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Interesting Facts about Eurovision Song Contest

There seems to be no end to oddball entries in Eurovision. A Swiss trio of musicians, Peter, Sue and Marc, almost missed the 1979 competition because they were refused entry into Israel.The border guards were not satisfied with their explanation about why they were bringing in so many hoses, watering cans, bin bags and bottle openers.  Apparently they were props to their performance.  Eventually they were allowed to enter the country, but they finished in 8th place! Not bad! Not bad for gardeners I say!

Roughly 35 million people watch American Idol. Impressed? Don't be!  The Eurovision beats American Idol by a long shot! In 2001, 95 % of the Danish viewing public tuned in - the highest percentage in Europe.  In the last several years, total world viewing has been estimated between 400 and 600 million!!
The largest single audience was 75 million just from the Soviet Union!  Move Over American Idol!!

Iceland participated in Eurovision for the first time in 1980.  They could not apply earlier as they did not meet one of the conditions of entry - that the country be a part of the European Broadcasting Union. Iceland had to wait until a satellite link could be established before it could join in.









Every day until May 8 I will be posting a music video of each one of the semi-finalists of the Eurovision Song Contest. On May 9, I will post the last three (my top favorites), Enjoy the videos!

As you know this blog has been going for just over four years and I just realised I'd never done an Italian charts update. So what better time than now, as I prepare to head off to Pisa in a couple of days?

I decided to take a look at the Italian iTunes chart to see what was floating the boat of record buyers in Italia....apart from this summer's holiday-song-in-waiting "Mr Saxobeat" by Alexandra Stan at no.1, we have the usual suspects: Jennifer Lopez, Adele, the Black Eyed Peas, Rihanna, Katy Perry, Jessie J, Lady Gaga etc etc (yawn) so let's focus on the Italian acts shall we!
It feels like Jovanotti's been around for ever, and this week he's the highest placed Italian artist with his piano ballad "Le Tasche Piene di Sassi". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wrbTYDZoxA

Old meets new with Bob Sinclar's remake of "Far L'Amore" with Raffaella Carra. Those of a certain age will remember an English version of this in the British charts in the 1970s - "Do It Do It Again". Unfortunately this song is now stuck in my brain and will need to be surgically removed. Formaggio overload at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6YWdDDpT4I

It would appear that Italian music fans continue to love gravelly-voiced old rocker Vasco Rossi who also remains very popular, with "Eh...Gia" in the top 10 and his latest album also doing very well. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CydZtP_XlA He also co-wrote the next song...

Did a bit of research and found out that Noemi is a former X Factor contestant but we won't hold that against her - "Vuoto a Perdere" is her latest hit single and it's a rather good pop/rock song, and she's got the same hair colour as me so that's pretty cool :)) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyCwZNcAMb4

"Arriverà" by Modà featuring Emma is a good old fashioned Italian swaying ballad (and a 2011 San Remo song): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1vveTJN8Do

I rather liked Zero Assoluto's slice of electropop on "Questa Estate Strana" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LpDCtqmb7Y

Over in the album chart, this year's Eurovision representative Raphael Gualazzi is doing rather well with "Reality and Fantasy". His left-field modern jazz style may not be to everyone's taste, but it'a distinctive and original and worth checking out if you are a jazz fan. Most of this album's in the English language, obviously with an eye to his international breakthrough.

Thought I'd do one of these as Germany will be in the spotlight over the next couple of weeks as Eurovision 2011 host country.

It's been a while since I did a German charts update (and I won't be posting any links, as the last time I did this I almost got my blog shut down and don't want to risk this again!!).

Anyway, the most significant thing is....where are all the German hits? As with many other European countries these days, the German chart has become so generic with the same international hits as everywhere else - J-Lo's "On The Floor" tops the singles chart, with Snoop Dogg, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Usher, Katy Perry, Chris Brown, Adele and Enrique Iglesias all taking up a space in the chart...and for some inexplicable reason, a revival of Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough" which has been in the German chart for a few weeks.

So I'm going to ignore that and concentrate on some of the other German/European hits instead.



Starting with the Finnish band Sunrise Avenue who continue to be very popular in Germany. "Fairytale Gone Bad" was a massive hit there, and the band's latest track "Hollywood Hills" sticks to their familiar accessible pop/rock sound and has already spent 10 weeks in the German singles chart.



Another act from outside Germany who's doing very well over there is Milow; "You And Me (In My Pocket)" the first single from his current album "North and South" again doesn't stray too far from his trademark acoustic sound with a little touch of the Paul Simon style in there too.

So we've had a Finnish band and a Belgian singer....now we have a Dutch singer named Caro Emerald who's doing well in the top 10 with "A Night Like This". I think her retro style might appeal to fans of Paloma Faith and Eliza Doolittle.



