🇮🇱 🇲🇹 National final season started already

France has already decided for a song and Czechia is about to do so. But two more countries have started their national selections. An update:

Israel

It is not a big surprise, the Israel-Hamas war influenced their national selection. The show was postponed, in the first show segments of the Israeli Defence Force were shown and the second show was postponed again due to a press conference about the hostages. However, two shows of HaKokhav Haba were shown so far. HaKokhav Haba (Rising Star) is the national final, as it was between 2015-2020. Every auditioning artist has to get 70% of the votes in order to get through to the next round.

22 November

  • Shay Tamino, 85%
  • Lian Biran, 97%
  • Eliya Sharabi, 56%
  • Eden Golan, 100%

2 December:

  • Moriya Angel, 96%
  • Jonathan Bitton, 86%
  • Malka, 45%
  • Arik Sinai, 90%

 

  • Arik Sinai participated before. He earned a 4th place….. back in 1985!! 

Malta

Malta has had four semifinals in October and November:

27 October

  1. Kurt Calleja, “Misunderstood”
  2. Sarah Bonnici, “Loop”
  3. Gail Attard, “Wild card”
  4. Mark Anthony Bartolo, “Condition or Fiction”
  5. Eliana Gomez Blanco, “There’s Only Flowers”
  6. Oxygyn, “Cloudmaker”
  7. Nathan, “Ghost”
  8. Lyndsay Pace, “Fire proof”
  9. Dominic Cini, “Bewsa”


Kurt Calleja became 3rd in 2011, won in 2012 and represented Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest with “This is the night”.
Sarah Bonnici took part in X-Factor Malta 2019 and became 12th in 2022.
Gail Attard also took part in X-Factor Malta 2019.
Mark Anthony Bartolo also took part in X-Factor Malta 2019, became 11th in 2022 and reached the semifinal in 2023.
Eliana Gomez Blanco was 9th in 2023.
Nathan was 11th in 2022.
Lyndsay Pace took part in the 2015 semifinal and, of course, in X-Factor Malta 2019.
Dominic Cini was involved in the 2009 semifinal.

 

3 November

  1. Marie-Claire, “Fading”
  2. Franklin Calleja, “Puppet”
  3. Desirei Grech, “Watch Me”
  4. Sopranique, “Empire”
  5. Janvil, “Man”
  6. Haley Azzopardi, “Tell Me That It’s Over”
  7. Denise Mercieca, “Mara”
  8. Mark Portelli, “Just be”
  9. Maria Christina, “Moving On”

 

Marie-Claire took part in the 2023 semifinal.
Franklin Calleja took part in 2013 (semifinal), 2014 (7th) and X-Factor Malta 2019 (10th).
Janvil or J. Anvil took part in 2005 (3rd), 2006 (4th), 2009 (10th), 2010 (semifinal), 2011 (10th) and 2012 (14th).
Denise Mercieca was involved in the auditions of X-Factor Malta 2019 and in 2022 (5th). Also Mark Portelli and Maria Christina took part in the auditions of X-Factor Malta 2019.

10 november

  1. Jessica Micallef, “Tagħna Tnejn”
  2. Cosette Baldacchino, “Free fall”
  3. Michela Galea, “Let’s talk about love”
  4. Thea Aqulina, “Blood stream”
  5. Miguel Bonello, “Better off alone”
  6. Moira Stafrace, “Feather flight”
  7. Dan, “Baraxx”
  8. Stefan Galea, “Numb”
  9. Karin Duff, “Breaking bad”

 

Jessica Micallef auditioned for X-Factor Malta 2020. Michela Galea did the same in 2019. Miguel Bonello did an attempt in both years.
Moira Stafrace took part in 1992 (2nd), 1993 (final), 1994 (winner in duet with Christopher Scicluna). Chris and Moira represented Malta in 1994 with “More than love) .
Dan auditioned for X-Factor Malta 2020 and took part in 2023 (12th).
Stefan Galea was involved in 2016 (semifinal), X-Factor Malta 2019 (auditions) and in 2023 (16th).

 

17 November

  1. Erba’, “Sirena”
  2. Miriana Conte, “Venom”
  3. Christian Arding, “Bellus”
  4. Lisa Gauci, “Breath”
  5. Matt Blxck, “Banana”
  6. Martina Cutajar, “Miles away”
  7. Greta Tude, “Topic (bla bla)”
  8. Ryan Hill, “Karma”
  9. Kyle George, “Arrows”

 

Miriana Conte took part in 2017 (16th), 2018 (12th), in the X-Factor Malta 2019 and 2020, 2022 (6th), 
Already in 2006, Christian Arding took part (5th), and in 2009 (semifinal) and 2023 (10th).
Matt Blxck took part in X-Factor Malta 2019 (auditions),  2020 (auditions), 2022 (7th) and 2023 (4th).
Greta Tude reached the semifinal in 2023.

The names in bold letters go through to the final in January.

