Melodifestivalen 2013: Who will win?

Here I am another year to ask your opinion on who will win this Saturday, the Melodifesivalen 2013 and will represent the host country in May.
You can vote until the 9th for your favorite. But remember that only one vote is allowed per day.
See below for a recap of the finalists.

Go here to vote: http://poll.pollcode.com/3klv8w

Aqui estou eu mais um ano para pedir a vossa opinião sobre quem ganhará este sábado o Melodifesivalen 2013 e representará o país anfitrião em Maio.
Poderá votar até ao dia 9 no seu favorito. Mas lembre-se que só é permitido um voto por dia.
Veja em baixo o resumo dos finalistas.

Aceda aqui para votar: http://poll.pollcode.com/3klv8w

Eccomi qui un altro anno, per chiedere il vostro parere su chi vincerà questo sabato, il Melodifesivalen 2013 e rappresenterà il paese ospitante in maggio.
Potete votare fino al 9 per il vostro preferito. Ma ricordate che è consentito un solo voto al giorno.
Vedi sotto per un riepilogo dei finalisti.

Andate qui per votare: http://poll.pollcode.com/3klv8w

 

 



Eurovision: in preparation for Malmö 2013 (V)

Continuing in the Nordic countries, I will now examine two more choices.

NORWAY AND MARGARET BERGER

I will start to talk about one of the extrem countries in the Eurovision. Norway has the record of more times in last place - including last year when, against all predictions, Tooji finished in 26th place and only qualified for the final thanks to tiebreakers - and more times with null points (4 times). On the other side, Norway holds the record of winning with more points, achieved in 2009 by Alexander Ryback, with a total of 387 points. 
This year Norway is again represented by a female voice. Although the "Melodi Grand Prix 2013" hadn't a very good musical quality, the winning song was by far the best choice possible.
Of the remaining songs that went to the "Golden Final", the song "Bombo" played by Adelene, would be a song that would appeal more to the public vote. However Adelene failed to match the music and had some vocal problems. The song "I feed my Love You" is an interesting proposal, a rhythm of its own, between ballad and pop.
Margaret has a good vocal apparatus and manages to convey the message of the song. The rest of the elements on the stage from the lights to the drummer, contributed much to convey the message of the song. I think that this year Norway will not have problems to achieve the final.
From the countries that usually give more points to Norway, will vote on the same semifinal Iceland, Finland and Latvia.
But I think that both the juries and the public will enjoy this song, so there will not be big problems for Norway.


FINLAND AND KRISTA SIEGFRIDS

I will now talk about another country of extrems in Eurovision. Finland only won one time, in 2006 with the first heavy metal song to win the contest, with the 3rd biggest victory (exceeded only by the neighbors - Norway and Sweden -) and also was one of the most unsuccessful countries in the contest.
This year this nordic country brings us a very comic song with a good rythm. This year the finish final had a set of interesting songs. The 2nd, 3rd and 4th ranked had a better voice quality and proposals much more interesting both from the point of view of music, as from the point of view of performance on stage. But for me the best were the 3rd and 4th ranked. The first will appeal more to the juries and the other to the public.
But, there was a song that won both the vote of the public and the public. Krista has a carisma of its own and a comic performance on stage that is perfectly adequated do the song and a carisma that stood out from all competition. Also managed to convey a positive energy to the spectators.
Unfortunately this will not be enough to appease juries. Nor do I believe that it will be a great success among the eurovision public.
From the countries that usually give more points to Finland will vote in the same semifinal only Iceland and Norway. 
The finish sucess will depend on the performance on stage because the Krista's voice is already acceptable.



Goog luck to both countries!

Eurovision: in preparation for Malmö 2013 (IV)

Now I will talk about two Nordic Countries that were very wronged last year.

DENMARK AND EMMELIE DE FOREST

After the big sucess of 2010 (4th place in the final) and 2011 (5th in the final) last year Denmark finished in an unfair 23rd place. But I think that this year the fate will be different.
The Dansk Melodie Grand Prix 2013 had a many songs with an good quality. But I think that Denmark made the best choice.
Despite the potential of the other 2 songs in the Superfinal, the "Only Teardrops" had the best performance and can attract better the public.
Emmelie has a good voice and an interesting performance on stage. She cans embody the spirit of the song and transmit it to the public.
And the song is very peculiar and original. The instruments used remind me the traditional songs of this part of globe. And all the persons in the stage can enrich the perfromance. The whole performance was thought to detail: is chartismatic, full of energy and original.
I hope that this year Denmark could reach a better place in the final: they have a song that could please not only to the public but also to the juries.
From the countries that usually give more points to Denmark will vote this year in the same semifinal in which Denmark will participate, Sweden, Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. But they will not have with them the two countries that in the past gave more points to Denmark: Iceland and Norway.


