Cal Posted December 21, 2008 Report Posted December 21, 2008 Final: 16 May 2009 Semi-final 1: 12 May 2009 Semi-final 2: 14 May 2009 Presenter(s): Yana Churikova (Male to be added when confirmed) Host broadcaster: Channel One Venue: Olympic Indoor Arena, Moscow, Russia Returning countries: Slovakia Withdrawing countries: San Marino Venue Olympic Indoor Arena, the 2009 venue. The contest will be held in Russia following its victory in the 2008 contest in Belgrade, Serbia with Dima Bilan's "Believe". Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of Russia, has stated that the contest will be held in Moscow and it was proposed by the host broadcaster, Channel One, that the contest be held in the Olympic Indoor Arena within Moscow. This proposal was evaluated by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and confirmed on 13 September 2008. The Director-General of the venue, Vladimir Churilin refuted rumours of emergency reconstruction of the building, saying: "It will not be required for the Eurovision Song Contest. We now can take up to 25 thousand spectators." Format Discussion on the format of the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest took place at a EBU meeting in Athens, Greece in June 2008. A proposal was made that could have resulted in the "Big Four" countries (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) losing their automatic place in the final of the contest. However, it has been confirmed that the "Big Four" countries will continue to automatically qualify for the final at the 2009 contest. It is currently unknown whether a pot system will be used again as it was last year. It was intended to separate countries that have a clear voting history together into two different semi-finals. Voting In response to some broadcasters' continued complaints about politically charged, neighbourly and diaspora voting, the EBU evaluated the voting procedure used in the contest, with the possibility of a change in the voting system for 2009. Contest organisers sent a questionnaire regarding the voting system to participating broadcasters, and a reference group incorporated the responses into their suggestions for next year's format. Telewizja Polska (TVP), the Polish broadcaster, suggested that an international jury similar to the one used in the 2008 Eurovision Dance Contest be introduced in the Eurovision Song Contest to lessen the impact of neighbourly voting and place more emphasis on the artistic value of the song. It has since been confirmed that for the contest final, each country's votes will be decided by a combination of 50% televoting results and 50% national jury. The method of selecting the semi-final qualifiers will remain the same, however, with nine countries in each semi-final which qualified based on the televoting results, and a tenth coming from the juries. Details on the jury method will be released after another Reference Group meeting in December. National juries were originally phased out of the contest beginning in 1997, with televoting becoming mandatory for nearly all participants since 2003. Edgar Böhm, director of entertainment for Austria's public broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF), has stated that the 2008 format with two semi-finals "still incorporates a mix of countries who will be politically favoured in the voting process," and "that, unless a clear guideline as to how the semifinals are organised is made by the EBU, Austria will not be taking part in Moscow 2009."Despite the inclusion of jury voting in the final, Austria will not return to the contest in 2009, but will broadcast the final on ORF as it did in 2008. Participating countries Forty one countries have confirmed their participation in the 2009 contest, including Slovakia, which will return to the contest after 11 years. Georgia had originally announced that its withdrawal from the contest due to the 2008 South Ossetia war in protest of the foreign policies of Russia, but has since decided to return to the contest, inspired by their win at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2008, as well as Russia's 12 points to them in the same contest. Svante Stockselius, the EBU scrutineer for Eurovision, said that a record number of participants would be competing in Moscow, meaning that 44 or more countries would compete, however this now seems unlikely. The finalised list of candidates is yet to be confirmed. Rumours arose surrounding the participation and return of San Marino and Monaco. Télé Monte Carlo (TMC), the Monegasque broadcaster, confirmed that there were talks between them and the EBU over a Monegasque return to the 2009 contest. At the same time, rumours spread that San Marino's broadcaster, Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino (SMRTV), would withdraw from the contest due to poor placing at the 2008 contest. In the end, after originally confirming their intent to participate in Moscow, SMRTV were forced to withdraw from the event due to financial difficulties that prevent a second entry. Final Countries which are qualified directly to the final of the contest, and will not participate in either of the semi-finals. France ~ "Et s'il fallait le faire" by Patricia Kaas