The Road To Moscow - Eurovision 2009

Eurovision 2009 is well on its way. Several countries are preparing already for Moscow with several multi round preselections.
Here's a short round up of the pre-semi-semi stars that have recorded their Eurocovers. -

Tapani Kansa
Heat 1 in Finland sees popcrooner Tapani Kansa trying for the 8th time in over 30 years.
He tackled a few memorable Eurovision belters in his career, all are sung in Finnish
U.K. 1972 - Beg, steal or borrow (New Seekers, 2nd)
- Varkain vien taikka lainaan, on 7" and VA LP Huipulla 2
U.K. 1975 - Let me be the one (The Shadows, 2nd)
- Saanhan olla hän, on LP Kuinka paljon rakkautta
U.K. 1976 - Save your kisses for me (Brotherhood of man, winner)
- Säästä suukkosi vain, on LP Kesän lapsi
Ireland 1976 - When (Red Vincent Hurley 10th)
- Pois, on 7" ABM 444 and VA LP Huipulla 10: Euroviisu special
France 1985 - Femmes dans ses rêves aussi (Roger Bens, 8th)
- Hän, on VA LP Kesähitid (Finnlevy)
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Hera Björk
And then Danish TV announced their shortlist today. The final sees the return of Icelandic Hera Björk to the pre-Eurovision stage. Hera Björk lives in Denmark and choosing for the Danish selection saves some gazmoney.
She was in the Söngvakeppni 2007 selection for Iceland and covered the 2006 Norwegian entry Alvedansen (Christine Guldbrandsen). The old post about Hera Björk is still up (here).
And here is her Myspace
And at the Schlagerblog you can read an interview with the composers of Someday, Hera's bid for a Danish ticket to Moscow.
Hera Björk at The Oslo Collection

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ADDED 21-01-09
And for the Die Hards, there's a collection of all Danish pre-selection songs since 1978 at the DR website : Grand Prix Bonanza. Well done Danish TV, it doen't make up for destroying all the 1964 contest footage, but it's a great example that should be followed by more TV stations.

Hera's Danish entry Someday is really good, an Abba-esque Nordic Schlager starting out as a ballad, think The Winner Takes It All. Somehow her voice reminds me of Donna Summer. We mentioned Alvedansen, but there's another slightly Hera related Eurocover.
A christmas CD by Fróstrosir released last year features an Icelandic version of Den Vilda (Sweden 1996, by Abba offspring One More Time). Fróstrosir is a various artists project celebrating Christmas music the Icelandic way. Fróstrosir 2008 are Eivør Pállsdóttir, Margrét Eir, Hera Björk & Dísella
In Icelandic Christmas language the ethereal ballad becomes Dansaðu Vindur (CD Heyr himnasmiður, Skifan) and the lead vocal is by Eivør Pállsdottir.

Title track Heyr Himnasmiður (Hear Lord Creator) is an 800 year old hymn by Icelandic Chieftan Kolbein Tumasson (although the music is only 100 years old). So now you know.
At the Icelandic Fróstrosir page you can hear excerpts of Dansaðu Vindur and other songs.
The English language site only has info up to 2007.
The first Fróstrosir project from 2002 featured a Christmas version of Swedens 1995 entry Se På Mig (Jan Johansen) titled Stjarnan Mín.

Nucha
Portugal also announced the finalists for the Festival da canção 2009. 1990 entrant Nucha is among them. She didn't fare too well back then with Ha Sempre Alguem only ending on place 20.
A year or so ago Nucha released a new album Regresso (see this post) covering Sense Tu & La Mirada Interior from Andorra.
Here's Nucha's homepage