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Martijn

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70 years of Eurovision: the first years

The Eurovision Song Contest is celebrating its 70th anniversary. That is a wonderful milestone. We at Eurovision Universe love diving into the history of the contest. That is why we are taking a closer look at the contests of the past 70 years. 1956 Seven countries lined up at the start of the Song Contest. Lugano, Switzerland hosted the event. Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Switzerland took part. Each country could submit two songs, which helped fill the programme. Lohengrin Filipello presented the show entirely in Italian. The scoring lacked suspense. Two jurors from each country gave their verdict. At the end of the evening, Rolf Liebermann, the Martin Green of his time, came on stage and announced Switzerland as the winner. That result did not come as a surprise. Luxembourg did not send any jurors and instead asked two Swiss jurors to vote on their behalf. The winning song was the Swiss “Refrain”. When singer Lys Assia had to sing her song again, it became too much for her. She said she was overcome by emotions and decided to start over. Few moving images of the festival have survived; however, an audio recording does. 1957 United Kingdom, Denmark, and Austria joined the seven already participating countries. The contest was held in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. And this time, there was a voting procedure. Host Anaid Iplikjan had an assistant who established the telephone connections. It was a tough job for the presenter: not every jury chairman had read the instructions properly. Anaid had to constantly make adjustments. One entry that should not go unmentioned is that of Denmark. Birthe Wilke and Gustav Winckler played a fishing couple. She said goodbye to him because he had to go sailing. The act ended with a kiss. At a sign from the director, the two were supposed to let go of each other. However, the person who was supposed to give that sign was not paying attention, causing the kiss to last an extremely long time. And this happened in 1957! It did not get any more exciting after that. The Dutch Corry Brokken won with a landslide. She made quite an impression with her “Net als toen”. This was due in no small part to the beautiful solo by violinist Sem Nijveen. 1958 For the first time, the winning country hosted the Song Contest the following year. Ten countries competed in the AVRO studio in Hilversum. Great Britain skipped this edition, but Sweden made its debut. Hannie Lips served as the host. She only appeared after all the songs had been performed. At that point, she explained that technical problems had prevented some countries from broadcasting the first entry, Italy’s song. The organisers therefore repeated it. He did not win. However, it was a lucrative experience for the Italian Domenico Modugno. His song “Nel blu dipinto di blu”, under the title “Volare”, probably became the biggest Eurovision hit ever. Countless versions have been made of it. Dean Martin’s is the best known, but David Bowie and Paul McCartney also sang the song. The battle for first place was incredibly exciting. This one was between France and Switzerland. 1956 winner Lys Assia seemed poised to take first place with her “Giorgio”. She just missed out. It was the Frenchman André Claveau who claimed first place with “Dors mon amour”. And for anyone who thinks he went on to buy a villa or a yacht with the proceeds from this song: not at all. He happily announced that he could now purchase an extra cow for his herd!

Read More »
March 29, 2026 No Comments
History
Martijn

70 years of Eurovision: the first years

The Eurovision Song Contest is celebrating its 70th anniversary. That is a wonderful milestone. We at Eurovision Universe love diving into the history of the contest. That is why we are taking a closer look at the contests of the past 70 years. 1956 Seven countries lined up at the start of the Song Contest. Lugano, Switzerland hosted the event. Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Switzerland took part. Each country could submit two songs, which helped fill the programme. Lohengrin Filipello presented the show entirely in Italian. The scoring lacked suspense. Two jurors from each country gave their verdict. At the end of the evening, Rolf Liebermann, the Martin Green of his time, came on stage and announced Switzerland as the winner. That result did not come as a surprise. Luxembourg did not send any jurors and instead asked two Swiss jurors to vote on their behalf. The winning song was the Swiss “Refrain”. When singer Lys Assia had to sing her song again, it became too much for her. She said she was overcome by emotions and decided to start over. Few moving images of the festival have survived; however, an audio recording does. 1957 United Kingdom, Denmark, and Austria joined the seven already participating countries. The contest was held in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. And this time, there was a voting procedure. Host Anaid Iplikjan had an assistant who established the telephone connections. It was a tough job for the presenter: not every jury chairman had read the instructions properly. Anaid had to constantly make adjustments. One entry that should not go unmentioned is that of Denmark. Birthe Wilke and Gustav Winckler played a fishing couple. She said goodbye to him because he had to go sailing. The act ended with a kiss. At a sign from the director, the two were supposed to let go of each other. However, the person who was supposed to give that sign was not paying attention, causing the kiss to last an extremely long time. And this happened in 1957! It did not get any more exciting after that. The Dutch Corry Brokken won with a landslide. She made quite an impression with her “Net als toen”. This was due in no small part to the beautiful solo by violinist Sem Nijveen. 1958 For the first time, the winning country hosted the Song Contest the following year. Ten countries competed in the AVRO studio in Hilversum. Great Britain skipped this edition, but Sweden made its debut. Hannie Lips served as the host. She only appeared after all the songs had been performed. At that point, she explained that technical problems had prevented some countries from broadcasting the first entry, Italy’s song. The organisers therefore repeated it. He did not win. However, it was a lucrative experience for the Italian Domenico Modugno. His song “Nel blu dipinto di blu”, under the title “Volare”, probably became the biggest Eurovision hit ever. Countless versions have been made of it. Dean Martin’s is the best known, but David Bowie and Paul McCartney also sang the song. The battle for first place was incredibly exciting. This one was between France and Switzerland. 1956 winner Lys Assia seemed poised to take first place with her “Giorgio”. She just missed out. It was the Frenchman André Claveau who claimed first place with “Dors mon amour”. And for anyone who thinks he went on to buy a villa or a yacht with the proceeds from this song: not at all. He happily announced that he could now purchase an extra cow for his herd!

Read More »
March 29, 2026 No Comments
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