EVROPESMA IN ENGLISH

An interview with Paolo Meneguzzi

OGAE Serbia did an interview with Paolo Meneguzzi, the Swiss representative at the ESC 2008, who will sing his song “Era Stupendo” in the second semi-final on May, 22nd.

Yes, this is the first time that I’m in Serbia, though I planned to come here a long time ago. A very good friend of mine is from Belgrade and he told me a lot about his city and wanted me to visit it. I like Belgrade, but I can say I imagined it differently, so I was surprised, but in a good way.

Yes, we’ve been ready for a long time, but these rehearsals were really important to us. We heard how it sounds on-stage, we saw how the choreography works on-screen, what the video-backdrop and the stage-graphics are like and if it all fits together. Now we really ready and can’t wait to perform.

No, I wasn’t upset. I was actually very happy with how the rehearsal went. I was very tired that day, because it was so hot in my room the previous night and I had no air conditioner and couldn’t sleep. Besides that, everything was fine.

Yes, that’s very nice. I am glad that Eurovision-fans like my music. Sweden has a very good music scene and it’s famous for good songs.

Yes, of course. I’m not Italian, I’m Swiss. I have both citizenships, but I was born in Switzerland, I grew up there and I still live there. All my friends are Swiss. I know about Eurovision since I was a little kid and even before I decided to take part I talked about it a lot.

As far as I can see, the organization of the ESC is on a very high level and everything is done perfectly. The look of the stage and the performances are very important. At San Remo many things are neglected – even the music sometimes, which is very important here.
It’s different to sing at San Remo, where everybody sings in Italian, and here, where you can hear different languages and different genres. These two festivals are very different from each other. My preference are songs in the native language. I think a song should stay like it was conceived, because when you translate or rewrite the lyrics for an other language, you lose something. I live in the Italian part of Switzerland, my mother-tongue is Italian and when I write a song, I write it in Italian first. Later, I translate it into English or Spanish. As you know, we’ll sing in Italian at the ESC.

Yes, the stage is beautiful. It’s very modern and you can see it right away. People sometimes spend much money to build a stage and the results are not the best. This stage is really very nice. As for the parties and press conferences, I like them too and I feel very good about everything.

It depends... if we make one of the first three places, it will affect it for sure. Otherwise those in the first three places will have an advantage. For me as a representative of Switzerland it will be a success to even make the finals, but we try not to think which place we’re going to make, but to give our best in the performance.

Yes, right now I’m working on a single for the Americas. The song is called „Musica“ and I performed it at San Remo last year. We’ll do an English and Spanish version of the song, and there will be a lot to do about that project. I hope to release the single in Spain, too, and if I’m successful at the ESCk, my wish to make an album for nothern Europe could come true, too. That’s my goal.

I don’t know and I don’t care. I don’t miss it. I don’t think that Eurovision should miss Italy. Eurovision is a big and popular festival and Italy should miss Eurovision. I don’t know why Italy doesn’t participate, but it’s possible that the reason is that Italy could win and therefore would have to organise the festival, while the Italian television RAI might not have the money for such an event. Who knows... Maybe the reason is that this festival would be a danger for San Remo, which is very important for RAI, so they try to protect it.

They don’t, but they all watch it...

Without thinking – Switzerland! But they won’t want me anymore... (laughs)

I didn’t listen to the songs... I heard parts of some of them at the rehearsals, and that’s it... I don’t want to look at polls, or to have favorites, because I like to think that we’re all equal, on the same level, and with the same chances to win when the contest starts. I didn’t hear the Serbian song, but I met the singer and she’s very nice.

I think that every contest should have it’s rules and go by those rules. In the rules for the ESC it is not mentioned that a turkey can’t represent a country, so the entry of Ireland is playing the rules. Maybe it will even win, who knows...

Yeah, I know the song, of course... Our styles are very similar, so the similarities in some parts of my song are justified. My song is not a copy. There are similarities, and that’s normal.

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Busy weekend

Last rehearsals, parties and the official reception on sunday evening marked the weekend.
On Saturday and Sunday we had the opportunity to see the second round of some SF-2 rehearsals as well as the first and second rehearsals of the Big4 and the host, Serbia. Germany's No Angels, UK's Andy Abraham, France's Sebastian Tellier, Spain'S Rodolfo and Serbia's Jelena Tomasevic were all very happy with their rehearsals, with the stage and the arena in general.
The reception party, held at Palata Srbije, the former federal government bulding of Yugoslavia, was opened by Svante Stockselius. The jazz-band of Jovan Maljokovic and several serbian stars was in charge of the good mood, and the guests - almost all delegations were present at some point of the party - were enjoying themselves with drinks and some of the finest serbian couisine specialities.
Below are some of the photos of rehearsals that marked the weekend.

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Some changes in some of the performances

Now, on monday, when Russia and Greece were rehearsing for the first time I KNEW there will be a problem with their props and getting them out of/on the stage. Russia had a skating platform for Plushenko and in it's middle a ladder Dima seemed to float up, and Greece has a gigantic pop-up book. Now, Russia got rid of the ladder and Dima sits in the front part of the stage, while at the end he ends up lying on it barefoot. And, with much luck, the props can be switched in the 30 seconds gap between Russia and Greece.
Anothe artist asked to change, or in this case actually not even to try a part of the planned performance is Sirusho from Armenia. She said that at the end of the performance , her microphone was supposed to "explode", but that the EBU and RTS asked her not to do that for security reasons. Sirusho explained that this of course is unfortunate, but it does not matter because in the end it is the vocal perfomance that counts.
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Day 4 of rehearsals - selected reviews

Latvia's Pirates of the sea were first to rehearse on day 4. During the rehearsal today, it seemed that not all of the props were in place, and the final visual aspects of the performance will not be clear until the dress rehearsals. The Pirates are joined by three other backing singers .Amongst the items used on stage are antique weapons and swords, with skull and cross bones flags being waved.
The pirates arrived in full costumes to the press conference with Pirates of The Sea playing in the background. With regards to the staging, the obvious question of what happened with the other props was raised, to which Roberto answered "Well, they considered us pirates very dangerous at the airport so we couldn't bring the items straight away!".

Roberto was a member of the 2007 Latvian Eurovision Song Contest representatives Bonaparti.lv, and a journalist asked him what it was like to change from the black hat to the pirates outfit. Roberto says "Well, we were six guys last year, and as you can see we have a mixed group this year. With every year we have changes, we need to be different from the others, especially when there are 43 countries. We just want to give 100%, enjoy what we do and show our heart and soul."

In the first rehearsal of the Croatian representatives Kraljevi Ulice & 75 Cents, a lot was going on on stage during the stage performance, which featured people of three different generations. First of all, there was "75 Cents", an elderly gentleman, who was sitting on a chair in the beginning of the stage act. Later on, he stood up and walked around the stage with a walking stick. He finished the performance by scratching a record on a grammophone, just like modern hip-hoppers do it. Then there was a young female ballet dancer, standing on a pedestal and dancing. During the performance, she moved towards 75 Cents, trying to seduce him, and towards the end, she plays the chimes, consisting of water-filled bottles. In contrast to that, the middle aged band members – the lead singer, a contrabass player, and an acoustic guitar player - do not move too much on stage. The background scenery shows pigeons flying across the stage. Vocally and visually, the performance was solid.
In the press conference, the Croatian delegation explained that 75 Cents got his stage name because of his age: He is 75 years old at this moment. However, he showed that he is as vigorous as ever, confirming that he is still interested in young girls and showing his knowledge in the German and Russian language. The band members said that they were very satisfied with their first rehearsal and they were enjoying their stay in Belgrade so far.