ICELAND AND Eyþór Ingi Gunnlaugsson

Iceland has done great furor among fans before the festival, but at the time of the festival has presented since 2010, results surprisingly low.
Last year ranked in 3rd place in the OGAE's voting's ,but in the festival stayed at 20th place with only 46 points.
This year Iceland brings us a very quiet ballad entitled "Ég á Líf".
Of the 12 songs in the competition this year, there were some interesting proposals but none have pointed out as the best of all. Not even the song of Yohanna (that brought Iceland to the 2nd place in 2009) was a very strong proposal. The music with that Yohanna tried again participate in Eurovision in 2011 was better than this.
Returning to the winning song, all the performance focuses on the presence and voice of the singer on stage.

Eyþór  has a good voice and good stage presence. Manages to convey the calm and the passion of the ballad, that reminds me of a romance with a happy ending. Unfortunately I do not know if it will please the audience to put Iceland among the top 10 of the second semifinal. From the countries that tend to give more points to Iceland will vote in the same semifinal of Iceland, Norway, Hungary and Spain. But from the 5 countries that give more points do Iceland will not vote in the semifinal 2, Sweden, Denmark and Finland.
I think that Iceland will be more favoured by the juries, that can put it between the 10 more voted countries.
And I hope that Iceland will not change the language of the song.



Good luck to both countries!!!

Eurovision: in preparation for Malmö 2013 (III)

Now I will talk about two neighbours not only geographically but also in terms of votes.

GREECE AND KOZA MOSTRA FEAT. AGATHONAS IAKOVIDIS

It's impossible to talk about Eurovision without to talk about one of the most successful countries. Since the introduction of the semi-finals, Greece always have qualified for the final and became in the TOP10. Well... until last year when Greece break its record and finished in the 17th place. But I think that this year Greece will return to the TOP10 and, who knows?, to the TOP5.
First of all, this year Greec showed to us that, despite having serious financial problems and with a tight budget, it's possible to do a great festival and present musics with a quality above the average.
This was the first year that the greek selection was made with an agreement with a private channel. And beside the goods songs in competition, the show had also the presence of great artists. Some previous winners of the Eurovision Song Contest - Elena Paparizou, Vicky Leandros, Dima Bilan, Ruslana, Alexander Rybak and Marija Serifovic - , and another famous singers including Eleftheria Eleftheriou (representative of Greece last year) and Ivi Adamou (representative of Cyprus, also laste year).
As for the songs in competition, for me the winner and the 2nd ranked songs were the best ones. I think that Greece understood that the europeans, especially the juries, are saturated of the greek POP, and presented only songs in a different music style than the usual.
Now talking about the winner. It's a very original and comic song, but unlike others that went to the festival in the past, this music is more energetic and less ridiculous, and easier to appeal to juries.
I can foresee another success among the public who may be accompanied by juries.


CYPRUS AND DESPINA OLYMPIOU

The Cyprus's last year song was a great sucess between the OGAE's and the bookmakers. But in the contest was below the desired. I think that there was to much optimism around the Ivi Adamou's song. This year, this Mediterranean island did a different selection process.
Before the final annoucement by the cypriote there were rumours around many artists names to represent Cyprus. Finally, on 1st February, the CyBC revelead that Despina Olympiou was the chosen and in 14th February was revelead the song: a ballad called "An Me Thimase". It's an interesting greek ballad. Despina has a good voice and it's obvious that she has many experience. But, this song certainly won't do much furor among the public. It's a ballad very simple and without anything that can appeal to the audience. There isn't any high moment in the song.
Cyprus doesn't usually have much success in this competition, and this year will not have in the same semifinal its great partner in votes: Greece.
Among the countries that tend to give more points to Cyprus will vote in the same semifinal where it will compete only the United Kingdom. 
The fate of Cyprus depends on how juries will classify its music, because from the public the prospects are not encouraging at all.


Good luck to both countries!!!

Eurovision: in preparation for Malmö 2013 (II)

Finally I can start to comment the songs that have been chosen for the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 that will be held in Malmö!!!
Let's start!

GERMANY AND CASCADA

I'm gonna start with one of the Big 5, that won the contest in 2010 and remained in the TOP10 also in 2011 (10th place) and 2012 (8th place). After the choices of "Satellite", "Taken by a Stranger" and "Standing Still", I wasn't expecting this choice from Germany. We are facing a song that fits perfectly in "Schlager" style very characteristic of this part of Europe. This music has all the cliches, associated to this kind of music.
From the festival, I have to say that the quality in general was above the average. But I have to admit that I was expecting a stronger competition. I didn't like the performance of the major part of the finalists. And I never expected that the song "Nackert" came in 2nd place (with 12 points of the radio) and the song "One Love" in 3rd place.
Beside the winner, I like the song "Elevated".
There aren't many things to talk about the German choice. It will be difficult to put some originality in the performance. This song will appeal more to the public than to juries. And that will certainly make a splash among OGAE's. The worst thing that could happen to Germany would be finish in the last position in the final because as I said, Germany is one of the Big5 countries, so it has a guaranted place in the final.

