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Conan Osíris: From Japan and Egypt to Portugal and Tel Aviv

Conan Osíris is officialy the new portuguese national star, having won Festival da Canção last weekend. Also, Portugal is already one of the favorite countries to win the Eurovision Song Contest, next May, in Tel-Aviv, and is currently seventh in the betting odds!

But, afterall, who is this strange guy that is conquering Europe and making people rethink their musical references? Was he already a famous singer in Portugal before Festival has started? And what does he think about this huge hype that is growing around him?

 

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Greece: ERT announced Katerine Duska for Eurovision 2019

Moments ago ERT formalized what we had already informed you since January 14th. Katerine Duska will be the Greek representative at the 64th Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Tel Aviv next May. The song she will perform at EXPO Tel Aviv will be revealed in a later time, probably in March. Read more

Katherine Duska is the Greek representative in Tel Aviv

As we have already reported, ERT, without losing time proposed Katherine Duska to represent Greece in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv. We can now confirm that the young singer has accepted the proposal and will be the Greek representative in the contest. Read more

Greece: Katerine Duska is the first singer approached by ERT (Exclusive)

As we have already informed you in our previous article, ERT’s committe responsible for the Eurovision project 2019 had their first meeting on Monday, with the first potential artists written down on the list.

Today, EurovisionFun is in a position to confirm that ERT, through Dimitris Papadimitriou, the chairman of the committee, has sent an official proposal to (at least) an artist to wave the Greek flag in the upcoming contest.

The choice of ERT for something different in Tel Aviv

As we already told, the committee discussed the first potential artists which would then be approached for the representation of Greece at Eurovision 2019. One of them was Marietta Fafouti (you can read more here).

The intentions of the ERT committee are clear and the chosen artist is to be something different and unique.

The phone call of Dimitris Papadimitriou and the proposal of ERT

ERT, without losing time, has already made at least one formal proposal to an artist to represent us in the competition, as we are able to confirm.

Dimitris Papadimitriou himself contacted Margarita Matsa, managing director of MINOS EMI, to propose to Katerine Duska to represent Greece at Eurovision 2019.

katerine duska eurovision ert

Proposing to Katerine Duska though, doesn’t let Marietta Fafouti out of race. The proposal, as far as we know, states that, unlike the two previous years where ERT only covered the EBU’s participation fee and all the other expenses (airline, hotels, cost of stage performance, etc.) were covered by the artist’s music label or were coming from sponsors , this time the Greek public television will have to pay for it (something to be done since 2016).

Even if ERT’s collaboration with Katerine Duska does not work, the Greek public television and Dimitris Papadimitriou are interested in the artists who serve this kind of music.

Who is Katerine Duska?

Katerine Duska was born in French-speaking Montreal, Canada. She studied classical guitar and classical music. She moved to Greece with her parents during her teenage years, while she has studied Law at the Kapodistrian University of Athens.

Her first album is called “Embodiment“, and has a single called One In A Million.

Would you like to see Katerine representing Greece at the forthcoming Eurovision? Stay tuned in EurovisionFun for all the information regarding the Greek participation in Eurovision 2019.

 

Tamta to represent Cyprus in Tel Aviv

The popular Greek singer, Tamta, will represent Cyprus at the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest. The Georgian born artist with a big career in Greece, Cyprus and Georgia will wave the Cypriot flag in Tel Aviv. Read more

Cyprus: Alex Papaconstantinou the composer of the 2019 Eurovision entry

CYBC announced a series of quizzes through it’s official Eurovision Facebook page, so that the audience would interactive more, towards the announcement of the artist who will wave the Cypriot flag in Tel Aviv. Read more

Eurovision 2019: Tender for the postcards has opened

In a recent post of Israel Hayom, it is said that tender process for the postcards of Eurovision 2019 in Tel Aviv has opened, while the deadline is on October 28th.

The winner, according to the newspaper, will have to research for each performing artist, select the appropriate locations and will be responsible about the makeup, outfits and hair.

In addition, the tender requires that senior staff, such as the director, the creative manager and the photographer will have experience with at least ten similar productions, and the producer must have produced at least 3 productions in the last three years, all with a minimum budget of about €1,200,000 (5,000,000 ILS).

If the pilots send to KAN and EBU get approved, shootings will take place between January and March, with the overall budget reaching up to €750,000 (3,000,000 ILS). The newspaper also states that KAN, besides the usual postcards, plans to create a 5-minute clip with all the artists.

What are the postcards?

Postcards are the short-length videos shown before each performance, which give the opportunity for technicians to prepare the stage, plus, to the commentators to provide information about the act that follows.

They usually show landmarks of the hosting countries or/and the representatives themselves visiting these landmarks. The increased interest shown by the fans for the postcards, has led the hosts to try, in any imaginative way, present them.

Also, the official account of the contest on Youtube publish each postcard for those who want to re-watch them, while many fans are ranking them from their least to most favourite postcards.

Source: Israel Hayom, eurovision.tv

EBU’s announcement to Bulgaria’s withdrawal

Earlier this day, the official statement of Bulgaria withdrawing from the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv shook eurofans across the world.

Even though the country confirmed its participation quite early and publicly informed about their next steps, the operator of Eurovision Project on behalf of Bulgaria’s National Television (BNT) Deyan Yordanov quit, leaving us wondering whether the country will withdraw from the contest or keep participating under a new team.

EBU’sannouncement

Earlier this morning it was officially confirmed that Bulgaria is not participating in 2019, while EBU released its official statement few moments ago.

We regret that Bulgarian National Television (BNT) has taken the decision not to enter the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv. BNT has been an enthusiastic participant and enjoyed great success in the contest in recent years. We look forward to welcoming them back in the future.

Petition supporting Bulgaria

Since the official statements were brought to light, more than 2,500 people have signed an online petition supporting the country and hoping it will stay in the contest, using the hashtag #TheyWillNeverBreakUsDown.

Bulgaria in the Eurovision

Bulgaria took part for the very first time back in 2005, even though they had to wait for 2 years to qualify in the Grand Final, finishing 5th – country’s best result prior to 2016. After failing to qualify for 5 consecutive years, Bulgaria decided to withdraw from the contest in 2014, just to come back 2 years later stronger than ever.

Returning to the contest seemed to be a success for the country, since the country qualifies every year and being amongst the hot favourites to win the contest every year. The most successful entry up to date was last year, finishing 2nd at the Grand Final and almost wining the contest. Without any doubt, Bulgaria became a new powerhouse to the contest, thus making eurofans anxiously waiting for their next entry every year.

What was your reaction to Bulgaria’s withdraw? What is your favourite Bulgarian entry?

Source: Eurovision.tv