Koit Toome & Laura have won the 2017 Eesti Laul national selection with their song Verona and will therefore represent Estonia at the Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev in May.
10 acts competed and three of them went to a super final –
Koit Toome & Laura – Verona
Rasmus Rändvee – This Love
Kerli – Spirit Animal
With a combination of jury and public voting it was declared that Koit Toome & Laura would carry the Estonian flag to Ukraine in May.
You can see Koit Toome & Laura perform their winning song, Verona, below.
Triana Park have won the 2017 Supernova national selection and will represent Latvia at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Line. The four piece band are Agnese Rakovska, Artūrs Strautiņš, Edgars Viļums and Kristaps Ērglis.
The final consisted of four acts –
Triana Park – Line My Radiant You – All I Know The Ludvig – I’m In Love With You Santa Daņeļeviča – Your Breath
The voting was by public only on this occasion.
You can see Triana Park perform their winning song below.
O.Torvald won the Ukrainian national selection and will take to the Eurovision stage in May for the home country with their song Time. The rock band actually drew with Tayanna but because they had the most ‘public’ votes they won the battle. I wonder if TVE and Spain were watching how this was done!!
Six acts participated in the final –
Salto Nazad – O Mamo
Melovin – Wonder
O.Torvald – Time
Iliaria – Thank You For My Way
Tayanna – I Love You
Rozhden – Saturn
Alma (France) and Kasia Moś (Poland) were special guests on the show and performed their 2017 Eurovision entries.
You can see O.Torvald perform their winning song below.
Sunstroke Project have won the 2017 O melodie pentru Europa national selection and will represent Moldova at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest with their song Hey, Mamma!
Eight acts competed in the final –
Sunstroke Project – Hey Mamma!
Samir Loghin – Glow
Valeria Pașa – Freedom
Aurel Chirtoacă – Dor de mamă
Diana Brescan – Breath
Marks & Stefanet – Join Us in the Rain
Ethno Republic & Surorile Osoianu – Discover Moldova
Vozniuc feat. Vio Grecu – Don’t Lie
Voting was a combination of jury and public votes.
Sunstroke Project with Olia Tira represented Moldova at the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest with Run Away.
You can see Sunstroke Project perform their winning song below.
Anja Nissen has won the 2017 Dansk Melodi Grand Prix national selection and will represent Denmark at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest with her song Where I Am. 10 acts took part in the final and then three of the songs were selected for a super-final.
The 10 acts and songs –
1. Ida Una – One
2. Thomas Ring – Vesterbro
3. Rikke Skytte – Color My World 4. Anja Nissen -Where I Am
5. Calling Mercury – Big Little Lies
6. Anthony – Smoke In My Eyes
7. René Machon – Warriors
8. Sada Vidoo – Northern Lights
9. Jeanette Bonde – Hurricane 10. Johanna Beijbom – A.S.A.P.
The three super-finalists –
Ida Una
Anja Nissen
Johanna Beijbom
Voting was a combination of jury and televoting.
Anja is actually Australian but both of her parents are Danish. She finished second in last year’s Dansk Melodi Grand Prix. Anja won the 2014 The Voice Australia.
The grand final of the 2017 EMA national selection took place and Omar Naber has taken the crown and will represent Slovenia for the second time at the Eurovision Song Contest with his charming ballad On My Way.
Eight acts competed –
Sell Out – Ni panike
Nuška Drašček – Flower In The Snow
Tim Kores – Open Fire
Nika Zorjan – Fse
KiNG FOO – Wild Ride
Omar Naber – On My Way
BQL – Heart Of Gold
Raiven – Zažarim
Voting was a combination of televoting and jury. In second place was the boy duo BQL, who took the top marks with the televoting. Omar ironically represented Slovenia also in Kiev in 2005 with Stop.
The interval acts were last year’s Slovenian participant, ManuElla, Toni Cetinski (who represented Croatia at the 1994 Eurovision) and last year’s winning ESC act, Jamala, from Ukraine.
Kasia Moś will represent Poland at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest with the anthemic Flashlight. The composers are Kasia Moś, Pete Baringger and Rickard Bonde Truumeel.
Top photographer Niklas Lydeen caught up with one of the composers Rickard Bonde Truumeel in Sweden this week and took some photos for ESC Covers.
You can see the official video for Flashlight below.
Rutger is a promising new talent from Malta and he has recently covered the highly rated 2017 San Remo winner and Italian Eurovision entry by Francesco Gabbani, Occidentali’s Karma. Rutger gives a fine interpretation of the song and his vocals sound clear and confident.
Rutger is part of the Ironic PR & Artist Management in Malta. He has already represented Malta in competitions in Poland, Italy and Estonia achieving a top 3 finish in all of them. In 2013 he auditioned for Britain’s Got Talent and made it through to the third round where he performed the Celine Dion classic, I Surrender. In the same year he took part in the SingerStage International Festival and won the first prize in his category. He performed I Surrender again and also the classical Adagio.
Rutger has also participated twice in the Konkors Kanzunetta Indipendenza Junior festival in Malta. First in 2014 he sang a duet with Kylie Meilak, Rakkont, which finished in fifth place and in 2015 he sang Inħobbkom It-Tnejn and placed third.
One other link to Eurovision is Rutger covered A Million Voices by Polina Gagarina (ESC 2015 Russia) at the Festival Kalamita.
Rutger is a young artist to look out for in the future. In the meantime check out his version of Occidentali’s Karma below.
After several near misses in the past Claudia Faniello has finally won the 2017 Malta national selection and will represent her country at the Eurovision Song Contest in May in Kiev. Her song is entitled Breathlessly and his composed by the popular composers Philip Vella, Sean Vella and Gerard James Borg.
16 songs competed in the final –
Klinsmann – Laserlight
Raquela – Ray Of Light
Deborah C & Josef Tabone – Tonight
Kevin Borg – Follow
Jade – Seconds Away
Crosswalk – So Simple
Franklin Calleja – Follow Me
Rhiannon Micallef – Fearless
Miriana Conte – Don’t Look Down
Shauna – Crazy Games
Janice Mangion – Kewkba
Cherton –Fighting To Survive
Maxine – Bombshell
Richard Edwards – You
Brooke – Unstoppable
Claudia Faniello – Breathlessly
The voting was totally by the public.
ESC Covers caught up with Claudia in November in Malta where she was presented with a special compilation CD from South Africa of Afrikaans covers of Maltese Eurovision songs.
Claudia’s brother, Fabrizio, has twice represented Malta at the 2001 and 2006 Eurovision Song Contests.
You can see Claudia perform her winning song below.
Kasia Moś has won the 2017 Krajowe Eliminacje 2017 national selection in Poland and will represent them at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev. Her song is entitled Flashlight. She battled with nine other singers win the contest.
It is a powerfully sung ballad where Kasia showcases her strong vocals.
You can see Kasia perform her winning song below.2017
