Italy: Emma will sing La Mia Città

 

Rome, Italy - Some days ago we announced that Italian top star Emma Marrone will represent her country at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest. We can now confirm that the song she will sing in Copenhagen is La Mia Città.

La Mia Città (My City) is the title of the song that Emma will perform on behalf of Italy at the Final of the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest the next 10th of May in Copenhagen, Denmark. Marrone said about the song choice that she is very happy as the song is penned by herself.
Last November the song was included as a new track in the new edition of her Schiena album, titled Schiena vs Schiena. It is produced by Brando who said about La Mia Città's sound to be inspired by 80s rock. The song will be edited to meet the length rule of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Italy's Eurovision success

This year RAI, the Italian broadcaster, decided in an internal selection that the act that should sing for them in Copenhagen is the successful female artist Emma, who feels very proud of the task assigned to her of representing Italy.
Italy has only finished inside the Top 10 of the Eurovision Song Contest since their return to the competition in 2011: 2nd with Raphael Gualazzi's Madness Of Love, Nina Zilli placed 9th in Baku with L'Amore E Femmina and Marco Mengoni was 7th last year with L'Essenziale:

 

Next 21st of March it will be fifty years since Italy won the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time, also in Copenhagen, with Gigliola Cinquetti's Non Ho L'Eta:

 

Emma Marrone

Emma Marrone, born in Florence in 1984, started singing as a child. She recalls listening to Mina or Take That, whithout having any particular idols. It wasn't until 2010 that she made her breakthrough in the talent show Amici, which she won, and since then her career can be summarize in hit after hit achieving several gold, platinum and multiplatinum discs for the sales of her music and other accolades of the Italian music industry.
In 2013 she released her third album Schiena, which was the 5th biggest selling album of the year and the top selling by a female artist. Besides Italy Emma is also popular in Switzerland.
Even though she hasn't been chosen from the list of artists participating in the 2014 Sanremo Festival, coincidentally, Emma came second in Sanremo in 2011 in a collaboration with the band Modà and the song Arriverà. She won the festival on her own the following year with Non È L'Inferno.
Italy will air both Semi-Finals of the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest, in RAI4 on the 6th and 8th of May, and the big Final on RAIDUE on the 10th of May, when Emma will participate.

French chanson star François Deguelt deceased

 

The French singer François Deguelt passed away last Wednesday at the age of 81 after battling with a long illness. He sang on behalf of Monaco twice at the Eurovision Song Contest.

François Deguelt, represented Monaco twice at the Eurovision Song Contest. First in London in 1960 when he placed third out of thirteen entries with the song Ce Soir-Là. He went one better in 1962 when Dis Rien finished second in Luxembourg behind the French entry Un Premier Amour.
Only four other artists in the history of the competition managed this feat: Cliff Richard, Katja Ebstein, Chiara and Zeljko Joksimovic.
François was born in Tarbes and grew up in Charente, raised by his grandmother. The singer started working in the cabarets of Paris in the early 50s. In 1956 he won the Grand Prix du Disque of the Académie Charles Cros.
After his Eurovision performances Deguelt managed to succeed in the French market, especially with the song Le Ciel, Le Soleil Et La Mer which ranks as his biggest hit. And he returned to the contest, this time as a commentator for the French speaking countries, for the 1966 edition again in Luxembourg.
The artist died last Wednesday the 22nd of January, after battling with a long illness, aged 81. The Eurovision.tv team would like to show our condolences to the family and friends of François Deguelt.

Slovenian EMA scheduled for March

Ljubljana, Slovenia - RTV Slovenija made a decision about taking part in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Denmark, in the very last moment, after deadline was extended for ten days by EBU. In the meantime, Slovenian national broadcaster announced first details about internal selection of artists, who will perform at EMA 2014 show on 8th of March.

The most important details are being set. After a lot of speculations, Miša Molk (Editor of EMA contest) and Aleksander Radić (Head of Slovenian delegation at Eurovision Song Contest) confirmed that decision about the artist who will represent the country in Copenhagen is going to be made through televoting in a TV show scheduled for Saturday, 8th of March at 20:00 CET, on the first channel of RTV Slovenija.
In other words, TV audience will have a final vote, but before that, there will be an internal selection of artists and authors, who are going to be part of EMA 2014 (National selection also known as Evrovizijska melodija). The contest has been traditionally organised since 1993 (except in 1994 and 2000 when Slovenia didn’t take part at Eurovision).

 

More details to be announced soon!

This TV show has a format that went through a lot of changes and adjustments over the past years, but it always managed to get a lot of attention even outside of the country. EMA has great TV ratings and some of the competing songs usually end up in Slovenian charts and turn into big hits.
Nevertheless, more details about EMA 2014 are going to be announced in the following weeks.
For those who missed the Allocation Draw for the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest held on Monday, 20th of January in Copenhagen – Slovenia will take part in second half of the Second Semi-Final, on Thursday, 8th of May.
In the previous Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö (2013), this country was represented by Hannah Mancini with the song Straight Into Love (check the video). However, she didn’t manage to qualify for the Final.