Danish singer Mads Langer's very inspired reinterpretation of Olive's 90s dance hit "You're Not Alone" has also been in the German chart for a few weeks. Think Milow's "Ayo Technology" and you get the idea - I like this!

Where are all the German acts then? The highest placed German song this week is "Strobo Pop" by Die Atzen featuring Nena. Yes, that Nena! It's an of-the-moment electropop/rap number and is (IMHO) a bit annoying.

Then there's Jupiter Jones, whose "Still" is a melodic mid-tempo rock song making its way into the top 20.

I suppose the big question is: where is "Taken By A Stranger"? Well, after 9 weeks on the chart, Lena's 2011 Eurovision entry is languishing at no. 42 although expect it to briefly climb the chart again in a couple of weeks.

Interesting Facts about Eurovision Song Contest

Julio Iglesias denies that he ever participated in Eurovision. As a matter of fact he did in 1970 with a song that we had hoped to have erased from our collective memory by now. (Its called Gwendolyne, and he didn't win.) 

In the 1999 Eurovision, Croatia's song was reduced by 33% by the EBU because the male back-up voices were not on stage, but the sound synthesized. The song was "Maria Magdalena.

The Eurovision Song Contest is one of the most-watched single events in the world.  For the 2001 contest, about  95 percent of the Danish viewing public tuned in to watch - making it the highest percentage in Europe. There are no figures for the total viewing audience in the early years, but during the last few years, the total world viewing ratings are estimated by the EBU as being between 400 and 600 million. The largest single audience with 75 million tuning in was in the former Soviet Union











Every day until May 8 I will be posting a music video of each one of the semi-finalists of the Eurovision Song Contest. On May 9, I will post the last three (my top favorites). Enjoy the videos!

I bet when debut Mohombi's album "Movemeant" was released you thought that all those new leaks and demos will stop rushing all over Internet and we'll get a small Mohombi break. Don't even dream about it!
I can't find at least any drop of official information regarding it but we've got completely stunning Mohombi's leaked cover for The Cranberries "Zombie" - "In Your Head" - from the typical Mohombi-verse you will never guess you're gonna get such a huge sounding chorus "in your head...Mohombi" that sure makes you smile and wondering why wasn't it included into album. What a great single choise could it be?
From another news of Mohombi - his new single with Nicole Scherzinger "Coconut Tree" soon will get a video and we wait so much from it as we use to love Mohombi's videos a lot.
Thanx for the tip to one of our new beloved pop-blogs ILIKEMYMUSIC with really great taste.

Hooray!!! One of this year multiple injustices of Melodifestivalen was (almost) fixed. Anders Fernette's album "Run" has finally debuted in Swedish chart last week - right on #11 that is exactly fantastic news. After it couldn't get there almost 2 months we expected complete flop but Anders has done it!
And it's pretty rightfully as "Run" is compilation of 11 amazing tracks (+ 2 old Anders' hits when people called him Johansson) - such a polished poptastic stuff with quite different sound from RedOne hit-area to Backstreet Boys breathing boysband pop-rock - modern, updated, qualitative and melodic. I'm gonna tell you later about something else from this album that's gonna convince you to give it a listen if you didn't.
Yesterday Anders presented title-track of the album - "Run" in ballad version - epic emotional and opening beauty of tune much more, also don't forget to check ballad version in live acoustic version.

Ooo, it's all but over now isn't it? Everyone will be talking about how lovely Catherine looked, how lemon may not have been age appropriate for the Queen, how Elton John looks more and more like the Churchill insurance dog every day and how elegant that kiss was (elegant = no tongue. Now that's class). Plus how romantic it was that William told Kate how beautiful she looked. Which she did. All this occurred at an ace gang style party in a lovely old cottage (think The Weasleys house!) in Warwickshire that had no phone signal (meaning a botched phone call to Larry Flick! SORRY!!) and 3 dogs practically orgying over the floor. Plus a classic text from my friend - "no spoilers sweetie - Harry" (her son, not the Prince's brother) "has just thrown up as Kate got out the car so I've had to wipe him up and i'm now ten minutes behind". Delightful. Here are some pics (above) from the event and here are a few more acts who should be doing what happened in Sweden at last year's royal wedding there (see Darin's performance for more) and playing for Katilliam tonight :) (Click here for last week's recommendations!)...


Elouise ~ The Lovers Rumba (ricardo autobahn remix): There is something about Elouise that screams elegance, class and modern day princess. She embodies everything that a Disney heroine should be, but without descending to the Big Fat Gypsy Wedding sort of crassness. Within that sweeping poise and ability to reduce grown men to tears with her torch song interpretations of classic and modern day pop, there seems to lie a ballroom queen who is itching to get the wedding reception on it's feet. The Lovers Rumba is just that song - while we patiently await the original (on a project that feels like it was custom made for me and I'm oh so excited about), this remix is an opportunity to see Elouise tackle something uptempo. It's infused with latin rhythms, sensual energy, clever lyrics that compare romance to the rumba and an utterly intoxicating beat that draws you inextricably into the song and refuses to let you go. Add to this a restrained yet spot on vocal from Elouise, you can almost visualise her - hair swept up, stunning gown and shimmying under the lights performing this as the royal couple (or any couple!) create perfectly choreographed magic around the dancefloor. Perfection for Will and Kate, but perfect for anyone. Download free on her facebook page now!!


Aston ~ Someone Like You: I'll admit I've really picked two acts today that I'm ever so smitten with and have written about lots before. I also think that pair Elouise and Aston together for a joint concert and you would have something absolutely magical (plus Daniel Boys on the odd duet please). Aston's latest classical interpretation is an absolutely soaring version of the already classic Adele tune - and while it's one of those tunes that might get misinterpreted as a wedding song (like Shania's You're Still The One, where she sings about the one she's not with), the lyrics are unimportant here as these talented young Australian musicians make it all about the instruments, replacing the vocal we all know so well with tasteful strings and a gentle percussion. It's totally dreamy to listen to and and would make a sterling first dance - particularly that whimsical and beautiful piano playing in the last couple of runs through the chorus. It's genuinely spine tingling. Stunning. (PS - not sure which member it is, but I love love love the guy on the right's jumper. Can i have it please??)

Our sweetheart Sibel presents new video for her latest single "Wake Up". Actually the first video since her first album when she was singing melodic acoustic schlager-pop and videos were also romantic and warm.
Now it's new Sibel with modern music and fresh image. In new video Sibel is trying to wake her guy up to show some interest for her being in front of cartoon backgrounds, what we love the most is undoubtfully Sibel's glamourous pink saw. We need to know where to get one right now!
The song is still fantastic in our opinion, it's like older sister of "Stop" and if you loved "Stop" you're gonna absolutely love "Wake Up" as well.

Interesting Facts about Eurovision Song Contest

German songwriter/composers Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger took part  in Eurovision18 times.

Other great performers who have graced the Eurovision stage were Nana Mouskouri, The Shadows, Vicky Leandros, Olivia Newton John,, tATu, Mocedades, and Baccara.

When televoting suffers a malfunction, as it did in the 2003 Eurovision, the system depends on jury voting as a reserve measure. The Irish telecom, Eircom, was not operating normally and used a panel of judges. This set off a furious protest by the Russian act, tATu who threatened legal action against the Irish broadcaster, accusing them of intentionally causing the technical glitch in order to win the contest.
The allegations were denied by the Eircom. The 2003 winner was Turkey by Sertab Erener with the song, "Everyway that I can".













Every day until May 8 I will be posting a music video of each one of the semi-finalists of the Eurovision Song Contest. On May 9, I will post the last three (my top favorites). Enjoy the videos!

It was a sunny day in the park around the corner. Inspired by the singing birds and the Swedish author August Strindberg who was looking at me from above, I got a creative kick. 43 song titles are enough to create a kind of poetic tribute to Eurovision Song Contest 2011.
En solig eftermiddag i Tegnérlunden. Inspirerad till tonerna av fågelkvitter och med August Strindbergs storvuxna lekamen som blickar ner från ovan. Då aktiveras den kreativa ådran. Är det månne någon som klagat över lyriken i Eurovisionslåtarna? De 43 sångtitlarna är i alla fall tillräckligt 'lyriska' för att skapa en form av hyllningspoesi till Eurovision Song Contest 2011.

My “Love In Rewind” was like a “Haba Haba” and I loved you like a Greek angel “San Aggelos S’agapisa”. I was “Na Inat” and stubborn like a “Rusinka” woman. I said “I Love Belarus” but you said that “The Secret Is Love”. I was “Running Scared” and started to look for a “New Tomorrow”.

In “Sognu” I lost myself in a Corsican dream. I could “Feel The Passion” when my heart went “Boom Boom”. It was “Madness Of Love” and I was “So Lucky”. Like a “Ding Dong” “Angel” I was “In Love For A While”. For “One More Day” I was dancing me away in “Que Me Quiten Lo Bailao”.

With “Lipstick” of “Vaniljia” I felt magic like a “Caroban”. I wanted to “Celebrate” at “Rockefeller Street”. “I’m Still Alive” like an “Angel In Disguise”. “Watch My Dance” and let me be “Da Da Dam” “Popular”. “C’est Ma Vie” – it’s my life and “No One“ can “Change” it. “Jestem” here I am.

But “What About My Dreams” where I’m “Taken By A Stranger”? What about “One Life” where I fight for joy like a “Lute é Alegria”?  I want to “Live It Up” and “Stand By” you. I want to “Get You” “With Love Baby”. I’m sure “I Can” and now I’m “Coming Home”. Home to Eurovision where I’m “Never Alone” and where I feel my heart beat.

A poem needs to be recorded and the shining Stockholm was a perfect background.
Ett poem bör också finnas i filmversion och ett soligt Stockholm är då en perfekt bakgrund. 



Author: Lilian
Photo, video: Roger

The summer continues. Birds are singing. bees are making out with them (or so is my understanding :P) and the week of fabbo-fabolosity new acts continues. And as today is the last day of work before a jolly long royal wedding-birthday themed weekend, I thought I'd give you three magnificent pop treats to digest and fall in love with. You know you want to...

Lucas Brenton ~ Riders of the Night: I'll tell you what I like about Lucas B, if I may be bold enough to call him that? From a grassroots campaign, he's built up a massive following on twitter and youtube, funded all his own music and managed to garner enough attention to get himself on the Australian and New Zealand charts! It wasn't like this when Jesse Spencer started a band on Neighbours :P Anyway, I can confirm (judging from his very polite email) that Lucas is a charming young fella who has an innate love of electro-pop and has crafted his own little spunky funky gem for you to shake your booty to. It's an utterly dirty throbbing synth pulsation of a tune with risque lyrics that only the youthful can get away with without sounding pervy. It sounds very much like something the glorious BWO would release if they were still around and it sparkles most when Lucas lets his voice shine through on the addictive chorus. So pop on your funkiest chinos, head on down to your discotheque of choice and shimmy like there's no tomorrow as a rider of the night. You won't regret it :)


LectroLips ~ Voyeur: I came across (not literally, don't be filthy :P) LectroLips thanks to the always on the pulse Greg via twitter. And thank god I did. There is nothing I like better than a hypnotic, fuzzy synth groove - and this one is one that just vibrates their fine tune, Voyeur, into life. It's a delightfully playful track that teases and tantalises of a fantasy world that I want to be part of - particularly with lyrics like "you'll be the cigarette, i'll be the matches/ ooo-oh-oh gonna touch myself below". LectroLips are (the rather goodlooking) Leo & Ant, and in Voyeur (listen on soundcloud here), they've provided the world with this slow building track that becomes more sensuous and rousing both lyrically (elas-dick!) and musically as it progresses - almost lke a modern day I Feel Love or French Kiss. It's utterly intoxicating and I feel all dirty in a good way by the end of the track and totally ready to dive in again instantly :) Tremend!!


Mickey Cupid ~ Baptized By The Sun: Pop duo Marcus and Matt make up Mickey Cupid, who are billed by their PR as the ultimate pop group. It's a bold audacious claim, but one that's not without merit. They made a splash with discerning music lovers last year when they released their EP, Hey Crazy World, and introduced their thrilling blend of pop, dance, chill out and disco. They've now moved onto their latest release - the captivating Baptized In The Sun EP. Filled with tightly constructed, exquisitely produced pop tunes, it's bathed in smart lyrics, outgoing melody and a feel good vibe. Whether it be the heady club swirl and gay abandon of We Only Care About The Weekend or blissful cool down track Baptized By The Sun, the boys tackle genres with a ferocity and confidence that gives them the ability to pull off startlingly good results each and every time. It's exciting to see what the boys can do so early on in their career - I'm hoping and assuming that it's only up from here...

Lykke Li is just synonym to awesome in this season. Awesome music, awesome videos, awesome stories, awesome everything.
Today Lykke presents new video for another track "Sadness is a Blessing" from her latest album "Wounded Rhymes" - another one directed by Tarik Saleh and featuring famous actor Stellan Skarsgård (yes, father of Alexander and Gustaf).
It's one of the lightest tracks on the album and the video is not as depressive as previous one, though it gives whole range of feelings that drunk and dancing Lykke can give and she can give a lot, watch yourself!

Do you know what we celebrate today? One year since debut single of Gravitonas "Kites" has seen the light!
Gravitonas has become essential part of life and music interests for many Swedish pop-fans during last year. 10 amazing songs, 2 singles+upcoming "Everybody Dance" and 2 EPs, how much more can Gravitonas give us? I'm sure a lot and everything's just starting.
Let's celebrate this day with Gravitonas' performance of "You Break Me Up" at Bingolotto that they've done earlier this year but it has leaked on youtube only now.
By the way guys have just shot million dollar video for "Everybody Dance" in Moscow and due to Alexander it's gonna be really scandalous work that we'll be able to watch this June. You can check some photos from shooting video here.

