Labels: Eurovision 2011, semi-finals, Sweden

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With any luck, Sweden will be picking this tonight to represent them in Düsseldorf. Eric Saade's 'Popular' has been in my head every day for the last two weeks. You can't beat a Boney M. intro and the routine will keep German glaziers in business for a fortnight. Do it, Sverige!



Failing that, Linda Bengtzing, please! It's her turn.



Or The Moniker. Because this song's also pretty damn good.

Labels: Eric Saade, Eurovision 2011, Linda Bengtzing, Melodifestivalen, Sweden, The Moniker

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Nicki French has reminded us on facebook that today is the tenth anniversary of the night she represented the UK in Eurovision. It was my first Eurovision abroad. I stayed with a Swedish friend in Stockholm for the week and had press accreditation for Gay Times. Saturday 13th of May was the culmination of a brilliant week. Mike and I sat for the final next to two young Swedish women. Not only were they delightful company, but one of them worked for a music website and I got some work out of it later, doing gig reviews from the V2000 festival.

Every chair in the Globen arena had a little Swedish flag on it when we arrived. So, after going a bit mad for Nicki at song three, by the time we got to the home nation's Roger Pontare at song eighteen, after spending so much time chatting to our new Swedish friends, I had practically become Swedish. I went a bit mad for the three minutes that Roger was on. I'm fairly sure some of it was spent standing on the chair!

Happy days. I've dug out my photos from Eurovision 2000 today and put them on facebook, including the one of Nicki on stage (above). Here's the obligatory YouTube footage of her performance, ten years ago tonight.

Labels: Eurovision 2000, Nicki French, Sweden

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The banned Slavic Pride parade (as it had been renamed) in Moscow 'sort of' took place earlier today. I awoke to the news (on Five Live) that Peter Tatchell had been arrested there. It's nothing less than I expected, but given that the mayor of Moscow had banned the Pride parade but approved counter-demonstrations by right wing groups with a history of attacking these gay events, I salute the bravery of Tatchell and the Russian people who took part. Around 20 of them have been arrested.

The Toppers, from the Netherlands, had vowed to boycott tonight's Eurovision final if the Pride parade was attacked today, but they didn't make the final anyway. Kudos to Malena Ernman though, representing Sweden tonight, who has spoken out in favour of the parade and said she would be proud to call herself gay for the day. We love Sweden.

Labels: Eurovision 2009, Moscow Pride, Slavic Pride, Sweden

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Sweden - 'Hero' - Charlotte Perrelli

Following on from Iceland, both here and in the running order on Thursday, it's former winner Charlotte Catface Perrelli. You know what you're getting with this. It sounds exactly like what the Brits expect the Swedish Eurovision entry to sound like. It's slick, horribly dated and very powerful. Douze points from the UK, methinks, inthe semi-final at least. But can she overcome the slot of death, number 2, from which no song has ever qualified for the final?

Labels: Eurovision 2008, Sweden

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I think I have died and gone to heaven! Sweden's queen of pop Nanne Grönvall has just been added to the bill of the UK's Eurovision party which me and a thousand of my closest friends(!) are attending at the Scala in London on Friday. I love her! She even tried to sing for us! She's recovering from breast cancer! She is the Swedish Kylie! Swoon.

Let's have a look at Nanne's career highlights.

One More Time - 'Den Vilda' - Eurovision 1996

Nanne was a member of the group which came third for Sweden with this beautiful song which bears a passing resemblance to the works of Enya. The piano player is Nanne's husband, Peter Grönvall, who happens to be the son of ABBA's Benny Andersson.




Nanne Grönvall - 'Avundsjuk' - Melodifestivalen 1998

I fell in love with this song in the first Melodifestivalen I ever saw, and developed a strange fascination with the mad pixie singing it. It was one of the first songs in Swedish that I ever got to know (and tried to sing!)



