Emmelie de Forest from Denmark, the winner of the ESC 2013 has been in the Top 10 in 26 European countries, in seven of which in number one.

Margaret Berger is number one in Cyprus, number 2 in Swede while she enjoys top ten ranking in five countries.

In Russia and in Cyprus Dina Garipova’s entry “What If” is placed 3rd and 7th respectively.

In Norway and Malta, host country’s entry by Robin Stjernberg is in the top ten of the iTunes charts while it’s in the top 50s in 9 countries.

Azeri entry by Farid Mammadov penned by Greek composer is number 1 in Azerbaijan, 4th in Russia and 5th in Greece while it appears in the charts of 22 European countries.

In YouTube Italy tops the views with more than 14 million of them, while Denmark, Germany, Azerbaijan and Ukraine follow with lots of millions page views as well.

The singer did not hesitate to say that it was because of European alliances that Greece did not get a better place than sixth. He also stated that they did not receive any money from the song contest. “We only had five euros in our pockets during Eurovision,” adding that, “We returned to Thessaloniki by bus.” The singer revealed that he had been unemployed for a year, but fortunately things are going well for him now.

in addition to the article we can say that it’s only 1% of the real story!

FINLAND CONFIRMED
According to YLE website, the preparations for the UMK 2014 confirm the country’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest next year. You can read our full story here.

SAN MARINO CONFIRMED
San Marino’s 2012 and 2013 Eurovision representative, Valentina Monetta, could represent her country again next year if SMRTV gets it way. Carlo Romeo, the Director General of the network says, “If Valentina Monetta agrees, it is not a problem for us to have her for next year. For us, Valentina won, she was great and she could have not done much more. Her staff has done a great job and we would be happy to have her again”. Velntina is still undecided whether she will represent her country another time and is disappointed that she didn’t make the final. “Right now I am not ready to say yes or no to a third time, I will calmly evaluate the different proposals. For the time being I can only say that my team and I have won because we have done the best we could and the comments on our performance were more than positive”, Velntina says.

Ralf Gyllenhammar (46), artist.
Erik Rapp (16), artist.
Daniel Breitholtz (36), A&R.
Karin Gunnarsson (37), music playlister Swedish Radio P3.
Monika Starck (39), backing vocalist.

01. Gozha Kseniya (Kursk)
02. Kuznetsova Ulyana (Orenburg)
03. Duet “Style” (Moscow)
04. Gil’murahmanov Rafael (Ufa)
05. Grigor’eva Larisa (Moscow)
06. Shkurko Anastasiya (Taganrog)
07. Gegin Kirill (Volgograd)
08. Zaynutdinova Albina (Izhevsk)
09. Gned’ Anastasiya (Khimki)
10. Kvartet “4EVER” (Moscow)
11. Ensemble “Mul’ti-Pul’ti” (N.Novgorod)
12. Kolesnikova Angelina (Orenburg)
13. Yakovleva Darya (Stariy Oskol)
14. Kirillova Dayana (Kazan’)
15. Filipov Ivaylo (Moscow)
16. Buzovkina Leyla (Yasnogorsk, Tula obl.)
17. Soldysheva Diana (Novosibirsk)
18. Duet “Druzhnye sestryonki” (Moscow)
19. Mulina Kseniya (St.Petersburg)
20. Duet Larionova Marina & Kobzarenko Yegor (Severodvinsk)
21. Trio “Penki- Fanki” (Orenburg)
22. Muhametvagizova Adelina (Kazan)
23. Sementina Alisa (Ryazan)
24. Skityaeva Ekaterina (Novokuybyshevsk)
25. Bagryakova Arina (Yekaterinburg)
26. Kvasov Vyacheslav (Moscow)
27. Yegorova Arina (Iskitim)
28. Band “Kurazh” (Novosibirsk)
29. Veber Angelina (Zheleznodorozhnij)
30. Eroshenko Valerija (p.Prigorodnyj, Orenburg obl.)
31. Muzafarova Anna (Chelyabinsk)
32. Band “Deti IKS” (Severodvinsk)
33. Puris Elizaveta (Moscow)
34. Egorkina Anastasiya (p.Kugesi, Chuvashiya)
35. Fesenko Sofya (Novomoskovsk, Tula obl.)
36. Bezrodnaya Vanessa (Zheleznodorozhniy)
37. Il’chenko Daniil (Omsk)
38. Lukash Darya (Kursk)
39. Zueva Anastasiya (Chelyabinsk)

But which is the scandal and is there a case that EBU should investigate?
When we talk about a scandal we don’t refer to neighboring voting.This is something common and it happens for years at the Eurovision Song Contest: Neighbors are always giving high scores to each other but in order for a country to win it has to take points from all participants and this is what happened in the case of Denmark.

