My favourites for Malmo 2013: San Martino return with Valentina

The schlager -master himself Ralph siegel has been responsible for the San Marino entry for the second year running and with an excellent

italian artist - Valentina. I have always been a big fan

of Herr Siegel and his tunes old and new. But 'the Facebook song' that Ralph did last year in Baku, was a rather strange choice

I liked the tune, however as 'The Social Network song'it became abit bland and meaningless and so did not qualify.

So for Malmo 2013 it looks like - 'Uh Ohh oh we make a small miss-take..." and it’s right back to a schlager style (hurrah with a tune called 'Crisallide'

and this has become rather quickly a fan favourite. I have a real good feeling this time Ralph & Valentine will do well.. as for a winning song

I think perhapes not. However a Top 15 placing for San Marino is going to be a vast improvement for them as a new country at Eurovision

Song Contest. Who knows they could end up being the modern day Monaco- or even Luxembourg ( a country Ralph Siegel also took under his wing in the 70s/80s)

Its so great to have schalger royalty at Eurovision again, and for that alone - San Martino gets my vote.

My favourites for Malmo 2013 - Ireland's Only Love survives

After 2 years of the irish Jedwards, that certainly offered Euroviison excellent entertainment value, but what could come next?

With have a excellent voice this time ireland has choosen Ryan Dolan. A dancey rhythmic track called 'Only love survives'. One excellent

advantage we got from Loreen's win last year with 'Euphoria'is that the song certainly put modern dance tracks back on the

Eurovision map again..

So why in Malmo are we swamped with ole style power ballads? is it just business as usual? as same thing happen in Baku 2012.

Plus it seems like the last ballad winner was actually Dima Bilan for Russia in 2009.So at least Ireland know how to pump up

the volume and bring us something up-beat.

I was actually in 2013 expecting alot more Eurovision entries in the dancey style of 'Only Love Survives'and this tune has an added bonus

of a excellent electronic

sound that reminds us even of the Swedish House Mafia. I like the song alot can you tell? and feel confident this will push Ireland back into

the Top 10 for Malmo. However alot depends on the performace on the night from Ryan, and it looks like he will impress yet not take

the winner prize.

My favouries for Malmo- Finland's Team ding-dong

Krista Siegfrids 'Marry Me' for Finland, as we know Finland don't always get it right at Eurovision,
however the songs and artists are normally full of charm and interesting.. I normal like what Finland sends, and unlike the danes can never be accused of being predicible.

So on first hearing of 'Marry Me' I luved it right away certainly the wedding dress will have alot
of appeal and the sound even is abit 'I- I love it' by Icona Pop a big smash in europe recently.
Good luck to Krista from schlagertunes

My favourites for Malmo 2013- Azerbaijan have done it again with Farid!

                                                A perrfect combination muscles & a mono-brow

                                  We cannot fault the recent track record of Azerbaijan at Eurovision Song Contestand for Malmo they have kept up the momentum with Farid Mammadov and a simple power pop ballad called 'Hold me' On first hearing I was thinking hold on ..Johnny Logan in 1987, surely this song title is wearing thin. With further listens the ballad grew on me, and with a powerful performance
from the stunning iron man Farid- in Malmo Azerbaijan will not be running scared but high on the scoreboard I think.
                                The only drawback being- Baku again in 2014, surely not?

My favourites for Malmo 2013- Hurrah for ByeAlex from Hungary

               As Sarah Dawn Finer would put it..there will be alot of 'crash boom bang' in Malmo this year.. and I am only refering to the special effects, fire, men in class cubes and all the rest. So among all this it is refreshing to find some simplicity 'Kedvesem'  has all this and more..
The moment I U-tubed this video, I got this track on i-tunes right away. It was love at first listen.

Hungary, as a country is one of the best team players at Eurovision Song Contest for me, they never bring to the contest the same sounds or song twice. Last year we had Compact Disco's 'Sound of our Hearts' and of course the wonderful Kati Wolf, this song is a another gamble for Hungary to make the final for sure. Yet it is a great song no less - I wanna see ByeAlex in the final.

Please note - there has been plenty stories going around that Malmo 2013- Is the Year for the 'mono-brow' although we can tell ByeAlex has infact not got a mono-brow eye-brow, that does not mean they have not been evidence earlier. If you need further proof of le mono-brow factor look no further than Armenia - Oh my Gor...

Eurovision 2013 : Downunder it's become all about Le Lovable- Julia & Sam

Since 2009 in Australia the hosts on SBS coverage have been Julia  Zemiro & Sam Pang for me they do each year an awesome job, and the Eurovision artists interviews and flirts are a joy to watch. So imagine when I read this morning they have history together...