Nanne Grönvall - 'Men' - A Song For Europe 2001

Okay, this is a bit rubbish, even if it was written by former Wave, Kimberley Rew, who wrote 'Love Shine A Light'. At least Nanne was prepared to swallow her (national) pride and sing for Blighty!



Nanne Grönvall - 'Håll Om Mig' - Melodifestivalen 2005

Finally, here's the song which the public wanted to represent Sweden in Eurovision 2005 until they added the jury vote and sent Martin Stenmarck instead (and bombed - ha!) We haven't seen stomping and strutting like this since Tina Turner. You go girl! See you Friday!

Labels: Eurovision party, Nanne Grönvall, Sweden

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Labels: Melodifestivalen, Sweden

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Plucky little San Marino (©) revealed their début song for Eurovision on Tuesday (above), after hosts Serbia chose their sure-fire top six song on Monday night. After Russia, Portugal, Armenia and Belgium all chose at the weekend, that means we now know 42 of this year's 43 songs. That just leaves Sweden, and it's anybody's guess! The Melodifestivalen final takes place tomorrow, without Carola (hurrah!) but with almost everyone I know in attendance (or so it seems at times).

Carola and her foolhardy duet partner Andreas Johnson were knocked out of the second chance Andra Chansen heat on Saturday night by gnarly Nordman, so they won't be appearing in the final and he will. She probably had the fear right from the start, when she realised Nordman was singing a song about burning witches. Luckily for Carola, she kept away from the set and they found someone else to play the part instead. (Quite horrible it was too, with a woman disappearing into the flames, which were thankfully only digital. You can see it below, if you like that kind of thing.)

Most people think the Swedish winner is between song 1 and song 10. 'Hero' is a schlager stomper by 1999's Eurovision winner Charlotte Perrelli (formerly Charlotte Nilsson). Because she's had her turn, I think I would prefer to see BWO (formerly Bodies Without Organs) have a go and bring some contemporary pop to the contest. It would also give BWO a realistic hope of a follow-up hit to their UK #69 smash from two weeks ago, Sunshine In The Rain, which dropped straight out of our top 100 this week after its seven day stay, which was largely due to playlisting on BBC Radio 2.

However, both Charlotte and BWO's songs are superb and Rongedal's is a great pop track too, in the vein of Mika or Scissor Sisters (or any other current male singer who sings in the higher register). Personally, I love Linda Bengtzing and her song, one of only three in Swedish, is a belter too. Even the gorgeously cheesy 'I Love Europe' by Christer Sjögren would probably do quite well in Beograd if the Swedes have a collective moment of madness come the televote. Sanna Nielsen has the big ballad, except that Sibel came through the Andra Chansen, so she also has a big ballad, which may well see the way clear for Charlotte to win. That's not my theory, it's the theory of two "brittiska experterna" quoted in the Swedish press this week:



That's funny, they look amazingly like the two blokes whose house I stayed at last Saturday after watching the Andra Chansen and the Spanish marathon...

Here are all ten finalists, in the running order for tomorrow. Which one's your favourite? Who do you think is going to win? If you're thinking, 'Oh blimey, I'd really like to watch all ten of these videos, but my busy lifestyle only allows me time for nine', I can help. Don't bother with 'Upp o Hoppa'. It's crap.

1. Charlotte Perrelli - Hero
2. Sibel - That is where I'll go
3. Rongedal - Just a minute
4. Linda Bengtzing - Hur svårt kan det va?
5. Christer Sjögren - I love Europe
6. Amy Diamond - Thank you
7. Sanna Nielsen - Empty room
8. Nordman - I lågornas sken
9. Frida ft. Headline - Upp o hoppa
10. BWO - Lay your love on me

1. Charlotte Perrelli - Hero



2. Sibel - That is where I'll go



3. Rongedal - Just a minute



4. Linda Bengtzing - Hur svårt kan det va?



5. Christer Sjögren - I love Europe



6. Amy Diamond - Thank you



7. Sanna Nielsen - Empty room



8. Nordman - I lågornas sken



9. Frida ft. Headline - Upp o hoppa



10. BWO - Lay your love on me

Labels: Eurovision 2008, Melodifestivalen, San Marino, Sweden, YouTube

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Three rugby matches, eight Eurovision finals, and some unfortunate scheduling clashes between the two. In short, I can't watch the France v. England match, because it's on at 20:00 tonight, not in the afternoon. Grrr. Irish people have it much better. They'll be able to watch their rugby boys play at home to Scotland in Dublin, immediately before watching the five singers above battle against that turkey in Limerick.

