The Icelandic National Eurovision - Finals on February 17th

It started! the national pre-competion has begun and contains of 3 saturday nights with a big final competition on February 17th. Three songs are selected on each Saturday and are up for finals. The participants are great or least from the show on the Saturday, January 17th. I will keep you updated about the Icelandic show and make some changes on this site. I´ll hope the information for each country will change. At the moment the information is from last year - sorry for that!

NewsAddi wishes everyone a Happy New Year

43 countries applied for Helsinki 2007

The logo for the Eurovision Song Contest in Helsinki 2007

43 countries signed up to participate in the 52nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. Svante Stockselius, Executive Supervisor of the contest on behald of the European Broadcasting Union, said that today during a press conference in Bucharest. The final list of participants will be made public after 15. December.

Fellow Eurovision-fans

You and I are really looking forward to the next Eurovision song contest, right?
As you know there are no, what so ever, news about the contest but as soon as there will be some news, I´ll post it here for you.

Have a great x-mas everyone. See you soon.

Iceland Review

Iceland

Silvía Nótt will sing for Iceland in Athens.

The Silvia Night
"Congratulations" Video

Iceland had its national final on 18 February in Reykjavík and has chosen Silvia Night or Silvía Nótt to represent the nation in Athens with the song Congratulations (Til hamingju Ísland in the original Icelandic). The song tells the story of how Silvia will win the Eurovision Song Contest and how she is better than everyone else. The song was considered a favourite ever since the competing songs were announced. It is written by Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir & Gaukur Úlfarsson and composed by Þorvaldur Bjarni Þorvaldsson.

Silvía Nótt is a fictional character in Sjáumst með Silvíu Nótt, an extremely popular Icelandic semi-reality show on the TV channel Skjár 1. Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir, singer for band Ske and an actress, and Gaukur Úlfarsson decided to invent a character that brought out all the worst things in human behaviour in modern society. Silvía's personality is highly affected by narcissism and she sees herself as the most famous and talented person walking on the planet Earth. Her full name is Silvía Nótt Sæmundsdóttir and she is 22 years old.

All the Finalists for Eurovision Song Contest are finally here

Dear All

Finally I put all the finalists for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens. The text, pictures and the links are taken from the website "Wikipedia-The free encyclopedia".

For each and every country you have a picture and a small description of the Finalists this year. Take a look and enjoy the reading.

Brows through the finalists and send newsaddi_interact@hotmail.com a comment on your choice for this years winner

Albania

Albania

Luiz will sing for Albania in Athens.

A combination of a public televote and a panel of judges has chosen Luiz Ejlli as Albania's representative in Athens. "Zjarr E Ftohte (Fire And Cold)" was the song performed. The song contains elements of ethnic Albanian folk music, and uses traditional Balkan instruments. The song was composed by Klodian Qafoku and written by Floran Kondi. The song will be performed in Albanian at Athens.

Luiz Ejlli is the first male performer to represent his country. Ejlli has been well-known in Albania since winning the 2004 "Idols" show. He also competed in Festivali I 43-te I Kenges Ne Radio Televizion, the Albanian pre-qualifying national final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, finishing second with the song "Hëna Dhe Yjet Dashurojnë" (The Moon And The Stars Are Loving)".

Andorra

Andorra

Jenny will sing for Andorra at Eurovision.

Andorra made an internal selection for the 2006 contest, with the Andorran national broadcaster selecting Jenny and the song "Sense Tu". The song has been described by the selectors as similar to the music of artists such as Sam Brown and Anastacia. Jenny was selected over 44 other candidates. The song will again by performed in the Catalan language at the contest, despite poor results in the past two years for Andorra, which are mostly blamed on the choosing to not perform in English.

Jenny is from Catalunya, Spain, and is a student of music under Helen Rowson in Barcelona. She is a new artist in both Spain and Andorra, with no previous commercial success in either country. Rafael Artesero produced the entry, having also produced the 2005 entry "La Mirada Interior".

Armenia

Armenia

Andre will participate in Athens for Armenia.

Armenian broadcaster ARMTV has confirmed that the popular singer André will represent the country with the song "Without Your Love". The song is composed by Armen Martirosyan, written by Catherine Bekian, and arranged by Ara Torosyan.

André was born in the city of Stepanakert, in the region of Nagorno-Karabakh, Azerbaijan. In his early years André's family noticed that he was showing interest in music. He started singing being just 3 years old, when his stage was a chair, thermometer as microphone and audience were his family members. When he turned 6, André started attending piano classes at the Komitas School of Music in Stepanakert. After studying for three years André wrote his first song Prayer. André has competed in many music festivals and has released two successful solo albums with many hit singles. Musical achievement of singer include participation in the festivals Voice of Asia, Golden Skif, Shanghai festival, Championship of Performing Arts, he was twice awarded as best Armenian singer of the year.

Belarus

Belarus

Polina Smolova will represent Belarus in Greece.

The Belarussian broadcaster BT staged a final which allowed viewers to choose the top 3 songs in the selection. The winner was chosen by a jury behind the scenes and the final result will provide a ticket to Athens for Polina Smolova and her song Mama. The song is an upbeat pop song that resembles the styles of Michael Jackson. Polina attempted to represent Belarus last year, but couldn't manage since she was not selected by the jury. The song is written by Andrey Kostiugov and composed by Sergey Sukhomlin.

Polina Smolova started her singing career with participations in children folk bands. She has graduated from music school in the piano department and sang in the children’s folk theater "Gostsitsa" as part of the Byelorussian folk ensemble "Zhavaranachki." Polina later graduated from the Glinka Music College in the department of solo traditional singing from the Belarus State University of Culture and Art. She performed in the State Youth Music Theater as a soloist of the State Department of Internal Affairs Orchestra. She has participated in many song contests such as "Malvy" (Poland), "Galasy radzimy", "Golosa Evropy", and the winner of the contest "Slavyanski Bazar v Vitebske" in 2005.

Belgium

Belgium

Kate Ryan will represent Belgium in Eurovision 2006.

Flemish broadcaster VRT staged the Belgian final, Eurosong '06, on February 19th and favourite Kate Ryan managed to win with the song Je t'adore. Kate Ryan’s song is a Swedish dance track that she wrote the lyrics to and composed in collaboration with Niklas Bergwall, Niclas Kings, & Lisa Greene. Je t’adore was one of the favourites among many others in the Belgian final.

Kate Ryan, born as Katrien Verbeeck, is a Belgian singer-songwriter who gained international prominence with a cover of Mylène Farmer's Désenchantée, which was a hit on European pop charts. Kate Ryan is known internationally after the release of her first album called “Different.” She also extended her fan bases to North America after she released her second album, “Stronger,” in North America in 2005.

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Hari will participate in Athens for Bosnia & Hercegovina.

PBSBiH internally selected Hari Varešanovic and Lejla, which will be composed by Eurovision 2004 runner-up Željko Joksimović from Serbia & Montenegro, while Fahrudin Pecikoza and Dejan Ivanović will write the lyrics that have a "touch of Bosnia & Herzegovina and tell about an unhappy love". Its visual identity will contain elements of ancient national decoration and the rich ethnic tradition of the people of Bosnia & Herzegovina in a modern styled variant.

Hajrudin "Hari" Varešanović was born in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1961, is a famous and popular singer in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Varešanović is best known as the vocal soloist, composer and leader of the musical group Hari Mata Hari. This is not the first time he has tried to reach Eurovision. In 1999, Hari Mata Hari won the Bosnian selection with the song "Starac i More" but were disqualified because the song had been released in Finland. Hari Varešanovic has lots of experience with a career that has lasted over 20 years.

Bulgaria

Bulgaria

Mariana Popova will represent Bulgaria at Eurovision.

