In a similar situation to the one in Sweden this week, Estonia have announced the songwriters for the 2007 Eurolaul competition to select their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. At this stage, no word about who will sing the entries has been made. Below, we have summarised the composer's Eurolaul and Eurovision Song Contest pedigrees. It is highly likely that Ines and Soul Militia will perform their entries. Vanilla Ninja will be strongly tipped to perform the entry by band member, Lenna Kuurmaa. Hugely successful band the Smilers are also tipped to perform.
Soul Militia have the best record for Estonia at Eurovision, when they performed as 2XL. The three-piece hip-hop act is made up of Lauri Pihlap, Sergei Morgun and Kaido Põldma. They won the Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen in 2001 with Everybody supporting Tanel Padar and Dave Benton. They will certainly provide a modern song for Eurolaul 2007. It is possible that Soul Militia will sing their own entry.
Ines will attempt to win Eurolaul for a second time with her third entry. She is very popular across Europe with fans of the Eurovision Song Contest, having wonEurolaul 2000 with the song Once in a lifetime, which went onto finish fourth in Stockholm. She returned to the national final this year tih the song Iseendale, finishing as runner up to Swedish singer Sandra Oxenryd. It is almost Certain that Ines will sing her song at Eurolaul.
Koit Toomerepresented Estonia in Eurovision Song Contest 1998 with Mere lapsed. He finished 12th with 36 points. Toome may sing his own entry for Eurolaul, or recruit others to join him on stage.
Lenna Kuurmaa performed at the Eurovision Song Contest in Athens as part of the girl-rock band, Vanilla Ninja. The band qualified from the semifinal in Kyiv in 8th place, and went on to finish 8th again two days later for Switzerland with Cool vibes. They are hugely popular in Estonia, and not surprisingly, received the '12 points' in both the semi final and final from their home nation.
Vanilla Ninja participated in Eurolaul 2003 with song Club Kung-Fu. Although they won the televote, Estonia's entry was selected by a jury including former Eurovision Song Contest runner-up for the United Kingdom, Michael Ball. The jury placed Vanilla Ninja in joint last place! It is possible, but not certain that Vanilla Ninja will return to the Eurolaul stage two years after representing Switzerland in Kyiv.
Priit Pajusaar is a veteran of Eurolaul, having first entered a song in 1993 for Estonia's Eurovision Song Contest debut. His entry, Kaelakee Hääl, performed by Ivo Linna and Maarja-Liis Ilus won the competition in 1996 and went on to finish 5th in Oslo with 94 points, only 6 points away from a top-three finish.
Since 1998, Pajusaar has collaborated with Glen Pilvre, entering every Eurolaul final expect in 2002. In 1999, they won the competition and took Diamond of night to Eurovision. The song was performed by Evelin Samuel and Camille and finished in 5th place with 90 points. They won the Estonian national final again in 2004 with Tii. performed by Neiokõsõ. Due to Estonia's poor performance the previous year, they took part in the first Eurovision Song Contest semifinal, finishing in 12th place with 57 points, and failing to qualify for the final. As yet, there is no word about who will perform the song, however Neiokõsõ would be a possible choice.
Sven Lõhmus is a successful music producer in Estonia. He has worked with several Eurolaul participants since his first appearance in 1998. In 2005, he became the first name to finish both first and second simultaneously, sending Let's get loud by Suntribe to the Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv, and taking the runners-up spot with singer Laura and the song Moonwalk. Suntribe failed to put Estonia back in the Eurovision Song Contest final, finishing 20th in the semifinal with only 31 points.
Elmar Liitmaa will be entering his second entry for Eurolaul in 2007, 5 years after participating with What if I fell, performed by Lea Liitmaa and Jaagup Kreem sung this song in 2002, there is no word about who may sing the 2007 entry.
Songwriting trio Alar Kotkas, Pearu Paulus and Ilmar Laisaar have written three Eurolaul winners, twice with Swedish singers. In2000, Once in a lifetime finished 4th at Eurovision, sung by fellow competitor this year, Ines. In 2002 Anna Sahlene from Sweden sung their song in Eurolaul and went on to finish 4th for Estonia with Runaway on home ground. Last year, they recruited Swedish Fame Academy winner Sandra Oxenryd to sing their entry, Through my window. Sandra failed to qualify for the final, finishing 18th in the semifinal. There is no word as yet about who will sing this entry. Rumours about a return to Eurolaul for Anna Sahlene are likely to prove false. She is currently taking time out from music to be a mother and spend time with her young baby.
Hendrik Sal-Saller is the lead vocalist for popular Estonian band, the Smilers. The two-time Artist of the year winners at the Estonian Music Awards will enter a song for the first time. He has strong links to 2007 Eurovision Song Contest hosts, Finland. The band was formed in Helsinki in 1993 and have had several hits in Finland. Again, there is no word as to whether the Smilers will enter the competition or the song will be given to another group or performer.
Kristjan Kasearu is making his Eurolaul debut in 2007. It is likely that he will sing his entry himself.
