Spain: Rehearsals or Video Clips to be Used if Artists Test Positive for COVID-19!

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Three different scenarios have been announced in case an artist tests positive for COVID-19 at Benidorm Fest.

In a recent article, RTVE unveiled the contingency plan in case a competing artist turns out positive before appearing in the upcoming Spanish selection process Benidorm Fest.

The producers, Boomerang TV and the broadcaster, RTVE, have come up with three different scenarios to ensure that every song and artist will be able to compete in this year’s Benidorm Fest.

  • The first scenario is that if the artist has already completed his first rehearsal, it will be broadcast during the live show instead of a live performance.
  • Second, if the artist comes out positive before his first rehearsal, then the official music video for the song will be played.
  • The final scenario is that, if there is no music video, the song will be played with montage of images and photos of the artist.

It was announced by Eva Mora, head of the Spanish delegation, that it was not possible to produce live performances, such as those created for this year’s ESCZ selection process and the expected process of Northern Macedonia, due to lack of time.

The Benidorm Fest will be held with two semifinals on January 26 and 27, leading to the Grand Final on January 29. The songs and the artists have been revealed and the order of the two semifinals has also been decided and announced.

The voting:

Only eight artists will make it to the grand final of the Benidorm Fest. The result will be done through a mixed voting system between a professional jury (national and international), televoting and a poll jury:

  • 50% of the grade will correspond to the professional jury consisting of five experts (three of Spanish nationality and two, international).
  • The remaining 50% will be in the hands of the public (where 25% will be by phone and SMS and the remaining 25% will be selected by a poll jury).
  • The artists will be given a phone number and as soon as everyone completes the show, the hotlines will be open for voting. The voting period will be approximately 15 or 20 minutes and the presenters, Alaska, Inés Hernand and Máximo Huerta, will be responsible for the announcement.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all news regarding Benidorm Fest and the spanish representative at Eurovision 2022!

Source: RTVE

Eurovision 2022: Pots and Participants of Semifinals Allocation Draw revealed!

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The semi-finals draw will take place on Tuesday 25 January at 12:00 CET, from the Palazzo Madama e Casaforte degli Acaja in Turin. At the same time there will be a ceremony of handing over the keys of the contest or as it is widely known, the Host City Insignia from the previous hosts Rotterdam to the Italian organizers.

The allocation draw will determine whether the countries will participate in the First Semifinal (Tuesday, May 10) or the Second Semifinal (Thursday, May 12). Also, again based on the draw it will be determined if they appear in the first or second half of the semifinal. We remind you that the exact order of appearance is announced later by the organizers and after it has first been approved by the EBU.

The draw will be presented by TV presenters Carolina di Domenico and Gabriele Corsi. Rotterdam Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb and Turin Mayor Stefano Lo Russo will be present.

Friends of the contest will be able to watch the draw on Eurovision’s YouTube channel or on Rai’s streaming service.

Semi-final draw: How does it work?

Italy, as the host country, together with the other 4 members of the so-called “Big 5” (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) do not compete in the Semifinals, but vote in one of them… so before the competing countries in Semifinals, it will be determined at random which of the Semifinals the Big 5 will be allowed to vote for.

The next part of the draw will determine in which Semifinal and in which half of the respective Semifinal the remaining 36 participating countries will appear.

The 36 countries of the semifinals are selected from 6 different pots:

Pot 1

  • Albania
  • Croatia
  • Montenegro
  • North Macedonia
  • Serbia
  • Slovenia

Pot 2

  • Denmark
  • Australia
  • Finland
  • Iceland
  • Norway
  • Sweden

Pot 3

  • Armenia
  • Azerbaijan
  • Georgia
  • Israel
  • Russia
  • Ukraine

Pot 4

  • Cyprus
  • Greece
  • Malta
  • Bulgaria
  • Portugal
  • San Marino

Pot 5

  • Estonia
  • Lithuania
  • Latvia
  • Moldova
  • Poland
  • Romania

Pot 6

  • Austria
  • Belgium
  • Switzerland
  • Czech Republic
  • Ireland
  • Netherlands

Drawing countries from different pots helps to reduce the chance of so-called neighbourly voting and increases suspense in the Semi-Finals.

