146 songs have been submitted to Icelandic broadcaster RÚV for the 2008 national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest. This Saturday, 6th October, the first semi final of Laugardagslögin will be held making Iceland the first country to kick off its televised national selection.
From the146 songs submitted, RÚV chose six for the semi finals. Furthermore,nine composers have been asked to compose three songs each rising the number of competingentriesto 33. These 33 songs will be presented by 15 artist in total: One artist for each of the six submitted songs and one artist for the three songs of each invitedcomposer.
The composers of the submitted songs:
- Orlygur Smari
- Porarinn Freysson
- Hjörleifur Ingason
- Hallgrimur Oskarsson
- David Porsteinn Olgeirsson
- Aslaug H Halfdanadottir
The composers of the commissioned entries:
- Andrea Gylfadottir
- Bardi Johannsson
- Gudmundur Jonsson
- Larus Hjalmarsson
- Hafdis Huld Prastardottir
- Magnus Eiriksson
- Magnus Por Sigmundsson
- Margrét Kristin Sigurdardottir
- Svala Björgvinsdottir
In each of the eleven semi finals, three songs will be presented and the favourite will be chosen by televoting to reach the final. In the 12th week, there will be a second chance round where another qualifier will be chosen.
Although the winners will be chosen by televoting, there is also a jury that comments on the songs. One of the jury members will be Selma who represented Iceland twice in the Eurovision Song Contest: in 1999, she achieved second place (Iceland's best result so far) with All out of luck; in 2005 she didn't manage to qualify through the semi final with If I had your love.
In 2005, 2006 and 2007, Iceland did not manage to reach the final of the Eurovision Song Contest although the country was sometimes quite close finishing 16th, 13th and again 13th in the semi final respectively. Therefore, Iceland will have to start in the semi final once again in Belgrade.
