Germany 2019 🇩🇪 listen and vote for the Unser Lied für Israel finalists

GERMANY – Germany will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The German entry will be selected through the national final Unser Lied für Israel, organised by the German broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR). As a member of the “Big 5”, Germany will automatically qualify to compete in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.

Unser Lied für Israel (Our Song for Israel) will be the competition that will select Germany’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The national final will take place on 22 February 2019 at the Studio Berlin Adlershof in Berlin with seven competing entries. The show will be hosted by Linda Zervakis and Barbara Schöneberger.

The televised final will feature seven competing artists with a candidate song each. The winner will be selected by a combination of public voting, a one-hundred-member Eurovision panel, and an international expert jury panel.

The Eurovision panel consists of one hundred members recruited through surveys on social media in order to reflect the taste of the wider European audience, and it participates in the decision-making process from the candidate selection phase to the televised final. The international expert jury panel consists of twenty members who previously sat on the national juries of their respective countries at the Eurovision Song Contest or participated at the Contest.

Artists were able to submit their bids from 19 May 2018 to 31 July 2018. NDR received 965 applications, and 198 were shortlisted to be considered in the selection process. The one-hundred-member Eurovision panel narrowed the shortlist to fifty artists, and the international expert panel further narrowed the shortlist to twenty artists. These twenty artists were invited to attend a workshop in Cologne from 28 September 2018 to 2 October 2018. Six of the artists who participated at the workshop were selected to advance to the songwriting camp that took place in Berlin from 5 to 9 November 2018.

Aly Ryan: “Wear Your Love” (Written by Aly Ryan, Michelle Leonard, Thomas Stengaard, Tamara Olorga)
BB Thomaz: “Demons” (Written by : BB Thomaz, Andrew Tyler, Ricardo Bettiol, Tim Schou)
Gregor Hägele: “Let me go” (Written by: Gregor Hägele, Jonas Shandel, David Jürgens, Tamara Olorga)
Lilly Among Clouds: “Surprise” (Written by: Elisabeth Brüchner, Udo Rinklin)
Linus Bruhn: “Our City” (Written by: Linus Bruhn, Dave Roth, Pat Benzner, Serhat Sakin, Simon Reichardt)
Makeda: “The Day I Loved You Most” (Written by: Makeda, Tim Uhlenbrock, Kelvin Jones, Kristine Bogan)
Sisters: “Sister” (Written by: Laurell Barker, Marine Kaltenbacher, Tom Oehler, Thomas Stengaard)

The six finalists produced circa twenty five songs at the songwriting camp. These song, some additional songs submitted to NRD, as well as two songs by two additional acts who did not participate at the camp, were evaluated by the Eurovision panel and the international expert panel, who could select between six and eight songs for the televised final. The first six artists selected to compete in the final were revealed on 8 November 2018.[8] On 8 January 2019, Sisters were announced as an extra act participating in the final.

The final will take place on 22 February 2019. Seven acts will compete. The winner will be selected by a combination of public voting, a one-hundred-member Eurovision panel, and an international expert jury panel.

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February 22 ➡️ the latest news from Spain, Greenland, Serbia and many more….

UKRAINE 🇺🇦
On Saturday, February 23, UA: Radio Promin will broadcast live national Ukrainian selection for the Eurovision 2019. For the first time in the history of radio Ukrainian listeners will be able to listen to the live performances of the contenders! Broadcast will begin at 18:00. An hour before the beginning of the show, hosts Dmytro Zakharchenko and Oleksandra Franko together with music producer Denis Putintsev will discuss the trends of this year’s national selection and make predictions about the winner.

EUROVISION 2019 🇮🇱
After two unsuccessful attempts to determine winner for the tender on the security services, host broadcaster KAN had to cancel the tender and decided that the supply of security services now will be done through the company that earlier won the tender for the production services. That is, the production company will have to deal with the security arrangements itself through several vendors chosen by it, reports Israel Hayom.

ISRAEL 🇮🇱
The songwriter of “Home”, Ohad Shragai, spoke on Keshet 12’s morning talk show earlier today to discuss the song he penned for Eurovision. One point he made is that the song was specifically written with Kobi Marimi, Israel’s entrant, in mind, and that he was impressed with his personality. Adding to his, Yoav Tzafir, a member of the selection committee, noted that “Home” will be “a ballad that begins from an intimate and moving place and will grow later”. Yoav also revealed that he believes that Israel can reach top ten this year.

GREENLAND 🇬🇱
With the participation of Greenlandic singers Julie & Nina, viewers in Greenland will be able to watch the final of Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2019 live on KNR. The Greenlandic broadcaster will be airing the contest live from Herning from 16:00 local time.

CYPRUS 🇨🇾
Elena Foureira has not denied the rumours that she and Mans Zelmerlöw will duet in the intervals of th Eurovision Song Contest 2019!