Stay tuned at Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the 66th Eurovision Song Contest!

Spain: The running order of the Benidorm semi-finals!

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The spanish broadcaster RTVE has just announced the running order of the Benidorm Fest semi-finals.

The 14 artists will be competing in two semi-finals taking part on the 26th and 27th of January, with a duration of 70 minutes each. The one and a half hour grand final on the 29th of January will include the performances of the 8 finalists. The winner of Benidorm Fest will be Spain’s representative in Eurovision 2022.

All shows will be broadcast on La 1 de Televisión Española, at 22:40 CET.

First Semi-Final

Second Semi-Final

The voting

Only 8 artists will be going through to the grand final. The result will be determined by a mixed system made up of the jury (national and international), televoting and demoscopic jury:

  • 50% of the voting will correspond to the votes of the jury consisting of five experts, three of spanish citizenship and two internationals.
  • the rest 50% will be in the hands of the people (25% through the phone calls and SMS of the audience, 25% by choice of the demoscopic jury)

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all news regarding Benidorm Fest and the spanish representative at Eurovision 2022!

Source: RTVE

Spain: How are the songs of Benidorm Fest doing on Spotify?

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Two weeks after the release of the 14 competing song in Spain’s national selection, some front runners have already emerged. According to Spotify Streams, this is their current placing:

Ay Mama by Rigoberta Bandini, with its feminist message, seems to have won over fans in Spain. The European fan favorites, Tanxugueiras, are at the second place in this listing, with a big differene in streams, and at the third place comes Rayden. The veterans Azucar Moreno are only at the ninth place and most of their streams come from european listeners.

Why do we look on streams though? Well streams correctly predicted the winner of the Czech televoting in the Czech national selection! Will the same happen this time around with Spain?

Benidorm Fest: How will it work?

Benidorm Fest will take place somewhere within January (the exact date is yet to be released) and it will consist of two semi finals, each including seven performances, four of which will eventually advance to the Grand Final!

The winner will be chosen by a 50% public vote and a 50% jury vote. Two sets of juries will vote, both consisting of music professionals. However, one jury team will be Spanish (30& of the jury voting) and the other one will be of international descent (20% of the jury voting). On the contrary, as far as the public vote in concerned, 25% of it will come from televoting and 25% will come from a sample of spanish population, chosen by demographics and statistics, a criterfia used in both Sanremo and Melodifestivalen.

RTVE has chosen this process wanting to ensure that the final result will showcase in the best way the likings of the Spanish majority.

Stay tuned in Eurovision Fun for the latest news and updates on Spain’s participation in Eurovision 2022!

Image Source: Martin Fjellanger

 

Eurovision 2022: Semi Final Allocation Draw to take place on January 25!

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One of the most important dates of the 66th Eurovision Song Contest was revealed a few hours ago, as the draw for the Eurovision 2022 semi-finals will take place on January 25th.

As revealed by the Montenegrin state radio, RTCG, in the context of the announcement of Vladana Vučinić as the representative of the Balkan country in Turin, the draw of the semi-finals will take place in exactly three weeks from today.

During the ceremony, the emblem of the event will be handed over from the city of Rotterdam to the Mayor of Turin. The draw will take place either at the Mole Antonelliana, the tallest building in Turin, or at the Palazzo Madama, which housed the first Senate of the Italian Kingdom.

The draw

The first part of the draw will determine the semi-final that will be broadcasted and voted by each of the five countries that are directly in the final (Italy, France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom).

The second part of the draw will determine in which semi-final and in which half the other 36 participating countries will compete. As in recent years, the exact order of appearance will be determined by the producers of the event at a later time.

The 36 countries will be distributed in five or six pots, based on historical voting patterns as calculated by the official television partner Digame. This separation is done in order to avoid the gathering of many neighboring countries in a semifinal that would significantly affect the final result.

We remind you that Eurovision 2022 will be held on May 10, 12 and 14 at the PalaOlimpico in the capital of Piedmont. Thus, Turin will become the third city in Italy where the Eurovision Song Contest will be held. The previous two were Naples in 1965 and Rome in 1991.

We remind you that the 66th Eurovision Song Contest will take place at the Pala Alpitour in Turin, on 10, 12 and 14 May 2022, with 41 participating countries.Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the news related to the 66th Eurovision Song Contest!

