Eurovision Song Contest 2012 – Although the 57th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest is still over half a year away, several countries have already started with the preparations of their national finals: in some countries the entire line-up is known already, other countries have only set a date while others have been quiet for a very long time. Let’s see what we know so far:
Cyprus was the first country, and so far the only country too, to announce their representative for Baku: Ivi Adamou will represent the island. The young singer got fame and recognition in Greece and Cyprus after participating in the Greek X-Factor.
Switzerland will be the first country to choose for the second year in a row, the final stage of Die Große Entscheidungsshow is planned for 10 December. 14 acts will take part, one of which is the 1956-winner of the Eurovision Song Contest Lys Assia. The Albanians celebrate the 50th anniversary of their prestigious Festivali i Këngës. The contest will be spread over 4 nights this year, of which one night will be devoted to the rich FiK-history. 28 performers will participate in total, Frederik Ndoci who represented the country in 2007 is one of them.
The first Scandinavian country to hold their national final is Denmark, with their Dansk Melodi Grand Prix scheduled for 21 January, earlier than usual. As usual, 10 acts will take part and through a couple of televoting rounds, a winner will be chosen. Exactly one week later, Mediterranean Malta holds their national final. Like last year, the selection will be preceded by a semi-final the day before, where 16 singers will be chosen out of 24 to perform in the final.
After a very disappointing 17th place in the semi-final last year, in spite of being one of the favourites, Norwegian NRK has announced changes to the format: 3 semi-finals with 8 songs each and one final with an unknown number of songs will determine who gets to wave the Norwegian flag in Baku. The “Sistesjansen”, including the infamous duels, got axed. Latvia holds two semi-finals in early January and has the final over a month later, at Saturday 18 February, in which 10 participants will fight for the Latvian ticket in Eirodziesma. February 24 will see the Irish national final, as usual in a special episode of the Late Late Show on RTÉ and Jedward as the first confirmed participant. Finland will have their final one day later. YLE decided to axe Euroviisut and went for a new format: UMK, standing for Uuden Muusiikin Kilpailu (Contest for New Music). Another day later the Netherlands will know who will represent the Dutch citizens at Europe’s favourite TV-show. For the first time since 2006, an open national final was organised. In both Finland and the Netherlands 6 finalists will perform, naturally only one can win the first prize and the right to represent their respective countries in Azerbaijan.
Eesti Laul 2012 will determine the participant for Estonia, with the national final to be held on March 3. Exactly one week later, the most highly anticipated national final among Eurofans comes to a climax, as the final of Swedish Melodifestivalen will be broadcasted by SVT on March 10. Swedish tabloids have revealed that Charlotte Nilsson/Perrelli (1999/2008) is one of the participants, although the broadcaster has not yet confirmed this.
Belarus and Slovenia will hold their in national finals in January. Belarus will have their first national final since 2009, while Slovenian EMA has been revamped once again, with an Idols-like talent show deciding the finalists to take part in the Slovenian national final. This talent show will come to an end on Christmas Day. Austria, Bulgaria, Iceland and Ukraine will hold their national finals in February according to the latest news, although no actual date has been confirmed yet. Austria and Bulgaria stick to their procedures of last year. Iceland cuts down on costs and only has one final, while Ukraine has not revealed more details so far.
Countries that have confirmed their participation for next year, but who haven’t revealed a lot more information yet, are Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Georgia, Hungary, Israel, Lithuania, Moldova, Romania, San Marino and Serbia. Rumours that Hari Mata Hari (2006) will represent Bosnia again were denied by broadcaster BHT. Host country Azerbaijan is sticking to its format used last year, while Germany will use the same method as they picked Lena, who went on winning the Eurovision Song Contest. Other Big 5-countries Spain and the United Kingdom have not yet revealed more information. France and Italy even still have to confirm their participation, while France announced last year already they would organize a national final for 2012.
Armenia might withdraw as the contest will be held in their biggest rival country Azerbaijan. Poland deals with a lack of media attention and good results and considers a withdrawal, while Portugal faces a possible privatization of the national broadcaster RTP, which could mean that Portugal has to withdraw. Slovakia and Montenegro are still thinking about a participation and more news about those countries is expected soon.
Croatian, Greek, FYR Macedonian and Russian broadcasters have been very quiet about the contest, so also here it’s “To Be Continued”. To end on a sad note: Andorra will quit the EBU, meaning they are not intending to come back for a long time.
ET: This is the first post of our new writer Jonathan from Belgium! We wish him the best of luck and lots of fun posting on our blog! Welcome to the family!