Isn't it weird that after Mikrofonkåt-explosion we were waiting for some new worthy attempt to make pop-sensation with mix of heavy electronic dance-pop and little catchy melody performed on Swedish almost half a year? However finally we've got one right before Summer season so will "Den Bästa Dagen" be the biggest Summer hit in Sweden?
Project In Styles and Kerima Holm - who are they actually?
In Styles is club project of Mike Perry - Swedish producer that we've noticed thanx to his lovely mix of Linda Pritchard's "Fast Car" but due to information on his page his credits are much larger. Kerima Holm was participant of the very first season of Swedish Idol with Darin and Loreen. Afterwards she provided backing vocal for different artists, was singing on Bratz' "Rock Angelz" soundtrack with Janet Leon and Anorah and was recording with the winner of the next Idol's season - Agnes and I think that actually girls have really similar manners of singing that makes new Kerima's collaboration with In Styles even more intriguing.
As I already said "Den Bästa Dagen" is dance-pop track with heavy electronic bass and at the same time very summerish bubblegum tune infectious as five "Mikrofonkåt"s and guess label that the song will be released on? Right, label releasing the catchiest tunes in the world (and Mikrofonkåt is not exception) - Catchy Tunes.

Interesting Facts about Eurovision Song Contest

Israeli was the first country that was to host the competition two years in a row – in 1979 and 1980. However, they requested a replacement as they didn’t have enough funds so Netherlands offered to stage the contest in Hague. The date for the Eurovision 1980 was set for 19 April without anybody realizing that it was a holy day in Israel for which reason Israel also became the only country not to participated the year after winning Eurovision.

For the first time this year, Eurovision will have two semi-finals.

Simon Cowell apparently has his eye on Eurovision, and plans to compete against the music goliath by organizing his own Europe-wide talent quest based on a "Eurovision-style" reality contest. Will he succeed or get "nul points"!











Every day until May 8 I will be posting a music video of each one of the semi-finalists of the Eurovision Song Contest. On May 9, I will post the last three (my top favorites). Enjoy the videos!

If you are in England, you are probably working a very short week and Wednesday lunchtime means only one and a half days of work until the royal wedding. Are you all planning something magnificent? Are you going to host a princess party, with croquet games, bunting and a huge blow up my little pony or is that just me?! Anyway, seeing as you have so much time on your hands, here are 3 more new (to me) acts for you to check out and appreciate this very sunny week...

Mark Ballas ~ Hotwire If you are British, you may very well not be aware of Mark Ballas. What you need to know about him (not necessarily in order of importance) is that a) he is one foxy, buff dude; b) he dances professionally on the phenomenally popular Dancing With The Stars in the States and c) he also sings. The singing is what I will concentrate on today - and in particular, his absolutely charming song, Hotwire. Taken from his new album HurtLoveBox, it's a sparkling, effervescent pop tune that just shines from start to finish. Lyrically, it's the tale of how some lucky lady essentially corrects everything that is wrong with Mark just by being with him. Musically, it's a feelgood vibe of strumming guitars and a perky beat powering the chorus to memorable, singalong goodness. Fun production values and a confident vocal from Mark all add to the appeal, making you want to fling open your windows, welcome in the summer and shout out romantic intentions to the world :) Adorable video too, with Mark and dance partner Chelsea Kane getting up to all sorts of naughty shenanighans. Hunt down the album - if it's as strong as this single, it's gonna be a summer time blast!


Bradley Say ~ Wasted:Bradley Say (found via fabtasticmusic and twitter of course) has quite amazing eyebrows. And a nice fringe. The first few seconds of the above video will attest to this fact. His new single Wasted is a rather funky little ditty that weaves together elements of Lily Allen (plinky plonky piano riff), Mel & Kim (little bit street) and even Justin Timberlake (little bit cool). It's a bounce a long number that revels in it's sparse production values and relies (wisely) on the melody and bradley's vocal to bring the song alive. The video matches every bit of energy and tomfoolery in the music and lyrics by having young Bradley prance around the streets, with a ne'er do care attitude while some stalker maiden follows him around. It's all ridiculous and absolutely bonkers brilliant at the same time. Listen. Watch. Love. Then dance around Bradley style like a loon on loon tablets at loon camp. Amen :)


Matt Webb ~ Bad Girl: I don't really know a lot about Matt Webb. What I do know is that I quite like his hair do and may take his pic into the barbers when i go in a few weeks :P Other than that, i've had his filthy little synth groove, Bad Girl (not the Madonna classic), stuck on repeat for a good few days now and it's pulsating my world. As I said, it's based around a dirty little synth groove that invades all your senses with it's insistence. Add to this a handclap beat and some wicked "oh oh ohs" in the chorus and it all makes a funky, modern, fun pop tune that is screaming out for a whipsmart dance routine. Corking chorus, nice unaltered vocal and a great middle 8 all make this one to watch out for. Like a male Ke-dollar sign-ha, but with less glitter and more clothes. Amazes.

Coming soon: More Pop Whispering. The RuPaul album. Royal Wedding shenanighans. Anything else that catches my fancy.

