:: Eurovision 24 :: Oslo 2010

Israeli newspaper reports today that IBA's general manager, Moti Sh'klar, has summoned a meeting of IBA's board to approve his decision for a final withdrawal of the broadcaster from future Eurovision Song Contests, as from 2008. It has already been known for a while that IBA's new general manager does not see IBA's participation in the Eurovision Song Contest as appropriate and adequate for his vision of how the national broadcaster should look in the future. In continuation to previous occasions, when he expressed his will to withdraw from the contest, IBA's general manager called for a meeting of the board to approve his decision, according to which the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest was IBA's last contest, ever. If this decision is approved, IBA will not send an entry to the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest in Serbia and will not even broadcast the contest anymore in the future. It should be mentioned that there are voices within the IBA's board who oppose...

According to ESCToday, the EBU has confirmed two of this year's 42 participating countries at the Eurovision Song Contest gave their points awarded by back-up jury. Andorra and Albania did not use the televote results because they did not meet the EBU's sight security level of calls. The two juries did effect the result of the Eurovision Song Contest to some extent. The most notable difference was at the bottom of the scoreboard, where Ireland, although finishing in last place for the first time in their Eurovision history, were spared the shame of the dreaded 'nul points' by the Albanian jury. France, who finished in 22nd place along with the United Kingdom on 19 points, received 12 of their points (two thirds) from the two juries alone: 4 points from Albania and 8 points from Andorra. The remaining French points came from Armenia (2), Estonia (2) and Lithuania (3). Of the two back-up juries used, Eurovision Song Contest winners, Serbia, only received one point (from A...

One of the best songs of the Eurovision Song Contest 1996. Singer: Elisabeth Andreassen Song: I evighet (For eternity)

At 52-years-old Eurovision is as much of a continental institution as frogs legs or sangria. It is one of the few occasions where European identity is celebrated without mention of the war. Read report at: http://www.totallyjewish.com/news/world/?content_id=6301

Eurovision Song Contest 2006 winners Lordi are making their first film, an English-language horror movie called Dark Floors. Announcing the film in Cannes, frontman Mr Lordi described it as a "traditional modern horror", and promised monsters, plot twists and "horrific scenes". "Lordi goes to the twilight zone is what you can say," said the singer, whose real name is Tomi Putaansuu. The Finnish band are famous for wearing gruesome latex masks on stage. "All of the influences of this image comes from the horror films and the horror genre, so it is kind of natural for this band to have our own horror film," said Putaansuu. Shooting began earlier this month, and the group expect to release the fright feature in Finland by the end of 2007. But the movie venture is not the first extra-curricular activity for the hard rock band. Following their Eurovision success last year they opened a Lordi-themed restaurant, Rocktaurant, in their hometown of Rovani...

For the first time in recent years, there are three Eurovision Song Contest entry in the official UK Chart top100 . Scooch successfully held onto 8th spot that they occupied on the midweek chart as reported by esctoday.com. Verka Serduchka dropped from 20th on Wednesday to 28th on the final chart, and Serebro, who finished third for Russia just scraped into the top 100 at 99. Contest winner, Marija Serifovic dropped out of the top 100 but was still placed 112 in the chart, which officially lists the top 200 purchased songs including hard copy and download sales. In total, 10 Eurovision Song Contest entries can be found on the list, including the 2006 winners, Lordi as Hard Rock Hallelujah made a re-entry at number 164. Scooch were at number one on the midweek chart based solely on hard copy CD sales, and tomorrow, there will be confirmation as to whether they were the highest selling cd single of the week. All other eight songs from the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest have charted based o...

Voting for the Eurovision Song Contest is set for an overhaul after the man responsible for organising it admitted the current system is failing. After complaints from western European countries that their rivals are working together to prevent them taking the title, the voting procedure is set for a revamp, with the introduction of a second semi-final under consideration. Bjorn Erichsen, the director of Eurovision television, the international broadcasting body responsible for the contest, said: "It is likely that we will have new procedures in place by 2009."

Turkish Eurovision Song Contest entry in 1997. they came 3rd. one of the best esc songs. You can hear Turkish musical elements like ney, saz, darbuka, zil.

Dervish returned home still stunned by the unexpected last place in this year's Eurovision Song Contest. After Bryan Kennedy's 10th place in Athens, the group certainly hoped to better the result for Ireland. Unfortunately, they ended up last, receiving just five points from Albania. Nevertheless, they feel they have given their best and they claim they will remember this as a great week for Dervish. Cathy Jordan, Dervish lead singer, told the press that this is a partcularly emotional time for them. "We know why we started to play music. We play music for music's sake. It's about heart and soul, it's not about votes." and she continued "For those three minutes on stage, we gave it everything and we are proud of how the whole week went for us." Cathy went on to join the pan european discussion on east/west voting by saying : "At the end of the day, the eastern block vote was obvious and if our song was not what they wanted, then so be it. We...

