maNga, the Turkish rock stars who are representing their country in the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest stopped in Athens during their promo tour and spoke to esctoday.com about their surprise for Oslo, their song and more.

maNga feel blessed. Coming from all walks of life, they formed six years ago to change the music scene in Turkey, according to the member of their management team Selim Serezli. The artists state they feel blessed to be able to do what they love most in life and see the positive response of the public to it.

maNga spoke to us about the recent health issues of the band's lead singer, Ferman Akgul, who was not able to join them in Athens. "The media exaggerate a little some times!" laughs Cem Bahtiyar. Ferman did not have a heart attack, neither did he collapse on stage as it was reported in local media. During a video shoot, Ferman felt unwell and checked himself in hospital for observation and tests. "We were worried" say manGa, "but we have spoken to him on the phone and he is fine.". As soon as Ferman is released from hospital this weekend, he will rejoin the team for Oslo.

Ozgur, the band's drummer spoke to us about the new and final version of We could be the same which was realised by producer Hans Franke of Clouseau and Grammy Award winner Darcy Proper. Efe Yilmaz and Cem Bahtiyar reveal that there is going to be a mystery sixth person on stage with them in Oslo. Cem tells us they have not met with this "unique" guest in person but they have discussed the plans online and they are very excited about them.

As for their favourites this year, maNga like a lot of songs and they named Armenia, Germany, Azerbaijan, Romania and Greece as some of them. On Sunday, the band will be in Baku, Azerbaijan which could be the last stop of their promo tour unless one more destination is added, Belgium possibly but that is yet to be confirmed.

maNga in Athenshttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5WsJ7z1T9c

Selim Serezli is part of the maNga management team and he kindly spoke to us, giving us some insight on the popular Turkish band from the …inside.

Selim Serezli "Rock the stage guys!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHZbcZJt92E