Alyona Lanskaya will be representing Belarus in the upcoming edition of the Eurovision Song Contest taking place in Sweden with the song Solayoh composed by Marc Paelinck and penned by Martin King. Ten participants put their name forward to represent the eastern country in the esteemed music event but at the end of the evening, both the public and the jury selected Alyona to take on the role. She selected a track that encompasses the best of more than one genre and creating a Turkish flavour in a year when the country is missing might have been quite ideal. Solayoh has been receiving positive acclaim across the board and has also been doing resoundingly well in the betting odds.

Our colleagues at oikotimes.com exclusively published the official preview video that will be accompanying the track and whilst the focus is definitely on the slick choreography also most likely transcendent on the stage of the Eurovision Song Contest, the key interest is a special guest star. Alexander Rybak, winner of the 2009 edition of the music edition on behalf of Norway is supporting his home country this year and thus makes a cameo within the preview video. Solayoh has been released internationally on digital stores such as iTunes through CAP-Sounds, the same music label which houses two time Eurovision Song Contest representative, Fabrizio Faniello amongst others. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all the latest news.

Source: oikotimes.com

Countries within the Scandinavian region have been quite busy in recent weeks when it comes to their respective music scenes, hosting their national selections in a manner which is spread out in a series of semi-finals so that each artist gets equal exposure. In Norway, NRK has worked towards creating the Melodi Grand Prix in the past couple of years and with a brand new Head of Delegation in the form of Vivi Stenberg, they sought to keep the elements that have made the show successful in recent years. escflashmalta.com had the opportunity to speak to one of the finalists, Annsofi whose entry I'm With You is written by Alexander Rybak, who won the Eurovision Song Contest back in 2009.

Annsofi is definitely not a newcomer to the Norwegian music scene having reached the second runner-up position in the X Factor having been mentored by the successful manager, Jan Fredrik Karlsen who was the mastermind behind Kurt Nilsen, the most successful winner of the show. Nevertheless, you are presenting yourself to the rest of the continent by virtue of taking part of this competition and therefore, how would you sum up your musical background n just a couple of sentences?

I have always loved music. One of my first memories is when I held a spontaneous concert for the passengers on my first plane trip. I cannot have been more than 3 or 4 years. As a kid, I sung in a children’s choir, and my first national TV appearance was at the 2010 edition of the program Last Choir Standing with 2005 MGP-winners Wig Wam’s Åge Sten “Glam” Nilsen’s choir. We won, and later that year I came third in the X Factor. Since that, I have – in addition to focusing on school – been working on my own songs, both in studio and on stage.

Norway has not been one of the most successful countries at the Eurovision Song Contest, holding the record for the most last place finishes in the competition, totalling to eleven with the most recent coming in 2012 by virtue of Stay as performed by Tooji. You are presenting a completely different entry for the Scandinavian nation entitled I’m With You written by the extremely talented, Alexander Rybak. What do you think went wrong with last years’ participation and what do you aim to bring, should you represent Norway?

It’s hard for me to say what went wrong. It seems like the kind of song that wins varies from year to year. But Euphoria was… well, euphoric, and it would have been difficult to beat that. I guess two out of three acts that have won for Norway, have had a violin and a touch of folk music in them, so… At least there are violins in I’m With You.

As already noted, your entry is written by Alexander Rybak who just happens to be the last performer to bring success to Norway at the Eurovision Song Contest, winning thecompetition back in 2009 with the track Fairytale. There is a certain aura about the track that does make it stand out from the rest and your raspy vocals give it the needed edge to success. How did the collaboration between you and Alexander come about and are you happy with the final product that is I’m With You?

Alexander is an extreme perfectionist. There are no compromises, whatsoever. So we’re all very happy with the result. The collaboration started with Alex becoming my mentor during the X Factor in 2010. We became friends, and since then I have sung with him on a couple of Christmas concerts, and sang Baby It’s Cold Outside with him on his Christmas Tales album. Since late 2011, we’ve been working on a couple of songs in the studio, of which I’m With You is one of them.

Competing in the second semi-final of the Melodi Grand Prix must have been quite daunting considering that the public were quite disappointed with the quality of tracks presented in the first semi-final but when hearing the tracks as released on the previous Wednesday, one could not deny that the quality was set to improve and indeed, it has and this has been shown even in terms of viewing figures. What did it mean to you to make it through to the final, albeit taking that third position and do you intend to change anything for the final?

I was, of course, very happy to go to the final, and we’ve been working on every detail since the semi to make sure we’ll do our best in the final. This time, however, Alex will be present, not on stage, but in the songwriters’ area. When at the semi, he was busy with his own concert. I’ll be honoured to perform the song with him present.

Would you like to say anything to our readers at escflashmalta.com?

The amount of support we’ve received from abroad – even as far as from Malta – is very touching, and make me want to focus even more on the job that I am to do in the final. It would be a dream of mine to be able to perform this song to the people of Europe. Thank you, and all the best, Annsofi.

Source: NRK, Olivier Vanhoutte, Dag Solheim

An exclusive piece of information released by our colleagues at oikotimes.com shows that the Greek national final will be taking place on Monday 18th February and will be including a stunning line-up of international guests with spectacular surprises all throughout the evening. This will be the first time the selection is being organized in collaboration between two broadcasters; ERT and MAD TV who represent two of the most popular channels in the country. It is important to denote that Eleftheria Eleftheriou was the last representative of the nation and was the first not to achieve a top ten result in almost ten years, finishing behind their neighbouring country of Cyprus for the first time in an extremely long time.

In the past couple of weeks, Radio International has been somewhat extremely busy with preparing interviews with some of the leading individuals who make part of the history of the Eurovision Song Contest and this week, the hard work will bear fruit noting that Juergen Boernig and Eric Lehmann have been to the Antwerp Pride held in Belgium where they have had the chance to speak to none other than former winner of the competition Alexander Rybak as well as runner-up Paula Seling who are making a number of headlines following the release of their duet entitled I'll Show You which one could buy through the medium iTunes having been released under the CAP-Sounds label, one which has been known to support a variety of artists from Malta in the past couple of years including Fabrizio Faniello, Claudia Faniello and Christabelle amongst others.

Apart from those exclusive interviews which were recorded during the weekend and still yet to premiere, there was another interview taken a couple of weeks back in Sweden with none other than sensation Sean Banan whose entry in the Melodifestivalen entitled Sean den förste Banan reached the second chance round of the competition before falling to  Thorsten Flinck & Revolutionsorkestern with the track bearing the name Jag reser mig igen. The programme will be supported by a number of interesting features as is always the case so expect a round up of the latest news brought to you by escXtra as well as escflashmalta.com whilst there will also be a host of new singles to be played for the very first time during the show and most likely debuting on radio and these tracks will be of none other than Lisa del Bo, Lovebugs, Paula Seling, Sandra Nurmsalu and Celine Dion. Radio International airs on Wednesday nights and you could listen to the programme live or even on demand through their official website. 

Source: Team of Radio International, Eurosong.be

The music industry has somewhat been all about contacts throughout the years and one of the platforms which has been used on countless occasions to provide collaborations between singers, songwriters and producers has been the Eurovision Song Contest. In recent weeks, Alexander Rybak and Paula Seling joined forces on a brand new track entitled I'll Show You which in turn is written by the 2009 winner of the prestigious event. Despite the fact that the promotion in several countries has commenced, it was somewhat even more important to make sure that people could buy the track through the internet hence why it is now available through leading online retailers iTunes and Amazon. The track has been signed up by CAP Sounds and thus distributed by Universal Music Germany.

There are several elements which prove the point that the Eurovision Song Contest is very much an individual type of competition noting that singers from a number of countries from the European Continent would ultimately be hoping to surpass others but there are a number of contacts made which are normally used after the event comes to an end so that music careers can continue to evolve and flourish. Alexander Rybak has been one of the most popular names in the Scandinavian music industry since winning for Norway with the song Fairytale a couple of years back but nevertheless, the second runner-up finish for Paula Seling alongside Ovi with the song Playing With Fire continued her epic rise to fame status in Romania and surrounding countries. They have most recently worked on a brand new track and they will be promoting it along with their solo work during a special visit in Belgium.