Any expectations, thoughts or suggestions for Slovenia this year?

Hungary: A Dal 2014 to kick off on Saturday

 

Budapest, Hungary - Just two more days to go, and the Hungarian national selection A Dal 2014 will finally start with its first quarter final. Find out more about the mode of the shows and the official webcast, check out our photo gallery of the candidates, and listen to all 30 competing songs!

A Dal has kick-started to become one of the most successful national selections in Europe, both in terms of viewing figures and of Eurovision Song Contest results - the winners of the show have, so far, each time sailed to the Grand Final.

A Dal 2014: The 30 candidates in Hungary

Check out the Full gallery

Now that the start of the shows is getting closer, don't miss the opportunity to take a look at the contenders and to listen to their songs. MTVA have compiled the video clips of all entries in a Youtube playlist for you to watch.

The shows

Three quarter finals will take place, on January 25th, February 1st and February 8th. In each of them, six out of ten entries will qualify for the semi-final stage, with three being chosen by the jury and three by the televoters.
On February 15th and 16th, two semi-finals will be broadcast, and February 22nd will see the final of A Dal 2014.
All shows will be streamed live on the official A Dal 2014 website. For the final of A Dal, on February 22nd, we will offer a webcast for all viewers worldwide, right here on Eurovision.tv!

The line-up

The line-up of the selection shows has not been officially disclosed but the artists' own communication, as reflected on wikipedia, leads to the following version - we shall find out until next Saturday if it's entirely correct:

Quarter final I (January 25th)

• Úgy szállj (Fly) - Cserpes Laura
• Csak a zene - Depresszió
• Help Me! (Ments meg) - Extensive
• Retikül - Group’n’Swing
• The Way I Do (Ezt érzem igazán) - Hien
• Running Out Of Time (Miért) - Király Viktor
• Break Up - Lil C
• Morning Light (Reggeli fény) - Marge
• Egy percig sztár - Oláh Ibolya
• Hogy segíthetnék? - Szabó Leslie

Quarter final II (February 1st)

• Miért ne higgyem - Belmondo
• We All - Bogi
• Ég veled (Next Please) - Dér Heni
• Waterfall (Húz az ár) - Joni
• Running (Hova szaladnál?) - Kállay Saunders András
• This Is My Life (Ez az életem) - Musicfabrik
• Karcolás (Rise Again) - Polyák Lilla
• Born To Fly - Szécsi Saci & Szécsi Böbe
• Camon Babe (Meg akarom mondani) - To Beat Or Not To Beat
• Miss One Smile (Állj meg világ) - Vastag Tamás

Quarter final III (February 8th)

• Minden mosoly - BülBüls - Takács Noémi
• It Can't Be Over (Ha vele vagyok) - Fool Moon
• Elmaradt pillanatok - Gájer Bálint
• A legnagyobb hős - Honeybeast
• Everything (Mind te vagy) - Király Linda
• Sweet Memories (Emlékek) - Knoll Gabi
• Játssz még jazzgitár - Mystery Gang
• The Last One (Az utolsó) - New Level Empire
• Brave New World (Szép új világ) - Pál Dénes
• Catch Me (Kapj el) - Radics Gigi

The jury and the presenters

In the on screen jury, we will again see Magdi Rúzsa, who represented Hungary in the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest, Jenő Csizsár and Philip Rákay, just as in A Dal 2013. This time they will be joined by Kati Kovács, a popular singer and true star of the Hungarian music scene.
The Hungarian 2013 Eurovision representative, ByeAlex, will be a "digital commentator": he will be discussing online and commenting on the performances during the shows. Éva Novodomszky and Gábor Gundel Takács will host the shows, joined by two "new faces" as backstage presenters: Krisztina Rátonyi and Levente Harsányi.

Who is your favourite in Hungary?

Emma to represent Italy in Copenhagen!

 

Rome, Italy - The Italian broadcaster RAI just made the official confirmation that Italy will be represented in the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest by one of their most popular artists, Emma. She has been the biggest selling female artist in her country in 2013.

Since Italy returned to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2011 they've used their popular Sanremo Festival to pick the artists or songs that would represent them in front of Europe: Raphael Gualazzi, Nina Zilli and Marco Mengoni, all finished in the Top 10.
This year RAI, the Italian national television, has decided in an internal selection that the act that should represent them in Copenhagen is the successful female artist Emma.

Who is Emma?

