Eurovision 2023: National broadcaster participation window closing today!

The national broadcasters from the countries having an active EBU membership, have a deadline until today (15/9), in order to confirm their participation in the 67th Eurovision Song Contest.

We might not know the city at United Kingdom that we are going to travel to for Eurovision 2023 yet, but today is the deadline for the national broadcasters-EBU members to confirm their participation in the contest.

Until October 11th, according to the rules, the possibility of withdrawal is provided without the imposition of a fine. From this date on, the broadcasters that applied for participating and are willing to withdraw, are going to face the imposition of a fine, which is varying, depending on the time of withdrawal (before or after the semi-finals draw etc.).

31 countries, with one way or another, have announced their will to participate in Eurovision 2023. Among them there’s Greece, and Cyprus too. Those countries are:

  • Albania
  • Australia
  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Cyprus
  • Denmark
  • Estonia
  • Finland
  • France
  • Georgia
  • Germany
  • Greece
  • Iceland
  • Ireland
  • Israel
  • Italy
  • Latvia
  • Lithuania
  • Malta
  • Norway
  • Poland
  • Portugal
  • Romania
  • San Marino
  • Serbia
  • Spain
  • Sweden
  • Switzerland
  • The Netherlands
  • Ukraine
  • United Kingdom

The number from the countries above is expected to grow, because nine countries that participated in this year’s contest, haven’t clarified their intentions yet. Those are:

  • Armenia
  • Azerbaijan
  • Bulgaria
  • Croatia
  • Czech Republic
  • Moldova
  • Montenegro
  • North Macedonia
  • Slovenia

There’s always a chance, although slight, for a country to return or for another one to debut. The participating countries and their exact number will be confirmed through EBU’s official announcement. The respective announcement for Eurovision 2022 was made on October 20th.

 

Albania: RTSH adds Televoting in Festivali i Këngës 61!

The traditionally first Eurovision pre-selection national final of the season, is going to experience something no less than a revolution. The Albanian national broadcaster RTSH decided to add the possibility of televoting in Festivali i Këngës 61. This means that Albanian TV viewers will be able to have a word for who is going to represent them at Eurovision Song Contest 2023 that will take place at United Kingdom. However, the percentage that televoting points will hold for the final score of each participant is still unknown. Last time that televoting was used in FiK was at 2016 (for the selection of the Albanian representative for Eurovision 2017) and held 1/13 of the final result, while jury voting held 12/13. Televoting was used for the first time in FiK at 2005, for the selection of the Eurovision 2006 Albanian representative.

The news became known via the official Instagram account of OGAE member Eurovision Albania.

As announced earlier in August, Festivali i Këngës 61 will be presented by one of the most loved Albanian TV personalities, Arbana Osmani, while the art director will be Flori Mumajesi, one of the most successful songwriters of the new generation. RTSH has opened song submissions for FiK 61 since June 3rd, while the shows’ dates are yet to be announced. The submission window will be opened until September 30th.

Ronela Hajati won FiK 60 with the ethnic-pop song “Sekret”. It is quite rare for such a song to win FiK, that’s why it’s the first FiK winner of that kind for the first time in many years. She represented Albania in Eurovision 2022 and couldn’t manage to progress in the Grand Final, finishing 12th in the First Semi-Final.

Source: OGAE Albania

 

Albania: FiK 61 contributors announced!

The first traditionally national final of the season (although the Czech Republic like to challenge this in recent years) is Albania’s FiK. The key contributors to the upcoming festival have been revealed today.
Read more

The most successful Eurovision countries in the 20s!

Eurovision is heading to the third decade of the 21st century and it has clearly changed not only in comparison with the past, but also with the recent years. In this article we investigate how countries scored during the first 2 years of the 20s, as well as their average score.

