφτε το σήμα της E.B.U. στην 42'' widescreen TFT - LCD ασπρόμαυρή μας τηλεόραση, για πρώτη φορά.... Έγραψες την πρώτη Eurovision στο Blu-Ray, καθώς και τις επόμενες και μου τις έδωσες σαν δώρο, όταν έγινα 18.

Από τότε, μανούλα, πολλά άλλαξαν... Όλο και πιο πολλές χώρες ήθελαν να συμμετάσχουν, εντός και εκτός Ευρώπης, όπως η Αρμενία και το Ισραήλ. Τόσες πολλές ήταν οι συμμετοχές που πλέον, γίνεται ημιτελικός και τελικός, για να γίνεται και ξερκατάρισμα. Μόνο που, μανούλα μου, τεχνολογία, όσο και αν προχώρησε, το μυαλό του ανθρώπου συνεχίζει να κάνει λάθη. Ξέρεις πόσα SMS χάθηκαν στο δρόμο, γιατί οι Έλληνες ψηφοφόροι έστελναν λάθος κωδικό και αντί να ψηφίσουν στη Eurovision, δήλωναν συμμετοχή στην κλήρωση του ALTER για μια Jaguar; Βρε, βρε, κοίτα πώς μπερδεύεται ο άνθρωπος και αντί να στείλει π.χ. Ε29 στο 4525, στέλνει κενό μήνυμα στο 4525...

Μανούλα, ο κόσμος έχει χάσει την αισθητική του. Από τα όμορφα και καλαίσθητα γραφικά, καταλήξαμε, πάλι, στα τριτοκοσμικά, δισδιάστατα, άχαρα και λίγων χρωματικών συνδυασμών γραφικά. Φέτος, στην ανακοίνωση των αποτελεσμάτων ανά χώρα, μια ροζ-φουξ καρδούλα πρόσθετε τους ανάλογους βαθμούς στην εκάστοτε χώρα. Ευτυχώς, τα σκηνικά ήταν υπέροχα. Εκεί να δεις χρώματα και σχέδια! Αλλά, βρε μανούλα, γιατί βασιλεύει το κιτς σε αυτόν τον κόσμο; Τι ήταν αυτή η σκηνική παρουσία του Ηνωμένου Βασιλείου, για παράδειγμα, με τις αεροσυνοδούς του 1970 και τα αεροπλανάκια; Αμ, το άλλο; με τη στάση του λεωφορείου; Για να μην αναφέρω ένα μανουάλι που είχαν, τραγουδώντας για βαμπίρ, κάτι άλλοι... Ευτυχώς, οι τελευταίοι δεν πέρασαν στον τελικό. Το Ην. Βασίλειο, όμως; Που πήρε χαμηλή βαθμολογία αλλά είναι στις “μεγάλες δυνάμεις” και θα είναι και του χρόνου στον τελικό; Δεν είναι αδικία; Γιατί, δηλαδή; Η Κύπρος μας που ήταν καλύτερη από αυτούς, πώς μένει στην απ' έξω και πρέπει να περάσει από ημιτελικό, του χρόνου;

Βρε, μαμά, όμως... ΟΚ, όλα καλά αλλά... Γιατί εκεί στην Ουκρανία δεν έχουν ρούχα και ντύνονται με αλουμινόχαρτα; Ή μήπως η Sanitas-Sanitas είναι κρατική εταιρεία της Ουκρανίας και θέλανε να κάνουν promo; Μέσα στις ασημοστολές ντυμένοι, οι λεγάμενοι. Και είναι και στο Top3. Α, μανούλα... Να σου το πω, τώρα, για να μην το ξεχάσω: Μιλάνε Γερμανικά στην Ουκρανία; Γιατί αυτοί, έτσι μιλούσαν. Και όχι μόνο αυτοί. Και κάτι Ισραηλινοί στον ημιτελικό... Ο Κωστάλας πάντως, μανούλα, φαρσί τα μιλάει, τα Φινλανδικά. Ήταν ο μόνος ανακοινωτής αποτελεσμάτων που είπε παραπάνω από 2-3 φρασούλες. Επίσης, ένας από τους λίγους που δεν έλεγε “twelve points GOES to” αλλά το σωστό “twelve points GO to”. Διότι, ως τουριστική χώρα, ξέρουμε και Αγγλικά. Μπράβο του, του ανθρώπου!

