[LMBTO] Kaliopi returns, Bosnia chooses and there are 43 at Eurovision!

43 nations will be in Stockholm - I know, amazing, eh?  I am always delighted when we have a 'full year', especially when there are so many returning nations who have 'had a break'...


It's a shame that Portugal had to leave otherwise we could have had the largest ESC ever!  It does make getting out of the SFs a lot tougher though - there'll still only be twenty places for the Final and 37 countries going for them!  There is going to be a lot of reviewing to do as the season goes on - the first (known) NF is Albania's, starting on Christmas Day for three days but not even I will be reviewing the first two days of that one!  I suspect there will be some announcements from countries as to who will be singing for them, as there were this past week...

First up was the fifth country to present their artist - no, not Germany, they might be having an NF, just to add to the chaos there - FYR Macedonia will be represented by a familiar face:

Looking a bit 'rock chick' with the long fringe and black leather jacket / denim combo, a bit different from her 'professional board woman' look in Baku when she gave one of the best vocal performances of that ESC:



Can anything she produce for Stockholm be in any way that brilliant, the vocals that sublime and the impact that everlasting?  There were quite a few amazing vocals often forgotten from "Loreen's Eurovision" and this was one of them.  As you can tell, I am very happy she is back and I'm looking forward to her announcing what she will be singing in May.  As internal selections go, this is a good one and I would assume that fans from that country will accept this as a good alternative to having the winner of Skopje Fest representing FYR Macedonia in Sweden.  She seems excited too:



Judging from some of her interviews during the 2012 ESC season, she will definitely be entertaining - at least on a par with Marta and Václav in Vienna!  Have a look at her and Terry Vision:



Next country to announce they were 'coming to the party' and also letting us know who would be singing too was Bosnia and Herzegovina.  It's a full house in the Balkans with Croatia returning as well and so the following should have a lot of support in whichever SF they get put in:
No, it's not Moby...Dalal Midhat-Talakić and Fuad Backović Deen will sing a duet, with Croatian Ana Rucner on cello:
Now this lady will be a talking point and probably someone to watch!  You think she's unusually attired to play a classical instrument?  Try typing her name into your search engine and look at her images - she favours this sort of cello and has been known to play it in a bikini!  Will that be a distraction or a bonus for Bosnia & Herzegovina?  Only time will tell -  as for the singers, Dalal is a relative unknown to the Contest, whereas Deen has appeared at Eurovision before in 2004:



I can't imagine that a cello, even playing the contemporary material that Ana performs, would fit well with another 'camp disco' entry!  Whatever it is going to be, we will not hear what it is until February apparently, although Dalal did indicate to OGAE Spain that the song is ready but they were still working 'on the details' (staging?).  The interview also revealed that Deen and Dalal have been friends for 20 years, so this should be a partnership that works in Stockholm (OGAE Spain interview with Dalal Midhat-Talakić).

On the personal Eurovision front, I have some news to report on as far as being one of the OGAE UK members to help select the UK's Eurovision entry this year.  After our age, sex and geographical location had been taken into account and each of the hopefuls put into a draw, we found out on Sunday 29th November, either by email (if successful) or via a post in the Facebook group (if not), if we were on the panel.  So, was I selected?  This guy sums it up to a tee:



Damn...I double checked my emails in the vain hope that I had not accidently binned the notification or sent it to the spam folder but no such luck - I was not one of the 45 members tasked with one of the most important jobs in the UK selection process this year!  There was a ray of hope though within the announcement for those huge numbers of members who were not one of 'The Chosen Few' (as the Dooleys would have sung in 1979), as there will be a smaller panel of ten members not in the original 45 who will whittle the 25 entries chosen down further.  To what number is not mentioned but to a NF level?  Six acts?  Eight acts?  Maybe this smaller band of OGAE UK members may have a more influential bearing on the UK entry than the current 45...

Even if I don't make this final panel of ten, at least I will be on a different jury during the 2016 Eurovision season.  The SECHUK 2016 one, to be more precise - for those that don't know, this is what the 2015 one was all about:
Okay, for those who have slightly poor eye-sight or do not know that they can click the image and get it full size, here is what it says:


The OGAE Second Chance Facebook page indicated that there were spaces available amongst the UK jury and was anyone interested in applying?  As you could probably guess, dear reader, I was in like a shot, put my name forward and was duly accepted!  One mugshot (my Maltese Selfie one) and short bio later, I was on the 2016 Jury Panel - now just to wait for that first complete entry (artist AND song) to be released.


We'll all have to wait and see...