Good Morning! The editorial team of escflashmalta.com in collaboration with Radio International and escXtra.com will be bringing you all of the latest news directly as it happens from Malmö, Sweden. With an audio stream being presented by our latter partners, we are able to bring you also the reports from the rehearsals, something which everyone has become accustomed to in recent years. The European Broadcasting Union has decided to close off the rehearsals to the media in the first week with only viewing purposes set-up in what seems to be a cinema. The first day did not have a lot of drama noting that whilst Ukraine fell short of expectations, Estonia clearly surprised many present and that could already be the beginning of more things to come.

Today, another eight (8) countries will be rehearsing and we would like to apologise for some delays that you might encounter in our updates later on within the day. All videos will be made available by the official website during the course of the day and we would like to thank the media team for all of their sterling work. All of the entries being rehearsed today are from the first semi-final as it is officially brought to a close prior to the commencement of rehearsals for the second semi-final where Gianluca will be performing Tomorrow co-written by Boris Cezek and Dean Muscat on behalf of Malta. The second part of the first semi-final are most quiet when it comes to analysing on who could possibly qualify but nevertheless, one will be sure of a couple of surprises, maybe in the form of Cyprus and Moldova who are somewhat changing the opinion of people. Once more, we ask you to be patient whilst staying tuned to escflashmalta.com during the whole forthnight.

Montenegro

Well, kicking off things today is Montenegro, a country which is yet to succeed in terms of qualification. Nevertheless, things are very positive for this entry noting that 'Who See' along with Nina Zizic have no tuning issues and are making the best possible use of the stage. There had been doubts over whether this type of song would have been performed well when it came to the live performance but after a couple of runs, this seems to be the case. As expected, this is visually stunning in the same manner that Slovenia as an up-tempo stood out. It is slightly darker in the beginning with green smoke and all and lightens up towards a refrain.

Belgium

Roberto Bellarosa was the winner of the first edition of The Voice of Belgium but it makes you wonder at how bad the other contestants actually were because it seems that the vocals are not getting better considering that there are multiple runs. The staging of this song is done in a clever manner noting that there are two female dancers and three backing vocalists. Everyone is also donning black attire for some reason. The backdrop is relatively simple but laid down in blue with the lyrics of the chorus making an appearance. The song itself is modern and catchy and could be in with a chance should Roberto improve his vocals. 

Belarus

This is one of the entries which prior to the start of rehearsals was touted to qualify with relative ease and achieve the second best result for Belarus at the Eurovision Song Contest. Alyona looks absolutely stunning and everything on stage seems to be shining in glitter. She is joined on stage by a number of people including three backing vocalists and teo male dancers. Everyone is clothed at this point in time and one could easily notice that they are rehearsing in full costumes. The vocals are on key but the choreography apparently needs a bit of work according to our colleagues watching the rehearsal as it is falling a bit flat. 

Moldova

Aliona Moon, last years' backing vocalist for Moldova takes to the stage in a dress which is made out of LED's, similar to the one she had in the national final and to the one used by Sabina Babayeva when she represented Azerbaijan last year. She kicks off the rehearsal singing in English before she switches to Romanian. The vocals themselves were slightly erratic in the first run but were perfected along the way as more run throughs took place. At the end of the song, she is lifted up slightly into the air creating a very intriguing effect, Melodifestivalen style. The press enjoyed the performance and this should sail onto the final.

Ireland

One of the most successful countries to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest is Ireland and they have entered the final for the past three years. This year was looking like a far simpler task but I am not entirely getting the element behind Only Love Survives. I was not a fan of the song during the national selection having supported Aimee and Crashing Down. In Scandinavia there has been a lot of positive acclaim but even though the backing vocals are pulling this one through, Ryan is still pretty much ineffective. The idea of having male shirtless dancers might get it a better tele-vote than required. It might be an issue to get jury votes but nonetheless, this is a technical rehearsal.

Cyprus

One of the few female ballads in the second part of the draw within this first semi-final. On the night, this will be followed by Roberto Bellarosa and therefore, Despina need not do much in order to stand out. Cyprus have internally selected a simple ballad and as a matter of fact things are extremely simple in terms of presentation which is also well thought of at this stage. Despina is wearing a gorgeous nude dress with black lace surrounding it profusely. The vocals are stunning, better than I expected especially towards the end but nevertheless, this is working well following Ireland and preceding Belgium. I think that this could very much manage to qualify, taking the place of what could have been an earlier definite qualifier.

Lithuania

Andrius Pojavis who will actually be performing in the same slot that Roberto Bellarosa performed earlier this afternoon is now on stage and he is wearing black leather, which seems to be a precedent when it comes to male soloists. In a number of performances and video interviews, the performer has not come across well but rather scary and that is still the case despite having a good set of vocals. He is also joined on stage by four backing vocals, three of them being male with the other one being female. According to our colleagues within the theatre where rehearsals are being viewed, there was no applause at all for this one and that could only mean that Lithuania might be staying in the semi-final for the first time in three years. 

