Tonhalle culture house in Dsseldorf will host today the official opening ceremony of Eurovision 2011 international song contest, the press service of the contest informs. Mayor of Dsseldorf Dirk Elbers and ...

The Eurovision song contest is famous for its cheesy and tuneless, yet weirdly watchable, eccentric performances. So hyperactive pop stars Jedward should feel right at home, and they’re über-confident of their chances of winning. The X Factor stars told The Suns’ Buzz magazine that their hairstyles alone should guarantee them a win. “If John and [...]

View the original post X Factor’s Jedward Think Their Hairstyles Alone Could Win Eurovision 2011 and Don’t Even See Blue as a Threat! on Unreality TV

Ireland likes to pretend it doesn't care about Eurovision, but it's won the song contest more often than any other country. So is it just a pose, or do Irish people really care - at least a little?

I fjor ledet han finalen i Eurovision Song Contest på hjemmebane. Nå styrer Jon Ola Sand samtlige 43 deltagerland.

The boy band Blue and Eurovision host Graham Norton join BBC Breakfast to talk about the forthcoming Eurovision Song Contest.

Most think Eurovision is a joke. But for the reformed boyband it's deadly serious as they are personally funding and managing their return to the music scene

Visual Concept, Art Direction and design. Gosu Design, Handverk and Snøhetta

With less than two weeks to go until the grand finale of the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf, the host city and the German television industry are weighing up the pros and cons of the event.

As you all know by now, Swedes are crazy about the Eurovision Song Contest and we spend the whole winter meticulously choosing our winner through Melodifestivalen and the song who will represent the Swedish music honour in Europe. Well, I say honour, but the truth is the Sweden failed to qualify last year and must compete in a [...]

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Bookmakers placed Russia in 10th place on Wednesday in forecasted standings for the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest.

The German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) have announced today that they have foiled an al-Qaeda plot to target the 2011 Eurovision song contest. The plot was intended to be in retaliation for the killing of their leader, Osama bin Laden, at t...

Zdob si Zdub, of Moldova, perform their song 'So Lucky' during a dress rehearsal for the Eurovision Song Contest in Dusseldorf yesterday. Below right: Jedward at Dublin Airport. REUTERS/FRANK McGRATHTWiiNS, of Slovakia, perform their song 'I'm Still Alive'.

Sjonni's Friends of Iceland perform their song 'Coming Home' during the first rehearsal for the finals of the Eurovision Song Contest in Duesseldorf , May 2, 2011. Musical groups from 39 countries are competing in this year's event with the finals to be held on May 14 in Duesseldorf.

Loucas Yiorkas feat. Stereo Mike of Greece perform their song 'Watch My Dance' during the first rehearsal for the finals of the Eurovision Song Contest.

“Armenians’ attitude towards the song is less important than the fact that it is in compliance with the contest format,” said Misho.

'Pink fluffy carpets, a friendship bench and a school cow'

We have the results of EducationGuardian's crowd-sourcing exercise The School I'd Like, launched at the beginning of the year to find out what ideas pupils have for improving their learning environment. Dea Birkett reviews one of the largest informal surveys of children's attitudes to schooling ever conducted. Some of their ideas are fun but fanciful (chocolate fountains in the playground), others are practical and easy to implement (a choice of uniform).

Rachel Dengate, 12, says:

"Children would be equal to the teachers and opinions would be listened to by everyone."

Joshua Kennedy, 11, says:

"Every class should have a cow so they can sell the milk from the cow and improve the school."

Find out which proposals made it into the Children's Manifesto - a document to be presented to opinion formers - and about the children on the expert panel.

More education news from the Guardian

• Kicking off with an appeal to university administrators to check your subject inclusions for the Guardian University Guide 2012, which will be launched on May 17.

• MPs are to quiz college and university leaders and access experts later today over whether tuition fees of £9,000 will deter low and middle-income students. Jessica Shepherd will be keeping an eye out for anything special.

• Malcolm Gillies, vice-chancellor of London Met, has announced that 400 courses are to be cut, including history and performing arts. He found the decision "personally very difficult" but insists restructuring will give the troubled university more focus.

• American studies is a recognised subject area at UK universities as well as in the US. But British studies, a popular and growing field in the US, is unknown here. Is it time we offered it to students, especially foreign students?

• The Family Holiday Association helps around 2,000 low-income families a year to take a week's break. It can be a life-changing experience for the children - though schools would prefer the holidays not to take place during term time. Here's an audio slideshow of one family's experience.

• Lucy Tobin's ongoing story of sixth-form youngsters leaving school sees them preparing for university - and worrying about money. Zowie, 18, who has cystic fibrosis, advises younger students to start putting money aside as early as possible.

"I would suggest saving lots of money before university if you're in a similar situation to me. For disabled students seeking grants or financial help with travelling costs or extra facilities, help is not that accessible or straightforward. It takes many hours and phone calls to sort out, so ask questions and really look for things you are entitled to."

• To many in the further education sector, David Hughes does not seem the ideal candidate to lead the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education, so why has he got the job?

• Why a tiny Scottish school is desperate for just one more pupil. Headteacher, Jill Bruce, says Kinlochbervie primary has:

"Fantastic educational facilities. We are right on the edge of the loch. Everyone who sees the place is wowed. There is just one problem – not enough pupils."

Research revelations

You may think Eurovision is a garish and ear-splitting song contest. How superficial. Dr Milija Gluhovic, assistant professor of theatre and performance at Warwick University, explains:

"Eurovision gives an indication of what's going on in terms of aesthetics across the continent. But we're also looking at how nationhood expresses itself through the contest; how gender is represented; how historical alliances are still in place and new affiliations are being forged."

The Improbable Researchers meanwhile are concerned about whether tortoises do contagious yawning.

Guardian views

Peter Scott Higher education is being used as a punchbag in an adversorial political system. Surely there's another option…

Lynsey Hanley Why are northern children getting such poor grades at school?

Paul Randolph Universities just cannot afford law suits - they must look to mediation to settle disputes

Comment is free Join the debate: On what basis should faith schools be allowed to choose children when they are oversubscribed?

Human rights reporter

The Learnnewsdesk/Amnesty Young Human Rights Reporter of the Year finalists have just been announced. Go to www.learnnewsdesk.co.uk use password Amnesty and login Amnesty to read the finalists' reports. Learnnewsdesk is the Guardian's online's news service for 9-14 year-olds. Congratulations to all those shortlisted for this prestigious award. The winners will be announced on May 24.

Education news from around the web

• In his to the National Association of Head Teachers conference over the weekend, Russell Hobby warns of the "treachery of data":

"Data is treacherous. It reduces, it impoverishes, it obscures, it distorts. Numerical targets are slippery things. The moment you define a metric, you distort behaviour. In a way, that's what they are for."

Susan Young's blog gives a journalist's view of education conferences:

"Journalists moan about them, a bit, but we all love them. You've got a hall full of dedicated people giving up a bank holiday weekend to support a really worthy cause, and a fair amount of after-hours jollity when the work of the day is done. What's not to like?"

Conference headline, of course, was the overwhelming vote in favour of a ballot for the first national strike by headteachers.

• The NUS, as we know, is full of energetic sport-lovers, waiting for a chance to volunteer for something worthy. And today they get their chance as a scheme is launched today by that well-loved trio the NUS, Coca-Cola and Hefce to encourage at least 20,000 students across the UK's universities and colleges to participate in activities related to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Student unions are expected to appoint student ambassadors to "encourage engagement by highlighting the many opportunities ranging from sport and volunteering, to culture and community involvement".

Susan Nash, NUS vice-president (Society and Citizenship), says:

"Students have a long history of volunteering in their university and college towns and this is an opportunity for them to help make the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games memorable and ensure a lasting legacy of community involvement."

• Interesting story in the Independent about a free school in a disadvantaged area that plans to take responsibility for what its graduates do when they leave school.

• Maths makes you thin. It must be true, the Mail Online quotes an actress who says so. She's called Danica McKellar and she says:

"It's such a diversion to be constantly thinking of better ways I can teach people math that my hunger is for that really, for new ways of translating the beauty of it."

Education seminars from Guardian Professional

Getting the best education for children in care

The Guardian's one-day seminar in association with Tact (the UK's largest fostering and adoption charity) will provide an overview of the UK education system and strategies for dealing with the challenges faced by looked-after children and their carers.

26 May, London.

Making the most of media opportunities to enhance your school's profile

Whether it's sharing good news or handling a crisis, headteachers and school management teams need to be able to handle the media in all of its forms. This one-day seminar in association with the NAHT is essential for new and aspiring heads as well as established school leaders who wish to update their knowledge. It includes a session on social media.

13 June, Birmingham and 20 September, London.

Distinctiveness and branding in higher education

Higher education institutions will struggle in the marketplace unless they stand out from competitors and make sense to stakeholders. The Guardian's half-day seminar in partnership with the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education will explore what it takes to develop and maintain a distinctive brand that attracts students, staff and funders. Participants will hear from experts, examine case studies and have the opportunity to network with peers.

28 June, London.

Find us on the Guardian website

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Jessica Shepherd on Twitter

Claire Phipps on Twitter

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EducationGuardian resources

The Guardian University Guide 2011

The Guardian Postgraduate Guide 2011

School league tables

The world's top 100 universities

Updating table of university fee announcements for 2012

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Free online classroom resources on the Teacher Network

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Blue are hitting the promo trail hard, trying to raise their profile and increase their chances of victory at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. The hunky manband will be representing the UK at the competition in Düsseldorf later this month, with their latest single ‘I Can.’ The song was written before they were asked to [...]

View the original post Eurovision 2011: Want to see some SEXY topless pictures of Blue? on Unreality TV

Eurovision launched Abba on the global stage, and they never looked back. As the Swedes gear up for this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Dusseldorf, do they still hanker after the heyday of Swedish music in the 1970s?

It hasn’t quite reached the fever of the upcoming EuroVision Song Contest, but the...

Is the Eurovision Song Contest just about music, or does it tell us all kinds of things about the new Europe?

Here's a question for you. Is the Eurovision Song Contest (a) a garish exhibition of musical naffness that nobody in their right mind would take seriously or (b) "a stage on which the realities of the new Europe are being played out"?

Dr Milija Gluhovic, assistant professor of theatre and performance at Warwick University, inclines towards b. Gluhovic is co-organiser of a group of academics from all over the world who have been gathering since 2009 to discuss aspects of the contest that may have passed many of us by as Terry Wogan drolly summed up another eye-popping performance by an Israeli cross-dresser or Finnish heavy metal monsters.

The contest, it seems, is a social barometer revealing fascinating insights into national identity. The academic project, says Gluhovic, aims to examine how the contest has forged cultural interconnections that cut across political divisions between nations and shape the contours of a cosmopolitan European identity.

Wogan has handed over the BBC baton to Graham Norton for this year's final on 14 May in Dusseldorf. But it's safe to say the BBC coverage will probably not focus too much on academic inquiry.

Gluhovic understands the majority attitude of British audiences – ironic detachment underscored by dark mutterings about conspiracies against us for reasons other than music. "Many British viewers will look on and laugh," he concedes. "But Eurovision attracts 125 million television viewers across Europe. How many events do that, apart from the World Cup?"

The project, financed by a grant of £35,000 from the Arts and Humanities Research Council, began with a workshop at Warwick two years ago bringing together sociologists, musicologists and experts on gender studies, as well as theatre studies. "Every discipline had something to bring to the table," Gluhovic says, "and we mapped out a wide field of interests, all connected to the contest. Eurovision gives an indication of what's going on in terms of aesthetics across the continent. But we're also looking at how nationhood expresses itself through the contest; how gender is represented; how historical alliances are still in place and new affiliations are being forged."

Although the contest has been around since 1956, it is the post-89 expansion to over 40 countries and the dominance of the east in recent years that particularly fascinates the researchers. Hence the project's title: Eurovision Song Contest and the New Europe. There have been two workshops since that initial gathering. One was at Royal Holloway, University of London, looking at the persistence of the notion of what Gluhovic calls "the barbarian east and civilised west" in current European public life – "the fear of widespread immigration from the east since the fall of the Berlin Wall". The other, held last month at Warwick's teaching facility in Venice, investigated the camp appeal of Eurovision under the title Queering Europe.

There has not been much clear agreement on how to interpret certain acts, Gluhovic admits. "Take Maria from Serbia, who won the 2007 contest in Helsinki with a song called Molitva, which means Prayer. Some commentators read it as a prayer for Serbia just after UN sanctions and the fall of [Slobodan] Milosevic. Others saw it as a coded lesbian performance with a butch-femme aesthetic. After all, she was in a suit, with short, cropped hair and glasses, while a chorus of very feminine women cavorted behind her."

And how did Gluhovic, who is originally from Sarajevo, see it?

"Like many academics, I was fascinated that a country like Serbia could have a representative of an ethnic minority – Maria has a mixed Roma and Serbian heritage – singing about same-sex love. Afterwards I talked to the distinguished theatre director from Serbia who had choreographed the performance and he conceded that he was playing with those aesthetics because he knew there was a strong gay following for Eurovision in the west."

