On January 30 we will find out which country will compete in which semifinal. EBU has managed to make such a draw by which the countries that severely exchange points in the contest will not be together in each semifinal. Not that this system prohibited almost all eastern and nordic countries to qualify to the final in 2008, EBU claims this is the only fair system.
In the meantime we will see on January 12 the revamped eurovision.tv site and hopefully this time it will not be so heavy and …

The Belorussian broadcaster has announced the rules applying to the next year’s preselection for the Eurovision Song Contest. A four-phase project starts on 5th October with an open call for participations for Eurofest 2009.
Headed by Aleksandr Tihanovich, a superstar of Belarusian pop-music, producer and People’s artist of Belarus the fourth edition of Eurofest will be a four-phase project open to all performers, permanent residents of the country. Songwriters, on the other hand can be foreigners as well. Song submission starts on 5th October until 20 November.
The selection will be held …

Finlandiya radyosu YLE 2009 Eurovision Şarkı Yarışması’nda Finlandiya’yı temsil edecek kişinin yer aldığı 12 kişilik listeyi anons etti.Daha önce şansını Eurovision maratonunda denemiş olan pop şarkıcısı Jari Sillanpää’da listede yer alan isimlerden.Belgrad’da 2nci kez heavy metal tarzıyla şansını deneyen Finlandiya umduğunu bulamadı.
Ve sonuç, o listedeki isimler;

Kwan (hiphop/pop)
Remu Aaltonen (rock’n roll)
Sani (dance music)
Tapani Kansa (solo artist)
Janita (R&B)
Waldo’s People (90’s dance music)
Riikka (folk group)
Vink (new pop rock)
Signmark (hiphop)
Tiara (singer-songwriter)

Finnish broadcaster YLE has just announced the 12 artists that will compete to win the ticket to Moscow next May. The selection includes a wide variety of Finnish popular music and sees the return of the Finnish singer from 2004, Jari Sillanpää to try his luck again. Remarkably, Finland, this time, has not included any heavy rock acts on the list after Teräsbetoni cleared they way to the final in Belgrade in 2008. Also missing this time are artists that have become known via the Idols format. The first winner …

FIST SEMIFINAL (TUESDAY) – (SALI) 1. YARI FINAL SONUCLARI
156 Greece
139 Armenia
135 Russia
106 Norway
104 Israel
096 Azerbaijan
094 Romania
079 Finland
072 Bosnia-Herzegovina
042 Poland
036 Slovenia
036 Moldova
027 Netherlands
023 Montenegro
022 Ireland
016 Belgium
008 Estonia
005 San Marino
SECOND SEMIFINAL (THURSDAY) – (PERSEMBE) 2. YARI FINAL SONUCLARI
152 Ukraine
120 Portugal
112 Denmark
112 Croatia
107 Georgia
086 Latvia
085 Turkey (7. sıra)
068 Iceland
067 Albania
064 FYR Macedonia
056 Bulgaria
054 Sweden*
047 Switzerland
038 Malta
036 Cyprus
030 Lithuania
027 Belarus
009 Czech Republic
006 Hungary
isveç ikinci yarı finalde jüri oyları ile 10 sırada yer alarak Makedonya’yı final biletinden etti.

Türkiye 2. yarı finalde hangi ülkelerden 85 puan aldı:

Fransa – 10 …

Finnish broadcaster YLE has published the rules and dates of their selection process for 2009 which will decide who will represent Finland in next year’s Eurovision Song Contest. As in previous years, the competition will invite selected artists and composers in co-operation with their record companies. The biggest change from last year is that the whole process starts much earlier. Songs will be made public on the 10th of December 2008 and even earlier on YLE’s own channels.

There will be 12 artists competing in three semi-finals on the 9th, …

Eurovision Dance Contest trophy holders Finland have decided their competing couple for this year’s EDC to be held in Glasgow (United Kingdom). Their names are Maria Lund and Mikko Ahti.
After Finland’s win last year with Katja Koukkula and Jussi Väänänen, the Nordic country will try to repeat victory on September 6th in Glasgow with Maria Lund and Mikko Ahti, winning couple of Tanssii tähtien kanssa (Dances with stars) competition.
Maria Lund will not be strange to the Eurovision world, since her mother, Tamara Lund, participated at the Finnish national selection …

* Slovenya eksi Yugoslavya komşularından en çok oy alan ülke oldu, toplam 20 puan. Toplamda aldığı puanın yarısını buradan temin etmesine rağmen finale gidemedi.
* Norveç sadece Finlandiya’dan 12 puan aldı, karşılığında Finlandiya 6 puan Norveç’ten süpürebildi. Buna karşın Finlandiya 12 puanlarını Estonya ve Andora’dan aldı.
* Bosna Hersek 12 puanlarını 2 eski Yugoslav komşusundan aldı, ama aynı zamanda Norveç’ten de 12 puan aldı.
* Andora 12 puan Ispanyadan aldı.
* Hollanda 12 puan Belçika’dan aldı.
* Belçika 12 puan Hollanda’dan aldı.
* Romanya 12 puan Moldova’dan ve …

Half a day later than planned, but well and safe, our brand new Eurovision Song Contest winner Dima Bilan arrived in Helsinki to start his Winner’s Tour to eight countries. At 10:20 this morning, Dima arrived at Helsinki-Vantaa airport, to rush straight to the headquarters of Finnish public broadcaster YLE.
At radio station YLEX, Dima and Edvin spoke about their recent victory at the Eurovision Song Contest, and summed up where they are going during the seven days of Winner’s Tour. Edvin then played the chorus of Dima’s winning song on …

Day 6 of rehearsals has started with Armenia, the Netherlands and Finland taking the stage for a second time. You can read the reviews below from the rehearsals.
Song 14: Armenia – Sirusho – Qele, qele
Another energetic performance from Sirusho for the first technical rehearsal of the day. Her powerful voice in well suited to this ethnic pop song. She is joined by three male dancer who show their athletic prowess on stage. Both dancers and singers interrelate well on the stage.
Song 15: Netherlands – Hind – Your heart belongs …