GREECE 🇬🇷
The Greek participation will be revealed on 6 March at the Athens Concert Hall, as part of a presentation of the new ERT renewed program and, as we have already informed you, is titled “Better Love”. The song, signed by Katerine Duska and Leon Of Athens, will be officially published on the internet the following day. Apart from the commercial value of the competition, the fact that ERT covers its expenses alone allows it to make the choice of the artist he wants, as well as not to be trapped in situations we experienced last year, by canceling the Greek final, tarnishing her image abroad the worst way. Therefore, according to the unanimous decision of the last Board of Directors, of ERT, the total cost of Greek public television for this year’s participation in the contest amounts to 326 855 Euro plus VAT and other taxes.

LITHUANIA 🇱🇹
As she still managed to qualify at last week’s semi-final but prefers to focus on the votes for her entry “Light On”, Monika Marija has today announced her withdrawal of “Criminal”. Allen Chicco, who missed out on qualifying from the second semi-final, will take her spot and will now compete in the final with his entry “Your Cure”.

SPAIN 🇪🇸
The Spanish national final for the Eurovision 2019 is shrouded in a new controversy, this time around “Muérdeme”, theme by Juan Suárez, David Feito, Victoria Riba, Nuria Azzouzi and Rosa Martínez, defended by Maria in the contest. With the release of an excerpt from his new work, “International”, Juan Magan was accused of having plagiarized the song that came in second place in the race for the Eurovision 2019 Festival. Faced with hundreds of messages and comments, the producer made several direct calls on social networks, stripping himself of alleged plagiarism of the song, ensuring that “International” was “made in May 2018.” Minutes later, Juan Magan shared a storie of September 28, 2018 where he shows an excerpt of the subject, as well as an email of July 3 on the same subject.

SERBIA 🇷🇸
Serbian national broadcaster announced the Beovizija 2019 hosts: The first semifinal will be presented by Dragana Kosjerina and Ivan Mihailović, while Ana Babić and Nebojša Milovanović are the second semi-finals. All four presenters will host the big final on Sunday 3 March. Kristina Radenković and Bojana Marković will be in the green room of the semifinals and the final.

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Israel 2019 🇮🇱 Eurovision entry will be very different from Netta’s “Toy”

ISRAEL – Kobi Marimi’s “Home” has been chosen as the song to represent Israel in the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest taking place in Tel Aviv in May. The 27-year-old Marimi was elected in February, winning the honor after coming in first place in the reality television show “The Next Star.”

Unlike last year’s “Toy,” a fast-paced pop song, Israel’s 2019 nominee will present a ballad, to be revealed on March 10. The song was written and composed by Ohad Shargai and Inbar Weitzman, both previous contenders on Israeli reality shows.

Two hundred songs were submitted to the selection committee, including ones written by well-known Israeli musicians such as Keren Peles and Shiri Maimon. Doron Madali, the man behind “Toy,” last year’s sensation which won Israel the song contest, did not submit a song this year.

The committee convened Tuesday to listen to a shortlist of submitted songs, which Marimi had recorded.

Marimi said that from the first time he heard the song, he found it very touching and connected to it immediately. He thanked the committee for choosing a song “that fits me to a T,” adding that in several days “everyone will be able to be moved by it together with me.”

Marimi will perform the selected song on May 18 in the Eurovision finals, which Israel automatically qualifies for since it won last year’s contest, granting the country hosting rights.

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February 21 ➡️ the latest #Eurovision headlines from Italy, Ukraine, Ireland and more…

UKRAINE 🇺🇦
Andriy Danylko confirmed that his persona Verka Serduchka has been innovated by the organisers of Eurovision 2019 and he will attend in Tel Aviv.

ITALY 🇮🇹
Mahmood said that he was working on the new version of the song that will contain different elements to the “Soldi” people recognise. He want’s to make it unique and, “I do not want to do something already done”.

GREECE 🇬🇷
It has been officially announced that the Greek entry “Better Love” by Katerine Duska will be presented on March 6th in a special presentation event.

BELARUS 🇧🇾
It has been confirmed that Belarusian final will take place on March 7th. As of 2020 there will be a new selection format.

ISRAEL 🇮🇱
Kobi Marimi has already been selected through “The Next Star” to represent Israel on home soil. Today, it was announced by KAN, the Israeli broadcaster, that Kobi will sing “Home” in Tel Aviv! The song is composed by Ohad Shargai and Inbar Weitzman.

UKRAINE 🇺🇦
The Head of the Ukrainian national selection process at STB has confirmed that it will not be disqualifying YUKO or MARUV for having performed in Russia.

IRELAND 🇮🇪
Ireland’s participation in Eurovision 2019 was a politically tense decision for national broadcaster RTÉ to make. Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show diplomacy was required as RTÉ management responded to calls from both sides of the political divide between June and December last year – before and after Ireland confirmed its participation in this year’s competition. Read the full post here

FRANCE 🇫🇷
Bilal Hassani reveals his first big solo concert to take place in L’Olympia on 21 October 2019. Tickets will go on sale on Friday 18:00 and first 100 purcasers will get a chance to attend meet & greet session with the artist.