The Eurovision pre-season reaches its peak tonight, with nine countries having live shows. That's eight national finals, plus the third heat of Sweden's Melodifestivalen.

Tonight's events:

Bulgaria - final of Pecen v Eurovizija
Croatia - final of Dora 2008
Iceland - final of Laugardagslögin
Ireland - Eurosong 2008
FYR Macedonia - SkopjeFest 2008
Poland - Piosenka dla Europy
Romania - final of Selectia Nationala
Ukraine - national final
+ Sweden - third heat of Melodifestivalen

We'll be at Glitterball Mansions, starting off with the Irish final, which anyone can see on the interweb - hurrah! We'll then be juggling between the internet (which we can watch on our friends' big TV) and various satellite channels, to catch as much as possible of the others, with a particular interest in Poland, because they have some good songs for a change.

World of Chig is hoping for victory in Poland for Sandra Oxenryd (left), who is Swedish, and a place in the Swedish final for BWO, fronted by Martin, who is Polish. Wouldn't it be delicious if they ended up representing each other's countries? (We could fill in the 12s on our scoresheets well in advance of May.) Sandra Oxenryd is a Eurovision tart, in the nicest possible way. She has already represented Estonia, in 2006. She's now looking for another country who'll have her if her homeland won't. Tonight she'll be singing my most-played song of the 2008 season so far, Super Heroes. It's as catchy as the pox and I love it.

In advance of the Irish final, all six contestants got together this week to murder pay homage to an Irish Eurovision classic, Johnny Logan's 'What's Another Year?". It's useful, if only because it helps me rule out two of the contestants straight away. Leona Daly (yellow dress) has a voice that gives me the creeps. I can't stand it. Just sing normally, woman! Liam Geddes (white shirt, dark suit) gets the words wrong in both of his sections, despite singing one of the most well-known songs in Eurovision (and Irish) history, which is worth the voters bearing in mind tonight.



Also this week, someone managed to pull the wool (or feathers) over a few people's eyes, by circulating this as Dustin The Turkey's song. It isn't, but it's clever because it takes some of the ideas from Dustin's song, which were publicised before the song itself was revealed, and takes a reasonable guess at how they might be used in the lyric, creating a passable song which may be funnier than the real thing. Make up your own mind:



Just in case there was any doubt, this is the real Dustin song, with the full lyric underneath, so you can sing along. I have a funny feeling that if Dustin wins tonight, Ireland will become the bookies' favourites to win in Serbia. Just like all those Finns who were mortified when Lordi were chosen to represent them, any embarrassed Irish people will feel a lot happier when the turkey lands high up on the scoreboard in Belgrade.



Dustin The Turkey - 'Irlande, Douze Points'

Oh I come, from a nation
What knows how to write a song.
Oh Europe, where oh where did it all go wrong?

COME ON!

Irlande douze points

Drag acts and bad acts and Terry Wogan's wig
Mad acts and sad acts, it was Johnny Logan's gig

Shake your feathers and pop your beak
Shake 'em to the West and to the East
Wave Euro hands and Euro feet
Wiggle in the air to the turkey beat

Irlande douze points
Irlande douze points
Irlande douze points
Do the funky beat

D-O-E double B-L-E, yeah!

Hello Abba, hello Bono, hello Helsinki
Hola Prague, hello sailor, c'est la vie
Auf Wiedersehen, Mamma Mia, and God save the Queen
Bonjour Serbia, good day Austria
You know what I mean!

