Eurovision 2022: The Preliminary Rehearsal Schedule has been released!

The Preliminary Rehearsal Schedule for the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest has been released. As we have mentioned in a previous article, rehearsals will commence on April 30 at the PalaOlimpico in Turin.

The first rehearsal of the Greek delegation will take place on Sunday, May 1 at 13.40 CET, with the press conference following at 15.40 CET of the same day. Amanda’s second rehearsal will take place on Wednesday 4 May at 16.50 CET, with the press conference taking place at 18.00 CET.

The first rehearsal of the Cypriot delegation will take place on Monday, May 2 at 16.40 CET, with the press conference taking place at 18.40 CET of the same day. The second rehearsal of Andromache is scheduled for Friday, May 6 at 10.25 CET, with the interview at 11.35 CET.

You can see the full rehearsal schedule below (All times CET):

Eurovision πρόβες

 

The EurovisionFun YouTube Channel will provide live commentary of the rehearsals, so subscribe now!

At the same time, the rehearsals will be covered in our website, since our team will be in Turin for the 66th Eurovision Song Contest to inform you about everything in real time.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the latest news!

INFE Poll 2022: The results from Hungary!

For the sixth consecutive year the second Network of Eurovision Song Contest fans ,the INFE Network, in cooperation with ESCToday, carries out the INFE Poll.

The members of the Network in the 22 local fan clubs, have already voted their favorite songs of Eurovision 2022 and with the help of ESCToday, announce their results.

Today, we have the results from INFE Hungary:

  • 1 point goes to Cyprus
  • 2 points go to Albania
  • 3 points go to Greece
  • 4 points go to Italy
  • 5 points go to Norway
  • 6 points go to Poland
  • 7 points go to Spain
  • 8 points go to The Netherlands
  • 10 points go to Austria
  • 12 points go to… Sweden

Sweden gets another 12 points and now leads the INFE Poll as Spain is second and Italy third.

The total scoreboard till today is as follows:

Sweden 76
Spain 75
Italy 68
The Netherlands 57
United Kingdom 42
Albania 37
Poland 37
Austria 30
Greece 28
Cyprus 22
Finland 22
Ukraine 22
Norway 18
Estonia 16
France 12
Australia 10
Portugal 10
Serbia 10
Azerbaijan 7
Czech Republic 7
San Marino 7
Malta 6
Romania 6
Belgium 5
Israel 3
Germany 2
Ireland 2
Croatia 1

Remember to vote in our poll for the Grand Final!

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the results of INFE Poll 2022!

Eurovision 2022: More than 40 countries will compete in Turin!

Through the official account of the Eurovision Contest on Twitter, a few minutes ago we had an important piece of information. The countries that will take part in Eurovision 2022, will be more than 40!

A few days ago again through Twitter, the Eurovision account asked fans how many countries they think will take part in Turin.

About 62% answered more than 40 countries and today we learned that this answer was the right one!

The above practically means that apart from Montenegro, which has already announced its return to Eurovision 2022, but also Armenia, which, although it has not yet opened its papers, its participation in Junior Eurovision in December makes us almost sure that the Caucasian country will return. We may have other countries that will either return or make their debut in the contest that will take place next May in Turin.

Andorra, Monaco, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovakia and Hungary do not seem willing to return. On the other hand, Turkey has so far kept a low profile. However, the EBU’s announcement this summer, for discussions with the country’s public broadcaster regarding the possibility of its return, leaves some hope.

Soon, however, we will find out the full list of countries that will compete in the 66th Eurovision Song Contest and all our questions will be answered!

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the developments related to our favorite contest!

Hungary: AWS lead singer, Örs Siklósi has passed away!!

An unpleasant development became known through the official Eurovision site. It has to do with the lead singer of the group AWS, Örs Siklósi, who represented Hungary at Eurovision 2018 in Lisbon. Örs Siklósi unfortunately passed away today at age 29 losing the battle against leukaemia which he had been diagnosed with, since last June.

