Ireland has one of the best balance sheets in the Eurovision Song Contest history. Apart from its record seven victories, the country gained four second places, one third place, and nineteen top ten placings to date. Over the past decade, Ireland has sent mostly uptempo songs to the Contest, and …

Elitsa Todorova and Stoyan Yankoulov represented Bulgaria for the first time in 2007, when they finished an excellent fifth place with the song Voda (Water), it’s the country’s best result to date. This year, Bulgarian broadcaster BNT invited the duo directly to write songs for a national selection. Samo Shampioni …

When it comes to Eurovision, Israel hat its most successful era during the late 1970s, early 80s: two victories in a row in 1978 and 1979, with Izhar Cohen & Alphabeta (A-Ba-Ni-Bi) and Milk & Honey feat. Gali Atari (Hallelujah), respectively, followed by two second places in a row in …

Malta debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1971. After three not so successful entries, the island state decided to withdraw after their 1975 participation and returned only 16 years later for the 1991 Contest held in Rome, Italy. Since then, Malta is a constant participant, hasn’t won yet, but …

The Icelandic national final for Malmö 2013 was held on 2 February, and Eythor Ingi (Gunnlaugsson) came out the winner with the song Ég Á Líf (I have a life), written by Örlygur Smári & Pétur Örn Gudmundsson. While it was Eythor Ingi’s first participation in the national selection, the …

Dina Garipova won the Russian TV talent show ‘The Voice’. Reason enough for broadcaster Channel One to internally select the 22-year old singer from the Republic of Tatarstan as the country’s representative for the 58th Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö. And as it has become a habit for many Eastern …