As you can see below, we cannot identify a group of 5-6 performing performing always well, as it used to happen the last years. Only a few countries are consistently doing well, despite the fact that the scores studied are only of the last 2 years. Tougher competition, the success of the contest on social media (TikTok had a business partnership with the contest this year featuring exclusive clips of the first rehearsals on the platform), as well as the high interest by record labels are only some of the reasons why it is harder to perform consistently well, since entries are of higher lever than the past.

Lets see in detail the average score of the countries during this decade:

Country        2022   2021    Average

  1. Ukraine           1          5             3
  2. Italy                 6          1            3,5
  3. Greece             8         10            9
  4. Sweden           4         14             9
  5. Russia             –           9             9
  6. Switzerland    17        3             10
  7. Moldova          7        13            10
  8. Serbia              5         15            10
  9. Portugal          9         12           10.5
  10. Lithuania       14         8             11
  11. France            24         2             13
  12. Spain               3         24           13.5
  13. Iceland          23          4            13.5
  14. Finland          21          6            13.5
  15. United Kingdom 2     26           14
  16. Norway           10         18            14
  17. The Netherlands 11     23          17
  18. Azerbaijan     16          20            18
  19. Belgium          19         19             19
  20. Armenia         20          –              20
  21. Malta               35          7             21
  22. Estonia           13         31             22
  23. Poland            12         33            22.5
  24. Cyprus            29         16            22.5
  25. Romania        18          28            23
  26. Israel              30          17           23.5
  27. Albania          28          21           24.5
  28. Australia        15          34           24.5
  29. Bulgaria         38          11           24.5
  30. Germany        25          25            25
  31. Croatia           26          27           26.5
  32. St. Marino     33          22           27.5
  33. Czech Republic 22     36             29
  34. Denmark        31         29             30
  35. North Macedonia 27 35             31
  36. Austria           36         30             33
  37. Ireland           34         37            35.5
  38. Latvia             32         39            35.5
  39. Slovenia         40        32              36
  40. Montenegro   37         –                37
  41. Georgia           39       38             38.5

As you can see in the table above, there are very few countries where the average of their positions in these two years is below 10. This proves how difficult it has become to be in the top ten. It is even more difficult to have continuous results within top 10, since only three countries have achieved this, Ukraine, Italy and Greece!

It is evident that Italy and Ukraine are the two powerhouses of the competition for this decade (so far). Sweden remains high on the list, but far from the first place it was in the last decade. Greece is recovering dynamically since it is in third place, when in the previous decade it was out of the 20s. Cyprus gets lower scores year by year, unfortunately making us believe that 2018 was just a coincidence and is currently in 24th place!

Regardless of personal taste and opinions, the numbers speak themselves and is clear that Ukraine, Italy and Greece are doing great during this decade. The new strategy of the management of ERT to chose the artist and the song internally, is proven to be successful, after years of bad results and 2 NQ (2016,2018).

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun because the journey to Eurovision 2023 has already begun!

Anxhela Peristeri: “I want to represent Greece in Eurovision next time”!

Invited to the show “Night with Avlona”, Anxhela Peristeri, who represented Albania at Eurovision 2021, spoke about her personal life, but also the Eurovision song contest.

The popular singer who made a career in Greece and whose father is of Greek origin, as she mentioned in an exclusive interview she gave us last year, said that next time in the Eurovision contest she would like to represent Greece.

I would represent Greece because I know the culture and I lived there. Although my song was orchestrated by a Greek composer, Dimitris Kontopoulos, this was not discussed. But I would like (to represent Greece).

We remind you that Anxhela Peristeri’s song was orchestrated in the studio of Dimitris Kontopoulos in Athens.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxniMKVXjqM

We who had the good fortune to meet Anxhela Peristeri last year in Rotterdam, wish from the bottom of our hearts that she claim her dream and why not see her on the stage of the contest with the Greek colours. She is one of the best female voices to hit the Eurovision stage in recent years.

Source: tetovasot.com

Eurovision 2022: Watch the Live-on-Tape performances of Albania, Latvia and Lithuania!