Serbia

Once more, the background of vocals becomes noted for the simple reason that the trio known as Moje 3 were the top three of The Voice in Serbia. They have decided to completely alter their outfits from the national final which is not a bad idea, unless you believe that the outfits they have come up with are more intriguing. Before they used to tell a story through the outfits but this element has now been lost. There is a rather hectic choreography by the three girls which does affect their voices but not to the extent of falling flat. This does sound pretty nice and considering the track that precedes it, somewhat sounds like a masterpiece. Serbia will once more move into the final where they won't cause any harm.

Whilst everyone is entitled to an opinion, escflashmalta.com has called upon six individuals who are professionals in music with several successes within their respective careers. Apart from passing on their comments, they also passed on individual scores for each entry as well as a collective top ten which we counted to come up with ten qualifiers. All of the information is obtained from the official website of the international spectacle and indeed, pertaining to the running order as decided by the producers, Moldova will be performing in slot number twelve (12) from the sixteen (16) entries which will be competing during the first semi-final. TRM, the broadcaster resposible for the participation of Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest will be represented by the song O Mie composed by Pasha Parfeny to the lyrics of Yuliana Scutaru with vocals set to be taken care of by Aliona Moon.

Aliona Moon is a rising star in the Moldovan music scene. She has already participated in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest as a backing musician of Pasha Parfeny. Now the two artists have changed places, and Aliona will be the lead vocalist of this year's Eurovision entry, the touching ballad O Mie. Aliona Munteanu was born on the 25th of May 1989 in Chisinau. Ethnical Moldavian songs and lullabies sung by her mother cultivated Aliona’s love for music. Since her childhood Aliona was a member of lots of artistic collectives, where she performed both music and dances. As their member, Aliona participated at different contests in Hungary, Belarus, France, Romania, Bulgaria and of course in her motherland Moldova.

Later she was involved in the talent show Fabrica de Staruri 2 (Star Factory) where she gained the third place and the title of the public's favourite. With two of her ex-colleagues from Star Factory Aliona formed the pop band Thumbs Up. The band existed for two years until the break-up in 2011. After that, Aliona took some trophies at international musical festivals as a solo artist, most notably at the “Martisor Dorohoian” and “Dan Spataru” festivals, which were held in Romania. Aliona considered it a great experience to be Pasha Parfeny’s backing vocalist for Lautar in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest. It encouraged and determined Aliona to participate in Moldovan national selection for the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest as a lead artist. Aliona’s talent and luck earned her the honour and right to represent Moldova in Malmö this year.

Following the successful result achieved by Pasha Parfeny at last years' edition of the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Lăutar, the broadcaster thought it best to have another national selection and one which would ultimately permit foreign songwriters to compete. The idea was to have a song pool from which qualified artists would have the opportunity to select songs and it seems to have fared quite well noting that the selection process was indeed a success. Some of the artists who performed on the demos of the songs in the actual pool ultimately made it and selected the track once more whilst others passed without their track and had to opt for another. Twenty-Four (24) participants took part in the semi-finals stage from which fourteen (14) made it through, seven (7) from each of the two semi-finals.

In the actual final, it seemed that the competition was tight and following the public vote which put Runaways by Boris Covali in pole position, the jury decided that Aliona was the better choice with O Mie, giving the public favourite third place. The public were still delighted because Aliona was actually their second choice, in a similar faith endured during the Malta Eurovision Song Contest. Moldova will be taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest for the ninth consecutive time and they have only missed the final on one occasion, that being in 2008 with Century of Love performed by Geta Burlacu finishing in twelfth place. Their best result remains to be their debut entry Bunika Bate Toba performed by Zdob şi Zdub which managed sixth place. Their second best result was a tenth place finish in 2007 with the song Fight by Natalia Barbu. 

Professional Critics Voice their Opinion

Rating: 27%

Magnus Kaxe: A power-ballad with a female artist that has got her hair stuck in a wind machine. Can this be a winning formula? I've heard the verse a million times before. Then the song builds into a random pre-chorus before getting on to the chorus. Or wait? Where is the chorus? Aha...the pre-chorus IS the chorus. No, this won't do. If one wants to compete in the Eurovision, one has to have a song WITH a chorus. Next please.

Lina Eriksson: Even if neither this song nor this singer is my coup of tea it has the drama melodically that often is well embraced by the ESC-fans. It might make it through the semi but it doesn't get my vote.

Matt Mercieca (Muxu): OH WOW, her hair, the dress, what is happening here? ok got distracted, back to the song, nothing special, i'm sorry i can't get over the outfit I MEAN the dress changes colours, WHY? haha. song is average. and then the sudden change just makes it bad.