Emma Marrone, born in Florence in 1984, started singing as a child. She recalls listening to Mina or Take That, whithout having any particular idols. It wasn't until 2010 that she made her breakthrough in the talent show Amici, which she won, and since then her career can be summarize in hit after hit achieving several gold, platinum and multiplatinum discs for the sales of her music and other accolades of the Italian music industry.
In 2013 she released her third album Schiena, which was the 5th biggest selling album of the year and the top selling by a female artist. Besides Italy Emma is also popular in Switzerland.
Even though she hasn't been chosen from the list of artists participating in the 2014 Sanremo Festival, coincidentally, Emma came second in Sanremo in 2011 in a collaboration with the band Modà and the song Arriverà. She won the festival on her own the following year with Non È L'Inferno.
Italy will air both Semi-Finals of the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest, in RAI4 on the 6th and 8th of May, and the big Final on RAIDUE on the 10th of May, when Emma will participate. The song that Emma will perform in Copenhagen hasn't been confirmed yet.

What do you think of Italy's choice?

Spain to choose entry in a public selection

 

Madrid, Spain - It was in the middle of a cloud of rumours and media speculation that the Spanish broadcaster, TVE, confirmed that Spain will choose their entry for the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest through a public selection between five artists: Ruth Lorenzo, Jorge González, La Dama, Raúl and Brequette.

This year there was more gossip than ever before in Spain about who will represent them at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest. In the last two years the acts were chosen through an internal selection so in the past three months lots of names were suggested by the media to be the Spanish entry.
In the last few weeks the rumours of an internal selection lost strength in favour of a public one. Finally the Spanish broadcaster TVE confirmed the news that their entry for Copenhagen will be chosen in a televised national selection in February with a 50% televote and 50% expert jury voting.

The candidates

There will be five candidates hoping to represent Spain in Denmark. Some of them have tried it before and some have had big hits while others are mostly unknown to the Spanish audience.

• Brequette Cassie also participated in that first edition of La Voz (The Voice) and, though born in South Africa, she has expressed her wish of singing at the Eurovision Song Contest representing Spain, the country where she's been living for the past 15 years. She's currently in the preparations of her debut album Puzzle Together. Her song Más (Run) is writen by Thomas G:son and Tony Sanchez, the team behind the Spanish entry in 2012 by Pastora Soler, who will be in charge of the artistic, vocal and stage parts of this performance.
• Jorge González first participated in the talent show Operacion Triunfo, then in the 2009 Spanish national final, with Si Yo Vengo A Enamorarte, and more recently in the first edition of La Voz (The Voice) where he was the runner-up. He considers himself a Eurovision fan and will try once again to achieve his dream of representing Spain in the Song Contest with the song Aunque Se Acabe El Mundo, a pop song written by Kiko Rodríguez, Bruno Nicolás, Leticia Fuentes and María José Fernández.

Meet the Spanish candidates

Check out the Full gallery

• La Dama is the moniker of Damaris Abad, a singer born in Sevilla, who is more known to the Spanish audience as the partner of top artist Melendi and sister of the popular new artist Rasel. While preparing her second album she's still waiting for her own breakthrough and aims to achieve it through the Eurovision Song Contest and the song Estrella Fugaz, written by none other than Melendi, and described as a mid-tempo electro-pop song with R&B influences.
• Raúl made his breakthrough after he came second in the 2000 Spanish national final with Sueño Su Boca, which became a big success that year and made him win a Spanish Music Award as Best New Artist. Since then he's had further hits and released six albums. He will sing Seguir Sin Ti written by William Duque and Domingo Sánchez, a big ballad full of strength and feelings.
• Ruth Lorenzo has been heavily tipped to be the Spanish choice and now she's one of the participants in the public selection. Mostly unknown in Spain, she participated in the UK's X Factor in 2008 with Dannii Minogue as her mentor. She has just signed with a new record company aiming to reach not only the Spanish market but the international one too. The title of her song is Dancing In The Rain written by Ruth herself alongside Jim Irvin and Julian Emery and is an international pop track in English and Spanish.

Who is your favourite artist to represent Spain in Copenhagen?

Allocation Draw results: Who's in which Semi-Final?

 

 

TopicsDREBUnewsCopenhagen2014drawpressallocationSemi-Finals

 

Copenhagen, Denmark - Moments ago, the Host City Insignia ceremony and the Semi-Final Allocation Draw for the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest took place at the City Hall in Copenhagen, Denmark. Check out which countries will participate in each Semi-Final next May.

For the seventh year in a row the day started with the Host City Insignia ceremony. It is the ceremony where the mayor of the previous host city - Malmö - Mr. Kent Andersson hands over the symbolic Host City keys to the mayor of the city that will do that in 2014, Copenhagen, Mr. Frank Jensen. Starting from that moment, it's officially Copenhagen's turn to take over the hosting responsibilities.

Host Insignia & Allocation Draw

Check out the Full gallery

Then the hosts of the allocation draw, Tine Gøtsche and Ulla Essendrop, announced it was time for the most exciting moment as all countries were drawn into the Semi-Finals as well as in either the first or the second part of the shows. The first Semi-Final has 16 participants and the second one 15 contestants.
You can watch the draw again here on our ESC TV Player!
See the results below!