Today, fans will be able to watch the Live-on-Tape videos of the competing countries of Eurovision 2022,  through the official YouTube channel of Eurovision.

About thirty out of the forty countries competing, accepted to present the Live-on-Tape performances of their representatives. EBU will present those performances through the YouTube channel of the contest, in groups of three. If the publication of the videos continues like this, in about ten days, we will be able to watch all the perfromances of the contestants.

The countries that will be presented today are the first three countries in the running order of the First Semi-Final, namely:

  1. Albania
  2. Latvia
  3. Lithuania

The first three Live-on-Tapes will be released one every thirty minutes from 16:00 to 17:00 CET.

  • 🇦🇱 Watch the Live-on-Tape performance of “Sekret” by Ronela Hajati:
  • 🇱🇻 Watch the Live-on-Tape performance of “Eat your Salad” by Citi Zēni:
  • 🇱🇹 Watch the Live-on-Tape performance of  “Sentimentai” by Monika Liu:

What do you think about the first Live-on-Tape videos of Eurovision 2022? Do you like them or do you prefer the live performances?

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Eurovision Song Contest!

Alban Ramosaj: “I will participate in FiK again only if the communists leave the jury!

We had a sharp statement from Alban Ramosaj, second in the last FiK, although a big favorite for the victory and the representation of Albania in Turin. The young artist, answering to his fans, whether he would participate in FiK again, answered categorically no, saying that he would only do so if the communists on its jury left!

Alban noted that it would be easier to claim the representation of San Marino or Spain than to submit participation in FiK again. He even reminded his followers that even Gjon’s Tears, who was about to win Eurovision, refused his song in Albania and so he finally submitted his entry to Switzerland.

Let’s remember Alban’s participation in FiK 60:

Would he have better luck than Ronela in Turin?

Albania: Song Submissions for Festivali i Këngës have opened!

Just a few weeks after Eurovision 2022 took place in Turin, Italy, the song submissions for Festivali i Këngës are now open! Festivali i Këngës is an annual music competition organised by Albania’s national broadcaster (RTSH). It has been broadcast every year since its debut in 1962 and since 2004 it also determines the country’s representative for the Eurovision Song Contest.

The requirements for artists to submit an entry are as follows:

  • The final version of the song.
  • The entry must be no longer than 4 minutes.
  • The final version of the instrumental track, with and without backing vocals.
  • The lyrics of the song.
  • The names of the producers of the song, the lyricist and the composer.
  • Artistic photographs, biography of the singer or band, including other activities, awards and features.

Last year’s winner of Festivali i Këngës, Ronela Hajati with the song “Sekret”, finished twelfth in the first semi-final with 58 points.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jWXmo0-ZjI&feature=emb_title

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding Albania’s participation in Eurovision 2023!

Source: RTSH.al

Eurovision 2022: See the results of Press Poll just before the grand final!

As we informed you in our article, Press Poll 2022 has begun. After all countries have had all technical rehearsals, it is now time for the accredited to vote for the country that believes she will be the winner of the 66th Eurovision Song Contest.

Below are the results of the final of today’s 14/5 at 20:30:

In the vote for the winner, UK leads, Sweden is second, and Spain is third!


Follow us on all social media, so you do not miss a moment of what will happen in Turin:

Source: Ogae International

Eurovision 2022: See the results of the fifth day of Press Poll!

As we informed you in our article, Press Poll 2022 has begun. After all countries have had their three technical rehearsals, it is now time for the accredited to vote for the countries that will advance to the two semifinals, as well as the country that believes she will be the winner of the 66th Eurovision Song Contest.

Below are the results of the semifinals and finals of today’s 13/5 at 21:00:
First Semifinal

Second Semifinal

Grand Final

In the vote for the winner, UK leads, Sweden is second, and Greece is third!


Follow us on all social media, so you do not miss a moment of what will happen in Turin:


Stay tuned to Eurovision Fun for daily updates on Press Poll 2022!
Source: Ogae International