Eurovision season has begun!

The turkey has been eaten, the presents unwrapped, children are beginning to come down from the 24 hour sugar high ..... it can only mean that Eurovision season is about to begin!

For the uninitiated, Eurovision may appear to be a Saturday night event in mid-May, looked on with scorn and possibly some incredulity - be prepared to be enlightened .... National Finals start around this time of year, and we already have our first entry (by that I mean confirmed singer and song, more of that later) Nice one Albania!





Albania have a history of sending little pop princesses with a smattering of angst to the contest, this entry will have some tweaking before May 29th 2010 and with an addition of a stage show with acrobats and strange gimp men (a la 2009) this should be improved upon

The Netherlands are teasing us somewhat, with Pierre Kartner writing an infectious bit of pap and laying it open to 6 singers to create their own version which will be then open to the public vote to choose their representatives

Warning! Click on this link at your peril! It's as catching as H1N1 (and as difficult to shift)




So that's 2 potential entries out of the 38 expected.

Last year there were 40 entrants to begin with, which dropped to 39 when Georgia (having initially refused to participate following Russia's invasion of South Osettia) were disqualified when President Putin took offence to their cheeky little disco number "We don't wanna put in..."

We have lost a couple of countries who have cited the poor economic climate (Czech republic, Andorra) and have gained back Austria - but all that is open to change at a moments notice

Anyway, hopefully you are as up to date as possible with the latest Eurovision news. There are a couple of other rumours and cited singers - but nothing confirmed as yet.

Don't forget - even if you are an old hand at this Eurovision malarky, never tell people that you are a fan - you will see them change their stance and look at you a little sideways. A tip is to mention that you are a "fan of new euorpean music" and therefore lay yourself open to interesting muso type chats!