On stage, Deep Zone & Balthazar use two burning turntables and have also added a breakdancer and a guitar-player into their act. The lead singer Joanna was wearing her final clothes already, a sexy, voluptuous dress in red reminding of Moulin Rouge which merges well with the colourful LED screens in the back of the stage. Vocally, Joanna came across as very strong and she really seemed to enjoy being on stage in the Beogradska Arena. The DJs themselves use a vocoder to give their voices a futuristic sound. The whole rehearsal appeared to be problem-free and the performers seemed content with the result.
In their press conference, Deep Zone & Balthazar revealed that they recorded 10 different version of their 2008 Eurovision Song Contest entry DJ, Take Me Away. They also said that they would have more surprises in their performance later. The group is planning an international release of their new album, but there would be no plans to release the song in Bulgarian.

Diana Gurtskaya, the Georgian representative in the Second Semi-Final of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest performed in front of a stage scenery that looked like a flowering meadow. Diana was dressed in white, and she wore big earrings and displayed an AIDS bow on her left upper arm. On stage, she was supported by five backing dancers, who all finished the stage act standing behind Diana. Smoke effects were used on stage, and large pieces of white cloth were pulled from the front of the stage over Diana's head. Diana was singing and performing brilliantly in every aspect, giving the song the very peaceful atmosphere its lyrics talk about.
Diana Gurtskaya started her press conference by singing her song for the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest, Peace Will Come, a cappella, and she did the same with the Hebrew song Jerusalem Of Gold, which she had previously recorded as well. When Diana was asked if she believed in the message of her song, she responded that, in fact, she was convinced that peace will come sooner or later. Talking about that, she also referred to her home region in Georgia, which is still in state of war today.

Tamara, Vrčak, and Adrijan rehearsed their song Let me love you for the first time. They were trying one of two ideas they have for the stage performance in the Eurovision Song Contest Semi-Final. The first idea involved a wall on stage, divided in to three parts, the left and right sides with photographs and the middle one being a gate. Tamara emerges through the gate at the start of the song, and there are two male dancers on stage and one female backing vocalist to support the trio.
Head of Delegation Milanka Rasic introduced the team at the press conference. The first question came from a British journalist who was interested in finding out how the idea of three singers, who had enjoyed successful solo careers came together for the Eurovision Song Contest project. Vrčak replies "It was my idea, we were all close friends beforehand, I was the complete author of the song. I knew the others voices, so it was a natural choice really, we have the same energy."

FYR Macedonia has a 100% record of qualifying from the Eurovision Song Contest Semi-Finals to date and a journalist asked Tamara whether this prior record at was any more pressure on them. She said "Yes, very much it does. I hope that we will pass through the Semi-Final, we believe in the song, we believe it is a good song. The audience reaction we see is very positive. We hope that we will qualify and also have the highest ever placement in the Final."

Understandably, a question regarding the tragic and untimely death of FYR Macedonia's Tose Proeski was raised, and head of delegation Milanka Rasic went on to explain that a special documentary programme was made in London, focusing mainly on the international success of Tose's career. It is planned that this will be shown not only as a premiere at the FYR Macedonia party in Belgrade on 15th May but also during one of the build up programmes prior to the Eurovision Song Contest.
The press conference closed with Tamara Vrčak & Adrian inviting the press and media to enjoy local wine and food at the party organised by FYR Macedonia.

The charismatic Portuguese singer Vânia Fernandes gave several faultless performances today, using the gigantic stage to great effect with dark-blue and green projections on the LED-screen. The Portuguese team has also created a fitting barefoot choreography for Senhora Do Mar (Negras Águas), so nothing seems to stop Vânia Fernandes to reach the final for Portugal for the first time! In her press conference Vânia expressed her happiness about being in Belgrade. When asked about the lyrics of the song, the composer, Carlos Coelho, explained that it's funded upon a historical poem and Vânia added that it is a very emotional song for her and that it is about her native country, Portugal. The Portuguese team explained that they went on promotional tour to Bulgaria and Malta. When asked if Vânia has plans for an album, she asked that she would like to start working on one but that she was too busy with the ESC. On request, she first sang a portugese ballad acapella, and she and her team closed the press conference by singing the dramatic ending of Senhora do Mar acapella.

