🇬🇧 Abba Christmas tribute hit not ready throwing BBC show into chaos

UNITED KINGDOM – UNITED KINGDOM – A BBC Christmas tribute to Abba which would showcase their first new song in 36 years is in chaos because the band say the track is not ready yet. The show – provisionally titled Thank You For The Music – was set to be one of the BBC’s seasonal highlights.

However the biggest draw for excited fans was having the chance to see avatars of the group – nicknamed ABBAtars – performing the new song called I Still Have Faith In You. But now the project is in turmoil.

The song – along with a second called Don’t Shut Me Down – is not yet ready for broadcast. They will not now be heard until 2019.

Band member Bjorn Ulvaeus admitted yesterday: “It was planned for the end of this year. But I think we are talking about the beginning of next year now. I am very proud of both songs. One is like a pop song from the Seventies. The other one is kind of timeless.”

Last night the BBC confirmed: “The ABBA TV special will be broadcast in 2019.”

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United Kingdom 2019 🇬🇧 BBC calls for songs

UNITED KINGDOM – Today BBC can confirm the UK participation in the 64th Eurovision Song Contest held in Tel Aviv, Israel next May; by opening the public song submissions to find the UK’s entry.

As last year, all public entries will be shortlisted by a representative panel of official UK Eurovision Fan Club (OGAE UK) members. While entries are also being sought from leading professional songwriters, with guidance from songwriter, publisher and new Music Consultant for the BBC, Greig Watts.

A final shortlist of songs, from either route of entry, will be showcased to the UK public, who will have the chance to vote for their favourite in Eurovision: You Decide on BBC Two. More details about the show will be announced later this year!

Greig Watts says: “The Eurovision Song Contest just gets bigger and better and more exciting for me each year, and I’m sure Israel will deliver another amazing contest. I’m so happy to be involved this year for the UK; it really is a dream come true, and I’m looking forward to working with the team to get the strongest possible song and result we can for the UK, like we do on the world music stage. There’s no guaranteed song-writing formula for Eurovision as each year something different wins. I’m looking for melodic songs with impact for the arena as well as on TV. Songs that instantly hit you and never leave your brain!”

How to submit your song
To register your interest in representing the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019, please email the title of your song and the name of your composer(s) to the following email address: BBCEurovisionSubmissions@bbc.co.uk

Within 72 hours of sending the email you will receive instructions on how to upload AN ENTRY to the BBC Eurovision portal. This should be MP3 only. Please do not attach your MP3 to the email. The following Terms and Conditions apply.

Terms and conditions

  • The song must adhere to the EBU competition rules
  • The song must not exceed three minute duration
  • The song must not have been publicly released before 1st September 2018; it should not have been performed in public or officially published on any media including but not limited to radio, TV and the Internet
  • The song cannot be a cover or sample another artist’s work
  • The song must be original with regards to songwriting and musical instrumentation
  • Composers and song writers may only submit one entry
  • The BBC reserves the right to use a performer of its choice for any song submitted for consideration
  • Employees of the BBC and EBU or their close relatives or anyone connected with the contest are not eligible to enter
  • The right is reserved to cancel the contest at any stage or amend any of the terms or details if necessary
  • The BBC, its sub-contractors, subsidiaries and/or agencies cannot accept any responsibility whatsoever for any failure in the postal system, any technical failure or malfunction or any other problem which may result in an entry not properly registered
  • These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales
  • The closing date for submissions is Friday October 26th, 2018
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Portugal 2019 🇵🇹 What are the changes in Festival da Canção?

PORTUGAL – On the second half of February and early March, the semi finals and the final of Festival da Canção will take place as RTP kicks off the national festival through which the country will decide its participation for the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest.

The 2018 Eurovision host country is the 30th one, confirming its participation for Tel Aviv. Portugal’s 51st participation in Eurovision will be decided through Festival da Canção which has some changes this year.

  • There will be 16 semi finalists, eight in each one.
  • Four acts from each semi final will proceed to the final.
  • Last year winner’s privilege to select a composer for Festival da Canção, is scrapped
  • 14 composers will be invited by RTP
  • There are no limits in the production and the lyrics of the submitted songs.
  • One composer will be decided through Antena 1 show “Mastre Class”
  • One more composer will be decided through submissions to RTP by October 31st.
  • In the semi finals the jury will prevail to the public
  • In the final the public will prevail over the jury vote
  • In the semi finals there will be a professional jury
  • In the final there will bee seven regional juries
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September 18 ➡️ the latest #Eurovision headlines

THE NETHERLANDS – Anneke Grönloh who represented the Netherlands at the Eurovision Song Contest 1964 has died at the age of 76. Reports indicate that she will be laid to rest in France.