Ένας άλλος πάλι...Ένας χοντρούλης... Ο Paul -θυμάσαι τον Paul; Φυσικά και τον θυμάσαι. Είχε κάνει 1-2 κρύα αστεία στο Σάκη... Όχι μόνο πέρυσι που παρουσίαζε το Διαγωνισμό. Και αντιπρόπερσι, νομίζω, στην Κωνσταντινούπολη... Αυτός, λοιπόν, αυτή τη φορά δεν την έπεσε στον παρουσιαστή. Κάτι είπε, όμως, στα Φινλανδικά, οπότε δεν βάζω και το χέρι μου στη φωτιά ότι φέτος έκατσε φρόνιμος.

Ρε μαμα, εξήγησέ μου: Γιατί ο κόσμος βιάζεται; Γιατί; Προκειμένου να τελειώσουν γρήγορα-γρήγορα και να πάνε μετά, να απολαύσουν το Helsinki by night, έδειχναν ένα ελάχιστα δευτερόλεπτα λίστα με τις χώρες που παίρνουν βαθμούς από το 1 έως το 7. Και, τώρα που το σκέφτομαι, από τους πιο πολλούς... 3 πήραμε. Ευτυχώς, δηλαδή... 3 ο ένας, 3 ο άλλος, να ο Σαρμπέλ στην έβδομη θέση. Βασιλιάς. Δεν το συζητώ. Αχ!

Ψηφίσανε περισσότεροι τον Τούρκο. “Αφού το ίδιο τραγούδι με εμάς έχουν, ρε παιδιά”, φαντάζομαι ότι θα έλεγαν κάποιοι. Το τραγούδι, πάντως, της Τουρκίας, καμία σχέση με το δικό μας. Καταρχήν, ο Τούρκος ήταν πολύ πιο απλοϊκός στη σκηνική του παρουσία από τον δικό μας. Πώς βγήκε πιο ψηλά από εμάς, απορώ. Ενώ ο Σαρμπέλ...

Ο Σαρμπέλ αντέγραψε δυο κινήσεις από το Σάκη, αντέγραψε μία από τον εαυτό του και αντέγραψε και μία από τη Sertab. Η συνταγή της επιτυχίας, δηλαδή. Αλλά... Από τη Sertab πήρε το κολπάκι με τις κορδέλες (και ο Τούρκος έκανε μια τσαχπινιά με ένα μαντήλι που το κουνούσε σαν να χόρευε τσάμικο αλλά σε εκείνον έπιασε τόπο η φιγούρα). By the way, καλή φάση με τις κορδέλες. Εντυπωσιάσθην! Από τον εαυτό του πήρε το ένωμα των χεριών μπροστά, συνοδευόμενο με κούνημα κεφαλιού και ώμων δεξιά – αριστερά. Από το Σάκη πήρε τα εξής: α) έσκυψε η χορεύτρια -διακριτικά- και τσουπ! Της έδωσε ένα ελαφρύ χτύπημα στο δεξί γλουτό. β) πιάστηκαν Σαρμπέλ και χορεύτριες -εκείνος στη μέση- και με το ένα χέρι έπιανε τη μέση της μίας (ή πιο κάτω; Δε θυμάμαι) και με το άλλο τη μέση της άλλης, ενώ τα χέρια τους διασταυρώνονταν. Κατάλαβες; Όχι. Δες το σε replay και θα καταλάβεις...

Μανούλα, να κάνω μια ερώτηση; Γιατί η Ε.Ρ.Τ. έδιωξε την Μπόκοτα; ΟΚ, αφού ήθελε, καλά έκανε και την έδιωξε. Γιατί, όμως, δεν κράτησε και για φέτος το δίδυμο Μακρυπούλια - Καπουτζίδη; Τους νοστάλγησα, ακούγοντας Μπακοδήμου – Σεργουλόπουλο. Καμία σχέση το πέρυσι με το φέτος. Τι να σου λέω, τώρα... Να συγκρίνω το Pardalos show, στο Αθηνών Αρένα με τη μίμηση της Γαρμπή που έκανε η Μακρυπούλια (γενικά τις μιμήσεις που έκαναν και εκείνη και ο Καπουτζίδης); Να συγκρίνω το επίπεδο σχολιασμού του ενός ζεύγους (που ο Καπουτζίδης ήξερε πολύ καλά από Eurovision, γιατί την παρακολουθεί) με το επίπεδο σχολιασμού του άλλου;

