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Spain: Benidorm Fest 2023 participants will be announced on October 27!

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According to an announcement by the Spanish broadcaster RTVE, a few days remain until the official announcement of the artists who will compete in Benidorm Festival 2023, where they will compete to represent Spain at Eurovision 2023.

On Thursday October 27, in a special program presented by Inés Hernand and Rodrigo Vázquez, we will see the announcement of the 16 artists chosen by RTVE’s team of experts among the 876 proposals submitted in total from September 1 to October 10.

In this show, each one of the 16 lucky candidates will be presented separately, making reference to their career so far, the reasons that led him to apply, and information about their candidate song. The event will also feature last year’s Benidorm Fest winner, Chanel, who dazzled Europe in Turin and will soon be releasing the official song of the World Cup in Qatar.

The next day, Friday October 28, a press conference with the contestants will take place.

We remind you that for Benidorm Fest 2023, songs were submitted by new talents unknown to the general public as well as by emerging artists, with increased interest from established artists, singers from talent shows, and even artists who have participated in Eurovision in the past.

Notable among the proposals is the presence of singers of all ages, from 16 to 76, bands and alternative artists, while a proposal was also submitted by one of last year’s Benidorm Fest contestants. There are also entries of artists with a lot of followers on TikTok, as happened last year with Britain’s Sam Ryder who took second place in Turin. The songs submitted cover a wide musical spectrum, from commercial pop, ballads, folk, flamenco, fusion and rock, to latin, rap and reggaeton.

Eight songs will compete in the first Semi-Final on 31 January and the other eight will compete in the second on 2 February. The top four from each semi-final will advance to the Grand Final on February 4, where eight acts will battle it out to win the second edition of the Benidorm Festival and the golden ticket to represent Spain in Liverpool.

Source: RTVE

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all news regarding Benidorm Fest 2023!

Eurovision 2023: BBC revealed the production team of the Contest!

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The BBC, United Kingdom’s public broadcaster, which is going to organize the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, revealed the whole production team of the contest!

The team is consisted of:

  • Martin Green CBE

Martbin will lead a team to create, plan and deliver this large-scale, complex and special event. As host broadcaster the BBC will work in partnership with the European Broadcasting Union,  Liverpool as host city and other external partners to deliver The Eurovision Song Contest 2023 to an audience of over one hundred million across the world, involving thousands of people, hundreds of delegates and multiple acts.  Green has over twenty years of experience in major global events, most recently he was the Chief Creative Officer of Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games (where he delivered the opening and closing ceremonies and a major cultural programme), and Chief Creative Officer of Unboxed 2022. Prior to that Martin was CEO of Hull UK City of Culture 2017, a ground-breaking world class arts festival that reinvigorated the city; as well as Head of Ceremonies for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

  • Rachel Ashdown

Rachel has been confirmed as the Lead Commissioner for the BBC on Eurovision 2023. She will work with BBC Studios, who will produce the three live shows, on the overall look and tone of the show and is responsible for commissioning other programming to run across the BBC and work with the independent production companies on their delivery. This will include the Allocation Draw and other Eurovision Song Contest based shows in the weeks leading up to the event. Rachel has been the Commissioner for all Eurovision Song Contest coverage on the BBC since 2018 and she subsequently joined the Reference Group, the Eurovision Song Contest governing body, for the 2019 – 2021 editions.

  • Andrew Cartmell

Leading the BBC Studios team is Andrew Cartmell – appointed Executive Producer of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, and taking overall responsibility for the Semi-Finals and the Grand Final. Andrew has more than a decade’s experience as an Executive Producer making entertainment shows and large scale live events for the likes of BBC Studios, Done & Dusted, and Hungry Bear Media. He was the Head of Delegation for the United Kingdom in Turin earlier this year. Past credits include the Commonwealth Games Closing Ceremony, Children in Need & Sport Relief.

  • Lee Smithurst

Lee Smithurst joins the BBC Studios team as Head of Show for Eurovision 2023. As Head of Show he will be responsible for the editorial content and take the creative lead for the three live shows. Lee was Assistant Head of Delegation for the United Kingdom in Turin this year, and will be Executive Producer and Head of Delegation for the United Kingdom at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Yerevan in December. Lee’s recent credits include I Can See Your Voice, Kylie Minogue’s Secret Night and Soccer Aid.

  • Twan van de Nieuwenhuijzen

Twan van de Nieuwenhuijzen makes a very welcome return, who has been re-appointed as Head of Contest, the role he successfully delivered at both the 2021 & 2022 Eurovision Song Contests in Rotterdam and Turin. Twan will have specific responsibility working with the national delegations to deliver the creative, on stage ambitions of their artists. Twan is a hugely experienced television producer in the Netherlands, and has been Editor in Chief on many programmes and live events.

  • James O’ Brien

Finally, James O’ Brien joins BBC Studios as the Executive in Charge of Production. James comes to Eurovision with huge experience working on large scale events such as MTV Europe Music Awards, the London 2012 Olympics and this year’s Commonwealth Games. James will oversee a team that is responsible for the technical delivery of both the Eurovision live shows and broadcast, and all other elements within the venue precinct.

