Glenys Vargas for Eurovision 2011?

Remember the foxy choir chick behind Albania's Juliana Pasha on stage in Oslo? We remember thinking she didn't look very Albanian, and it turns out she's far from it. Check out the story behind why Albania ended up having three American backing singers on stage, on Glenys Vargas' blog, and yes it's her in the middle:

This could have been the end to an interesting story, and it sure is entertaining to get some juicy gossip on Glenys' blog from behind the scenes from an "outsider gone insider's" view. We are very sorry that we didn't get to meet her in Oslo as she sounds like heaps of fun to hang out with.

However, now it seems like the story will continue so let's join Glenys in Part 2 of her exciting Eurovision adventure. During her experience in Oslo, the native born New Yorker Glenys grew to become a huge Eurovision fan, and we certainly like the ring of that! It just proves to show the universal appeal of this wonderful contest. We already know how crazy the Australians are about Eurovision, a special relationship we learned a whole lot about after reading this nicely penned article on ESCInsight. And we have been told that there's a growing interest across the pond as well.

Glenys is for the time being based in Rome, Italy and recently we found out that she has started her search for a country to represent in next year's contest in Düsseldorf, this time as a lead singer. How cool is that? She tried out for Austria first together with London based rapper Kevin Ettienne, but unfortunately none of their entries were among the lucky 30 when the selection got narrowed down first time around. However Glenys is not going to give in that easy and she's having another shot trying to become picked up by other countries' selection rounds and we are of course crossing our fingers hoping she will succeed.

One of the songs she entered the Austrian selection with, "Let the Music Unite Us", Glenys wrote especially with Eurovision in mind and she describes it as a song that makes you dance. It has a pop beat with some world music influences and a touch of David Guetta style plus a Jamaican rap. Although it wasn't picked up by the Austrians we have a feeling that it perhaps will pop up somewhere else since it has been revealed through Glenys' fanpage on Facebook that she has shot a video for this song which includes a Flash Mob from Rome. Sounds very exciting and like a nice Eurovision tribute to the pan European Flash Mob we all danced along to some months ago in Oslo.

We have no idea whether Glenys will make it to Düsseldorf as an artist this year, but we love her for trying and for sharing the passion with us. We wish her the very best of luck and recommend our readers to check out Glenys' Facebook page, to find out more and support her in her quest of finding a country to represent in ESC. Besides, if you are curious about the Flash Mob music video it will be posted there tomorrow!

Albanian final tonight

Merry Christmas everybody from the bottom of our cups of eggnog. We had to add considerable amounts of rum to be able to endure a quick flip through the 18 finalists of tonight's 49th edition of the Festivali i Këngës. The Albanians will treat us to an extra Christmas pressie as usual as they will be the second country to choose their entry for Düsseldorf 2011. And by the look of it, this might very well be a ballad.

Here's the final line-up selected through two semifinals (thanks to esctoday for info):

Finalists from semi-final 1
• Selami Kolonja – Ëndërr Kosovë

• Miriam Cani & Alban Skenderaj – Ende ka shpresë

• Dorina Garuci – Mirëmbrëma ëngjëlli im

• Orges Toçe – Mari

• Kamela Islami - Jetova për ty
• Marsida Saraçi – Vetëm s’jemi në botë

• Dorian Nini – Mirësevini në Shqipëri

• Hersiana Matmuja – Me cilin rri ti dashuri

• Maria Prifti - Pasuri e pasurive (newcomer)

Finalists from semi-final 2
• Besa Kokëdhima - E bukura dhe bisha

• Saimir Braho - Shtegëtar i jetës time
• Enkelejda Arifi - Një dashuri

• Denis Hasa - Mbi xhaketën time

• Goldi Halili - Në krahët tua
• Françesk Radi - Kemi dasëm' o

• Xhejsi Jorgaqi - Rastësi

• Aurela Gaçe - Kënga ime

• Albi Xhepa & Sam Jaupaj – Dritë (newcomer)

We are trying really hard to pick a couple of highlights for you, but to be honest we find this to be a rather weak bunch, and we can't imagine any of the entries doing well in the international Eurovision final. However we do suspect that some of the entries might be a grower and the Albanians are also known for re-vamping the winning song which usually is an improvement. They also tend to change the language to English, which we don't take a particular liking to.

It will be interesting to see whether the song Ëndërr Kosovë by Selami Kolonja will stand a chance. At least the song title implies enough political connotations to cause tensions between the Balkan neighbors. Marsida Saraçi with Vetëm s’jemi në botë has the potential to become a funky floor stomper and those who want a sugar coated love duet should check out the Albanian Barbie and Ken Miriam Cani & Alban Skenderaj's Ende ka shpresë. GEE are always suckers for the ethno influenced entries and in that department there's enough to go around for everybody, but most of the songs are too slow and in combination with too much eggnog it just makes us very sleepy. Aurela Gaçe does her best to wake us up with her shouty song Kënga ime, catchy, but in the end, in lack of a better word, simply too shouty to become a favorite.

This final is wide open, we have no idea how the Albanians will vote tonight. We can only hope to be pleasantly surprised by a smash entry that went under the GEE radar first time around.

Edit: looks like all the videos uploaded on YouTube (which we based this review on) have been blocked. According to esctoday you can watch the webcast live from the final through this link from 20:30 CET.

Semi-Final 1

The rehearsals for the semi-finals have kicked off and with this, the speculations around which countries will proceed to the big final. We find the prediction game rather mind wrenching, and with the 50/50 jury and televote system it makes it even harder to guess the lucky 10 in each semi-final.

That's why we will settle for choosing our personal favorites which according to our opinion, in a perfect world without war, global warming and Dutch schlagers, would snatch a ticket to the final. Amazingly we agree on most entries. We suppose we have brainwashed each other and have pretty much morphed into one person by now. Ok, nuff said, here’s our pick for Semi-Final 1!

• Albania 
• Belgium
• Estonia
• Finland
• Greece
• Latvia
• Moldova
• Poland
• Serbia
• Slovakia

And yeah, we know, it probably won't be these ten. Besides, we are in agony since we’re actually starting to like Russia. And who can resist Belarus’ butterflies? And omg Iceland, we love you and we so wish we could like Hera Björk’s eurotrash. But we don’t.

Which are your favorites from semi-final 1?

Albanian Cougar Town

Albania tends to do best when they send cute, young girls to defend their flag's colors and we like them best when they include ethnic sounds and sing in their native language, like sweet sixteen Olta Boka did with "Zemrën e lamë peng" in 2008. 

From this point of view is this year's entry miles away their usual recipe. Juliana Pasha is an old lady, turning the whopping age of 30 during Eurovision week, she sings in English and there's not one peculiar ethnic string instrument in sight! Still, after listening to it a few times, we have decided to like it. We don't love it, but it's not that bad. Juliana has a cool attitude, a good voice and a groovy song. But is it just us, or doesn't she look a bit ... old for her age? Don't get us wrong, she looks like a million dollars, but we can't help but think in a sort of cougarish way. After all that's a bit early when you have barely turned 30. Oh well, we suppose there's nothing wrong with acting all grown-up and mature when that's in fact what you are, there's enough teenage girls in this year's competition already.  

Albania is always one of the first countries to select their ESC entry and in hindsight it was a really smart move for them to select an up beat party song which will stand out in Balladomania. Should be fairly easy to proceed from Semi Final 1, we predict.