Sweden: Carola returns to Melodifestivalen with a religious song

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Carola will compete in the next Melodifestivalen, Sweden’s national final, through which Sweden chooses its entry in every Eurovision Song Contest. If she manages to win, this will be her fourth Eurovision participation!

With a Christian song Carola at Melodifestivalen 2020

According to the Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, the 53-year-old singer will now be among the 28 participants at Melodifestivalen 2020, with a song that she herself wrote and has religious content. She is also a member of the Evangelical Church, “World of Life” and has devoted much of her life to the refugee issue. Together with her husband, Norwegian priest Runar Søgaard, they have adopted a girl from Africa whose parents had died.

Aftonbladet reports on the lyrics of the song:

It is written by herself, dedicated to her Christian faith and praises the love for Jesus Christ.

Fans, however, have welcomed the news with mixed emotions, as they believe Carola has closed her circle at Melodifestivalen.

Carola & Melodifestivalen

This will be Carola’s sixth participation in the Melodifestivalen, which she has won three times. In 1983 at the age of just 17 she won with “Främling” and represented Sweden for the first time in Eurovision, taking third place there. In 1991, in Rome with “Fångad av en stormvind”, she took her third victory for her country. Finally, in 2006 Eurovision in Athens she performed “Invincible” and reached the top5 for the third time, specifically in fifth place.

In 2008 she once again tried to find herself on the Eurovision stage, joining Melodifestivalen in a duet with Andreas Johnson, but only reaching the second chance round.

Hungary: A Dal returns for 2020, but no connection to Eurovision | Is the withdraw from the contest hidden behind?

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A few hours ago, Hungarian public broadcaster announced the details of the launch of “A Dal 2020”,the music competition, which is the country’s national final for Eurovision since 2012. However, the “A Dal 2020”  regulations do not mention anything about Eurovision 2020, and its terms are such that it seems to have nothing to do with the country’s participation in the Eurovision contest. Is this a sign that Hungary is withdrawing from the next event? Or will Hungary simply choose a direct assignment, as it did last time in 2011?

A Dal is one of the most successful programs on Hungarian public television. It is noteworthy that the final of the A Dal 2019 had higher ratings, both from the semifinal in which Joci Papai appeared and from the Eurovision final.

So Hungarian public broadcaster will host A Dal this year as well, but this will not be the country’s national final for Eurovision, as happened eight years ago.

The regulations published today do not mention a word about the Eurovision Contest, and entries that have been circulated from March 1st,2019 are allowed, which is in stark contrast to the EBU regulations, which impose the songs to have been released only after September 1st!

The winner of “A Dal 2020” will receive a cash prize, the right to participate in two very big music events in the country, as well as an advertising time to promote his\her song on Hungarian public radio.

Is Hungary’s first and only exclusion in Tel Aviv the reason that the national broadcaster  wants to withdraw from the next Eurovision? Is A Dal’s decoupling from joining Eurovision a potential upgrade they want to make at their home festival? Or does Hungary’s public television really want to follow the Euro-skeptic policy of its Prime Minister, Victor Orban, and not to take part in Rotterdam?

Whatever the answer, we will find it out soon. Until then, remember once again this year’s Hungarian entry with Joci Papai, who failed to qualify for the final:

Source: Escbubble

Greece: ERT’s new meeting on Greek participation in Eurovision 2020 | EXCLUSIVE

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The new greek public broadcaster’s administration does not seem to be waiting  the new year to begin the process of selecting Greece’s  entry in Eurovision 2020, something that ERT used to do in previous years, having already held its second meeting on this purpose.

ERT’s second Eurovision 2020 meeting

The second substantive meeting was held on Thursday,October 17th  at ERT’s headquarters aiming at elaborating its strategy regarding Eurovision 2020, as well as the Greek presence there.

An indication of the interest given by the new administration to the Eurovision project is that the meeting was attended by the Managing Director, members of the Board, the Director of International Relations of ERT and others.

According to our exclusive information, the possibility of a national final with various artists at this time seems to be completely eliminated. As we mentioned in our previous article, ERT focuses on direct assigning  and then finding the song via open call, but of course the direct selection of the song is also ruled out if something very good is found.

