NORWAY – Kåre Magnus Bergh and Heidi Ruud Ellingsen will be hosting Norwegian MGP Final in Oslo Spektrum on March 2nd next year. Artists and songs which will be competing in MPG 2019 will be presented at a press conference on 25 January. Tickets for the show will go on sale tomorrow at 10am local time.
ARMENIA – Representative of Armenia at the Eurovision 2019 Srbuk has spoken to News.am Style: “In recent years, I have been thinking about the Eurovision participation and my desire has increased when I participated in the “Voice of Ukraine” project last year… The song I will compete with should first of all be a hit, memorable and comply with my characteristic features. The next steps would be overloaded work, endless vocal lessons, experiments, shootings…
ITALY – According to Chi magazine, 1987 Eurovision entrants Raf & Umberto Tozzi will be joining the line up of 2019 Sanremo Festival. Mia Martini’s sister, Loredana Bertè is also tipped for the line up. Claudio Bisio and Virginia Raffaele will join the main host, Claudio Baglioni who’s also thee artistic director of the festival.
AUSTRALIA – SBS has refused to bow to demands from protesters to boycott Eurovision in Israel next year and has threatened to sue them for appropriating the broadcaster’s branding.
ISRAEL – KAN has today been approved as a full member of the European Broadcasting Union by its General Assembly. KAN also known as IPBC has been a pending member of the European Broadcasting Union since it was formed in 2017. Lacking full membership of the EBU meant that the broadcaster had to receive dispensation from the EBU to participate in Eurovision events such as the Eurovision Song Contest which it won earlier this year in Lisbon, Portugal.
ITALY – Music videos for the finalists of Sanremo Giovani have been released. They can be seen here: http://www.rai.it/programmi/sanremo/ContentSet-8871345b-d910-4043-b2e3-5a3d98b0af24.html?fbclid=IwAR0Ubxz176zOF6ijURj3q8G8WUPxUuz7Qzn3o_swmtQUFM5dNgthstkUYKE
LITHUANIA – Monika Marija confirms her participation in the Eurovision selection. This year, she won the fifth Lithuanian Voice Series, was chosen as the “Schlager Queen of the Year”, has organized two successful tours in Lithuania and has just released the fourth song this year, which will be included in her album coming up in December – Monika Marija seems unstoppable. Now she has confirmed her Eurovision participation.
ESTONIA – Sahlene wanted to compete with the song co-written by Swedish songwriter Linnea Deb and produced by Estonian Oliver “Ollie” Mazurtšak. “Unfortunately, the Eesti Laul preselection jury didn’t want me to take part this time, but in the coming year I will definitely try my luck again, “said Sahlene.
CZECH REPUBLIC – It seems that there is full denial that rapper PTK will be representing the country in Eurovision 2019 and we have to wait for the developments.
THE NETHERLANDS – The winner of The Voice of Holland, Jim van der Zee, has been asked to write a song for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest. He confirmed the rumours on Shownieuws when asked about the topic. He soon confirmed that AVROTROS had indeed asked him to compose a song for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest. Jim van der Zee then indeed sent them a song, under the title “I Do Believe It’s Time”. Interestingly though, the Dutch broadcaster has not replied to Jim as of yet.
RUSSIA – According Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK), the artist announcement is not expected anytime soon. “Most likely it will be made in the late January or early February”.
UNITED KINGDOM – Despite numerous requests from fandom to participate in Tel Aviv, SuRie has confirmed that she will not be involved next year.
ISRAEL – Next Star’s fifth show ended and we have the following qualifications
Noar Cohen – 85%
Na’ama Gali Cohen – 75%
Limor Oved – 91%
Julia Garnits – 59% (qualified by the hosts)
Romi Azar – 55% (qualified by the hosts)
