CONGRATULATIONS AZERBAIJAN - TEBRIK EDIRIK AZƏRBAYCAN

Eldar and Nigar a.k.a.  Ell and Nikki have won the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest with Running Scared written by Stefan Örn, Sandra Bjurman and Iain Farquharsondur.

Raphael Gualazzi finished 2nd for Italy with Madness Of Love and Sweden took 3rd place with Eric Saades Popular.

Check Out The Düsseldorf Collection for all the release news of the 2011 Eurovision entries.

Updated with all the points and places, the latest news in order of results.

Die Autobahn To Düsseldorf: Mino

Not a new article here in Die Eurocovers Autobahn, but a re-hash of a Eurocovers post from four years ago.
Lithuanian singer Mino is one of the many hopefulls giving it a try in what is always a highlight in the Preselection season, the Lithuanian National Finals.
Mino's song in the multi-night selection is Don't Go. The song was originally recorded in Lithuanian as Angelai.
Below is a reworking of the original Mino post.



Mino - Be meilės mirt galiu
Lithuania are relative newcomers to the Eurovision stage and I haven't been able to find any old coverversions of Eurovision songs made in Lithuania.

But they are catching up with several versions recorded in recents years.
(Check out the Christmas Presents post for one of them)

So it's good to find a new CD which features three covers at once.
The CD in case is by Mino (Mindaugas Mickevičius), who is another Lithuanian talent show star (”Kelias į žvaigždes”.)

The album was released last november and is titled Be Meilės Mirt galiu. I don't know what it means, but the title track is a cover version of Die For You, the Greek 2001 entry by Helena Paparizou before she got rid of the bloke.
The album opens with Gitaras, which is Volare (Nel blu dipinto di blu), made famous by Domenico Modugno and about a 1000 others. In fact it is more a Gipsy Kings coverversion and on the edge of slightly annoying.

Third and best Eurocover is Noriu Turet Tave (track 3) a duet with the ever fantastic Alanas Chošnau. It's Shame On You the Danish 2004 entry by the guy in that bad red suit Thomas Thordarsson.

Other songs on the album sometimes sound familiar too, but I haven't got a clue what they are although some sound Italian and others sound like 'Die for you' part 2, so they could be any Philippe Kirkorov cover.

Since then Mino has released three more albums Bravo from 2007 and Italiano from 2008 both feature Lithuanian versions of Italian songs. You can listen to several Mino songs here at Music.lt
In 2010 the album Dainos, Kurios Kvepia Braškėmis (Songs that smell like strawberries) was released. It features songs from previous albums in duet versions.

New Mino Website
Don't Go Youtube - Angelai Youtube
As usual http://www.eurodiena.lt./ has all the latest news on the Lithuanian selection and also sounds as soon as they're there.
P.S. Don't go is fab!

The Düsseldorf Collection has the latest on the 2011 songs.

Die Autobahn To Düsseldorf: Milana Misic

Eurovision 2011. Pre-selections are in full swing (well, almost) and it’s time to check out if the zillions of national hopefuls are Eurocovers worthy.

First up is Eurocovers repeat offender Milana Misic from Finland.
Milana Misic will be in the Finnish preselection with Sydämeni Kaksi Maata (listen to the song here at YLE). It’s bit of an odd mix of a song. It starts as a sort of gipsy tango, then segues into heavy oriental mode to be followed by a bit of loveboat style tv glam disco.

You’ll probably already know that Milana Misic is the daughter of Finnish Eurovision legend Laila Kinnunen and Kroatian musician Milan Mišić so below is just a discography to freshen up. And some links.

Update: Hurray! Milana Misic has qualified for the Finnish final.
She has also recorded an English version of Sydämeni Kaksi Maata titled The Two Lands Of My Heart.
Finnish and English are available through various download shops like Meteli, Playcom and Music Me. (English version available from januari 24 on Columbia)



Albums 
Milana Misic has released six albums since 1991 and the last three include some Eurocovers of interest.

Laulumme (2008)
This includes 14 coverversions of songs made popular by Laila Kinnunen.
- Kaikkialla (Al di la, Italy 1961 - Betty Curtis)
- Tanssilaulu (Dansevise, Denmark 1963 - Grethe and Jørgen Ingmann)

Valoa Ikkunassa (2009)
This includes 12 coverversions of Laila Kinnunen songs including her own entry Valoa Ikkunassa.
- Valoa Ikkunassa (Finland 1961)

Jos Itken, Jos Nauran (2010)
- Jos Itken, Jos Nauran (Se Piangi, Se Ridi, Italy 1965 - Bobby Solo)
- I don’t think this was ever released on record by Mama Laila, but there’s a lovely clip to be found on Youtube. (thanks Juha)
- Muistojeni Laulu (Finland 1963 - Laila Halme)

There's also a compilation album Käy Tanssimaan (2010) with 17 songs including Valoa Ikkunassa and Kaikkialla.

Milana Misic Homepage
Milana Misic at Eurocovers (here and here)
Laila Kinnunen Eurocovers discography and songs
Laila Kinnunen Boxset info.
Milana's cds are available at shops like CDON or digitally at Playcom and other sources.

Eurovision 2011
The Düsseldorf Collection blog with all info on 2011 Eurovision releases is already slowly materialising here. Bookmark now.

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