<!— Text ads —>

Eurovision

Finally got around to doing the My Heritage thing

I'm super curious to know what they find out, but suspect that in the end it will probably be a mix of Celtic and Anglo-Saxon - but you never know

"Dear Michael,‎
Thank you for activating your MyHeritage DNA
If you haven't collected and mailed us your DNA sample yet, please follow the instructions (which are also included in your DNA kit).
You can track the status of your DNA kit. We’ll notify you by email when your DNA results are available. You can expect them in about 4 weeks from the moment our lab receives your DNA sample. Your results will include your Ethnicity Estimate, revealing your ethnic origins. We’ll also search for people whose DNA matches yours — your relatives — so you can connect with them and learn more about your family history together.
MyHeritage offers much more than DNA kits! We invite you to discover your family’s history by building your family tree and exploring our collection of 9.7 billion historical records. To help you get started with your family history journey, we’ve created a private family site for you on MyHeritage, in which you can build your own family tree.
Visit your family site and create your family tree. We highly recommend that you do this, while you wait for our lab to process your DNA results. Your DNA Matches will be easier to understand once you have a family tree.
Best regards,
The MyHeritage team"

Semi one predictions from Mike and Daniel (2019)

Mike;
Cyprus
Poland
Czech Republic
Hungary
Serbia
Belgium
Georgia
Australia
Iceland
Greece

Georgia "might" swap with Estonia, and Slovenia are in with a shot, but not sure who I would put out for them

Daniel;
Cyprus
Poland
Czech Republic
Serbia
Greece
Hungary
Belarus
Estonia
Belgium
Australia

Iceland could make it but again not sure who would then miss out.....

Surprisingly tough semi to call in the end....

UK 2nd rehearsal

Andy on Sun, 05/12/2019 - 09:42

Black and white atmosphere to start Michael Rice performance, there are a lot of stars on the background and it's quite dark. He starts moving on stage on the 2nd verse. Universe pictures become brighter on the 2nd chorus. The choir makes an entrance on the bridge and hall lights up. Vocalists are dressed in white, they make a circle and there are nice effects on the floor. Overall a performance gives a John Lundvik feeling with a bit of smaller-scale approach.

Nordic Party 2019

Once again the Scandinavian Delegations combined into the famous Nordic Party ensemble and invited selected members of the press to Euroclub for their Party.

First many many thanks for the invite from the Danish Delegation and Team Leonora - we are very appreciative of being asked again to attend this amazing event.

Euroclub was not yet officially opened, but we had a sneak peak of the venue - some pictures are below. Not too many as we had technical problems with one of our cameras - apologies for that

Nordic Party 2019

The party was, as always, one of the highlights of the event colander at the eurovision two weeks. All the Scandinavian delegations, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Denmark and Estonia, were in there and partying and complimentary food and drink was served while we could mix and mingle with the various artists and members of delegations. We also spotted Hera Bjokr from Iceland Fred from Eurobandi (Iceland), Selma from Iceland, Krista Sigfrieds from Finland Sergey Lazerev from Russia and of course Fillipe Kikirov

We managed to grab few moments with all the delegations that attended and our favourite was, as always, chatting to Hatari - closely followed by John and the Mommas, but it was good to catch up with them all…

Finally at 23.00 general members of the press were allowed to pass into Euroclub and we were all then treated to performances from all the Delegations

Some comments on the sound quality in Euroclub, it did not seem that good, though it improved a little as the evening went on, I hope they resolve the issues they were having last night in time for the next parties

Some interviews are here; Performances in other blog post

France 2nd rehearsal

Andy on Sun, 05/12/2019 - 08:28

Performance starts with projections on the face of Bilal, then he walks to the front of the stage. There are lyrics displayed on screens. Plus size model - Ballet dancer appears on stage. I think it is a great idea to involve her. Another dancer who is doing sign language translation appears on the stage and interacts with Bilal, who then quickly moves across the stage and dances, in the end, all three artists join together in the central stage. This will really do well.

Second rehearsal of Israel

Andy on Sun, 05/12/2019 - 08:06

Kobi in a black suit with a bow tie start the show in the front of the stage, screens appear behind him. On the 2nd verse, he is joined by his backing choir and together they look simply stunning. There is a variety of screens behind, showing parts of Kobi's face. On the bridge, he starts movement close to the audience on the catwalk, while his team stays on the stage. The last chorus is sung while he is going, and he finally stops for the very end. It is not really a perfect solution in otherwise elegant performance.

Hungarian party

Andy on Sun, 05/12/2019 - 08:26

Hungarian delegation held the opening party of the day, it took place in the Art Club which is meters away from our house. There was sale of tickets so a few Israelis turned up to their first chance to meet the Eurovision 2019 singers.

Sadly, the event was planned in such way that between Eurovision acts, there was over 30 minutes long set of Eurofalsh band - lip-synching Eurovision hits. It is not a discovery that this band isn't really rated high in the fan circles, and several people had to leave the event during their act. There were also DJ. Daniel Mariuma and Dj Ran Ziv, and the event was hosted by Amit Cotler (channel 13).

Delegations of Albania, Latvia, Montenegro have performed on the stage with Hungary itself being headliners of the event. Some other acts like band Tulia also made their appearance at the party.

Hungarian Party