We remind you that the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 will take place in Liverpool. The semi-finals will take place in May 9 and May 11 and the Grand Final on May 13th, live from Liverpool Arena.

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, in Liverpool!

Source: eurovision.tv

Greece: More than 5.100 votes in our fan poll | The final results!

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Our website’s big fan poll for Greece’s representative in Eurovision 2023 came to an end. More than 5.100 votes from different IPs and 54 countries took part, with the final result being determined in the last seconds. In first place is Klavdia, with only 16 votes more than Vasilis Kourtis. Many votes below, is Evangelia in third place.

Klavdia in first place with a slight difference

The public seems to be divided, having voted for both Klavdia and Vasilis Kourtis, by a percentage of around 30%, as the artist they want to see on Eurovision’s stage waving the Greek flag. Evangelia follows, then it’s Melissa Mantzoukis and Jimmy Sion that rounded up the Top 5.

Vasilis Kourtis in first place of votes from Greece

The same, but with Vasilis Kourtis first and Klavdia second, happened in the votes that came only from the Greek public. Both of them had a little more than 30%. In third place is Evangelia, fourth is Jimmy Sion and in fifth place is Melissa Mantzoukis.

We remind you that artists that somehow it was clear that they submitted song to ERT for Greece’s representation in Eurovision 2023, took part in our poll 

You can see more of their proposals in out article HERE.

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Greek participation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, in Liverpool!

Bosnia & Herzegovina: The country will not return to Eurovision 2023!

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BHRT, the public broadcaster of Bosnia & Herzegovina, confirmed yesterday, that they are not going to take part in Eurovision Song Contest 2023.

The broadcaster confirmed that there is no chance of returning for next year’s contest. The country had previously taken part in the 2016 contest in Stockholm, but later withdrew in 2017 due to financial problems. BHRT had explained in the past that it’s not likely to return to Eurovision in the near future, unless the method by which it is funded is resolved.

BHRT is a member of the European Broadcasting Union but as of now it is denied access to all of its services due to unpaid debts. That means that since December 2016, BHRT can’t take part in Eurovion and Junior Eurovision Song Contest.

The channel is in great econimic pressure and is on the verge of closing. Since 2017 the public TV of the Republic of Serpska has failed to provide BHRT with its allocation of the feeds collected in the region and as a result triggered a funding shortfall of over 32 million euros as of the end of 2021.

Bosnia & Herzegovina’s last participation was in 2016 with the song “Ljubav Je” by Dalan & Deen feat. Ana Rucner:

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, in Liverpool!

Source: eurovoix.com 

Belgium: “Eurosong 2023” in February with 7 participants and 14 songs!

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According to the Dutch-speaking Belgian news website Het Laatste Nieuws, the public broadcaster, VRT, is aiming for a new format for Eurosong 2023. Specifically, seven artists are to participate with each competing with two songs.

Mid-February final?

It is not yet known how many shows will make up the Belgian national selection process. Although Het Laatse Nieuws stated that the final is expected to take place mid-February, Belgian website Songfestival.be replied that the process will start in spring 2023 with the final taking place at Palais 12 in Brussels.

This year Belgium competed in Turin, Italy with Jérémie Makiese and the song Miss You which came 8th from the second semi-final and in the grand final they finished in the 19th place with 64 points

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sB09advfF6E&feature=emb_title

Source: Songfestival.be

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all the news about Belgium and Eurosong 2023!

North Macedonia: The country will NOT participate in Eurovision 2023!

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It seems that yet another Balkan country, North Macedonia, will not take part in Eurovision 2023, that is set to take place in Liverpool, in May 2023.

According to a tweet by North Macedonia’s most popular Eurovision fan site, which was retweeted by ESC Discord, North Macedonia withdraws from the Contest due to financial reasons. This revelation comes as no surprise, given that as it transpired some weeks ago no budget whatsoever was allocated for the Contest by MRT.

However, MRT will broadcast the two nights of the semi-finals and the grand final of this year’s Eurovision on it’s platforms. MRT hopes that the economic situation will improve and the country will return to Eurovision 2024!

As we exclusively revealed yesterday, both Bulgaria and Montenegro will ALSO not take part in the 67th ESC. As of this time, only the following 34 countries have publicly confirmed their intentions to participate in the 2023 ESC:

Semi-finals (28 countries)

Albania
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Belgium
Croatia
Cyprus
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
Georgia
Greece
Iceland
Ireland
Israel
Latvia
Lithuania
Malta
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
San Marino
Serbia
Slovenia
Sweden
Switzerland

Final (Big Five & Ukraine)

France
Germany
Italy
Spain
Ukraine
United Kingdom

Countries that took part in ESC 2022 but have not expressed any intention about ESC 2023

Armenia
Czech Republic
Moldova

If the above three countries do not enter the Contest, ESC 2023 is set to become the ESC edition with the fewer participants since 2003. Semi-final(s) format was introduced in 2004 with just one semi-final, and was replaced with the two semi-finals’ setting in 2008 and onwards.