Source: eurovision.tv

Moldova, one of the most successful countries in the Eurovision Song Contest has managed to qualify through to the final on seven attempts out of eight with the odd one out being Geta Burlacu with her entry A Century of Love. Last year, the country represented by Pasha Parfeny and the song Lăutar achieved the third best result and this year, one of his backing vocalists, by the name of Aliona Moon will be taking to the stage of the first semi-final in Malmö with the track O Mie. During the course of the week, the postcard which will introduce her performance was recorded.

It seems that it might actually include parts of the entry which she would be performing moments later according to a video which appeared online. TRM, the broadcaster responsible for the participation of Moldova has always selected competent artists with a stunning vocal range and the juries along with the public have awarded the choices well. Aliona Moon seems to be carrying the torch in a positive manner because her performance during the national final was just stunning and despite the large selection of entries, it was truly a stand out entry. O Mie which translates into A Million is also co-written by Pasha Parfeni who as already been noted down was last years' representative. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news about this years' edition of the Eurovision Song Contest as soon as it becomes available.

Source: YouTube, escflashmalta.com, Scutaru

SVT, host broadcaster of this years' edition of the Eurovision Song Contest in conjunction with the European Broadcasting Union and the Reference Group have revealed their verdict with regards to the running order as decided by the producers of the showcase. This will be the very first time that the draw has not been done in a random manner but nevertheless, the countries were drawn into their respective semi-finals and also the first and second part of the running order based on the results of the allocation draw which took place earlier this year. The only draw that had to be done in a random order was that for the host country of Sweden so that the producers could not inflict it in any wrongdoing, and as a matter of fact, was drawn in sixteenth (16th) position within the final.

Tomorrow, co-written by Boris Cezek and Dean Muscat with vocals provided by Gianluca on behalf of Malta was drawn to perform in slot number #6 noting that the country had been drawn in the first half of the second semi-final for the second  consecutive year with This Is The Night performed by Kurt Calleja having to start at slot number #4 last year. Yesterday, in an interview with our colleagues from Eurovision Ireland, it was revealed that Gianluca will be flying to Malmö, Sweden alongside the team that accompanied him on stage in Malta as well as his sister, Dorothy Bezzina who will be accompanying as a vocal coach. Marry Me by Krista Siegfrids will be performing prior to Malta on behalf of Finland whilst following us will be Samo Shampioni performed by Elitsa & Stoyan for Bulgaria. The full running order can also be seen below.

First Semi-Final (14th May)

1. Austria
2. Estonia
3. Slovenia
4. Croatia
5. Denmark
6. Russia
7. Ukraine
8. The Netherlands
9. Montenegro
10. Lithuania
11. Belarus
12. Moldova
13. Ireland
14. Cyprus
15. Belgium
16. Serbia

Second Semi-Final (16th May)

1. Latvia
2. San Marino
3. F.Y.R. Macedonia
4. Azerbaijan
5. Finland
6. Malta
7. Bulgaria
8. Iceland
9. Greece
10. Israel
11. Armenia
12. Hungary
13. Norway
14. Albania
15. Georgia
16. Switzerland
17. Romania

Moldova, the final country to select their entry for the 2013 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest taking place in Malmö have just made their selection in favour of a female by the name of Aliona Moon whose entry bears the name A Million. The track was poised for success well before the actual live shows had commenced for the simple reason that it is written by Pasha Parfeny who represented Moldova in last years' edition of the Eurovision Song Contest achieving eleventh place, the second best result for the nation since their initial participation back in 2005 when they had submitted the song Bunika Bate Toba performed by Zdob şi Zdub.

A Million was one of the songs which the public somewhat seemed to enjoy especially those in the audience who gave it an astonishing applause. It finished in second place with the public vote but nevertheless got the bulk of the jury vote making it the outright winner and beating another favourite in the form of Runaways performed by Boris Covali. Moldova will be competing in the second half of the first semi-final and thus not alongside Tomorrow performed by Gianluca on behalf of Malta. As reported in our live coverage done by Antoine Farrugia, Aliona is wearing a dress which has projections and that will surely be an intriguing element considering that it is becoming popular. The same effect was seen at the Grammy Awards and last years' Eurovision Song Contest. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news as soon as it becomes available.

Source: TRM

Almost all of the participating countries in this years' Eurovision Song Contest have made their entries known to the public at large exclusive Italy whose entrant Marco Mengoni is yet to reveal his respective entry and Moldova who are hosting their national final this evening. It has been quite an intriguing season with a number of favourites finishing in a close second or sometimes third place as opposed to outsiders and dark horses which swept the board with victories this time round. Sweden is ready to host the international competition and indeed, thirty-nine (39) countries will be sending in their entries to the European Broadcasting Union on Monday during the Heads of Delegation Meeting.

