In the past couple of weeks, several of the regional broadcasters announced their method of selection with regards to the finalists they will be presenting for the grande final which is set to be staged on the 10th December in the Bodensee Arena found within the city of Kreuzlingen. This will be a pivotal moment for the nation as they will be hoping that the end choice will end up being as successful as this years' entrant Anna Rossinelli who made it tot he finals with her song 'In Love for a While' pipping Glen Vella and the Maltese entry 'One Life' to eleventh place at the end of the semi-final. The first three finalists which have now been made public come from DRS3.

The Swiss German broadcaster had the opportunity to select three songs for the upcoming Swiss selection which will be featuring a total of fourteen entries, all of which will be sung in abridged version. Most of the songs, six in total will be coming from SF which is the main broadcaster under the European Broadcasting Union, then comes RSI which is the Italian speaking region who will be choosing two entries and last but not least, the French speaking broadcaster, RTS who will be selecting three in total.

Update: It has just been announced that the song by Sara McLoud entitled 'Lost' had actually been published back in 2009 as an acoustic song and therefore the respective broadcaster, DRS3 has named its first alternate for the selection. See the finalists below. The three entries selected by the Swiss German broadcaster have come from the SF selection noting their ongoing collaboration and they are as follows:

In this weeks' edition of the popular local magazine 'Gwida' issued earlier this week, it has been noted that the next Tuesdays' edition of the show 'Insiru Nafu Lil' hosted by renowned presenter Stephanie Spiteri as well as pyschologist, Dr.Anton Grech will be exclusively featuring the dynamic duo of former Eurovision Song Contest representative Ira Losco and her manager, Howard Keith of Jagged House. It will be a programme to remember surely as it will be getting indepth information about the artist, away from the glare of the spotlight.

In fact during the upcoming edition of the programme, Stephanie Spiteri will be speaking to Howard Keith who is the manager of a number of local artists including Red Electrick, Airport Impressions, Tribali and The Characters apart from the aformentioned Ira Losco. She will be talking to him about the singer away from the public eye, in the background when she is at ease with friends, family and just about her daily life. In the meantime, Dr.Anton Grech will speak to the singer hrself about her life away from the media, what she understands by success and also what she feels when she performs. Together, the two hosts will join each other and see how Ira Losco has managed her success over the year. It will be quite an interesting programme airing next Tuesday at 20:30 on NET Television.

Source: Gwida, Allen Venables (photography)

Going back through the midst of time, to a year when Ireland was a dominant force in the annual musical event known as the Eurovision Song Contest, 1994, one would note the debut of a brand new country, Lithuania. This nation would not find its footing for quite a number of years managing sporadical mediocre results at best. The representative broadcaster, LRT have announced their national selection for the coming year as they attempt to tackle a number of nations in hope of achieving a result worthy of their musical culture.

The submission process has commenced and entries will be accepted until the 31st December 2011 which marks the end of the year. All of the applicants have to make sure to submit the necessary details including names, birthdates, contact details, a curriculum vitae of their work, a number of photography, the entry in itself and last but not least lyrics. As per the regulations of the European Broadcasting Union, entries cannot have been published prior to the 1st September 2011.  The countries' best result in the event came in 2006 when the comical group known as LT United sang their way to sixth place with the song 'We Are The Winners'. The best placing for the nation in terms of just that, a placing came earlier this year as Evelina Sasenko finished in fifth place within the semi-final with her song 'C'Est Ma Vie' which managed nineteenth position at the end of the evening. We would like to wish Lithuania the very best of luck within their endeavours.

Source: LRT

The local recording studios are booked, producers are busy, singers and songwriters are adding their final touches and that can only mean one thing, the submissions for the Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2012 are not too far away and indeed they are with less than a week to go before the Public Broadcasting Services (PBS) will be receiving songs in anticipation to the nations' participation in the biggest musical event in all of the continent. The rumour mill is as always building strongly about who will be submitting songs and who will not but one artist who has exclusively revealed to ESCflashmalta that she will not be sending in any songs is three time national final participant, Raquela.