BELGIUM – Sennek, the 2018 Belgium representative, spoke on TV about quitting her IKEA job and focusing on music: “Two weeks after Eurovision I left to Paris, for 4 months of musical writing. I wrote one song, just one, but it’s a really good one! It was great, we have some really good songs ready. But now I’m looking for a good team to work with and a supercool record label. People can call me now, I’m ready. It was great in France, in a rural area with Maxime, the producer I worked with for Eurovision.”

LITHUANIA – Lithuanian broadcaster LRT is hosting a Eurovision party called Eurovision Afterparty on December 16 in Kaunas. Ieva Zasimauskaite, Cesmar Sampson, Laura Rizzotto and Elina Nechayeva are some of the artists already confirmed.

GERMANY – Organizers of a music festival in Düsseldorf, Germany, withdrew their invitation to the composer and singer Brian Eno over his longtime involvement in attempts to boycott Israel.
Eno was slated to appear at the Electricity Conference festival in October, but last week he signed a letter urging a boycott of the Eurovision Song Contest that will be held next year in Israel, the Jewish Chronicle of London reported Thursday.

ISRAEL – Shiri Maimon, Erez Tal, Geula Even-Saar and Lucy Ayoub seem to be the names which KAN want for hosting of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest. KAN’s CEO Eldad Koblentz, he hinted that he hasn’t given up yet on getting Gal Gadot as a host and is ready to make it as easy as possible for her if she’ll just say yes.

ISRAEL – We remain in Israel as the hotel prices for May during the dates of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest have been reportedly exploded to the sky.

EUROVISION 2019 – Georgia, Albania, Portugal are the ext set of countries confirming their participation. Overall we are expecting 42 countries in Tel Aviv unless EBU allows Kazakhstan to participate.

ITALY – More than a year has passed from Francesco Gabbani’s exploit of Sanremo, but his “Occidental’s Karma” continues to grind hits. The video of the song with which the Tuscan singer-songwriter has triumphed at the Festival surpassed 200 million views on YouTube right now.

UNITED KINGDOM – It was a full house in London, with SuRie and Ari Olafsson performed together in a majestic evening for their fans.

MALTA – Two days left for Christabelle’s wedding with the famous Maltese water polo player.

POLAND – Last but to least, we have seen the son of Edyta Gorniak on Instagram who has moved to the US for his studies. He is simply a hunk!

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🇨🇭Heartache: brand new song and video by Soundland & Timebelle

SWITZERLAND – Timebelle is a Swiss band from Bern, currently consisting of lead vocalist Miruna Mănescu, drummer Samuel Forster, and multi-instrumentalist Emanuel Daniel Andriescu. Past members include accordionist Rade Mijatović, guitarist Christoph Siegrist, and bassist Sándor Török. The band was formed as a five-member boyband while its members were students at the University of Bern.

Shortly after, Mănescu was added to the group as a lead singer by their Romanian producer Mihai Alexandru. The name of the band is derived from the Zytglogge which is one of the main sights of Bern. While the band was formed in and is based in Switzerland, its members have hailed from Romania, Hungary, and Serbia, in addition to Switzerland.

The band represented Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song “Apollo” placing 12th in the 2nd Semi Final. They previously attempted to represent Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song “Singing About Love”, but failed, placing second in the Swiss national final.

LYRICS

Hey
I’ve been thinking bout the right
I’ve been thinking bout the wrong
I’ve been thinking bout all my love for you
Been bumpin into walls
I’ve been losin’ all my sense
I’ve been strugglin to find my place near you

Pre-Chorus
(Ooo)
You’re nothing but a heartache
(Ooo)
You’re nothing but a heartache

Chorus
Hey boy
Who you are
And what you do
You make my heart go wild
Hey boy
Who you are
And what you do
You make my mind go numb

Hey
I’ve had my ups and downs
I’ve been walking all alone
I’ve been trying to forget bout me and you
Been bumpin into walls
I’ve been losin’ all my sense
I’ve been strugglin to find my place near you

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Eurovision 2019 🇮🇱 Green Room separated from the main arena and will include audience

ISRAEL – Preliminary reports by Israeli media claim that out of the 9,000 available seating plan in Pavilion 2, where the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 will take place, only 4,000 will be available for the fans. This is due to the 2,000 seats needed for the stage and cameras and 3,000 for the EBU needs (delegations etc).

The fans went frantic on the news and today Israeli press claim there is a solution proposed for this. The solution is that the Green Room will be allocated to Pavilion 1. In that area 3,000 fans can attend as well watching the show from huge screens.