That in turn is a measure of just how seriously the contest is taken by former members of the Soviet bloc, Gluhovic maintains. "From the early '90s onwards, countries from eastern Europe were very conscious of the PR value of sending good quality acts – or at least what they saw as good quality acts."

The Estonian and Ukrainian governments invested heavily in sending their acts on tours of Europe before going on to win in 2001 and 2004 respectively, he points out. "And the Russian government put on a lavish production in Moscow in 2009 to reassert its dominance and prestige. Beneath the shimmering glitz, however, academics picked out all sorts of coded and not-so-coded messages of defiance from former satellite states such as Georgia."

Gluhovic will be in Dusseldorf for this year's final, where there will be a third and final workshop under the title Feeling European. Together with Dr Karen Fricker from Royal Holloway, he will be co-editing for Palgrave-Macmillan a selection of essays inspired by the workshops.

"Eurovision is a night when Europe comes together and we start to think about how we see each other," he says. "To me that's very meaningful."

Comedy duo Homens da Luta have won Portugal's Eurovision nomination and captured the spirit of peaceful protest

Do you feel like leaving Europe when another Eurovision song contest is about to start? Are you feeling less than inspired by this year's British entry, Blue's heartstring-wrenching I Can (featuring such timeless couplets as "We're not the first ones to be divided /Won't be the last to be reunited")? Well, from 10 to 14 May this year you can make a difference. Vote for Portugal at next Eurovision.

Portugal's entry, Homens da Luta, are a comic duo posing as 1970s political activists. They look like Latin American revolutionaries – complete with hats and moustaches, though less tanned – and refer to themselves as "professionals of the struggle".

When Homens da Luta won the Eurovision nomination in Portugal in March, they surprised the show's organisers, the serious juries and the other contestants. They even surprised the audience at home who had voted for them. Their song, A Luta é Alegria, about taking to the streets and shouting with joy, is silly and ironic, and yet does seem to work: in Portugal, at least, it has become the soundtrack of people taking to the streets.

The 12 March protests against the austerity measures announced under the recently resigned Portuguese prime minister José Sócrates saw the biggest crowd gathering in Lisbon since 1974, the year of Portugal's revolution. Homens da Luta have become the face of the "generation in trouble", a name coined by the Portuguese media and the name of the group that initially called the 12 March protests on Facebook.

With their large trousers, tight shirts and their use of "camarada" (comrade), Homens da Luta hark back to revolutionary Lisbon when all young people were engaged in some kind of social reform – in education, agriculture or workers movements. In 1974, reporters, writers and filmmakers from France, Germany and Brazil travelled to Portugal to witness the peaceful revolution and the construction of a new society. That society ended up being not so new or not so different from the rest of Europe, but Homens da Luta go straight to the heart of the matter: we have been missing those times – not because we want a revolution, but because we want to believe that it's possible to go out on the streets and have our voice heard; that it's still possible to be slightly idealistic and believe in the people rather than banks, companies, commissions, troikas.

When I spoke to them last Monday, Nuno and Vasco Duarte, the brothers behind the Homens da Luta phenomenon, told me that to them, 25 April is their Christmas, because 25 April was the date they used to go as children to Lisbon's Avenida da Liberdade to take part in the annual march to remember the value of their freedom. Nuno was born in 1974, a few months after the revolution, and Vasco in 1978. Like many children of the revolution, they grew up with the political songwriting of the 1970s, with true stories of censorship and torture, ideals and dreams.

Looking around from the pick-up truck where Homens da Luta played on 25 April, at the annual commemoration of the revolution, you could see raised fists, a lot of posters and thousands of carnations, the symbol of our revolution without bloodshed.

The Portuguese have for many years been European champions of complaining, but they are finally starting to do more than complain. The young generation that had been proclaimed not only doomed but apathetic, is organising – online and offline – in movements and groups and they seem determined not to be denied a future.

A group of 74 people born after 1974 released a manifesto just before 25 April, stating that they would not let the conquests of the April revolution slip away, in a reference to the labour laws at risk (lack of job security for young people is one of Portugal's most pressing issues).

Yesterday, several protests took place in Lisbon, though Homens da Luta weren't around to cheer up the protesters. They are on their way to Germany, to take to the streets before playing at the Eurovision semi-final, in Düsseldorf, on 10 May. Will they win it? Perhaps not, but perhaps winning isn't quite the point. In 1974, Abba won the Eurovision song contest in Brighton with Waterloo. But it was the Portuguese song, E depois do adeus, which came last, that went on to be played on the radio in Portugal as the secret sign to start a revolution.

Lee Ryan has revealed that he has ambitions to be a porn star. The Blue singer – who is currently preparing to represent the UK at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest – is father to Bluebelle, three, and Rayn, two, but admitted that he would be keen to star in a raunchy adult movie. He [...]

View the original post Eurovision: Blue’s Lee Ryan wants to star in a porn movie! on Unreality TV

Winners of Islandsbanki’s Eurovision competition were yesterday rewarded the world’s biggest credit cards, each pre-paid with ISK 50,000 (EUR 303) credit. The winning credit cards are much larger than normal, at 40 x 25 centimetres. The cards most people have in their wallets are just 8.5 x 5.5 centimetres. For comparison purposes, an A4 page is [...]

According to the official Eurovision website, the official video of Israel’s 2011 Eurovision Song Contest entry – Dana International’s version of ‘Ding Dong’ – has been released. Why is this important, and what is Eurovision? Maybe because we’re surrounded by life-or-death news events and live in a pressure cooker environment, Israelis tend to veer toward [...]

Pop singer Emmy, who will represent Armenia at Eurovision Song Contest 2011, will leave for Germany on April 30 to present her song in a number of German cities.

esctoday.com

Introducing 2011: Netherlands esctoday.com In 2010, 3JS were chosen internally to represent the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf. In a national final, they performed six songs and the winning song was Je vecht nooit alleen, written by the band members themselves. ... SENIT (2011) PRESENTS HER INTERNATIONAL TEAMoikotimes.com all 8 news articles »

Do they still have the Eurovision song contest?

 

Topics: entertainment & music, songs, eurovision

How did Soviet citizens vote for their favorite contestants in Eurovision Song Contest during the period of joseph Stalin?

They are the best Eurovision hope the UK has had for years. But could it be career suicide for the boyband?

The coach comes to a stop in Volendam, a village just outside Amsterdam. Holland's Eurovision song contest organiser, Rene, checks we're all here.

"San Marino?" he calls out.

"Yes."

"Croatia."

"Yes."

"Russia . . . Russia?"

He gives the Russians a look.

"Yes we are here."

"And UK."

"Here," chime Simon Webbe, Lee Ryan, Duncan James and Antony Costa, AKA Blue.

We could be on the road to Euro triumph for the first time in many years. Blue are visiting country after European country to boost support, and show the rest of Europe they really want to win.