Bulgaria chose its second Eurovision entry in a national final on 11 March. The TV viewers had 10 minutes to vote by phone calls and SMS for the song to represent Bulgaria at Eurovision 2006 and have chosen the dynamic song Let Me Cry performed by Mariana Popova. The song is written by Elina Gavrilova and composed by Dani Milev.

Mariana Popova was born in Sofia and has been studying music since she was 11, and later she studied also modern and jazz ballet. From 1996 untill 2000, she was part of the group Cocomania. In 2005 she won the first prize at the “Burgas and the Sea” Festival with the song "Dream About Me," which she performed in a duet with Dani Milev. Mariana says that she dreams of never to stop dreaming, that she appreciates the really talented people, that she believes in herself and in reincarnation and that she would like to have a dinner with the singer Marc Anthony.

Croatia

Croatia

Severina will participate in Athens for Croatia.

The Croatian entry was chosen on 4 March at the Dora competition in the seaside resort of Opatija - the site where the first Dora took place. Severina Vučković was chosen with the song Moja štikla, which is a powerful turbo-folk song with humorous lyrics. The lyrics were written by Severina, and music by Boris Novković (2005 Croatian representative) and Franjo Valentić, and arrangement by popular Bosnian-born musician Goran Bregović. Since Serbia & Montenegro withdrew from the contest this year, Croatia will automaticly be in the final.

Severina was born 21 April 1972 in Split, Croatia. As a child she took part in numerous children festivals and musicals. When she was 17, she recorded her first album Severina for Croatian record company Orfej. In 1991 she started recording for “Tutico” and became one of the greatest stars of Croatian music. She won many festival awards and her albums achieved high sales. She achieved international fame when her home porn video was published on the Internet in 2004. Severina previously attempted to reach Eurovision in 2000.

Cyprus

Cyprus

Annette Artani will represent Cyprus in Athens.

The Cypriot public selected its entry from ten songs on February 22 during a show entitled, "Song For Europe" where Annette Artani won the majority of the votes with her ballad "Why Angels Cry" Her song was a favourite after the semi-finals took place a week before the final. The song is written and composed by Petros Yiannaki.

Annette Artani was born in New York City to Greek immigrants. At a young age, Annette expressed her interest and love for music. She gained more experience by being a backing vocal for the Britney Spears "Dream Within a Dream" tour. She collaborated with Britney Spears and wrote the song "Everytime", which became an international hit. True to her roots, Annette's songs fuse the oud and bouzouki laced instrumentations of her Greek culture with a modern, city-wise pop, rock, and blues sound. She participated on the third edition of the Greek show Fame Story and although she did not win, she went on to release a single called "Amor", which quickly became popular.(*Note*, her real name is Annette Stamatelatos.)

Denmark

Denmark

Sidsel will sing for Denmark.

The Danish Final was held on 11 February at the Gigantium Arena in Aalborg and Sidsel Ben Semmane has been unanimously selected to represent Denmark in Athens with the song "Twist of love." Sidsel had a good presentation of her song which is a mix of elements from country and rock 'n' roll. Twist of Love picked up top marks from all four regional juries. The song is written and composed by Niels Drevsholt.

The youngest artist this year is 17-year old Sidsel who comes from Århus, Denmark. Her talent was discovered recently by composer Niels Drevsholt who also wrote the song. During her leisure time she likes to perform with the party band Satzmo. Niels Drevsholt has already taken part as composer in the MGP four times. The 2006 song “Twist Of Love” tells the story of a young girl like Sidsel that falls in love.

Estonia

Estonia

Sandra Oxenryd will perform in Athens for Estonia.

An international jury decided that Sandra Oxenryd will represent Estonia at Eurovision 2006 with the song “Through My Window”, a song with up-tempo country-soul music. The song is written by Pearu Paulus, Ilmar Laisaar, Alar Kotkas (composers) and Jana Hallas (lyricist), the same authors who wrote the Estonian entries for 2000 ("Once in a lifetime") and 2002 ("Runaway"), which came 4th and 3rd, respectively.

