:: Eurovision 24 :: Oslo 2010

On the 31st January, the national final of Romania took place in Bucharest. The winner of Selecţia Naţională 2009 is Elena Gheorghe and she will represent the country in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. Elena Gheorghe with the song “ Balkan girls ” will represent Romania in the first semi final in Moscow. -

On the 31st January, the Finnish national final for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest was held. Eight songs were presented in the final stage, which was held right after the second chance round with the non-qualifiers from the semi finals. Eventually, it was decided that Waldo's People will go to Moscow with the song Lose control . -

On the 31st January, Denmark decided for its representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. Brinck won Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2009 with the song "Believe again" which was co-written by Ireland's Ronan Keating . Denmark is taking part this year in the second semi final. -

On the 31st January, the final of Eurovision: Your country needs you was held. During the talent search, it was decided that Jade wil represent the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow performing the song It's My time written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Diane Warren. -

Here it is, the sub-logo for the 54th Eurovision Song Contest. it is just me or is this sub-logo similar colourwise to what RTS (Serbia) released the first time last year before they improved the logo to what was shown in the end? The colorful design was made by The Red Square, the production company Channel One picked to work with for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. The main design element has the shape of a ‘fantasy bird’. It can be applied on various colors and surfaces, both in its totality as well as in parts. It accompanies the generic Eurovision Song Contest logo, this year carrying the Russian flag. In the next couple weeks, Eurovision.tv will be slightly rebranded, featuring the new look. Channel One Russia also presented an updated version of their concept for the so-called postcards, that will introduce each song. The 35-second clips will be produced in the next couple of months. -

The Eurovision 2009 semi final draw took place on Friday 30th January 2009 at 13.00 CET. Keep in mind that this is not the draw for the running order in the semi finals. The draw for the running order will take place on 17th March during the tradional Head of Delegation meeting in Moscow. The six pots from which the 38 countries were drawn for the two semi finals: Pot 1 Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Croatia, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Slovenia Pot 2 Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden Pot 3 Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Israel, Moldova, Ukraine Pot 4 Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, the Netherlands, Turkey Pot 5 Andorra, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Portugal, Romania Pot 6 Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Switzerland The six pots containing the 38 countries were drawn into which country will be into which semi final. The pots were composed by Digame, the Eurovision Song Contest's televoting partner since 2004, based on average

The ticket sale is planned to take part in the second half of February. C1R had announced that tickets will be sold separately, and not in packages. There will be ten different categories and the range of prices will be about 20 Euros for the dress rehearsals of the Semi-finals, up to 650 Euros for the final night's VIP tickets. Tickets will be sold through the internet and OGAE members will be able to get front-row tickets from the local fan club. Source: EBU -

CT, the Czech broadcaster have chosen internally their representatives in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. They are Gipsy.cz, a four member Romani rap band fronted by rapper Radoslav "Gipsy" Banga. The Czech Republic have had a disappointing 2 years , with Kabat ending last in the semi final in 2007 and Tereza Kerndlova one place ahead in 2008, they decided to select their next entrant internally. The song will be chosen in March. -

The draw for the allocation of the 38 countries (excluding Big 4 and host countries) participating in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in the two semi finals will take place this Friday 30th January 2009 at 13.00 CET. Unfortunately, we are not covering the event, we will however have our opinion of the event after the broadcast. For live coverage, go to www.eurovision.tv -

Patricia Kaas has spoken for the first time about her decision to represent France in a television interview. The pre-recorded show will be broadcast on Sunday 8th February according to ESC Today . Patricia Kaas has confirmed for the first time that she is to be the French entrant for this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. The broadcast will take place on Sunday 8th February on France 2's talk show "Vivement Dimanche". -

Dutch broadcaster NOS announced that the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow will be their very last participation. From 2010, they will no longer send a participant or broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest. The broadcaster taking over is TROS. They will participate for at least three years, starting in 2010. The Netherlands have been taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest since the first edition in 1956. Despite four victories between 1957 and 1975, the country was not very succesful in recent years and has not finished in the top ten of a final since 1999 despite qualifying from the semi final for the only time in 2004. Last year, Hind finished 13th in the first semi final with Your heart belongs to me. News Source: ESC Today NL. -