The countries are asked to hold a flag to show who they represent. As Blue get off the bus, they are told their flag is unnecessary. Six years since they split up, the band are still famous. Newly reformed, they have been hand-picked as the UK entry. They have a strong song, I Can, and the only way is up. They look little different from their boyband glory years – bigger biceps and more facial hair, but that's about it.

The mayor of Volendam welcomes us to the fishing village with the very best of Holland – salted cod, mackerel and herring – and the Dutch entrants, 3JS, perform live for us. Even though the Netherlands are pleased with their effort, it is unlikely to make the final. And this gets to the heart of the hostility to the UK – not only have most recent songs been risible, but the UK, alongside Spain, France, Italy and Germany, gets a free pass to the final. No wonder they want to kick us in the Baltics.

Way back in the 20th century, when Abba and Celine Dion won Eurovision, the UK treated it with respect. Great artists such as Sandie Shaw and Lulu came home victorious, as did Brotherhood of Man and Bucks Fizz. Then came the bleak decades, when our entries were regarded as ironic at best, or simply rubbish. In recent years, the UK has been dismissed with contempt by the rest of Europe. We had no political allies, we were said to have the wrong attitude, and country after country ganged up against us. The nadir came in 2003, when Jemini's Cry Baby suffered the ignominy of nul points. Last year, Josh Dubovie finished bottom with 10 points.

But now we're ready for a Eurovision renaissance. For three glorious years in the early 2000s, Blue were huge – their three albums topped the UK charts and there were 11 top 10 singles (including All Rise, One Love and a cover of Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word with Elton John). They were not manufactured (though they looked as if they must have been) and dominated the tabloids by saying the unsayable. Then saying it again, only worse. But by 2005, nobody wanted to know – the final two singles didn't chart in the UK.

The boys went on to experience mixed fortunes – Simon enjoyed greatest success as a solo artist. Duncan has done well in West End musicals such as Legally Blonde, Lee has had a few hits and Antony has dabbled in acting. All four now have children, have separated from their partners, and are struggling romantically. Duncan recently announced he was bisexual – cynics suggested it was publicity stunt.

This month they marked their return with a nude photoshoot for the gay magazine Attitude. Blue's former manager, Daniel Glatman, described the decision to enter Eurovision as "reckless insanity", saying: "They will have to win. Anything less and their reputation would be in tatters. It is the equivalent of Lewis Hamilton entering a go-kart race." Do the band think it a risk?

"Honestly?" Duncan says. "I thought it's going to go one way or another. But we were a massive band in Europe, and we want to let everyone in Europe know we're back. What bigger platform could we use to let everyone know in one hit? One hundred and twenty-five million people watch it on the night, not including people watching on the net. So we sat down and went, you know what, it's a no-brainer."

In Amsterdam, the nude shoot is a popular topic of conversation. Are they stripping their way to success? "Well, that's not a bad way of putting it, but if that's the way to get there why not?" Duncan says. "We're in shape, we work hard and it's a good way to let everyone know we're back."

We head back to the hotel. A handful of fans who greeted the band at the airport have reconvened in the lobby. Priscilla Vanhuystee, a big, beautiful girl in her mid-20s, is trying to explain her obsession. "It started in 2003. I can't tell you how many times I saw them. It's a disease, it really is, because normal people don't understand it. They are very good singers, and I like them as a group, and it's just fun to get to know the people."

Is it wise for Blue to make a comeback? "They are still young men. I think they are better-looking now. They are like grownup men now, not the boyish thing now."

She loves the fact that you never know what Blue are going to come out with next. What's her favourite story? "Lee having a baby with his fan. He dated this girl from MySpace who sent him naughty pictures. Hahahaha!" Lee is sitting on the table next to us, so we ask him if it's true. "No, it's bullshit."

Lee, the youngest member of Blue, was only 16 when the band got together, and was often the source of the news stories. He says he has always been. Where does it come from? "Stupid fucking journalists writing what they want to make me look like a cunt. It's really frustrating. I'm not like that at all." Take the 9/11 controversy, which almost did for the band. At the time, they were trying to make it in America, the twin towers had just been blown up, and Lee suggested that worse things were happening in the world. "I just said there were kids dying of Aids and stuff, and the whole country went on a campaign for New York, and I was just saying there are plenty of other things we can change now. Listen, it was a tragic thing that happened, but there have been tragic things that have happened since then that don't get half as much of the coverage. And that's the truth." He pauses. Actually, he says, he knows what really did for him. "The thing is, I said the words 'Fuck New York', but I didn't mean it in a malicious way, it just came out as a 17-year-old articulating himself." What he said was: "Who gives a fuck about New York when elephants are being killed?"

"I got about 20,000 emails saying they wanted to shove anthrax down my throat." Did it scare him? "Yeah, it scared my mum. Cos you get some crazy fucks in America."

He became disillusioned with the industry, and still is. "I will never ever work with a major record label again in my whole life. Cos they're crap, they don't know what they're doing. And if they fuck it up, it's your fault . . . I don't think you need a record label these days." He sips his latte. "You know what pisses me off most about this industry is when people call me thick. I hate that. Because things I say sometimes come out stupid. But I don't need to prove myself. I know what I'm good at."

It's nearly midnight and we're heading off to a club in the centre of Amsterdam where the Eurovionistas are singing. Blue have top billing, and are on last. Everybody has been telling the band they are favourites to win, and this is worrying them. "No," insists Antony, "we're only second favourite and if we finish top five we'll have done well."

I ask Duncan about the different personalities in the band. Well, he says, first there are the voices. "Lee's like the voice of the angels – a really high, beautiful voice. Antony has a rockier voice. Si has got the open kind of sound, very soulful, and I've got quite a husky voice. And personality: Lee is a law unto himself, the crazy one, the genius. They say with geniuses, they're all a bit unbalanced in their head, which, in the most loving way, he is." In what way is he a genius? "His brain works on such a different level. Lyrically, the way he writes, the way he paints, he's just very creative. I'm the worrier of the band, the dad of the band. Sometimes I can be a bit too bossy. I need to learn to chill. Ant is the comedian of the band. He's the joker. When everything gets a bit too much he'll diffuse it instantly and everything's cool again. Si's very chilled, very laidback, very hard-working."

Who's the most popular? "We all have different fans," Duncan says. "I get a lot of the mums and the disabled children. A lot of my fans have got cerebral palsy, but you know what? I love children like that, and I love people who have got disabilities because I spent a lot of time in hospital with my grandparents when they were ill, and Mum was a nurse. It's just in my nature. I'm like a magnet to them, and I treat them like normal people so they latch on. I once had a launch party and there was a queue of disabled kids all in wheelchairs come to see me, and Sara [the band's manager] walked in and goes: 'What is it with you and disabled people?'"

