All posts by Ian Fowell

2015 Eurovision Song Contest

Amber will represent Malta at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest

22 November 2014 Ian Fowell 2 Comments

Amber has won the 2015 Malta Eurovision Song Contest final with her powerful ballad, Warrior. The song is composed by Elton Zarb and Muxu who were the successful team behind Gaia Cauchi ‘s victory at the 2014 Junior Eurovision Song Contest with Start.

14 finalists qualified from last night’s semi-final and they all competed at the Marsa Shipyard venue, where the Junior Eurovision Song Contest was hosted last week.

Runner up position went to Christabelle with Rush and third place went to Glen Vella, the 2011 Eurovision participant for Malta, with Breakaway.

The guests included the 2014 Maltese Eurovision participants, Firelight and the winner of the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest, Conchita Wurst.

Congratulations to Amber on her victory and now we will see her carry the Maltese flag to Vienna in May 2015.

You can see Amber perform Warrior here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OerHNcdIRSA

Source: PBS; www.esccovers.com

Mariam Kakhelishvili

Mariam Kakhelishvili – what she has been doing since Minsk 2010

22 November 2014 Ian Fowell Leave a comment

Mariam Kakhelishvili is the Georgian girl with the big soulful voice that rocked Junior Eurovision in 2010. In Minsk that year she sang Mari-Dari, a catchy upbeat dance song, that finished in fourth position.

Mariam was born on 9 October 1995 and first came to spotlight by finishing third in Nichieri (Georgia’s Got Talent). After the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2010, Mariam has been concentrating on her studies as well as perfecting her powerful vocals.

Mariam has participated in the X Factor in Georgia where she received rave reviews for her performances of songs like I Have Nothing (Whitney Houston), When You Touch Me (Freemasons) and Crazy (Gnarls Barkley).

Now Mariam is ready for another challenge to take her career to the next level. Her big ambition is to represent her country at the Eurovision Song Contest. With her big vocals and strong commitment there is every chance we will see a lot more of Mariam in the future.

You can see Mariam perform When You Touch Me here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbvrdgRYk28 and I Have Nothing at her audition here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wUh4Fb_0Go

Source: www.esccovers,com

Mariam Kakhelishvili {copyright: Mariam Kakhelishvili/Facebook}

2015 Eurovision Song Contest

The 14 finalists in Malta

21 November 2014 Ian Fowell Leave a comment

Malta tonight held the semi-final of the Malta Eurovision Song Contest. 20 acts competed for a place in the final to be held on Saturday night (22 November). The show was held at the same venue as the Junior Eurovision Song Contest one week ago, Marsa Shipyard.

The 14 acts who made it to the final were –

Chris Grech – Closed doors
Glen Vella – Breakaway
Jessika – Fandango
Trilogy – Chasing A Dream
Christabelle – Rush
Franklin – Still Here
Lawrence Gray – The One That You Love
Karen DeBattista – 12 Baker Street
Daniel Testa – Something In The Way
Dominic – Once In A While
L-Ahwa – Beautiful To Me
Amber – Warrior
Deborah C – It’s OK
Ekklesia Sisters – Love And Let Go

Source: www.eurovision.tv

Uncategorized

Liza Kenia participating in erti-ertshi show in Georgia

21 November 2014 Ian Fowell Leave a comment

Liza Kenia was a member of the all girl Group Princesses at the 2009 Junior Eurovision Song Contest where the they performed Blue Bird. Liza has come a long way since those days and is currently having success as a solo singer and is working on her official debut album.

Right now Liza is participating in the popular GDS tv show erti-ertshi in Georgia. The tv show format is known as Your Face Sounds Familiar in many countries. Popular artists dress up and imitate popular singers.

Liza has this week performed as Rihanna and she performed her popular hit, Where Have You Been. Her appearance and performance was very memorable. It will be interesting to see what other famous acts Liza will perform as in the coming weeks.

There are eights acts taking part in the tv show this season. Besides Liza there are Temo Sajaia, Zura Javaxia, Salome Bakuradze, Nini Tsiklauri, Goga Mesxi, Nuka Kvaliashvili and Giorgi Suxitashvili.