Interesting Facts about Eurovision Song Contest

The theme music played before and after the broadcasts of the Eurovision Song Contest is the prelude to Marc-Antoine Charpentier's Te Deum. The same song is used for other Eurovision broadcasts as well.

Eurovision Song Contest has been broadcast over the internet since the year 2000. In 2006 there were over 74,000 people in almost 140 countries watching the contest online.

Eurovision has also been broadcast to Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Egypt, India, Japan, Jordan, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and Uruguay - despite the fact that they do not compete.










Every day until May 8 I will be posting a music video of each one of the semi-finalists of the Eurovision Song Contest. On May 9, I will post the last three.(my top favorites) Enjoy the videos!

These days I'm starting missing Pauline like I couldn't suppose I would before I've re-discovered her before Melodifestivalen-2010. What an amazing and unique artist she is. After last year's contest she has re-released her latest album, has taken part in Bydgoszcz Hit Festiwal in August and has appeared this year on records of two rap-artists - Swingfly's album "Awesomeness - An Introduction" on the track "Little Did I Know" and Petter's "En Räddare I Nöden 2.0" on the track "De Där".
Talking about "Awesomeness" it's re-release of the last Swingfly's album "God Bless The IRS" with new songs "Me And My Drum", "Rags To Riches" and "Little Did I Know" that turned to be little light tune with fantastic energy and feel-good sparkle of Jason Mraz' music. Totally enjoyable!

Seems like the last time I mentioned sweet Tove Styrke here was ages ago.
Quite unfairly from my side but I'll fix it in the article with all the latest Tove's news and my thoughts about them this week.
Right now it's just spontaneous post about Tove taking part in Ikea beds advertising company where also artists Albin Gromer, Siw Malmkvist, Magnus Tingsek, Maia Hirasawa and Musette should appear soon. Tove has recorded popular old folk lullaby "Byssan Lull" made popular by Evert Taube in the beginning of 20th century and covered by many artists afterwards. Tove has filled it with strong Björk-feeling, like nothing else you've heard from her before but really dark, magic and beautiful electronic track based on folk-tune. Is there any chance we'll get it in full studio version, please?

Interesting Facts about Eurovision Song Contest











Every day until May 8 I will be posting a music video of each one of the semi-finalists of the Eurovision Song Contest. On May 9, I will post the last three (my top favorites). Enjoy the videos!

Last year it was "Työlki Ellää" with Kuunkuiskaajat from Finland. This year it is Eric Saade from Sweden. Bastien Venturi and Dekel Ben Avi have done it again. A special tribute video to their favorite artist and entry in Eurovision Song Contest 2011.
Förra året var det "Työlki Ellää" med Kuunkuiskaajat från Finland. I år det Eric Saade från Sverige. Bastien Venturi och Dekel Ben Avi har gjort det igen. En alldeles speciell hyllningsvideo till favoritartisten och låten i Eurovision Song Contest 2011.




I remember last year in Oslo when the two Kuunkuiskaajat duos met. I happened to be there and I also did an interview with the fake one. The meeting was published in several Finnish newspapers. Let's see if this year's video will reach the same popularity.

Jag minns i Oslo ifjol när de båda versionerna av Kuunkuiskaajat möttes. Jag råkade vara på plats och gjorde också en intervju med den fejkade duon. Mötet blev omskrivet i flera finländska tidningar. Nu får vi se om årets video når samma popularitet.



Photos: Lilian

Bugger! I can't believe that this four day weekend is now over and I am back at work :/ On the plus side, there are only 3 full days til the Royal Wedding 4 day weekend (and my birthday! Woo!) and I did use the weekend to catch up on lots of new artists you should be aware of. Over Tues, Weds and Thurs of this week, I'll highlight 3 each day that are totally deserving of your time, energy and money :) Let's kick off with this fine fellas then, shall we??

Dave Patten ~ Melt: I've written about Dave Patten before. Mainly because he has an penchant for a catchy hook, a brilliant accompanying video and the dude always looks good in a shirt & tie (whether black on white or the other way round). His latest effort is the horn infused, sparkling pop gem called Melt. It's gorgeous because beneath those sumptuous horns is a Spanish tinged acoustic guitar, an effervescent drum beat and some of the best chat up line lyrics this side of Barry White. The video perfectly captures the philly soul feel of the track and that chorus washes over you leaving you drenched in it's magnificence. This is one of those tracks that feels like it is signalling the start of summer proper and should be played loud & proud with the top of your convertible down. Kudos then to Dave for wrapping his engaging vocal round the tune and giving it the cheeky sincerity, heat and soul that it totally deserves. Brillo.


