Singer Miro Kostadinov had already been picked to represent Bulgaria in the 2010 Eurovision, what hadn’t been decided on was the song.  Five songs were put to a vote, two of which were sung in English.  However only one song on the night was written by the singer and it was that song that emmerged victorious.  The name of that song is ‘Angel Si Ti’.  Its catchy but there is a lot of ‘Oooooing’ going on, perhaps too much!

Todays hit comes from Denmark.   In 2005 Jakob Sveistrup belted his way across the Eurovision stage with song ‘Talking to you’ placing 10^th.  He has since released several albums to moderate success.  I love the opening lyric, ‘You nailed me to the floor with just one look’.

Two brilliant pop divas in their own right outside of the Eurovision joined forces on dance track ‘Tonight we ride, no digas que no’.

Kate Ryan represented Belgium in 2006 with ‘Je t’adore’ (placing 12^th in a semi final)

Soraya Arnelas represented Spain in 2009 with ‘La noche es para mi’ (placing 23^rd)

Both girls entries deserved far better but alas to harking on about the past, enjoy this upbeat collaboration. 

Todays ‘Forgotten Gem’ comes again from Britain.  In 2007 Cyndi Almouzni came second to pop band ‘Scooch’.  However it wasn’t plain sailing for Scooch as when the winner was announced Terry Wogan said it was Cyndi while Ferne Cotton simultaneously said it was Scooch.  Confusion reigned until it was finally discovered Cyndi had gotten 47% of the votes while Scooch had 53%.  A strong vocal ballad and camp gimmick pop song had never been so close.  Not to be outdone Cyndi moved to America and for an American market has changed her name to Cindy Alma.  She is currently recording an album under Cherry Lane Music home of the Black Eyed Peas for release this year in both America and Europe.  Hmmm, where are Scooch?

Compacted into one night that was usually spread out over two, ten songs competed, three were brought forward to a sort of final final where Aisha emmerged victorious with ‘What for?’ written by Janis Lusens and Guntars Racs.  The song is quirky but likeable and the more I listen to it the more endearing it becomes which is always a good sign, so listen to it three times before leaving your comments, lol.

From the start of the national finals in Slovakia it was clear who the favourite was, at least with the general populas.  Voted first by the public and second by the Jury panel gave Kristina with song ‘Horehronie’ written by Kamil Peteraj the overall majority.  I must confess though while watching it I thought her competition was instantly forgettable.  Still this would not be my kind of song but wish Slovakia all the best in Oslo.

Sofia Nizharadze sang six songs from which a Jury choose the winning song.  That song is ‘Shine’ written by Hanne Sorvaag, Harry Sommerdahl and Christian Leuzzi.  ‘Shine’ is a catchy ballad but is it a winner?

Darja Svajger represented Slovenia in the Eurovision twice, each time she was given a beautiful ballad to sing.  Our hit of the day is her second entry in the  Eurovision.  In 1999 she graced the stage in a canary yellow dress that would have personal stylists cringing with the song ‘For a Thousand Years’.  While the song placed 11th out of 23, Ireland did give her 12 points and deservedly so. 

Our other new category deals with Eurovision collaborations.

We idolise and worship some of them, lust after others and wish some had never graced the Eurovision stage yet there is no denying the thrill when we get to see some of our Eurovision alumni perform together.

Our first collaboration comes from Anna Vissi and Sakis Rouvas. 

Anna represented Greece in 1980 with ‘Autostop’ (placing 13th), Cyprus in 1982 with ‘Mono I Agapi’ (placing 5th) and Greece again in 2006 with ‘Everything’ (placing 9th).

Sakis Rouvas represented Greece twice, once in 2004 with ‘Shake it’ (placing 3rd) and again in 2009 with ‘This is our night’ (placing 4th).

In the live duet you will see called ‘Kapote Tha Maste Mazi’ we get to see Sakis prance about in a leather pants and Anna sound very like Gloria Estefan.  There’s lots of background big hair and we get to see passionate Greeks at play.

Our new category ‘Forgotten Gem’ is all about those songs that possibly should have but didn’t make it out of Countries National finals.  They become lost to time but here we hope to remember and apreciate the greatness that was. 

The first of our ‘Forgotten Gem’ series is a song sung by Olivia Newton John in the 1974 UK national finals.  Olivia had been given six songs to sing and the public had to pick their favourite. The song she would go on to represent Britain with was ‘Long live love’ and that would place fourth although in fairness no song would have been able to beat that years winner which was Abba and ‘Waterloo’.  However I believe had she gone with ‘Angel Eyes’ she may have placed second.