Moldova is one of the most successful countries in the Eurovision Song Contest having managed to qualify to the final on six occasions whilst being directly qualified on another occasion from a total of eight participants thus far. Last year the country was represented by Pasha Parfeny with the song Lautar, considered to be a dark horse by many and indeed lived up to it's expectations, qualifying in fifth place and ultimately achieving the second best result for the country by virtue of eleventh place. This time round, the national selection entitled O Melodie Pentru Europa 2013 was open to foreign songwriters and indeed, several of the tracks that made it through to the final this evening are very much reflective of this element. The show which is set to commence at 19:00 CET can be watched through the official website of the Eurovision Song Contest. 

The Show (Part 1)

And the show just started. From the first impression it seems that the performers have a really small stage to perform on though it is a nice stage! The audience looks quite looking forward for this night since they are already screaming and shouting and cheering for the opening act which is a rock song with many dancers on the stage called Jazz Dance! The presenters Cătălin Josan and Evelina Vîrlan are now on stage. The male wore an everyday outfit whereas the female decided to wear a bright yellow summer-ish dress. The arena is very small as we got a shot from behind the audience which is really small also but very entertaining.

Lumian Dumetriscu is now on the screen from back-stage and he's talking about the social feeds they have online including Facebook. Just before the acts sart coming up, both the presenters are talking where the Moldovan people can listen or see the show live and they are giving us all the details to vote, all the numbers we need for tele-voting. The juries are being presented to us including many Moldovan music involved people and communication talking people. Let the show start! Hope we have a great national final, which is the last for this year's final season!

Cristina V & Glam Girls - Celebrate

First act, Christina V & Glam Girls. The girls have a pretty nice background! They are all wearing black, white and blue which makes them united! The song is called Celebrate and they are saying the same word too much in my opinion. The vocals are not always 100% on pitch. The audience seem to like it since they are already screaming and cheering! It is an enjoyable song in the Eurovision, a pop-dance song with the use of good vocals. I personally don't think they'll do good in Malmo though.

Boris Covali - Runaways

Next up is Boris Cavoli with Runaways. He is wearing the usual suit for men which actually looks good on him! The background is pretty nice for this one too. His voice is not so impressive up till the first chorus and the song is sounding to me like one of the 90s and won't be liked that much today since this is not a very much entertaining song. His vocals got really better from the bridge onwards and is sounding so good with the song, but still I don't think that overall this could be a winner.

Cristina Croitoru & Karizma - Never Fall Again

The next act is Cristina Croitoru & Karizma singing Never Fall Again. Started out really relaxing and already liked her voice so much. A blonde and a brunette wearing similar dresses just different colour schemes, the brunette on the brown-ish side where the blonde is on the blue-aqua side. The voices blend together so much and are amazing me how good this sound. The background screens are showing a person dancing which is quite distracting from the whole act. The backing vocalists are also doing a great impact on this song. Favourite one so far.

Svetlana Bogdanova - Conquer My Heart

Next act is Svetlana Bogdanova singing Conquer My Heart. Finally, a full stage having the singer, musicians and backing vocalists up on stage all together. Svetlana's hair is so nice and the colour is so impressive. The diction is not perfect for sure. She is wearing a blind-fold which reminds me a lot of last year's Lithuanian entry. She is wearing a black plain dress and she is stable in one place, not moving at all. Her voice is really good, not missing any notes. The song is a bit too old for this time and era in music. Thought it would be better.

Interval

We have a green-room connection again! Lumian is meeting us with the acts, talking with the Glam Girls & Christina V right now. Sadly enough, they are speaking in any language I can understand or talk so I can't understand anyrhing what they are talking about.

Anyways, the green-room is so nice, enery act having their own table and drinks and what they want to do in their area as it seems to me. As I am understansing, every act is saying why people have to vote for them and saying the tele-voting numbers themselves. Whereas all the other contestants who performed, it seems that Svetlana Bogdanova is really serious and not one who jokes around too much. 

That won't do well with the Eurovision spectators as everyone sees the character of the singer(s) also. Back to the main stage and the presenters reminded everyone how to vote. Show is now continuing!

Nicoleta Gavriliţă - Freaky Thong

Nicoleta Gavriliţă is up next singing Freaky Thong. Strong song as from the beginning. The background screens are so colourful, as the song says freaky. The singer is wearing an everyday outfit. and the backing vocalists also. The backing vocalists and the singer are forming a triangle everyway. The singer has a powerful voice also and weirdly enough she's looking like Cher Lloyd. With this song I would like to see a more entertaining performance, it's too toned down for the song. She uses her voice a lot like Christina Aguilera's which is beautiful. An act to look out for.

