Things are changing over in Norway! MGP For better or worse!

Last weekend saw the last Semi-final in Norway - so the final line-up is very almost complete. Hat's off to Norway who

are not wasting any time with a second chance round in 2012- Do they need it? it means 3 songs go automatically into the Mgp Final.

Still some strange music tunes seem to have got through- in Baku it is so important Norway qualify in 2012. As last year 'Haba Haba'

missed out Dusseldorf. I must say I have been very impressed with some of the songs in MGP semi finals

namely Mimie Oh, Irresistible, Silya Nymoen, Lisa Stokke, Martha Valle & Lisa Karlsnes all missed out on getting to the final- Then there was rather fab excellent

Rikke Normann with 'Shapeshifters' - Rikke has a big hit under her belt in Norway. ('superstar' in 2011)

There is one Wildcard slot at Specturm - come on NRK choose Rikke - this song will be huge anyway I think- I agree with schlagerboys

Norway your Rikke needs you! they have one wildcard space left for the final to be announced on Thursday.

The line-up for the final of Norsk Melodi Grand Prix and running order:

1. Stay - Tooji
2. High on Love - Reidun Sæther
3. TBA/Wildcard
4. Ola Nordmann - Plumbo
5. Crush - Malin
6. Smoewhere Beautiful - Nora Foss al-Jabri
7. Don't touch the flame - The Carburetors
8. Things change - Petter Øien & Bobby Bare
9. Sammen - Yaseen & Julie Maria
10. Make it better - Tommy Fredvang

Stop Press- the wildcard has been selected as Lise Karlsnes- 'Sailors'

hmmm...another ok track- but a MGP finalist? not really!

Melodifestivalen 2012- The Melo's own Village People appear in Vaxjo with Sarah Dawn

This was the big host musical number of Melodifestivalen 2012 last night- what fun Sarah Dawn Finer doing the YMCA- or In the Navy- I was thinking what joy-

but this song was not all what it seems- it was called ......

'Det är inte bögarnas fest'

This translated into "It's not the gay's party (The whole Sweden's party)" very funny- check out the clip above.

it became more fitting with the fact that rockers Dead by April- as expected won a place at Globen final.

more on that sooon--

Kurt Calleja Malta's Star for Baku & winner of EuroSong 2012

-Kurt can relax now he has won his place in Baku

Who is Kurt Calleja? a new singer from Malta- who has worked previously in London town- and this is his third

try at Eurovision.

It was a long Final EuroSong 2012 contest in Malta last night with 16 songs competing for the one ticket to Baku. As the jury and tele-votes came in- with international juries from Turkey, France, Ireland, Italy & France. It was a clearly three-horse race between Kurt and Claudia Faniello's ballad 'Pure' & third placed Amber with 'Answer in your eyes'

Strong favourites from Richard Edwards & Fabrizio Faniello came 5th & 6th placing with this new voting system.

In 2010 Kurt Calleja debuted in Malta Song for Europe in a duet alongside Priscilla Psaila with the song Waterfall. In the following year he performed ‘Over and Over’, which he wrote alongside the swedish songwriter Johan J’amtberg, the song finished in 3rd place- Then Kurt was back in 2012 this time to find Eurovision glory with a place in the second Semi-Final in Baku

with 'This is my night'

We like this new up-beat tune for Malta- and fingers crossed we will have Kurt in the ESC Final in May.

Fabrizio is Back- over in Malta the battle is on to find Le tune for Malta 2012

Malta have just finished their semi-final so now all the songs & artists are known for the Song for Europe final. Malta off course have never

won Eurovision although are one of the countries who have come very close- without taking the prize.

Last year Fabrizio Faniello- (of The Whistle Song-Fame) had a strong contender with the tune 'No Surrender' that I liked alot for Dusseldorf. In 2012 Fab is back - with an equally strong song- 'I will fight for you (Papa's Song)' hoping to sing for Malta again this year. This would be Fab's third time at Eurovision, however he is certainly a singer who moves with the times and styles with his songs. Another favourite from 2011 is Richard Edwards who will sing 'Look at me now' Our vote goes with Fabrizio- it's going to be an interesting battle -

The Malta final songs--

In Your Eyes - Lawrence Gray (Philip Vella & Cher Vella)

Petals On A Rose - Gianni Zammit (R. Abrahamsson, A. Aly, N. Numhauser & T. Fenech)

You Make Me Go Uh Uh - Deborah Cft. Leila James (David Vervoort & Patrick Reiner)

I Will Fight For You (Papa’s Song) - Fabrizio Faniello (J. Beoerham, N. Edberger, R. Uhlmann, W. Fenech & F. Faniello)

Pure - Claudia Faniello (Philip Vella & Gerard James Borg)

Seven Days - Danica Muscat (Philip Vella)

Mystifying Eyes - Corazon (Paul Giordimania & Fleur Balzan)

Answer With Your Eyes - Amber (Ray Agius & Alfred C. Sant)

Time - Wayne Micallef (Wayne Micallef)

Look At Me Now - Richard Edwards (Jan Van Dijck & Richard Micallef)

First Time - Kaya (Georgios Kalpadikis)

This is the Night - Kurt Calleja (Johann Jamtberg & Kurt Calleja)

No Way Back - Klinsmann (Paul Albela, Klinsmann Coleiro & Jonathan C. Spiteri)

You Are My Life - J. Anvil (George Georgion)

Take Me Far - Francesca Borg (Marco Debono & Doris Chetcuti)

it's class of 2012- Melodifestivalen 2012 in QX

Each year the Gay mag QX- do a massive cover story on Melodifestivalen- This regular issue has become an annual

feast due to the new photo shoot feat. most of the Melo stars for the new season- This photo treat is organised and made possible by non-other than

Ken & Ronny -the Le fab Schlagerprofilerna guys. (many thankus to them)

This year they have even created a great issue - with the added advantage of making this swedish mag available on-line

translated into english-

VIEW HERE

check it out as it does have some great short chats with many Melo stars as well-

Svt have started a Third Chance Melodifestivalen competition- Vote now

Over in Norway Melodi Grand Prix has scraped the Second chance round for their grand final - while over in Sweden it is the complete oppisite Svt have created a whole new competition called the Third Chance- what it is - based on all the songs and entries that missed out on a Globen place during the last ten years of Melodifestivalen 2002-2011. Thats a lot of great tunes, that have often out grown Melodifestivalen and become pop classics in their own rights. So now the editors at Svt who have been involved in Melodiferstivalen during this time- have come up with 32 songs that all missed out.

They are going in this Third chance contest in the traditional Melo formal to find a Third chance Grand winner

So while the new songs of 2012 battle out in Deltavling 1 -

views and fans can vote on-line for the best past tune from these tunes-

Semi -final one

Poets - "What Difference Does It Make" (2002)

Pay TV - "Trendy Discoteque" (2004)

Patrik Isaksson - "Faller du så faller jag" (2006)

The Attic feat. Therese - "The Arrival" (2007)

Eskobar - "Hallelujah New World" (2008)

Velvet - "The Queen" (2009)

Pain of Salvation - "Road Salt" (2010)

Dilba - "Try Again" (2011)

So as it's On-Line voting we can all Vote HERE

I must confess I have 3 favourites already in Velvet, Pay TV & The Attic feat Therese.

only 2 songs will qualify forthe third chance final-

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!