It took high points from all the neighbors but it also took points from all post Soviet countries ( 5 from Ukraine and Azerbaijan 6 from Russian 7 from Georgia and so on). On the other hand Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Finland gave 0 points to the main competitor of Denmark, Azerbaijan.

So we really think that EBU should investigate how juries and how the public voted in these 4 countries and if there was an attempt to manipulate the result in favor of Denmark.

Sand responds: “We are looking into this case, but would emphasise that the intention of these individuals have not yet been clarified, and nor has a link been established between the individuals in the video and the Azeri delegation, the Azeri act or the Azeri EBU Member Ictimai TV.”

The EBU has worked with Digame on the televote processing for nearly ten years. Digame’s platform is built to handle the televoting with absolute professional care, and incorporates systems to detect any attempts at so-called power-voting, where people or systems systematically vote for a chosen contestant. Based on criteria established by the EBU and Digame and overseen by a PwC observer, votes garnered through any instances of power-voting are disregarded.

Azerbaijan to Russia; no points
The EBU also took note of reports in international media of an investigation by the President of Azerbaijan into the Azeri jury and televoting in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. The EBU holds the independence of the professional juries in all participating countries to be of paramount importance. The combination of televotes and jury votes, each bearing a 50% influence on the outcome, did not result in a top 10 position for Russia in the overall result from Azerbaijan. Therefore, Azerbaijan awarded Russia no points – a result confirmed by a notary onsite, by our voting partner Digame and by an independent observer from PwC.

Sand comments: “The first duty of the EBU, as organiser of the Eurovision Song Contest, is to its Members, the public service broadcasters in the participating countries (Ictimai TV in Azerbaijan). We believe that the Song Contest’s apolitical spirit is a cornerstone of its enduring success, and we will do all we can to protect it.” Any form of political pressure on professional juries that could lead to anything other than an independent evaluation of the participating entries is a violation of the Rules of the Eurovision Song Contest, and will be duly dealt with.

A pro-active approach
“I have been around at the Eurovision Song Contest since 1998, and every year there are rumors about irregularities in the voting. Particularly this year, we felt it was time to firmly deal with these rumors,” Sand commented on various media enquiries.

To tighten the procedures, PwC has sent additional observers to broadcasters unannounced shortly before the broadcast, to verify as well if the jury voting is being conducted in accordance with the Rules. A PwC observer has also conducted interviews with broadcaster representatives at the Eurovision Song Contest, to evaluate rumors.

To assure a fair jury voting, judges are asked to sign a document declaring their independency, and are asked to submit details about their professional background. The jury voting is overlooked by an independent notary who confirms to the EBU and PwC that the voting has been conducted in accordance with the Rules.

In support of the fairness and transparency of the voting as one of the corner stones of the Eurovision Song Contest, the EBU constantly evaluates rules and procedures and tightens them if necessary.

“We act immediately”
Several journalists have asked what the consequences would be in case the Rules governing the voting would be breached. Dr. Frank Dieter Freiling, Chairman of the Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group, the event’s governing body on behalf of EBU Members, states: “Let me be clear on this. If we find any clear evidence that the Rules are being breached, including attempts of power-voting, we act immediately to do what we are obliged to do on behalf of the Members: to protect the Eurovision Song Contest brand.”

Based on all criteria laid out in the Rules, PwC confirmed to the EBU the validity of the result of the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest.

SOURCE: EUROVISION.TV

DR-General Maria Rørbye Ronn praised the selection of Ms Gaardbo saying that they are happy with the decision as Pernille combines managerial experience and technical knowledge. Her experience is most valuable.

Pernille Gaardbo said that it’s a project of her dreams to deal with the Eurovision Song Contest. In DR we are more than ever ready to host such a show and that the broadcaster is fully geared to handle a production of such magnituted. We have the right people in the team who cover all needed skills.

Entertainment manager Jan Lagermand Lundme and Head of DR Event Søren Therkelsen will also be involved in the project as well in the national selection. The first one will be responsible for the contest of the show and the other for the relationship with partners.

“I can’t believe I was lucky enough to get support from such a talented and respectable man,” said Farid. “I’m very grateful to Phillip for his warm words before the Contest. It was very important for me. Also I’m very happy to have common friends with Phillip after Eurovision: the Greek team Fokas Evangelinos and Dimitris Kontopoulos, and the dancer from Kirkorov’s dancer team, Alexander Kuzmenko, who performed on stage with me. I hope that in the future I am again lucky enough to work with Phillip. For me, it would be a great pleasure of him to become producer of the Russian version for my Eurovision song Hold Me. Also, maybe one day we could sing in a duet?”