First Semi-Final

First half

• Sweden
• Albania
• Iceland
• Russia
• Latvia
• Azerbaijan
• Armenia
• Estonia

Second half

• Belgium
• Hungary
• Moldova
• Montenegro
• San Marino
• Portugal
• Ukraine
• The Netherlands

Second Semi-Final

First half

• Norway
• Israel
• Georgia
• Austria
• Lithuania
• Poland
• Malta

Second half

• F.Y.R.Macedonia
• Finland
• Ireland
• Romania
• Slovenia
• Belarus
• Greece
• Switzerland

Norway and Sweden were already drawn into Semi-Finals to assure a fair allocation of tickets in the Nordic region. Israel will take part in the second Semi-Final due to the first Semi-Final falling on their Independence day.
It was also drawn which Semi-Final the already qualified countries, the so-called Big 5 - Germany, Spain, France, the UK, Italy - and the Host Country of Denmark will broadcast and vote in.
First Semi-Final

• Spain
• France
• Denmark

Second Semi-Final

• Germany
• Italy
• United Kingdom

The German broadcaster ARD requested to air and vote in the 2nd Semi-Final which was approved by the reference group. The whole process was overseen by the EBU Executive Supervisor Jon Ola Sand, the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest Executive Producer Pernille Gaardbo and Thomas Niedermeyer from Digame, the official voting partner.
The final running order of the shows will be decided by the producers of the show again this year and approved by the EBU Executive Supervisor and the Reference Group.
This year's Eurovision Song Contest will take place on the 6th, 8th and 10th of May in the Danish city of Copenhagen. 37 countries are set to take part in the 59th edition of Europe's favourite TV show.

Lithuania: A battle of artists and songs continues

"Eurovizijos" in Vilnius. Photo: D. Kaleininko (LRT)

Vilnius, Lithuania - For those who were following LRT’s Eurovision marathon from the very beginning, TV show “Eurovizijos” and its sixth edition, got a completely new dimension tonight! Some of the competing songs were finally performed and a battle of artists has continued. The outcome of tonight’s show: 7 finalists and 8 competing songs presented.

After the Second Round ended last Saturday (11th of January), the audience in Lithuania could finally hear 16 competing songs and vote for their favourite tracks on LRT’s official website (www.lrt.lt).
Tonight, in the Round Three, eight finalists performed half of the songs (8 out of 16) and the jury (Lithuanian and international) evaluated their performances. However, TV viewers across the country could vote as well and support their favourite singers, like in the previous shows. After all votes have been merged, 7 artists qualified for the next show and the first 8 out of 16 songs presented.

• Vilija Matačiūnaitė
• Mia
• Ieva Zasimauskaitė
• Vaidas Baumila
• Monika Linkytė
• VIG Roses
• Martynas Kavaliauskas

8 out of 16 competing songs performed

Previously in the show, TV audience in Lithuania and across Europe enjoyed following performances:

1. Mia “Take A Look At Me Now”
2. Vilija Matačiūnaitė “Attention”
3. Martynas Kavaliauskas “It’s Not Too Late”
4. Ieva Zasimauskaitė “One”
5. Vaidas Baumila “Dying”
6. Monika Linkytė “Breakaway”
7. Justinas Lapatinskas “Last Date”
8. VIG Roses “In The Rain”

The rest of the songs will be presented in the following episodes.

Lithuanian jury with a different cast

Not only that we heard some of the competing songs, being performed for the first time tonight, the Round Three brought us the Lithuanian jury with a different cast too. The members of Lithuanian panel in the Show #6 were: Vytenis Pauliukaitis, Darius Užkuraitis, Edmundas Seilius and Ramūnas Zilnys. Nevertheless, the international one was still consisted of three music professionals from Germany, Sweden and Russia (Brandon Stone, Liselott Bjork and Valerij Prosirov).

The next show is scheduled for the 25th of January (20:00 CET). So in less then a week, we will enjoy in another two-hour TV show with seven finalists performing the rest of the songs. From show to show, there will be less qualifiers and the final decision about the artist who is going to represent Lithuania at Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Denmark is going to be made on 15th of February.

All the shows have a webcast, so even if you are living outside of Lithuania, you can still follow LRT’s Eurovision marathon on the Internet.

Check competing songs online

Since last Saturday (11th of January, 20:00 CET), you can also hear and vote for the competing songs, that will be performed in the next few shows. “Following the standards of Eurovision Song Contest”, LRT and its team of music professionals have chosen 16 tracks. According to the Lithuanian national broadcaster, some of the songs were written by authors from other countries (Ireland, Spain, Sweden).

*If liked some song - you can vote here!

Check competing songs online

12

After you heard some of the songs, do you have any favourites?

Second UMK show completed in Finland

Hanna Sky got the remaining direct ticket for the final of UMK in Finland. Photo: YLE

 

Helsinki, Finland - The second semi-final of UMK, the Finnish national selection for the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest just took place. The second direct ticket for the final went for Hanna Sky with the song Hope. Four other acts progress to the second chance round and the band Makea was eliminated from the competition.

