A Ukrainian nationalist party is under fire after a high profile member suggested a black singer cannot represent the country at a popular international song contest. Pop star Gaitana, 32, who was born in Kiev to a Congolese father and Ukrainian mother, was chosen last week to represent Ukraine at the 2012 Eurovision Song contest to be held in May in the ex-Soviet republic of Azerbaijan. Yuri Sirotyuk of the political party Svoboda (Freedom) was quoted by media as saying Gaitana does not represent Ukrainian culture, and Ukraine will be associated with Africa if she sings in the contest. Ukraine’s National Television condemned the...
NINA ZILLI (2012) KICKS OFF TOUR
posted by ALENKA (SWITZERLAND)
Nina Zilli is about to kick off her Italian tour on April 10 until May 5 when she will prepare her luggage for Baku 2012 Eurovision Song Contest. The tour is titled “L’Amore e Femmina” and will focus on the new album she released on mid February. Nina might not have won the...
FEMINNEM (2005, 2010) FINALLY
SPLIT UP
posted by LUKA (SERBIA)
The 2010 Croatian Eurovision representatives, girl group Feminnem, which also represented Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2005 have split up and gone their separate ways. The decision was made when one of the three members, Nika Antolos, decided to move to Moscow. The other group members, Neda Parmać and Pamela Ramljak, will continue to work in the music industry, although separately. They say they will all remain close friends. Group member, Neda Parmać, says “I’m shaken up and I’m lost. I need to go through that stage where I let all the emotions come out and see where to go from there”. Nika says she is moving to Moscow to be with her...
GUESTS LINE UP FOR FINAL ANNOUNCED
posted by LUCIAN (ROMANIA)
ORF has announced that several Eurovision stars will attend the Austrian National Final, next Friday, as VIP Guests. Among them we can see: Marianne Mendt (1971), Petra Frey (1994), Eric Papilaya (2007) and Nadine Beiler (2011). The hosts of the NF will be once again Mirjam, Andi and Robert,...
EUROSTARS IN MASTERCHEF DENMARK
posted by LUCIAN (ROMANIA)
Tonight TV3 Denmark will kick-off the second season of Masterchef, a show where we can see 34 well known names competing in front of three judges that are professional cooks. Among the contestants we can see Jacob Sveistrup, the Danish representative in Eurovision 2005, Suriya Hoffman (NF...
JEDWARD (2011, NF 2012) TO HOST
CHANNEL 5 SH...
posted by ANOTHER SOURCE
ENTERTAINMENTWISE.COM REPORTS Someone out there in TV land has decided that it would be a good idea to give Jedward a television show, as apparently they fit the Channel 5 criteria of being “young, fun and they’ve got great hair.” The Irish twins will star in a six-part home video blooper show called Weird Wild World, which will hopefully premiere later this year on Channel 5. The X Factor duo said to Digital Spy: “We’re so excited to be hosting this new series for 5. We love going online and watching funny clips and our new series will bring together the most amazing internet clips we could find. Buckle up, it’s...
MATIAS WITHDRAWS FROM UKRAINIAN FI...
posted by FOTIS (GREECE)
EUROVISION.TV REPORTS The reason why Matias has been disqualified from the competition is that his producer, Vlad Bahinskyj, was among the jury panel during the internal pre-selection. This led to a lot of criticism from the Ukrainian media and fans. So, now we have 21 contestants in the...
LORDI DRUMMER PASSES AWAY
posted by GHASSAN (DENMARK)
Lordi drummer, Tonmi ‘Otus’ Lillman, passed away yesterday (Tuesday 14th February) at the age of 38. Lillman joined the Eurovision Song Contest winning band in 2010, after the departure of Sampsa ‘Kita’ Astala. In a statement from the band: “Our dear friend and bandmate, ‘Otus’...
CAN BONOMO ARE READY FOR BAKU
posted by GHASSAN (DENMARK)
With no confirmation from Turkish national broadcaster, Milliyet newspaper claims that the band Can Bonoi have their song ready for Baku 2012 Eurovision Song Contest which is a dance song with many ethnic elements. Despite several negative voices against the internal selection of Turkey, the...
ANGUUN (2012) TOUR CONTINUES
IN EUROPE
posted by ALENKA (SWITZERLAND)
France is really promoting her artist this year, although some already say that promo tours are not as effective anymore as they were used to be. Anggun and her record label of course are not quitting and continue touring Europe. According to Anggun’s official facebook fan page here are the dates for the rest of the promo tour (so far) with Malta been already in the plans as she performed recently in the MSFE 2012. 18.02.2012 performs in Ukrainian 2012 National Final 26.02.2012 performs in Slovenian 2012 National Final 29.02.2012 performs in Bulgarian 2012 National Final 03.03.2012 performs in Lithuanian 2012 National Final and of...
SOME DIDN’T LIKE THE DECISIO...
posted by MOSHE (ISRAEL)
Zvika Pik’ and Maya Bouskilla seems to have been surprised by IBA decision to appoint Izabo group as the 2012 Israeli representatives. Zvika Pik claims that the IBA committee didn’t like his bid because it contained lyrics in Hebrew and demands the national broadcaster to...
NINA (2011) GUEST STAR IN
DORA 2012
posted by LUKA (SERBIA)
Croatian broadcaster HRT has announced that Serbia’s 2011 Eurovision representative Nina will perform at the upcoming Dora festival, during which the Croatian entry for Baku by Nina Badrić will be performed. The Serbian Nina will join this year’s Eurovision representatives from Montenegro, FYR Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina who will also perform during Dora. HRT says that the network originally invited Željko Joksimović to attend but because of his busy schedule he suggested Nina perform instead. Nina says she is excited about her upcoming performance in Zagreb. “I’ve slowed down with my music a bit. Currently I’m...
PAUL OSKAR AGAINST AZERBAIJAN
posted by GHASSAN (DENMARK)
ICELANDIC REVIEW REPORTS Icelandic musician and the country’s main expert on the Eurovision Song Contest Páll Óskar Hjálmtýsson is urging director of national broadcaster RÚV Páll Magnússon to have Iceland drop out of the contest this year because of human rights violations carried...
THE FUNERAL OF NOEL KELEHAN
posted by MARKUS (GERMANY)
The funeral mass has taken place in Dublin of the musician and former conductor of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, Noel Kelehan. Under its Conductor Laureate Proinnsías Ó Duinn, the RTÉ Concert Orchestra played music by Beethoven, Ravel and Barber. Eimear Quinn, one of the five Irish Eurovision...
CAROLA ROBBED IN CAPETOWN
posted by ANOTHER SOURCE
ILKAR.BLOGSPOT.COM RERORTS Carole flew to holidays in Capetown last week and now we can read in her Twitter that she has been robbed and bruised when entering her rented farm. At least her cellphone was stolen. Despite all that she later twittered she still loves South Africa. Carola, who is...
MGP 2012: RYBAK IN, STELLA OUT
posted by GHASSAN (DENMARK)
Reports say the artist will be appearing as one of two of the break’s entertainment segment on Saturday (few hours before he departs for Mink’s Eurofest 2012). Rybak’s performance at the 2009 Eurovision led to the biggest win in the contest’s history, attaining 387 points. “We...