Aurel Chirtoacă - Iartă-Mă

Aurel Chirtoacă singing Iartă-Mă is up next! A male after many many females performing. The stage looks at its best where Aurel is sitting on a small table clad in all black. He sat up as from the first note he sang though. A woman came in walking and went out again, don't know why this is done. Aurel is now sitting at the piano, does that mean the piano was playing on its own before? A different lady came in again. And now as Aurel woke up from the piano the other lady is back in dancing! Aurel has got great vocals, I really do like them! But the song is really really boring so I don't think this will do it.

Irina Kitoroagă - L.o.v.e. Love

Irina Kitoroagă with all her L.O.V.E Love on stage! the first notes are not on pitch. She had feedback already. She has dancers with her which in my opinion are not dancing styles whivh contribute the song. She is wearing a white dress, dancers are clad in pink and black and the backing voaclists are all in black. Is it only me or you see too many things going on also? This song is an enjoyable one but her voice is still like a baby's voice. Near the other confirmed acts this won't stand out for sure. Not impressive at all.

Anna Gulko - Somebody Else

omebody Else is the next song sung by Anna Gulko. I love how the stage looks as from the first secong I've seen it. A full band on stage! Anna is shining on the stage being the only one wearing a shining yellow dress. The song is a bit boring from after the chorus onwards. She haven't missed a note. This song just needs a good arrangement and it would turn out a lot better. She has fire on stage, which I don't know why since there isn't much of a climax.

Vitalie Negruţa - You'll Be Mine

Vitalie Negruţa singing You'll Be Mine is the next act for tonight. A great song sounding from the beggining, let's hope this will get this competition better! I would change the dancer's costumes for sure. The song does not have a good arrangement for sure, it's still not full! Although this is a really enjoyable song. His voice is nice but not the best for sure! A solo spanish-guitar part by an old man which is not original from last year's Russian entry. The song is really enjoyable nearing the end! One to look out for.

Interval

And we are back in the green-room with Lumian interviewing the acts who just sang after the first interval. Nicoleta and her team seem to be really hyper, they'rea ll cheering and have balloons with number 5 on them. Irina is telling all the viewers to vote number 7, which means her song L.O.V.E Love, which wasn't quite impressive. Lumian just sat down with Anna Gulko and her band. He is interviewing her ending with the only one word I could understand 'Extraordinay!'

As Lumian is talking to Vitalie, I noticed how much his clothes are fancy (Vitalie's). Could have worn better for this extreme occasion. Lumian sits down seeing a Facebook Feed and the comments on the page 'Orange'. We are back to the main presenters in the arena. The presenters are saying that there is not too much time left to choose their song for Malmo! Let us continue!

Cristina Scarlat - I Pray

Cristina Scarlat is up next sinigng I Pray. WOW! Great stage, great outfits and started out really good vocally! She has four dancers with her who are really sharp and really good. She has got a big voice! This is a really good song in this national final, I'm sure this will do well! She didn't miss a note. Cannot stop looking at this performance. Awkward ending though! But really really strong! This will do well.

Doiniţa Gherman - Planeta e un rai

Doiniţa Gherman singing Planeta E Un Rai is up next for this final! Is this carnival? Those were my first three words. I think she might need to call a designer because she is not dressed good and her hair seems like just woke up. The song is enjoyable though and she can sing! I'm not sure if the costumes are representing any heroes by any chance because everyone got a different one. In the final choruses she missed some notes which are really noticeable. The song is one of those which gets you up to dance, but you stay down because she scares you. This is the only one who Thank You right?! Nice song, bad visual.

Tatiana Heghea - A Brighter Day

Tatiana Heghea singing A Brighter Day. Tatiana is wearing a beautiful dress and the background screen is making her look like she got wings. The song started out really really nice. And frankly, continued really nice in another way. She can surely arrange her diction. After some time it gets a bit the same and you're kept waiting for that big thing to come. And there it is! Started from a soft ballad and ended to a pop song, what a good combination! Another one to look out for. The competition is getting better.

Felicia Dunaf - Codename Felice

Codename Felice sung by Felicia Dunaf is the next in line. The stage seems good, not amazing though. The singer's outfit is really nice! Orange and leather is a mix I do like. This song is a good one and can improve by a better arrangement. The dancers are good too and the backing vocalists are good also, though the outfits of the backing vocalists are not matching with the rest of the performers. The song is nice and she got a pleasant voice but I don't think she can do vocal acrobatics to do it better live. This is a good one also! Competition getting much better.

Aliona Moon - A Million

Aliona Moon singing A Million is the final act for today! Her dress, I love. The piano, I love. The song, I already do like a lot. She can arrange her diction though. Her dress is made out of lights like Sabina Babayeva's last year (Azerbaijan). The dancers are really good and the stage seems all together. She have a nice voice and a big one too. This is a really good song! With some arrangements, it may do well in Malmo. Final song for the night got the biggest applause. Amazing! Could win this to be honest.