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nice recap, thanks
This is a great artical, welcome to the team – its amazing on here!!!
Thank you very much
I hope I’ll enjoy it here…
Great article indeed! Nice to have a recap not to lose track ^^
I dont think Italy will particapate!
I am looking forward to watching the French NF. It’ll be my first.
P.S.: Portugal will probably be present in Baku, but I am not so sure about FdC 12. We might go for an internal selection.
Yay me ectancta Portugal!
Well, Portugal is a beautiful (encantador) country, if I may say so. Thanks, Jack.
Sorry that was Spainish, simular to Portugesse though – Also your entries have been amazing!! (Not 2011 sorry)
Thanks, Jack. There’s no need to be sorry. No, Jack, PT 11 was not one of our best efforts indeed.
you did not see the “Et si on gagnait l’eurovision?” back in 2007 with Valérie Louri’s fine “Besoin d’ailleurs”?
I did not, Morgan, unfortunately, but Togravus sent me that song, that I love, btw.
Don’t you worry, Morgan. Introducing ‘Besoin d’ailleurs’ to Shevek was among the first things I did after we had met on that other site. But the first thing I did was recommending Sweden 1968 if I remember correctly.
It will be my first too! And I will be able to watch it on a real television too ^^
Ok I’m looking for “Besoin d’ailleurs” on YouTube before you stone me
Sweden 67, I believe.
Oh yes … of course … sorry. Darn multitasking …
But I like Sweden 1968 too. The song with the title I can never remember is in 4th place on my 1968 list.
On lists: I’ll send you the one you asked for later tonight. I am writing a document atm (trying to actually) and I am trying to make my mind up at same time. lol
Sweden was good in 68 too (but I’m not crazy about the 68 contest, in comparison to the usual 60s level) but Sweden 67 is a masterpiece in my all time top 20, so yet again, we agree (but we knew thanks to Esc vibes that we all agreed on “Som en dröm”)
How did you like “Besoin d’ailleurs” Manuel?
Like the lyrics, music is ok… would’ve been a better choice than Fatals Picards IMO
I forgot you’re less an ethnik lover than we are, and a tad more mainstream (without it being an insult at all) so you’d only find it “ok” but I’m sure we’d have gotten a lot more alternative votes than FP who were in competition for the jokes with Sweden (which wasn’t a joke but was percieved as such) or the UK (which was horrible)… but Valérie Louri wouldn’t have done that much better except that we’d all have loved a diff French entry, once more
I like ethnic Balkan music… I also like African folk music, but in this case… I don’t know why I’m not more enthousiastic. And yes! I’m much more mainstream (I think…). That’s what happens when you spend your youth listening (exclusively) to Celine Dion ^^
Sometimes the level to which we agree really becomes a bit scary. I have watched all the contest from the 60s again last week and have written a brief history of the decade. There is a lot to tell about the contests from 1963 to 1967 but once I reached 1968, I only wrote that there isn’t much to tell really except that it was the 1st contest in color tv, that France sent another masteriece that didn’t win and that Belgium sent my favourite song of the decade. Then I went on to other things … LOL
Is it identity crisis alarm time again?
Listening to Som en dröm… ^^
It is scary, will always be. I think exactly that, exactly exactly. 1963-1967 are all my favorite contests in esc history as well (especially 65-66 to be fair) and then from then on it’s a downfall with a few nice exceptions (on a music level, 93-97 are quite intense)
1968 is the year of “La Source” that masterpiece that even you do not have as his 68 winner grrrr, it’s my all time 4 anyway. But Belgium is my runner up and one of the best of the decade, along with “Dansevise” (my all time 8), “Som en dröm” (my all time 16), “Poupée de cire poupée de son” (my all time 17), “Un jour un enfant” (my all time 18), “Aurinko laskee länteen” (my all time 19) and “Al di laé (my all time 20)… I do love the 60s!
Could someone go here: http://eurovisiontimes.wordpress.com/about-5/who-are-we/ and tell me whether you can see my email in the contact form… I think it’s just my computer that adds it… otherwise it would be scary ^^ Thanks!
yes I can (so Obama of me)
You see my e-mail: Manuelgroesch1@msn.com e.t.c?
no only: theeurovisiontimes@gmail.com
I meant in the contact form! In the field E-mail:
gosh don’t scream at a lit teacher for some computer machinery thingies lol let me try to understand what you mean :p
oh I understand, no of course I see my own email and everyone probably sees his or hers
(not so stupid for a literary guy aint I :p)
hehe ^^ “!” wasn’t supposed to mean “Emphase” ^^
I agree with all the songs you have mentioned and would only add ‘Un premier amour’ and ‘Ne pali svetla u sumrak’ to make my list of the outstanding masterpieces from the 60s complete … but then there are around 20 more songs I am madly in love with: ‘Valoa ikkunassa’, ‘L’amour s’en va’, ‘Sol de inverno’ and ‘Brodovi’ to mention just a few.