AUSTRIA AND NATALIA KELLY

Now I will talk about another german-speak country. After the bad result of last year (this country finished in the last place in the semi-final 1), this year Austria brings a much better song. It's original and with some charm, but I think that it miss something in this music. Although Natalia get a good pitch and vocal tract, I think it was not enough to convey the full potential of the music.
As for the competition, I have to say that this year the Austrian Final had a good musical quality in general. And the 2nd place - the song "Feels Like Home" performed by the artist Yela - and the 3rd place - the song "Rise Above the Night" performed by the artist Falco Luneau - were also good choices. I must say that I preferred Falco Luneau, but the choice of Natalia wasn't bad at all.
For the semifinal, Natalia must improve her stage presence and give more charisma to the music.
Austria doesn't usually have much luck in this competition: is almost always more benefited by juries than by the public who put it almost always among one of the last places.
Austria will perform in the semifinal 1, and from the countries that usually give more points to Austria will vote in the same final The United Kingdom, Belgium and Ireland. Some of the countries that in the past gave more points to Austria, Germany and Greece, won't vote in the semifinal 1.
The hope for Austria will be in the side of the juries.


Good luck to both countries!

Eurovisão: em preparação para Malmö 2013 (I)

ESTA É A MINHA PRIMEIRA MENSAGEM DE 2013 NESTE BLOGUE, E COMO NÃO PODERIA DEIXAR DE SER, O ASSUNTO ABORDADO É O ASSUNTO QUE MAIS VISIBILIDADE DEU A ESTE BLOGUE: A EUROVISÃO.

APROVEITO PARA DESEJAR A TODOS OS VISITANTES, UM ANO DE 2013 CHEIO DE FELICIDADES E SUCESSOS, E QUE POSSAM REALIZAR TODOS OS VOSSOS DESEJOS.

E começa aqui a minha maratona de análise sobre a Eurovisão 2013, que será sediada em Malmö, na Suécia após da vitória de Loreen na edição de 2012.

Ainda faltam 5 meses para o evento começar, mas a próxima edição já está a dar muito que falar.

Desistências: de Portugal à Turquia

Os anúncios dos países que não estariam presentes na edição de 2013, começaram logo em Setembro, com os países que já se retiraram da Eurovisão, a anunciar que não iriam regressar: falo claro está de Andorra, da República Checa (ambas desistiram depois da edição de 2009), do Luxemburgo (que desistiu depois da edição de 1993), do Mónaco (que desde 2006 nunca mais participou), de Marrocos (que apenas participou em 1980) e da Polónia (que se retirou após a edição de 2011).

A 22 de Novembro foi a vez de Portugal anunciar a sua não participação em Malmö, alegando motivos financeiros. Esta desistência tem provocado alguma polémica, sobretudo acusações de não serem revelados os verdadeiros motivos, aliados às críticas de má organização da participação portuguesa na Eurovisão.

No dia 4 de Dezembro, seria a vez da Eslováquia anunciar a sua desistência alegando pretender investir mais em eventos nacionais. O facto de a Eslováquia nunca ter sido particularmente bem sucedida na Eurovisão - nos anos 90 o melhor resultado foi um 18º lugar, e quando regressou em 2009 nunca conseguiu apurar-se para a final (sendo o melhor resultado um 13º lugar em 2011 e alcançando este ano pela primeira vez o último lugar) e sendo Portugal um país com pouco sucesso nos últimos anos, acabaram por não causar tanto espanto nem tanto rebuliço, sobretudo comparadas com as notícias mais recentes.

No dia 14 de Dezembro, outro país anuncia a sua desistência. E agora estou a falar, nada mais nada menos do que... da Turquia. Um dos países mais bem-sucedidos na Eurovisão (apenas em 2011 não se apurou para a final, e já terminou 6 vezes no TOP5, incluindo uma vitória em 2003), justificou a sua desistência com a não concordância com o sistema de voto - em particular com as alterações que serão feitas na edição de 2013 - e com a existência dos BIG5 com acesso directo à final (critério que já existe desde 1999).

Também a 14 de Dezembro, foi a vez de outro país muito bem sucedido na Eurovisão anunciar a sua desistência: a Bósnia-Herzegovina. Apesar de nunca ter ganho o certame, é dos poucos países que conseguiu sempre apuramento para a final, conseguindo um 3º lugar em 2006. A Bósnia justificou a desistência por motivos financeiros.

