Abba at Joy 94.9 FM this afternoon- while the Heat is on.

One of the great things about living in Melbourne is a reqular

Radio show called Cafe Latte

with a fantastic host

Alan Ross- it airs at 3 Pm each week on sundays- and although I cannot always tune in- Anyone can listen via Joy's weblink. I must say I enjoyed today's show so much.

It was great to see Boney M finally placed in the icon gallery-

Yet the most pleasure was found in today's show as Alan Ross had a great idea to have

an Abba Vs The Beatles phone-in poll.

What a great idea!

...and the winner who took it all was Abba- in the end. However as we know the swedes themselves would not have agreed to

this comparison- in fact if you view this wonderful recent interview I found with Bjorn (below)- it was Paul & John who

inspired and started Bjorn and Benny on the road to amazing success. This also tells us how Bjorn has always been

a fan of Karen Carpenter! artists who in the 70's were one of the main rivals to Abba-

Enjoy some chat & sites of Stockholm city in this french programme---

Puzzle #8 : Abba @Stockholm! by Off

At Norsk MGP in Larvik - it's all making it better!

After Denmark's MGP final last saturday which apart from the odd good tune - did nt not seem to raise the Euro pulse to high!

We now have a look at second Semi-Final happening in Norway last night- This had a three of our favourites so imagine our joy to find 2 of them qualified to go on to Spectrum-

1- Tommy Fredvang - Make it better

(Tommy has got to be Le Spunk of Norsk MGP 12)

2- Marlin - Crush

(this seems to have some elements of 2011 'Rockefeller St' in the chorus)

3- Plumpo- Ola Nordmann

-a folk-band who may well of stood in the way of Mimie Oh making the final

That's right- poor Minnie Oh will her tune 'You & I' failed to gain enough votes for the final. As norway has no seciond chance round as well in 2012- that means Minne is sadly out! her performance was said to be rather Gaga-esque however sounded to us rather more like

a Robyn tune & performance.

At least we have Tommy Fredvang & Marlin to cheer for in the Norsk MGP Final.

Hanne Sorvaag who featured in Mgp last year could this time be on to another MGP winner with 'Make it better'

Hanne wrote 'My heart is yours' with Fredirk Kempe for Didrik Soli Tangen 2010.

Deltävling 2- Melodifestivalen 2012 Göteborg

Does Ulrik- have the right stuff for Melodifestivalen 2012?

So let's have a look at Goteburg semi final this is one of my

Favorites for the reason we find 3 veterans returning for a new-go at Melodifestivalen glory.

Andreas Lundstedt without his Alcazar girls! with a powerful song of bitter sweet love.

Then let's not forget

Sonja Alden - she has a great melo track record as a singer and song writer

So it's gonna be a hard battle for those two slots at Globen. We may just see the first popular ballad come out of

Goteburg.

I have this crazy crazy idea that Timoteij - or the TimTams as my blog-translators calls

these folk-chicks- have great potential we think to win Eurovision with

the right schlager-tune! so these are the names schlager fans know already well

The other 5 all debut in Melodifestivalen- the very New Kids on the block-

Top-cats- will sing 'Baby Doll' a tune wrote by one half of Lili & Susie a duo who are always welcome to melodifestivalen - even if they are not going to give us the pleasure of a performance in 2012. That's to be done- by none other than a young Rock-a-billy/ dansband called 'Top cats'. The three guys who are very easy on the eyes (see below) and

should give us a breath of fresh-air and even a saucer of milk! who knows?

Ulrik Munther- back in 2009 Ultik Minther won Lilla Melodifestivalen & went on to win Nordic MGP 2009 with a song he wrote himself 'En vanlig dag' a very typical swedish pop hit.

He has found fame with a huge debut album- and is credited as making Lady Gaga 'Born this way' his own way with a cover of this great international pop hit. He is already a popular favourite to win this year- even before the song is made public - so don't let under estimate The Ulrik.

David Lindgren- at just 25 years of age David is a new swedish star of musical theater - with roles in High School Musical, the German version of Mamma Mia & Hairspray. So it will be interesting to see how young David does, as so many Musical stars have gone belly-up in Melodifestivalen. Let's see if the tune is something to shout about?

Thomas DiLeva- it's amazing Thomas has not eventured into melo- land before now as he

could be considered to be a New Age version of Demis Roussos from the 70's and often wears those

same kafta's. Thomas has been around since the late 80's and released an amazing 17 albums, the most recent one

in 2011.

