Norway: First two Melodi Grand Prix names revealed?

by Marcus Klier 77 views

Today, TV2's entertainment website states that Tone Damli Aaberge and Maria Arredondo will take part in Melodi Grand Prix 2009, the Norwegian selection for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow. The news are yet to be confirmed by broadcaster NRK. Both singers are famous artists in their country and have previously scored top ten hits in the single charts.

Tone Damli Aaberge, born in 1988, finished 2nd in the 2005 season of Idols. She has released two albums so far which reached #14 and #8 in the Norwegian album charts. In 2007, her song Fever also reached the top ten of the single charts. Musically, she mostly orients towards a more pop/jazz style. In 2006 shefinished third in Dancing with thestars and despite frequent appearances in the media, she hopes for a major comeback when taking part in Melodi Grand Prix 2009 as the contract with her record companyexpired earlier this year.

Maria Arredondo, born in 1985,has released five albums since her debut in 2003 and three of them have reached the top ten so far.Currently, she isstarring in the successful revival of The sound of music in Oslo. She scored a #1 hit with In love with a angel she performed as a duet with Christian Ingebrigtsen. It was her first hit but she would enter the Norwegian top ten with another five songs over the following years.

Norway's entrant will be chosen over five weeks. There will be three semi finals starting on 24th January followed bythe second chance round on 14th February and the grand final at the Spektrum in Oslo on 21st February. A total of 18 songs will take part in the semi finals. You can find all dates and venues here.

Maria Haukaas Storeng easily won the 2008 Melodi Grand Prix final getting almost 80,000 votes more than runner-up Torstein Sødal. With the song Hold on be strong, she finished 5th in the Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade giving Norway its best placing since 2003. The song was a #1 hit in Norway and also entered the charts in Sweden and Denmark.

Special thanks to Ronny for his contribution.