The show is broadcast every Wednesday on GDS channel in Georgia at 19:00 CET. You can see Liza perform as Rihanna here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HTg66xhBhg&feature=youtu.be

Source: GDS; Elen Mikiashvili; www.esccovers.com

Liza Kenia {copyright: GDS/Liza Kenia/Facebook}

Heroes

Conchita releases official video for Heroes

21 November 2014 Ian Fowell Leave a comment

Conchita Wurst was the runaway winner at the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest with Rise Like A Phoenix. Now Conchita has released the official follow up single. It is entitled Heroes and the official promo video has been released for the song.

Heroes is an anthemic and soulful pop ballad. It is composed by Sebastian Arman, Joacim Persson, David Bronner, Thomas Neuwirth and Andreas Kleerup.

You can see the video for Heroes here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OYj9synuvk

Source: www.esccovers.com

Conchita Wurst - Heroes {copyright: josepvinaixa.com} — Conchita Wurst – Heroes {copyright: josepvinaixa.com}

Irina Khechanova

Irina Khechanovi wins top music prize in Moldova

20 November 2014 Ian Fowell Leave a comment

Irina Khechanovi was a member of Group Candy who won the 2011 Junior Eurovision Song Contest for Georgia with Candy Music. Now Irina has had a big success in Moldova by winning the Grand Prix at the Festival – Doina and Ion Aldea – Twin Hearts, in Chisinau, Moldova.

Irina performed Lertare and was winner amongst 24 other competitors. She has now received invitations to compete in further festivals in Russia, Bulgaria, Slovenia and Romania.

Group Candy consisted of Irina with Irina Kovalenko, Ana Khanchalyan, Mariam Gvaladze and Gvantsa Saneblidze. You can see Irina perform Lertare here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmUyMi5Qtn4

Source: www.esccovers.com

Irina Khechanovi {copyright: Irina Khechanovi/Facebook}

Czech Republic return to 2015 Eurovision Song Contest

Czech Republic are back for Eurovision 2015

20 November 2014 Ian Fowell Leave a comment

After an absence of five years Czech Republic will return to the Eurovision Song Contest in 2015. Jan Ola Sand, Executive Producer of the contest said “We are very excited to have Czech Republic return to the Eurovision Song Contest after 5 years of absence, making the Eurovision Family even more complete for the 60th anniversary edition.”

There will not be a national final to select the song for Vienna. The local broadcaster, ČT, will select internally the entry to carry the flag.

The last Czech entry for Eurovision was Aven Romale by Gipsy.cz. ČT have taken part on three occasions in total so far. The first entry was in 2007 with the rock band Kabát and their entry Malá dáma. In 2008 Tereza Kerndlová sang Have Some Fun, where she was accompanied on stage by the Twiins (who later represented Slovakia at the Eurovision Song Contest with I’m Still Alive in 2011). You can see the video for Have Some Fun here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz8dIRswWws

Source: www.eurovision.tv

Junior Eurovision 2014

Italy win 2014 Junior Eurovision

16 November 2014 Ian Fowell Leave a comment

Italy have won the 2014 Junior Eurovision Song Contest. The only boy in the contest, Vincenzo Cantiello, won with the powerful ballad Tu primo grande amore. The runner up position went to Bulgaria with Planet Of The Children by Krisia, Hasan & Ibraham and the third position prize was taken by Armenia with People Of The Sun by Betty.

16 countries participated for the big prize at the contest held in Malta –

Belarus – Nadezhda Misyakova – Sokol – An ethnic upbeat song performed very well by Nadezhda and her dancers.
Bulgaria – Krisia, Hasan and Ibrahim – Planet Of The Children – A massive performance from the trip with great vocals by Krisia.
San Marino – The Peppermints – Breaking My Heart – An upbeat an lively pop song from the five member girl band.
Croatia – Josie – Game Over – Upbeat dance song for Josie.
Cyprus – Sophia Patsalides – I pio omorfi mera – This is a very strong commercial dance song and Sophia has a very strong voice.
Georgia – Lizi Japaridze (Lizi Pop) – Happy Day – Lizi was really enjoying her performance on the big stage. Great show.
Sweden – Julia Kedhammar – Du är inte ensam – Another great pop dance song by Julia. Very strong production.
Ukraine – Sympho-Nick – Pryyde vesna – The female trio gave a strong performance to this mid tempo pop song.
Slovenia – Ula Ložar – Nisi sam – Ula was alone on stage and performed this ballad very well.
Montenegro – Maša Vujadinovic & Lejla Vulić – Budi dijete na jedan dan – A fun and catchy song for the female duo.
Italy – Vincenzo Cantiello – Tu primo grande amore – A big performance from Vincenzo with this strong ballad.
Armenia – Betty – People Of The Sun – A great stage performance by Betty and her dancers. Very catchy song.
Russia – Alisa Kozhikina – Dreamer – A wonderful and emotional ballad very well performed by Alisa.
Serbia – Emilija Djonin – Svet u mojim očima- This was a very mature performance to a gentle ballad.
Malta – Federica Falzon – Diamonds – Federica had the performance and voice of the night. Absolutely amazing show.
The Netherlands – Julia – Around – A great upbeat dance song to close the show. Solid and fun performance.

