2012 - up and running !

We may not have a bone fide venue for the ESC but next year's preparations are already underway!

It is only the 1st of December and the Eurovision train is very much up and running.

Here is a round up of the Eurovision news…!

As of writing 38 countries have announced their participation!

The Czech Republic have already announced their schedule for the year and it does not feature an ESC entry. Armenia may decide to withdraw due to its political status with Azerbaijan, Poland’s bad run of recent results mean that their delegation is thinking hard before making a firm decision, whilst the situation with Slovakia gets stranger by the day (more later!) Montenegro has announced it will be returning this year, while the other 2 Ms (Morocco and Monaco) have also suggested returns for 2012, but nothing confirmed as yet. Andorra, however, announced they are sadly leaving the EBU and therefore will not be in this year’s or any future competition. Shame really…

3 countries are already into their selection period!

Switzerland stated the ball rolling with preliminary voting on the internet all the way back in September. The different language stations of Switzerland have made their decisions and selections and their final to select a successor to Anna will be on 10th December.

Slovenia have decided on “Misija Evrovizija” this year, similar to the "Unser Star Fuer Oslo" show which selected Lena for Germany in 2010. The casting shows started back in October and are now down to their final 5 candidates. The song(s) to be sung in Baku will not be revealed until the final which should be in the new year.
Austria announced 9 of their 10 finalists oday. The last entry will be via a webvote. Interested parties need to enlist themslves onto the OE3 website and the best judges performers will be open to a public internet vote. The winner of which will be given the final spot in the final!

6 countries have already selected an artist - although one is a maybe!

Cyprus revealed their entrant back in August. Ivi Adamou was an entrant in the most recent edition of X-Factor Greece, finishing in 6th place. The song will be selected internally by CYBC and will be revealed sometime in the new year.

Once again Željko Joksimović will be taking the stage for Serbia. Željko, who came second for Serbia&Montenegro back in 2004, was the writer of  the Bosnia-Herzegovina entry in 2006 AND in 2008 he hosted the contest and wrote the Serbian entry!  It is thought he will compose the song himself although no concrete details of the song have been made available.

Belgium’s entrant has been chosen by VRT internally, a method that worked well in 2010 when Tom Dice came 6th. Iris, or Airis as it is spelt in her homeland, is an up and coming singer who is on the same record label as Dice. She is only 16 and is the youngest Belgian entrant since Sandra Kim.

Kaliopi will FINALLY grace the Eurovision stage for FYR Macedonia. She was unfortunately one of the casualties of the very unfair pre-selection process of 1996 but she has been internally selected for the show next year. It is thought that she will pen the song herself and it is highly rumoured that the song will be sung in Macedonian in Baku.
Another surprise announcment is that of the internal section from France. Anggun is an Indonesian born singer-songwriter but has been in showbusness since she was 12. He repetoire has been in a multitude of langaues so it may be interesting to see what we get from France this year.
The maybe is Slovakia. Mid-November it was announced that Miro Šmajda (runner up in the first series of Slovakian Pop Idol) had been internally selected by RTVS but only 2 days later this was put into some doubt. Apparently there are some 'contractual isses' which need sorting- meaning he's probably been told he will have to pay his own way (like Natalia Barbu for Moldova in 2007)

December sees 2 national finals coming to conclusion -

Switzerland chooses on the 10th

Albania’s yearly “Festivali i Këngës” will conclude on 29th December.