ERT’s goal is to gain a place in the top ten, which will put the country back in the game dynamically and as such they are geared towards finding partners with experience and proven positive results in the contest.

However, ERT also wants to exploit the contest commercially  in its program on television, as this program is one of the few that have such a large audience.

Ms Maria Koufopoulou, ERT’s Director of International Relations, told us in a conversation that the discussions were moving forward and ERT is already preparing for its participation in Rotterdam.

New meeting in the coming days

In the coming days, however, there will be a new meeting at ERT and perhaps then we will have the first major developments as regards the artist who will represent Greece  at the 65th Eurovision Song Contest.

Stay tuned for all the exclusive details on this issue!

North Macedonia: Listen to its participation for Junior Eurovision 2019

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Last but not least, North Macedonia presents its entry for this year’s Junior Eurovision song contest. 14-year-old Mila Moskov with the song “Fire”  will represent the countr.

Both herself and the song were selected by direct assignment from the country’s public broadcaster. Mila has been involved with music since she was 6 years old. She has participated in various concerts, both solo and as a member of the Little Angels children’s choir. The song is signed by Lazar Cvetkoski and Magdalena ENA Cvetkoska.

listen to it below:

https://youtu.be/1nzx1qeI-5I

Ukraine: On February 22, its representative at ESC 2020 – all details of Vidbir 2020

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Like every year, Ukraine will choose its representative at the Eurovision Song Contest through a national selection , the well-known Vidbir. Earlier today, the national broadcaster UA: PBC revealed the dates regarding the procedure and some new changes to the rules.

According to the channel’s announcement, all the interested artists and composers can submit their application starting today until December 25th via the link that can be found HERE.

Moreover, due to the country’s withdrawal from the previous contest in Tel Aviv, the UA: PBC has explicitly stated that: nominated artists, who may be singers or groups, should not have performed in Russia since 2014 , they should not have scheduled any future appearances in that country during the contest while artists who have stepped on Crimean territory are not allowed to apply at all.

As in previous years, Vidbir 2020 will be broadcasted by the private STB channel , the show will be produced by Ruslan Quinta and Natalia Franchuk and will. be hosted by Sergey Pritula while STB will be funding the winner and country’s representative.

Vidbir 2020 will have three live shows, two semifinals, on February 8th and 11th, and the Grand Final on February the 22nd.

Last year, we all remember MARUV winning the  Vidbir 2019 with the song titled”Siren” but eventually failed to fly to  Tel Aviv due to her entry’s conflict with UBC rules, which resulted in Ukraine’s  withdrawal from Eurovision 2019.

 

Russia: Return of Dima Bilan to the Eurovision stage?

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Eurovision 2008 winner Dima Bilan has stated in a interview to Russian media that he wants to return to the contest for the third time after finishing 2nd in 2006 in Athens and his victory two years later in Belgrade.

Talking to a Russian television show, Bilan referred to the issue and argued that if Russian public broadcaster would organize a national final, he would be fully interested in representing his country once again. In contrast to the current system of internal selection, the Russian artist was openly in favor of conducting a national final with the public choosing the song and artist to represent the country at the institution.

The Russian state-run Channel One is expected to follow once again this year the tactics of the last years by internally selecting the artist to represent the country through direct assignment. The last time Russia held a national final was in 2012. Dima Bilan had also claimed his third appearance at the Eurovision competition, along with singer t.A.T.u. Julia Volkova. The duo, however, came in second place and Buranovskiye Babushki represented Russia in Baku.

Last year in Tel Aviv, Sergey Lazarev represented Russia with “Scream” for the second time, where he finished 3rd with 360 points, 6th ahead of 4th Switzerland.

 

Greece: ERT’s intentions for Eurovision 2020 | EXCLUSIVE

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ERT has already begun planning the method for choosing its entry in Eurovision 2020. Last week, the Greek broadcaster had the first discussion for the matter. A final decision has yet to be made on how the next Greek representative will be selected, although the official announcements will not be late. Read more

The Netherlands: DENK invites Palestine to Eurovision

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Representatives of the DENK party at the Rotterdam city council have asked the mayor and the city’s executive council about Palestine’s acceptance of the upcoming Eurovision song contest to be held in the Netherlands in May 2020.