Source: MRT

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the details about the upcoming ESC!

Spain: The participants of Benidorm Fest 2023 will be announced by the end of October!

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Benidorm Fest 2023 will take place with the 16 participations that will be announced by the end of the month.

María Eizaguirre, the Director of Communication and Participation of RTVE, said in an interview that the artists that are going to participate in the national selection will all be announced by the end of October. This means that the announcment will come before that start of the tickets sale and thus, fans will know which artists will participate before bying them.

A total of 876 songs have been submitted to represent Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023. The number of submissions is  12 songs down from 2022, however, the number of songs from record labels and publishers has increased considerably. To be exact, 455 songs were submited through the online form, 27 through email, while the 394 songs left were submitted directly from record labels, double the amount of songs than last year. For the 2022 festival, 886 songs were submitted, 692 through the online form and 194 from recording labels.

The team at RTVE is currently listening to all of the songs submitted for the selection and will pick the best 16 to go through to the national final. Benidorm Fest will tak place with two semi-finals in January 31 and February 2 and the Grand Final on February 4. The songs submitted vary a lot from each other, as there pop songs, ballads, folk, flamenco, fusion, rock even latin, rap and reggaeton.

Chanel won the first edition of Benidorm Fest.  She represented Spain in Turin with the song “Slomo” finishing in third place.  This is one of the best results for Spain in recent times setting the bar high for her successor!

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Spanish participation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, in Liverpool

EXCLUSIVE | Bulgaria and Montenegro will not participate in Eurovision 2023!

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We can exclusively reveal that both Bulgaria and Montenegro will not take part in the 67th Eurovision Song Contest, that is set to take place in Liverpool, in May.

The main reason behind RTCG’s (Radio and Television of Montenegro) decision not to participate seems to be the latter’s financial difficulties. It is not the first time that RTCG has withdrawn from ESC due to financial difficulties. They did so in 2010, 2011, 2020 (RTCG announced that it would not participate before the Contest was cancelled due to Covid-19), and 2021.

The BNT’s (Bulgarian National Television) decision not enter the Contest seems to be the result of both BNT’s financial difficulties and the political uncertainty in the country. Bulgaria did not enter the Contest in 2014 and 2015 for similar reasons.

As of this time, only the following 34 countries have publicly confirmed their intentions to participate in the 2023 ESC:

Semi-finals (28 countries)

Albania
Australia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Belgium
Croatia
Cyprus
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
Georgia
Greece
Iceland
Ireland
Israel
Latvia
Lithuania
Malta
Netherlands
Norway
Poland
Portugal
Romania
San Marino
Serbia
Slovenia
Sweden
Switzerland

Final (Big Five & Ukraine)

France
Germany
Italy
Spain
Ukraine
United Kingdom

Countries that took part in ESC 2022 but have not expressed any intention about ESC 2023

Armenia
Czech Republic
Moldova
North Macedonia

If the above four countries do not enter the Contest, ESC 2023 is set to become the ESC edition with the fewer participants since 2003. Semi-final(s) format was introduced in 2004 with just one semi-final, and was replaced with the two semi-finals’ setting in 2008 and onwards.

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the details about the upcoming ESC!

Netherlands: Eurovision in Concert 2023 will take place on April 15!

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As reported by the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad, one of the biggest Eurovision pre-parties, Eurovision in Concert will return for the thirteenth time on April 15, 2023. The pre-sale of tickets for the big concert, which as in previous years will be held at AFAS Amsterdam, will start on Friday 14 October.

The line up of participating singers will be announced in early 2023, when we will know more of the Eurovision 2023 contestants. As usual, many artists of the upcoming competition in Liverpool are expected to take part in the big event in Amsterdam, which will presented by Dutch Eurovision commentator Cornald Maas.

Eurovision in Concert is one of the biggest and most popular Eurovision promo parties and takes place every year in Amsterdam in the lead up to the contest. The show started in 2009 and has grown into a hugely popular event among Eurovision fans and artists. At Eurovision in Concert 2022, 26 of the 40 competing artists of Eurovision 2022 presented their songs. The last time Greece participated in Eurovision in Concert was in 2019 with Katerine Duska and Better Love.

Source: AD, Eurovoix

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, in Liverpool!

Eurovision 2023: Glasgow or Liverpool? Tomorrow the announcement!

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Finally, the time of announcement of the hosting city for Eurovision 2023 has come! Graham Norton earlier in the day through The Chris Evans Breakfast Show with Sky, confirms the recent rumours, about which we have already informed you through our article, that wanted the reveal of the hosting city to be made tomorrow at Friday, October 7th. The announcement will be made by Graham Norton through BBC One Show, which airs from 21:00 to 21:30 EEST. A talk with Sam Ryder about the matter will follow.

Which city do you prefer to host Eurovision 2023? Write in the comments below!

Source: wiwibloggs