The Running Order

1. Soldiers – Ulrik Munther

2. Baby Doll – Top Cats

3. I din himmel – Sonja Aldén

4. Aldrig aldrig – Andreas Lundstedt

5. Stormande hav – Timoteij

6. Shout It Out – David Lindgren

7. Det går för långsamt – Mimi Oh

8. Ge aldrig upp – Thomas Di Leva

Then last but not least is already a big Melo fan favourite is Mimi Oh with her own brand of 80's style

electro pop- her Ep '1986' was very popular in Sweden last year- Mimi's Melo entry is called 'Det Gar For Langsamt'

in the meantime while we wait for this tune to come out- the same songwriters have released

'Sakerhetsnal' (Safety Pin)

as a teaser of what to expect from Mimi Oh next month.

We feel a schlager classic coming up in this Melodifestivalen tune- already!

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2012 - Did Denmark choose right?

Jesper gave it all at MGP 2012 finished runner-up.

Denmark has selected their entry for Baku 2012 at MGP on Saturday night. I do very often have mixed feelings with Denmark's Eurovision selection The songs often tend to be a little different & rather serious with the exception of DQ s ' Drama Queen' in 2007. You either love them (A freind from London- 2011) or hate them (Chanee & N evergreen- 2010) for 2012- the later maybe true- sorry Denmark!

This year I cannot say I am crazy about Soluna Samay's 'Should have known better'winning song. The Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2012 had lots of promise + a wonderful show and turned out to be a two-horse race between the favorite Jesper Nohrstedt & winner Soluna. I think Jesper would have been a great choice-and it's interesting the new international juries agreed with the other song -

This was the super final result-

1- Should have known better by Soluna Samay. - 110

2- Take our hearts by Jesper Nohrstedt. - 102

3- Venter by Christian Brons & Patrick Isaksson - 88

The sofa pop-ballad from Soluna-

It's certainly interesting to see how the Danes voted against the international juries- However in Melodifestivalen 2011 the opposite happened as the televote agreed with the international votes that gave Eric Saade a lead. I guess this cannot always happen- yet for Denmark it could be risky sending this mid tempo sofa-pop tune! When they have such an ideal recent Eurovision track record to date.

This tale will continue in Baku-- good luck Denmark

Deltävling 1- Melodifestivalen 2012 Round One- Växjö

Yes- its just a matter of weeks before the whole Melodifestivalen show kicks off on 4 th Febuary 2012

how simply exciting - so we are going to have a look at that all important running order, plus some of the new/old schlager artists in the first two shows . Eurovision fans everywhere are awaiting just to see what Sweden has in store for Baku- Round one is almost like a BBC 2 repeat of 2010, some viewers in Sweden may watch thinking 'hold on- is'nt this a song from last year! I remember this...have we got the right channel?"

All due to the fact that we have -The Moniker, the fabulous Loreen & then Marie Serneholt who sang last year but as the main host on Melo 2010! Let's check out the new names--

Abalone Dots- are a girl band from Vastervik (and before you ask 'No-Bjorn Ulvaeus is not their Manager!') In fact they are a little bit West Coast country and have had a couple of swedish albums already. With a third album on the way this spring-

Sean Banan (above)- he kicks off the show with Song 1- Sean is a TV comedian and musician + dancer-

This will be a fun start to Melo 2012, we are hoping Sean will keep his pants on for the performance- or actually maybe?

Sean- is of iranian birth, and has lived in goteburg since he was 2 years old- His main claim to fame is the

hit song 'Skaka Rumpa' that was a big hit last year in Sweden made No: 8

- so this could be his next big hit?

Le Running Order.

1. Sean Den Förste Banan – Sean Banan

2. På väg – Abalone Dots

3. I Want To Be Chris Isaak (This Is Just The Beginning) – The Moniker

4. The Boy Can Dance – Afro-Dite

5. Mystery – Dead by April

6. Salt & Pepper – Marie Serneholt

7. Jag reser mig igen – Thorsten Flinck och Revolutionsorkestern

8. Euphoria – Loreen

There is a real mix in this round with a soul - pop tune from Afro-Dite who are hoping to sing for Sweden at Eurovision for a second time

after being winners back in 2003.

Thorsten Flinck- he is new for us, mainly an actor and singer -who is known for acting as psychopaths & villains and he did a cover of 'Where the wild Roses grow' (sung by Nick Cave with Kylie Minogue of course) should we be scared by this prospect? the song translated to english means 'I rise again'

so I think we should be...a good choice for Baku?

hmmmm.....Vampires are alive (again) it did'nt work for Switzerland in Eurovision 2007.

On the subject of rock'n'horror for Song 5 expect heavy rock from a big Rock name in Sweden Dead by April- this could be the rock song of the season- wrote by Pontus Hjelm. Certainly one to watch or if not, a good time to put the kettle on.

It could mean in this year's Melo Globen Final you'll have at least one cuppa tea, think of it that way?

