Melodifestivalen 07 - The singers and the songs

SVT has made public the names of the singer that will be competing in the MF 07. After seeing this list I have a strong feelling that we will be seing Nanne Grönvall singing for Sweden in Helsinki, unless her song totally sucks, which I dont think can ever happen. I like her but I can't say I'm crazy about her. Other big names are also present, the former Alcazar boys, Tommy Nilsson, Anna Book, Jessica Anderson, Andreas Johnson, Sonja Aldén, Sanna Nilsen and of course the absolutly fabulous After dark, whom I suspect will be among my top favourites. Now all we have to do is wait for the songs...

Here is the list with the names of the singers and their songs. Go to esctoday.com to see the full semi-final's line up. In the 3rd semi is almost a final in itself with Nanne, Sonja, Magnus Carlsson and The Attich feat. Therese!

Andersson & Gibson - Anything but you
Addis Black Widow - Clubbin
Sofia Berntson - Hypntized
Tommy Nilsson - Jag tror på människan
Elin Lanto - Money
Andreas Lundstedt - Move
Anna Book - Samba sambero
Lustans lakejer - Allt vi en gång trodde på
Jimmy Jansson - Amanda
Svante Thuresson & Anne-Lie Rydé - Första gången
Jessica Andersson - Kom
Regina Lund - Rainbow star
Malin Lindberg - Trying to recall
Cosmo4 - What´s your name
Måns Zelmerlöw - Cara mia
MissMatch - Drop dead
Sonja Aldén - För att du finns
Kapell Sheida - I mina drömmar
Nanne Grönvall - Jag måste kyssa dig
Magnus Carlsson - Live forever
The Attic feat. Therese - The arrival
Andreas Johnson - A little bit of love
Sarah Dawn Finer - I remember love
Verona - La musica
After Dark - Åh, när ni tar saken i egna händer
Caroline af Ugglas - Tror på dig
Emil Azar - Vi hade nåt
Sanna Nielsen - Vågar du, vågar jag

Song of the week: You huledet

It's my birthday today so what better song to post as Song of the week then the 1999 Israeli entry You huledet - Happy Birthday sang by the boy's band Eden in Jerusalem. It was one of my favourite songs in that contest and it reached 5th place with 93 points. If you want to see Eden performing in the big night click here. Happy Birthday everybody!

Happy Birthday

(Happy birthday, happy birthday)

This is the day for the dream, we will go crazy together
It's a celebration, it comes to me once a year

Happy birthday to you, dreams will come true
If we party and dance till morning (We will dream)
Happy birthday to you, may the years pass
With fun, with happiness and joy, always
(Come on, bring it to me now)

Children grow old (Oh yeah...)
Another year passes by (Hey...)
It's a celebration, it comes to me once a year

Happy birthday to you, dreams will come true
(Havin' a birthday, we're givin' a birthday)
If we party and dance till morning (We will dream)
Happy birthday to you, may the years pass
With fun, with happiness and joy, always

With a reason for a party
(I got a reason to party)
It's my party (It's my party)
La di da di... (Hey...)

Nana nanana... (Everybody singin')
Nana nanana... (Everybody movin')
Nana nanana... (Everybody singin')
Nana nanana... (Everybody movin')

(It's my party) Nana nanana...
(Party-hardy) Nana nanana...
(It's my party) Nana nanana...
(Party-hardy) Nana nanana...
Yeah, come on

Happy birthday to you, dreams will come true
If we party and dance till morning
Happy birthday to you, may the years pass
With fun, with happiness and joy

Happy birthday to you, dreams will come true
If we party and dance till morning, always, always
Happy birthday

Introducing the super extra wonderfull Nina

Here we go for another spin in the wonderfull and always surprising world of the national finals. This time I bring you the young Nina singing the song Super extra wonder shop!

This song ended last in the 1973 Finnish final... Poor Nina.

Song of the week: Bitakat hob

At a time when the rumours about who is in and who is out of the next ESC are still going around I would like to express my desire to see one other country returning to Eurovision: Marocco. They took part only once, in 1980 with the song Bitakat hob sang by Samira Bensaid. Althoug this song is considered by many today, including myself, to be a very good song it didn't impress the jury back in 1980 gaining only 7 points from Italy and the 18th place among 19 participating countries. The singer Samira Bensaid is untill this day one of the leading singers of her country and she is also very popular among other Arabic states, specially Egypt.

Click here to see Samira performing in Amsterdam and here if you would like to see the videoclip of the song.

Message of love

We're the children of the whole world
We're asking for a life of satisfaction and happiness
There's no envy, there's no fire
Nor feuding between neighbours

We're the children of the whole world
We're asking for a life of satisfaction and happiness
There's no envy, there's no fire
Nor feuding between neighbours

There's no difference in colour
We originated as one, we're united
The wars have ended in the world
Life is now full of peace

There's no difference in colour
We originated as one, we're united
The wars have ended in the world
Life is now full of peace

May you find security, equality and prosperity
May you find loyalty and great love
This is our passionate greeting card
It includes something beautiful from each neighbour

This is our prayer
This is what has been granted
We're the children of the whole world
We're asking for a life of satisfaction and happiness

La lalalala...
Lala lalalala...
Lala lalalala...
Lalalala lala lala...