The sound is so bad at the club that they decide to mime. Twelve hundred middle-aged men in checked shirts pump their fists in the air to I Can. After the performance, they retire to a tiny staircase where a journalist interviews the band while squeezed between the knees of Simon and the chest of Duncan. He looks like he's in heaven. I wonder if he knows his trouser buttons are undone.

Later, in a cab, they weigh up their options. "I'd really like to get mashed," Lee says. "It seems mad being in Amsterdam and not making a night of it . . . but we've got telly tomorrow and it won't be a good look." In the old days, yes, but now they've matured. So we retire to the hotel bar for a Glenfiddich or two. They chat away, obviously happy in each other's company. Towards the end of Blue mark one, they were getting tired and irritable, but now it's all fresh again.

It really is like starting out again, Simon says – sharing rooms with other bands, constantly on the road, working around the world. Yes, he says, he enjoyed life as a solo artist, but there was something lonely about it. Was he surprised he did so well? "You bet." He gives me the recipe for his success. "When I grew up there was only one CD I had, which was Bill Withers. And he had a song called Grandma's Hands, and I thought I want to write a song like that so I wrote Lay Your Hands. He had Just The Two of Us so I did After All This Time. And he had Lean On Me, which goes 'Sometimes in our life we all have pain' so I went 'So, is this how it goes?'" So basically he nicked all Bill Withers's songs? "You're damned fucking right I did."

At nearly noon the following day, there is no sign of the boys. I assume they are still in bed. Then I feel a tap on the shoulder. It's Lee, and he fancies heading into Amsterdam for something to eat. Great, I say – what about the others? He'll try calling them. No response, he says.

It's a beautiful day, and we're sitting in the midday sun sharing pizza and pasta and garlic bread, and Lee is talking about his son, Rayn Amethyst (Rayn is an amagram of Ryan, but he's trying to get it changed to Rain), and how he'd like to produce films and write scripts. He's already written one that he hopes to make into a film about a boy with attention deficit disorder who is forcefed the drug Ritalin. Is it autobiographical? "In some ways. They tried to make me take it, yeah. That's why I came up with the idea of the film." And did he take it? "No, and then they kicked me out of school."

When we get back to the hotel the boys are outside waiting for us. "Where've you been?" asks Duncan. "Why didn't you ask us?" Lee did, I say – he rang you. But the boys aren't happy. They start interrogating me.

Antony: "What did he eat?"

"We had pizza, pasta . . ."

Duncan: "We've been measured for our Eurovision suits. He's in trouble."

Lee gets back on the bus just in time to take the heat off me.

Simon: "You're in trouble, young man."

Duncan: "Yeah you're in trouble, bruv."

Duncan gives me a withering look. "You just forcefed him crap, didn't you? Feeder!" Then he looks at Lee. "You're out of order, man. You been eating pizza!"

Lee: "Yeah, what's the matter with that? I had a little bit of pizza."

Simon: "Aha! We've heard, and the garlic bread. He's already grassed you up." The boys are serious, but they're also laughing about it.

We're at the studio of the popular cooking-and-chat show Life 4 You, where Blue will be singing. Sara irons trousers and advises on the routine while the boys warm up with a barbershop number. Their voices are very good. Duncan says they have become better singers since they split up – in his case, largely due to the West End musical training. They sing live, and the mix isn't good – Lee is too low, Duncan can't hear properly. It's not disastrous, just not the impression they'd hoped to make.

Duncan is deflated. "Was I flat?" he asks.

"He's going to be worrying all night now. Checking his Twitter every minute," says Sara. "Anyone taking responsibility for these pants?" she adds, with a pair of briefs in each hand.

Lee arrives a little later. He has been on set cooking with the stars. "Did you see the cooking? I thought I'd get more air time. They gave me a cookbook in Hollish. What's it called, Dutch, sorry. How useful will that be?"

"Just sign that autograph will you, Lee," Duncan says. "In Hollish."

We talk about the hairy moments the band has had in the few months they've been back together. The most public was Antony being caught on camera urinating against a cash machine. To be fair, that's not all he was doing. "I was taking money out, texting my friend to see if she got home all right, and weeing," he says.

"I didn't think you could do that," Sara says. "I thought it was a given that one had to hold one's penis. I didn't think men could multitask, but no one said good on him."

Antony looks shame-faced. "I never got a pat on the back. I've learned the hard way and trust me it will never happen again."

Look, Duncan says, Weegate is already in the past, and now the most important thing is to do the UK proud. "This is just the beginning for Blue," he says.

• Blue's single I Can is released on 1 May on Blue World Records

Sweden: "Popular", Eric Saade - Eurovision Song Contest 2011 - BBC One BBC News http://www.bbc.co.uk/eurovision Just 20 years old, Eric Saade is a singer and former children's TV presenter, famous in his homeland for spending two years in the boyband 'What's Up!'

NRK skal også kaste seg på dansebølgen, De har nemlig påtatt seg oppgaven som vertskringkaster når danseversjonen av Eurovision Song Contest skal arrangeres i juni. Da samles dansere fra ti europeiske land for å konkurrere om hvem som danser best, ifølge Aftenposten.

'Anything you want – love stories, murders, whatever – can be written in these few streets'

The first book written by Dublin's latest literary star had nothing to do with his home city at all. A sprawling state-of-the-nation saga, promisingly titled Your Granny Is a Hunger Striker, it languishes these days in his archive in the National Library, doomed to remain unread. "It's never been published and it never will be," Roddy Doyle says now, nearly 30 years after he wrote it. "Because it's utter shite. I sent it to every agent and publisher I could find – and either it wasn't coming back, or it was coming back unopened. There's nothing at all in it of the area I grew up in. It's absent."

He didn't make the same mistake twice. "Paul Mercier [the playwright] was teaching in the same school as me at the time; he was writing these plays set in working-class Dublin, and they were brilliant. He shoved me in the right direction. In the winter of 1986 I started writing the book that became The Commitments, and it's riddled with the place I come from. It made me realise the area's worth writing about. Anything you want – love stories, murders, whatever – can be written in these few streets."

Doyle grew up in Kilbarrack, a straggle of shops and houses on Dublin's fringes. It resurfaces in his novels as Barrytown, the name lifted from a 1974 Steely Dan song: Doyle, like Jimmy Rabbitte, hero of The Commitments, knows his music. These days, Doyle's name is better known than the official one; he recounts tales of taxi drivers who've made a mint out of people demanding to be taken to see it. "I suppose it was a defence, to a degree," he says of the decision to rename it. "If I'd called it Kilbarrack it would've been restricting. There's a pub there, for example, that's not 100 miles from the pub in The Snapper and The Van [the second and third volumes of his Barrytown trilogy], but the point is meant to be that it could be any pub on the outskirts of Dublin. Changing the name gave me freedom."