My favourite contest is 1965 but if we talk about the Querelle des Anciens et des Modernes that characterised the contests in the mid-60s, 1966 and 1967 are equally interesting imo.
Arf, “Un premier amour” is my all time 30 while Yugoslavia 1962 peeks at #207 in my list (which isn’t bad at all, but I prefer the Yugoslav entries of 63, 64, 65 & 67 better. I recently won etc on scvibes with Monaco 63, I love Françoise Hardy a lot, so it’s a special entry to me…
I think 66 is really where everything could have happened, and it’s perfectly clear in that top 3 with the classy modern Norway (ageless classic), the jazzy alternative Sweden (timeless quality) and the very conservative clichéd Austria (forgettably boring). The juries made their pick, and for many contests to come stated that they would prefer the big mainstream typical entries to the rest (I do not like the esc winners in 68, the uk in 69, in 70 or 72 while I’m not thrilled with Spain 69, Netherlands 69 though wonderfully performed or Monaco 71 quite boring to be fair). Abba will always be a decisive turning point in esc history, regardless what we think of the (*cough* awful *cough*) schlager legacy.
But yes, 65 is the year with the highest average on my list as well. How typical of us to agree lol
How rude of me, I forgot to welcome escbelgium, sorry. Welcome!
I am now going back to work.
I should too… but I don’t want to! Morphosyntaxe is a whore…
OMG! Who is a whore??
French grammar
There is no reply button to Morgan’s last comment.
I totally agree, in 1965 we had the quirky, contemporary and in-your-face entry from Luxemburg (sort of foreshadowing the social renewal in the late 60s) fighting the conventional stuff and some of the most intellectual songs that ever entered ESC (first of all Denmark and Portugal). The juries decided to go for modern. As a consequence of this decision we got many innovations in 1966 … the first dancers (Denmark), the first participant jumping around onstage (unforgettable Milly Scott) and the first ‘joke entry’ (Sweden) that proved that being funny and quality/classy at the same time is possible. (Tell that to the post 2000 joke entries … with the exception of divine Sébastien Tellier of course, but then I would call his entry witty and not a joke anyway) Moreover, even countries like Portugal and Finland, which had been exclusively on the traditional or heavy stuff side of things before dared to send their first up-tempo songs in 1966. The result of all those innovations seems to be that the juries became a bit frightened of what their decision the year before had triggered off … and decided to give the crown to Austria’s ballad. The next year, ever conservative Austria tried to turn back time by hosting ESC in Vienna’s Hofburg. Sandy Shaw entered the stage barefooted (the Hofburg stage!!!) and had the weakest vocals of the night. But she had the most modern (and catchy) song too, and her victory was the last nail in old ESC’s coffin. As a result of all that we got a lame compromise, namely that an ESC song had to be catchy and instant. Gone were both the intellectual/ demanding songs and the quirky stuff and as a result of all this we got mainly catchy winning songs in the next years and some of the worst vocals too, in particular in 1972 and 1973. There were some exceptions like France 1969 or the winning ballads in 1972 and 1977 but all other winning songs until the 90 were very instant. Unfortunately, most of them had very little artistic substance either. At least that is how I see it …
It’s funny how clearly we agree and complete each other… we could go on and on about it, focalising on one country (Israel’s uptempo one-syllable-repeated-over-dance-all-around entries), one year, etc. and get the same ideas… to me since Abba even though I do like many many things since then, there is a big downfall of esc that only the very daring 90s will save, only to be smashed by the 00s; yet the good entries of the 00s are often absolutely remarkable and straight into the best of all time list (Hari Mata Hari, Patricia Kaas, Robin Juhkental), that’s the big complexity of modernity
That’s true. Of course there are masterpieces in all decades but (as you have correctly observed) with the exception of the mid-90s, when ESC reached its second peak, they are so rare compared to the 60s. After having finished the 60s, I watch the contests from the 70s atm, and 90 % of the stuff I get is simply lame, boring or plain embarrassing. Whereas I listened to and watched almost all songs from the 60s attentively until the end, I lose interest in most songs and performances of the 70s after 20 seconds. It is all so terribly predictable (= catchy and instant). Btw, was everyone color-blind in the 70s? LOL I wish that they still had had black and white TV then … So far I have watched the contests from 1970 to 1975, and if I exclude 1970 and 1971, which seem like an epilogue to the 60s in my book anyway, I have awarded 12/12 only to one song so far (France 1975 … and I am not too sure about that either anymore …). On the other hand, I gave the 12/12 to 20 songs from the 60s. Well, 1976 has one of my favourites from the 70s (Portugal) and perhaps I will give another 12/12 to ‘Uma flor de verde pinho’. We will see …
and France 1975 is my all time 15 lol, we should stop or people will think we’re twins lol
LOL Yes we should stop now, I guess. I don’t really want to talk about the 70s anyway … It is too depressing for a guy my age late at night.