No entanto, na mesma noite em que a notícia da desistência da Bósnia chegou à EBU foram anunciadas três propostas para o país participar na edição de 2013 sem a emissora da Bósnia suportar qualquer despesa: a emissora bósnia RTRS prontificou-se a suportar todos os custos da deslocação do país a Malmö, desde que seja representado pelo grupo Alexandria, a Face TV também se prontificou a organizar e custear um festival para escolher o representante bósnio, e por fim a banda Zoester prontificou-se a financiar todas as despesas de deslocação e a encontrar patrocinadores.

Já em relação à Grécia, que desde 2008 é constantemente alvo de rumores de desistência, anunciou dia 11 de Dezembro que vai participar na Eurovisão 2013, graças ao financiamento de patrocinadores e da editora discográfica que escolherá o artista que representará o país.

As desistências da Turquia e da Bósnia-Herzegovina, estão a agitar a opinião pública não só nos seus países, como um pouco por toda a Europa. Alguma vozes começam a argumentar que isto poderá ser o fim da Eurovisão nos moldes actuais, e algumas vozes mais extremistas pre-anunciam o fim da Eurovisão.

Certamente que a desistência de tantos países, sobretudo 4 este ano, continuará a dar muito que falar.

Novas regras para a edição de 2013?

Mal a edição de 2012 da Eurovisão tinha acabado, quando começaram a surgir notícias sobre possíveis alterações nas regras  não só do próprio festival como da selecção de cada país.

Ainda em Maio, os países da Escandinávia (Suécia e Noruega), juntamente com a Finlândia e a Dinamarca apresentaram uma proposta de proibir países que não sejam democracias e onde não se respeite os Direitos Humanos de participar no Festival. A proposta teve logo apoio da Alemanha, Áustria e Reino Unido.

Esta regra inibiria alguns países de Leste (Ucrânia, Bielorrúsia e Rússia) e da Eurásia (Azerbaijão e Turquia) de participarem no festival - com excepção da Bielorrúsia, todos eles estão entre os países mais bem sucedidos nos últimos anos na Eurovisão - .

Pouco tempo depois, voltavam os rumores de nova alteração no sistema de votos (depois de 2009), com a alteração no peso do televoto e do júri: dos actuais 50-50, passaria para 70% para o júri e 30% para o voto do público.

Novo formato do festival

Malmö foi a cidade escolhida para acolher o festival em 2013, contra as propostas de Estocolmo e de Gotenburgo. O festival Eurovisão 2013 terá lugar no Malmö Arena, com capacidade para 15500 pessoas, sendo um dos locais mais pequenos a acolher o festival nos últimos anos. Mas, como a comissão organizadora do evento na Suécia disse: o objectivo será fazer com a que a Eurovisão volte a ser acima de tudo um evento televisivo e não tanto um evento ao vivo.
Mas as mudanças parece que não vão ficar por aqui. Tendo (como sempre) a crise actual como justificação, foi já anunciado uma redução no total de dias para os ensaios na Malmö Arena.

Já começou a selecção dos candidatos a sucessores de Loreen
como vencedores da Eurovisão

2012 acaba com 6 escolhas completas
Este ano o processo de escolha das representações nacionais segue a bom ritmo, com 6 países a terem a sua escolha completa: intérprete e canção, havendo também mais 6 países que escolheram o intérprete.
Brevemente, começarei os meus comentários às escolhas já feitas.

Eurovision in Baku 2012! (IX)

Continue in this post my comments to the performances of the finalists. Then I will analyze the votes.



Despite all the surprises - many unexpected - at least the victory was well assigned.

Romania 12th place - 71 points: the big summer hit in the Eurovision this year, managed to stay in the first half of the ratings table. When I hear this song, I associate it with the music that Jessy Matador led in 2010 to represent France, of course that both the music and the performance of Jessy were better (although they have been precisely the same place).
It was a moment full of energy. Moreover, the energy was so much that all was not passed out by the vocalist Mandiga.
There were some parts of the song that Elena Ionescu seemed tired, and went too static for this song. But in fact, when it moved the pitch slipping. Between the pitch and the dance, the choice was complicated: perhaps this explains the discomfort of Elena during the performance.

Denmark 23 th place - 21 points: For me it was one more major negative surprises of the night. Soluna Samay was one of the great worthy of the final, despite being in 9th place in the semifinals, was a passage almost to the letter. The unique and different style very pleased me. The funny thing, and that may have affected the whole performance was the disposition of the different band members: with the drummer was craziness, but with the young of the cello was the despair! All right that with the battery was easier to express joy in this music, but the young man could well be less tragic.
And I felt sorry that during the music, Soluna had not removed his hat as he did before.
In short, a performance considered one of the candidates for a place at the TOP (away from the successes of 2010 and 2011), and I can not explain such a bad result, despite the vocal problems that persisted until the end of the song. While all the claims of Soluna to say that she believed would bring victory to Denmark, gave an image of convinced and arrogance did not sit well who must have heard it.