Eurovision 2022: 41 countries joining the 66th contest in Turin!

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Public broadcasters from 41 countries will take part in the Eurovision Song Contest when it returns to our screens next May.

Fans of the Contest will welcome back ARMTV from Armenia and RTCG from Montenegro, both taking to the stage for the first time since Tel Aviv in 2019.

It’s also a special year for Norwegian broadcaster NRK as they will be celebrating the selection of their 60th Eurovision entry during the Melodi Grand Prix grand final on Saturday 19 February.

We will also witness the 300th ‘Big Five’ performance – that’s a song from one of either France, Germany, Italy, Spain or United Kingdom.

Martin Österdahl, Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, shared his thoughts on the line-up:

‘We are so excited that we once again have over 40 broadcasters competing to win the iconic Eurovision trophy in Turin next May.

The team from Rai are working hard on preparations to welcome all the delegations to a new Host City and ensuring the Eurovision Song Contest will provide the excitement and state-of-the-art spectacle expected by nearly 200 million viewers.’

On the announcement of the 41 participants, Simona Martorelli and Claudio Fasulo from Italian broadcaster Rai added:

‘After 31 years, Italy is proud to host the Eurovision Song Contest again! As Executive Producers, we are incredibly excited to set up this amazing event and welcome delegations from 41 nations to Turin next year.

Above all, we strongly believe the Eurovision Song Contest will allow us to showcase and share the beauty of Italy with a global audience via the elements that unite us all: music and harmony.’

The Italian city of Turin won the race to become the Host City of the 66th Eurovision Song Contest, setting Saturday 14 May as the date of the Grand Final, which will be held in PalaOlimpico along with two Semi-Finals on 10 and 12 May.

Source: Eurovision.tv

Spain: Jorge Gonzalez in the studio of Dimitris Kontopoulos to record his song for Benidorm! EXCLUSIVE

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Jorge Gonzalez is in Athens where in the coming days, according to our safe and exclusive information, he will record in the studio of Dimitris Kontopoulos, the song that he will submit to the Spanish public television for Benidorm, the festival through which the representative of the country will emerge at Eurovision 2022.

The 33-year-old singer became famous in Spain through his participation in Operacion Triunfo in 2006. Although he failed to be the winner of the talent show, he gained great popularity, which gave him the opportunity to sign a record deal with Universal Vale Music.

In 2009 she participated in the national final for the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Si yo vengo a enamorarte, occupying the ninth place.

Since 2006 he has released two complete albums and several singles. This year he participated in the New Wave Festival, finishing in third place, but receiving very positive reviews.

Jorge Gonzalez will be in Athens in the coming days in order to work with Dimitris Kontopoulos on the song, with which he hopes to be in Turin in May!

The Benidorm Song Festival is expected to feature 12 artists with 12 separate songs. The system provides for the existence of two semifinals, in which 6 songs will take part respectively. Three artists from each semifinal will advance to the Benidorm Grand Final.

The big winner and representative of Spain in Eurovision 2022 will be selected by 50% by the preference of two juries and by 50% by the will of the Spanish viewers. Both juries will be composed of professionals in the field, with one consisting only of natives and the other being an international one. The results of the juries will come from 60% of the Spanish jury and 40% of the international ones.

Would you like to see Jorge Gonzalez represent Spain in the 66th Eurovision Song Contest?

Will Ladilla Rusa represent Spain at Eurovision?

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Ladilla Rusa (Spanish for Russian pubic louse) are a music duo.  They want to represent Spain in Eurovision 2022 and have already written their song.  Although the band started as a comedy act, they are taking this participation very seriously.  In August 5, Tania Lozano from Ladilla Rusa took Twitter to announce her group had just “written a hit for Eurovision”.  They even captioned their video stating “this is not a joke”.

If Ladilla Rusa wants to represent Spain in Italy, their song has to compete at the Benidorm Festival.  RTVE decided to bring back the Benidorm Festival as their national selection.

https://twitter.com/LadillaRusa/status/1423347972318711808

Who Are Ladilla Rusa?

