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With Rick stuck in Sweden at home on the couch while his colleagues are having a ball at the hall, here's his analysis of how the first rehearsals went.

With Ukraine, Hungary, Georgia and Slovenia added a total of ten countries have now been confirmed for Amsterdam in Concert. More to follow.

By now, Eurovision In Concert has become a tradition, for the fourth time Amsterdam is inviting all the Eurovision acts of this year over to give a preview of their song for Baku. previously we could allready announce the six first countries, today we can add four more. Gaitana, Eva Boto, Anri Jokhadze and Compact Disco will show us what they can in Amsterdam on 21 April. More information here.

++ Line up Spain complete ++  Amnesty International critical about Azerbaijan ++ Talking to Charlotte tonight! ++ ..

There is the general prejudice that non-white artists don't get too many votes from eastern European countries. Recent examples are Norway's entry last year and the Netherlands in 2007. This year Ukraine almost seems to have made a statement against this prejudice, selecting Gaitana to represent the country in Baku. Gaitana is partly Congolese but she was born and raised in Ukraine. Apparently this now hasn't turned out to be accepted generally in the country anyway. In Ukrainian press Yuriy Syrotyuk, of the Svoboda party, said that "Gaitana is not an organic representative of the Ukrainian culture." "Eurovision is our chance to promote Ukraine," "We need to show our originality," he told Kyiv Post on Feb. 21. Such a pity! 

Ukraine is going to be represented in Ukraine by Gaitana. She will sing Be My Guest. the televoters placed her second, but the jury assured her winning position.

++ Roman or Ornella, Germany will decide tonight ++  Duets in Italy ++ Ticket sales start soon ++..

Bosnian broadcaster BHRT has announced what song Maya Sar is going to sing at this year's Eurovision Song Contest. She was alreeady selected a while ago. Now we know the song title too: Korake ti znam. The song, written by Maya Sar herself will be presented on 10 March in a special broadcast on Bosnian television. The videoclip for the song will partially be filmed in Rome and partially in Istanbul.

++Croatian Nina Badrić plans no sex till ESC++ ABBA is back! ++ UMK is the word in Finland tonight ++ Vive La France ++ ..

Four times Nina Badrić tried to get a ticket for Eurovision already. Now that she finally managed to get the chance to represent Croatia, she will make sure she is ready for it! "I've decided to prepare myself in the best possible way. Therefore, there is no sex before June," 39-year-old Nina Badrić told Croatian daily newspaper Vecernji List. We feel sorry for Bernard Krasnić, Nina's husband.

News Round-up of the day. Hande Yener expresses her interest in representing Turkey in 2012. 

Eversince her debute album in 2000, hande yener has belonged to the top of Turkish pop music. In an interview with newspaper Sabah, she has stated that she thinks it is time to renew Sertab Erener's 2003 victory. She would like to represent the country nex year and bring the contest back to Turkey. TRT is expected to reveal the artist for Baku in December.

News Round-up of the day. Only 8 days to go for Junior Eurovision Songcontest.

Today the first three participants (Latvia, Lithuania and Belarus) of the Junior Eurovision Songcontest arrived at Yerevan.

News Round-up of the day. Smiley new in Ukraine and Russia + more chartnews.

Roger Cicero (Germany 2007) has got a new album, the first single peeped into the German charts this week at 97: In diesem Moment. How long will it still take to get a glimpse of 2011 in the European charts? See all about everything Eurovision related in the charts here.

News Round-up of the day. British X-factor star Johnny Robinson wants to represent the UK at Eurovision.

Rather excentric Johnny told TV Biz that he would love to go to Azerbaijan next year: 'It would be brilliant'!