Μαμά, η Μακεδονία είναι Ελληνική. Και δεν έχει “Τι θες να κάνω τώρα;”, όταν πέφτεις σε λεκτικά ατοπήματα. Κακώς ειπώθηκε η Π.Γ.Δ.Μ. ως “Μακεδονία” αλλά η κυρία Μπακοδήμου, επειδή, εδώ αγγίξε ένα ευαίσθητο θέμα και μπήκε σε νερά εξωτερικής πολιτικής κρατών, καλό θα ήταν να μην το έπαιζε τρελίτσα, μετά. Γιατί μας πήρανε χαμπάρι στην Π.Γ.Δ.Μ. και αρχίσανε να κράζουν την Ελλάδα (προφανώς, θα έλεγαν ότι ακόμη και εμείς τους αναγνωρίζουμε ως Μακεδονία); (“Πρώτο Θέμα”, 13/05/07, σελ. 72) Ακούς, εκεί! Ε, μαμά, είναι να μη βγαίνεις από τα ρούχα σου; Εδώ δεν είναι απλά λεκτικό ολίσθημα. Εδώ μιλάμε για μη επανόρθωση και, άρα, για θράσος.

Αμ, το άλλο; Στο τέλος, λέω. Τι ήταν αυτό το “Το esctoday.com έπεσε μέσα στην πρόβλεψη ότι ο Σαρμπέλ θα βγει έβδομος”; Έμμεση διαφήμιση; Απαγορευόταν, λέει, να μας πουν για προβλέψεις, πιο πριν. Γιατί, τώρα επιτρέπεται να κάνεις διαφήμιση σε ένα συγκεκριμένο site; Κοίταξε ο κύριος Σεργουλόπουλος το oikotimes.com, το eurovisionism.com και τα άλλα sites που ασχολούνται με τη Eurovision (πάνω από τριάντα στον αριθμό) και κατέληξε ότι ΜΟΝΟ το esctoday.com έπεσε μέσα; Γιατί ειδική αναφορά; Δεν το λέω από ζήλια, μαμά. Άλλωστε, το eurovision.gr – fanclub.gr δε διοργάνωσε δημοσκόπηση. Το λέω γιατί δεν έπρεπε να ειπωθεί.

Ρε μαμά, είναι το 60% του κοινού της Eurovision ομοφυλόφιλοι; Έτσι είπε ο Σεργουλόπουλος στον ημιτελικό, όταν βγήκε η συμμετοχή της Δανίας (ναι, τραβεστί ήταν ο τραγουδιστής. Drag queens νομίζω τους λένε αυτούς...). Αν είναι έτσι, να αρχίσω να ψάχνομαι. 60%;! Λες;

Μανούλίτσα, ΟΚ, μπορώ να καταλάβω ότι φέτος, για να βγει η Σερβία, ήταν η χρόνια της μπαλάντας. Όμως, με τι κριτήρια διάλεξαν τη Σερβία για την πρωτιά; Από πότε οι a' la garcon κουρεμένες κοπέλες με γυαλιά και ντύσιμο κολεγίου, χωρίς ιδιαίτερη χορογραφία (αν θυμάμαι καλά) ψηφίζονται για πρωτιά και όχι, ας πούμε, μια Μολδαβή, ψηλή, καλλίπυγος δεσποσύνη, με χαμηλοκάβαλο, μαύρο παντελόνι; Ή, έστω, μία κοντή Βουλγάρα και πρωτότυπο άκουσμα σε τραγούδι, για δεδομένα Eurovision; Κρίμα στην Ελίτσα... Της δώσαμε δωδεκάρι, πάντως. Και η Βουλγαρία, όμως, μας έδωσε -να 'ναι καλά, οι άνθρωποι... Όπως και να 'χει, εγώ στη Σερβία ρίχνω μαύρο. Δε μου άρεσε τίποτε. Ούτε το τραγούδι, ούτε η παρουσίαση... Τί-πο-τε.

