Around the Continent 2023: Week 9

As we continue our weekly series Around The Continent, we will discuss the news and tell the story of each country’s preparation for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023.

As we reported last week, it looks like RTSH is considering not releasing the song before “Festivali i Këngës 61

Flemish broadcaster VRT, revealed the 7 participants in “Eurosong 2023″:

  1. Cherine Mroue
  2. The Starlings
  3. Gala Dragot
  4. Hunter Falls
  5. Loredana
  6. Gustaph
  7. Ameerah

According to Songfestival.be website, we can reveal some details about the songs:

  • Gala Dragot – Her songs weren’t specially prepared for Eurovision
  • Loredana hinted that she might sing in Dutch or Italian, and not necessarily in English.
  • Gustaph‘s songs will be in the genre of house and electro.
  • Cherine Mroue will try her luck with 1980’s pop.
  • Hunter Falls will probably bring ecletic pop.
  • The Starlings will try to defeat Tom Dice’s achievement in 2010. They collaborated with various writers.
  • Ameerah will bring a mysterious and unexpected style – America meets Europe

Belgian Eurosong 2023 – Additional Details

  • 7 artists will participate in the national selection.
  • Each one of the artists will perform 2 different songs for the public. One of them will make it to the final.
  • The songs will be revealed starting on the 9th of January 2023
  • Eurosong 2023″ final will be held on the  14th of January 2023 at Palace 12, Brussels.
  • On the final, the 7 artists will perform, one song per artist.
  • The results will be determined by a combination of a public vote and a professional jury.
  •  Duncan Laurence, who won Eurovision 2019, representing The Netherlands, will be part of the professional jury

According to unofficial reports, Luka (who was the lead singer of Hooverphonic, for Eurovision 2020), has also submitted songs for Eurovision 2023. However, she was rejected by VRT.

We would guess that one of her intended songs was:

So far, HRT has received 50 submissions for “Dora 2023″.
The submission window will close on the 20th of November 2022.
Between 12 and 28 songs will be shortlisted to participate in “Dora 2023“.
The songs will be chosen by a combination of HRT employees, professional jury and Eurovision fans.


Dora 2023” will be held in February 2023, in the city of Opatija.

Danish broadcaster DR has announced the hosts for the “Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2023“: Tina Müller and Heino Hansen.

8 artists will take part in the selection.
The final will be held on the 11th of February 2023, at Arena Næstved

Singer Shaya (Marianna Chantelle Hansen) who participated in the Greek selection for Eurovision 2015, has submitted a song for “Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2023”.
Shaya is a 39 year old Danish born Greek singer.

Georgia will select an artist for Eurovision 2023 via “The Voice of Georgia“.
Georgian broadcaster GPB reveals 3 of its coaches:

#1. Sopho Toroshelidze 

Sopho was the lead singer of Eldrine who represented Georgia at Eurovision 2011.
In 2014, she joined the jury panel of “X Factor Georgia“. She has also been part of the Georgian jury for Junior Eurovision.

#2. Stephane Mgebrishvili 

Stephane is a 43 year old Georgian composer. He has been a judge on “X Factor Georgia” and “The Voice of Georgia“.
He is mostly known in the Eurovision fandom as part of Stephane and 3G, who should represent Georgia at Eurovision 2009 (but later on disqualified).


#3. Dato Evgenidze

Dato is a Georgian composer. He composed soundtracks for theatre and cinema.
He is also well known for being a juror in “Renina” (Georgian selection for Junior Eurovision).

Germany has confirmed the details of the national selection for Eurovision 2023 – “Unser Lied für Liverpool“:

  1. The submission window will close on the 28th of November 2022.
  2. The German broadcaster might approach record labels and musicians to submit songs for selection.
  3. Another path for the selection will be made through Tik-Tok.
  4. The expert jury will review both the regular path and Tik-Tok’s submission.
  5. The expert jury will be composed of:
    • Experts from the music industry
    • German Eurovision delegation
    • International Eurovision figures
    • ARD pop radio stations in an advisory capacity
  6. An unknown number of acts will be selected to participate in the final: From the regular submission, several acts will continue directly for the final. While on the Tik-Tok path, the panel will narrow down the list and will let the public choose one of them to get a ticket for the final.
  7. The expected number of songs in the final will be between 6 and 12.
  8. Listeners of the regional ARD pop music stations: Antenne Brandenburg, BAYERN 3, Bremen Vier, hr3, MDR Jump, NDR 2, SR 1, SWR3 and WDR 2, will be able to vote for their favourite songs in the lead up to the live final. These votes will contribute to the overall result
  9. The national final will be held in the beginning of March 2023.

