Tonight, the first semi final of MGP 2010, the Norwegian national selection for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest was held. Seven acts competed and two of them were chosen to take part in the grand final while another two were chosen for the second chance round.

The following acts will compete in the national final on 6th February:

• Maria Haukaas Storeng – Make My Day
  (Merethe La Verdi, Mats Lie Skåre/Merethe La Verdi)
• Keep of Kalessin – The dragontower
  (Arnt Grønbech/Arnt Grønbech, Torbjørn Schei, Vegar Larsen, Robin Isaksen)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6lnG_IwAD7w

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

The following acts will compete in the second chance round on 30th January:

• Gaute Ormåsen – Synk eller svøm
  (Gaute Ormåsen, Laila Samuelsen, Kim Bergseth)
• Bjørn Johan Muri – Yes man
  (Simone Larsen, Simen Eriksrud, Bjørn Johan Muri)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDZIACxd5Lg

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

This was the first of three semi finals. Another seven acts will compete at the Spektrum arena in Bodø next Saturday.

esctoday.com poll results

The readers of esctoday.com poll widely agreed with the results: Maria Haukaas Storeng won the poll with 31.7% and she directly qualified for the final. The two second chance qualifiers tied for second place with 15.6% along with Lene Alexandra. However, Keep of Kalessin had only finished fifth in the poll with 12.2% but directly qualified for the final.

In 2009, Norway was represented by Alexander Rybak, who won both the second semi final and the final with his song Fairytale. Norway is therefore the host country of the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest and directly qualified for the final.