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Have they nothing better to do! 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! 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.”

Well, we suppose it was only a matter of time before someone decided to make a Eurovision movie - and now it’s about to happen. According to reports, Borat screenwriter Dan Mazer and History Boys producer Damian Jones have struck a deal with UK giants Working Title (the people behind Notting Hill, Bridget Jones’ Diary and countless other hits) to make a movie based on the contest. There’s no word yet on when the project, provisionally titled Eurovision: The Movie, will hit cinemas, or even who’s likely to star. So given that Team Eurovision has been saying for ages that a Eurovision-themed film would be a really good idea (which is another way of saying ‘we had that idea years ago but we never got to make it because we’re not big shot film producers who hang out with celebrities’) we thought it would be nice to offer them a little help.

Netherlands and Austria, will participate in the 2008 contest depite rumours of withdrawal. NOS boss Gerard Dielessen recently confirmed to Eurovision site Belgovision.com that the Netherlands will never withdraw from the Eurovision, despite recent disappointing results culminating in another failure to qualify from the semi final by Edsilia Rombley in Helsinki. Austrian broadcaster ORF have also confirmed that Austria will be present in Belgrade, despite a 27th place in the 2007 semi final with Eric Papilaya. After selecting their participant internally in 2007, they are reviewing the different possibilities for choosing their song in 2008. Rumours also exist over a possible Andorran withdrawal, however the Andorran head of delegation recently said that the contest was "too important to promote Andorran music", so at the time it seems unlikely that they will leave either.

Ireland, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest for a record seven times, is reflecting on its Eurovision flop, finishing last place with only 5 points, last Saturday. The Irish media have reacted in unease saying although that the eastern block voting played a major part in our failure, the song, 'They can't stop the spring,' was too folk and traditional for a song contest that contained boom-bang-a-bang! With the press in general denouncing Ireland's performance this year, one solution kept appearing all the time: pull-out of the competition. However, RTÉ remain reserved on the matter, saying that the Irish need to "reappraise our approach", giving light that Ireland may still enter next year. Dervish are naturally disappointed but are looking forward to accompanying Irish President Mary McAleese on her state visits to Latvia and Lithuania next week. Out of all the major press articles in Ireland, one article stood out, the article written by John Waters, who...

A PICTURE SPEAKS A THOUSAND WORDS. Take from You tube:

A Dutch politican has put forward an idea for a brand new, Eurovision-style song contest for member countries of the European Union. Toine Manders, a member of the European parliament for the Netherlands, has suggested a new show comprising only the member states of the European Union. The aim of the EU contest would be to increase the sense of belonging for each country, but would promote individuality through an official language rule, as the Eurovision Song Contest did for many of its years. Former participant for the Netherlands, Sandra Reemer (1972, 1976 and 1979) has already expressed her support for the plan, as has prominent journalist Henk Krol. The new format would address several issues raised in recent editions of the Eurovision Song Contest, such as neighbourly voting. Safeguards would be put in place under Manders' suggestions, including a split between televotes and a jury vote to determine the winner. Several media companies are said to have already shown interest i...

Although it may pain a lot of people to watch it, but you can watch the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 Final again: go to: http://www.rte.ie/tv/eurovision/av_20070512.html

As Olivia Lewis returned to Malta from Helsinki on Sunday, amid allegations of political and block voting during the semifinal and final shows of the Eurovision Song Contest, the United Kingdom (UK) voiced its concern and anger over the festival's voting system. Although neighbouring countries backing each other during the contest is no novelty, Saturday's voting was compared "to the musical equivalent of the Warsaw Pact" by Scotsman.com, as 14 out of the top 16 places were taken by eastern European states, elbowing out western European countries, including the UK's entry "Flying the Flag (for You)" by Scooch. Nick Weinberg, from UK betting Ladbrokes said he doubted whether even Elton John could win Eurovision for the UK, given the political nature of the voting. The UK is one of its biggest financial contributors of the contest. Radio phone-ins and internet message boards in the UK were on Sunday inundated with calls denouncing the current voting system...

Irish broadcaster, RTE, will review the country's position in the Eurovision Song Contest after finishing in last place for the first time in their history on Saturday night. An RTE spokeswoman confirmed to newspaper, The Irish Examiner yesterday. “We will definitely be having a sit-down and looking at our geographical position and going through the whole process...Without doubt that’s going to happen. It was a long night.” Lead singer of Irish representative, Dervish, Cathy Jordan is quoted as saying “We were really proud of them. They performed really well on the night and we were happy with the song but it just wasn’t our night...I enjoyed the experience. The performance felt really good and the feedback from home was great but it’s not what the masses, particularly in eastern Europe, want to hear.” Ireland hold the record for the most victories in the Eurovision Song Contest, having taken the crown seven times. Johnny Logan remains the only singer to win the competition twice a...