The Show (Part 2)

We finished the contestants for tonight and the presenters are back on our screens reminding us we can vote for our favourites. In the end, it turned out to be a good competition between six songs. We're back in the green-room with Lumian and Christina Scarlat who said this experience was 'Superb!' As I am understanding, Lumian is asking her how this experience was for her and she seems to have liked it a lot. 'VOTE NO. 10!' Lumian said. He is now next to Donitia and are talking about several things which I can't understand.

She talks a lot, she doesn't want to stop talking at all. Lumian is now talking with Tatiana. They are both saying to vote for number 12 which is Tatiana's entry! Lumian is now near Felicia Dunaf and I must say this is something strange to see money in a green-room. Lumian is talking with Felicia's writer, composer and everything for this song! Lumian just sat near Aliona Moon and they saying that her dress is heavy , made of metal as I can get. Everyone who was involved on stage with Aliona is holding a paper saying 14 to vote for them. First votes are in and it seems that Boris Cavoli is first and following him is Aliona Moon.

Back in the green-room with Christina V & Glam Girls and Lumian. He just stayed near them to present Boris right?! Nice way to do things Lumian. Lumian and Boris are dicussing that Boris is already first from the tele-voting and Lumian is congratulating him. An applause from all the green-room ended the shots from green-room for now. Back to the arena! Boris got 36.49% and Aliona got 28.49% from tele-voting! This is an only music song which for me cuts my guts waiting for the results. Can we just skip this and see the results or a song which has lyrics please? This is boring.

Now Cornelia Stefanet is up on stage clad in a nice orange dress. She is singing with the same band, at least with lyrics. This is a really nice and relaxing song though! The song just ended and Cornelia is now singing Sirusho's entry for Armenia back in 2008 Qele Qele with the same band. She has done it perfect! Really good performance and voice. What a pianist that is! WOW, amazing ... Big well done! A male is now singing Nije Ljubav Stvar, the Serbian entry last year which ended third place! Cornelia Stefanet sang the Israeli entry for 1998. Now, another man is singing Fairytale, Norway's winning entry back in 2009.

They sang a duet finally which is Aysel & Arash's 'Always' the Romanian entry which did a lot of success in 2009. After this one we had Dima Bilan's Believe which won for Russia in 2008. And as a cheer up, we heard the most famous Eurovision song 'Waterloo' by Abba which won in 1974 for Sweden. We are back from a small interval! The presenters has just presented Belarus' entry wrong. They said Alyona will be performing The Rhythm of Love while she's performing Solayoh and is now performing it live in this arena. Belarus and Moldova will be competing against each other in the First Semi-Final. Alyona should really go for a hair-cut before the Eurovision.

Noticeably, this is a powerful song and Alyona's voice is really good! And we're back online with Lumian giving the tele-voting points and as expected Boris got the 12 points and Aliona Moon got 10 points. And the jury gave their 12 points to Aliona, and she is crowned the winner of the O melodie pentru Europa 2013. Aliona Moon will be representing Moldova with her song A Million in the First Semi-Final on the 14th May 2013. And now, to end everything Aliona Moon is performing A Million, the representative for Moldova in the first semi-final this year. Congratulations Aliona!

Moldova, taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest since 2005, has had several good results noticeably making it to the final almost every single year they participated. Last year, Moldova ended up in the eleventh place by getting 81 points. This year, Moldova has confirmed in entering once again and now the Moldovan week to pick their act is upon us. This year the Moldovan entry will be chosen by a mix of 50/50 jury and tele-voting, with seven acts getting to the final from two semi-finals and ending up with (fourteen) 14-act final on the 16th of March.

Last Night as well as on Tuesday, Moldova has picked its finalists. From 24 semi-finalists, we are left with fourteen (14) acts to compete against each other next Saturday to a win a ticket to represent Moldova in this year's Eurovision. In the first semi-final we watched Zdob si Zdub performing both their entries in 2005 and 2011 which represented Moldova in the Eurovision. In the second semi-final we saw Geta Burlacu, who represented Moldova back in 2008 and after we saw Dina Garipova performing her entry this year 'What If' for Russia. After the jury had finalised their verdict and the tele-voting lines were closed, we ended up with the seven finalists of each semi-final leading us to the 14 final acts which are:

• Christina V & Glam Girls: Celebrate
• Doinitan Gherman: Planeta e un rai
• Vitalie Negruta: You'll be mine
• Aliona Moon: A Million
• Boris Cavoli: Runaways
• Felicia Dunaf: Codename Felice
• Svetlana Bogdanova: Conquer My Heart
• Tatiana Heghea: A Brighter Day
• Aurel Chirtoacā: Iartā-Mā
• Anna Gulko: Somebody Else
• Nicoleta Gavrilita: Freaky Thong
• Irina Kitoroaga: L.O.V.E Love
• Christina Scarlat: I Pray
• Christina Croitoru & Karizma: Never Fall Again