I will be cheering certainly in this first round for the fabulous Loreen with a Thomas G-Son tune, she can do no wrong

and Marie Serneholt as she will look and sound fantastic like Marie back in 2009

singing 'Disconnect Me'- plus Afro-Dite

if they have the right songs.

It will be a tuff first round in Melodifestivalen when just anything can happen!

Sweden's Top 10 Melodifestivalen Fan Favourites Ever !!

- Sanna is still Tops with the swed-fans

Well the swedes have some rather strange choice in favourites- when it comes to music- If we need evidence of this just look at some historical choices for Eurovision Song Contest! Strange but true. Recently STV asked 400 die-hard Melodifestivalen fans to choose

their All-time favourite Melodifestivalen tune- No: 1turned out to be Empty Room by Sanne Nielsen the tune that finished runner-up to Charlotte Perrelli's 'Hero in 2008-' that made 3rd place- This is the full Top 10 featuring Charlotte twice- and lena Phillipsson twice,

but one placing for Carola.

1. Empty Room- Sanna Nielsen

2. Waterloo- ABBA

3. Hero- Charlotte Perrelli

4. Kärleken är evig- Lena Philipsson

5. Evighet- Carola

6. Moving On- Sarah Dawn Finer

7. Not a Sinner Nor a Saint- Alcazar

8. Tusen och en natt /Take Me to Your Heaven-Charlotte Nilsson

9. Det gör ont- Lena Philipsson

10. Nattens drottning- Haakon Pedersen & Elisabeth Berg (5th place 1989)

Alot of Melodifestivalen classics are missing like 'Cara Mia' 'Ska VI Plocka Körsbär I Min Trädgård?' 'Se Mig' & 'Dag efter Dag' or 'Bang En Boomerang' all would have been better than the 10th song by Haakon Pedersen & Elisabeth Berg we think!

Oh well looking at this Top 10 perhapes the International juries for Globen Melodifestivalen Final are for the best!

A New Playlist -The Best Tunes-January 2012

1- C'est Blue- Scooter /Vicky Leandros

2- Bailamor (English Vers)- LilIi & Susie

3- Eaten Alive- Man Meadow

4- Bearforce 1 Disco Medley- Bearforce One

5- Blame it on you - Youngblood
6- You and I - Minnie- Oh- NEW

7- Overflow- Ditte Marie -NEW

8- Under Stjernerne Pa Himlen- Rasmus Seebach

9- Tu te Reconnaitras-Remix 2011- Anne Marie David

10- When will I see you again (Precious Pop Mix)- Thomas Anders Ft Three Degrees -NEW

11- Songs that Live Forever- Thomas Anders

12- Sunday Morning - Sebastian Karlsson

13- Make it Better - Tommy Fredvang -NEW
14- C'etait Ma Vie -Lys Assia

15- En dag i sander -Benny Anderssons Orkestra

16- With Love- Lisa Stokke -NEW
17 -Til Tomorrow -Alexander Panayotov

18- Take our hearts- Jesper Nohrstedt -NEW

19- Goodbye - Zelijko Joksimovic

20- Stay- Tooji -NEW

This month's PlayLists has some early favourites from Norsk Melodi Grand Prix- tunes

Along with the two best from this weekend's Dansk MGP namely Jesper Nohrstedt

& the eletro Disc tune from Le Freak's Ditte Marie. Another favourite is Soluna' Should've known better'

yet this song did not make our top 20 This month.

Expect some Melodifestivalen tunes

coming up next month!

Over in Norway they seem to have come up with their very own Norska Eric Saade

called Tooji- almost a Saade twin and rather excellent Eurovis track called 'Stay'

Yes - Jedward will be back in 2012- & have a tune to bring more irish Eurovision glory

Work-In-Progress - as Jedward try-out a song for Baku

Although Ireland have the record for an amazing 7 Eurovision winners, mainly due to the whole contest during the ninties becoming a annual Irish

Euro Song Contest (as they won 4 times ) however in recent years they have not been so strong. In fact previous to last year we have to go back to 2006 & Brian Kennedy's 'Every Song Is A Cry For Love' ( that finished in 10th place)

In Dusseldorf Le Jedward twins changed all this and brought Ireland a 8th placing during a maze of hyper crazy publicity. Jedward during Eurovision Song Contest 2011 saw Ireland get 3 times 12 points in the voting- the same amount as Azerbaijan's Ell & Nicki winner 'Running Scared' a worthy

comeback to the big league for Ireland.

So once again Jedward will submit a Eurovision song for Ireland in 2012- and this year for Ireland's own National Final selection they will have a Music industry mentor system to find an artist & song. This system has been subject of much criticism back in ireland- where even Johnny Logan has said it seems to stray away from the fact that it is and should be more about the song than the artist selection.