Ty Mayfield ~ 19 to 2: What the world sometimes needs is a jolly fine pop song that is totally feelgood from start to finish. Ty Mayfield may well have created that song with the lead off single from his debut album, "Give Me A Second". It all kicks off with a spunky little beat that brings to mind ace singalong tunes like Good News from Matt Dusk or Michael Buble's Haven't Met You Yet. It then becomes brilliantly layered as Ty takes a seemingly expert knowledge of how to construct a decent pop tune and adds memorable guitar licks, a galloping percussion section and of course an impassioned vocal that makes the chorus soar skyhigh. It all culminates in a jolly romp of a tune that eschews current trends and just relies on classic melody & music to carry it through. It blooming well works because this song becomes instantly memorable after just one listen and you can't wait to press repeat to hear it all over again...


Nick Howard ~ Falling For You: Criminally I am one album late on Mr Howard as this is the lead off song from his second album, When The Lights Go Up. Still that just gives me more of his fine music to investigate. This tune is thoroughly engaging, guitar driven musical alchemy where everything comes together - the dreamy lyrics that are sheer poetry, the gently swaying rhythm of the music, the powerful vocal and a story payoff where everything comes together with delicious optimism at the end. I love a guy who wears his heart on his sleeve and is able to put himself out there and this song is destined to bring couples together across the world. Absolutely charming from start to finish and the cute as a puppy video (above) just gives it that extra shimmy. An irrefutable delight :)

Coming Weds: Mark Ballas, Matt Goss & Matt Webb
Coming Thurs: The Boy Genius, Lectro Lips & Mickey Cupid

Yesterday I've presented new Bingolotto performance of Ace of Base for your attention but AOB weren't the only interesting guests of the show.
Svante Thuresson who has just released new album "Regionala Nyheter: Stockholmsdelen" presented new Mauro Scocco written song "Sommar I Stockholm" and "Ta Det Kallt, Det Är Allt" with Lotta Engberg and another schlager-veteran Kikki Danielsson who also ready for her new album "Första Dagen På Resten Av Mitt Liv" has presented song "Wagon Wheels" from it. But our most expected guest was Linda Pritchard who performed best ballad of Melodifestivalen-2011 in our opinion, it's "Alive", it's here and it's fantastic Linda Pritchard (video is a bit defective in the first verse but fine after that).
UPD: Full video of concert was removed so links to Kikki and Svante don't work but thanks for the tip to our dear reader Peter we have separate Linda's performance here.

One of our biggest discoveries of 2010 in Swedish music Broken Door are back with brand new single "Hey You" already struggling for its future on Swedish radio
Like previous singles "Hey You" is powerful and melodic pop-rock track with beautiful pop-tune and specific thoughtful atmosphere of Broken Door music lifted up with juicy guitar part and emotional Tobias' vocal, like we love!
Here you can check the song presented with slide-show made of band's tour photos on official youtube channel.

Since massive Charlotte Perrelli's promo-tour in 2008 Sweden doesn't seem to put loads of efforts in flying across Europe to promote its song for Eurovision to other countries before the contest.
This year wasn't exception but however Eric Saade couldn't refuse to visit Russia having quite active programme of interviews and visits to a few tv-shows. Though Eric hasn't managed to get to popular Stars Factory show (that would be amazing possibility being shown on main country's channel) he has performed "Popular" at Armenian Music Awards and at Sunday show "Central TV".
Both performances were done with playback but looked quite well with Melodifestivalen choreography, here you can check both.

Interesting Facts about Eurovision Song Contest

Estonia won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2001 with the song Everybody.

Until 1998 Eurovision contestants were able to perform with a live orchestra, but in 1999 the rules were changed. Organizers decided not to provide an orchestra, and instead rely on an instrumental track, to be provided by the participants themselves. (A cost saving measure.)

The Esprit Arena has been the centre for all the hottest acts in the world. Artists who have performed there included Bon Jovi, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Coldplay, Phil Collins, Depeche Mode, Fiction Plane, Genesis, Herbert Grönemeyer, Linkin Park, Madonna, The Police, The Rolling Stones and Die Toten Hosen, and many others.














Every day until May 8 I will be posting a music video of each one of the semi-finalists of the Eurovision Song Contest. On May 9, I will post the last three (my top favorites). Enjoy the videos!

I honestly didn't intend making this day on blog day of Ace of Base but new Ace of Base have made performance on Bingolotto with one of their album tracks "Southern California" and I need to let you know about it as it's quite rare case.
Debut for new formed band hasn't become as successful as it was planned, album was very welcome in Germany but Sweden has turned more sceptic to guys so here is another attempt attracting attention to the album with another song that is actually best fitting Clara's vocal and personality on the album in my opinion. Will it become new single? Hope so!

Peter Jöback is releasing brand new single "Räddaren i nöden" - very pleasant spring track written by Ludwig Bell (Swedish singer who previously was noticed working with Hello Saferide and Dreamboy).
After "Inte redo än" new song continues the line of Peter's Swedish singles. It's all about live instruments arrangement with mostly acoustic sound and uplifting fresh mood that after quite melancholic "Inte redo än" is going to fit this season's atmosphere very well. You can listen to it below.
By the way good news for all Peter's fans, according to his unofficial blog singer has revealed that tour-programme "En kväll med Peter Jöback" was recently filmed and is planned to be released on DVD or to be shown on TV depending on if interest among audience will be properly big.

