Eurovision 2012 - Baku (Azerbaijan) - second semi-final

(Please see UPDATES at end)

Tonight the second semi-final is being held and will comprise the next 18 competitors, singing in the following order (I'll update this post as each song is performed) and of these a further 10 will go forward to the final on Saturday, with the remaining 8 being eliminated from the contest:
1 Serbia - Željko Joksimović - Nije Ljubav Stvar Through
(21.07) Polished semi-classical instrumental introduction for the good-looking male singer who has a lovely voice and the ballad (although I don't understand it) is lovely - should certainly make it to final.

2 F.Y.R. Macedonia - Kaliopi - Crno I Belo Through
(21.12) Black trouser-clad (the clothes, not the singer) dramatic-looking female singing what appears to be a feisty ballad which is perfectly tuneful and may well get through to final, not quite as good as Serbian effort on my reckoning, though.

3 The Netherlands - Joan Franka - You And Me Eliminated
(21.16) Female singer dressed as Red-Indian 'squaw' - what is this all about. Perfectly nice song and she has a decent voice though. Might or might not get to final - who can tell?

4 Malta - Kurt Calleja - This Is The Night Through
(21.20) My Twitter seems to be down. A good0looking male singer and a his backing-group are all equally good-looking. It's a lively boppy tune sung in English (of course) and is pretty good and he has a decent voice - should certainly get to the final, I think.

5 Belarus - Litesound - We Are The Heroes Eliminated
(21.23) Rock song decently-enough sung (in English) although lead-vocalist's voice ain't perfect - a bit weak in places. Will most probably get to final, though, I should imagine.

6 Portugal - Filipa Sousa - Vida Minha Eliminated
(21.28) Pretty female lead-singer with female and male backing singers - nice ballad with decent instrumentals, sung in Portuguese. Unlikely to get through to final I suspect because it probably doesn't fit in with modern Eurovision. A pity really, but then it might just make it through,

7 Ukraine - Gaitana - Be My Guest Through
(21.33) Female with flowers in her hair - lively song which I find AWFUL - it's not tuneless completely, but her voice is not perfect and she's just shouting a lot of it. Should not get to final, but probably will, with voting patterns in recent years.

8 Bulgaria - Sofi Marinova - Love Unlimited Eliminated
My Twitter is very sporadic here in Spain, sigh. (21.37) Female singer in TIGHT cream leather/plastic(?) dress and similar thigh-length boots singing a very lively song, presumably in Bulgarian. I think it's awful, but it will probably do OK and get to final, although don't ask me to justify it, if it does.

9 Slovenia - Eva Boto - Verjamem Eliminated
(21.41) Pretty woman with long raven-hair singing a very nice tuneful ballad, thankfully not in English - will certainly get to final. A blond-haired beauty has just taken over for a few lines of the song with other equally-beautiful female supporting singers. Yes, this will certainly do well and surely must get to final.

10 Croatia - Nina Badrić - Nebo Eliminated
Abandoning Twitter for now as it ain't working here. (21.45) Dark auburn-haired beauty singing in another language quite a (so far) tuneful ballad with female backing singers and male dancers. It's become more 'dramatic' and strident. Not my taste, but may get to final I suppose.

11 Sweden - Loreen - Euphoria Through
(21.49) Long dark-haired beauty singing in English a very lively song, quite dramatic - she has a very good and powerful voice and this certainly deserves to be in final and will, I think, do well there. Lots of echo-chamber effects. Archetypal Eurovision material.

12 Georgia - Anri Jokhadze - I'm A Joker Eliminated
Twitter still down here. (21.53) A guy dressed like a monk in long red cloak with hood. Now we have female scantily-clad singers and he is now out of his cloak and is a blond good-looking slightly chubby fellow. It's a lively song, not entirely to my taste, but they are performing it well and it will probably get to final and may do OK there.

13 Turkey - Can Bonomo - Love Me Back Through
(21.57) Modern song with Turkish overtones sung in English and Turkish, very amusingly and wittily. It's quite a lively song and I rather like it and it's certainly not your usual Euro-pop, which is a nice change. Deserves a place in final.

14 Estonia - Ott Lepland - Kuula Through
(22.01) Very attractive male, with unfortunately a not-perfect voice singing a nice ballad in what is I take it Estonian. His beauty may get them through to the final, but I think this would be ill-deserved as his voice is just not up to it - a pity as I'd love to be more positive about this handsome man.

15 Slovakia - Max Jason Mai - Don't Close Your Eyes Eliminated
(22.07) Noisy rock-ballad, long blond-haired man in leather/jeans - very lively and he is certainly doing it justice. Not my taste of course, but will probably reach final, but I doubt it could win.

16 Norway - Tooji - Stay Through
(22.11) Another rock effort from a very good-looking man with a very good voice and mixed-sex backing group. Has middle-eastern overtones (almost Turkish in parts). Should do well I think.

17 Bosnia & Herzegovina - Maya Sar - Korake Ti Znam Through
(22.15) Long-haired pretty woman singing and playing piano singing in another language a rather nice ballad - she has a very good voice, so this deserves to do well and will certainly make the final.

18 Lithuania - Donny Montell - Love Is Blind Through
(22.19) Singing in glittery blindfold, referencing the song title is a very good-looking man with a really rather excellent voice singing a ballad in English. Now he's taken off the mask (he has lovely eyes) and is doing sexy hip-twists and thrusts and it has upped the beat - this is certainly worthy of getting to final and might do very well there. Only flaw is that is pronunciation of 'you' is rather strange. On balance I like, though.

(22.27) As I'm in Spain I can't vote tonight, but if was able to it would be a choice between Sweden, Norway, Bosnia & Herzegovina or Lithuania. Other worthy efforts by Serbia, Malta, Slovenia and Turkey. I think I'd probably have gone for Norway if I was able to vote.

- The contest this evening will again begin at 9pm (Spanish time - or 8pm in the UK) and runs for two hours.
- According to the Eurovision website page for the second semi-final, viewers in Spain will not be able to vote in this evening's semi-final (as viewers in Spain - such as me - were able to vote on Tuesday). However, viewers in the UK will be able to vote this evening.
- Once the results of this evening's semi-final are known I will add Through (to the final) or Eliminated to each entry.

To re-cap from my article about the first semi-final held on Tuesday 22nd May, the following 10 countries were voted through to the final this coming Saturday (re-arranged in alphabetical order) :
Albania
Cyprus
Denmark
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Moldova
Romania
Russia
- they will be joined in the final by the 5 countries which have pre-qualified automatically, the so-called "big 5" who pay most of the running costs (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom) and by last year's winner and this year's host nation (Azerbaijan) who together with those selected to go through this evening will comprise the 26 finalists.

UPDATE (23.10) I have now updated the article with all the results, showing the 10 countries which go Through to the final and the 8 countries which have been Eliminated. It was again an enjoyable evening and I shall look forward to the final on Saturday when we will in addition to the 20 so far selected from the two semi-finals see the 'big five' (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom) and last year's winner and this year's host, Azerbaijan. See you on Saturday!

2nd UPDATE (Saturday 26MAY2012 19.30 CET+1) My blog article on the final of this year's Eurovision Song Contest is here; it will be updated throughout the show later this evening as each entrant performs; I shall also be 'tweeting' simultaneously my reaction to each of the performances - my Twitter feed is here.