Tonight’s show, followed the same structure as in the previous week. First a warm up with the artists and then the live performances.
Here is the line-up of the second semi-final (finalist in bold):

• Makea - Painovoima (Makea)
• Lauri Mikkola - Going Down (Lauri Mikkola)
• Clarissa feat. Josh Standing - Top Of The World (Paul Oxley, David Neisser, Christian Rabb, Annette Lundell, Joshua Standing)
• Mikko Pohjola - Sängyn Reunalla (Mikko Pohjola)
• Madcraft - Shining Bright (Tom Nuorivaara, Juho Rinne, Jesse Mäläskä, Otto Uotila)
• Hanna Sky - Hope (Hanna Sky)

The professional jury made of Aija Puurtinen, Redrama, Tomi Saarinen and Toni Wirtanen expressed their thoughts after each performance. And after a break they gave marks to the entries. Their winner was Hanna Sky followed by Mikko. This is a screeshot of the jury results:

While the televotes were counted, the audience was treated to a performance of Musta Barbaari.
At the end of the show, the expert jury together with the audience votes decided to send Hanna Sky directly to the final. She will join Softengine there. Makea were eliminated and the other four, Mikko Pohjola, Madcraft, Clarissa feat. Josh and Lauri Mikkola will have a second chance in next week's show.
Hanna Sky has written music for as long as she can remember but only now is she ready to release her music for the world to hear. Her song Hope combines electronic pop with ethnic elements and is about – well, the meaning of hope in our everyday lives.

The second chance

Next Saturday the second chance round takes place with the following acts:

• MIAU - God/Drug (Anu Kaukola, Henna Juvonen)
• Dennis Fagerström - My Little Honey Bee (Dennis Fagerström, Michael James Down, Niklas Hast, Andreas Anastasiou, Primoz Poglajen)
• Hukka ja Mama - Selja (Lasse Hukka)
• Jasmin Michaela - Kertakäyttösydän (Mikko Kierikki, Jasmin Michaela, Jutta Annala, Johanna Viksten)
• Lauri Mikkola - Going Down (Lauri Mikkola)
• Clarissa feat. Josh Standing - Top Of The World (Paul Oxley, David Neisser, Christian Rabb, Annette Lundell, Joshua Standing)
• Mikko Pohjola - Sängyn Reunalla (Mikko Pohjola)
• Madcraft - Shining Bright (Tom Nuorivaara, Juho Rinne, Jesse Mäläskä, Otto Uotila)

Do you agree with tonight's results in Finland?

Romania is warming up for a big show

National selection in 2013. Photo: TVR

 

Bucharest, Romania - For this year, TVR announced one TV show for the 1st of March, when all artists and songs will be presented to the audience in Romania. Still, there are a lot of steps before the Grand Final and before decision about the Eurovision Song Contest representative from this country can be made. Since the 15th of January, applicants can and can do so until mid-February.

In comparing with national selection in 2013, Televiziunea Română (TVR) decided to produce only one TV show this year. In other words, contestants will have just one chance to present their songs in order to get enough of votes for a role of Romanian representative at Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen in May.
Another difference is that an artist or a composer cannot participate with two or more songs in the show anymore. Among other news things, during the Grand Final scheduled for the 1st of March (20:00 CET), TV viewers will be able to vote only once (from a single phone number), which means that this time, Romanian TV audience will have to think very wisely, who they are going to support, before giving a vote!
For the final decision, TVR is using the same pattern as the Eurovision Song Contest. That means, TV audience and jury are sharing their votes during the LIVE broadcast from Bucharest. At some point, all the votes will be merged and the winning song will be announced.
 

In anticipation of 12 finalists

The first phase of this year’s national selection in Romania already begun on the 15th of January. All artists and composers who believe that they have good songs can submit them until the 14th of February (authors from abroad are also welcome). A few days later, TVR’s jury will listen all the material and select only 12 entries. The names of those who qualified will be announced right away (on 19th and 20th of February).
As the final is planned for the 1st of March (just one week after the names of finalists and titles of the songs are going to be confirmed), there will not be a lot of time for a promotion. Nevertheless, TVR will assure that all the participants can count on “equal terms and the same media exposure during that period".
The Romanian national broadcaster is looking forward to create and produce another great TV show that will meet all the standards of a high-quality program with “great songs, entertaining hosts and excellent performers”.

What kind of song would you like to hear from Romania this year?

 

Slovenia joins Eurovision 2014, Semi-Final Allocation Draw on Monday

 

 

Copenhagen, Denmark - While it was announced that 36 countries would take part in the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest, the Slovenian broadcaster RTVSLO has decided to join the contest as well. Which countries will be in which Semi-Final will be decided on Monday at the Semi-Final Allocation Draw.