Gosh! 15 more years to go and abysmal winning stuff like the Herrey’s, Nicole and Riva ahead until I get to the 90s …
lol I don’t like the esc winners in 86, 87 nor Céline Dion’s winning song either (but I like Céline’s enthusiasm and vocal performance) so that’s a LOT of craps to go on, saved by Finland 1985 (the masterpiece of the decade, and only 80s song in my top 20), Switzerland 86 and Portugal 84… and for your sake, I’ll add Portugal 88 (i just checked, my all time 670, I guess we’re not twins anymore)
We have never been twins.
Remember Cyprus? Evridiki 1994 is in my all-time top 10. 
What amazing live vocals! I simply cannot stop watching her mouth and admiring the singing technique, the tension she has in her lips …
Btw, my favourite song of the 80s (at least according to my last review 5 years ago) is Portugal 1984. I absolutely adore the vocal subtlety of the sole background singer.
So far, Italy is the only country to retain its dignity in the 70s. Fantastic Massimo, stylish and sweet (syrupy?) Gigliola and Wess & Dora with their straightfordward, unpretentious and very un-ESC in the 70s song …
Finally, I don’t really like any winning song of the 80s. In the 70s, I like France 77 and Israel 78. The others are at least ok for me too. Gosh! the 80s were the worst decade ever and they are looming on the horizon of my review now …
my favorite countries in the 70s are Israel, Finland and Austria
Well, after a certain number of comments you can’t “reply” anymore, because the text always approaches the side a little more…
Thanks for telling me. You know that Morgan and I tend to get carried away once certain subjects pop up.
I know ^^ and I love it!
Good to know that we do not annoy you with our arcane talk about days long gone by.
and to think, I was born 20 years after Sandie’s victory…
and to think that I was born the year she won.
oooo cougar town
LOL!!!!! … and good night!
no lol we’re colleagues and esc brothers, not lovers
Welcome Jonathan !
Very nice recap, good job !
Til now I love the most:
Latvia – “Beautiful song’
Finland – Pernilla Karlsson – “När jag blundar”
These two are AMAZING for me!
I also love Patric Scott feat. Fabienne Louves – “Real love” from Switzerland!
But Pernille karlsson is THE BEST! (L)
I
Marko, I also think that Pernilla’s song is good. I hope she can sing it live. My favourite from the Latvian bunch is ‘No limits to dream’.
“När jag blundar” reminds me of far North, reminds me of snowy days around Christmas!
It reminds me of fireplace in stone house somewhere far away in a pine wood!
I wish I could understand lyrics…or find them somewhere and translate!
När jag blundar is also my favourite in Finland! Love it! It gives me a nice warm feeling (not implying anything here!)
You forgot Serbia, Serbian broadcaster is quiet as well!
I hope we withdraw! Or decide to send somebody from abroad (if anybody is interested to take part
lol)! We need song in English finally! :S
I hope Greece will withdraw as well!
noooo! I want my Slavic song! Molitva and Charoban are songs I keep listening to!
Where are you from? The UK?
no… Germany (living in France)… I was in Bulgaria for a year in 2009/10 and since then my heart is 1/16th slavic ^^
LOL ok!
There are many Slavic countries participating in ESC, why Serbia must be the one always sending songs in native language?
Ask some other Slavic country to do so this time! LOL
Bulgaria does… maybe I should ask Ukraine or Croatia ^^ … I’m going to bed now wow it’s almost 2…
Yeah I know and I will probably miss train in 09:00 because it’s too late now!
Good night!
Been listening to the songs of each country now for quite a while and found a true pearl called Iconcrash. If they get to Baku Finland might have a bright chance to win the whole competition! Interesting sounds, take a listen: http://satumaa.yle.fi/umk/kilpailijat-2012/iconcrash-we-are-the-night
I noticed that if you click the ‘Tykkaan’ box, they get a better chance to even get to the Finnish finals. God I wish they get there. Straight from the 80′s, pop as it used to and should be! =)