The utturley fabulous world of Scandinavian music is making it’s way on to Dance Nation TV!

Dance Nation will be trialling “Scandipop’s” list of Scandinavian hits for one hour, every week for four weeks.

If this proves to be popular, they will continue to show it every week.

This is a huge coop for Scandinavian music lovers in the UK and Ireland.

I am personally very excited at the prospect that this will be shown every week from now on. I can’t get enough of the Scandinavian music scene and already being a huge fan of Dance Nation TV, I am totally obsessed already!

The show is set to feature lots of Scandinavia’s biggest stars including September, Eric Saade, Agnes, Infernal, Swedish House Mafia, Eric Pridz, Star Pilots, Ola, Elin Lanto and Danny & Freja!!

Also I will be hoping that they will feature some other artists not released commercially here but still well known in Eurovision/Schlager circles such as Velvet, Alcazar and Jenny Silver to name a few but I have to admit Velvet being aired is an absolute must for me!

This one hour “Scandipop” extravaganza , which is starting on Friday 7th October on Sky, will also be repeated on two other occasions throughout the same week for anyone who may miss it.

The times are:

Every Friday morning at 10AM

Every Saturday afternoon at 4pm

Every Monday Night/Tuesday Morning at 12 midnight.

Sky Channel 376.

Visit “Scandipop’s” website for more updates and info on all the best artists coming from Scandinavia! www.scandipop.co.uk

Here are some video’s you can enjoy which I think will most likely feature on the programme:

Danny & Freja with “If Only You”:

Elin Lanto with “Discotheque”

September with “Resuscitate Me”

Star Pilots with “In The Heat Of The Night”:

Agnes with “I Need You Now”:

And my personal favourite, Velvet with “Victorious”:

And more Velvet with an absolute stomper “Come Into The Night” (This is only audio but an excellent song):

As reported last week, a couple of us here at Escireland.com were heading over to the much hyped Schlager party being held at the Loom bar in London last Friday. For anyone who did not know what this is all about, a specific group of people organise a party every month or so for those ever growing legion of fans of “Schlager” music.

We headed over in plenty of time on an early flight last Friday, did some early shopping and had a bite to eat before getting ready in our very modern self catering apartment and finally taking just a few steps down the same street to the lovely Loom Bar on Clipstone Street.

Chris Henderson, one of the organisers of the event welcomed us at the entrance, thanked us for making the trip over from Ireland and reminded us of our free drink (Kopparberg Cider) once we reached the bar.

We arrived fairly early as we wanted to get a good spot and hear all the music that was on offer throughout the evening. The music consisted of the early years of Eurovision, 60′s through to 90′s from approx 8.30pm up until around 10.30-11pm, then there was a mixture of more modern Eurovision and Melodifestivalen (Sweden’s Eurovision preselection).

The Loom Bar filled right up to it’s limit as it was sold out before the event and with the mix of all types of people there, filling the floor, the place was hopping for the night! I think there were people who did not leave the dance floor all night, such was the appreciation for the music!

There were lots of favourite songs on the night provided by the wonderful DJ Dave Simmons, but one of the highlights for me and for most of the crowd from the way they raised the roof, was this years Hungarian entry “What About My Dreams?” sung by Kati Wolf.

Also high up on the fan play list was Carola Häggkvist with “Evighet”, Velvet with “The Queen”, Jenny Silver with “Something In Your Eyes”, Sanna Nielsen with “Vågar du, Vågar Jag” and “I’m In Love”, a remix of Linda Bengtzing  with “Jag Ljuger Så Bra”, Turkey’s very catchy entry into Eurovision in 2009, “Dum Tek Tek” sung by Hadise, Shirley’s Angels with their Melodifestivalen entry this year, “Thought It Was Forever”,” Samba Sambero” sung by Anna Book, Shirley Clamp in her solo effort “Att Älska Dig ”,  ”Etymon” by Sonia Alden, “Kalla Natter” from the beautiful Jessica Andersson among many many more…..!!

The very popular and well known “Schlagerboys” (pictured here in the last picture above) were not going to miss out on another night of huge hits on their Eurovision journey!

Overall, a great night was had by all, drinking, dancing, meeting people and some of the best music ever to come from Scandinavia and Eurovision was enjoyed on the night!  Thanks to Chris Henderson and “Schlagerfest”!!!

Pictures courtesy of Chris Henderson and Evan Condon.

Jenny Pettersson from Sweden, professionally known as “Velvet” is back with a new song “Lovestrukk”.

The single is not due to be released until sometime in the summer with the Extensive Music label so this is a remix of the song from the wonderful “7thHeaven Productions”.

I think the song is bang on target for Velvet’s faithful fan-base, however this is a remix so we will have to wait for the release of the actual song to get the full overview . I still think this will be a successful song for Velvet though!

You can listen to the clip here (Song number 4): http://www.7hproductions.com/#/4

Velvet competed in the Swedish National Final “Melodifestivalen” as a solo artist three times:

Song 1 (2006) Mi Amore:

http://youtu.be/ZckANwQnI4k

Song 2 (2008) Deja Vu:

Song 3 (2009) The Queen:

She did enter the following song (With Linda Bengtzing) into Melodifestivalen in 2010 but it sadly did not make it through to the televised shows. A real tragedy in my opinion! This would have been great in Melodifestivalen!

Song 4 (2010) “Victorious”:

Thank God she is back, I think I am slighty in love with her and of course her music!!

So the time of year has come around again that we get the slow trickle of artists announced, with the announcement of Linda Bentzing participating we’ve all got the shivers. We here at ESCIreland have our favorites from the previous years and we would like these ones to return for this year Mr Christer Bjorkman, pretty please with sugar on top! In no particular order.