Shake your feathers and pop your beak
Shake 'em to the West and to the East
Wave Euro hands and Euro feet
Wave 'em in the air to the funky beat

Shake your feathers and pop your beak
Shake 'em to the West and to the East
Wave Euro hands and Euro feet
Wiggle to the edge of the turkey beat

Irlande douze points
Irlande douze points
Irlande douze points
(Raspberry, or fart!)

Irlande douze points
Irlande douze points
Irlande douze points
Do the funky beat
Come on!

Give us another chance, we're sorry for riverdance
Sure Flately he's a Yank
And the Danube flows through France
Block vote, shock vote
Give us your 12 today
You're all invited to Dublin Ireland
And we'll party the Shamrock way

Irlande douze points
(Irlande douze points)
Irlande douze points
(Irlande douze points)
Irlande douze points
(Irlande douze points)
Irlande douze points
(Irlande douze points)
Do the funky beat
Come on!

Irlande douze points
Irlande douze points

Eastern Europe we love you
Do you like Irish stew?
Or goulash as it is to you?

Shake your feathers

Listen Bulgaria we love you
Belarus, Georgia, Montenegro,
Moldovia (sic), Albania, Croatia,
Poland, Russia

Ukraine, Macedonia, Love you Turkey
Hungary, Estonia, Slovakia,
Armenia, Bosnia Herzegova (sic)
And don't forget the Swiss!

Labels: Dustin The Turkey, EuroSong, Eurovision 2008, Ireland, Poland, Sweden

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I knew it would get onto YouTube pretty quickly. Here's Carola's reaction last night. She's trying to look pleased that her duet with Andreas Johnson has only finished third or fourth and won a place in the 'second chance' heat, not the final. Her face tells a different story.



You can make up your own mind about their performance last night here. It's not a bad song, but there's quite a bit of screeching from Carola and three or four of the other songs were better.

Labels: Andreas Johnson, Carola, Eurovision 2008, Melodifestivalen, Sweden, YouTube

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'The One And Only', or 'That show with the Dusty Springfield woman' as we've been calling it since week one, has been won by Dusty Springfield tonight, which should have surprised no one and is very well deserved. She was amazing. I don't think there's been a more obvious winner of a TV singing competition since, ooh, Connie as Maria.

The next obvious win will be next Saturday when Dustin, not Dusty, wins the ticket to Eurovision from Ireland, where he works in North Dublin as a builder, despite being a turkey. A turkey who looks like a vulture. A puppet turkey vulture. That's him looking down on you from the top left. If Dustin doesn't win next week I will live on potatoes for the week after. Possibly.

Dustin was even on The One Show in the UK this week, when they announced that the UK's Eurovision hopefuls would be featured on the show before our national final. (I'm hoping that our show features at least one ex-soap star, a transparent girlband, Bob the Builder, a failed Maria and a singing dustman, but what do I know?) Westlife were also in the studio when Dustin appeared by video link 'from Ireland' and Adrian Chiles seemed surprised that Westlife knew of Dustin, which is odd, as the turkey has been famous in Ireland longer than Westlife have and released a fair few albums and singles of his own. If the BBC researcher had been skilled in the art of YouTube searching - admittedly it's not something anyone can manage - they could even have found this, which I had seen before, and then no one would have been surprised. Dustin even manages a reference to last year's disastrous Eurovision result for Ireland.



At least there were surprises in Sweden's televised singing competition tonight. I watched the second Melodifestivalen heat live on the net (in almost judder-free, full screen quality - thank you SVT). The horrible homophobe Carola had teamed up with the previously likeable (although I will now question his judgment, or his level of desperation) Andreas Johnson, who she cruelly beat to the Eurovision place in 2006. Despite Sweden's liberalism, they make strange allowances for this bloody awful woman and this, in theory, should have been a dream ticket to the final. However, they didn't make it. The only managed to win a place in the 'Andra Chansen' second chance heat, which means they finished third or fourth tonight. I laughed a lot, especially as the camera was on her face when the result was revealed and she looked like she had just realised she had wet herself. It was priceless.