Tania Lozano and Víctor Clares make Ladilla Rusa.  They are both journalists and created the group initially “as a joke”.  However, they continued their project after a positive reception from the public.  Their songs have been viral on Spotify in their home country.  Not only that, they already have more than 58000 subscribers on YouTube.

The music duo mixes electropop with traditional music.  Their lyrics are satirical and talk about trivial subjects such as partying or having a hangover but they also have elements of social critique in their work.

Ladilla Rusa is not completely strange to Eurovision.  They recently collaborated with Ruth Lorenzo (Spain 2014) in their single Todos los días lo mismo

Do you think Ladilla Rusa would give Spain a good result in Eurovision? Let us know in the comments

Spain 2021: Benidorm Song Festival returns as national final

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Spanish broadcaster RTVE announced the revival of the Benidorm Song Festival.  The historical music festival took place in the city of Benidorm from 1959 until its last edition in 2006.  Moreover, the new Benidorm Song Festival will be the Spanish national selection for Eurovision.

The revamped contest will take place in February, 2022.  Three main shows will make the festival: two semi-finals and a grand final.  RTVE will broadcast the show via La 1 and RTVE Play.  More details will be available soon.  However, we already know that a split jury/public vote will decide who will represent Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.

RTVE president José Manuel Pérez Tornero; the president of the Valencian Government, Ximo Puig; and the mayor of Benidorm, Toni Pérez announced the news in front of the beach.  In addition to this, Ruth Lorenzo performed for the audience her 2014 entry Dancing In The Rain and Waterloo.

We want Benidorm to be a meeting point for what we need most now: music, Europe and diversity. With the ‘Benidorm Festival’ we intend to achieve an emotional and tourist reactivation of the Valencian Community.’

The Benidorm International Song Festival took place from 1959 to 2006.  The contest was modeled after the Italian Sanremo Music Festival.  The winner of the Benidorm Festival received the Golden Mermaid Trophy.  RTVE used to broadcast the event.  Further, RVTE President José Manuel Pérez Tornero said that the Spanish broadcaster would take their participation “very seriously”.

Spain’s last results on Eurovision have been far from satisfactory, being outside of the top 20 since 2015.  In addition to this, their best achievements in recent times have been two top 10s in 2014 and 2012.  Spain came in the top 5 for the last time in 1995 with Anabel Conde who ended in second place.

Hopefully their new national selection process will help Spain make a turning point on Eurovision.

Source: Eurovision.tv

 

Historical Benidorm Festival returns as the Spanish national selection

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Spain has made an important announcement about their selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.  In July 16, the president of RTVE stated there will be an official announcement on July 22.  Further, the announcement will take place in the city of Benidorm, Alicante (Spain).  The big 5 country last results have been far from satisfactory, being outside of the top 20 since 2015.  In addition to this, their best achievements in recent times have been two top 10s in 2014 and 2012.  Spain came in the top 5 for the last time in 1995 with Anabel Conde who ended in second place.

 

However, the Spanish broadcaster is looking forward to reverse the current trend with a new format.  The news came as a surprise for many fans because it is not usual that Spain starts her Eurovision plans so early.  The first speculations pointed to the possibility of bringing back the Benidorm International Song Festival as a national final.

“We are going to take the Eurovision Song Contest very seriously.  (…) (RTV) is the only Spanish public broadcaster that is part of the EBU.  We are interested in the contest and its contact with the youth in a European context”. José Pérez Tornero, RTVE president

 

Moreover, the president of the Valencian government announced that he is working with RTVE on a big musical event.

“We are working together with RTVE to make Benidorm a meeting place for what we need more than ever: music, Europe and diversity.  We will communicate all the details on thurday”.  Ximo Puig, president of the Valencian government

What was the Benidorm International Song Festival

The Benidorm International Song Festival took place from 1959 to 2006.  The contest was modeled after the Italian Sanremo Music Festival.  The winner of the Benidorm Festival received the Golden Mermaid Trophy.  RTVE used to broadcast the event.  However, the public broadcaster withdrew their support due to a lack of interest from the public.

Among the winners of the Benidorm Festival we have Raphael (Spain 1966, 1967) and La Década (Spain 1988).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thV-vhOQHvQ

Source: ABC

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for more news about the Spanish national selection for Eurovision 2022.