Spain ~ "La noche es para mí" by Soraya Arnelas United Kingdom ~ "My Time" by Jade Semi-Final ONE ~ 12th May 2009 Bosnia & Herzegovina ~ "Bistra Voda" by Regina Israel ~ "Einaiych (There Must Be Another Way)" by Noa and Mira Awad Belgium ~ "Copycat" by Patrick Ouchène Andorra ~ "La teva decisió" by Susanna Georgi Iceland ~ "Is it true?" by Jóhanna Guðrún Jónsdóttir Georgia ~ "We don't want to put in" by Stefane and 3G Bulgaria ~ "Illusion" by Krassimir Avramov Switzerland ~ "The Highest Heights" by The Lovebugs Macedonia ~ "Neshto Shto Ke Ostane" by Next Time Finland ~ "Lose Control" by Waldo's People Belarus ~ "Eyes That Never Lie" by Petr Elfimov Turkey ~ "Dum Tek Tek" by Hadise Romania ~ "The Balkan Girls" by Elena Gheorghe Malta ~ "What if we" by Chiara The United Kingdom and Germany will also broadcast this Semi-Final and the audience in these countries can vote as well. Semi-Final TWO ~ 14th May 2009 Slovenia ~ "Love Symphony" by Quartissimo Denmark ~ "Believe Again" by Niels Brinck Azerbaijan ~ "Always" by AySel and Arash the Netherlands ~ "Shine" by The Toppers Latvia ~ "Probka" by Intars Busulis Hungary ~ "Dance with me! (Tanclepes)" by Adok Zoltan Serbia ~ "Cipela" by Marko Kon & Milan Nikolic Norway ~ "Fairytale" by Alexander Rybak Ukraine ~ "Be My Valentine" by Svetlana Loboda Lithuania ~ "Pasiklydęs Žmogus" by Sasha Son Poland ~ "I don't wanna leave" by Lidia Kopania Croatia ~ "Lijepa Tena" by Igor Cukrov Estonia ~ "Rändajad" by Urban Symphony Moldova ~ "Hora Din Moldova" by Nelly Ciobanu Cyprus ~ "Firefly" by Christina Metaxas Ireland ~ "Et Cetera" by Sinead Mulvey and Black Daisy Slovakia ~ "Let' Tmou" by Kamil Mikulcík & Nela Pocisková Albania ~ "Më merr në ëndërr" by Kejsi Tola France, Spain and Russia will also broadcast this Semi-Final and the audience in these countries can vote as well.
-Kevin- Posted December 21, 2008 Report Posted December 21, 2008 I never watch this because Ireland always does very bad in it
Laura Posted December 21, 2008 Report Posted December 21, 2008 Not as bad as England I love watching this, its so bad its good!
Cal Posted December 22, 2008 Report Posted December 22, 2008 Albania decided last night what song they will send. Link is in original post.
Cal Posted February 2, 2009 Report Posted February 2, 2009 Original post edited with lots of more songs added. Most of the remaining songs will be selected by the end of the month.
Izzy H Posted February 5, 2009 Report Posted February 5, 2009 I like the UK's entry as a song but I wasn't expecting Andrew and the songwriter to come up with a ballad I was actually expecting them to do more of a lively song. I am just wondering how popular Andrew is in the rest of Europe and whether that will have an impact on how many votes will we get this year.
Ryan Posted February 5, 2009 Report Posted February 5, 2009 I think it's dreadful. I thought the bin man we had last year was better.
Homeandaway_fan1 Posted February 8, 2009 Report Posted February 8, 2009 Now Swedens competition has started, yesterday was the first out of 4 semifinals. Semifinal 1 in Gothenburg. These were the participants. Here you can listen to a short glimps of every song from the first semifinal. All songs semifinal 1 Nina Söderqvist- Tick Tock Jonathan Fagerlund - Welcome To My life Shirley Clamp- Med Hjärtat fyllt av ljus Scotts- Jag tror På oss Emilia- You're My World Alcazar- Stay The Night Caroline af Ugglas- Snälla Snälla Marie Serneholt- Disconnect Me Alcazar and Emilia came to the final, and Scotts and Caroline Af Ugglas came to the second chans. Emilia had a hit many years ago with Big Big World, Marie Serneholt sang with A-teens. But Alcazars song is really good.
-g-l-a-m-o-r-ous- Posted February 8, 2009 Report Posted February 8, 2009 I never watch this because Ireland always does very bad in it Ye.. do you know who we are sending this year?? We haven't qualified for the final in like 5 years!!!
Cal Posted February 8, 2009 Report Posted February 8, 2009 Now Swedens competition has started, yesterday was the first out of 4 semifinals. Alcazar and Emilia came to the final, and Scotts and Caroline Af Ugglas came to the second chans. Emilia had a hit many years ago with Big Big World, Marie Serneholt sang with A-teens. But Alcazars song is really good. I heard Alcazar's song was the best last night. I was too busy watching the Norwegian semi-finals, so I forgot about the Swedish one. I never watch this because Ireland always does very bad in it Ye.. do you know who we are sending this year?? We haven't qualified for the final in like 5 years!!! The final 6 will be revealed either tomorrow or Tuesday. The selection show will be in the Late Late Show slot on Friday night (with Pat Kenny ). We'll pick by televote and regional juries. There have been numerous rumours going around. Leona Daly might be entering again (she came second last year in Eurosong), as well as Tara Blaise and Marketa Iglova. Ronan Keating co-wrote the Danish entry for Eurovision. There's a link to it in the first post. We've been in the final 3 out of 5 times since that format came in, and I doubt we'll get in this year due to very strong contenders also in the same semi.
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