Sandra Oxenryd is from Kristinehamn, Sweden and was the winner of the Swedish Fame Factory. She had great success with her album, "All There Is." Sandra is not the first Swede to represent Estonia, as Anna Sahlene represented Estonia in 2002 with ”Runaway.”

Finland

Finland

Lordi's "Hard Rock Hallelujah" will be competing for Finland at Eurovision.

The Finnish Final was held on 10 March at the Caribia hall in Turku, hosted by Heikki Paasonen & Jaana Pelkonen. The Finnish viewers chose the band Lordi to perform Hard Rock Hallelujah at Eurovision. The song was a favourite before the competition and also scored major success when released as a single. Hard Rock Hallelujah is a rock anthem with sophisticated lyrics. The song is written and composed by band member Mr.Lordi.

Lordi is a melodic theatrical heavy-rock band, mostly known for their unusual monster costumes and lyrical themes. The members are Lordi, Amen, Ox, Awa, and Kita who together have released four albums with many hit songs. The members have never shown in public without their masks. Lordi itself says the band doesn't exist without the masks. The selection of such an unusual style of music and stage theatrics has caused a small controversy in Finland and there have been calls for a reconsideration of the choice.

France

France

Virginie Pouchin might represent France at Eurovision.

A national final consisting of talent search performers was held on 14 March and the public and a panel of experts, presided by Charles Aznavour, combined to select the winner. Before that there were seven regional auditions including some in France's overseas territories. Virginie Pouchin will represent France at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with the song Il était temps (It was time). The original song, Nous, C'est Vous, was changed because it did not suit Virginie's style. The song is written by Corneille Nyungura and composed by Corneille Nyungura & Virginie Pouchin.

Virginie Pouchin is a 26 years old hairdresser, who decided to take part in ‘Entrée des Artistes’, a musical show hosted by Pascal Sevran. Virginie won that competition and along with three other particpants, she entered Et si c'était vous?, the French broadcaster's national final for Eurovision, which was intended to have new talents emerge. Out of 21 participants, she was chosen to move on to the next round of the competition along with two others after she interpreted Céline Dion's French hit, Pour que tu m'aimes encore. She conquered the final gaining the jury's and televoters' support for her journey to Athens.

Germany

Germany

Texas Lightning will represent Germany at Eurovision.

The German selection was on 9 March, with only three performers and songs as part of a special show celebrating 50 years of Eurovision. Singer/comedian Olli Dittrich with his country/pop band Texas Lightning beat former Modern Talking singer Thomas Anders and 1972 Eurovision winner Vicky Leandros to represent Germany at Eurovision. Texas Lightning will be representing Germany this year with the song No No Never. The song is written and composed by Jane Comerford.

Texas Lightning is a quintet that describes itself as hip and old fashioned. The group consists of Olli Dittrich, Jon Flemming Olsen, Markus Schmidt, Uwe Frenzel, and Jane Comerford. They have remade songs by country singers such as Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline, but have also recorded hit songs such as "Highway To Hell" and "Like A Virgin" with a country twist. They also recentently covered "Waterloo", ABBA's 1974 Eurovision hit.

Ireland

Ireland

Brian Kennedy will sing for Ireland at Eurovision.

Brian Kennedy will sing the Irish entry in Athens. Irish television viewers selected his entry during a special edition of The Late Late Show on 17 February. Kennedy's own composition, Every Song Is A Cry For Love was tipped as the winner by the jury members and the audience on the show and, in the end, was triumphant in the public vote. The song is a ballad in the traditional Irish style.

39-year-old Brian Edward Patrick Kennedy is an Irish singer-songwriter and author. He was born and grew up on the Falls Road in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He performed on the original Secret Garden version of the song You Raise Me Up and was performer in Riverdance on Broadway in New York. He also wrote two novels titled, The Arrival of Feargal Flynn and Roman Song.