It also served to derail any search for real-life counterparts of the hyper-ordinary men and women who shuttle through his pages. Doyle's novels, particularly the earlier ones, are fundamentally exercises in people watching. Nothing much happens; in fact, the books are remarkable for their unremarkability: the three Barrytown novels can be summarised, respectively, as "kids form a band then split up", "girl accidentally gets pregnant and has the baby" and "man loses his job and runs a chip van with his mate". Their urgency lies rather in the psychological realism Doyle brings to his characters' responses to their commonplace dramas, the sympathetic warmth with which he paints their unexceptional lives.

This sympathy is particularly evident in Doyle's latest story collection, Bullfighting. Once again, the substance of the stories – middle-aged men, coping, or failing to, with decline – is mundane; once again, the remarkable thing about them is the compassion with which Doyle, 52, treats his protagonists. While he invokes all the usual signifiers – the hair loss, the cancer scares – customarily reached for when writing about men whose lives have passed their highwater mark, he nevertheless permits his heroes to be happy. These are men who love their wives, by and large; who take their physical failings more or less in their stride. The one thing they appear unable to accommodate, however, is unemployment. Several of the stories were written in the wake of the Irish bailout, and over them the shadow of the scrapheap looms. "It's happening anyway," Doyle says of the crash. "Why wouldn't you write about it?"

The peaks and troughs of the past half-century have given Doyle plenty to write about; in fact, if you're looking for a primer of contemporary Irish history, you could do worse than start with his novels. His latest collection paints a picture of life in Ireland after the death of the Celtic tiger, the Barrytown trilogy documents the recession of the 80s and early 90s, and his short-story collection on economic immigrants, The Deportees, gives a flavour of the boom-time in between. His Booker prizewinning novel, Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha, meanwhile, marks the moment where it all began: the 1960s, when Dublin was in the grip of its first wave of expansion fever. The book charts a year in the life of its 10-year-old narrator, Patrick, in a spatter of impressionistic episodes, all told in childhood's endless present tense, in which the passage of time is conveyed only by encroaching construction works and the gathering cloud of his parents' collapsing marriage. Doyle himself, born in 1958, is the same age as Paddy. While he's adamant the book isn't autobiographical ("My mother, who's more qualified to answer the question, doesn't see me in it at all"), incidents from his own childhood punctuate the text. And Doyle and his narrator share something unique to mid-20th-century children: a sense of being neither too early nor too late, of the world keeping pace with their own progress.

"When I was born, Kilbarrack was right on the edge of Dublin – city on one side, fields on the other," Doyle says. "But as I was growing up, the city corporation bought up the farmland and started building. From when I was eight or nine right into my teens, it seemed like the whole place was a permanent building site, changing as I changed. In retrospect it sounds a bit neat and tidy, but it really was like that. And it wasn't just me, it was the whole country. Modernity was coming up the road as the cement was drying."

Perhaps the pace of change at home explains why he never felt the need to leave. After graduating from University College Dublin, he fell into teaching and ended up at Greendale Community School, round the corner from the house he grew up in. Going back there allowed him to perceive it with a freshness that would serve him well when it made its way into his work. "It really opened my eyes to the place," he says now, "though I wasn't thinking of it in terms of writing. It was a good few years before I saw it as material."

After the cul-de-sac of Your Granny Is a Hunger Striker, the books began to flow. The Commitments, which Doyle published through a company he set up for the purpose before Heinemann snapped it up, was a cult hit; the 1991 film version a mainstream one. The other Barrytown novels spawned films of their own, and The Van garnered an unexpected Booker shortlisting. But it was Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha that forced the gear change. Doyle's freewheeling depiction of a Dublin childhood achieved moderate popular acclaim on publication, but its triumph at the Booker in 1993 turned Doyle into a bona fide phenomenon. The book sat at number one on the Irish bestseller list for a year; at one point, his first three books were also in the top five. Doyle was feted by an eager press as working-class Dublin's jaunty laureate – though anyone who cared to take a close look at his books might have noted that despite the earthy humour, their emotional trajectory, from the romp of The Commitments to Paddy Clarke's disintegrating ending, was firmly downward. "It was a strange thing," Doyle says. "Suddenly there were requests to turn up to Irish Man of the Year, photo opportunities with the horse who won the Melbourne Gold Cup, because we'd both brought glory to our country! Until Family came out."

Throughout the Paddy Clarke brouhaha, Doyle had been quietly plugging away at a four-part BBC/RTE series that painted a very different picture of his city. The title sequence, in which dirty blocks of flats loom out of the mist like sea cliffs, panned over a Dublin that wasn't just poor, but grey, defeated. Each episode focused on a different member of the Spencer family – Charlo, smalltime crook and abusive husband, troubled teenager John Paul, Nicola, whose relationship with her father is slipping into turbulent waters, and Paula, Charlo's battered, broken wife. In the Barrytown trilogy, family sat solidly at the books' heart – knotty, certainly, but cherished, relied upon; in Paddy Clarke, although the story is one of familial breakdown, the institution itself is never questioned. In Family, however, the drama derives directly from the flaws and fissures within the unit, its fatal warping. The interactions between its members are joyless, alcohol-fuelled and destructive; the collective loyalty that sustained the characters in the earlier novels is gone.

"It caused a storm," Doyle says, with something between a grimace and a grin. "The first episode was broadcast in Ireland in May 1994, a few days after the Eurovision Song Contest. What was significant about this particular Eurovision was that it unleashed Riverdance, this Vegas version of our culture. I'm not kidding: it was a major moment for Ireland. The country was sexy for the first time since St Patrick came over and brought his fuckin' Christianity with him. And Family was on four days later. People said, 'Ah, just when we were feeling good about ourselves . . .'"

The repercussions were beyond anything he could have imagined. Doyle went overnight from Ireland's darling to national pariah. "The celebrity status that attached to me when I won the Booker, invitations to open supermarkets and all that shite – it stopped the day Family was broadcast. There were accusations that I was suggesting this was normal working-class life, that I was undermining marriage. I was the subject of sermons, editorials, political programmes on TV. I got death threats. It was a very unsettling time, especially with two small children." (Doyle married his wife Belinda in 1989; the couple have two sons and a daughter.) "I knew what I was writing, and I was proud of it, but I didn't know it would have such consequences."

While the controversy triggered by the series continued to rage, Doyle holed up to spend more time with Family's most complicated, compromised character. "When I was writing the final episode, Paula's episode, I found myself wondering about her. What was she like as a kid? How did she meet Charlo? Why – that almost accusatory question we ask of people who've been in bad relationships – did she marry him? And I thought, there's a book there."