1 – Le Kid

While they have just been around for a few months Le Kid have that certain poppy sound that just makes them brilliant.

2 Måns Zelmerlöw

He hosted last years competition and was in 2 previous MFs with great success. 3rd in 2007 with Cara Mia and 2nd in 2009 with Hope & Glory. It’s an odd year so he needs to come back

3 Timoteij

This goes without saying, we love the girls too much to not have them in our 10. Their album was pure gold. They came from nowhere last year to win their semi final above one of the favourites – Darin. Their futures are bright indeed.

4 Lili & Susie

No other explanation needed!

5 Velvet

We love this woman a little too much, plus she is the Queen.

6 Eric Saade

He stole our hearts last year and should have won instead of “This is my life”, we can but hope that he will be back with a splash this year.

7 Gravitonas

While Alexander Bard may have written for a Dansband this year Melodifestivalen still would not be Melodifestivalen without one of his bands involved

8 Lena Ph

It’s about time this Diva made a return to the stage. I mean who else could get away with a song about anal sex in front of 100 million people and get away with it!

9 Alcazar

This time give them something with a bit more umph to it, headlines was ok but didn’t cut the mustard!

10 Nanne

It’s time for the tiny terror to make her way back, with a recent album launch (next week) she is on the up at the moment. Plus we need that added bit of crazy!

Do you have any favorites that you want to see in it this year? Why not let us know.

It has begun, the first 4 names for Melodifestivalen have been announced and 2 welcome names make a comeback in a collaboration that can only end in fabulousness!

1

Song title: E de fel på mig

Composer: Pontus Assarsson, Thomas G:son, Jörgen Ringqvist

Artist: Linda Bengtzing

Weak.com cannot begin to describe how excited I am about this entry. It seems like the Swedes have forgiven Thomas G:son for going to the dark side (Denmark ’10), and he has forgiven them for rejecting him in 2009 for the classic “In a moment like this” (Sorry Keith I know you don’t like it ). And Linda is an old ham at this as well with 3 separate entries into MF over the years. This will be Schlager gold at its best!!!

2

Song title: Me and my drum

Composer: Teron Beal, Patrik Magnusson, Johan Ramström

Artist: Swingfly

This is the rap entry for this year. Swingfly is an American – Swedish rapper and singer. He is best known lending his vocal talents to other artists records. He is currently working on his solo career and a rock & electronica influenced album was released in March 2009. He was born Ricardo DaSilva II in New York (He is sometimes known as Swing-fly, Richie Pasta or Swing). Swingfly has also lived in Trinidad & Tobago and Panama before relocating to Stockholm, Sweden in 1991

3

Song title: Desperados

Composer: Pernilla Andersson

Artist: Pernilla Andersson

Looks like a bit like little Anna from last year, her songs are a bit alternative/country.

4

Song title: En blick och något händer

Composer: Alexander Bard, Ola Håkansson, Tim Norell

Artist: Lasse Stefanz

Lasse Stefanz, earlier Lasse Stefans, is a country music-inspired dansband, formed in 1967 in Kristianstad, Sweden. The band was popular during the 1980s. The band was formed by Hans Sigfridsson, Lars Sigfridsson and Olle Jönsson. Later members are Christer Ericsson, Anders Pettersson and Gunnar Nilsson. Olle Jönsson is the singer, as well as the ex-drummer. Lasse Stefanz had hits with songs as “Oh, Julie” (1982) and released albums as Peppelinos Bar (1988). 1989-1990, Lasse Stefanz and Christina Lindberg had a Svensktoppen hit with the song De sista ljuva åren. In 1989, Lasse Stefanz was awarded a Grammis for “Dansband of the year”.

What puzzles me is Alexander Bard (Army of Lovers, BWO and Gravitonas) is involved. But in the last 2 years in particular MF has included a Dansband in as well. Could be an interesting mix or a train wreck.

Well done to Timoteij who went gold in Sweden on the day of release of their brand new album Langtan. It’s schlagertastic!

Both Maria (Norway ’08) and Måns (Melodifestivalen contestant and host) have teamed up to make a new song called ”Precious To Me”. It’s pretty good.

Definately the best act from this years Melodifestivalen Timoteij are launching their debut album out tomorrow and the reports are good for schlager. But don’t take my word for it 30 second clips of each song are available to listen to here (just click on ‘Låtar’). My favourite apart from Kom is Glöm mig. I’m very easy to please though lol.

Here is their smash hit Kom from Melodifestivalen, which they should have won btw:

We would like to point out as well that aside from Norway who gave them the same amount, Ireland did them the most points out of any international jury to Timoteij in MF. Come over for a concert or seven girls

Being a little underwhelmed by her winning performance in the Icelandic National Final we advised our beloved Hera to… in the words of Sue Sylvester… “swish it up“!

And oh my Carola she has! We don’t have a new video to reveal the new choreography but the new backing track is gayer than Paul Oscar and Sylvia Nott performing This Is My Life.

Fabulous!

Listen here:

Ladies and gentlemen, in the red corner… NORWAY!

In the blue corner, SWEDEN!

We give you the mother of all battles… SCHLAG-OFF! (aka Melodifestivalen 2010 interval act)

Part 1

Part 2

This was by far and away the best thing about Melodifestivalen this year! We especially loved that saucy minx Elisabeth Andreasson mixing it up and swinging both ways. Charmed were fab and totally outshone the two remaining members of Afro-dite who seemed to take to the stage in their nighties!

I think Roger Pontare’s Arctic sled-dogs might have heard my squeal when Nanne and Maria appeared in those electric pink frocks.

So ESC Ireland viewers, which schlager nation won the battle?