Israel

Israel

Eddie Butler will sing for Israel at Eurovision 2006.

The Israeli Kdam took place on 15 March, 2005. The voting was divided up as follows: televoting (50%), 4 regional juries: Jerusalem, Tel-Aviv, Haifa and Be'er Sheva (10% each) and the studio audience (10%). Eddie Butler won with the song "Ze Hazman" with 99 points. The song is written by Eddie Butler, Osnat Zabag & Galit Burg and composed by Eddie Butler.

Eddie Butler has previously participated in the Eurovision as a part of the group Eden, which represented Israel in 1999 and finished fifth. After the group's breakup in 2001, Butler launched a solo career. In 2002 he got the Special Audience Prize of the international music competition New Wave in Jurmala, Latvia.

Latvia

Latvia

Cosmos will represent Latvia with the song "I Hear Your Heart."

The Latvian final, Eirodziesma, was held on March 11 following 2 semi-finals in February. The winning entry was the group Cosmos with the song I Hear Your Heart. The song is written by Molly-Ann Leikin & Guntars Račs and composed by Reinis Sējāns & Andris Sējāns

Cosmos is a group of six young Latvian performers who sing a capella. They are Jānis Šipkēvics, Andris Sējans, Juris Lisenko, Jānis Ozols, Jānis Strazdiņš and Reinis Sējāns joining in 2004. Their first album sold 12,000 copies and reaching gold status as well as gaining the title of the best pop-album in Latvia of 2003. They were also triumphant in winning the third international song contest "New Wave 2004." In 2005, Cosmos released their second album "Pa un Par", presenting 16 tracks of Latvian and international songs, as wells as original compositions.

Lithuania

Lithuania

LT United will represent Lithuania in Athens.

On March 4, Lithuanian broadcaster LRT staged the final, which picked its 2006 Eurovision Song Contest representative. After a number of newcomer qualifying heats and three semi-finals, Lithuania managed to choose the band project LT United, which will sing We Are the Winners at Eurovision. The band is hoping that European sense of humor will assist their entry to success. The novelty song includes the repretitive saying, which declares Lithuania as the winner of Eurovision 2006. The song is written and composed by Andrius Mamontovas and Saulius Urbonavicius.

"LT United" was created by well-known Lithuanian performer Andrius Mamontovas and include 4 more familiar names, which are Viktoras "Vee" Diawara - singer from Lithuanian band "Skamp", Saulius Urbonavicius "Samas" - leader of legendary Lithuanian band "Bix", Eimantas Belickas and Arnoldas Lukosius - musicians who usually play together with Andrius Mamontovas. After listening their song, well-known Lithuanian musician, showman and TV presenter Marijonas Mokitavicius has also joined the band.

Macedonia

Macedonia

Elena Risteska will sing for Republic of Macedonia at Eurovision 2006.

Republic of Macedonia selected its song for the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest on 4 March, where Elena Risteska triumphed over all the other competitors with the song Ninanajna. The national selection was held at the MKTV studios and the winner was selected by televoting to avoid any possible mistakes and set-ups. Ninanajna is an uptempo RnB pop song that contains some disco/dance elements. The music/arrangement is done by Darko Dimitrov with lyrics by Rade Vrchakovski.

Elena Risteska was born in Skopje and besides music, she enjoys drawing and design. She rose to fame when she took part in the talent search competition "Play - Search For A Star" and was one of the favourites and sang the song "Ona drugoto" (That Other One), which became a hit in Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. She released her first album titled "Den i nokj" (Night and Day) which contained hit songs that made Elena Risteska a well-known singer across Republic of Macedonia and in some Balkan countries. She also writes lyrics, including the ones for the hit single "Te molam ne plachi" (Please Don't Cry) for the group 4Play.

Moldova

Moldova

Arsenium & Natalia Gordienko feat. Connect-R will represent Moldova at Eurovision.

