Source: Elke Roels, Thomas Hanses (EBU) First Semi-Final Winners Press Conference

Tonight saw the first Semi-Final of the 57th Eurovision Song Contest take place in Baku. In what was an agonising wait for Ireland fans we clinched the “Golden Ticket” and the last spot in the final. The other qualifiers were Romania, Moldova, Iceland, Hungary, Denmark, Albania, Cyprus, Greece and Russia.

We are loving the Russian grannies they are like those little Russian dolls that pop out of each other

By far the favourite with the audience and public, plus with the added extra of this headline “Dima Bilan beaten by dancing grannies”

Buranovskie Babushki will sing the song Party for everybody in the first semifinal

All the way from Mother Russia Alexey Vorobyov or Aleexey Sparrow as he is sometimes known as as, is indeed a worthy entry into the Eye Candy hall of fame, plus his song isn’t half bad either

Well entering the last week of national selections and we have a few more countries left to choose.

The UK is showing their entry on Friday on the Graham Norton show on BBC 1. Blue will perform their song: “I Can”, which is a pop hit in the style of their first song “All Rise”.

Azerbaijan have yet to announce their entry – they may not even keep the chosen artists.

After the debacle in the Ukraine we at least know the artist (again) – Mika Newton – but the song “Angels” will be significantly revamped.

Sweden goes to the polls on Saturday for the Melodifestivalen Finale, will it be Eric Saade or are all the bookies wrong?

San Marino will reveal Senit’s song on Friday as well. 2 types of songs have been

Have a listen to an earlier Senit song:

The Russian song has been leaked early by a fan to mixed responses, personally I like it. The official presentation is on Saturday the 12th.

Portugal is looking forward to being banned because it is a political song, even the TV presenter has expressed their dis-satisfaction over the choice. And in fairness it is an awful song to come out of a country normally dedicated to sending in great songs.

In the last few days Hungary, Israel and France have revealed their songs, with France coming out as a strong favorite to win overall. Both Israel and Hungary have dodgy live vocals on them but Hungary is the stronger of the two, the only thing saving Israel is the fact that it is Dana International – winner 1998.

To see the current entrants and their songs go to: http://www.escireland.com/2011-participants/

The Russian song was caught on amateur camera, could be Moscow yet this year.

Alexey Vorobyov – Get You

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy0Fr3B9cNM

So hands up, I’m laying my cards on the table and hoisting that rainbow flag up that tall glittery mast – I love the Eurovision Song Contest and will continue to love the Contest when I’m old and gray or even worse old and bald. However, for me there was a golden era of the Eurovision Song Contest, the years between 1992 and 1997, when Ireland could not get rid of hosting the thing and the other European participants simply showed up to bulk up the numbers.

Of all the years during this golden age, 1997 has the fondest memories for me, and this is the story of why…

First and foremost, it was the last time Ireland hosted the event. At that time it was a different type of beast, a one show spectacle where you really only heard the songs and saw the performances as they went out live. The sheer joy of not knowing what to expect added to the excitement of the whole thing. The contest held in 1997 is the epitome of everything the contest should be.

From the opening sequence, I knew we were in for a good show. The duo of Carrie Crowley (criminally underused today by RTE) and Ronan Keating were a great hosting pair. I am actually still scarlet for Ronan and his attempts to woo poor Carrie with some horrifically bad French – but more of that later. The stage was small, unusual and very futuristic looking (TV sets anybody).

There were some cracking good songs in the contest that year, not least of all our own Mark Roberts’ Mysterious Woman. The contest itself was won by Katrina and the Waves with a song that used buzz words such as Love, Heart, Light, Together, Boys and Girls to melt the hearts of the viewing public. There were some memorable stonkers (it’s a word) and our beloved Norway got Nul Points. The world just seemed a better place back in 1997.

Anyway, I am not going to bore you to tears with my opinions. Have a look at the 4 videos posted below that give you a rounded albeit brief reminder of just how good the year was.

The opening sequence and proof that Ronan Keating hasn’t had a decent hair style in over a decade. His French dialogue if you can call it that is from 4.40 onwards.

Cyprus had the honour of opening the contest. A brother/sister combo of Hara and Andreas sang “Mana Mou”, an ode to their mother and homeland. It was for me an endearing number and won favour with the viewing public coming 5th out of a field of 25 plus the guy had bushier eyebrows than me – respect!

Italy entered one of my favourite songs of that year, “Fiumi Di Parole” performed by Jalisse. It was a hot favourite to win at the time and certainly is up there with some of my all time favourite entries. Alas the song eventually finished 4th in the contest and Italy have not returned to the Eurovision stage since.

And finally, one of the most memorable performances of that year came from Russia. Alla Pugacheva sang “Primadonna” my descriptions of which can not do it justice. It needs to be watched to be appreciated. Apologies for the slightly bad quality of this particular video.

Ps – I’m not forgetting Paul Oscar and Minn Hinsti Dans but I made the mistake yesterday of repeating a previous post and I’m not making that same mistake again.

The Peter Nalitch Band will represent Russia with Lost and forgotten.

The Russian wildcard that has withdrawn, written by Phillip Kirkirov. It’s actually very good, bear in mind it’s a demo so lots of nah,nah,nahs. But a couple of key changes and a catchy tune, I’d love to hear the proper version of this.

Russian broadcaster RTR has announced the 35 artists that will take part in the selection process and missing from it is Dima Bilan with his Phillip Kirkirov written song “White Night”.

According to ESCtoday

It is not clear why Dima Bilan and his management suddenly decided to withdraw from the National Final.

It was announced earlier in February 2010 that Phillip Kirkorov, who is a well known name to the Eurovision audience will once again take part in the contest as a composer. A song titled “White Night” was said to be the one Bilan would sing on the day of the National Final.

Dima Bilan’s producer, Yana Rudkovskaya in her statement refused to name the reason, and only commented that it was a mutual dicision between her, Kirkorov and Bilan.

Without Dima the list is sparse and quite franky not that interesting.

These 35 finalists will perform at an internal selection on March 1st in Nazarov’s theatre in Moscow. The internal jury will reduce the above finalists to 25. The Russian national final will take place on March 7th on RTR.

12 artists have so far been confirmed for the Russian final, and look whos back at the top of the list!

1. Dima Bilan – White night

2. Elena Esenina – Krasavica matreha

3. Roma Kenga – Visoko

4. Den Ice (Denis Kurnosov) – Vesna v Parizhe

5. Livi – Sex appeal

6. Aleksandar Panayotov – More More

7. Stas Satsura – Face to face

8. Balagan Limited – Oy, da

9. Elena Berkova – The bear arrived

10. Rona Ray – Syberia

11. Boris Khludnev & BK! – He’s a liar

12. Grachi – I know you

Some of the potential participants (jokers) are:

Polina Gagarina, Maxim, Princessa Avenue, Yin-Yang, Boris Moiseev and Nataliya Volkova.

We will know the full list of participants on February 25th, and the final will be held on March 7th.

Thanks to ESCDaily for this.