Sanna Nielsen claimed one of the places in the final with a good ballad which she sang superbly at first. (She wobbled a bit in her reprise, but she was already through by then, so I think the shock of qualifying was getting to her a little). She sings in English superbly, with very clear enunciation and very little accent, which lifted her song way above the others tonight.

The other finalists were Rongedal, who did a great presentation of a pop song, Just A Minute, with twins (I presume) looking like Richard O'Brien in red suits, singing like Jake Shears. It clearly caught the Swedes' attention.

However, I can't help feeling that Sweden's best chance for Beograd has gone by the wayside. Andra Generationen finished fifth, so will go no further. Their song Kebabpizza Slivovitza, although it was tonight's light relief, would have gone down well with ALL the Balkan countries and picked up votes from everywhere else too. It sounded like a Swedish pop song performed by a Macedonian wedding band, which is pretty much what it was. With a nod to the Eurovision host nation in the title, it would have gone down well in the hall at least. (Slivovitza is Serbia's 'national drink'; a plum liqueur that I look forward to sampling when in Belgrade!)

Oh well, Eurovision in Belgrade has more to worry about than whatever song Sweden is sending. The elephant in the room is about to wake up and roar. Following the election of the 'pro-European' candidate as President in Serbia last weekend, Kosovo seems certain to declare independence tomorrow. The streets of Belgrade are full of people already tonight. Let's hope they manage to come to a peaceful solution.

Labels: Beograd, Eurovision 2008, Kosovo, Melodifestivalen, Serbia, Sweden

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Well, at least the regional juries and the national televote both agreed on the Swedish winner this year, for the first time in at least three years. The Ark's retro shang-a-langing won convincingly last night. The Schlagerboys were distraught as Anna Book schlagered her way to one solitary point (versus The Ark's 248), by sounding out of breath all the way through 'Samba Sambero'. It was doomed. I tried to warn the Schlagerboys by text, because I know you can't hear properly when you're in the hall - I was there last year. We heard from them later that they are now "over Sweden". I think they may be convinced to change their minds.

The dark horse contestant also cocked up slightly on the vocal front, but in a different way. Marie Lindberg's lack of experience - she hadn't sung in front of an audience until she performed in an arena last month, and qualified for the final - showed through at the start, with a few bum notes in the first verse, which made it slightly uncomfortable to watch; I really felt for her. The Swedish public did too, voting her their fourth favourite in the televote, leaving her fifth overall. The juries had all ignored her, apart from Malmö, who gave her four points. I suspect she may be from somewhere near Malmö.

So, The Ark will no doubt be listed as one of the favourites in Helsinki. They've definitely secured Sweden another top ten finish, but I'm not sure it's the winner. (To my mind, that's currently Switzerland's DJ Bobo.)

We had a great party last night watching the Melodifestivalen final. Twenty-one people, including a Finnish woman (who spoke Swedish, which was useful), a Belgian man and a Frenchman. These were the results of the Glitterball Mansions international jury (with the real Swedish positions in brackets):

1 (3) Måns Zelmerlöw
2 (7) Sanna Nielsen
3 (1) The Ark
4 (4) Sarah Dawn Finer
=5 (8) Sebastian
=5 (9) Anna Book
7 (6) Sonja Aldén
8 (2) Andreas Johnson
9 (5) Marie Lindberg
10 (10) Tommy Nilsson

(To be continued - I'm off to watch the rugby first!)

Labels: Eurovision 2007, Melodifestivalen, Sweden

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There will be 21 of us, crammed into the parlour at Glitterball Mansions tonight for the live final of Sweden's Melodifestivalen, some Swedish food and a very special announcement from our hosts. As far as Globen is concerned, Sweden, please pick this! Tack så mycket!