National broadcaster Teleradio-Moldova (TRM) organized a national final that toke place on the 25 February and in the end reached no result. A new national final will take place on 15 March that will have brand new songs competing. In the new final, Arsenium & Natalia Gordienko feat. Connect-R singing 'Loca' was successfully chosen to represent Moldova in Athens. The song is written and composed by Arsenium.

Arsenie Todiras (Arsenium) was born on 22 July 1983 in Chişinău, Moldova and is a Moldovan singer who was part of the boyband O-Zone. When he was 17, the famous opera singer Larisa Shulga taught him singing lessons, which led him to Dan Balan who invited him to become a new member of “O-Zone”. The band had many hits and became successful domestically and internationally. After the band broke up Arsenie started his solo career and his first single “Love Me, Love Me” was released in 2005. Popular Romanian rapper Connect-R and the former lead singer of the Moldovan group Millenium, Natalia Gordienko, will join Arsenium to perform the song.

Monaco

Monaco

Séverine Ferrer will sing "La Coco-Dance" for Monaco.

Behind closed doors Monaco has chosen its Eurovision entry for 2006. Séverine Ferrer will represent the principality with the song "La coco-dance", which will be sang in French and Tahitian. "La Coco-Dance" was written and composed by J. Woodfeel and Iren Bo, and will be choreographed by Bruno Vandelli. Although the song and singer have been announced in March, they were picked by the delegation before Christmas.

Séverine Ferrer was born on 31 October, 1977 in Montpellier. She grew up on the island of Réunion and became a local celebrity. In 1991, Severine and her family moved to Paris where she was certain that she wanted to be an artist. Severine started her career by starring in television series. In 2004, Séverine Ferrer's career picked up with the release of a new album and her clothing line for pregnant women.

Netherlands

Netherlands

Treble will sing for the Netherlands in Athens.

The Dutch Final was held on 12 March at the Heineken Music Hall in Amsterdam. Each performer sang three songs and the winner was chosen in two rounds of voting. In the first round an expert jury selected the best song by each performer before the eventual winner was chosen by televoting. The jury chose "Heaven Knows," performed by the foursome Behave, "I'm Alive," performed by 2004 Dutch "Pop Idol" runner-up Maud and "Amambanda," performed by the female trio Treble. The girl group Treble recieved 72% of the televote which provides them with the ticket to Athens along with the song Amambanda, which contains imaginary lyrics. The song is written and composed by Caroline Hoffman, Niña van Dijk, & Djem van Dijk.

The group Treble comprises Caroline Hoffman (29) and sisters Niña (19) and Djem (17) van Dijk. In 2004, they had number one hit single with Ramaganana. The girls are experienced percussionists and vocalists. After three singles and an album, 2005 was a silent year for Treble. Treble also performed two other songs in the Dutch National Final called "Lama Gaia" and "Make your choice."

Norway

Norway

Christine Guldbrandsen will sing for Norway at Athens.

The Norwegian final Melodi Grand Prix 2006 was held on 4 February at the Spektrum in Oslo, and after four semi-finals and a final, Norway will be represented by Christine Guldbrandsen with the song “Alvedansen.” At the final eight songs were performed of which four moved on the super final. Christine delivered a powerful performance with a top quality voice, which went perfectly with the ethnic Norwegian fiddle and harmonica music. The song is written and composed by Christine Guldbrandsen, Kjetil Fluge & Atle Halstensen.

Christine Guldbrandsen was born in 1985 in Bergen and immediately showed an interest for music when she joined the child choir at the age of 3. In 2003 she became known in Norway with her debut album “Surfing in the air” that sold over 30.000 copies across Scandinavia. Since then she has become a popular singer across the country and successfully managed many hits. Christine's musical expression and style is still inspired by Norwegian and Nordic folk music, though this came a bit clearer to mind on her debut piece. Folk-ballads or folk-pop could be a good description of her music.