In their statement, the group members stated:

“To say the indescribable, to describe the indescribable. That is what we now have to do. In June, Örs was diagnosed with leukaemia. We now have to inform you with a broken heart that on 5 February our partner, friend and brother Örs Siklósi has passed away at the age of 29 after a long struggle.

 

Together with AWS, they had won the Hungarian national selection A Dal  and represented their nation in Lisbon in 2018, where the qualified in 10th place (with 111 points) from the 2nd Semi-Final, and in the Grand Final they ended up in 21st place with 93 points.

On behalf of the EurovisionFun site, we send our deepest condolences to his beloved ones, friends and family.

Source: Eurovision.tv 

Hungary: The former head of delegation explains the reasons of absence from ESC 2021

Lőrinc Bubnó, the former head of delegation of Hungary gave an interview to Jan Bors, the former head of delegation of Czech Republic at the contest. In the third episode of “Humans of Eurovision” Lőrinc Bubnó explained the reasons why his country chose to be absent once again.

We must clarify that Lőrinc Bubnó expresses his own opinion and that he has not come in contact with the public broadcaster MTVA. So, according to his own point of view, there are two reasons that led to the withdrawal.

One being money, participating in Eurovision costs a lot of money, we are not a very rich country, if we have to cut something and it’s not good for the country’s image, then it was pretty sure they would cut this.

On the other hand, Hungarians still need some time to be prepared for “Western Europe” and the LGBTQ+ community and how to accept people.

An additional reason for the withdrawal of Hungary is the great success of A Dal, the show through which the nation used to select its Eurovision representative. The aforementioned success continues despite the non-participation at the song contest.

You can watch the entire interview below.

 

Hungary: Does not return to the contest | No connection of A Dal with Eurovision 2021!

Hungarian public broadcaster recently announced the rules for A Dal 2021.  A Dal, the Hungarian music festival used as the method of choosing the country’s entry in the contest, will have nothing to do with Eurovision in 2021 either. This practically means that the country of Central Europe will be absent from the contest for the second consecutive year. Read more

Hungary: This song would represent the country in Rotterdam

Last night was also the end of the A Dal, the music contest that Hungary had been using for so many years as a national final to choose its entry in Eurovision.

The duo of Gergo Rácz & Reni Orsovai won the A DAL 2020 final. Gergő Rácz was one third of the VIP band that participated in Eurovision with Hungary in 1997 with “Miért kell, hogy elmenj?” 12th place. He also participated in Hungary’s 2011 synthesizer, “What About My Dreams” with Kati Wolf, who finished in 22nd place.

Source: Escxtra.com

Hungary: Kati Wolf and AWS disagree over Eurovision withdrawal

As we informed you in our previous article, Hungary will not participate in Eurovision 2020. The “A Dal” regulations, used since 2012 as Hungary’s national final for Eurovision, did not mention the Eurovision contest, and part of the regulations were in breach of EBU regulations, which meant that the “A Dal 2020” would have nothing to do with the country’s participation in Eurovision. Finally, it was not on the official list of the EBU, with the countries to take part in Rotterdam.

At the same time, people around the world have reported from major news agencies (Independent, BBC, The Guardian, etc.) that the real reason for Hungary’s withdrawal from the competition is its excessive gay element, according to the country’s government, which has been disputed by itself.

Domestic reactions

Many were the domestic artists in Hungary, who opposed the decision of their country’s public broadcaster.

In an interview on RTL channel, the country’s representative  in 2011, Kati Wolf, said that she has gained something from her participation in Eurovision. Specifically, it states:

“I have won a lot of fans thanks to Eurovision. Since joining Eurovision in 2011, I’ve been traveling and appearing all over Europe and I think we need to go, make an appearance and not sit at home”

Finally, she did not omit to mention what’s he would like to not only participate in A Dal but to represent Hungary again in Eurovision!

Kati Wolf represented her country in 2011 with the song “What About My Dreams”, where she finished 22nd with 53 points.

AWS represented Hungary at Eurovision 2018. The band’s leader, Örs Siklós, also commented on Hungary’s non-participation in Eurovision 2020.

