It was a busy weekend! No less than twelve live shows were held across Europe in the national final season of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest, among them eight national finals on Super Saturday. For those who have missed the shows, let's take a look back on what has happened.
Finland
The third and last Finnish semi final was held on Friday. Thefinal four songs were presented and Teräsbetoni and Cristal Snow where chosen by the televoters. The third and fourth placed entries will enter the second chance round which will be held during the national final. So eventually, we will hear all songs again 1st March.
- You can read more here.
Croatia
Dora2008 washeld on Friday and Saturday. In the semi final, 14 songs were presented and televoting only sent six of them to the national final the day after to join the ten pre-qualified entries. In the final the results changed dramatically and turned Dora 2008 in the most exciting Croatian national final ever. Antonija Šolafinished only fourth in the semi final but won the televote on Saturday. Kraljevi Ulice & 75 Cents, who won the semi final, now won the jury vote so that there was a tie for first place. Nevertheless, Kraljevi Ulice & 75 Cents will represent Croatia in 2008 with Romanca because the jury vote took precedence. Furthermore, it can be said that being pre-qualified does not help – the top three came all from the semi final.
Romania
After the two semi finals andvarious customary disqualifications and withdrawals, the national final was held on Saturday with twelce songs competing. At the end of the long show, Nico & Vlad Mirita, the winners of the first semi final,won the selection with the song Pe-o margine de lume seven points ahead of Biondo with Shine, who had won the second heat. If the lyrics won't be changed for Belgrade, it will be the first Romanian entry since the language rule was abolished in 1999not to contain a single word in English and the third time in a row Romania uses the Italian language in its entry.
- You can read more here.
Bulgaria
Nine heats and one semi final had been held before the national final. Surprisingly, none of the additional wildcards has won the selection but a song that came from the very beginning – the EuroBgvision heats: Deep Zone & Balthazar will perform the song DJ take me away in Belgrade. Actually, this song had not even qualified directly through the televoting in the EuroBGvision shows but has only got a second chance from the jury. It was a close voting in the final – the winners were only 0.1% ahead of the runner-up.
- You can read more here.
Ireland
The winner of the Irish national final can hardly be called a surprise: Dustin the Turkey will go to Belgrade with what can already be called the most controversial entry in the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest. The jury was not happy with the winner and neither was the audience in the that booed the puppet off stage. It is an unusual choice for Ireland, the country has won the contest seven times and has mainly been succesful with ballads, aming others the last time in 2006, but finished last for the first time in Helsinki.
Sweden
The third of four Melodifestivalen semi finals was held in Linköping. Not surprisingly, BWO went directly to the national and so do Frida feat. Headline. Thérèse Andersson and Caracola will enter the second chance round.
- You can read more here.
Ukraine
Ani Lorak presented all five songs in the national final. The clear winning song was Shady lady, written by the Philip Kirkorov and Karen Kavaleryan, the team behind Koldun's entryin 2007 that brought Belarus its first top ten placing. In addition to her performances, four artists who had already won their place at the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest presented their entries in the show: Morena from Malta, Tereza Kerndlova from the Czech Republic,Georgeta (Geta) Burlacu from Moldova and Elnur Huseynov and Samir Javadzadeh from Azerbaijan.
- You can readmore here.
Poland
Piosenka dla Europa was another one of the eight national finals on Saturday. Isis Gee was the clear winner of the final topping both the jury vote and the televoting. With her dramatic dramatic ballad For life, written all by herself, she will be Poland's 13th representative in the Eurovision Song Contest. Back in 1994, Poland achieved its best result so far on its debut, a second place with a song in a similar style.
- You can read more here.
F. Y. R. Macedonia
The country has not only the longest name of the participating countries in the Eurovision Song Contest, it also had one of the longest shows and their entry was the last one to be revealed on Super Saturday. Tamara, Vrčak & Adrian Gaxha will represent the country in Belgrade with the song Vo ime na ljubovta, which could there be performed partly or completly in English. In the four years when there was one semi final before the Eurovision Song Contest, F.Y.R. Macedonia has always made it to the final, wherethey finished outside the top ten. It will be exciting to know howthis story will go on withtwo semi finals taking place.
- You can read more here.
Iceland
Iceland had the longest national selection in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest lasting over almost five months: Laugardagslögin kicked off in early October and finally came to an end on Saturday. From the final four acts, the winners were chosen by televoting – ang again, no surprise: Eurobandið will represent the country in Belgrade with the song This is my life, a classic Europop entry.
- You can read more here.
Belgium
The final show of this weekend took place on Sunday: the first Eurosong semi final was held and Nelson and Paranoiacs were send to the national final in two weeks. Tanja Dexters has been eliminated from the competition and the other two acts are in the running for one of the jury wildcards.
- You can read more here.