Amongst the songwriters competing within the final of this years’ Moldovan pre-selection is Vasco Cardoso from Portugal who penned the lyrics of the song A Brighter Day. Vasco is one of the contributors of the escflashmalta.com editorial board and thus it is an honour for one of ours to be competing to go to the Eurovision Song Contest. Don't forget to tune in with us on Saturday for our live review of the show which will later on lead us to see who will be winning the ticket for Malmö in May.

Source: www.eurovision.tv

TRM, the public broadcaster of Moldova officially became a member of the Eurovision Song Contest back in 2005 and each participation has somewhat been identified in a positive manner except for once where qualification was not assured but nevertheless, a slight dent in their respective proceedings. In 2012, a national final took place which saw to the victory of Pasha Parfeny with the track Lăutar and the choice was sublime noting that it picked up public and jury votes to finish in eleventh place with more than eighty points. This time round, the broadcaster is going about their selection process in a different method and Pasha is still involved in one particular entry.

Despite their success, it was well thought of that a change in the selection was needed and the broadcaster would like to ascertain that the best possible package is chosen hence why they are looking for the artist and the song in a separate fashion. Artists could have submitted songs themselves but some issues came up which eventually even led to the withdrawal of former representatives, Natalia Barbu who was slightly worried that despite passing with the song, other performers could make use of her entry, possibly even winning the selection against her. The rules state that once the track makes it into the pool of songs, it could have more than one artist. You could find the list of the sixty tracks chosen through the official website of the broadcaster. In the meantime though, the qualifying artist are as follows;

• Anna Gulko
• Inaya
• Felicia Dunaf
• Cristina Scarlat
• Stela Boţan
• Vitalie Negruţa
• Doiniţa Gherman
• Irina Taraşiuc
• Aliona Moon
• Fire Love
• Ruslan Ţaranu
• Cristina Croitoru & Karizma
• Aurel Chirtoacă
• Alexandru Şendrea
• Svetlana Bogdanova
• Boris Covali
• Cristina V.
• Tatiana Heghea
• Denis Latîşev
• NiCo
• Irina Chitoroagă
• Vitalie Maciunschi
• Dara
• Valeria Paşa

The jury for the first phase of the selection included two former representatives, Geta Burlacu who had failed to reach the final back in 2008 and Nelly Ciobanu whose entry Hora Din Moldova reached fourteenth place in 2009. There are a number of notable performers including none other than Boris Covali, Doiniţa Gherman, Cristina Croitoru & Karizma respectively but the focus is seemingly on an upcoming performer known as Aliona Moon whose entry entitled A Million is written and produced by the 2012 representative, Pasha Parfeny. The artist, who was a backing vocalist during the successful performance of the country at the Eurovision Song Contest is hoping that she could be the one to succeed this time round. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for the latest news.

The European Broadcasting Union has been pretty adamant about putting off rumours of a mass withdrawal from the upcoming edition of the Eurovision Song Contest and therefore succumbed to releasing the list of participating nations quite early due to the international media coverage which might have had a negative impact on the competition especially noting that Malmö is making several adjustments in order to accommodate a different type of show than what many have seen in recent years. The financial situation around the continent has not been a help and three of the four withdrawals; Bosnia & Herzegovina, Portugal and Slovakia have singled out this decision as the factor behind their pulling out with Turkey on the other hand believing that the recent amendments of the regulations at the event have somewhat put them in a disadvantaged position hence their disappointing results.

The Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest at the European Broadcasting Union, Jon Ola Sand is quite upbeat about the number of participating countries believing that despite the economic situation, public broadcasters are very much committed to the traditional element that the contest has created over time. In fact, since the semi-final system was introduced back in 2004, there have always been between 36 and 43 participating nations and the 39 that will take part in 2013 are similar to the amount that took part in 2010 when the competition was also held in a Scandinavian nation with Oslo, the capital city of Norway playing the role of host. Losing three countries to economic reasons was quite disappointing but nevertheless, Sand is quite 'surprised' by the decision of Turkey noting that they 'never formally objected' the rules as regulations which were brought in back in 2009, a year in which Turkey finished in fourth place.