“Every country is trying to send in an artist who is a little different and stands out, either in his music, appearance and work or in his style. That’s what differentiated us from the rest, and it was so amazing to see Eurovision fans, who are usually not familiar with metal music, lure us in and love our music. And I think we’ve gained a lot from our participation in Eurovision. It is very sad that Hungary will not participate in the next Eurovision. Honestly, I wasn’t attending the competition before we got in, but this year I was watching everything and supporting Joci”

AWS, with the song “Viszlát nyár”, placed Hungary 21st with 93 points.

This is the fourth time Hungary has withdrawn from the Eurovision contest. The first time was in 1999, when sustained for six years. It returned in 2005, abstained in 2006 in Athens and returned the following year. It last absence was in 2010, when for financial reasons the country preferred to stay away.

Source: escbubble

Hungary: Government denies reason for withdrawal is ‘gay element’ of contest

Around the world today, news reports from major news agencies (Independent, BBC, The Guardian, etc.) indicate that the real reason for Hungary’s withdrawal from the contest is its excessive gay element, according to the country’s government.

Turn to traditional values ​​for Hungary

Orban’s xenophobic government has already announced that its main priority is to support the traditional family, with the aim of increasing birth rates. At the beginning of the year an impression was made by a speech by a member of the ruling party, describing adoption by same-sex couples as pedophilia.

Although no official explanation has yet been given for the country’s withdrawal from Eurovision 2020, there are few who argue that it was because of the overbearing Orban government. Indeed, a channel journalist familiar to government said a few days ago that Hungary’s abstention from the competition would contribute to the nation’s mental health!

The government denies the charges

But the sheer scale of the issue prompted both the prime minister’s spokesman for foreign policy and Hungary’s public broadcaster to take an official position and deny the reports.

Zoltan Kovacs, a spokesman for the prime minister for foreign policy, described the reports as fake news, and made it clear that no member of the government has ever described the Eurovision song contest as described in:

Shortly afterwards the Hungarian public television itself accused the media of reproducing these inexpressible news for them and once again stressed that the reason Hungary decided to abstain from Eurovision 2020 is that it preferred to support the emerging talents from A Dal (the music contest he used as a national choice for Eurovision) and to allocate the expenses it would have incurred for the purpose to this.

This is the fourth time Hungary has withdrawn from the Eurovision competition. The first time was in 1999, for six years. It returned in 2005, abstained in 2006 in Athens and returned the following year. Its last absence was in 2010, when for financial reasons the country preferred to stay away.

The best place in the history of the competition is the 4th, when in 1994, it was represented by Friderika Bayer and the song “Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet ;”.

 

Hungary: No Comment on Eurovision Withdrawal by the government

As we told you in our previous article, Hungary will not participate in Eurovision 2020. The A Dal regulations, used since 2012 as Hungary’s national final for Eurovision, did not mention the Eurovision contest, and part of the the regulations were in breach of EBU regulations, which meant that the A Dal 2020 would have nothing to do with the country’s participation in Eurovision. Finally, it was not on the official list of the EBU, with the countries to take part in Rotterdam.

This news has displeased many fans with the demand to learn from MTV, the reasons for its withdrawal from the Music Competition, but Hungary has yet to give an answer.

According to a Hungarian newspaper, Magyar Hang, LMP Green Party MP Péter Ungár has asked the government the reasons of Hungary’s non-participation in this year’s Eurovision.

Foreign Minister Bence Rétvári declined to answer the question, stating:

“No member of the government has the power to review or control the decisions of the public broadcaster – and therefore the production decision referred to in the question”

Magyar Hang notes that the public broadcaster is working hard to achieve Hungarian participation in Eurovision every year. It even assumes that Hungary’s exclusion at Eurovision 2019 is based on that decision.

This is the fourth time Hungary has withdrawn from the Eurovision contest. The first time was in 1999, for six years. It returned in 2005, abstained in 2006 in Athens and returned the following year. Its last absence was in 2010, when for financial reasons the country preferred to stay away.

The best place in the history of the competition is the 4th, when in 1994, it was represented by Friderika Bayer and the song “Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet?”.

Source: wiwibloggs