Linda Martin as a mentor (see above) has choosen Jedward to be her artist for the 2nd year running- and along with UK X-Factor judge Louis Walsh. He is Jedward's manager- They have had just 100's of songs sent in to them to be a possible Irish National Final entry, the one song has now been choosen by Louis.

In the latest statement from Linda Martin- they are actively searching for strong Male backing singers for the Jedward performance. As apparently they are in short supply in Ireland and hard to come by! (Hey, why not try Stockholm- they have heaps- and it worked for Azerbaijan in 2011!!!)

So it looks highly likey we could have a return of the twin Jedwards! We just hope for 2012 they try and do something a little different

this time and perhapes even a new hair style? dare I say it-

but can IRE afford that amount of hairspray in 2012.

We look forward to the new Jedward tune on The Late Late Show Eurosong 2012 on February 24th.

mimi oh or mimmie oh - Ohhh no -a clash of the mimi's in 2012!

With a new season of National finals & Melodi Grand Prix- we very often have a clash of song titles!

for example last year Melodifestivalen had two tunes called 'Oh My God' and while popsters Le Kid looked set to be

a sweet euro-tune for the final. However The Monkier took the glory in 2011- Now we just noticed we have two different artists in Norway & Sweden competing for a place in Baku! Can we imagine the confusion if Sweden sends

Mimi Oh- and Norway Mimmie Oh- and Oh -both girls have a simular look as well- and are not the same artist.

Thankfully Norway's Monica Johansen (Mimmie Oh) has a whole troup of electronic dancing boys + on vocals joined by Marthe Valle according to Norsk's Per Sudnes MGP host this new act will show us simply the best vocal performance for MGP.

Meanwhile one of our personal faves is over in Sweden's Melodifestivalen with singer Mimi Oh- (above)

she had a big summer debut EP in sweden called '1986' last year- this EP title also sums up her electro 80's/90's sound. Check out Mimi Oh's

'Kom Hit Och Dansk' & electro-tasic tune 'Du Och Jag'

To hear just what sweden can offer us in Melo 2012 - we think Mimi Oh could be just the ticket for Sweden

at Baku. Meanwhile Mimmie Oh are know as more alternative sound from Oslo-

If you are ohhh so confused- don't worry!

we will have a full spot-the-difference post later on before the final's

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix promises to be Une Internationaire affair for 2012

It was announced this past week how DR in Denmark will present the Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2012 to be held in Aalborg

on 21st January 2012. Last years Grand Prix show actually won awards in Denmark for being the best TV event of last year.

We certainly agree DMGP 11 was a spectacular show-and we will be tuned in the next 3 weeks.

The recent Eurovision Final track record has found Denmark to be the most successful Scandinavian country for having Top 5 placings,

in fact Denmark have qualified now 4 years in a row (Iceland equal this feat) so it will be all eyes on Denmark will they score

in the Top 5 this year or hit the jackpot to be winners in 2012.

They will be changing the rules for voting to bring in International Jury members from Norway Germany Russia & Azerbaijan.

Following in Sweden's lead of Melodifestivalen 2011.

In 2012 the danes who do not mess around with Semi Final warm-ups, will go straight to a final of 10 songs. They even have a specially

designed new stage for this event to find the song to fly the Danish flag at Baku 2012. See an impression of the new stage see above- (could there be a hint of Sydney Opera House there for the stage?- that was also designed by a dane)

Enought - let's see the 8 successful song submissions with 3 DR invited wildcards- for

Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2012-

1. Jesper Norshtedt - Take out hearts (wildcard)
2. Valen:Tine - Nowhere
3. Aya - Best thing I got - From the songwriters John Gordon/Julie Frost of 'Satelite'
4. Kenneth Potempa - Reach the sky
5. Ditte Marie - Overflow - The lead singer from Le Freak '25 Hours a day' (2011)
6. Phillip Hallou & Emilia - Baby love me
7. Suriya - Forever I be young (wildcard)
8. Karen Viuff - Universe
9. Soluna Samaay - Should have known better - one songwriter of the 2011 winner 'New Tomorrow'
10. Chris Brons and Patrick Isaksson - Venter (wildcard)

Exciting Schlager-times in this song line-up is the return of Fan favourites of MGP last year

'Le Freak' retro-disco band-

Well almost with the lead singer Ditte Marie going solo with song 5 - 'Overflow'

another one to watch is Song 3 -as the very same song writing dou who gave us 'Satelite' for Germany's Lena

are back for another go with 'The Best thing I got'

We cannot wait to see what Denmark has got for us...