There was – but it turned out to be the most difficult thing he'd ever attempted. The Woman Who Walked Into Doors took the character of Paula Spencer – alcoholic, careening, desperate but still stubbornly clinging to her life – and produced a bleak, brave book that is widely held to be his finest creation. "Writing an alcoholic woman was hard," he says. "Biology and circumstances put me a long way from her. It was a very slow piece of work at first. It took me a long time to get the register. Then in the second year, it began to click. Chapter 25, the longest one, the emotional heart of the book – it took just two days to write; it flowed out of me. By that point, I knew exactly what I wanted to do."

In chapter 25, Paula recalls the first time Charlo hit her, when she was pregnant with their first child. "I fell," Paula says, "He felled me. I'm looking at it now. Twenty years later. I wouldn't do what he wanted, he was in his moods, I was being smart, he hated me being pregnant, I wasn't his little Paula anymore – and he drew his fist back and he hit me. He hit me. Before he knew it? He drew his own fist back, not me. He aimed at me. He let go. He hit me. He wanted to hurt me. And he did. And he did more than that." The stiff, fractured sentences and hammering repetitions convey the brutality of Paula's marriage, and the mental excisions she has had to perform to survive it. "It is the triumph of the novel," Mary Gordon wrote in the New York Times Book Review, "that Mr Doyle – entirely without condescension – shows the inner life of this battered housecleaner to be the same stuff as that of the heroes of the great novels of Europe."

The novel transmuted the undifferentiated clamour that greeted Family into serious, respectful admiration. It also gave Doyle the freedom and confidence to embark on his most technically ambitious project yet. His writing had always been of the here and now; in the case of Family pressingly so. But his next excursion took him all the way back in time to the birth of modern Ireland. His hero, Henry Smart – street-thug turned IRA poster boy – proves a prickly, slippery guide to the Irish century, ducking and weaving his way through the history of the republican movement, from the clean fury of the Easter Rising to the 1970s' churn of backstabbing and internal politics, over the course of three volumes that became known collectively as The Last Roundup trilogy.

"It was a very exciting thing to do," he says of his trawl through his country's backstory. "My grandfathers had both been . . . 'involved', the word is, with the republicans. So it was there in the house, if you like; it was in the air. A tiny fragment of the population believed they'd inherited the chalice from the leaders of the 1916 rising. So strapping a bomb to a taxi driver and making him drive to a checkpoint, or kneecapping a kid, or whatever it was, was in the name of Ireland and therefore right. I knew I'd enjoy delving into that. And that notion of poking fun at republicans has always been there, too. When I was in secondary school and the Christian Brothers were getting teary-eyed talking about the men who died for Ireland, we'd all be whispering, 'Blow it out yer arse, brother'. The books were just doing that in a more disciplined way. It was a nice job."

Now, though, with Bullfighting published, Doyle is returning to familiar territory. "I'm actually writing about Jimmy Rabbitte again, as a man in his mid-40s. I thought it'd be interesting to see how he perceived the world today: he went through the recession, married and had children during the boom, and now everything's gone belly up. Three years ago, when the crash kicked in, I found the immediate nostalgia a bit sickening. The radio jumped straight on the 80s soundtrack, and there was a lot of gleeful nonsense about how we'd become too materialistic, as if it was somehow a good thing we were sinking into this mush. And I thought to myself, Jimmy'd be a good guide. A dreamer, but at the same time very down to earth, for want of a better cliché."

After nine novels and almost three decades, Doyle is back where he started. Although, of course, he's never really been away.

Surely you remember British boy band Blue, they are back and have announced that they will reunite for a reunion tour and album. Blue will also be representing the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Germany, with their song "I Can" which was written by Duncan James, Lee Ryan, Ciaron Bell, Ben Collier, Liam Keenan, StarSign and Ian Hope and will be available on May 8th. They have also been writing for Ne Yo's album and are working on a track entitled "Black And Blue" with the talented Bruno Mars for their new album.
TheNext2Shine: Exclusive RNB Music Downloads

PanARMENIAN.Net - On April 9, Orange Armenia headquarters hosted a premier of Boom-Boom music video to be presented by Armenian singer Emmy at Eurovision 2011 song contest.

Fans of 1980s British pop listen up – The original Bucks Fizz celebrates the 30th Anniversary of its Eurovision Song Contest win with a one-off concert in London, with tickets sold in aid of Make-A-Wish.

Join Cheryl Baker, Mike Nolan and Jay Ashton on Monday 11 July at the London Palladium to celebrate their 1981 Eurovision Song Contest win with “Making Your Mind Up”. Also starring is the well-known Abba tribute group Bjorn Again.

This one off special concert starts at 7.00pm.

A limited number of VIP tickets are on sale in aid of Make-A-Wish for £85.00 which includes:

• The Best Royal Circle seats
• Access to the VIP Lounge and a meet and greet with the members of the Original Bucks Fizz and other artists
• Complimentary glass of bucks fizz before the concert and in the interval
• Free programme and a goody bag of Original Bucks Fizz merchandise

To reserve your VIP Tickets please contact Make-A-Wish on 01276 405084 or ashley.cole@make-a-wish.org.uk

Related past articles

• Ringo Starr Makes A Wish Come True For Young Cancer Survivor
• Jamie Foxx Rocks Michael Jordan's Celebrity Charity Golf Event
• Michael Jordan Gets Celebrity Support For Charity Golf Invitational
• Make-A-Wish Kids To Celebrate Wrestlemania With John Cena
• Jeff Gordon Grants Sick Teen's Wish

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NRK har første gang på tre år lisenspenger igjen. Overskuddet kommer til tross for at 2010 var et krevende år med både OL i Vancouver, den internasjonale finalen i Eurovision Song Contest og bortfall av reklameinntekter på NRK.no. Sist gang NRK leverte et årsregnskap i pluss var i 2006.

The earth is ruled by 7ft-tall reptilian aliens. It must be true, because Lee Ryan from Eurovision hopefuls Blue says so

Lost in Showbiz loves the world of the celebrity gossip magazine. It sees it as a glimpse into an alternate, better world, a world packed full of vital information ("Tara Palmer-Tomkinson was rumoured to have married a Rastafarian on a Harwich to Hamburg ferry in 2000"), a world where they confront problems head-on with incredible lateral thinking. Last week, faced with the lot of Jack Tweed, still coming to terms with the loss of his wife Jade Goody on the second anniversary of her death, it adduced that the most dignified course of action was to get him to pose for a photograph by a mirror, from which, via the miracle of Photoshop, his late wife appeared to look on, smiling. This week, OK! has deemed the correct way to address the eating disorder that has caused model Nicola McLean to lose 7st since the birth of her child is a series of "sexy" topless photographs that deliberately conceal her anorexia: "These posed shots of Nicola – in full makeup, with her hair extensions perfectly styled – go some way to disguising the illness." Don't worry about the eating disorder that's caused your body weight to halve in 18 months – you look great!