Andrew Lloyd Webber has revealed that the United Kingdom's entry in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, which he co-wrote with Diane Warren, will be called My time. The performer of the song will be chosen next Saturday during the final of Eurovision: Your country needs you. About the writing process, Webber told: "I'd had an idea for it and I played Diane what I thought was the chorus. She said, 'No, I don't think you've got a chorus, I think it's a verse.' I thought, 'Oh dear, this is a bad start.' But once I got over that we had pretty much done it. So the whole thing took about two hours." -

Monetegrin broadcaster RTCG has announced that the country will be represented by Andrea Demirovic at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. With Just get out of my life, she will not only be the first female soloist representing Montenegro but also the first entrant with a song in English. -

For the first time since 1995 the German entry in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest will be selected internally. The deadline for submitting songs has now passed and it has been announced that song and performer will be announced during the first half of February. Last year, girl group No Angels finished 23rd and hence equal last with Disappear. Lets have a flashback to 1999... -

As announced by Pat Kenny (Eurovision Host 1988) on the Irish Television show "the Late Late Show" tonight, RTE has confirmed that this year's Irish entry will be selected by a mixture of a televote and regional juries. This decision is probably due to the choosing of Dustin the Turkey last year for Belgrade by a 100% public vote and shows RTE's determination to choose a strong entry for Moscow. Six acts will take part on the 20th February for a ticket to Moscow. -

As was provisionally announced , It now has been confirmed that Ireland's National final Eurosong 2009 will be taking place on Friday February 20th, 2009 during the popular chatshow " Late Late Show ". The show Eurosong 2009 will feature six shortlisted songs from all the entries received by RTÉ before Monday 02nd February 2009 at 13:00 CET (12:00 local time). A judging panel of five experts, chaired by former Eurovision Song Contest winner in 1992 - Linda Martin, from the music, entertainment, and television industries will select the six entries from all those received to compete in Eurosong 2009. Louis Walsh is set to act as adviser to the panel. The judging panel will make their selections employing the following criteria: a) suitability of the song for the ESC b) quality of the singer/performer(s) c) experience of the singer/performer(s) d) stage appeal of the singer/performer(s) RTÉ and the judging panel has yet to confirm the voting format for the show. More ava

According to the brilliant blog Schlager Queen , Ireland's Ronan Keating has written a song that has made it to the final 12 songs hoping to win the opportunity to represent Denmark at Eurovision 2009. The song will be sung by Niels Brinck. Ronan is known to Eurovision Fans as he co-hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 1997 in Dublin with Carrie Crowley. He is also in the Irish boy band "Boyzone". The Danish final will take place on January 31st. Pints and curries fuel Ronan's foray into Danish pop -

The 9 page booklet of the rules for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 is available here for download. -

On the 19th January, the Belarussian national final for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest was held. The remaining five acts presented their songs and the televoters gave a landslide victory to Petr Elfimov with his entry Eyes that never lie written by V. Prokhozhy and Elfimov himself. Remember, all the songs will be available here when they are announced. Click on a Countries name at the top right of the blog to view the countries song entry and information. >>> -

The reason for the last minute decision for Latvia to be present at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, was due to a number of generous sponsors. Latvian State Television (LTV) has enough money to be able to participate reports LETA . This week, LTV intends to announce how the Latvian contender will be selected, i.e. song and vocalist(s). Latvia has competed in "Eurovision" since the year 2000 when "BrainStorm" (Prata vetra) took third prize for the song "My Star". As reported, LTV was forced to make alterations in programming due to the LVL 2.4 million reduction in its state subsidy for 2009, and its "Eurovision" project was eliminated. -

Louis Walsh best known as manger of Irish pop bands Westlife and Boyzone is set to act as adviser in Ireland's attempt to recreate Eurovision Song Contest glory. Louis will collaborating with music mogul James Hyland who is currently looking to create a new pop band to take part in Irish Eurovision selection show Eurosong. Speaking the The Herald in Ireland, James Hyland said: "Eurovision entry has basically gone to pot over the last few years, they have all been a total embarrassment. Over in the UK, Andrew Lloyd Webber has come on board but we don't seem to be taking it seriously. I've been speaking with a lot of people and I reckon a modern Bucks Fizz would work so I'm looking for two guys and two girls who are aged between 16 to 25 years of age, and who are natural-born performers. I've got some really good tracks from people who have written for the likes of Rihanna and Westlife, so finding the right song won't be a problem. We do a lot of gigs and we

