Denmark’s European of the year and the latest winner of the Eurovision Song Contest, Emmelie de Forest, is scheduled to perform at Festivali i Kenges 52, the show which selects Albania’s participant for the Eurovision Song Contest. Alongside Emmelie, Albanian singer and winner of The Voice of Italy 2013, Elhaida Dani, will also be performing. You may remember Elhaida from …
Join Us: Theme art revealed for 2014
DR, Denmark’s hosting broadcaster for Eurovision 2014, have revealed their themed artwork and designs for the contest next year. The rather underwhelming design showcased include coasters and the Eurovision CD, as well as a general back-shot. The art, based on diamonds, is joined, for the first time, by a hashtag. Is this a sign of times moving on, or just …
3 new Festivali i Këngës hosts announced
RTSH, the Albanian broadcaster, today announced new hosts for their national selection and most popular music festival Festivali i Këngës. With only one week to go, Diellza Kolgeci – a fashion icon from Kosovo – withdrew from her role as the Festivali i Këngës host. So RTSH have decided to take a new approach to the hosting. For the semi-finals, …
The Language Rule: How much does English help?
The content of this editorial does not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of ESC United, its editorial board or its readers. Starting in 1999, the EBU allowed countries to sing in any language, whereas before songs had to be in a country’s native language(s). Because English is a widely spoken second language, the older rule gave an unfair advantage …
Hungary: A Dal participants announced
The Hungarian public broadcaster MTVA announced the 30 acts chosen to take part in ‘A Dal’ the popular National Final show. The entries were chosen internally by a professional jury: •Elmaradt pillanatok – Gájer Bálint •Morning Light (Reggeli fény) – Marge •This Is My Life (Ez az életem) – Musicfabrik •Break Up – Lil C •Karcolás (Rise Again) – Polyák …
Albania releases names of participants
The Albanian broadcaster RTSH released the names of the 16 participants taking part in Festivali i Këngës 52, the Albanian National Final show. On December 26 & 27 eight songs will be performed each night and unlike a normal Semi Final where some songs are eliminated, all acts will perform on the big Final night scheduled December 28th . Running Order …
Mija Martina flares up racist scandal
Just as the former Yugoslav countries have been shocked by the pro-Nazi chants by Croatian football player Josip Simunic, a new scandal flares up, involving a former Eurovision entrant! Simunic, after Croatia won the qualifying game for the World Cup in 2014 against Iceland, walked onto the stadium field and chanted a pro-Nazi chant used in the Croatian puppet state …
EXCLUSIVE: Slovenia heading to Copenhagen (kind of)!
In yet another surprising Eurovision twist, RTV SLO has announced today that Slovenia has actually submitted their application for participation in Copenhagen! The unexpected news was published on the broadcaster’s website, noting that they sent in their application at eve of the deadline. However, the confirmation is only semi-official. Just like last year, the Slovene broadcaster is using one of …
Slovenia not likely participant?
With only one day left before the EBU’s deadline for broadcasters to announce their participation in the upcoming Contest, some countries seem less likely than others to participate. One of them is, sadly, Slovenia. The Slovene-based (and also Slovene-speaking) website Eurovizija has been publishing rather bleak articles in the past week. One entitled “Black Clouds over Eurovision and the Entertainment Programme …
Malta Reveals Details For 2014 National Selection
Maltese broadcaster PBS has announced the format for their national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 via Eurovision.tv. PBS is now taking submissions, of which 20 will be chosen to compete in a semifinal, compared to last year’s 24. From there, 14 entries will be chosen to compete in a final. The event will take place sometime in January …