All 16 acts then performed the official theme song of the 2014 Junior Eurovision Song Contest, Together. Then last year’s winning act for Malta, Gaia Cauchi performed in the interval.

Congratulations to Malta for holding a wonderful show and to Vladislav Yakovlev and his team for an excellent production. Finally well done to Vincenzo and Italy for winning the 2014 Junior Eurovision Song Contest. You can see Vincenzo perform his winning song here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWKveH5_DY8

Source: www.esccovers.com

Vincenzo Cantiello {copyright: EBU/Elena Volotova/Maria Mifsud}

Nicole Azzopardi

Nicole Azzopardi – what she has been up to since Minsk 2010

13 November 2014 Ian Fowell Leave a comment

Nicole Azzopardi represented Malta at the 2010 Junior Eurovision Song Contest with Knock Knock! …. Boom! Boom! With the focus now on the 2014 Junior Eurovision in Malta let us take a look at Nicole and what she has been up to since her big moment in Minsk four years ago.

Nicole has been busy with singing, acting and some modelling as well as of course keeping up with her important studies. She has recorded several songs including My Heart Beats For Love and Simply Hi and has participated with success in music festivals in Estonia, Armenia and Italy.

Acting has also played a big part in Nicole’s career including a major role in the popular teen drama, Dreams. Now she is taking part in a new popular Maltese soap drama, Hbieb u Ghedewwa (Friends and Enemies). Nicole has been doing some modelling work too including a recent shoot for a wedding fair where she had to pose as a bride.

Nicole has this week been performing as part of the Junior Eurovision celebrations taking place in her country. She performed two Eurovision songs to the performers and journalists and fans at the Euroclub. She gave her own unique version of Glorious (Cascada ESC Germany 2013) and Only Teardrops (Emmelie de Forrest ESC Winner Denmark 2013).

You can see Nicole’s performance of Glorious here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgl8BNruz1I and Only Teardrops whahere https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qtzUdVd088 courtesy of www.esckaz.com

Nicole is very ambitious and hopes to one day soon represent Malta at the adult Eurovision Song Contest.

Source: www.esccovers.com

Nicole Azzopardi {copyright: Nicole Azzopardi/Facebook}

Kejsi Tola; Iceberg

Kejsi Tola returns with Iceberg

10 November 2014 Ian Fowell Leave a comment

Kejsi Tola represented Albania at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest with the popular Carry Me In Your Dreams. Now Kejsi returns with her brand new song, Iceberg. She is participating with this song in the 2014 edition of the Kenga Magjike competition in Albania.

Since representing her country at the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, Kejsi has been busy releasing several songs and having success in the popular music competitions in Albania such as Kenga Magjike and Top Fest as well as also appearing again in the pre-selection Festivali i Këngës for the 2010 and 2013 editions of Eurovision.

Kejsi is back now in 2014 with Iceberg. A dramatic and powerful song that shows off her crystal clear vocals. Iceberg is composed by Darko Dimitrov (music) and lyrics by Olti Curri. The publisher is OnAir Music. Darko Dimitrovic is a famous songwriter and producer from FYR Macedonia. He composed the 2006 Eurovision entry for Elena Risteska, Ninanajna, and also worked with some of the biggest stars and festivals in the Balkan countries.

You can see Kejsi perform Iceberg here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-g8TTEvIFg0

Source: TV Klan; www.esccovers.com