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Day 4 of rehearsals - the videos (from eurovision.tv)

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On last nights karaoke party in the Eurocafé

From esctoday.com

Last night, May 13th, at the Eurocafe a wonderful evening happened. Lot of fans have enjoyed the first of this year`s Karaoke parties. As we could see in the Eurocafe, the gathering crowd in Belgrade is becoming larger and larger, as time goes on.

The host of the night was Christian, a German OGAE Serbia member, who also sang two songs. One by one, people were choosing a song and going up on the stage. We could hear almost all European languages and recall some huge Eurovision hits.

Among several surprises, one was definitely the biggest, Sernbian national finalists this year, and Marija Serifovic's backing singers in Helsinki, The Beauty Queens performed Molitva one more time and then Zavet, the song they presented in this year's Beovizija. They were signing their CDs for all those who took a part in Karaoke night.

The organiser of the party, OGAE Serbia announces the next Karaoke night for Saturday, May 17th in Delta City shoping mall in Novi Beograd, Jurija Gagarina street, not far from the Sava Center, as well as various of events every day in the Eurocafe and the Euroclub.

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Day 3 of rehearsals - selected reviews

Iceland's Euroband were the first to enter the stage at the Belgrade Arena on day 3, singing their song This Is My Life.The duet made up by Regína Ósk and Friðrik Ómar already wore their outfits for the Semi-Final. The theme is black with a touch of pink: Regína wears a fluffy skirt and Friðrik wears a black sleaveless outfit. The duet is backed by two male and two female singers.The choreography of the performance is similar to the one used in the Icelandic preselection show and it suits the up-tempo, Nordic euro-pop song well. Regína and Friðrik gave a powerful performance, and it seems like the choreography is more or less perfect. During the rehearsal they producers were working a lot with the sound which seemed to give a few problems in the beginning. Overall the Icelandic duo and the Icelandic delegation seemed very much satisfied.

At the press conference after the rehearsal, the Icelandic delegation were very satisfied with everything in Belgrade, and they thought today's rehearsal went very well. A journalist from the accredited press asked why Euroband changed the original lyrics in Icelandic to English, and Regína replied that the English version was better for the up-tempo, techno song. Nevertheless, per request, they sang the icelandic version acapella.

Sweden's first rehearsal was perfect from the start, without any sound problems and with a well prepaired choreography.Charlotte Perrelli sings her song Hero with five backing singers - one of them located at the back part of the stage - and it was revealed that she will be wearing a glamourous, silver dress. Charlotte starts her performance on a podium and usess the whole range of stage tricks: a special, jewelled microphone, a windmachine and also a green laser will be used in her performance! She will also have an effective gimmick at the beginning of the song, with her being shown in black and white on screen and suddenly turning to colour after some seconds into the song.
Now, the only problem I am having with all of this is that it's all exactly the same as it was at Melodifestivalen.
In her press conference Charlotte said that lots of things have changed since her first victory in the 1999 Eurovision Song Contest, especially in her private life as she's married with children now. She believes in her song Hero as it is a fantastic song and hopes that people around Europe will like it too. Charlotte admitted that it's her first time in Serbia and that she really likes the country.

Every performance during Ukraine's first rehearsal was vocally flawless and had strong visual effects with carefully considered choreography. On the stage, there is a glass wall of rectangular shape which is split in to four sections. At the beginning of the song the four male dancers are revealed one by one as the individual sections of the wall light up. The dancers then emerge on stage to join Ani. Towards the end of the song, Ani climbs to the top of the wall and is helped back down by the dancers. As Glen Webb of eurovision.tv says - it seems that we will get more surprises within the performance during the full dress rehearsals.
Ani's press conference was very heavily attended and she thanked her team, saying that she has full confidence and belief in them and the Shady Lady project. She also made comments about this years competition "This Eurovision Song Contest is full of shady ladies! So many beautiful girls. I hope that a strong melody and a song with good energy will win, as it's all about music and is a song contest".

