Melodifestivalen 2012 Week: Europe's biggest National Selection to the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 takes place this weekend in Sweden's capital Stockholm where out of various Semi Finals and a Second Chance Contest ten finalists will be batteling it out for the ticket to Baku and subsequently represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012. This week Radio International is in Melodifestivalen Mood. So feel free to request as many songs from Melodifestivalen past and present and JP is happy to fulfil your request during the show of course, time permitting. In addition to the music our rowing reporter Lilian Brunell has been attending the Second Chance Show on Saturday and was able to do some interviews before, during and after the show. All interviews will be broadcast on Radio International this week. See below for detailed information.  

 

Interview with Christer Bjoerkman - Mr. Melodifestivalen:  Christer Bjoerkman is the main driving force behind Sweden's Melodifestivalen as Executive Producer. Christer himself took part in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1992 reaching Number 22 with the song "I morgon är en annan dag" (Tomorrow is another day). Lilian met Christer right after the Andra Chansen Show last Saturday for a brief interview. 

 

Interview with Sarah Dawn Finer: Together with Helena Bergström and Gina Dirawi, Sarah Dawn Finer are the hosts of the Melodifestivalen 2012. For those of you who don't know the Melodifestivalen is Sweden's Selection Process to find the most successful song to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest. Sarah has been part of it as well as a singer a couple of times. In 2007 she was in the Final reaching Number 4 with the song "I remember love" and then her second attempt to get the ticket to the Eurovision Song Contest was in 2009 with the song "Moving on" with which she got as high as Number 6 in the Melodifestivalen Final in 2009. Radio International's Scandinavian Eurovision Reporter Lilian also met Sarah for an interview.

 

Interview with the Top Cats (Melodifestivalen 2012):  The Top Cats made it to the Final of the Melodifestivalen 2012 with the song "Baby Doll" which will be starting as Song Number 5 in the Final on Saturday. The song is co-written by Susie Päivärinta who also was part of Lili & Susie from Melodifestivalen 1989 ("Okey Okey") and just a mere 20 years on they returned to Melodifestivalen 2009 with the song "Show me heaven".

 

Interview with Susie Päivärinta of Lili & Susie fame (Melodifestivalen 1989 & 2009): Susie co-wrote the song "Baby Doll" which will be performed at Number 5 in this years Final of Melodifestivalen. Details on Susie see above: She was part of the duo Lili & Susie together with her sister. Lilian also interviewed Susie which you can hear this week on the show.  

 

Interview with Andreas Johnson (Melodifestivalen 2012):  Andreas Johnson competed quite a number of times at the Melodifestivalen to obtain the ticket to the Eurovision Song Contest. He came Third in the Final of the Melodifestivalen 2006 with the song "Sing for me". Then he almost got the ticket in 2007 when he reached Number 2 in the Final of Melodifestivalen with the song "A little bit of love". He tried it again but this time with Winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 1991and three times representative Carola, however, the song "One Love" only made it to the Second Chance. Finally, in 2010 Andreas went back as a soloist with the song "We can work it out" reaching Number 6 in the Melodifestivalen Final. His biggest ever hit in the Swedish music charts was "Glorious" he released in 1999 but was not connected to Melodifestivalen at all. Now in 2012 it will be his fifth attempt to obtain the ticket to the Eurovision Song Contest and representing Sweden. Unfortunately, Andreas did not make it to the Final of Melodifestivalen 2012 as he dropped out of the Andra Chansen last Saturday. However, Lilian also has been chatting again with Andreas.  

 

Interview with Sean Banan (Melodifestivalen 2012): Sean is a Swedish TV personality and standup comedian originating from Iran. His real name is Sean Samadi and made it to the Andra Chansen of Melodifestivalen 2012 with the song "Sean den förste Banan". After the Dress Rehearsal Lilian could get Sean in front of the mike for a funny interview which you can also hear on this week's edition of Radio International.  

 

Maltese Artist Spotlight - Richard Edwards: Malta is a country with so much great music talents however, the country lacks of a record company which promotes the Maltese Music outside Malta. With Radio International we try to bring into the spotlight some of the big talents there is in Malta. Continuing a new series this week Radio International will broadcast each week an interview with a Maltese artists. This week hear the interview with Richard Edwards. Richard is a huge voice in the Malta Music Scene. At the 2011 edition of the Malta Eurovision Song Contest he came second to Glen Vella who's "One Life" became Malta's entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. Richard's song was "Finally" just missing out by a couple of points. In 2012 he tried again his luck with the formidabble "Look at me now" reaching Number 5 in the Malta Eurovision Song Contest 2012. Find out more about Richard and his band by listening to our interview with the young charismatic singer from Malta this week on Radio International.  

 

Eurovision Song Contest Spotlight - "The National Finals so far" with Ross Bennett:  Until the end of the National Final Season  for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 (10 March 2011) the new series continuous this week on Radio International  where our Eurovision specialists are taking a weekly look at the songs that have been selected for Baku so far or some of the highlights in the various heats of the National Finals.  The Irish voice on Radio International takes a look at the songs that have been selected to represent their country at the Eurovsion Song Contest 2012 in Baku: Bulgaria, Estonia, FYRO Macedonia, Israel, Italy, Lithuania and Spain.

 

Euro Friends Song Contest 2012 with Andy Simon: The next season of the Euro Friends Song Contest is under way in search for the ultimate Eurovision song as voted for by the many fans around the world.  Andy  Simon joins us every week to reveal the qualifiers for the next round.  The website of the Euro Friends Song Contest you will find here where you can easily vote for your favourite Eurovision song per country and also see The Euro-Friends TV Show as hosted by Andy Simon. You can also join the Facebook Group here. This week Andy looks at the next qualifiers from Heats 40 (Portugal).