• Albania (RTSH)
• Austria (ORF)
• Armenia (AMPTV)
• Belarus (Ictimai TV)
• Belarus (BTRC)
• Belgium (RTBF)
• Bulgaria (BNT)
• Croatia (HRT)
• Cyprus (CyBC)
• Denmark (DR)
• Estonia (ERR)
• Finland (YLE)
• France (France 3)
• Georgia (GPB)
• Germany (NDR)
• Greece (ERT)
• 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 (TROS)
• Norway (NRK)
• Romania (TVR)
• Russia (C1R)
• San Marino (SMTV)
• Serbia (RTS)
• Slovenia (RTV SLO)
• Spain (TVE)
• Sweden (SVT)
• Switzerland (SRG SSR)
• Ukraine (NTU)
• United Kingdom (BBC)

As you can see, the leading European broadcasters including the Big Five featuring; the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain and Italy return for yet another competition noting that their results are improving especially with regards to three in particular. Some countries have already revealed their entries noting that national finals have already taken place in Belarus, Switzerland, Belgium and Lithuania whilst artists have been chosen for The Netherlands, Spain and Montenegro. Despite less countries than last year, the song quality thus far looks to be quite intriguing and this could be a strong edition for the Eurovision Song Contest with Sweden surely organising it to the best ability and letting it known that whoever did not want to participate would have missed out on a great opportunity. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news as soon as it becomes available.

Source: Eurovision.tv

Good Evening! Welcome to the 2012 edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest which is being hosted in Amsterdam, the capital city of The Netherlands. This is actually the second time that the nation is hosting the event having even taken up the responsibility back in 2007 when the group Cute had represented Malta with the track Music. The competition has changed quite a while since then though noting that from seventeen participants, the European Broadcasting Union has managed to lure a total of twelve (12) ultimately keeping the dream for several young artists alive. The quality of the songs is quite good from what the editorial team has heard based on the studio versions but the dynamic will surely change this evening during the live performances of each of the respective nations.

The Public Broadcasting Services, the only member in the European Broadcasting Union had the rights to compete in the event but ultimately withdrew following our participation in 2010 in order to ensure that there was more financial support towards the senior edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. Nevertheless, our coverage continues and we have with us this evening, the last individual who flew the flag for Malta, that being Nicole Azzopardi whose song Knock Knock .. Boom Boom! remains a significant part of the local heritage. This evenings' show which you could follow on the official website, is being hosted by Ewout Genemans and Kim-Lian van der Meij within the Heineken Music Hall and it seems that the host broadcaster; AVRO will be putting on a spectacular showcase. 

LIVE

Intriguing opening for this years' Junior Eurovision Song Contest as the European Broadcasting Union is giving the people what it means to prepare for the big day whilst keeping to showing the people in the hall and their enthusiasm. This does indeed seem like the most organised  showcase for young children in recent years. In the meantime, just a couple of minutes left before we actually commence. Compliments to the host broadcaster on astonishing graphics and a brilliant theme song for this years' edition of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. The opening act has just begun and it seems to feature several teenagers playing the drums. Once more, spectacular lighting as the children break out into an electronic dance creating a visual spectacle and well, as expected, the winning entry of the last Eurovision Song Contest, Euphoria is being played.

http://www.junioreurovision.tv/page/videos?id=69863

Each nation is introduced by virtue of a Good Evening in their respective language. Suddenly, someone is performing Euphoria and it seems to be none other than Rachel, last years' runner-up of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. Despite the fact that she did not win, The Netherlands ended up winning the bid to host. The hosts come onto the stage from beneath and receive a huge reaction from the present audience in the hall which is ecstatic. Kim-Liam is wearing a sparkling block of ice, or so it seems whilst Ewout is wearing a black shirt and a silver jacket complimenting her perfectly. The tele-voting process is being explained and it is noted that Kids Rights will benefit of each call and therefore, people will support a great cause this evening. We are also going to post the preview videos as received by the European Broadcasting Union earlier this year.

Belarus

Marc: Egor is wearing a white outfit and he is joined on stage by four dancers, a male and three females and it is to be noted that the first note is extremely off key but nevertheless the music is quite interesting featuring elements of pop, dance, and jazz at times. The visuals for this track are featuring water and bubbles but you manage to keep an eye on the staging for the simple reason that the choreography is really catchy. Not a bad start, but definitely not the best entry to come from Belarus!

Nicole: I must say that it was indeed a very spectacular show and i really enjoyed watching and listening to the track even though I believe there were things which needed to be improved.

Sweden

Marc: The first ballad of this evening is on and Lova looks absolutely stunning this evening, seemingly representing what is left of Scandinavia in this competition. She is wearing a pink, silver outfit and is joined on stage by two female backing vocalists. The female performer has a very beautiful vocal and they are managing to capture all the essence of the track through the camera shots. The song unfortunately is slightly boring if I am being honest and does not really go anywhere. It needed that oomph and unfortunately, it just never came about.

Nicole: Lova Sonnebro has a very beautiful voice actually and this is a track with a lovely beginning. The vocals continue in a mellow manner making this somewhat stand out from the first.