[LMBTO] Eurovision 2017 Week 10 & 11 - it's Krista and a chatty bird...

At the risk of this becoming the 'Helena and Krista' blog, yet again Ms.Siegfrids was in the Eurovision news this week with the announcement that she will be the sole host of UMK 2017.  The producers in Finland were obviously banking on a Hillary Clinton win in America - I'm not sure I would have wanted to see her dressed as Donald Trump!  I wonder if she'll have the cockatoo on stage with her?   I have to say that I prefer her with her normal length hair rather than this 'power bob' but each to his or her own - 28th January will be when Krista gets to 'strut her stuff' at the Metro Arena in Espoo, near Helsinki.  UMK and Krista have produced yet another masterpiece in visual form here - I suspect this will yet again be one of the best promo vidz this year:

Her inspiring speech in English?

With Krista hosting the show, I have no doubt that this year's UMK will deliver all that and more...


Who will be at Eesti Laul?
This lovely lady for a start - Elina Born is back after a year out and Stig's penned her song!   She's one of four former Estonian Eurovision participants amongst the twenty chosen artists this year:

There's also an Estonian there who sung for Switzerland in 2005 - recognise Lenna Kuurmaa as the lead singer of Vanilla Ninja?  I certainly did!
Eleven years on and yet still strikingly attractive.  We don't know what Lenna or Elina's entries sound like yet but we do have something to listen to for two of the others in the list:



I love the picture for this, probably a bit more so than the song itself.  I'm not a huge fan of this sort of folk music which sounds to me as though it should be being played in front of a king by a troupe of travelling minstrels.  Very different, I grant you, but I suspect that the staging for this one will be critical for Antsud to be appearing in the Final on March 4th next year.  The only other entry to date is from Ivo Linna, who sung for Estonia in 1996 in Oslo:



It needs cutting by a mighty two minutes and fifteen seconds for Eurovision for a start!  It's very easy listening (which in itself is not a bad thing) but I suspect that even three minutes of this will get overlooked in the search for Estonia's next Eurovision act.  It'll be a very interesting Contest this year and I think we'll be getting an entry on a par with 2015 - hopefully I'll be watching the Final in the Saku Suurhall on March 4th 2017...


Jon Ola is slightly concerned...



Anyone else think that we were launching into a bit of Softengine at the start of this video?  And was it a hint four seconds in that we saw a poster of the delightful Zlata Ognevich?  Maybe NTU have mentioned to the EBU who might be hosting or maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part!  I get the feeling that the EBU were spoilt by Sweden last year with how well it was organised and how quickly it was all sorted - have they forgotten Baku and not even having a venue in place until 2012 itself?  I still have confidence in Ukraine getting it all done in time but it is interesting to see the 'main man' getting a little bit nervous.  One aspect of the Contest that appears to have changed is the proposed site of the Opening Ceremony - remember how we thought it was going to be Saint Sophia's Cathedral?  The latest news is that the authorities in Kyiv have now refused permission for that to happen due to grumblings from the city's religious communities.  That is a real shame as the venue looked magnificent but the likely alternative is not bad either:
The Mariyinsky Palace might be the new backdrop but as it is the official ceremonial residence of the President of Ukraine, it is likely that this might be in the background, rather than the place for the artists and crowds at next year's Contest to wander around.  Then again, stranger things have happened...


Ukrainian Bots are not allowed to vote...
Do you remember how just less than a fortnight ago that I said that the race for the online slot in the Ukrainian NF was all but over?  That two acts were miles ahead of the rest?  According to the broadcaster in charge, STB, there may have been a reason for that - internet bots.  I tried to find an interesting picture of a bot but I chose one of a replicator fro Stargate SG1 - looks far more cool.  It was discovered that suspiciously large numbers of votes had been made by 'visitors' that had spent less than a second on the page whilst 'casting their votes', something a human being, even one into Eurovision, cannot physically do.  The two main beneficiaries of this process were...yes, you guessed it, the runaway leaders Kuznetsov and Aghiazma.  It is unclear if the bands themselves were involved or if it was misguided fans but their scores were reset to zero.  For "Zombie Dogs", this move has all but crushed their support, their votes creeping up to 570 by today (16th November).  It is a different and very interesting story for "Deep Shivers" however:
Their vote is nowhere near what it was but they have remarkably regained the lead from Denis Povaliy, who was the main 'winner' of this 'scandal'.  It seems as though Kuznetsov really DID have that groundswell of support amongst online Ukrainians - will  they reach the heady heights of 82000 votes again?  Voting continues until 10th January, so they have plenty of time.  Or can Denis gain your vote with his word 'written on your heart'?

Could Italy compete with a Sanremo Giovani act?
Now I'm not a massive Sanremo fan as I always take the view that watching a show for four days that only MIGHT have the Italian Eurovision act singing in it is potentially a waste of my time and effort.  This year, however, I have decided to be a bit more open minded and at least have a listen to all the songs that will be there, so that I will at least have heard what could be their Eurovision entry.  So many ifs and buts - at this stage, we have had the 'Giovanni' (new acts) artists revealed in audio form.  The twelve entries from that list are:


Now there is a chance, admittedly a very small one, that Italy's entry could come from these musicians.  The winner of Sanremo itself gets first refusal but, in a way a bit like a minor figure of a Royal Family becoming Monarch if twenty others turn down the role, someone from the newcomers could be on that stage in Kyiv.  My favourites from these based on the song alone?  A toss-up between two excellent vocals: