Karlsnes wins Eurovision wildcard spot
February 7, 2012
Lise Karlsnes, former lead singer in a band that once toured with the legendary Norwegian rock group a-ha, will be competing to represent Norway at the Eurovision Song Contest after all. She won a coveted wildcard spot for Saturday’s final in Oslo. Karlsnes was among the performers competing in Norway’s third semi-final for Eurovision, called [...]
Memorial held for father of Eurovision winner
February 5, 2012
Memorial services were held on Sunday for Jeff Mwangi Kwirikia, father of singer Stella Mwangi, after he was killed by a hit-and-run driver at Dal in Akershus last week. The 54-year-old native of Kenya was hailed for integrating his children into Norwegian life without letting them forget where they came from. The memorial was organized [...]
Activists seek Eurovision conscience
January 30, 2012
Norway’s chapter of the Helsinki Committee, known for its advocacy of human rights and democracy, has asked the singers and musicians taking part in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest to pay attention to what’s happening in Azerbaijan, which will host this year’s show. The country, run by a dictator, is regularly accused of human rights [...]
Teen wins first step towards Eurovision
January 22, 2012
She was the youngest of all the participants and she won the most votes: Nora Foss Al-Jabri, the teenage Norwegian singer with a grown-up voice, topped the first of three semi-finals in Norway’s qualifying rounds for the Eurovision Song Contest, and claimed she almost fainted along the way. The 15-year-old Al-Jabri could be seen bending [...]
Norway voted out of Eurovision
May 11, 2011
She sang and danced her heart out, but Norway’s entry in the annual Eurovision Song Contest failed to win the hearts of European voters watching the first of two semi-finals broadcast from Dusseldorf Tuesday night. Stella Mwangi of Lillestrøm, northeast of Oslo, didn’t qualify for the final on Saturday, meaning Norway is out of the [...]
Eurovision winner fends off racism
February 18, 2011
The young Kenyan-Norwegian woman who won last weekend’s run-up to the Eurovision Song Contest has been the target of what many are calling blatant racism, with even a local politician caught in the scandal. Singer Stella Mwangi herself, however, doesn’t want to talk about it. “I would rather talk about me and my music,” Mwangi [...]
Stella wins her way to Eurovision
February 13, 2011
Stella Mwangi, who came to Norway from Kenya as a child, will represent her adopted country at the Eurovision Song Contest in Germany this spring. Mwangi sang and danced her way to a decisive victory at Norway’s version of the event, Melodi Grand Prix, over the weekend. “Maybe I’ll make a trip back to Kenya [...]
Mwangi hot Eurovision favourite
February 8, 2011
Stella Mwangi is the bookmakers’ tip to win the Norwegian final of the Eurovision Song Contest. The last contenders to qualify were The Lucky Bullets and Sie Gubba, who got through the elimination heat in Sarpsborg last Saturday. The rockabilly band The Lucky Bullets pushed aside hip-hop and heavy metal opposition to go through along [...]
Last chance for Eurovision hopefuls
February 1, 2011
This weekend marks the last chance for contenders to qualify for this year’s Norwegian Eurovision final, known as Melodi Grand Prix. The winner of this past weekend’s qualifying heat sang part of her song in Swahili. This week’s winner in Skien was Kenyan-Norwegian Stella Mwangi. She and the runners up, The BlackSheeps, are therefore cleared [...]
Veterans win Eurovision qualifier
January 24, 2011
Even though it was her first attempt at actually performing in the competition, singer/song writer Hanne Sørvaag did well in her heat in the qualifying rounds of Norway’s Eurovision Song Contest (called Melodi Grand Prix). She made it to the final after her performance in Fløro in western Norway over the weekend. “I never quite [...]
NRK took a loss on Eurovision
June 15, 2010
Revenues from the Eurovision Song Contest ended up under budget, leaving Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) with a loss estimated at as much as NOK 5 million. Some of it is being blamed on Iceland’s volcano. NRK chief Hans-Tore Bjerkaas said that NRK’s costs came in about as expected, at around NOK 200 million (USD 32 million). [...]
Young royals visit Northern Germany
June 12, 2010
Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway (center), Crown Prince Haakon of Norway and German Chancellor Angela Merkel pose with sailors after returning from a boat trip to see nearby chalk cliffs in the Baltic Sea on June 12, 2010 in Sassnitz, Germany. The Norwegian royal couple visited northern Germany over the weekend after receiving a personal [...]
Eurovision party over, NRK relieved
May 31, 2010
The Eurovision party was definitely over in Oslo on Monday, with crews cleaning up and dismantling stages at Telenor Arena and concert sites all over town. As officials evaluated whether it was worth all the expense and effort, at least Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) could brag about ‘historic’ ratings. NRK reported Monday that nearly 2 million [...]
‘The lovely Lena’ stole the show
May 30, 2010
Alexander Rybak, Norway’s landslide winner from last year’s Eurovision Song Contest, demanded a kiss from this year’s winner, Lena Meyer-Landrut of Germany, before he handed over her trophy in Oslo Saturday night. Norway’s own candidate, meanwhile, ended in a lowly 20th place. The slender, elegantly dressed 19-year-old winner has been repeatedly referred to as “the [...]
Now it’s finally Didrik’s turn
May 28, 2010
After some surprising upsets in the second of two Eurovision Song Contest semi-finals, Norwegian fans of the massive event were turning their attention back to their own candidate, Didrik Solli-Tangen. He’ll be among those singing in Saturday’s grand finale, after months of hype. Thursday night’s semi-final showed just how misguided that hype can be. Sweden’s [...]