'Cara Mia' - Måns Zelmerlöw



It seems most people in Sweden think The Ark will win instead, while the big boss man of Melodifestivalen, Christer Björkmann, says that Sweden needs to pick a ballad. You can play a fabulous game while watching this video of The Ark's performance, by seeing how many of the following references you can spot:

The intro: Bardo's 'One Step Further' and Charlotte Nilsson's 'Take Me To Your Heaven'.
The tune: Edison Lighthouse's 'Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Grows)' and 'Cinderella Rockefeller' by Esther & Abi Ofarim.
The rhythm: Bay City Rollers' 'Shang-A-Lang'.
The look: Marc Bolan meets Babylon Zoo.
The synchronised guitar movements: The Glitter Band.
The lyrical references: 'Santa Claus Is Coming To Town' and The Move's 'Fire Brigade'.
The vocal stylings: Tim Curry in The Rocky Horror Picture Show and David Bowie.
The homage to Gina G's dress: That sparkly thing around his neck. (He's admitted this.)

Then there's the undressing, by a man for a change. How many more references can you spot?

'The Worrying Kind' - The Ark



Our chums the Schlagerboys (and a few others) are in Stockholm. The poor, deluded things are flogging Anna Book's dead horse 'Samba Sambero' for her, but Chig can confidently predict that the winner has been narrowed down to one of six (from ten). Now just watch one of the other four go and win.

The ten contenders are all below on one audio clip, with photos. Roughly in order of their winning chances, Chig predicts a winner from one of these six:

'Cara Mia' - Måns Zelmerlöw
'The Worrying Kind' - The Ark
'Trying To Recall' - Marie Lindberg
'I Remember Love' - Sarah Dawn Finer
'A Little Bit Of Love' - Andreas Johnson
'When The Night Comes Falling' - Sebastian

I can't see any of these four winning:

'Jag tror på människan' - Tommy Nilsson
'För att du finns' - Sonja Aldén
'Samba Sambero' - Anna Book
'Vågar du, vågar jag' - Sanna Nielsen

What do you think?

Labels: Eurovision 2007, Melodifestivalen, Sweden

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Drag queens are like buses. Some of them even look like the back end of one. We already had one drag act in this year's Eurovision, from Denmark, but last night we gained a second, from Ukraine!

Denmark's drag queen, DQ, is of the skinny, Las Vegas glamour variety, but has very little in the way of a show and may struggle to get past the qualifier.



Ukraine's Verka Serduchka, on the other had, is already in the final. She hails from the Dick Emery/Les Dawson school of drag. The song's called 'Danzing'. It makes no pretence at glamour but is more of a German Bierkeller drinking song. (It's partly in German, just to reinforce the point.) This is a DJ Ötzi-style song for Eurovision, in that, by any objective judgment on the song, it's a pile of poo. However, on the 'memorable after first hearing/viewing' scale, it scores a great big ten out of ten. Bearing in mind that the UK gave 12 points to Lordi and 10 points to Lithuania's 'We Are The Winners' last year, I can see where lots of the UK's points are going this time. Still, if we end up in Kyiv again next year, there'll be no complaints from me. I'll be able to afford to go, for a start...

This is the entire lyric of Verka Serduchka's 'Tanzing' (minus the repeats). (Thanks to Adrian B. in Romania for this, which I copied from his message on ESC Today.) Note the 'political' jibe at Russia. If Israel are going to be in trouble for their anti-Iranian lyric, maybe the EBU will have to consider this line as well?

Hello everybody! My name is Verka Serduchka!
Speak English? Don't understand?
Let's get dancing!
Sieben, sieben, ai lyu-lyu (Seven, seven, bye-bye)
One, two, three, dance!

It is good dancing! Where are your hands? Higher!
I want you (to) sing! Russia, goodbye!

Ukraine is cool! Ukraine loves dancing! Let's dance at Maidan (Independence Square)

OK, happy end! [Or is it 'Okay, hit the end'?]