It has now been confirmed by iTV that a nineteen year old RnB singer with no previous recording experience has been selected to represent Azerbaijan in their second participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. Aysel Teymourzadeh was internally selected by a seven- member jury of music experts and Azeri government and TV officials. -

Bjørn Erichsen, Director of Eurovision.tv has said that "Every year, we make an effort to bring back those Member Broadcasters who are not taking part. We will even increase our efforts to get back Italy, Austria and Monaco for 2010! Luxembourg is a slightly different story, as their TV-station is not an EBU Member anymore." Quick Question... when did Luxembourg become an NON - EBU member? The EBU website clearly states that they are a member. Source: EBU Photo: The entrance of the EBU headquarters in Geneva (photo: Indrek Galetin) -

Although Lithuania was included in the announcement of the 43 countries competing in at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow, it is only now that LRT have officially confirmed that Lithuania will appear on Olympiyski Indoor Arena's stage. Yesterday LRT board has held a meeting and it was decided that there aren't any obstacles to participate at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. -

The EBU have announced the provisional list of the 43 participating countries that will compete at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. For the first time since 2002, there will be no country making a debut at the Eurovision Song Contest (at least we don't need extra seats in the green room then!). Slovakia return for the first time since 1998. San Marino withdraws this year, after debuting in 2008 and Georgia will take part despite earlier intentions. The surprising addition to the list is Latvia as they did announce earlier last month their decision not to compete due to financial reasons, the same goes for Lithuania who will also be present in Moscow. The countries taking part are: Albania (RTVSH) Andorra (RTVA) Armenia (ARMTV) Azerbaijan (Ictimai TV) Belarus (BTRC) Belgium (RTBF) Bosnia & Herzegovina (BHRT) Bulgaria (BNT) Croatia (HRT) Cyprus (CyBC) Czech Republic (CT) Denmark (DR) Estonia (ERR) Finland (YLE) France (FT3 - France 3) FYR Macedonia (MKRTV) Geor

BHRT, the national broadcaster of Bosnia and Herzegovina have just announced their decision to send popular rock band Regina to represent the country in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Bistra voda. Song will be announced on the 1st March. -

To celebrate the launch of the revamped Eurovision.tv, 100 video snippets with highlights from past contests have ben made available through the official youtube channel. The selection has been based on the nominations for Congratulations, the 50th anniversary show of the Eurovision Song Contest. View videos -

The new version of Eurovision.tv for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest has just been launched. The new site incorporates many new features and promises easier navigation, less heavy graphics and more video content! View the site -

Ahinoam Nini (Noa) and Mira Awad will represent Israel at the 2009 Eurovision song contest in Moscow. That is the decision on the special Eurovision Committee assembled today lead by IBA chairman. The song has yet to be announced. -

It has reported that on the 30th of January 2009 the semifinal draw will occur. In this event all the countries taking part (excluding Russia [Host] and the Big Four countries) will be separated and drawn from the two semifinals. Like last year, the EBU will attempt to make a fair draw by separating countries and geographic regions within Europe to avoid neighbour voting. The draw is expected to be shown live through the Russian broadcaster and Eurovision.tv -

It seems that the EBU have produced a brand new version of the world-famous Eurovision tune which signals the beginning of Eurovision programmes such as the Eurovision Song Contest. The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra worked closely with the EBU to produce a new high quality recording of the instantly recognizable Eurovision signature tune, Te Deum , by Marc Antoine Charpentier, which signaled the beginning of the New Year’s concert. The following below is the new version, I am not a big fan of the new theme but it will probably take time to get use to: This is the 3rd time that the EBU have refreshed the Eurovision Intro Te Deum. Below are the old Intro's to refresh your memories. 1956 - 1993: 1994 - 2001: 2002 - 2008: What are your thoughts on the new Te Deum tune? -

UPDATE: 2009 theme has been announced, more here . Thought this one looks like a nice theme for 2009 made by lazzar95 on You Tube. More quality stuff here . -

In the opening seconds of 2009, Turkey launched their bid for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 to be staged in Moscow, Russia. 2009 Turkish entry is "Düm Tek Tek" sung by Hadise. -