Έλα να πάμε, τώρα, μανούλα, μια βολτίτσα από το green room. Έχουν που έχουν άγχος οι συμμετέχοντες, έρχεται μία ξανθιά με ένα μικρόφωνο και τους ρωτάει τα δικά της, πριν την ανακοίνωση των αποτελεσμάτων. Και πάει στη χορεύτρια του Σαρμπέλ. Ρε παιδιά! Τα βασικά: γιατί κάνουμε promο, παίρνοντας συνέντευξη από τον lead singer ενός συγκροτήματος; Γιατί αυτόν έχει ο τηλεθεατής στο μυαλό του αποτυπωμένο. Ρωτάει λοιπόν τη χορεύτρια, “παίζει ρόλο στην επιτυχία το ότι είσαι όμορφη;”, για να πάρει την απάντηση, “η ομορφιά βρίσκεται μέσα μας”. Μάλλον αυτό άκουσαν όλοι και ψήφισαν τη Σέρβα. Γιατί είχε εσωτερική ομορφιά, αν κρίνω από το ότι τραγούδησε μπαλάντα. Βάλαμε τα χεράκια μας και βγάλαμε τα ματάκια μας μου φαίνεται...

Έλα, μανούλα, να μη σε κουράζω άλλο. Απλά, να σου πω ότι αν του χρόνου, τέτοιον καιρό, δεις κανένα δημοσιογράφο να μιλάει και από κάτω να γράφει “Αποστολή – Βελιγράδι”, μην τρομάξεις. Δε θα είναι πολεμικός ανταποκριτής. Καλλιτεχνικός ρεπόρτερ θα είναι...

Σε φιλώ,
ο γιος σου.

Για το Eurovision.gr, Γιώργος Κουμεντάκης

Η μητέρα της νικήτριας πόνταρε τις οικονομίες μια ζωής στην νίκη της Σερβίας!

Η μητέρα της Marija Serifovic, δηλαδή της νικήτριας του διαγωνισμού τραγουδιού της Eurovision, πόνταρε τις οικονομίες μια ζωής στην νίκη της Σερβίας! Η κυρία Verica Serifovic ποντάρισε όλα της τα χρήματα, περίπου 4.400 ευρώ στην νίκη του τραγουδιού της κόρης της με τίτλο Molitva που σημαίνει «προσευχή»! «Όταν ξεκίνησε ο διαγωνισμός άρχισα και εγώ τις προσευχές. Ήμουν υπερήφανη που κέρδισε η κόρη μου και ευτυχισμένη που πρόσθεσα στο λογαριασμό μου περίπου 45.000 ευρώ,» είπε η κυρία Verica Serifovic. Η Verica Serifovic είπε πως δεν γνωρίζει ακόμη τι θα κάνει με όλα αυτά τα χρήματα αφού οι εορτασμοί της νίκης συνεχίζονται προσθέτοντας πως έχει τον χρόνο να το αποφασίσει. Τα χρήματα που κέρδισε η μητέρα της νικήτριας του διαγωνισμού είναι μια μικρή περιουσία για τα δεδομένα της χώρας αφού ο βασικός μισθός στην Σερβία ανέρχεται στα 220 ευρώ!

United Kingdom: Eurovision reaches the Houses of Parliament

All the talk over the voting at Eurovision just won’t go away….! In the United Kingdom, where people are still discussing Scooch’s disappointing result, Eurovision has now made it into the Houses of Parliament! Liberal Democrat MP Richard Younger-Ross has tabled a motion, and signed by three other MPs, describing the voting as a “joke” and calling on the BBC to insist on changes or withdraw from the contest! Well with Mr Blair soon to be out of a job, maybe he should see if there’s any jobs going in the EBU…

The full text of the motion is as follows…

“That this House believes that voting in the Eurovision Song Contest has become a joke as countries vote largely on narrow nationalistic grounds or for neighbour countries rather than the quality of the song; and that such narrow voting is harmful to the relationship between the peoples of Europe; and calls for the BBC to insist on changes to the voting system or to withdraw from the contest.”

Belgrade 2008 Image of the Beograds Arena

15.05.07

Belgrade 2008: Images of the Beogradska Arena
Serbian broadcaster RTS will be hosting the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest at the Beogradska Arena, located in Novi Beograd (New Belgrade), one of the seventeen municipalities of Belgrade. Srđan Marlović, our correspondent in Belgrade, took some pictures of next year's Eurovision Song Contest venue.

Novi Beograd is located on the left bank of the Sava river and covers an area of 40,74 square kilometres. It is Belgrade's most populated municipality and a city within the city, with over 200 skyscrapers and 600 apartment buildings. Furthermore, Novi Beograd is a place with lively economic activity.



Beogradska Arena, Španskih boraca 20, Novi Beograd



The E75 route leads to the Beogradska Arena



The Beogradska Arena by night



The facade of the Beogradska Arena



The Beogradska Arena also hosts sports events