The event which they have been invited to perform in is none other than the 2012 edition of the Antwerp Pride on Sunday 12th August but it has to be noted that they will not be the only Eurostars on show during the event especially due to the fact that the organizers have also been in touch with none other than Kate Ryan who represented Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest back in 2006 with the song Je t'Adore as well as Nicole & Hugo who had done the honours for the Benelux country way back in 1973 with the extremely iconic Baby, Baby. It is expected that Alexander and Paula will be performing their recent duet I'll Show You which was also written by the Norwegian singer/songwriter. We urge you to stay tuned into escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news about these Eurostars noting that they are succeeding on several fronts in Europe with their respective music releases.

Source: escflashmalta.com

The Team of Radio International is back this week and would like to invite to join the weekly Ultimate Eurovision Experience to overcome to Post Eurovision Depression. The Show is broadcast on 106.8FM and Digital Cabel 41 in the Netherlands and also via the internet via www.radiointernational.tv and will also be web-televised via the show's own Live Video Channel via the website. The simulcast will be from 2000 till 2300 hours CET this Wednesday.

Interview with Soluna Samay (Denmark 2012):  

On 21 January 2012 Denmark had a big National Final in which the Danish Nation selected Soluna Samay to represent Denmark at the 57th Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Should've known better". In Baku the busker (^-^) successfully managed to qualify Denmark to the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with a total of 21 points ranking at Number 23. Lilian and JP met the singer for an interview after her second Press Conference in the Baku Press Centre and then JP caught up with her again after the Winners' Press Conference when Denmark was one of the lucky ten countries going into the Final.  

Euro Friends Song Contest 2012 with Andy Simon: 

Continuing next week with the Euro Friends Song Contest in search for the ultimate Eurovision song as voted for by the many fans around the world.  Andy  Simon joins us again next week to reveal the qualifiers for the next round.  The website of the Euro Friends Song Contest you will find here where you can easily vote for your favourite Eurovision song per country and also see The Euro-Friends TV Show as hosted by Andy Simon. You can also join the Facebook Group here. Andy is back next week and he reveals the next qualifiers from the final Heat 50 (Germany). Andy will also reveal how the contest continues.  

Interview with Anri Jokhadze (Georgia 2012):  

"I am a Joker" is the entry of Georgia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 by Anri Jokhadze who competed in Semi Final 2 where he received a total of 36 points ranking him at Number 14. Unfortunately, this was not enough as only the Top 10 of the Semi Finals qualify for the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest. Anri joined the buzz and the hype in the Press Centre on the evening of Semi Final 1 where Eric and JP had the pleasure to meet and interview him.

Eurovision Song Contest Spotlight - Eurovision 2012 - The Aftershow Party:  

The 57th Eurovision Song Contest was staged Saturday 26 May 2012 in Baku and each of our Eurovision Correspondants will each week be giving us their assessment of how they watched the shows and what they think of it. Of course, it goes without saying, it is spiced with their choice of songs from this year's Eurovision Song Contest. Continuing this new mini-series is Alasdair Rendall.

Interview with Ivi Adamou (Cyprus 2012):  

Cyprus was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 by Ivi Adamou with the song "La La Love" which reached Number 16 with a total of 65 points after Ivi could successfully qualify Cyprus from Semi Final 1. Like nine other songs the entry from Cyprus has also involvement from Sweden in its production. JP, Lilian and Roger met Ivi after her first Press Conference and interviewed her which you can hear on th show this week.  

Interview with William from wiwibloggs.com:  

You can find many Eurovision News websites on the internet. Lasst week we chatted with Charlotte, editor-in-chief of eurovisionary.com. This week we have the pleasure to chat with William who is the editor-in-chief of one of the newest Eurovision websites called wiwibloggs.com. Different than many of the other Eurovision News Websites find out what you can find on wiwibloggs.com by listening to the interview on the show this week.  

