The 2005 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest was surely one of the most notable ones due to the fact that it represented the fifteeth (50th) anniversary of the event but then again it is also known for bringing about two new countries to the family, these being Bulgaria and Moldova but the former is the focus of the topic at hand noting that in eight years, they have only managed to qualify on one occasion thanks to Water performed by Elitsa & Stoyan in 2007 whilst also being close on another two occasions, the first one being in 2008 with Deep Zone & Balthazar who finished in eleventh position with DJ Please Take Me Away and the other one being this year when Sofi Marinova and her track Love Unlimited lost out to the tiebreak rule as Norway received points from another country.

The failure to make it through to the finals of the esteemed music event has seen the broadcaster change their format on a number number of occasions and it seems that they would like to see what the people around Europe believe is going wrong and what they thought went right in order to note down what they will improve just in time for the 2013 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest which will take place in Sweden. The surver of questions which can be accessed here is being coordinated by the broadcaster, BNT as well as OGAE Bulgaria and Eurovision-bg.com. The answers could be sent as soon as possible to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Stay tuned to escflashmalta.com as we keep you up to date with all of the latest news from the nations which will be competing in the next edition of the prestigious music event.

Source: BNT, Eurovision-bg, escXtra

We are almost halfway through the competition in the second semi-final and now have to a point where there has been a lot of genres presented from a number of countries from all over the continent. The next nation who was drawn to perform in the eight position is one who cannot say that they have been successful over the years due to dismal results. In fact, the nation is Bulgaria who have reverted to calling on their most notable names in the industry with hope of reaching the final and also obtaining a decent result. The chosen representative is the renowned Sofi Marinova with the song Love Unlimited composed by Krum Geopriev & Iasen Kozev and penned by the likes of Donka Vasileva.

Sofi Marinova (36) is one of Bulgaria's most popular performers. Devoted to arts since her childhood, Sofi established herself little by little as a top vocalist in Bulgaria. Coached by her mother in singing and dancing, Sofi excelled at school in Etropole while impressing musicians from a local band with her beautiful voice. Soon after, granting permission from her parents, she started singing covers at weddings and christenings; Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson's hits were part of her repertoire as well as gypsy songs from her cultural heritage.

Then her participation in many festivals, where she became victorious, followed and led Sofi to the release of her first album Old Wounds alongside the band Super Express which, according to numerous producers, is the best selling album in the country. Some solo albums followed until she began working with Sunny Music in 2004 and the producer Krum Krumov, a collaboration which is still successful.

In her career the singer has had mostly first place awards in festivals and contests and said she will be very disappointed if she ever comes second, but in 2005 she reached the second place at the national selection for Eurovision in Bulgaria with Edinstveni (Only One) with Slavi Trifonov. In 2007 she took part again with the rapper Ustata and the songYa Tvoya (I'm Yours) placing third. Now Sofi Marinova embraces the challenge of trying to win the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time for Bulgaria on her own.

The Critics Voice Their Opinion

Magnus Kaxe

• Ahh…this sounds interesting. Modern with a good house/club feeling. Great chorus, but maybe too long verses. And question but where are the dancers on stage? It’s after all a club track! All I’m looking at now is a non-moving female singer in an evening dress. I like this, seven (7) points from my end. 

Marion Welter

• There are number of dance songs in this years' Eurovision Song Contest and this is neither better nor worse but I am not fond of such tracks hence I cannot give it more than one (1) point. I am very sorry!

Tobias Larsson

• One of the strongest dance tracks of the year, performed by a real singing diva with style and flair. My objection concerns the visual presentation, which needs a lot of work still. If they get that right, this could go down well. I believe that seven (7) points are well deserved.

Entry Background

Performer: Sofi Marinova

Composers: Krum Geopriev, Iasen Kozev

Author: Doni Vasileva

Song: Love Unlimited

Languages: Bulgarian, English, Arabic, Azeri, French, Greek, Italian, Romani, Spanish, Turkish, Serbian, Croatian

Broadcaster: BNT

History of the Nation

This will be marking the eight participation of Bulgaria in the Eurovision Song Contest meaning that they remain as one of the last countries to become part of the family but as already mentioned, their results have not been that good unfortunately. They have only made it to the final on one occasion, back in 2007 when Elitsa & Stoyan with their song Water made it and ultimately reached fifth place in the finals for their interesting performance. They have been close to qualification on another two tries, one of them being the following year in 2008 with DJ Please Take Me Away performed by Deep Zone & Balthazar finishing in eleventh place and last year with Poli Genova and Na Inat managing a twelfth position. Will Sofi make their second final? Many are yet to see though she is a marginal qualifier according to most of the fans of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Source: Eurovision.tv for the Biographical Information and all respective media

Proud-to-be-Malta’s representative in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, Kurt Calleja, has lately been touring around Europe promoting his song. On the 25th April was infact his very last day of this tour which took him around most part of Eastern Europe. His last stop was Amsterdam, in Netherlands, where he took part in the event called “Eurovision in Concert” last Sunday, 21st April, where not less than 24 countries promoted their entry. Before returning to Malta on the 26th April, Kurt made a stop in Milan where he will be appearing on a show aired on RAI Due.

During his promotional tour, Kurt met with other Eurovision contenders including Sabina Babayeva who will be representing the host country Azerbaijan, Can Bonomo representing Turkey, Sofi Marinova of Bulgaria, Ivi Adamou of Cyprus, Soluna Samay of Denmark, Donny Montell of Lithuania and Anggun who will be representing France. Kurt Calleja made various appearances in TV shows and performances in nightclubs and also in some National Selections, including Lithuania’s National Selection. Kurt described this promotional tour as “a great adventure” and he surely made a good name for our country, thanks also to his bubbly and super out-going character.

Now, the emphasis of Kurt’s work will surely be on those important 3 minutes on the stage on the 24th May, that is, the second semifinal. Maybe odds will treat us bad once again, but everyone is more than sure that Kurt and his team will do not only their very best, but their utmost to assure a great performance on that night … and hopefully ‘that would be the night’. In an interview done by escflashmalta.com, Kurt said that the performance will be as simple as possible, nearing very much the performance which led him to the victory last February.

Source: Facebook, escflashmalta

Earlier this year, Bulgarian held a two part national selection to decide on their representative for the 2012 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest which will take place in Baku, Azerbaijan. At the end of the final, it was revealed that Sofi Marinova along with the song Love Unlimited had been the one which both the juries and the televoting combined declared as the winner. She had been one of the two favourites coming into the event and therefore, there were no surprises. The song in itself is quite interesting and features a club anthem with some traditional sounds, somewhat unfamiliar to the audiences around Europe yet catchy at the same time. 

Last night, the official preview video for the track was revealed as BNT has been working hard to make sure that everything is perfect this time round putting in a lot of effort within their presentation. They coordinated with the record label of Sofi being Sunny Music to come up with a finalized project. The video in itself tells fice different stories about love and how reactions can leave marks on people. The singer; features in bits and pieces being noted as the figure who brings the stories together hence the subject of the song. Stay tuned to www.escflashmalta.com for all of the latest news with regards to the competing countries in the upcoming music competition.

Source: BNT, Sunny Music