On April 18, the first Dutch Eurovision Promo Concert will be held in Amsterdam. Several participants in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest are expected to perform their Eurovision entries. The event will be hosted by former Dutch Eurovision representative Marga Bult (1987). Marga took some time to talk with esctoday.com about her eurovision memories and reveals the first artists who will take part in the Dutch Promo Concert.

Marga, what are your memories from your participation back in 1987?

I only have great memories! First of all, there was a great atmosphere in our delegation which made me feel strong and secure.I was very happy with the fifth place and besides that I won the press award together with Johnny Logan. I really felt honoured by the fact that Rogier van Otterloo, the Dutch conductor at the time, insisted on joining me to Brussels despite his physical state. He was very sick already at the time and he died only a few months after the contest. The fact that he conducted the orchestra for my song is by far my most precious eurovision memory!

What are you doing these days: do you still sing?

Oh yes!I will never give up singing. Maggie McNeal (ESC 1974 and 1980)and Iform this duo called The Dutch Diva's and we're still performing on a regular basis. Next year we'll becelebrating our10th anniversary, so we'll have to start thinking about an anniversary concert. Besides that,I still have a solo career as well, and Ihave a tv and radioshowon regional broadcaster RTV Oost .

You'll bethe hostof the Dutch Eurovision Promo Concert. What can we expect from that?

Yes, I'm very excited about the event. The concert will take place in Amsterdam Marcanti, which offers place forup to 2000 fans!It's gonna be a big party to celebrate the 50th participation of the Netherlands in the contest. Besides that, it's a perfect way for all the 2009 participants to present them to the Dutch fans and press. We're expecting quite some international fans as well to support their favourite countries. It's gonna be a fantastic party for all those people who share the samepassion for the Eurovision Song Contest!I'm pleased to announce the first set of participating countries: Regina from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kejsi Tola from Albania, Quartissimo from Slovenia, Lidia Kopania from Poland, Nelly Ciobanu from Moldova and Inga & Anush from Armenia. Within the next few days we will announce some more participants.

Final question, Marga; would you ever consider to take part again in the Eurovision Song Contest yourself?

Why not! I still think it's a big honour to represent your home country in such a big event! On the other hand, a lot has changed since 1987. We have many talented artists in the Netherlands who could do very well; Ilse de Lange or Anouk for example. I would rather leave it up to them.

Tickets for the Dutch Eurovision Promo Concert will cost € 15,00 and € 10,00 for OGAE-members. International fans and OGAE-members can make reservations already by sending an email to [email protected] The regular ticketsale will start on March 1st.

We will keep youinformed about all the upcoming news about the Dutch Promo Concert in the next few weeks. You can watch the promo film of the event below

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8Rk8bY_LRo

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