Title of the best song of this year's national ESC-selections (outside of MF-bubble) due to Swedish Stereo opinion goes toooooo... Jenny Berggren's "Let Your Heart Be Mine"!
I still consider this song is all sorts of incredible, touching, powerful, it's everything we adore in 3 minutes of dramatic Eurovision dance-pop!
Everyone who prefer to keep a bit more dancey have got opportunity to enjoy the song in lovely mix from DJ Calboy - right that sort of mix you need for Eurovision song with huge anthemic dance-beat not changing basic tune and stunning key-change. You can also check it in video-mix with extended version right below and download pack of Calboy mixes on Ultimate Ace Of Base site.

Yes I can finally reveal our next holiday destination....Pisa! This will be our first ever Italian holiday, although it won't be our first time on Italian soil as we took a day trip to Ventimiglia whilst on holiday in Nice back in 2003.

We are really excited about this forthcoming short break and of course The Pisa Diaries will be making an appearance on this blog before the end of May!! Expect lots of gratuitous food photography....

(The above picture is courtesy of Wikipedia)

Interesting Facts about Eurovision Song Contest

Countries are eligible to participate in Eurovision if they are active members of the EBU, that is if they fall within the EBU area, or members of the Council of Europe. (map link: green denotes participating nations.)

The EBU Broadcasting Area " is bound on the west by the western boundary of Region 1 - on the east by the meridian 40° East of Greenwich and on the south by the parallel 30° North so as to include the western part of the USSR, the northern part of Saudi Arabia and that part of those countries bordering the Mediterranean within these limits. In addition, Iraq, Jordan and that part of the territory of Turkey lying outside the above limits are included in the European Broadcasting Area."

Organizers of the 2005 Eurovision asked the Ukrainian government to put a block on bookings to the host city, Kiev.  Hotel and press facilities are always a concern when choosing a host city. Apparently there was a shortage of hotel rooms and unfortunately many people found their bookings abruptly cancelled.

This week's Sverige Topplistan chart has a very international look to it, as Jennifer Lopez and Pitbull top the listings with "On The Floor" whilst the top 10 is almost exclusively dominated by the usual suspects - Rihanna, Britney Spears, LMFAO, Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga to name a few - only Veronica Maggio and Swingfly/Christoffer Hiding ensure a Swedish presence in the top 10. Eric Saade's "Popular" took a spectacular tumble from no.1 to no.12 this week!

Just like the UK singles chart, it feels as if the same songs have been in the Swedish singles chart forever. The major shock this year is the lack of success for Melodifestivalen songs - apart from the aforementioned, it's only The Moniker (24), Loreen (26), Danny (27) and Sara Varga (30) who are maintaining a strong chart presence.

Over in the iTunes singles chart, I came across the latest single by the rejuvenated Petter featuring Swedish music legends Adolphson & Falk: it's called "Krafter" and it's rather good. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZYis4LXdYQ

In the meantime, everyone's on the promo trail across Europe, familiarising viewers with their songs and hoping the recognition-factor counts at semi-final and final time.

Det börjar dra ihop sig för avfärd. Först ska påsken klaras av, sedan den 'Glada Vappen' och därefter väntar Düsseldorf och årets happening - Eurovision Song Contest 2011. Redan nu råder aktivitet - framför allt på klädsidan. Det är 'packningspärsen' som ger sig tillkänna. Två veckor med glam, glamour och hårt arbete kräver en varierande garderob.


Det är också en hel del tysk research som ska uträttas. Min 'mission' är inte bara att rapportera om tävlingen utan också om staden Düsseldorf med omnejd sett ur ett Eurovision-perspektiv. Det har jag lovat Tyska Turistbyrån.


Den mest kända låten av alla bidrag genom tiderna är ju faktiskt signaturmelodin till tävlingen. Visste ni att den skrevs av en perukklädd herre som hette Marc-Antoine Charpentier? Han levde 1634-1704 i Paris. Signaturen har den kyrkliga titeln "Te Deum" och ingick i Messe de Minuit. Tänk om Marc-Antoine hade fått STIM-pengar för låten - hur rik hade inte han blivit på Eurovision Song Contest.






Jag undrar om Finlands Paradise Oskar har packat sin resväskan? Han är i alla fall inte nervös inför sitt framträdande, berättade han i Amsterdam härom veckan. Ingen koreografi och en massa danssteg som ska läras in. Skönt att slippa den 'danspärsen' - kommer ihåg när Waldos People övade i hotellkorridorerna i Moskva.



Source: Wikipedia