Though Albania's Olta Boka is only 16 years old and one could feel she's nervous when she started her first performance of the ballad Zemrën E Lamë Peng, she quickly overcame it and impressed everybody with her vocal skills and performance. The stage is rather dark during the performance, with a spot on Olta, who is reaching out for the camera with her hand towards the camera towards the end of the song. Olta was accompanied on stage by two guitar players and a drum kit player. Visually, the theme of her song, the title of which means "We gambled our hearts" in English, was well represented in the stage act: the background scenery was dominated by big pink and yellow hearts, while the dresses that Olta Boka and her backing musicians will wear in the Second Semi-Final of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest feature motives reminding of suits in card games. Olta will wear a black dress reminding of a school uniform, while the other musicians will wear similar dresses in white, looking like the negative pattern of Olta's dress.
In the Albanian press conference, Olta Boka apologized for being nervous on stage during her rehearsal. She explained that it was her first time to perform in front of an international public, and that she hoped to improve her stage act during the second rehearsal. When the songwriters were asked why they took part in the Eurovision Song Contest with a melancholic ballad for the second year in a row, they replied that the combination of love and sadness in music was in fact not only part of the Albanian national psyche, but rather a normal element of Mediterranean culture.
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Day 3 of rehearsals - the videos (from eurovision.tv)

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Karaoke party at the Eurocafé

From www.esctoday.com

OGAE Serbia, organiser of this year's Eurocafe and Euroclub, announces and invites all of you who are in Belgrade to come to Eurocafe to Karaoke night and party on Tuesday, May 13Th. The party starts at 21:00. For all of you still don't know where the Eurocafe is, here the address is:
Club Plato, Palata Beograd (Beogradjanka) 5th floor, Masarikova 5

To get there from Sava Centre or Belgrade Arena, you can use tram number 7, or from the center of the city you can use bus lines 19, 21, 22, 29, 31.

The Eurocafe has two areas, indoor and outdoor one. The menu is very interesting, e.g. you can order cheesy Carola cake. After crazy night in the Euroclub, you can get let yourself laz and lay outdoor and enjoy the sunny weather , or even to spend some time in the gym and then relax in the wellness center. Wireless internet is provided, too.

OGAE Serbia announces more happenings in the Eurocafe in the next two weeks: on May 15th you can attend the delegation party of FYR Macedonia, also you will be able to meet some of your favourite of this year`s Eurostars, to get promotional material and to hear them singing live. So, stay tuned for more information.
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Opening of the Eurocafé - a short clip

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Day 2 of rehearsals - selected reviews

The first country to hit the stage the second day of rehearsals was Poland. The Polish representative Isis Gee performed in a short white dress and created a warm atmosphere with her soft voice. During the rehearsal, there had been problems with the sound, but of course this can still be improved in the second rehearsal. Overall, Isis gave a confident performance. The main colour of the background scenery was red, and smoke effects were used during the stage act.
The Polish press conference was rescheduled and took place in the evening. Isis Gee was seated next to her husband, and she confirmed that the song lyrics talk about him. Talking about her promo-tour, she said that she was overwhelmed by the warmth and friendliness of the people in all the countries she visited.

Dustin the Turkey, the first puppet ever to represent a country in the ESC, had his (it's?)first rehearsal for his song Irlande Douze Points as second on day 2. Dustin's rehearsal went very smoothly, the stage is dark as the group arrive, and they are all dressed in black cloaks. When the music starts, the cloaks disappear. Dustin is in the shopping trolley as he was in the Irish national final. There are two male dancers sporting feathers in the Irish colours, and the same two ladies from the national final are backing Dustin. The following press conference was very heavily attended, and it even had to be prolongued. The questions, as well as the answers were very quirky at moments and Dustin made the assembled media laugh all the time. In one moment he even said it's not true that Terry Wogan has a wig, how dare the media say so, Terry's hair is his own and he even has a receipt for it.