In the context of the Middle East peace process, we would also like to see Palestine participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. Any country that is an active member of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) may participate in the contest. Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Libya are also members.

The 4 representatives of the party also added that:

In the context of association and mutual acceptance, it is the ideal time for Palestine to get involved in the competition.

The municipality of Rotterdam has no right to which countries can participate in the contest and which can not, as determined by the EBU. Therefore, DENK board members are asking the city council to put pressure on the NPO public channel to invite Palestine to the competition.

The DENK party is based in the Netherlands and calls itself a “movement”. Ideologically, it is based on acceptance among people, within a just society based on international law. At the same time, it aims to eliminate racism against immigrants and to diversify education. The party has been accused, among other things, of close connection with Erdogan’s conservative party in Turkey.

Palestine at Eurovision

The Palestinian public broadcaster, PBC, was an affiliated member of the EBU. In 2007, it applied for full membership and thus was eligible to participate in Eurovision, which was ultimately rejected because it did not meet the prerequisites.

The issue of Palestine has not left the Eurovision Circle unaffected either, with the culmination of this year’s Israeli event. Both the invitation of organizations and politicians / celebrities in various countries to boycott this year’s event, as well as the internationally acclaimed singer-songwriter Madonna, as well as Iceland’s representatives waving the Palestinian flag during the pre-election campaign. reactions in Israel resulting in a fine on the latter by the EBU.

Malta: Listen to country’s entry in Junior Eurovision 2019

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Maltese public broadcaster, PBS, recently released the song that Eliana Gómez Blanco will perform at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The 14-year-old artist will sing “We Are More” on November 24 in Glivice, Poland.

Eliana was selected to represent Malta through an open selection process, which aimed to select the country’s artist for Junior Eurovision 2019. She competed in the finals with 10 other candidates selected from live auditions.

This year, the Maltese broadcaster did not hold a live national final to select its representative in Junior Eurovision. Instead, it conducted an on-line process in which the singers sang live to help the public choose the best singer for the competition. These live performances were evaluated by the jury and the audience who decided the winner.

Listen to Malta’s participation below:

https://youtu.be/wu4TBECwLqA

Germany: Greek-origin Sandro Nicolas in the national final?

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Sandro Nicolas is a rising greek-origin artist, making a career in Germany. An Instagram Story by Linnea Deb, which Sandro shared himself from the recording studio, makes us suspect that the greek-german performer will try at the German national final for the Eurovision Song Contest.

You have read about Sandro Nicolas again in a previous article about his participation in the New Wave Festival last August in Sochi.

Sandro Nicolas (Alessandro Ruetten) has an American father and a Greek mother. He was born and raised in Germany and is now 23 years old. In 2018 he participated in the German version of “The Voice”, reaching the semi-finals.

He has grown up with Greek education, speaks fluent Greek and a glance at his Instagram profile is enough to discover the undisclosed relationship he has with Greece, which he frequently visits.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B3KzxxYIX2Z/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

Linnea Deb has over 15 entries in the Melodifestivalen, which has won twice (You – 2012 and Heroes – 2015), representing Sweden in the Eurovision contest and giving her a trophy (2015). Other highlights included Loreen’s “Statements”, Ace Wilder’s “Busy Doing Nothing” and Mohombi and Wiktoria’s songs for this year’s release. In 2018,she represented Finland with “Monsters” which she wrote for Saara Aalto. She has competed in national finals in other countries as well (Norway, Poland etc.). We already know that she has submitted for Melodifestivalen 2020.

 

How likely is it to see Sandro Nicolas in the German national final?

Of course, in order to see Sandro Nicolas competing in the German national final with a song by Linnea Deb or someone else, he has to be chosen among the finalists.

In the German National Final both songs and performers can be submitted.The production company Digame, after selecting the leading candidates, will allow them to participate in various songwriting camps in order to write new songs for the national final. After completing this process, Digame will select the finalists and match them with the songs they will compete with.

The final selection of German participation in Eurovision 2020 will take place in a live, triple voting show: the television audience, the jury of experts and the 100-member fan committee.

Watch one of Sandro’s  live performances at New Wave Festival 2019: