Eurovision 2013 - Malmö (Sweden) - second semi-final

(Please see UPDATE at end)

Tonight the second semi-final is being held and will comprise the next 17 competitors, singing in the following order (I'll UPDATE this post as each song is performed) and of these a further 10 will go Through to the final on Saturday, with the remaining 7 being Eliminated from the contest:

1 – Latvia: PeR – Here We Go Eliminated
(21.13) Boy-band wearing, tight, glittery, grey or black suits, singing in English quite a pleasant ditty, if this wins I will be amazed. Not a bad song at all mind you for a party

2 - San Marino: Valentine Monetta – Crisalide (Vola) Eliminated
(21.16) A pretty blond singing in Italian what sounds like a romantic ballad. She has a good voice & it is very pleasant to listen too, but may be too 'niche' for Eurovision, but I wouldn't mind having this on my music player

3 - F.Y.R. Macedonia: Esma & Lozano - Pred Da Se Razdeni Eliminated
(21.19) Good-looking man in dark suit with white t-shirt, singing a nice ballad in a language other than English, unfortunately mixed with some fat, red-dressed lady singing much more discordant sections. Maybe this is 'sophisticated' FYROM music, but the effect is not good for me - I'd prefer him on his own in all sorts of ways; apart from anything else he has a very good voice. "Nul points" overall.

4 – Azerbaijan: Farid Mammadov - Hold Me Through
(21.22) Good-looking young man simply and nicely dressed, singing in English (he has a good voice). Song is mainly a ballad & I like the choreography with a similar 'mirror image' in a glass box. Yes, I like this - it should get to final I think.

5 – Finland: Krista Siegfrids - Marry Me Through
(21.26) Blond lady (this is Finland after all) singing in English a very cheery boppy song - typical Europop - might easily do well & she is certainly performing it with great gusto, supported by male dancers wearing masks & backing female singers. Not bad at all, I'd say it should get to final.

6 – Malta: Gianluca - Tomorrow Through
(21.34) Nice-looking young man singing in English - a good voice, with male/female backing music & singers. The words are amusing and tell a stroy and it is being performed pretty well, but I wonder if non-English speakers will wonder what it's all about. But it is so nice, surely no-one could not like this? I do like it a great deal.

7 – Bulgaria: Elitsa Todorova, Stoyan Yankulov - Samo Shampioni (Only Champions) Eliminated
(21.37) Dramatic-looking and quite beautiful young lady singing in Bulgarian, with musical backing & a sort of pirate character playing pipe type instrument. It's quite lively and not unpleasant to listen to - has middle-eastern overtones. Not really my thing though, but she has a good voice.

8 – Iceland: Eythor Ingi - Ég Á Líf Through
(21.41) A long-haired blond young man singing in Icelandic. He has a superb voice and it seems to be a nice ballad - I rather like it, his voice is so good, the fact I don't understand the words really doesn't matter to me. This is quality, even if unlikely to win.

9 – Greece: Koza Mostra feat. Agathon Iakovidis - Alcohol Is Free Through
(21.45) Mixed-age male group singing a very Greek-sounding ditty. Very cheerful and lively. Younger ones all very good-looking of course. Fun to listen to, but surely this can't get through to the final even with its 'subversive' title.

10 – Israel: Moran Mazor - Rak Bishvilo Eliminated
(21.49) Nice, interesting looking young lady singing a ballad in Hebrew with male singing ballad, she has a good voice and I quite like the song, but unlikely to get to final perhaps, a bit too 'niche' perhaps.

11 – Armenia: Dorians - Lonely Planet Through
(21.54) Young nice-looking man (long hair, goatee & moustache) - good voice, but with some off-notes I'm afraid. Singing ballad with rock overtones in English with backing group - like this at first, but off-notes are putting me off. No - I don't think so, sorry.

12 – Hungary: ByeAlex - Kedvesem (Zoohacker Remix) Through
(21.57) Male singing in Hungarian with male guitarist and female singing backing. Tuneful and not unpleasant too listen to, it has an attractive beat - he has a good voice & it is different. Might at least get to final, I suspect.

13 – Norway: Margaret Berger - I Feed You My Love Through
(22.02) Blond female beauty in tight white long dress, singing in English. It's a lively, sexy rocky ballad and the male drummer backing is banging away. Think this could easily make the final (& at least Norway has plenty of money to stage next year's show if they win). Yes, I quite like this & should at the very least get to the final if there is any justice.

14 – Albania: Adrian Lulgjuraj & Bledar Sejko - Identitet Eliminated
(22.09) Male long-haired singers with drummer & guitar backing singing a noisy rocky ditty with Balkan overtones in Albanian. Not bad I suppose - at least it's more or less in tune despite the noise.

15 – Georgia: Nodi Tatishvili & Sophie Gelovani - Waterfall Through
(21.12) Both the female and male singers are beauties, with good voices singing in English. It's a nice ballad and should certainly make the final. Perhaps not a winner, but it deserves a place on Saturday I think.

16 – Switzerland: Takasa - You And Me Eliminated
(22.17) Trendy young and old singing and instrumental group singing in English, singing a very lively ditty, classic Europop with a nice beat, should get to final.

17 – Romania: Cezar - It's My Life Through
(22.21) Started with a deep voice, but now is singing falsetto, amazing voice. His voice is powerful and excellent - he is singing in English & song is pretty amazing. Should definitely get to final, if only for novelty, but it will certainly merit it.

UPDATE
(22.25) For me it is a choice between Malta, Norway and Romania (all with 7 3/4), then next tier down Azerbaijan, Iceland and Georgia. I voted for Norway.
(23.01) All results in and updated above against each country. The 10 countries going through tonight are (re-arranged in alphabetical order):
Armenia
Azerbaijan
Finland
Georgia
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Malta
Norway
Romania

To re-cap from my article about the first semi-final held on Tuesday 14th May, the following 10 countries were voted through to the final this coming Saturday (re-arranged in alphabetical order) :
Belarus
Belgium
Denmark
Estonia
Ireland
Lithuania
Moldova
The Netherlands
Russia
Ukraine
- 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 (Sweden) who together with those selected to go through this evening will comprise the 26 finalists.

UPDATE
My article covering the Final on Saturday 18th May 2013 is here. Denamrk won with a score of 281 points, next came Azerbaijan with 234 points and in third position was Ukraine with 214 points. Denmark were worthy winners; next year the contest will be held there, presumably in Copenhagen - 'see' you then.