Registrations are open for Junior Eurosong 2010! Belgium is looking for talented singers aged between 10 and 15 to audition. The kids don't even need to write their own song, they can send in a cover of another song, and professionals will help them write a song for JESC. If you want to register, you must do so before March 1st (@6pm)! You must be born between 23rd November 1995 and 22nd November 2000 (I can't believe we've finally reached the kids born in the 2000's! How time has passed..). If you have a question, email
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and enter at www.ketnet.be/junioreurosong.
This year Junior Eurosong will move from Eén to partner kids channel Ketnet. All Junior Eurosong shows will be broadcast on Ketnet, but Eén will still air the final held in Belarus, as in Flanders Junior Eurovision rates quite well, and CD sales are high. As Ketnet already features past JESC contestants and national finalists on 'Ketnetpop', it makes sense to move the whole show to that channel, which will be able to dedicate more specialised coverage to Junior Eurosong 2010. (source www.belgovision.com)
2nd February 2010
The Netherlands has opened submissions for Junior Song Festival 2010! Old host Sipke Jan Bousema has chosen to leave the JESC team to pursue other projects, so taking over is Ewout Genemans. For more information, or if you want to enter for the Netherlands, Click here and here.
Regarding Ralf Mackenbach, the JESC champion of 2009, he will be the voice of "Wickie the Viking" in the Dutch version of the movie. He was also named ambassador of the Dutch Youth Culture Fund.
1st February 2010
Lithuanian show "Choir Wars" has been airing since January. Eglė Jurgaitytė was one of the participants, but was eliminated after week three, where she performed a song from the Sound of Music. It appears Egle was sacrificed to keep Irena Starošaitė. Egle may return in the second chance round in week 8. In other Egle news, she will be appearing in the Egypt Teens and Childrens Festival 2010 according to (http://eglesfc.puslapiai.lt/). Alina Eremia from JESC 2005 (Turai!) participated in this same contest twice, once winning the jury prize.
Remember Ralf Mackenbach? The Dutch certainly do! He won the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2009 for them, their first win in probably most of the JESC audiences lives. Now, Ralf is back! This Spring, Ralf will star is his own reality television show, Big Brother style. It will be called "Ralf for Real", and will air at 5:55pm on Z@pp starting February 22. The show will feature Ralf's life since JESC, it will show us his school, home and musical lives. Several Dutch press outlets have covered Ralf for Real, which shows that winning JESC in the Netherlands counts for a lot.
Source: http://zappen.blog.nl
26th January 2009 Malin Reitan, the Norwegian singer earning third place for her country in JESC 2005, has since released four albums, and has appeared on many TV shows and concerts. Her fourth album, released in 2009 and entitled 'Malin', has been nominated for a Spellemannprise. The Spellemannprise is an award ceremony which has been running since 1972, designed to recognise Norway's top musicians. The prizes are divided into 17 genres and 4 additional selections (Singer of the year, newcomer, hit, and best music video (minus Kayne West!)).
All nominees were presented in a press conference at the Hotel Grand in Oslo. The Norwegian press was out in force to report the nominations. Malin has been nominated for the children's section of this prestigious award. She is up against Gjermund Larsen og Bom Basker and Trond Brænne. Malin is the youngest nominated, and one of two represented by Universal Music. Names such as Alexander Rybak, Donkeyboy and Röyksopp are also up for an award.
Eglė Jurgaitytė,who came 3rd for Lithuania in 2008 and now appears on various Lithuanian TV shows, is competing on "Choir Wars". This is a Lithuanian show (actually called Chorų karai), where different areas represented by a singer compete against each other. After week 1, Egle is coming 5th. Sasha Son from Eurovision 2009 is also participating (coming 4th).Egle is the only child allowed on the show, which caused a bit of controversy. She was involved in selecting singers. The show is on TV3 weekly. You can watch it here: www.tv3.lt -->> WEB TV -->> TV3 laidos -->> Chorų karai -->> Chorų karai 2010-01-16 (pick a date)-->> Žiūrėti.
You can see Egle's performance Beyonce's "If I were a Boy" (in Lithuanian!) here:
Here is a promo for the show (uploaded by our new channel, JuniorEurovisionTV, so far run by Annika, Sara and myself):
And Bon Jovi's "It's my Life" by all participants in Lithuanian (Egle sings a bit):
Ralf Mackenbach has appeared with Marco Borsato on "Nederland helpt Haïti" (Netherlands help Haiti), a special TV show to raise funds for the devastated country of Haiti. They sing "De speeltuin".
Meanwhile, I completed (in a manner of speaking, it's never complete..) the Dasha, Alina & Karina page (totally the same level of achievement ;) ) .. check it out under "The Singers -- Belarus".
21st January 2010
Svante Stockselius, the man in charge of all the Eurovision contests, has traveled to Belarus to review their plans for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2010. According to him, Belarus is not only perfectly prepared to host the JESC, but also the senior edition - Eurovision. It was their intense preparation that led Belarus to be chosen as host for 2010 over Russia and Malta. He has visited the Minsk Arena, where the contest will be held and has deemed it very suitable for hosting such a large contest. As it is a new building, they should not suffer the same technical problems organisers found in Kiev.
The EBU does not want more than 18 countries in JESC, instead preferring to keep it small and personal... although perhaps not quite as small as the bakers dozen we saw in 2009. They want to focus on the children enjoying their performance, eliminating the rush and pressure of the adult contest. They will send the five remaining invitations to all EBU countries in March, who will then have until May to enter.
Deputy President of the Belarusian Teleradiocompany Alexander Martynenko says: “We are in active negotiations with UNICEF about possible partnership. With UNICEF’s aid we plan to invite famous ambassadors of good will for holding master classes. The Swedish television will be our partners for setting the stage. Apart from that, a special team of professionals recruited from EBU member-states will help stage the show. These professionals have taken part in arranging all the Eurovision contests."
According to Esckaz, the age limit for JESC will stay as 10-15. The show will take place on Saturday, November 20th, not the Sunday as was rumoured. Also, and this is exciting news - Belarus will invite all previous JESC winners to Minsk! Should they accept, we will see Dino, Maria Isabel, Kseniya, the Tolmachevy Twins, Alexey, Bzikebi and Ralf! There will be a documentary filmed on their lives since winning, where they are now. I'd say it is likely at least Kseniya, Alexey and the twins will appear, and Bzikebi appeared at Belarus national selection 2009 so they are also a good bet.
Hello everyone! Holidays are over, the site will now be updated frequently again. The news will pick up once JESC pre-selections start for 2010 (usually once ESC is over), until then we'll mainly be covering news about the 2003-2009 artists, as well as planning news from Minsk. I will be updating the photo galleries, biographies, national final pages and audio page.
The countries confirmed so far for JESC 2010 appear to be:
Russia (http://www.nnovgorod.rfn.ru/region.html?rid=25331) Belarus (http://www.tvr.by) The Netherlands (songfestival.web-log.nl) Belgium (http://www.eurosong.be/nieuws.php?id=15975)
5/12/2009 - Ralf Mackenbach, the winner of JESC 2009, who is currently enjoying an 18th place on the Belgian singles charts.. has an impersonator. Someone is pretending to be him on the internet, trying to seduce young girls.
"Ralf has a dirty imposter double
Song Contest winner Ralf is becoming a real star, now he even has his own look-alike. But he's not flattered by it at all. Because this person that's pretending to be Ralf, is trying to seduce young girls through MSN.
Ralf's mother received a phone call from a woman who contacted the police, because someone who called himself Ralf Mackenbach was doing all kind of weird proposals on MSN to her daughters. Ralf's mom to the newspaper: "I'm really glad she called me. Since the national contest we had to deal with someone imposing to be Ralf already."
Ralf: "I'm afraid that this way, some girl might get in contact with a pedophile or loverboy." Just so you know: if you ever run into Ralf online, it's a very small chance that it's really Ralf himself. He says: "I never use MSN.""
So be careful everyone, beware of anyone pretending to be Ralf, or any other contestant, never arrange to meet them, or give out your address or other personal details.
2nd February 2010
26th January 2009
23rd January 2010
Svante Stockselius, the man in charge of all the Eurovision contests, has traveled to Belarus to review their plans for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2010. According to him, Belarus is not only perfectly prepared to host the JESC, but also the senior edition - Eurovision. It was their intense preparation that led Belarus to be chosen as host for 2010 over Russia and Malta. He has visited the Minsk Arena, where the contest will be held and has deemed it very suitable for hosting such a large contest. As it is a new building, they should not suffer the same technical problems organisers found in Kiev.