Let us remind that during Eurovision 2013 week, Farid was also inspired by an endorsement from legendary British singer Bonnie Tyler. “Farid has a great song and very powerful voice. For me he is likely to be a winner.”

In addition to that, minutes before the Grand Final Farid Mammadov won Marcel Bezencon Award in the Artistic category. This award is given to the best artist as voted on by Eurovision commentators from 39 participating countries. The award is named after the creator of the annual competition and is given to artists for 11 years already.

After finishing in second position for Azerbaijan in last Saturday night’s Eurovision Song Contest, Farid enjoyed more success today as ‘Hold Me’ becoming a hit in European charts. ‘Hold Me’ is now #1 song in Azerbaijan and a top 5 hit in Greece. The song is also in the charts in several countries across Europe, including Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Germany and Austria. ‘Hold Me’ has also charted in Switzerland, Spain, Netherlands, Norway and this week is a new entry in the Danish and Finish charts.

This rounds off a most successful week for Farid. Not only did he received critical acclaim for his stunning artistic interpretation of ‘Hold Me’ on the Eurovision stage, he also received more 12 points than any other country in the 2013 contest. Farid been also invited to appear on several TV shows and music festivals across Europe starting with an appearances on leading German TV Station ZDF for the programme ‘ZDF Fernsehgarten’.

The EBU ruled out the Italian jury vote on Friday night as the formation of the jury didn’t meet the EBU standards. All of the Italian jury members Paolo Giordano (chairman), Gianni Sibilla, Luca Dondoni, Fabrizio Basso and Luigi Bolognini are all journalists and music critics Whilt the EBU rules state that they should be either a: radio DJ, artist, composer, author of lyrics or music producer. Also all of the jury are made up of male members, which also violates another EBU rule about the jury which says that “There shall be a balance among the members of each National Jury to ensure sufficient representation in terms of gender, age and background”

SEMIFINAL 1
12 points to Ukraine
10 points to Moldova
08 points to Lithuania
07 points to Serbia
06 points to Denmark
05 points to Russia
04 points to Belarus
03 points to Belgium
02 points to The Netherlands
01 point to Montenegro

FINAL
12 points to Romania
10 points to Moldova
08 points to Ukraine
07 points to Greece
06 points to Russia
05 points to Denmark
04 points to Malta
03 points to Hungary
02 points to Azerbaijan
01 point to Lithuania

The bidding process officially begins tomorrow after which host broadcaster DR will make a decision. “We have not taken any decision on where in the country it should be. I think it is important to have an open process where we examine the opportunities and collaborations that, and we have not been to talk to anyone yet. I know that people have been out to comment on different things. But I think only, it is positive if there are different options. And then we take it from there”, DR Director General Maria Rorbye Ronn says.

If the contest is held in Copenhagen, the 2001 venue, the Parken Arena, would be utilised once again. If, however the contest heads to Herring, the event would take place at the Boxen Arena, which played host to this year’s Danish national final.

UPDATE
Aalborg enters the race for the host city
Danish national broadcaster, DR, has announced that the city of Aalborg is also interested in hosting next Eurovision Song Contest. The bidding arena is Gigantium, where Dansk Melodi Gran Prix was held in 2012. Just over eight thousand people can attend happenings like this so it is very questionable if it will be chosen, since the other two competitors are Herning and Copenhagen, where more people can settle down.

“It is of serious concern and surprise that at the final count of votes from Azerbaijan, Russia was not given any points,” director Camil Guliyev said in a statement on Monday.

In fact, Russia’s entry by singer Dina Garipova received the second highest number of votes submitted via cell phone text messages and high marks from the country’s professional jury, he claimed, hinting at vote violations.

“We sincerely hope that this incident, possibly initiated by certain interest groups, will not cast a shadow over the brotherly relations of the Russian and Azerbaijani peoples,” he said, without blaming anyone specifically.

But today in an interview that Sergej gave to one of the best Serbian press “Informer”, he said that now he is prepared and ready to represent his home country in Denmark. Now RTCG has just to confirm it’s participation. Sergej is famous through Balkan and there is no doubt that he will be supported by the ex-Yugoslav countries and the diaspora. On this Valentines Day he held a three hours long concert in Belgrade Arena where over 16000 people enjoyed his songs. You can here two of his most famous songs below:

Pogledi u tami

Dva minuta