Laka's rehearsal showed us a very lively and colourful performance for his song Pokušaj. He is supported by four female backing singers wearing bridal costumes and his sister Mirela who was equally very active on stage, and seemed to wash and hang up clothes at one point of the song before throwing them away.
In his press conference, Laka joked that the chicken that could be seen in the Bosnian preview video wasn't allowed to be on stage with them, so it ended up in a soup - which got roaring laughter from the many journalists and fans in the press conference group. Laka and the Bosnian team also revealed that they had a great time in London during the promotional tour and that he expects "to get 12 points from the UK".

The first appereance of Sirusho at this years ESC was actually the night before her rehearsal at the opening of the Euroclub, which she attended together with Hayko, who represented Armenia last year in Helsinki.
Sirusho started her performance of Quele, Quele surrounded by three backing dancers, who were lying on the floor. Afterwards, they showed several acrobatic moves while dancing around Sirusho. Sirusho performed in silver boots, but the dress that she will wear on the night of the Semi-Final was not yet shown to the public. All in all, the performance looked very energetic and it illustrated the oriental motives in the song very well. In the press conference, Sirusho was asked what the song title Qele Qele stands for. She explained that "Qele" means "Come on" in English, and that it fits the message of the song well. Furthermore, Sirusho said that she received most of her influences as an artist and musician her parents, who are well respected artists in Armenia.

Kalomira's rehearsal went smoothly and without any big technical problems. The performance looked well prepaired and rehearsed. In addition to the singing part of the performance, Kalomira and her three male dancers do a complicated choreography, including both Kalomira being lifted up on a board decorated with glitter and extensive moves during the interlude of the song. During the performance, a gigant pop-up shaped like a heart appears on the colourful stage. Kalomira and the dancers are joined by one male and one female singer.
In her press conference, Kalomira revealed that her dress in the first semi-final was designed bz Jennifer Lopez's company. As an US-American, it wasn't hard for her to keep her Greek roots as her family kept all Greek traditions. Kalomira was excited about the way her first rehearsal went and thought that she didn't face problems at all.

Though he was scheduled to rehearse second-to-last, Dima Bilan sang at the end of day 2 of rehearsals. For his performance of Believe, there is a ladder in the middle of the stage, placed on a skating platform. Dima is seated at the bottom at the opening part of the song. He is joined by Hungarian violinist Edvin Marton, World & Olympic figure skating champion Eugeni Pluschenko who will be skating during the performance, a male dancer who meanders around the stage and on the ladder and finally two female backing vocalists. Dima ends the performance "floating" part way up the ladder.
The press conference followed, and as expected was very heavily attended. MTV Russia opened the questions session by asking how the partnership between Dima, Eugeni and Edvin came about. Dima answered "We are three friends, like in Heroes, the idea was born one year ago. There has never been a pop singer, violinist and Olympic Champion on the stage at the Eurovision Song Contest before" Speaking of the violin, Edvin Marton added "The violin used is a 1697 Stradivarius and was even played by Paganini over 300 years ago. I won this in a figure skating competition in Montreal."
Dima spoke also of the popularity of the Eurovision Song Contest in Russia and what his hopes and aspirations were this year. He states "The Eurovision Song Contest is sacred in Russia, and we never hosted it at home. We would really like to have that feeling. It's a bit like the Olympic Games, everyone has a chance to win, everyone is worthy. My desire to win is very very big, that's why we are here. Maybe finally we can do it. It's a bit like a disease when you have been to the Eurovision Song Contest, you get addicted. Whatever happens, nothing stops here, many things more will begin."