Greece 17th place - 64 points: For me the result of Greece was neither good nor bad - it was a shock to the extent that Greece brokes its remarkable record of being the only one taking part since there are semifinals, was until this year always in TOP10. The only record holder that remains is Azerbaijan, but it denuted much later - in 2008.
It was a performance that can be described with one word: sensuality. And in fact the name of the song invited to it.
In the semifinal I found it worse than Cyprus, but in the final was the opposite. I thought the choreography too exaggerated and a good part of it was pathetic. And Eleftheria was much helped by the lady who did voice choir.
I believe that without juries, Greece would have a better result, but do not know if it would keep the record.

Turkey 7th place - 112 points: Turkey was again in the Eurovision TOP, getting a much better place than most of the bets predicted. A performance well-prepared and relaxed. Again Can Bonomo showed his charisma and originality. The voice was acceptable.
This year's strong diaspora was not sufficient to assign 12 points to Turkey, which were only given by its neighbor, Azerbaijan (for a change!). The traditional countries that tend to give many points to Turkey (Germany, Belgium, Holland, Switzerland and France - the first time since 2004 that Turkey, being in the end not received 12 points from France), gave much less than usual, which proves that the juries in those countries were not in line with the wishes of the public, as often happens.

Spain 10th place - 97 points: nice voice and reasonable performance, perhaps overly tragic at times

Germany 8th place - 110 points: Another pleasant surprise of the night. Germany was one of my BIG5 favorite, and liked very much that he had stayed in TOP10. The simple performance worked well, able to focus attention on Roman Lob. It was a performance worthy of a pop concert that provided a pleasant time. And this time I did not think so unbearable he repeated so often "Sanding Still", as in the official videoclip.
But after so many favorites have been classified so badly, I am amazed about the good classification of Germany. Well, if it is true that the gay public vote massively in Eurovision, associated to young women who must also make a contribution at the time of voting, is explained some of the success of "Still Standing" (without removing quality from the performance Roman Lob).

Malta 21th place - 41 points: I say as many times as begin nedded: all the effort to turn a banal song with nothing special, in a serious candidate has brought good results. In general Kurt and his band were well. Unfortunately, as much as effort being made​​, the average quality of the music hardly  provide a top position to Malta.

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia 13th place - 71 points: although I feel the music an interesting proposal, and recognize the vocal qualities of Kaliopi, not left to be surprised by the classification of Macedonia. The absence of much competition in the Balkans (with Slovenia out the final and the poor performance of Bosnia), the chances of a good place to Macedonia rose sharply.
As I said, music was very original and always showed a consistent Kaliopi, owner of a good vocal apparatus, although in times of agitation have left she very afflicted.
The mixture of rhythms could have been better achieved, but the whole was acceptable.

Ireland 19th place - 46 points: the exotic twins were there, but they left at home almost all the good things that led to Dusseldorf last year.
The "big crazzies" of the night, followed the line of last year, its right, but with a less original and charismatic music. This song more "serious" brought out of water (not the subject of the music was Waterline) the vocal problems of Jedward. The chorus was better than last year, but still left much to be desired.
Overall, the performance did not disappoint, but left much to be desired.

Serbia 3rd place - 214 points: Another of the big winners of the night, earned the bronze medal, which was not surprising because almost everyone put Željko Joksimović in TOP3 in the the final.
More Balkan than that was impossible. A good voice and an interesting ballad. I'm sorry to the huge legion of fans of Željko, but I can not see why so much excitement around this gentleman and this song.

Ukraine 15 place - 65 points: After the huge success of last year, Ukraine fell to mid-table. Gaitana again showed her charisma and strong and well-disposed personality.
However, the fact that represent Ukraine helped ther o achieve a classification reasonable in view of the weakness of the music.
It was a very pleasant moment that transmitted energy. All the background work, was one of the best in Eurovision this year.

Moldova 11th place - 81 points: the night of performances ended with a song well-disposed but, unlike the general opinion, the choreography for me ruined a song with a unique style and well-disposed.
Again, Moldova can thank the diaspora and the neighborhood so good classification.