La lalalala...
Lala lalalala...
Lala lalalala...
Lalalala lala lala...

Melodifestivalen 07: Linda Bengtzing

The new schlager princess!

Linda Bengtzing came to stardom as a contestant in the 4th edition of the Swedish Fame Factory. She made her Mf debut in 2005 with the song Alla flickor wich endend last in the final but still managed to reach the 8th position in the Swedish chart's. In 2006 she competed again in Mf with the song Jag Ljuger Så Bra, her greatest sucess until this date. The song ended 7th in the final and reached 2nd place in the charts.

http://www.lindabengtzing.com/

ESC 2007: Irish entry and the Finnish hopefuls

Ireland

Eurovision champion Ireland decided to return to the origens and send folk group Dervish (photo above) to represent RTE in Helsinki. The last Irish victory was back in 1996 with Eimear Quinn and the celtic ballad The Voice, so maybe they are trying to repeat a winning strategy insteed of going for another male ballad that could be considered a bit repetitive after last year's Every song is a cry for love. Also, in recent ESC history Belgium group Urban Trad reached 2nd place in 2003 with the song Sanomi, a folk inspired song. I'm not exactly crazy about this Irish choice but I'm not dissapointed either, I will need to listen to the song first to make my judgment.

***

Finland

Host broadcaster YLE has announced the list of the 12 acts that will be hopping to represent Finland in the upcomming ESC. General reactions to this names seems to be one of disappointment. Their 2002 entry Laura will give the ESC another try and is comming up has the big fan favourite. From what I could listen so far the most interessanting act seems to be Katra (pic above), a singer that mixes and operatic voice with rock music. The Beach Boys wanna be's Jani & Jetsetters also seem like fun.
Here is a list of the 12 Finnish hopefuls and their websites so you take a sneak peak at their works:
1. Beats and Styles - www.beatsandstyles.com
2. Hanna Pakarinen - www.hanna-pakarinen.com
3. Humane - www.humanemusic.com
4. Jani & Jetsetters - www.jetsetters.fi
5. Jann Wilde & Rose Avenue - www.jwra.net
6. Johanna Kurkela - www.wmserver.net/johannakurkela
7. Jukka Kuoppamäki
8. Katra - www.katra.fi
9. Kentala - http://www.kentala.net
10. Laura - http://www.lauravoutilainen.fi/
11. Lovex - www.lovex.fi
12. Thunderstone - http://www.thunderstone.org/

Song of the week: Gori vatra

For the fist time I will be posting a song from Yugoslavia in Song of the week. I choose their 1973 representative Gori vatra, sang in the bosnian language by Zdravko Čolić. This song is in my opinion among the best Yugoslavia entries in ESC, although I must say Yugoslavia had a very high standart participation throughout the years culminating with their 1989 victory. Gori vatra reached only 15th place among 17 in 1973, scoring 65 points.

You can relive Zdravko's excelente performence by clicking here.

The fire is burning

It's still burning, here beside us
Fire of love we had ignited
The flame is growing, the light is expanding
Closer and closer is the day when we'll say

The fire burns, inside us
Love burns, full of flames
Am I dreaming, or is it really this beautiful
Or did I, my dear, fall in love with you, crazily and blindly
Come now, come now, come now
Say that, say that

The fire burns inside us now
Love burns, full of flames
The fire burns

It's still burning, here beside us
Fire of love we ignited
Na na na na na... na na na na na...
Na na na na na... na na na na na na na...

The fire burns, inside us
Love burns, full of flames
Am I dreaming, or is it really this beautiful
Or did I, my dear, fall in love with you, crazily and blindly
Come now, come now, come now
Say that, say that

The fire burns inside us now
Love burns, full of flames

The fire burns inside us now
Love burns, full of flames
The fire burns

Melodifestivalen 07 - Andreas Johnson

Will he sing for us...

Andreas Johnson made quite and impressive debut at Melodifestivalen last year. His Beatles/ british pop inspired Sing for me reached 3rd place in the final, having score 1st place among the jurys (with 5 top marks in 11) and 3rd place in the televote. This year we know that he is one of the composers of the song A little bit of love but its still uncertain if he will be also performing it.

http://www.andreas-johnson.com/

Melodifestivalen 07 - Sarek

Ethnic music with a pop feelling...

The group Sarek made their Mf debut in 2003 with the song Genom eld och vatten, winning the semi-final but comming only in 6th place in the Globen final. In 2004 they made another try at representing Sweden with the song Alvorna, a song where the ethnic element was more visible and maybe because of that they ended 4th in their semi and went to the second chance where they came in 5th place.
A song in their style could be a nice chance for Sweden since their other ethnic style, the ABBA songs, seems to be leaving them stuck in 5th place.

www.sarekonline.com