Russia are currently the bookmakers favourites to win the contest.
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Day 2 of rehearsals - the videos (from eurovision.tv)

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Day 1 of rehearsals - selected reviews

In his first rehearsal, Stefan Filipović, the singer representing Montenegro in the First Semi-Final of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest, performed in leisure clothes. He was supported on stage by four female backing dancers wearing red gloves, which are a key feature in the elaborate stage choreography: In the middle of the song, the dancers start to caress the singer's face with their hands. Being the first rehearsal of this year's ESC, there were several technical problems, but Stefan himself said later at the press conference that he was satisfied with how things went, that he liked the stage, though he had expected a bigger one.

Israel's participant in the first semi-final of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest, Boaz Mauda, gave a good performance in the Belgrade Arena on this sunny Sunday morning. His song The Fire In Your Eyes is as a tender ballad that gets some oriental rhythm near the end of the song.

On stage, Boaz is supported by five male background singers. The backing singers stand at the left of the stage for the first part of the song, but as the song gets more oriental, they are joining Boaz at the front part of the stage. Vocally, The Fire In Your Eyes left nothing to be desired.

In his press conference, Boaz admitted that he is a bit tired at the moment as he performed 12 times on Israel's Independence Day, but he assured that he would be fit again by tomorrow. Boaz's favourites in this year's Eurovision Song Contest are the entries from Sweden, Switzerland, Romania and Serbia and he revealed that in the next press conference he would be joined by the winner of the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest, Dana International who's also one of the composers of his song this year.

There were only minor changes to the stage performance of the song in comparison to the one Kreisiraadio showed in the estonian national final.They entertained the audience with their first rehearsal of Leto Svet, the song they are competing with in the First Semi-Final of the Eurovision Song Contest. One of the lead singers was absent today due to other commitments but will join the team later to complete the line up. The group appears on stage with the flags of Serbia, Finland, Germany and Estonia.

At the press conference, the group was asked why they chose to sing in serbiam german and finnish, and they answered: "Finnish is because they are our good neighbours, German as they share big historic traditions, and Serbo Croatian as they are the host country, we think that next year lets say Greece should sing in Serbo Croatian and other countries sing in different mixtures of languages!"

Kreisiraadio will attempt to become the first act from Estonia to qualify from the Semi Finals since their inauguration to the Contest.

The first rehearsal of the Moldovan delegation went very well today, and the performers gave a confident impression on stage. The main element in the performance is a big white sofa. In the beginning, the singer Geta Burlacu sits on the loan of it and a trumpet player kneels in front of it, while in the end of the stage act, the singer cuddles in the lap of the trumpet player on the sofa. Everything was designed to convey a cosy and warm mood, which was also the reason why Geta requested the technicians to make her voice sound softer.

In the press conference, Geta was asked why she decided to have only one person with her on stage, even though a total of six performers would be allowed according to the rules of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. She revealed that the trumpet player accompanying her is in fact the person she loves, and that they wanted to create an atmosphere of intimacy which would have been disturbed by additional people on stage.

Rebeka Dremelj completed her first rehearsal of the song Vrag Naj Vzame this afternoon, which proved a little challenging as the Slovenian team tried to iron out a few practical issues.

Rebeka appears on stage with three female backing vocalists and two male dancers, one of whom choreographed the piece.

Rebeka emerges from a cage at the beginning of the song, and is followed around by the male dancers. The theme of the song is about a girl feeling imprisoned by love, and wanting to break out, with love winning in the end.

At the beginning of the press conference Rebeka made a statement saying "Our first rehearsal was really awful, so we're all in a bad mood right now. It was bad because of us and nobody else. Everything will go well in the future, so please no questions about the first rehearsal." Despite this, the press conference itself was very upbeat.A journalist asked why the song was not being performed in English, Rebeka added "We have recorded a version of the song called Heavy Weather, and the theme of this is very similar to the original. A story of two people breaking up, sending to hell. We only have two million people in Slovenia, soif we're not proud to sing in our own language we don't deserve it.".
Rebeka proceeded to sing a solo acapella version of Heavy Weather, which was greeted with much cheer amongst the assembled press.