@eurovision_de

So bewirbst du dich für den Deutschen ESC-Vorentscheid: Poste bis zum 28. November deinen Song mit dem Hashtag UnserLiedFürLiverpool. Die vielversprechendsten Einreichungen werden hier auf TikTok zur Abstimmung gestellt und wer die meisten Stimmen hat, ist direkt beim Vorentscheid dabei! Teilnahmebedingungen und mehr Infos gibt es auf Eurovision.de über den Link auf unserem Profil. #eurovision2023 #eurovision #esc2023

♬ Originalton – ESC Deutschland

ERT is expected to narrow down the list of potential artists for Eurovision 2023 in the coming days.
A total of 106 songs were submitted this year. If we take last year as a reference, on the 17th of November a list of 5 final artists was released.

The second round of internal selection will include meetings with candidates, where they will showcase their personalities as well as the plans and concepts for Eurovision 2023.

Until the established artists for “Sanremo 2023” are announced, local media continues suggesting potential artists participate in the festival:

The official list of artists will be revealed on the 2nd of December 2022.

RTP revealed the list of 20 authors and composers whose songs will feature in “Festival da Canção 2023

RTP invited 16 authors to get a direct path for “Festival da Canção 2023“.
However, one of them has given up the invitation.
In addition, the public was able to submit songs as well.
667 songs were submitted in the open path of which 4 should have been selected.
Therefore, RTP has decided to accept 5 public submissions from the submitted songs, on top of the 15 pre-selected authors.

  • ANDRÉ HENRIQUES
  • APRIL IVY
  • BANDUA
  • BARBARA TINOCO
  • CHURKY
  • CLAUDIA PASCOAL
  • DAPUNKSPORTIF
  • EDMUNDO INÁCIO (Open Call Submission)
  • INESE ONLY (Open Call Submission)
  • IVANDRO
  • JACINTA
  • MIMICAT (Open Call Submission)
  • MOYAH (Open Call Submission)
  • NEON SOHO
  • QUIM ALBERGARIA
  • SALT
  • TERESINHA LANDEIRO
  • THE HAPPY MES
  • VOODOO MARMALADE (Open Call Submission)
  • YOU CAN’T WIN CHARLIE BROWN

Among them, there are several familiar names:

“Festival da Canção 2023” – Recap

  • The festival will include 2 semi-finals and a grand final.
  • Semi-Final 1 will be held on the 25th of February 2023.
  • Semi-Final 2 will be held on the 4th of March 2023.
  • The Grand Final will be held on the 11th of March 2023.
  • 10 artists will compete in each of the 2 semi-finals (a total of 20 artists).
  • 6 artists will qualify from each semi-final.
  • The results of the semi-finals will be determined by 2 rounds:
    • Round 1 – The results will be determined by 50% national jury voting and 50% public vote. Top 5 will qualify for the final
    • Round 2 – The remaining 5 songs will phase another voting round that will be determined by 100% public vote. This means the 6th qualifier will be chosen by the public!

TVR opened the submission window for “Selecția Națională 2023” and announced the following regulations:

  1. The submission window will open on the 14th of November 2022 and will close on the 11th of December 2022.
  2. Submissions will be made through this email address: eurovision.romania@tvr.ro
  3. Foreign writers and composers are welcome to submit entries as well.
  4. There is an option to send a song without assigning a performer (submission will be sent with a studio performer). In this case, TVR can match a singer to the song (the song’s creators will accept that).
  5. TVR will choose a professional jury of up to 7 members.
  6. The professional jury will rank the songs based on auditions that will be held between the 14th and 16th of December 2022.
  7. Each jury will rank the performances in the range of 1-10, without knowing who the writer, producer, and composer are behind the song.
  8. The criteria to judge the songs will be:
    • The musical form of the song, following the development of the melodic theme, the harmonization, and rhythmic-melodic elements give an appropriate musical construction
    • Orchestral arrangement
    • Creativity and originality of the themes,
    • The stylistic diversity of the pieces;
    • Lyrics and the message of the song (no political or violent messages will be accepted)
    • Sound quality, construction, and development of the song
    • interpretation of the song in relation to its theme,
  9. The 12 acts that will get the highest ranking will qualify for the final.
  10. The final of “Selecția Națională 2023″ will be held on the 11th of February 2023.
  11. The final results will be determined by a 100% public vote.
  12. The performer must be at least 16 years old on grand final day.

Mihai, who represented Romania at Eurovision 2006, has expressed his intention to submit a song. The main reason for his possible return is the fact that the public will crown the winner.
He is looking for writers to collaborate with.

The list of 10-12 finalists of “Vidbir 2023” will be announced on the 17th of November 2022.
In addition, the public has voted for 3 musicians to be part of the jury panel in “Vidbir 2023”:

  • Taras Topolia – The lead singer of the Antitila band
  • Jamala – The winner of Eurovision 2016
  • Yulia Sanina – The lead singer of alternative rock band The Hardkiss (“Vidbir 2016)

They were chosen due to the public vote of more than 500,000 voters

Doron Lahav is 30-year-old, who lives in Israel. Doron has been watching the Eurovision Song Contest since early 2000s. Doron works as a Data Scientist and shows interest in singing and writing.

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