The Slovenian broadcaster had a final deadline for their decision on taking part in Copenhagen and have now confirmed they will indeed be competing in Copenhagen.
This means that this year's 37 participants are the broadcasters in Albania (RTSH), Armenia (AMPTV), Austria (ORF), Azerbaijan (Ictimai TV), Belarus (BTRC), Belgium (VRT), Denmark (DR), Estonia (ERR), Finland (YLE), France (France 3), Georgia (GPB), Germany (NDR), Greece (NERIT), Hungary (MTV), Iceland (RÚV), Ireland (RTÉ), Israel (IBA), Italy (RAI), Latvia (LTV), Lithuania (LRT), FYR Macedonia (MKRTV), Malta (PBS), Moldova (TRM), Montenegro (RTCG), the Netherlands (AvroTros), Norway (NRK), Poland (TVP), Portugal (RTP), Romania (TVR), Russia (RTR), San Marino (SRMTV), Slovenia (RTVSLO),Spain (TVE), Sweden (SVT), Switzerland (SRG SSR), United Kingdom (BBC) and Ukraine (NTU).

Time for a draw

The decision came just days before the so-called Semi-Final Allocation Draw where all Semi-Finalists will be drawn into their respective Semi-Finals. In addition to that the draw will decide which show will the pre-qualified countries of Denmark, France, Spain, Italy and the United Kingdom broadcast and vote in.
Germany will broadcast the second Semi-Final for scheduling reasons, as requested by their broadcaster NDR and approved by the Reference Group.
You can see the draw LIVE on Eurovision.tv, starting at 14.00 CET on Monday!
It'll also be drawn in which half of the shows they'll take part. This is done due to planning purposes for the delegations - the ones performing in the second half of the shows can arrive a day later in Copenhagen.

The pots

To create more excitement, like past years, the 30 countries will be allocated to 5 pots based on voting patterns from the previous nine years. The pots were calculated by the televoting partner Digame and are as follows:
Pot 1

• Albania
• FYR Macedonia
• Montenegro
• Slovenia
• Switzerland

Pot 2

• Estonia
• Finland
• Iceland
• Latvia
• Lithuania

Pot 3

• Azerbaijan
• Belarus
• Georgia
• Russia
• Ukraine

Pot 4

• Armenia
• Belgium
• Greece
• Ireland
• The Netherlands

Pot 5

• Austria
• Hungary
• Poland
• San Marino

Pot 6

• Malta
• Moldova
• Portugal
• Romania

Norway and Sweden were already previously drawn into Semi-Finals to assure a fair allocation of tickets in the Nordic region. Israel will take part in the second Semi-Final due to the first Semi-Final falling on their Independence day.
The whole process will be overseen by the EBU Executive Supervisor Jon Ola Sand and Thomas Niedermeyer from Digame.
The same day also the Host City Insignia handover ceremony will take place where the mayor of Malmö will hand over the symbolic Eurovision Song Contest host city keys to the mayor of Copenhagen.

Hosts for Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2014 revealed

Jacob Riising & Louise Wolff. Photo: DR

 

Copenhagen, Denmark - Two strong personalities have been chosen to lead Denmark through their national final, Dansk Melodi Grand Prix, which takes place in Odense on the 8th of March.

For the past two years, she has hosted Dansk Melodi Grand Prix. He has transitioned into the word of grown-up TV after having presented the children’s MGP four times. Now, Louise Wolff and Jacob Riising are together going to guide the viewers, audience and artists through the evening of Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2014.
”Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2014 is going to be something very special. At Arena Fyn on the 8th of March we are going to find the team that will defend the Danish colours and win a historic victory on home turf at the Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen in May. I am very happy that we have two brilliantly charming and extremely talented hosts that wil l lead the show in Odense”, says DR’s Entertainment Editor, Rasmus Ladefoged.

Louise Wolff

Louise Wolf first stood on the huge Dansk Melodi Grand Prix stage with Emil Thorup by her side at the Gigantium Arena in Aalborg in 2012, whilst last she year she formed a threesome with Sofie Lassen-Kahlke and Lise Rønne at Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2013 at the Boxen Arena in Herning. She has also hosted large TV events such as Danmarksindsamlingen and Året der gik since 2012 as well as functioning as a permanent host of Aftenshowet.

Jacob Riising

Jacob Riising hosted the children’s MGP in 2005. Since then he has hosted the show in 200, 2012 and 2013 with the bear Bruno, Sofie Lassen-Kahlke and Szhirley by his side. In addition to being the host of a series popular children’s programs, he has hosted the DR2 show Landeplagen and most recently the quiz-show Hvem var det nu vi var on DR1.

Odense is this year’s Dansk Melodi Grand Prix city

Back in September 2013, Odense was revealed as the host city for this year’s Dansk Melodi Grand Prix and the residents of the island of Funen are ready to put on their party gear and warm up to one heck of a show with many musical activities and events planned in the lead up to Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2014 on the 8th of March and the children’s MGP on the 15th of March. Both shows will be held at Arena Fyn, where there is space for approximately 4000 people in the audience. Tickets are still available for the show on the 8th of March and the dress rehearsals on the 7th and 14th of March, whilst the children’s MGP on the 15th of March is sold out.

