All posts by Barry Tsai

Wales selects Erin for Junior Eurovision

Chwilio am Seren (Search for a Star), Wales Junior Eurovision selection show came to a conclusion tonight with the national final taking place at the Venue Cymru in Llandudno,

Seven acts made it through from the semi final last week and with Mackenzie & Rhiannon being teamed up by the judges to perform as a duo; for the first part of the show, each of the six acts performed a song chosen by themselves and their mentor:

Sophie – “Cae o yd”
Mackenzie & Rhiannon – “Nythod cacwyn””
Carys – “Croeswn ddyfroedd geirwon”
Y Minis – “Hedfan uwch na’r ser”
Cerys – “Meddwl amdanaf fi”
Erin – “Nos Da Susanna”

Following a vote from the 5 regional Welsh juries, the field was narrowed down to a final three.

Mackenzie & Rhiannon, Cerys and Erin each performed their own version of “Calon yn Curo” the song which will represent Wales in Poland and after the public vote Erin was crowned the Winner and will represent Wales in Gliwice, Poland.

wales

Belarus Selection to take place on Friday

Selection for the Belarus entry for Junior Eurovision 2019 will conclude this Friday September 20 at 22:00 with a live show which will be broadcast on the Belarus 1, Belarus 24 TV channels and online. at www.tvr.by

Eurovision Belarus reported  earlier “Work on installation of equipment and stage has begun in the studio ” 600 meters On September 19, the “Six-hundred” will take place individual finals. The General broadcast of the show in live mode will be held on Friday afternoon.

Belerus Stage design
Stage design

Ten entries will compete with the running order as follows:

1- Elizaveta Misnikova – “Pepel’nyy” (Пепельный)
2-  Anastasiya Zhabko – “Poymi menya” (Пойми меня)
3- Mariya Zhilina – “Spyavala, gukala, chakala” (Спявала, гукала, чакала)
4- Kseniya Galetskaya – “A Better World”
5- Monkey Tops – “Posmotri na nas” (Посмотри на нас)
6- Sofiya Khrolovich – “Davay tantsuy” (Давай танцуй)
7- Sofiya Rustamova – “Skazhi mne” (Скажи мне)
8- Zefir – “Luchshiye i pervyye” (Лучшие и первые)
9 –  Arina Pekhtereva – “Never Again”10 – Mariya Ermakova”Vetra” (Ветра)

Mariya Yermakova “Vetra” (Ветра) appears to be one of the early fan favorites in  a very high quality field of songs and artists.

Tune in at www.tvr.by

 

 

 

 

BBC drops ‘You Decide’ for Eurovision 2020

In an announcement made earlier today, the BBC confirmed the UK’s participation in Eurovision 2020 and also gave details of a new selection process for the song and artist.

The UK public will no longer have the opportunity to vote on their preferred choices, as the BBC has dropped the ‘You Decide’ show format which has been used to select the UK entry for Eurovision since 2016 and will instead move back to internal selection.

In a surprise move however, the whole process will be done in collaboration with the music company BMG and therefore it is very likely that both the songwriters and artist will be selected from the labels own extensive roster of artists.

Read the full story here on the BBC website:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-49715308

Karina wins in Armenia

Armenia wrapped up it’s Junior Eurovision national selection today (Sun 15th).

The show; which included performances from last year’s winner Roksana Węgiel  and Armenia’s 2018 contestant L.E.V.O.N, concluded with Karina Ignatyan and her song ‘Colours of your dream’ being chosen to represent the Armenia in the upcoming contest in Gliwice, Poland.

 

 

 

 

Armenia Selection for Junior Eurovision 2019

After a very respectable 9th Place finish from L.E.V.O.N in last year’s contest, Armenia will be the first country to broadcast it’s national selection show, which takes place on Sunday 15th at 22:00 local time.

LEVON

This year’s competing artists and songs are:

Anahit Arakelyan – Chem Handznvi
Ani Atayan – Every Time
Anishock – Selfie Yerevan
Anzhhela Albertyan – Khaghanq Khaghagh
Emily Hovhannisyan – Parum Enq Pary
Karina Ignatyan – Colours Of Your Dream
Narek Markosyan – Im Ergy
Robert Bagratyan – Captain Friendship
Roza Eloyan – Im Qaghaq Vardan
Margaryan – La La La

A good strong eclectic mix of songs including several suitable for younger listeners/viewers and a number that would not be out of place in the Adult contest.

For those wishing to tune in to see the result on Armenian Channel 1tv – here is the link:

https://www.1tv.am/en/

Girl Power at JESC

In 2018, a record 20 countries participated in the Junior Eurovision song contest in Minsk and even the most casual viewer couldn’t have failed to notice that the vast majority of the performers were female.

Taylor Hines (Ireland), Noam Dadon (Israel) Daniel Yastremski (Belerus) and L.E.V.O.N (Armenia) were the only solo male artists, with Max Albertazzi (Max and Anne/Netherlands) and Marco Bonni (Melissa and Marco/Italy) bringing the total number of male artists to 6.

Looking back at recent contests we also find a similar situation:
Tblisi 2017- 16 Entries – 3 male solo, 1 boy band
Malta 2016 – 17 Entries – 2 Male solo – 1 Male/Female duo

Similarly, if we look at the winning entries, in the 16 years the contest has been running, only 5 male solo artists and Giorgi Shiolashvili; who was a member of the winning trio Bzikebi, have taken home the winners prize.

For the 2019 contest, we currently have 3 confirmed male artists, but with the upcoming national selections all being; once again, dominated by female entrants, It’s highly likely that girl power will once again be evident in Poland.

Please leave a comment below with your thoughts? Why do you think it is that there are so few male entries in the Junior competition?

Junior Eurovision selections in full swing

With the upcoming Junior Eurovision contest only a few months away, national selections for many countries are now well underway.

To date, we have 7 confirmed artists and one confirmed song from the Ukraine, who selected Sophia Ivanko with “Koly zdaietsi” ahead of some strong competition.

Other confirmed artists are:
Australia – Jordon Anthony
Georgia – Giorgi Rostiashvili
Kazakhstan – Yerzhan Maksim
Malta – Eliana Gomez Blanco
North Macedonia – Mila Moskov
Spain – Melani García

This year’s contest will take place in Gliwice Poland on 24th November.