In the past couple of years, the singer gained fame for her astonishing vocal, one which is remarkably breathtaking at times. Her first television appearance had come during a show which saw to the selection of the artist who would accompany the group Simply Red during a concert here in Malta where she had teamed up with former Eurovision Song Contest representative Ludwig Galea. Prior to that, she had already amazed the crowds at an event organized by Maestro Sigmund Mifsud under the name 'National Orchestra Goes Pop Concert' as well as other events such as 'Voices' which is organized in support of charity. In the year 2009, she made a major breakthrough making the final cut of the Malta Eurosong competition with the song 'Crossroads' composed by Philip Vella and penned by Gerard James Borg. Despite the amazing performance, Raquela was too much of a newcomer to win over the support of the public and thus she returned in 2010 with another song entitled 'Here I Am' written by the same team behind her initial entry but unfortunately failed to make it to the finals. She turned away from the competition and would return much stronger.

The return to the Malta Eurovision Song Contest in 2011 with the song 'If I Could Do It All Again' composed by Marc Paelinck and penned by Matthias Strasser was well deserved and for the very first time finished in fifth place, a result which was confirmed by both the judges and the tele-voting. Subsequently, Raquela made headlining appearances at a number of events during the summer but the pinnacle of the season was surely the release of her single 'Entertain Me' written by Boris Cezek and Dean Muscat. The singer has exclusively spoken to ESCflashmalta in the past couple of days that she will not be returning to the Malta Eurovision Song Contest in 2012 taking a break following three consecutive years telling us: 'I have decided to focus and invest more time in my studies and in myself. With regards to my singing career, I have achieved the required level so far. Following this, I intend to return to performing on stage for the Malta Eurovision Song Contest in the coming years, but so far, I have chosen to re-prioritise my aspirations.' We would like to wish Raquela the very best of luck with her endeavours in the next twelve months. Keep following our web portal for more exclusive material in the coming days.

Source: ESCflashmalta

The Latvian selection for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest will commence within the next couple of days as all of the submissions will be made public for the people from all of the world to listen to but the idea behind it all is to give their opinion as they will not be the ones selecting which make it through to the next stage of the competition. The names of the singers and songwriters will also not be made public in order for the full focus to be on the respective songs. The 2012 edition of the Eirodziesma will be receiving a massive revamp in order to get the nation back on track with regards to results noting that their last appearance in the finals came back in 2008 at the hands of the Pirates of the Sea with the song ''.

It is yet to be seen who has submitted songs and only those who will make it through will be revealed actually. The last time that all of the seventy-one (71) submissions will be online is November 1st and the announcement of the songwriters of the twenty (20) entries to make it through to the semi-finals will be revealed during a press conference hosted by the broadcaster, LTV on the 8th November 2011.

Speaking to the media, the producer of Eirodziesma, Aigars Dinsbergs stated 'The internet vote has just advisory status. The 20 songs entering the semi final will be decided by the Artistic Council which has the rights to make the corrections and improvements to the list of the songs'. The semi-finals consisting of ten songs in the upcoming national selection will be staged on the 7th and 14th January and will be broadcast live for the very first time as in previous years, pre-recorded videos were shown. Ten songs will be competing in the final as five will be selected out of each show chosen by the Jury and Tele-Voting. The winner will be selected on the 18th February 2011 in Ventspils during which once more, both methods of selection, Jury and Tele-Voting will be doing their job in the Super-Final stage.

Source: LTV

Over the past couple of years, the local music industry has been seeing a number of changes with regards to the protagonists in it as a new generation evolves and takes over from the old guard. One of such performers is surely none other than the sixteen (16) year-old Domenique whose career is surely hitting the right notes at the right time. Following a number of preparations, she is now ready to launch her premier collection of tracks under the title 'L-Anġlu tal-Baħar' which translates into 'Angel of the Sea'. It is a project which has been long in coming and with the aim of bringing about a certain feeling noting that the title refers to the tragedy of Theo Bugeja, a teen from the fisherman's town of Marsaxlokk.