Emmelie tribute

Last year Emmelie de Forest won Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2013 in Herning with the song Only Teardrops, written by Lise Cabble, Julia Frabrin Jacobsen and Thomas Steensgaard, and just a few months later she secured a Danish win at the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö. Right now, DR’s Dansk Melodi Grand Prix team are calling for Danes to send in pictures of their Emmelie moment, which will be shown during Dansk Melodi Grand Prix on the 8th of March.
The 2014 Eurovision Song Contest will take place on the 6th, 8th and 10th of May at the B&W-Hallerne on Refshaleøen in Copenhagen, where as host country, Denmark is automatically qualified to the Grand Final on the 10th of May.

Will you be watching DMGP 2014?

DR to take a close look at artists in 'postcards'

Last year, SVT presented personal moments of the artists in the postcards. Photo: SVT

 

Copenhagen, Denmark - This year, the Host Broadcaster of the Eurovision Song Contest, DR is set to take a closer look at the participants during the shows in May and let viewers all over the world get to know the artists.

"We will be closer to the participants. You as a viewer should get the feeling you know the artist who is on the stage," Jan Lagermand Lundme, DR’s Show Producer explains the thinking behind this year’s shows.
This means that in the clips that are played between the songs, so-called postcards, will concentrate on the artist that will be on the stage next.
Thus, artists are being asked by take an even more active role in creating the short clips by asking them to interpret the flag of their country. Through that, the viewers will get to know the artist as well as the country itself.
"The success criteria for the postcards is that each country feels that they and their artists are represented in the best possible way. If a viewer afterwards feels that they are more familiar with the country and its artist, we have succeeded," Lagermand Lundme concludes.
Film crews will be sent to all participating countries and the clips will be produced by Treshow Film Production.

The 10 Craziest Eurovision Interval Act Ideas

Graphic: DR

 

Copenhagen, Denmark - Thousands of Europeans have already taken part in the campaign #MyEurovisionIdea, where you can be part of deciding the entertainment for the Eurovision Song Contest in May. See the craziest ideas here.

Do you want to help decide how the entertainment for one of the three live shows of the Eurovision Song Contest will look in May? If yes, then it is now that you need to send us your best ideas by sharing them on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and using the hashtag #MyEurovisionIdea.
By doing that you will be taking part in a campaign using the same name, which has been going since December. With the help of the users’ ideas, this will create the ultimate Eurovision-act in one of the three shows on the 6th, 8th or 10th of May.
You do, however, need to hurry if you want to play your part! This is because thousands of Eurovision Song Contest fans all over Europe have already shared their ideas on social media. Below you can see a list of the 10 craziest ideas:

• ”My Eurovision idea is the world’s biggest hugging marathon – one minute where the whole world hugs each other” @carstenborch
• ”Mermaids sitting on rocks like The Little Mermaid, will dive down into a giant aquarium and perform a sensual underwater dance” @indanaimprov
• ”Everyone in the audience will be given a coloured helium balloon and during the interval act the roof of B&W-Hallerne will open and everyone will send their balloons into the air” Daniel James Clark
• ”Make the world’s biggest ’smørrebrød’ (Danish open sandwich) live on stage and serve it at the after party” @Madinagoodway
• ”A background of stop/go-animation in Lego. Dancers in bacon dresses sitting on Arne Jacobsen furniture dancing to Junior Senior” @mrs_forky
• ”Everyone in the world will eat Danish sausages at the same time” @TheotherRB
• ”Let the fans give out the points!” @ESCJessicaUK
• ”One Direction will perform!” dorisramirez
• ”Bring the orchestra back, or at least drop the ban on live-music, which has been in place since 2004” @shanehenegan
• ”Send all the song files from the final into outer space in a time capsule with live recordings from NSA on the stage’s big screen”. @Madinagoodway

Have you shared your #MyEurovisionIdea?

Eurovision Final interval act based on audience input

#JoinUs with your #MyEurovisionIdea. Copyright: DR/EBU

Copenhagen, Denmark - Since the end of December, the Host Broadcaster of the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest, DR, has been asking Europe what the best interval act for the show would be, and thousands of ideas from all corners of the continent have found their way to social media. Now they revealed that those ideas will be a part of the Final.

Jan Lagermand Lundme, Head of Show at DR, is impressed by the creativity behind the ideas: "We have received such an overwhelming number of fantastic ideas that we have now taken the decision to include the result of the contributions – the interval act based on the ideas – as part of the Final of the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest!
"That said, we are far from done yet – we’ll enthusiastically accept more wild and spectacular ideas for acts that have never been seen on stage before. I don’t want to give too much away, but this will not be the last time we’ll ask for ideas and contributions from viewers and fans everywhere," he adds.
The thousands of ideas tagged with #MyEurovisionIdea ooze of creativity and inspiration. Some of the ideas include live mermaids, Lego bricks, Vikings, Eurovision legends like Celine Dion and ABBA and even a hug-a-thon with hugs from viewer to viewer throughout Europe.

