National selection

The conclusion was clear after the presentation of the first half of the participants in the 2013 edition of Melodifestivalen: Fans felt that SVT owed them some bigger and more experienced names. Would they get that today when the remaining artist was announced?

Unser Song für Malmö (Our song for Malmö) - that is the official title of the German final for the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest. The show will be hosted in Hannover on February 14th. A number of 8-12 known acts will participate and the winner will be chosen in a three-part voting.

For many Eurovision fans the Swedish selection stands as something magical. The participating names are awaited with even more eager than a 5 year old looking forward to his Christmas presents. Few minutes ago the first half of these names were announced revealing several interesting names.

For the second time in a row Belgium has chosen their representative for the Eurovision Song Contest internally. Today the TV channel RTBF announced that Roberto Bellarosa, winner of the casting show The Voice will represent the country in Malmö. More details about the song selection will be revealed on November 20th.

Last night the Lithuanian TV viewers were once again asked to vote among eight songs presented to them - just as the jury would be doing. We already know which three songs the jury ended up preferring, but it will be almost another week before we know if the TV viewers agreed.

After having presented a total of 33 acts LRT started its first preliminary heat tonight. 8 songs competed in a show that offered a song by a former Eurovision songwriter and as a special treat for Eurovision fans also a song about last year's winner Loreen.

The first heat took place this Saturday with a two hour show that was broadcast by LRT. It was a pre-recorded presentation show where seventeen acts were introduced to the audience, however the songs they performed were not their own songs but well known hits. There was no voting.

Mirela, Paco Arrojo, Anael, Jorge González and Mónica Guech had something in common so far as that all of them had participated in the national selection to represent Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest. From now on, they are rivals in the Spanish edition of the talent show, The Voice.

Early Tuesday morning was the deadline for sending entries to the swedish national selection Melodifestivalen 2013. A total of 2549 songs were counted which could be compared to 3485 songs that was sent in last year.

There have been speculations for several weeks, but now it is official. There will be no fourth edition of the German national final "Unser Star für …". As it was announced the private TV channel ProSieben will end the cooperation with the national broadcaster ARD – at least temporarily.

Today the swedish broadcaster SVT revealed the hosting cities of the national selection Melodifestivalen 2013. The MF-tour will start with the first Semifinal in Karlskrona on 2 February and end with the final in Friends Arena on 9 March. The host city of ESC 2013 Malmö will be the host of the fourth Semifinal.

The nine songs that will take part in the national selection have been released through the website of the children's television channel, Ketnet, where the music videos of all the entrants can be watched. All candidates will have a professional training program with the best coaches in their field.

Georgia have selected three girls and one boy to represent them at the 2012 Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Amsterdam.  The band currently do not have a name and at the moment are being referred to as the 'fantastic four'. 

Earlier this week it was confirmed by swedish broadcaster SVT that the national selection Melodifestivalen is to be held in the new Friends Arena on the 9 of March 2013. As Sweden is tipped high among the bookmakers it looks like SVT is preparing for next year’s Eurovision Song Contest by announcing that Melodifestivalen will be held there.

After a long row of national finals we have come to an end with the Belgium selection being held tonight. The Belgium TV viewers decided that Iris will be representing them at this year's Eurovision Song Contest with the song Would You?. 

This year's festival will be a tribute to the Portuguese most traditional music genre, fado, which a few months ago was added to UNESCO's list of World's Intangible Cultural Heritage. Without having heard the candidate songs, we know that the 12 competing acts will have at least this common feature.

The four songs competing to represent Greece at this year's Eurovision Song Contest have been released by the broadcaster for online listening. They will compete for the ticket to Baku on the 12th of March. Who do you think will get it? See the new videos and make up your mind.

After an exciting evening the Spanish song for the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest is now known. Three entries were competing for the win and the decision was made by a mixed system of televoting and jurors. Quédate Conmigo was the favourite from the beginning and there were no surprises in the result.

Tonight Sweden held it's Second chance heat which is the last heat before the final in Globen on the 10th of March. This was a new chance for the 3rd and 4th placed songs from the four previous heats to qualify to the final.

Minutes ago the Bulgarian national final finished with the result that Sofi Marinova would represent the country at the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Love Unlimited. The show featured several of the participants she will be up against in Baku.