EUROVISION 2019 🇮🇱
The Eurovision Song Contest will be broadcast in Israel for the first time in an accessible viewing experience for blind, deaf and spectators with cognitive disabilities. “Sign Now” team led by Tomer Levy, a graduate of the Edmond de Rothschild Leadership Program will be responsible for the production of the event for deaf and hearing impaired viewers, while the accessibility to the blind will be conducted by the Central Library for the Blind and Impaired.

LITHUANIA 🇱🇹
In order not to have the votes split between her two entries, and to have a higher chance of winning, Monika Marija decided that she should only perform one song in the Final, that one being “Light On” which won both the votes of the jury and of the public in semi final 1. LRT, Lithuania’s national broadcaster, stated that according to the rules of the national selection, Monika Marija will be fined for withdrawing an entry in the Final.

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Lithuania 2019 🇱🇹 a song likely to withdraw and a song investigated by the EBU

LITHUANIA – Lithuanian national broadcaster has confirmed that one of the top favorites to represent Lithuania in Tel Aviv, Jurijus, could be disqualified from Eurovizijos 2019 for having released their song before September 1, 2018. The siinger is being investigated because his song “Running with lions” could have been available on the Internet throughout last spring, to be later eliminated. The songwriter has stated that this situation is ridiculous and that the song was never online before September 1, 2018.

The Head of the Lithuanian Delegation has confirmed that he is aware of the situation and that they are investigating the possible leak. The matter has been referred to the EBU, which will determine if the song has violated the rules of the Eurovision Song Contest. The Head of the Delegation has stated that he hopes that Jurijus can still compete in the Grand Final next Saturday. In the event that the EBU is not pronounced before Saturday and Jurijus is the winner, it could be disqualified at a later date. In the event of such a situation, the LRT would select the interpreter classified in second position.

Jurijus is, along with Monika Marija, one of the top favorites to represent Lithuania in Eurovision 2019. Last Saturday the interpreter won in the second Eurovizijos 2019 semifinal after obtaining the maximum score of the jury and the televote.

In the meantime: Monika Marija is likely to withdraw her entry “Criminal” in the Lithuanian national final, keeping only “Lights On”. According to the rules, such withdrawal will lead to payment of the fine of 2000 EUR. In this case, she will be replaced in the final line-up by Alen Chicco. However, the final decision is expected to be taken only on Thursday, reports website Delfi, and currently none of parties comment on such a possibility, and Monika Marija herself departed to Rome.

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Eurovision 2019 🇮🇱 Tel Aviv Seeks Volunteers To Guide Eurovision Tourists, but keeps delaying ticket sales

ISRAEL – When tens of thousands of tourists descend on Tel Aviv for the Eurovision in May, the city wants to ensure they have a safe, enjoyable time. Therefore on Sunday, the Tel Aviv Municipality issued a call for volunteers who speak English and other foreign languages to sign up for shifts to aid tourists visiting for the competition.

The municipality said it is looking for “volunteers to help with providing information services, assistance and guidance, and creating a great experience in the non-stop city.” The city said that volunteers must be over age 17, must commit to two shifts of five hours each and “must love Tel Aviv, be passionate about helping tourists and be ready to give bar and restaurant recommendations, and know the best spots in the city for taking selfies.” The volunteers will be receiving a currently undefined “bonus” for their assistance.

“All the polls we do show that one of our greatest assets is that we’re friendly, warm and welcoming,” said Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai. “This is the asset we want to leverage to give the thousands of tourists who will fill up this city the best possible Eurovision experience.”

While the city is gearing up to host thousands of Eurovision devotees, those fans are still waiting for the most important news: Ticket sales. While the KAN public broadcaster has been promising news on ticket sales for months now, there is still no date for the beginning of sales and no final figures on how many seats will be available for each live show.

Tickets for the 2018 Eurovision in Lisbon went on sale beginning in November 2017. Tickets for the 2017 competition in Kiev were made available to the public in mid-February 2017. But on Sunday, a spokeswoman for KAN said there was still no official date, but that she expected it to be announced in the next two weeks. In early January, KAN said ticket sales would open by the end of that month, but that never materialized.

Several Hebrew media reports have indicated that the delays are at least partially attributed to the indecision on the number of seats available for the shows at Expo Tel Aviv. Due to the large stage size demanded by the production, there will likely be less than 8,000 seats available for each live show, a low figure for the Eurovision. The KAN spokeswoman said Sunday that the final number of seats has yet to be decided, and everything will be announced together at a later date.

KAN is expected to offer ticket sales to the three live shows – two semi-finals and the grand finale – as well as the dress rehearsals for each of the shows.

While there are no tickets available yet, the Tel Aviv Municipality is marching full steam ahead with its preparations. Last week, it unveiled a “Eurovision bus” which will operate during the week of the competition in May. The bus is expected to give tours of the city to the thousands of visitors descending on Tel Aviv in May.

SOURCE: JPOST.COM

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