Congratulations to Serbia, the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest winners. In a close run race with Ukraine, they won the contest with one jury to spare, with the 12 points from neighbours, FYR Macedonia confirming the victory. They finished with 268 points. Serbia is the first country since Israel won in 1998, to win the Song Contest with a non-English Language song.

Half an hour into the show, the offical Eurovision Song Contest webcast suffered from minor technical problems. These problems were solved within moments, and the stream is once again available to everybody.

Show begins with a fantastic video incorporating Lordi. Hosts are then announced and come onstage. They talk about it being the biggest Eurovision ever and show the list of countries in the final including the telephone number. They then announced that "the final of the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest starts now!" Bosnia and Herzegovina - Each countries flag appears briefly on stage. Stage is green, stage turns red´fter instrumental break. Nice opener, good vocals, dreadful dress. Spain - Stage Blue, vocals a little ropey at the start. stage changes to red with 'i luv u mi vida' for chorus. Vocals improving (a bit of an echo though).high part bad though. Dodgy camera work just at the end. Belarus - Dark set, flowing stars. Great camera work here and vocals good. Very bad final note though but a strong performance overall Ireland - Irish flag flows up catwork, flower in backdrop. Cathy's hair is styled (that's new). She's looking at the cameras!!! Now play...

Best of luck to all the 24 countries tonight. Watch Live Coverage: http://www.eurovision.tv/addons/mediaplayer/live/esctv.html Enjoy.

The Maltese had undeniably high hopes of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest and the fact that Olivia did not make it to the final has caused an upheaval of reactions all over the Mediterranean island. An effort is being made by various sides to persuade the Maltese voters to boycott tonight’s televote and the Maltese delegation will be pressuring EBU to look into changes in the voting system. Escmalta.com reports, appeals are heard by, various sides all over the island in the form of chain emails and petitions encouraging viewers to boycott the televote. They feel that the fact 9 out of the 10 semi final qualifiers came from the Balcans and ex USSR countries is unfair. Robert Abela, Maltese Head of Delegation, told escmalta.com that they plan to put pressure on the EBU to do something about the voting system. [ESC Today]

Montenegro Belarus Armenia Andorra Austria France Denmark Greece Spain Serbia Finland Turkey Bosnia-Herzegovina Belgium Portugal Albania Romania Cyprus Croatia Slovenia Israel Germany Lithuania Norway Switzerland Czech Republic The Netherlands Ireland Malta Estonia Georgia Bulgaria Sweden Ukraine Russia Latvia Iceland Poland Moldova United Kingdom F.Y.R Macedonia Hungary

McLaren's Mika Hakkinen, the Finnish Formula 1 World Champion racing driver, is rumoured to be the famous guest who will start the voting for the Eurovision Song Contest tonight. Viewers will have 15 minutes to vote for their favourite song. (thanks Jawn for correcting the error).

Funny witty interviews with Eurovision commentators from Norway, Cyprus, Ireland, Germany, Slovenia and Belgium ahead of the contest tonight. Read the interviews>>>

Months of national selections, promotional tours, creative design and rehearsals reach their explosive culmination tonight, as twenty-four singers come together for a final battle of the songs. The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 final will be broadcast live from the Hartwall Arena from 21:00 CET. The live broadcast of the final is not the only concert to take place in Hartwall today, however; all the artists have one more chance to get it right at the last of the three final dress rehearsals this afternoon. At 13:00 CET, there is one final run through of the whole show, with what is likely to be another packed audience of Finns and international fans alike. All of the dress rehearsals have been extremely well attended, and are enjoyed almost as much as the live event itself by the spectators in the hall. LIVE WEBCAST>>> RUNNING ORDER>>> Voting Sheet>>>

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The block of empty seats seen on television during the Eurovision Song Contest semi final last night were tickets given to the competition sponsors. The tickets were part of a package given to the competition's main sponsors and will, we are assured, be filled during the final. Every year, the main sponsors of the competition receive a number of tickets for the many douzens of people that work to produce and support the Eurovision Song Contest. Many of them work abroad and will only be in attendance for the weekend, therefore missing the semi final.