Here's the performance from last night's Ukrainian final. (Thanks to Keith.) The song even has TWO key changes!



Finally, a reminder that this year's national final season has seen even more 'glitter och glamour' than these two, from the drag act which should really have qualified for tonight's Melodifestivalen final. Here's the ode to onanism that Sweden tragically let slip through their hands (ahem) two weeks ago. After Dark finished fifth in their heat with 'Oh, when you take things in hand', so we won't be seeing them in tonight's final at Globen. Nevertheless, this is the funniest song I've heard all year. It's also insanely catchy, once you're past the obvious 'Go West' association. Enjoy!

Labels: After Dark, Denmark, DQ, drag, Eurovision 2007, Melodifestivalen, Sweden, Ukraine, Verka Serduchka

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Another Saturday night, another batch of national finals and heats for Eurovision, so tonight we will be back at Glitterball Mansions. The Scooch song may be taken off non-stop repeat play for just long enough to watch a bit of telly, so we'll be watching the beginning of the Swedish 'Andra Chansen' heat, where Chig hopes that Elin Lanto and Nanne Grönvall will get their second chance ticket to next week's Melodifestivalen final. Tonight's show could go on for ever, as the format is knockout rounds, as shown here by the Melodimen. I make that a lot of voting, plus fifteen performances, if there's a reprise of the winner.

We'll have turned over long before then, as it'll be time for our annual dose of HRT. Yes, it's time for the final night of Croatia's Dora, usually one of the highlights of the season along with Slovenia and Sweden. It's certainly one of the longest finals, but when you've experienced Spanish television, nothing feels too long. Croatia had semi-finals on Thursday and last night, halving the field of sixteen each time, so there are 16 of the 32 songs left tonight.

Highlights of the eight acts through from Thursday night include top Croatian hunk Luka Nižetić (left), who had a go in 2005 but revealed himself to be strong on good looks and weak on stagecraft. All of the partially-clothed pictures seem to have gone from his official website in favour of a still very sexy business look (but what's the windmill all about?). Never fear though - Schlagerboys to the rescue!

Also through from Thursday are Feminnem, who represented neighbouring Bosnia-Herzegovina in Eurovision 2005. You have to be Croatian to enter the Croatian Dora, but they do hold Croatian passports, so they're okay.

Through from last night's semi-final, I'm particularly looking forward to seeing The Sick Swing Orchestra and Trio Fantasticus, simply because of their names.

The regular reader may recall some recent drooling over him on the left; Sebastian in the Slovenian final (not to be confused with another unsurnamed Sebastian who's in the Swedish final next week. Are you still with us?) Well, what do you know? In the interests of post-Yugoslav unity, Sebastian and Luka teamed up for a TV appearance, singing an answer song to Geri Halliwell, 'Mi Chica Latina'. Two hunks for the price of one. I don't know where to look first.

Labels: Croatia, Dora, Eurovision 2007, Luka Nižetić, Melodifestivalen, Sebastian, Sweden

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01:39. Just home from Schlager Towers. Spain eventually chose the boyband Nash to finish near the bottom of the Helsinki scoreboard for them, with the Thomas G:son song 'I Love You Mi Vida'. It was a tortuous process which filled 3 hours and 40 minutes of Spanish airtime, only finishing at 02:10 Spanish time (01:10 here). Out of the songs which finished in the top two of the scoreboard (from the 25 original options available) it was the wrong song, by the less talented singers. It should have been Mirela, with La Reina de la Noche.

Sweden got it half right, choosing Andreas Johnson for the final, but dumping saucy After Dark, who finished fifth, in favour of a ballad that won't go very far in the final.

It's bedtime. We'll be watching more national finals tomorrow (ie. later today); Armenia choose their second ever Eurovision entry and Montenegro choose their first as an independent country. Oh yes, the Balkan block increases by another one this year!

Labels: Eurovision 2007, Melodifestivalen, Mirela, Mision Eurovision, Nash, Spain, Sweden

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