Tonight: Estonia chooses its Eesti Laul for Denmark

Sandra Nurmsalu (right), one of tonight's favourites.

 

Tallinn, Estonia - Tonight, Estonia will decide the song and artist that will represent the Baltic state in Copenhagen at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest in May and you can watch it with us right here on Eurovision.tv.

Tonight, the Nokia Concert Hall in Tallinn will play host to the Final of the 2014 edition of Eesti Laul, where Estonia will choose its entry for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest, taking place in Copenhagen, Denmark in May.
This year is especially prudent for Estonia as the last time the competition was held in Denmark, Tanel Padar and Dave Benton took home victory with their song, Everybody bringing the contest home to Tallinn in 2002, where it was held at the Saku Suurhall.

The line-up

Tonight, ten acts will battle it out for the right to represent their country on the Eurovision stage in Copenhagen. After making it through the Semi-Final stage, they are all eager to achieve the ultimate prize.
These are the ten particpants, in their order of appearance during tonight's show:

1. Brigita Murutar - Laule täis taevakaar
2. Traffic - Für Elise
3. Norman Salumäe - Search
4. Wilhelm - Resignal
5. Lenna - Supernoova
6. Super Hot Cosmos Blues Band - Maybe-Maybe
7. Maiken - Siin või sealpool maad
8. Kõrsikud - Tule Ja Jää
9. Tanja - Amazing
10. Sandra Nurmsalu - Kui tuuled pöörduvad

Eesti Laul 2014

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Where to watch

Well now this is surely a no-brainer! We will be broadcasting Eesti Laul 2014 LIVE right here at Eurovision.tv. All you need to do is visit our ESCTV player and we'll sort the rest! The show starts at 20:35 CET.
Estonia will take part in the first Semi-Final of the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest, which takes place at the B&W-Hallerne on Refshaleøen in Copenhagen on the 6th of May. The Grand Final takes place on the 10th of May.

Who do you want to win tonight?

First five acts through to Final in Estonia

Tanja, one of tonight's qualifiers.

Tallinn, Estonia - Tonight, the first Semi-Final of the Estonian national selection, Eesti Laul 2014 took place where five acts qualified to the Grand Final.

Estonia has one of the more popular national selections in Europe, with a focus on talent and the Estonian language.
In recent years, Estonia's results at the Eurovision Song Contest have been mixed but this year broadcaster ERR are very keen to secure the country a good spot in Copenhagen in just a few months time.

The qualifiers

Tonight the following five acts qualified to the Final, which will be held at the Nokia Concert Hall in Tallinn on the 1st of March:

• Kõrsikud - Tule Ja Jää - Kõrsikud
• Wilhelm - Resignal - Lauri Kadalipp
• Tanja - Amazing - Timo Vendt & Tatjana Mihhailova
• Lenna - Supernoova - Mihkel Raud
• Super Hot Cosmos Blues Band - Maybe-Maybe - Mati Sütt, Janno Reim

The participants

Tonight the following ten acts competed for the five places in the Final (qualifiers marked in bold):

1. Tanja - Amazing - Written by Timo Vendt & Tatjana Mihhailova
2. The Titles - Flame - Rasmus Lill, Markus Rafael Nylund
3. Wilhelm - Resignal - Lauri Kadalipp
4. State of Zoe - Solina - Anneliis Kits, Sander Mölder
5. Nimmerschmidt - Sandra - Fredy Schmidt, Andero Nimmer, Merilyn Merisalu
6. VÖÖRAD - Maailm On Hull - Priit Uustulnd, Meiko Umal
7. Super Hot Cosmos Blues Band - Maybe-Maybe - Mati Sütt, Janno Reim
8. August Hunt - Kus On EXIT? - August Hunt
9. Kõrsikud - Tule Ja Jää - Kõrsikud
10. Lenna - Supernoova - Mihkel Raud

Estonia will take part in the first Semi-Final of the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest, which takes place at the B&W-Hallerne on Refshaleøen in Copenhagen on the 6th of May. The Grand Final takes place on the 10th of May.

Are you happy with the result tonight?

Estonia: ERR confirms details of Eesti Laul 2014

 

Estonia: ERR confirms details of Eesti Laul 2014

Tallinn, Estonia -

With a distinct focus on attracting new Estonian music, broadcaster ERR has revealed details of its popular national selection format, Eesti Laul 2014, with the Grand Final set for the 1st of March.

In recent years, Estonia has seen an upsurge in popularity of its own music and its national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, Eesti Laul, is no exception to this rule.

Launching the 2014 edition of its National Selection, broadcaster ERR is focused on attracting new Estonian music to compete in Eesti Laul. For the past two years Estonia has chosen songs in the Estonian language: Ott Lepland with Kuula in 2012 and Birgit Õigemeel with Et uus saaks alguse in 2013.

 

The process

ERR has set out the process for Eesti Laul 2014 with a submission deadline for entries set at 15:00 EET on the 9th of December.

After this a jury will pick 20 songs to compete in the two Semi-Finals set to take place on the 14th and 21st of February. The songs and participants will be revealed by the 13th of December.

The Grand Final will take place on the 1st of March where the qualifiers from the Semi-Finals will compete for the right to represent Estonia in one of the two Semi-Finals of the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen, Denmark on the 6th and 8th of May. The Grand Final takes place on the 10th of May.

A successful format

During the history of the contest in Estonia, an impressive 721 songs have been submitted making Eesti Laul a catalyst for Estonian music, being the biggest platform for this in the country, where success can be achieved even if you don't win.

An example of this is the group Winny Puhh who entered Eesti Laul in 2013 with the song Meiecundimees üks Korsakov läks eile Lätti. The band have since had much success at home and abroad, recently performing at the Paris Fashion Week.

Interest in the format for Eesti Laul has also been extensive, with countries such as Finland and Latvia basing their own national selections on Eesti Laul. Interest has also been shown in the format from Norway, Sweden and Bulgaria. In addition, a 10 strong delegation from Finland attended the Grand Final of Eesti Laul earlier this year.

Mart Normet from broadcaster ERR said, "Eesti Laul seems to spread like a virus; its positive impact proven to us".

Could history repeat itself?

The last time the Eurovision Song Contest was held in Copenhagen (in 2001), Estonia's Tanel Padar and Dave Benton won the competition with the song Everybody. Now that we are a returning to the Danish captial for the 2014 contest, could history be set to repeat itself? Estonia certainly hopes so!

Stay tuned to Eurovision.tv for more news of Eesti Laul 2014.

Will you be watching Eesti Laul 2014?