As the media in western Europe still remain in shock, The 2007 Semi final of the Eurovision Song Contest has produced one major story. All ten qualifiers are from the East and Central Europe. Serbia, FYR Macedonia, Slovenia are all from ex-Yugoslavia. Moldova, Georgia, Belarus and Latvia are all former Soviet Union states. Turkey are the most South-Eastern outpost and Hungary and Bulgaria are to the East. Countries tipped to do well such as Switzerland, Cyprus, Malta, Norway, Denmark, Andorra and Netherlands along with Portugal, Iceland and Belgium once again miss out. Whether it is political voting taking a stronger hand than ever remains to be seen until the voting numbers are announced. The following is an extract from the doteurovision.com website and I think it tells a lot of what everyone else is thinking: What transpired last night was the end of the Eurovision as we know it. Never one to jump readily onto the death of the Contest bandwagon, in the past I have always thought it ...

Watch the full re-run of the Semi Final contest. Click on link below. www.rte.ie/tv/eurovision/av_20070510.html

The 24 finalists, in order of appearance: 1 BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA RIJEKA BEZ IMENA Marija Šestic 2 SPAIN I LOVE YOU MI VIDA D’Nash 3 BELARUS WORK YOUR MAGIC Koldun 4 IRELAND THEY CAN’T STOP THE SPRING Dervish 5 FINLAND LEAVE ME ALONE Hanna Pakarinen 6 F.Y.R. MACEDONIA MOJOT SVET Karolina Gocheva 7 SLOVENIA CVET Z JUGA Alenka Gotar 8 HUNGARY UNSUBSTANTIAL BLUES Magdi Rúzsa 9 LITHUANIA LOVE OR LEAVE 4Fun 10 GREECE YASSOU MARIA Sarbel 11 GEORGIA VISIONARY DREAM Sopho Khalvashi 12 SWEDEN THE WORRYING KIND The Ark 13 FRANCE L’AMOUR À LA FRANÇAISE Les Fatals Picards 14 LATVIA QUESTA NOTTE Bonaparti.lv 15 RUSSIA SONG No. 1 Serebro 16 GERMANY FRAUEN REGIER’N DIE WELT Roger Cicero 17 SERBIA MOLITVA Marija Šerifovic 18 UKRAINE DANCING LASHA TUMBAI Verka Serduchka 19 UNITED KINGDOM FLYING THE FLAG (FOR YOU) Scooch 20 ROMANIA LIUBI, LIUBI, I LOVE YOU Todomondo 21 BULGARIA WATER Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankulov 22 TURKEY SHAKE IT UP SHEKERIM Kenan Dogulu 23 ARMENIA ANYTIME YOU NEED Hayko 24 MOLD...

Portugal’s Sabrina rehearses for tonights Semi Final of the Eurovision Song Contest. The show will be shown on webcast at http://www.eurovision.tv/addons/mediaplayer/live.html starting at 10th May, 2007, 21:00 CET.

esctoday.com interviewed several fans and journalists around the press centre today asking who they think will win the Eurovision Song COntest. The majority of answers were 'Sweden', 'Latvia', 'Serbia' and 'I'm afraid, Ukraine'. There is an increasing feeling that the Eurovision Song Contest will be returning to Kyiv in 2008 with many predicting that Verka Serduchka will win the competition... not one fan was happy about the prospect. The 'circus' atmosphere has surrounded the performer since the Ukrainian delegation arrived at the Eurovision Song Contest, with Verka attracting by far the most attention from the camera crews at the opening party on Monday night. She has refused to conduct any more interviews and is acting like a diva winner in waiting. Will the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest belong to Verka? In just over 3 days, we will know the answer, but Ukraine is certainly becoming one of the most talked about entrants of the year, and is ...

With the Eurovision Song Contest taking place next week in Helsinki, the co-writer of Ireland's song, John Waters, is Eamon Dunphy's guest on tomorrow morning's episode of 'Conversations with Eamon Dunphy'. During the show Waters talks about his belief that Irish act Dervish can win this year's competition with the song 'They Can't Stop the Spring'. Waters also discusses his relationship with Sinéad O'Connor and growing up in Roscommon. 'Conversations with Eamon Dunphy' is broadcast tomorrow morning, Saturday 5 May, at 9.10am. www.rte.ie/entertainment will next week feature a Eurovision Blog by RTÉ's John O'Driscoll, who will be reporting from Helsinki. To download 'They Can't Stop the Spring' click here .

RTE, the Irish broadcaster, will be airing two Eurovision 2007 Preview shows next weekend May 5th and 6th. On Saturday 5 May at 16.00 hrs on RTE1, and Sunday 6 May 15.55 hrs two Eurovision 2007 Previews will be aired on RTE1. Both programmes will be presented by television commentator Marty Whelan from Helsinki. The first of the shows will feature 21 of the semi-finalists, while the second features the other seven plus the fourteen finalists.