As for the voting after the results coming out, the surprises continue. In addition to the bad results that I mentioned in the case of Scandinavian countries (Iceland, Norway and Denmark), to the surprise of many, the songs taken as the worst of this edition - Montenegro, San Marino and Georgia - were not in last place of the semifinals: far from it! San Marino got the amazing 14th place, Montenegro the no less amazing 15th place (in the latter case the music was pretty funny, but destroyed everything bad performance). Even Israel, which featured a song that was definitely not the kind who eurofans liked, finished in 13th place. These three countries have managed to stay ahead of Belgium which, despite the feeble music, was represented by the beautiful voice of Iris. I agree with who have said that Belgium continues to participate for sportsmanship.
And despite the vocal quality of Rona, the 2nd place to Albania in the semifinal for me it was unexpected.
As for Georgia, managed the prodigious 14th place, just three points from Portugal, and well ahead of Slovenia that was ... in 17th place! At least in Switzerland, managed to stay in 11th place on 7 points for the 10th ranked, Hungary.
These polls were even madness.

As for the final, the best moment for me was, of course, the succession of 12 points awarded to Sweden. Until the voting of Italy I kept the hope that Sweden obtained the record of all countries to vote on it. Still, it was great to see that all over Europe, from Russia to Spain, Iceland and Ireland surrendered to Loreen and her "Euphoria". And this time, despite not having broken the record for Alexander Rybak in 2009, the votes were much more concentrated in Sweden, who received 12 point more countries, including all its neighbors (which did not happen with Norway in 2009 ) and from other countries in 2009 have not allocated 12 points to Norway, like France, Belgium, Ireland, UK, Slovakia and Finland.

As for the runners, the nice ladies from Russia, I knew they would be the delirious in the televoting, but never thought it was also so voted by the jury as to the point of being in 2nd place. Despite the joy that music brought  and the whole message forwarded to the public, that we must never stop fighting regardless of our age, the truth is that this is primarily a music contest and good voices was penalized by the sympathy these ladies have caused. Obviously I'm not blaming them: they were not guilty of the votes the people gave to them.

As for the third place, all the sympathy that the singer and the country have in Europe, together with the existence of little good competition from Balkan neighboring, allowed that both from the Balkans and the countries where there a lot of serbian diaspora (such as Switzerland and Austria) Serbian was highly scored.

But I thought the voting too fast and without any emotions. There was the usual thriller or interaction between spokespersons and presenters. Still, the best spokesperson for me was Sarah Dawn Finer, who announced the swedish votes and that gave one of the most hilarious and well-disposed moments of the night, much better than in 2009.
Of course Mr. Lordi from Finland was not anything behind her, with all the characteristics he gave to the most voted by Finland.
And I have to make even a reference to the votes of Germany, announced by Anke Engelke, one of the co-presenters of last year's edition. Her assertion that we can have a good choice and good wishes for the journey of Azerbaijan, Europe is watching them, was a clear reference to all the political problems that were associated with this issue.

Beginning with the "forced" withdrawal of Armenia who did not feel that his company would be safe to move to the country who has great animosity, passing to the threats against the winner, Loreen, by her attitude that they did not please to the government, without forget the news come from journalists, members of delegations or simply foreign supporters were assaulted and abused, and of course, what I HERE said about the threats against the gay community who often watch live the Eurovision, which ended up destroying two sites on the contest.

Congratulations to Loreen for the performance, and also for having presented us with sentences like this "Human rights are violated in Azerbaijan Every Day. One Should not be silent about such things." Which was the answer she gave against the attacks made by members of azeri government after Loreen having met with human rights activists who by coincidence were opponents of the current government, which led to the request for the removal Sweden from final by violating a nonsensical and unfounded  rule (perhaps Azerbaijan was eliminating competition for achieve the 2nd consecutive win ...).

And now its finished this marathon of five months in which I was commenting the choices of each country and bringing other news that might arise.
For those who have asked me where I get so much information, my sources were WIKIPEDIA and the EUROVISION OFFICIAL SITE, and of course my personal opinion and everything I have seen in previous editions.
And it seems that readers adhere well to my work. Last Saturday (19th) on the eves of Eurovision starts, the total views of my blog urpassed a bit the 8000 views. Today at dawn surpassed 10,700 views!
At this time among the 10 most viewed posts ever, only two do not relate to the Eurovision. Of course, the most viewed of all is the message with I comment the choices of Sweden and Russia, which already exceeds the 300 views, but beware - here are only counted people who will go straight to the message by search engines, not who also saw the message after being on the blog.

For nearly two months the most popular words in the search engines and giving access to this blog was "Tooji". Has now been largely superseded by "Loreen euphoria". The second expression is "Loreen euphoria cover". Also the expression "eurovision 2012 Loreen" is among the 10 words that have more access to my blog for search engines.

Before starting the marathon comments on European football, I pause the introduction of so many posts on my blog (yes, I have life beyond this!!!) and for a while I talk about what is right in fashion: the sovereign debt crisis! As for Eurovision, if not anything extraordinary happens, I will be back in December when they start editing the choices for 2013. Until then, I leave the news that there are already 14 countries confirmed for the ESC2013: Albania, Armenia, Belarus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden (host) and Switzerland.