How you can be a part of it:

1. Think of an idea for the ultimate interval act for the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest
2. Share your idea on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram - and use the hashtag #MyEurovisionIdea
3. Remember that your status on Facebook to be public, and your privacy settings must be set to public on Instagram, so DR can see your suggestion
4. The most amazing ideas become reality on TV in May 2014!

You can send in your ideas till the 31st of January. You can also read how it works exactly on JoinUs.dk and check out the wonderful ideas and wishes sent in.

 

Maria Yaremchuk is the Ukrainian winner!

Maria Yaremchuk, the winner in the Ukrainian national selection. Source: Maria's VK profile

 

Kyiv, Ukraine - Ukraine is the first country in this season to choose their entry in the national selection, broadcast on eurovision.tv! 20 performers with completely different musical styles made altogether an amazing show in Kyiv. At the end, the TV viewers and the expert jury chose the strongest entry that will represent Ukraine in Copenhagen. It is Maria Yaremchuk with her song Tick-Tock!

In the beginning of the show, the hosts Timur Myroshnychenko and his beautiful colleague Tetyna Terehova explained the rules of voting. The winner of the Ukrainian national selection has been chosen by a 50/50 decision of the professional jury and the sms-voting public. Only one sms was allowed from every mobile phone. The voting started just after the last song has been performed.
Most participants in today’s show reached their breakthrough in their musical career by taking part in one of the popular Ukrainian TV projects or music talent shows like Chance, Voice Of The Country or X-Factor. The duet Anna-Maria who open the Ukrainian national selection with their ballad 5 Stars Hotel, became popular through Chance where the twin sisters scored the highest number of voices.

Ukrainian national final

 

Check out the Full gallery

Among the contestant there were singers who have already tried their luck in the Eurovision Song Contest. Roman Polonsky tried his luck in the Russian and Ukrainian national qualifying rounds in 2005. Volodymyr Tkachenko participated in the pre-rounds in 2006, 2010 and 2011. Shanis performed in the Ukrainian national final in 2011. Victoria Petryk participated in the 2008 Junior Eurovision Song Contest. She came second with her song Matrosy (Sailors). Today she sang Love Is Lord.

The participants performed in English, Russian and Ukrainian. Volodymyr Tkachenko chose his song Buty, Tam De Ty (Be Where You Are) in Ukrainian because, as he said, it’s a beautiful language and he wants everybody to listen to it.
After all 20 entries had been performed, the audience was entertained by Sofia Tarasova who participated in the 2013 Junior Song Contest. Famous Ukrainian singers Masha Sobko, Nataliya Buchynska, Kamalia, Matias performed on stage in the NTU studio. Mika Newton, the participant in the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest came to support today's finalists. And of course, the charming Zlata Ognevich performed for the audience.
It the end, the audience gave the highest number of votes to Maria Yaremchuk and her up-tempo pop song Tick-Tock. The jury has also decided for Maria!

Maria Yaremchuk -Tick-Tock! (Winner National Final 2014 Ukraine)

 

What do you think of the Ukrainian choice? Tell us below!

Mei Feingold to fly the Israeli flag in Copenhagen

 

Jerusalem, Israel - The Israeli broadcaster, IBA, has announced that Mei Feingold has been chosen internally to represent Israel at the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen.

After holding a large national selection last year, IBA decided this year to downsize this and instead went for an internal selection where three artists were all in contention for the coveted honour of representing their country in Denmark in May.
Also in the running were Maya Buskila and Ela Doron, but in the end the IBA committe went with Mei Feingold, who has had a successful career at home in Israel.

A private national final

IBA have informed us that a private national selection will take place for Mei, with three songs in the run. These will partly be submitted by Mei herself, with further contributions coming from the public.
Mei Feingold participated in the final of the Israeli idol show Kochav Nolad, where former Israeli representatives Shiri Maimon (2005), Boaz Mauda (2008) and Harel Ska'at (2010) took part as well. She also plays in several musicals and was the solist of the band Limousine Express.
Yitzhack Sonnenshine, the Israeli HoD, said about the selection of Mei: "I would like to thank all committee members and the IBA representatives who are the best in the local music industry. I believe in our choice and wish the best of luck to Mei Feingold. The main mission is now in front of us, which is selecting the song that will represent Israel in the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest".
You can see a video of Mei performing the song Mexsico below to get a taste of what she is about:

 

Israel will take part in one of the two Semi-Finals of the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest being held on the 6th and 8th of May at the B&W-Hallerne on Refshaleøen in Copenhagen, Denmark. The final will be held on the 10th of May.
In Malmö last year, Moran Mazor failed to qualitify to the Grand Final, with her song Rak bishvilo.

What do you think of this choice?