The first of four Swedish semifinals took place tonight, and Petra Nielsen's Tango, Tango! and Sara Löfgren's (picture) Som stormen are now directly qualified for the final of the Swedish preselection scheme Melodifestivalen 2004.
1999 Swedish Eurovision winner Charlotte Nilsson-Perelli (née Nilsson) co-presented the show tonight, along with Peter Settman and Ola Lindholm. The quartet Sarek and their Älvorna (The Elves) and Karl Martindahl's Love turns water into wine will now proceed to the last wild card round, in which they may still qualify for the actual final to be held in the Globen Arena, in Stockholm on 20th March.
The second semifinal in the Melodifestivalen 2004 takes place in Göteborg (Gothenburg), on Saturday, 28th February.
Having finished within the top five at the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest Sweden is a direct participant in this year's Eurovision, meaning they will not have to go through the qualification round on 12th May.