Norway's singer in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest, Maria, performed brilliantly in her first reheasal on Belgrade's Arena big stage. She received huge cheers from the present media and fans.

Accompanied by three female backing singers and two guitar-players, Maria integrated a fitting cheorography into her number which worked well. The stage during Hold On Be Strong is filled with hundreds of lights on a predominantly blue background and it seemed that Maria and her team were already wearing their final clothes which are also bright blue.

During her rehearsal, Hind, who represents the Netherlands this year, appeared in the Arena and told the fans and media who greeted her that she actually just had arrived in Belgrade.

In her press conference, Maria treated the present media with her enormous vocal talent. She was also satisfied with the way her rehearsal went. When asked what was her favourite song in this year's contest, she answered that she liked the Danish song most.

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Day 1 of rehearsals - the videos!
So, the first day of the soundcheck-rehearsals for ESC 2008 is now officially over and here are the videos (well, at least for most of the countries that rehearsed today). Enjoy! :)

No video available at the moment.

No video available at the moment.

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Euroclub opening Sunday evening

Tonight (Sunday, May 11th) at 10PM local time, the Euroclub will open its doors for fans and members of the accredited media.

The EuroClub is organized by Host Broadcaster RTS in cooperation with OGAE Serbia, and is located at the same venue as the press centre, the Sava Centre. The entrance to the Euroclub will be entrance B of the Sava centre.

Traditionally, the EuroClub is the place where accredited delegates, journalists and fans can relax and enjoy Eurovision Song Contest music until the early hours.

Miroslav Luburić, president of OGAE Serbia, says that 16 DJs from across Europe have been invited to entertain the audience over the next two weeks.
We from OGAE Serbia invite all the fans and accredited media who already arrived in Belgrade to come to the opening tonight and enjoy their stay in the Euroclub!
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Belgrade welcomes first
song contest delegations

Today, the first delegations from across Europe arrived in Belgrade, Host City of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. Under massive interest from Serbian media, the delegations were warmly welcomed by their hosts at Belgrade's international airport. Tomorrow, contestants from nine countries will rehearse on stage at the Belgrade Arena.

The first day of rehearsals will also see the debute of Azerbaijan and San Marino at the Eurovision Song Contest stage. Both countries are represented at the competition for the very first time, and are both scheduled to rehearse their performance tomorrow. The representatives, respectively Elnur & Samir and the band Miodio, will both give a press conference at the press centre.

Other artists rehearsing and giving press conferences tomorrow are the participants from Montenegro, Israel, Estonia, Moldova, Belgium, Slovenia and Norway.

Between Sunday, 11 May, and Sunday next week, all artists from the 43 represented countries will rehearse their performance twice, and give two press conferences each. In total, almost 100 press conferences will given in the upcoming two weeks. The second week, between 19 and 24 May, is all about the dress rehearsals - three of each event - and the three live shows; the Semi-Finals, on 20 and 22 May, and the Final, on 24 May.

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Eurocafé opening May 9th, 9PM local time
eurocafé

We invite you to join us in the Eurovision Living Room from 9 till 27 of May.
Eurocafe' - the Eurovision Living Room is a special place, open to everybody, where you can meet fans from all over the world, take part in a quiz, sing to eurovision karaoke, surf the net or write an article, have a coffee or a lunch in the beautiful balcony with a view on the city core center, dance until late hours, enjoy live eurovision gigs, watch videos from past and this year's contest, have a chit chat, fall in love, relax at the wellness spa center, admire beautiful eurovision decoration and do many other things we haven't mentioned....

So come to the place prepared for the fans by the fans!

See you there.. very soon :-)))

OGAE SERBIA