Eurovision Song Contest News with Luke Fisher from escXtra.com:

Check out the latest developments connected to the Eurovision Song Contest. Whether it is music releases of Eurovision performers, appearances, special concerts, gossip, news, etc. Luke will have the latest updates during this week's edition of the show.

Loreen and Alexander Rybak (Eurovision Winners Sweden 2012 & Norway 2009) at the Swedish Embassy Reception:

A tradition is that many countries' Embassies of the host city where the Eurovision Song Contest takes pleace are holding a Reception in honour of their countries participation at the contest. Sweden's Ambassador in Baku welcomed many Swedish and International Media to the Nobel House in Baku. Guest of Honour, of course, Loreen who performed an accoustic version of "Euphoria" live to the audience as well as Special Guest Alexander Rybak gave a reprise of his winning entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 - "Fairytale". Hear these special moments on Radio International this week. 

Eurovision Music Requests/Eurovision Quiz:

A big part of the show is playing listeners' requests. Submit your requests and / or greetings to your Eurovision friends through Radio International via the CONTACT Link on www.radiointernational.tv. But also don’t miss out on the weekly Eurovision Quiz where you can win a dip into the freshly filled up Goodies Bag or pick a Eurovision Song Contest from the past on DVD.

Join Radio International on Wednesday, 20 June 2012 from 2000 - 2300 hours CET, via the website or on FM. Radio International is available live via www.radiointernational.tv and on FM 106.8 and Digital Cabel Channel 41 in parts of the Netherlands. Should you not be able to listen live, the show will appear in the Programme’s Show Archive a few hours after it’s airing on the radio.

Source: Team of Radio International

There has been a lot of talk that two of the most notable names to come out of the Eurovision Song Contest had been recording an original duet and many did not know what to make out of the speculation the exclusive premiere which took place in Romania just yesterday. The duet which features none other than Paula Seling and Alexander Rybak bears the name I'll Show You and it is written by the Belarussian/Norwegian performer himself. Both of them had finished in the top three at the European event noting the victory of Rybak for Norway in 2009 with the song Fairytale and the second runner-up finish for Paul Seling alongside Ovi for Romania in 2010 with the track Playing With Fire.

The singers made a number of television appearances in the past couple of hours to promote the track in Romania but the idea was for it to be recorded and shown in various countries. According to our information, it seems that Paul Seling might be asked to return to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2013 as a solo performer so one will see whether this could happen. Apart from being a great performer, many note her as having a spectacular personality and this could be very well the boost she needs for her solo career. One has to add that their popularity in recent months has been quite high so this might end up being a chart sensation in the weeks to come. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news from artists related to the Eurovision Song Contest.

Source: Olivier Vanhoutte

This years' edition of the Eurovision Song Contest is now just a couple of days away and therefore, the final announcements are now being made public by the host broadcaster of the 2012 event being Ictimai Television following the victory of Ell and Nikki with the song Running Scared during their time in Dusseldorf, Germany. There have been a number of rumours going about with regards to the interval act but it seems that it has now been revealed to be none other than the last five winners of the esteemed event. This will be the first time that they will be brought together on stage. It is not yet known what songs they will be performing but they will surely sing the tracks that took the Eurovision Song Contest to their respective nations. 

This years' competition will be taking place in the Baku Crystal Hall to which the constructed was completed just days ago. In fact, the technical team has already been making use of the equipment through a number of rehearsals to make sure that everything is spot on and working perfectly. The very first official rehearsals are set to begin on the 13th May when the first set of participants in the first semi-final will take to the stage. The interval acts are also being put into the schedule now in fact noting that they include Alim Gasimov; Natiq rhythm band; singer/songwriter Emin and last but not least the National Dance Ensemble but then, the European Broadcasting Union made this surprise revelation this morning including performers; Marija Serifovic (2007), Dima Bilan (2008), Alexander Rybak (2009), Lena (2010) and Ell & Nikki (2011). It will surely be an interesting spectacle which will be including in the same semi-final in which Malta and Kurt Calleja along his team will be competing. Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news as soon as it becomes available.

Source: eurovision.tv