Le Julia & Sam Story

              -it could one day be a TeleMovie !!

Check Out SBS Eurovision's own Preview clip that features just all songs in one Remix!!!!

Wow SBS Have done it again......click here to see the Mix

Eurovisionary Marcel Lucont's own Eurovision 2013 Mix

Eric Saade goes 'Green for Malmo 2013'

As we head for Le Eurovision week, the excitement is reaching fever- pitch in Malmo...
One of the fantastic highlights for 2013 is the fact that our host country is of course Sweden who are already famous for putting on a great music song contest annually with Melodifestivalen.

So what can we expect...when the three shows begin....

The running order of the songs sung in the contest will be choosen by SVT this year (expect the swedish entry) this is a new rule. I think this may add to the entertainment factor of the Grand Final night as planned lets see.
Eurovision 2013 will have one single host with Petra Mede. That's right- a one woman show
Petra' is a real funny lady who has actually lead a Melodifestivalen season before by herself, an interesting choice of representer for the Green Room is the fantastc singer 'Eric Saade' who has come a long way in Sweden since his 'popular'
entry for Sweden in 2011. However Eric Saade has not done presenting before, yet joining in the Green Room should not be too foreign to Eric. Who can forget his many hooded antics in Dusseldorf  in 2011.

With the interval acts we are promised a performance from Darin and Agnes, who had a massive European hit with 'Release Me' and for grand final night we may see an appearence from the Eurovision Melodifestivalen Queen herself 'Carola'

Let the countdown begin..

My Favourites For Malmo 2013- Belguim's Roberto Bellarosa

Roberto's name rolls off the tongue, the first thing that I liked about Belguim's offering for 2013. Was really Roberto's voice - it has a quality that is very appealling so I understand how he won 'The Voice'
back home in Belguim. The song is a really a grower, the early version we heard was even rather dull..I believe it started out as a slow ballad.
The upbeat version was certainly a step in the right direction, and seemed to add a couple of extra hooks into the whole song, with the right performance on the night 'Love Kills' will stand out I am sure.

I hope we see Belguim in the Top 10 with Roberto Bellarosa, I get the feeling he is already a Euro Fan favourite. Here is some choosen words from Roberto after his rehearsal..

My Favourites For Malmo 2013- Norway Will feed us Margaret Berger

It's not always been the case in Eurovision Song contest history.. but in 2013, a winning song needs to make an impact! not a gummick or a loud drum. It can be a simple impact, which I think Margaret Berger has..As for the song 'Feed you my love' it's very different and will stand out - The electro beat and dramatic lyrics and the simple performance..
This entry is not for everyone we know, but it is instant and stays with you. It took a matter of seconds
for me to tell myself 'this is really different and something special'...let's see how Margaret Berger goes.
Is it too early to go back to Oslo in 2014? I think not.

My Favourites For Malmo 2013- Italy and Marco Mengoni

           For the past 6 weeks schlagertunes has been on a break, moving in fact and then for the past 3 weeks we have been without internet! can you imagine that? Ok better not it's too painful.
           During this time it was back to basics in more ways than one, for once I played the new Eurovision 2013 CD in full and tried to judge my options on the song merits along, apart from a few National Final clips I had seen... it was like the old days. Let's not forget the Eurovision music of the 70's and even early 80's were nothing more than a song heard on the radio station, for me growing up in UK. The BBC radio stations rarely played the songs and singles that did'nt successed in winning the contest!
 I even recall actually buying vinyl versions to just hear the music at all.

           So here is my early impressions from the recorded music tracks only, in no particular order for starters:
 Italy's Marco Mengoni with 'L'Essenziale' this song is fully sung in Italian. A trend stronger than any other Eurovision contest since the laugauge rule change back in the late 90s I am sure.
            This tune is not a give-away Eurovision style, jam packed with emotion. Since their comeback to Eurovision -Italy have sent only orginal quality songs from their own San Remo competition. Only for Baku last year the italians in their wisdom choose a more Eurovision sounding choice for the San Remo winner Nina Zilli. It worded very well however for 2013 we get nothing more than this amazing
 wonderful San Remo tune L'Essenziale' that won San Remo this year.
 I found that 'goose-bumb factor' on my second hearing... a great sign.

 I hope Marco will 'stand out' as this song and artist has winner or Top 3 -written all over it, oh and he loooks very cool as well
He did an eurovision.tv interview here too- very funny...he seems to have some of the same charm
we found from Germany's  Lena back in 2010 - when she sang her version of Boyzone's 'No matter what' at the Oslo press-conference- What a Eurovis'moment that was..