The overall idea shows that once again a Eurovision in Israel will be a small event but somehow bigger than 1979 and 1999 editions. Still security reasons and venue space availability clearly state that the event will be only for few fans. Having in mind that usually 40% of the tickets are sold to the host country residents and 60% to international audience and having in mind that OGAE clubs will also claim tickets as they do every year, the event is expected to be small ad somehow hectic.

Still, EBU and KAN have made no official announcements.

Now you can imagine what the press area will look like…

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Eurovision 2019 🇮🇱 Expo Tel Aviv: get to know the venue

ISRAEL – On 13 September, the European Broadcasting Union & Israeli broadcaster announced that the centre will host the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. The semi-finals will be held on 14 & 16 May, with the final taking place on 18 May.

The Tel Aviv Convention Center, commonly known locally as Exhibition Grounds and also as Tel Aviv Fairgrounds, is located on Rokach Boulevard in northern Tel Aviv, Israel, adjacent to the Tel Aviv University railway station. It serves as a venue for a variety of events, including concerts, exhibitions, trade fairs and conferences.

Established in 1932 as “Yarid HaMizrach” in site of the Levant Fair beside the Tel Aviv Port, it hosts up to 2.5 million visitors and between 45 and 60 major events annually.

The fairground has ten halls and pavilions and a large outdoor space including an amusement park. Nearby is the Drive in Arena which was built on the grounds of what was once Israel’s only drive-in theatre.

The Levant Fair was an international fair site next to the Tel Aviv Port established in 1933 as an idea that was held in 1932, to showcase the accomplishments of the pre-state Jewish community in the sphere of industry. After the success of the first fair, permanent structures were built on a plot of land at the northern end of Dizengoff street on the banks of the Yarkon River.

Fairs were held in 1934 and 1936 with pavilions and halls constructed for the participating countries. The chief architect was Aryeh Elhanani.

A flying camel became the official logo. Richard Kaufmann planned the pavilion layout. Other leading architects were Arieh Sharon and Joseph Neufeld. The pavilions were designed in the International Style.

In 1959, the fairgrounds were moved to their present location near the Yarkon Park and the Tel Aviv University, and the new site was inaugurated with an exhibition marking Tel Aviv’s 50th Jubilee. In 1983, the convention center opened within the fairgrounds and at the end of 2003 the “Pavilion No. 1” was opened. It has 20,000 m² of exhibition space and is the largest object of its kind in Israel and in the Eastern Mediterranean.

In 2010, the “round pavilion” in the fairground was demolished. In its place began the construction of a new 10,000-seat congress and convention center called Pavilion 2, which was inaugurated in January 2015. The new pavilion hosted the 2018 European Judo Championships from 26–28 April. Pavillion 2 is now set to host the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.

In recent years, the center has been used for many musical concerts and shows. To date, the convention center has hosted such musicians as Iggy Pop, Nine Inch Nails, Thirty Seconds to Mars and more…

In 2011, the center hosted Megadeth, Moby, Interpol, Mark Ronson, Suede, Blonde Redhead, Jane’s Addiction, Roxette, and again Dream Theater.

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Iceland 2019 🇮🇸 why RÚV decided not to withdraw from Eurovision?

ICELAND Iceland will take part in Eurovision next year, scheduled to be held in Tel Aviv. Numerous musicians, bands, and associated Eurovision players have signed a statement calling upon the world to boycott participation.

Skarphéðinn Guðmundsson, the director of programming at Icelandic public broadcasting company, told reporters that they have taken calls for a boycott seriously. As reported, some 17,000 Icelanders signed a petition shortly after last May’s contest concluded, calling upon broadcaster to boycott the song contest.

While broadcaster initially considered withdrawal from the contest, they were soon met by the Israeli consul, and reversed course shortly thereafter.

“This decision is not based on the idea that this is not a political act,” Skarphéðinn said in a statement. “On the contrary, this coming together of different peoples has had from the start, as a main purpose and guiding light, the goal of spreading the power of unity and peace that comes from pop music and culture in general.”

The Guardian recently published an open letter from numerous figures calling upon the world to boycott participation in Eurovision next year.

The statement is signed by many well-known musicians, such as Roger Water and Brian Eno, as well as other bands and Eurovision participants. Iceland is also represented, in the form of former Eurovision participants Daði Freyr and Hildur Kristín Stefánsdóttir.

*in the video the last entry presented by Hera Björk was that of 2010 and not 2009 as written in the lower hits bottom and we apologize for the mistake

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