And yet it can't help but feel it's a world with something of a spiritual void lurking at its centre. There's obviously Lost in Showbiz's old chums, Inspirational Life Coaches Nik and Eva Speakman, to whom we learn McLean has turned for treatment. And it's true that "crazy games", "mad music", dressing up like Father Christmas and encouraging you to make a Wow List before you go to bed at night very much have the edge over, say, a combined course of medical nutritional therapy and cognitive remediation when it comes to treating anorexia, particularly when the Inspirational Life Coaches in question share the same management company as you. But there's only so much one couple can take on their shoulders, even with the help of their pet skeleton Mr Bones. Where else to look for spiritual guidance in the world of celebrity?

Happily, LiS has the answer: quest no longer, seekers of a greater truth, Lee Ryan from Blue is back, using the platform afforded him by noted philosophical journal Heat magazine to spread his message of enlightenment. "I think there's going to be a revelation of spirit," he said, alas neglecting to mention whether this would coincide with Blue's appearance representing Britain in the forthcoming Eurovision song contest. "I think people and their minds are going to change. I don't think the end of the world is the end of the world. I think there's a spiritual evolution coming. You can feel it." He went on to clarify that said ideas have been subject to the rigorous intellectual scrutiny of Duncan from Blue – "we talk about this stuff all the time" – before admonishing the public for failing to notice his profundity: "I don't think people expect us to have any insight into this kind of thing."

LiS rolls its eyes in sympathy. Hasn't the public noticed the deep mindfulness and mysticism in his pronouncements on Twitter, every one a 140-character homily designed to heal, uplift and transform: "Fuck off pigface!", "bro honestly you look like Shrek with that nose! You can't say shit with that face!"

For too long, we have been denied his unique brand of sagacity. The only news LiS had was that Ryan had named his first child Rayn Lee Ryan ("it's an anagram of Ryan," he helpfully attested, having presumably ditched the idea of anagrammatising his first name as well and calling his son Eel), and a brief interview during which he favoured the world with the news that there were four types of aliens: "the greys", "the ones that are about 8ft tall", "the ones that are kind of like, you know, Asian looking" and "the reptiles that are about 7ft tall and really aggressive" and who, furthermore, rule the earth. "If you look you can see a reptile sign in things that are part of our culture. I'm not going to say what. You have to look for yourself," he said, before striking a note of caution. "You're not allowed to talk about this stuff. You get into trouble. From the government? Yeah."

Since then, silence, broken only by the occasional thought-provoking Tweet ("Bazman? More like Spazman"). LiS longed for the halcyonic days of 2005, when Ryan's thoughts on the origins of life were regularly sought and generously given ("the Egyptian thing – I swear it's to do with aliens and shit and that's where we come from"). We were promised not merely a nine-minute song about Jesus, but a book of poetry, the excitement around the latter heightened by the appearance of a four-verse work about Princess Diana: "we never took an interest in what you used to do", it offered, which is a slightly odd thing to say about the most famous and photographed woman in the world, but that's a wildly original and brilliant mind at work for you.

And now, mercifully, it seems those days are back. The seer is once more among us! Lost in Showbiz awaits further pearls, while busily making preparations for the forthcoming revelation of spirit.

Belarus faced difficulties in preparation for Eurovision song contest; Anastasia Vinnikova will represent the country this year.

The world’s biggest party is back with greater glam and shorter skirts - Eurovision Song Contest returns to Stratos TV (Freeview channel 21) from May 11.

Competition is fierce as glitter, big hair, over the top costumes and incredible voices come together in this massive entertainment spectacle.

The first semi-final airs at 8pm on Wednesday, May 11 on Stratos TV. This will be followed by the second semi-final on Friday, May 13 at 8pm which will lead up to the grand final on Sunday May, 15 at 8pm. All the shows screen on the day of the contest.

With Facebook fans calling for the show to be aired in New Zealand, avid fan Aaron Halliwell is one of the keen supporters of the show.

“It's unashamedly entertaining,” says Aaron. “I love how Eurovision brings acts from across Europe in a variety of languages together.”

read more

Zdob si Zdub group, which will represent Moldova at 2011 Eurovision song contest, is admired by Armenian music and cuisine.

Israeli entertainers are getting around. ISRAEL21c profiles the country’s favorite transsexual Dana International, basking in the glow of being chosen for the second time to represent the country at the annual Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Germany on May 14. The last time she appeared in the contest, in 1998, she won with [...]

At Speaksy Yerevan's club, the band will perform its Videli Noch hit song, as well as the song So Lucky to be presented at the contest.

Miss Purple reviews the first semi-final of the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest.

JEDWARD hire a vocal coach to help them prepare for their entry to song contest

JEDWARD hire a vocal coach to help them prepare for their entry in to song contest

Tina Karol - Namalyuyu Tobi - Video & Lyrics Lovely enchanting song Namalyuyu Tobi Zori, I will draw you the stars, by Ukranian singer Tina Karol.  Lovely lyrics and melody to a wonderful love song beautifully sung by this popular star.  Tina Karol represented the Ukraine in the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest with the song ‘Show Me Your Love’. Enjoy the video and lyrics below. Lyrics for Namalyuyu Tobi by Tina Karol Намалюю тобі зорі, / Namalyuyu tobi zori / I will draw for you the stars Що падуть з небес вночі… / Scho padut ...

Tonight, the third and last semi-final of the Ukrainian national selection for the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest took place. Again, five acts have qualified for the final.

Twitter-Collab: @sebinomics, @aendu und ich (@dworni) wollten ursprünglich am Eurovision Song Contest 2010 mit einem eigenen Song teilnehmen. Sebi schrieb diesen Song, wir spielten den ein, merkten aber dann, dass dieser vielleicht in der Form nicht geeignet für eine Einreichung wäre und veröffentlichen nun dieses Twitter-Liedchen für unsere Follower als Weihnachtsgeschenk. :-)

30 artists have been preselected by TVE, the Spanish broadcaster, to represent them at the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest. Only 24 of them will make it to the live TV shows.

Armenian pop star Emma Bejanyan, better known as Emmy, will represent Armenia in the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) in Dusseldorf, Germany, from May 10-14. Emmy will represent Armenia in the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest. The president of the Council of Public Television and Radio Company of Armenia, Alexan Harutyunyan, announced the council’s decision on Dec. 11. “Emmy [...]