Eurovision in Baku 2012 (VIII): WE HAVE A WINNER!!!!

EUROPE: WE HAVE A WINNER! LOREEN WITH HER EUPHORIA WAS THE QUEEN OF THE SATURDAY NIGHT!!

Loreen was the queen of the night and razed all the competition - the public was nearly unanimous in giving the victory, more than just, to "Euphoria"

And is not that my predictions were right? The major threats to the victory of Loreen were Russia and Serbia!! But attention: I do not want to say that they deserved to be those threats.

I always tried to be impartial, but as I said HERE, 2nd place was very little for this true masterpiece. The Loreen had yesterday what she deserved: a landslide victory for a performance, that I only arrangement one way to describe it - perfect from beginning to end. Unfortunately, Sweden does not have many reasons to thank to Portugal, San Marino and specially Italy.

Being completely in love with this music and performance, I suffered a lot with the huge problems that Loreen suffered in the rehearsals, including the dress rehearsal where she choked on a snowflake in one of the most important moments in the music, and all the negative criticism that Loreen fell over, and even what shocked me most, the reaction to the fact that Loreen did not follow the official protocol proposed by the EBU to do a tour with members of the Azerbaijani government, opting instead to visit a shelter for women in need of various kinds of support. According to what she said if she had stayed in Morocco would be like her cousin 13 years, who is married to a man of 40. This did not fall very well in many stomachs, to the point of reaching emerging rumors of the possible elimination of Sweden from grand final. I only have one thing to say who was angry with this "rebel" attitude of Loreen: envy can not kill, but is bad for your health!

But back to the performance of Loreen: for me it was only in the final that Loreen of Melodifestivalen was back. The problem of hoarseness which for me was very visible in the semifinal (do not know how she got the 1st place in the semifinal), was practically solved, only noting the great effort that Loreen did at the end of the performance to get hit the hardest parts of music but that made ​​it very well.

The cameras were much better, and got along with the play of light managed to create more immersive environment that we wanted for this kind of music.

As for the voting, I am sorry that Loreen has not broken the record of Alexander Rybak in 2009 by Norway, in number of points (but it wasn't by a very significant margin - 15 points), since this time Loreen earned more 12 points for each country that Alexander Rybak (18 versus 16). Unfortunately, if there wasn't the voting from Italy, who was the only country that did not yield a single point to Sweden, Loreen would have joined the (small) list of countries that have points of all countries.

And as this post is becoming too big, I'll just leave my comments here to the first half of the finalists last night.

Opening ceremony: let's start for the beginning. The opening ceremony had its grace but it wasn't anything special. I liked the traditional dancers and dancers in black: they really showed the Azerbaijani culture. As for the small performance of the winners of last year, it left me with the idea that something else was missing: the performance was very poor.

And since I'm talking about the winners of last year, one being a presenter, I will talk about these three characters. Was notorious the lack of experience and professionalism of the presenters. I've never seen an announcement of the finalists so uninteresting, and his lack of at ease was evident, although they have improved from the semifinals to the finals.

United Kingdom 25th place - 12 points: the United Kigdom has given us a unique theme, a very classic style that transports viewers to the Eurovision from other times, but could have much more energy and liveliness. All the music was a very monotonous rhythm and melody.

As I said in the message where I commented the choice of the UK, i could not even predict the fate of Engelbert Humperdinck in the contest. Certainly not the public would like much, but in the case of juries could be another story. However, the English song almost did not please anyone, placing the UK second to last. Since 2008, the participation of the United Kingdom is a real roller coaster. Last (25th) in 2008, a creditable 5th place in 2009, again a last (25th) in 2010, a 11th place last year and again this year a bad result (second from bottom). It is no longer news to anyone that the BBC is doing all efforts to ensure that the UK can receive again the Eurovision. To me it seems to me that like to take a break between each good bet.

Hungary 24th place - 19 points: After the disappointment of last year with much favoritism around Kati Wolf, the participation of Compact Disc did not bring so many expectations for this country from east. It is a band with an interesting style that brought a song with one of the richest messages this year. Were enormous the progress of the singer since the national final and even from the rehearsals. However, it not surprise me: they were competent but nothing more.

I disagree with those who defend that Switzerland should have passed instead of Hungary, should have passed both.

Albania 5th place - 146 countries: the big surprise of the evening was really Albania. When it was announced that Rona Nishliu would represent Albania, almost all the fans put her music in the last places. However, after the official release of the video, opinions began to change dramatically. It is obvious that juries liked a lot of this music, and for the 5th place certainly that the public also voted a lot on this song.

Indeed some parts of the song could be too hysterical, but Rona managed to hang on and went right on pitch.

Being alone on stage, all her charisma was broadcast to the public, and overall performance was very successful.