The album is made up of original songs in the Maltese language with diverse social themes to respect the various values and aspects of everyday lives which people endure in the long term. Amongst the subjects that are dealt with, there includes; bullying, eating disoreders, breakdown of familiar relationships, teenage years and also impairments amongst others. Still, that is very much general and when one considers the event that our country has been a part of in recent years, it is commendable to see an artist covering topics such as; abortion, petards, animal abuse, excessive driving, drugs and also pedophilia. The themes which have been dealt with all have meaning and they do mean something to a number of individuals and the emotion that Domenique brings to the songs is astounding in itself.

Composers that have worked on this album include none other than Chan Vella, Mark Debono, Priscilla Psaila, Clinton Paul as well as Philip Vella whilst lyricists include Alexia Schembri, George Cremona, Christopher Azzopardi, Rita Pace, Keith Zammit and Pierre Calleja. Some of the names mentioned above include songwriters who have had their work showcased all of Europe and the world and that is something which the singer surely holds high in her regard. The songs for the album were recorded in the studios of Philip Vella who is of course, the writer of five Maltese entries in the Eurovision Song Contest including '', '', '', '' and ''.

The photo-shoot for this album featuring the artist was done thanks to the company 'Fotoclassic' whilst the design of the album was done by 'Palymra Limited'. The album which could be bought from local music shops as well as through personal contact of the singer costs €10. The artist, Domenique would like to thank everyone who was behind the making of this album as she puts her material on the market for the very first time in what promises the first to many experiences for the young artist who made her debut in the Malta Eurovision Song Contest earlier this year with the song 'I'll Follow the Sunshine'. It is also to be noted that she is currently starring in the Maltese Television Series 'D.R.E.A.M.S' airing on Television Malta (TVM) every Monday at 20:30 CET.

Source: Press Release

Looking back at the history of the Eurovision Song Contest, going through yearly details, one would easily note that there has been an astounding amount of success for individuals all hoping to make it in the music industry. Some have managed to take their material onto a global scale whilst others have managed their nations along with respective surroundings. At the end of the day, positive aspects can be taken out of these careers and one of the people who has managed to overcome a number of obstacles to continue doing what he likes doing best is Johnny Logan, the Irishman who won the event on three occasions, twice as a performer and once as a songwriter.

As the year 2010 was coming to an end, the Australian born performer turned Irishman decided to release a brand new album marking his fifteenth in total. The collection of songs under the title 'Nature of Love' was released by Sony Music Entertainment continuing a long runnning collaboration between the two. The market for the album was that of Scandinavia and despite the fact that it was released months ago, it is still finding success especially in Sweden where we have just learned that it is currently peaking at number #3 in the official charts. It had already found its way to number #19 in the neighbouring country of Norway and #9 in the other neighbouring country of Denmark. The fan base of the artist has been growing and it sincerely shows that if one has the talent, then success is just around the corner.

Source: Swedish Charts

The interest for the upcoming Malta Eurovision Song Contest seems to be high and the reasons for this are somewhat varied but their is a general consensus that the Public Broadcasting Services led by Chief Executive Officer, Anton Attard worked hard on organizing the best possible national selection this year with the idea of the international event kept in mind throughout the whole process. The local music industry has been undergoing several changes, all of which has helped it progress in recent years and one of the artists who has helped redefine it has been none other than Petra Zammit who has brought in a new soulful sound to the Maltese Islands, one which is yet to be fully appreciated. ESCflashmalta has recently caught up with the singer revealing her upcoming plans for 2012 when it comes to a possible bid for the Eurovision Song Contest.

The singer definitely does not any introduction having managed a number of appearances within local music festival over the years but many people definitely remember her debut back in the 2008 edition of the Malta Song for Europe with the song '' composed by Elton Zarb and penned by Rita Pace which not only made it to the semi-final stage of the competition but then also beat out renowned competition such as the likes of Mary Spiteri and Pamela advancing to the finals achieving a credible sixth place. This would not be her only time in the renowned music competition as she would return for a second time in 2010 with the song '', this time composed by Andrew Zammit and penned by Keith Zammit and then also made it through to the semi-finals earlier this year with another entry entitled '' returning to her roots with the composer being Elton Zarb and the lyrics being of Rita Pace.

