Latvia will walk with Triana Park in Kyiev

Triana Park has won Supernova 2017, the Latvian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, with the song Line. Where as in the previous heats the qualifiers were determined by a mixture of jury and public votes, Triana Park were selected solely by the public to fly the Latvian flag in Ukraine.Supernova 2017 consisted of two heats and a semi-final before tonight's final. In total 22 acts competed for the right to represent Latvia in 2017. Triana Park have participated in the Latvian selection for the Eurovision Song Contest several times. In 2010 they released their debut album, Entertainment.
Latvia made its debut in the Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm in 2000 with the group Brainstorm who finished third with the song My Star. Only two years later Latvia's Marie N went on to win the contest in Tallinn with the song I Wanna. Triana Park is the 18th act to represent Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5aPtzBhZBc

SunStroke Project will call Hey Mamma in Ukraine

SunStroke Project have won the Moldovan national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, O melodie pentru Europa, with the song Hey, Mamma! and will represent the country in the 2017 Eurovision Song contest in Kyiv.

The SunStroke Project is a Moldovan musical trio composed of Sergei Yalovitsky (vocals), Anton Ragoza (violinist and composer) and Sergey Stepanov (saxophonist). They are famous for representing Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2010. The name of the group was chosen by Anton Ragoza whilst working in the army with Sergey Stepanov, where out on the field he got sunstroke. 

In November 2010 the producer, Aleksei Myslicky and some other members (including song authors) left SunStroke Project and created a new band in Moscow called Offbeat Orchestra who have performed and released versions of some of the songs by SunStroke Project.

Anton Ragoza is the violinist and primary musical composer for the band. Previously he has conducted the orchestra of Chişinău and won a series of prestigious awards in the field of classical music. Anton has a wide experience in performing in bands which play in the modern electronic genre. He identified Justin Timberlake and Michael Jackson as musical inspirations.^[

Sergey Stepanov is the saxophonist. He was born September 3, 1984 in Tiraspol, Transnistria. He currently lives in Chisinau, Moldova. He doesn’t have an official Twitter or Facebook page. All his groups and pages are created by his fans. But there is an official page and profile of the band he is in, Sunstroke Project. His musical taste took contours on the music of such artists as David Sanborn and Eric Marienthal; and modern DJs like David Guetta, David Vendetta and Tiesto. He loves jazz, but he likes to experiment in Vocal House, pop and R&B. He met Anton Ragoza while in the army, and decided to create the band SunStroke Project. In an interview at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2010 he identified Russian saxophonist Igor Butman as musical inspiration.

Sergei Yalovitsky is the vocalist of the band. He previously worked as a singer on cruise lines. He has won various awards for singing in Moldova and Romania.

Moldova first entered the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005 when the contest last took place in Ukraine. Popular band Zdob şi Zdub represented Moldova in Kyiv with Boonika Bate Toba, starting a string of qualifications for the country. Between 2005 and 2013, Moldova only once failed to qualify for the Grand Final.

The band were jubilant as they took to the stage for their winning reprise. It is the second time that the group will represent Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7S0vA6CEII

O.Torvald will fly the Time for Ukraine in May

O.Torvald has been chosen to fly the Ukrainian flag in Kyiv with the songTime. The group beat five other acts for the right to represent Ukraine on home ground in May.
O.Torvald  is one of the most successful and popular Ukrainian rock bands. It was formed in 2005 in Poltava, Ukraine. Their debut album O.Torvald was recorded in 2008. They took part in festivals such as GBOB, Chervona Ruta, Tavria games, Prosto Rock (with Linkin Park and Garbage), Zakhid, Krashche Misto UA (with Evanescence and The Rasmus), Ekolomyja and Global Gathering.
O.Torvald is composed of lead singer Zhenia Halych, guitarist Denys Myziuk, drummer Sasha Solokha, bass guitarist Mykyta Vasyliev, and DJ Polarnik. The band was founded in the city of Poltava but relocated to Kyiv in 2006 where they began performing to large venues with thousands of spectators.
From sand artists to drag acts, Ukraine has sent a variety of musical styles and performers to the Eurovision Song Contest over the years. 
O.Torvald emerged victorious after topping the public vote and will represent Ukraine in May with the song Time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbVq9J0dYB0

Anja Nissen will ask Where I Am in Kyiev for Denmark

Denmark's entry for the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest is Anja Nissen performing the song Where I Am
.
When Anja Nissen was announced as the winner she thanked the crowd and said "I just want to say a thousand, thousand thanks to you all".Anja finished second in Melodi Grand Prix last year but came back to make her childhood dream come true by representing Denmark in Eurovision Song Contest. She is 21 years old and was born and raised in Australia, but both her parents are Danish and most of her relatives lives in Denmark. In 2014 she won the third season of The Voice Australia. Her song this year is called Where I Am.Anja has been an Australia Day ambassador, and performed at the Australia Day Event in Northern Territory.
 Nissen performed at the 2014 Carols by Candlelight in Melbourne, Australia. Nissen was also the face of Lyla & Co.

Anja Nissen was born in Sydney, New South Wales in Australia to Danish-born parents. Her mother and father emigrated from Denmark to Australia when they were 11 and 22 years old, respectively. Nissen grew up on her parents' country property in the Lower Blue Mountains with her older sister. She attended Winmalee High School, where she obtained her HSC in 2013.Throughout high school Anja was part of the exclusive Talent Development Program  and competed in a number of singing competitions.

In 2008, Nissen made it to the semi-finals of Season 2 of popular talent-search TV show, Australia's Got Talent, aged 12.Since then she has appeared on a number of TV shows, including Young Talent Time, Mornings with Kerri-Anne and the annual Schools Spectacular. She also performed the Danish National Anthem in the company of Crown Princess Mary of Denmark.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAg9cM_Btf8

Omar Naber will sing On My Way for Slovenia

Omar Naber has won the Slovenian national selection, EMA, and will represent the country in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest with the song On My Way. 

He was born in Ljubljana, Slovenia, then part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. His father was from Jordan, while his mother is Slovenian.

Omar Naber won Bitka talentov, the Slovenian version of the Battle of the talents, and participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with "Stop" , a song he had composed himself.

His album Omar was released in 2005. He spent 2006 touring Slovenia, as well as internationally, and eventually went back to the studio to record his second album with his band Kareem. This second album, also named Kareem, was released in 2007.

He entered the Slovenian selection for the Eurovision Song Contest four more times, not proceeding to the main contest: in 2009 with "I Still Carry On", in 2011 with "Bistvo skrito je očem", in 2014 with "I Won't Give Up" and in 2017 with "On My Way". In 2016, he entered the Swiss selection for the 2016 contest with the song, "Take Me Far".

The jury put Omar Naber into first place while he was second in the public vote, but the points difference was big enough to keep the lead over the eventual televoting winners, BQL, who finished second.

It is, of course, the second time that Omar Naber will hit the Eurovision Song Contest stage in Kyiv as he represented Slovenia already in 2005 with the song Stop. He'll try to reach the Grand Final for the first time though, as twelve years ago he finished in 12th place in the Semi-Final.

Slovenia's Omar Naber will perform in the second half of the first Semi-Final in Kyiv on Tuesday 9th May.

Francesco Gabbani flies the Italian flag in Eurovision 2017

Francesco Gabbani with Occidentali's Karma will represent Italy at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final in Kyiv on the 13th of May.The popular Italian Song Contest is also used as the Italian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest  offers the winner to represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest. Singer/songwriter born in Carrara in 1982, he debuted at the Festival last year winning the Newcomers' category, and also won the critics' prize, with Amen. His histrionic lyrics and stage presence immediately become a favourite of the public. His song Occidentali's Karma (Western karma) was the only one this year that presented a dance routine, and it's an ironic reflection on the attraction that Western people have for the spirituality of oriental cultures.As explained by Francesco Gabbani, the lyrics refer to the oriental culture and the fascination it has on the West. "You can guess from the title the combination of two different cultures. The lyrics look like a jumble of random words, but I think there are some ideas in them to think about the world today. They are ironic, in a provocative way, about our clumsy attempt to ape the Eastern habits to find inner peace. The truth is that in other people's cultures we will always be tourists”, the winner of Sanremo told to the magazine TV Sorrisi e Canzoni. Gabbani then added to news portal TgCom: "All my quotes, such as Heraclitus (Panta Rhei, that everything flows), are intended to provoke. I played on the fact that behind our way of being intellectuals in reality we are all apes with some clothes”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmpc3fcrNJQ

Jacques Houdek will sing in english in Kyiev for Croatia!

The Croatian broadcaster HRT has announced that Jacques Houdek will represent the country in the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest.Jacques Houdek was born in Zagreb and is 35 years old. He has been singing professionally since 2002 and has previously entered the Croatian national selection, Dora, several times. He is well-known as a judge on The Voice of Croatia, the competition that last year's Croatian entrant, Nina Kraljic, won in 2015. 

Immediately after the announcement Jacques, whose birth name is Zeljko, expressed his joy at being chosen to sing for Croatia. "I am extremely happy and thank Croatian Radio and Television for the trust they have shown", he said. "Being a representative of Croatia at the Eurovision Song Contest is a big honour for me and I'm grateful for the opportunity".  

Houdek's song for Kyiv, My Friend, will be unveiled soon just in English. You can listen one of his song in Croatian language following the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UREUUs1ecXM

Hungary's choice for Eurovision 2017 is Joci Pápai

Joci Pápai has won the Hungarian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, A Dal 2017, with the songOrigo and will thus represent Hungary in Kyiv. Joci Pápai, is 35 years old and comes from Tata in Hungary. His first public grand debut was in 2005 when he took part of the show Megasztár. He was eliminated in the consolation rounds but was determined to continue in music. His first bigger success was with the song Ne nézz így rám in 2006 and after that he had several hits, both solo and with the rapper Majka.Hungary made its debut in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994, achieving a 4th place, which remains the best placing for the country to date. Hungary has qualified for the Grand Final every year since 2011. Last year, Freddie finished 19th with Pioneer in Stockholm. 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2stjsoO0NfM