Lithuania 14th place - 70 points: Another of the big surprises of this edition. Far from being the most favorite for eurofans, turned out to qualify in third place and finish mid-table. It was a curious song, but nothing that aroused much interest to me.

However, I recognize the effort that the singer has done to enrich this music. As much as I see from different perspectives, the singer's performance after having removed the blindfold, it seemed more of a comedian than a singer in a musical competition. But that, of course, brought a certain charisma to the music.

Bosnia and Herzegovina 18th place - 55 points: do not know if Maya Sar is religious, but may well thank all the saints and some more to be representing Bosnia, because if she were representing another country without the weight of votes that Bosnia exercises, it was race just to the last in the semifinal. It was one of my favorite songs of the Balkans (with Slovenia), but its performance disappointed me a lot. It is true that wasn't not very deep ballad, but the stage and the performance of Maya Sar were too simple and boring.

Russia 2nd place - 259 points: say what you want,  they were the Divas of the night! Although this is a music contest and despite vocal problems they had, especially in the final (we noted the fatigue of the group) was the more animated moment of the night! Since I couldn't also count with the animation of Austria, I contented myself with this group of women who fell into the good graces of the public and juries, to have been in 1st place in the semifinal and have achieved 2nd place in the final. I believe that if we had no Loreen, or if the only voting was based on the public vote, they could perfectly well have won the Eurovision.

Despite all the love that these ladies could convey, the truth is that this should be more than anything a music competition, and there were better voices that were much penalized because of this group. And face it: if they were to represent another country with less power to influence the vote, probably never would come out of the semifinal.

Iceland 20th place - 46 points: For me it was one of the negative surprise of the night. Iceland was named one of the strong candidates to victory and was among my favorites. The performance was superb and worthy of a soundtrack for a movie.

I thought that the criticism about the lack of charisma of Greta Salome and the low quality of their performance exaggerated. Perhaps a lack of emotion of Jón Josep must have hurt the chances of Iceland.

Deserved more than 20th place.

Cyprus 16th place - 65 points: another country considered one of the favorites to win, and in the top 10 of the OGAE associations, finished mid-table.

I found Ivi more comfortable and her voice was more in keeping with the tone of the music than in the semifinal. It was more pleasant to hear, but vocal problems remained. So, certainly received more public support than the jury.

France 22 place - 21 points: another negative surprise of the night, given that France was also highly scored by OGAEs. Congratulations Anggun to the beautiful voice and charisma that remained throughout the song. Unfortunately, it was noted that she was nervous and shaky voice was in very important parts of music.

And a really negative note to the voices of the chorus: for almost all the music seemed robotic voices. And I ended up not liking the participation of the gymnasts.

Italy 9th place - 101 points: Another disappointment, though not as big as the previous ones, although for me that Italy deserved a place worse than what it got. It was the 2nd most voted by OGAEs and had everything to please the judges and to please more to pubic than the music that brought Italy last year. Nina Zilli and the choir were much better than in the rehearsals. They managed to convey the message of the song. But everything else was awful: they could have used the background image and the rest of the stage to enrich with various elements as the song allowed it.

Estonia 6th place - 120 points: Another surprise of the night, in this case by positive. Estonia could thus the revenge for the injustice suffered last year. Otto had a near-perfect pitch. A example of Albania was a involving song. One downside to the lady who did voice choir.

Nothing special to add.

Norway 26th place - 7 points: the biggest negative surprise of the night. Tooji was very punctuated by OGAEs and highly regarded as a strong contender for the TOP5 by most bookmakers. I can not understand the last place in the final and also the 10th place in the semifinal. Indeed, in the semifinal he had the same points as Bulgaria (two performances that can never match), and Tooji only qualified thanks to tiebreakers.

I think that the constant comparison with Eric Saade who represented Sweden last year (compared this exaggerated), must have taken both the juries and the public to penalize what they deemed to be an imitation of Eric. Still does not justify the low result obtained by Norway: is that not the neighbors of Scandinavia helped him - only Iceland, Sweden and the Netherlands have given points to Norway.

I confess that before the results of voting occurred to me that could happen to Tooji the same happened to Alexey Vorobyov, the Russian representative last year: 7th place in the televoting, but last place in the courts. But I see that the Norwegian case was much worse.

The low result is due almost certainly to juries, but I'm eager to see what place was in the televoting.

Azerbaijan 4th place - 150 points: for me one of the big positive surprises of the night. Since the official music video you could see that Sabina owns a great voice and great beauty. And last night did not disappoint anyone. All other elements were also on stage as well.

Performance very charismatic and engaging, with a final apotheotic but, unlike others, was not exaggerated.

Deserved 4th place (even deserved more), and do not believe that was favored to be the host country: there have been enough cases of host countries whose songs are forgotten (almost) at the bottom of the table.

The rest of the following comments are in the other message ...