The singer though has not only achieved fame through this competition because she managed runner-up positions in the last two local festivals that were staged, the 'Għanja tal-Poplu' last December with the track '' which translates into 'A Mother's Tale' composed by Heathcliffe Balzan and penned by Deo Grech as well as in the Malta Summer Hit Song Contest with the track '' written by the same Heathcliffe Balzan and penned by Natasha Turner. Speaking with the singer, ESCflashmalta got to learn that she is eyeing another participation within the Malta Eurovision Song Contest saying that she is 'working for it more than ever before, with a team of songwriters who have credibility, and show true passion in their respective fields'. The style which the song represents will be similar to previous entries but different at the very same time. We would like to wish all of the team, the very best of luck with their new project which has been described as 'fun, refreshing and exciting' and would like our readers to keep tuning into ESCflashmalta for the latest news about the 2012 Malta Eurovision Song Contest.

Through the medium of time, one has been noting a number of changes to the musical event known as the Eurovision Song Contest with a number of new nations debuting and taking their place amongst the elite. One of the nations which decided to send their first participant not too long ago is surely Belarus whose debut came back in 2004 thanks to the duet of the song 'My Gallileo' between Aleksandra & Konstantin who failed to make it through to the finals on that occasion.

The naton has not been too lucky with regards to their respective participation though because they have only passed the semi-final stage on two occasions, the first of which coming in 2007 at the hands of Dmity Koldun and his song '', the second qualification came just last year, in 2010 whe the group 3+2 sang the ballad ''. In the past two years, the method of selection was based on internal selection but it seems that their previous method, known as the Eurofest will be returning following a dissapointing result in 2011. Songwriters are encouraged to submit their enties until the 25th November 2011.

A jury which has been appointed by the Belarussian broadcaster, will select not more than fifteen (15) songs for a semi-final stage which will be aired in December. People alongside a jury will be selecting the best five (5) entries who will compete agains each other in the final which will be stage in the first month of the upcoming year and during that show, the winner will be selected through the medium of both a jury and tele-voting. During the entire selection, people will be reminded of a the history of the competition through a diary system. Keep following ESCflashmalta for the latest news about Belarus and other nations.

Source: BTRC

The rumours over who will be representing Belgium in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest have been persistent in the past couple of months due to the fact that the broadcaster sending an entry to Baku, Azerbaijan was the same one who got the best result for the country since 2003 at the hands of the talented Tom Dice and his song 'Me and My Guitar' which struck a chord with both the viewers at home and also the Jury present for the evening dress rehearsal on Friday evening. The tension is running high and VRT are somewhat looking at their possible options to recognize their sheer talent and as a result obtain an satisfactory placing at the end of the adventure.

It seems that the talks have started with artists having noted in recent weeks that Kate Ryan might be returning to the event having represented Belgium in 2006 with fan favourite 'Je T'Adore' which failed to make it our of the semi-final to much dismay from the fans of the event all around the world. The idea of a returning artist does not go far though because it emerged today that the artist who was invited by VRT to represent the nation was none other than Tom Dice himself. The man who had finished as the first runner-up within their local installment of 'X Factor' has been having resounding success on the music charts following his performance within the musical event notching up yet another hit with the song 'Il Nous Fait' a duet with Elisa Tovati which peaked at number #1 in all of Belgium and also #6 in France, making it his biggest single thus far. This news was published yesterday by Belgian newspaper 'Het Laatste Nieuws'.

In the meantime, it seems that two artists are being considered for the role and both could be found at the top of the respective list of choices and with the decision being made, it seems that an announcement will follow early next month as has been expected for quite some time. The first of the two singers is Yannick Bovy, an ever growing artist in the vein of the popular Michael Buble. The second name which seems to be more interesting at this point in time due to the fact that he has a better chance it seems is that of Stan Van Samang, a former actor turned singer with his making songs including 'Scars' and 'Poison' amongst others. He has released three albums at this point in time, all of which have been successful. Keep following ESCflashmalta for the latest news about Belgium and their representation in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest.

Source: Het Laatste Nieuws