Donny will be wearing a sequined blindfold. Kinky. But do you see what he's trying to do? The song is called "Love is Blind", so what he's doing is he's explaining that he's blind...or in love... or something. How clever. But don't fret as the blindfold comes off eventually, to show the world his semi-wild eyebrows. The song is an archtypal disco-lite Manilow number from '78, the backdrop is Jailhouse Rock without the rock.
It's a 50-50 to get through from Thursday's semi, but being the last song up would definitely help, whilst having a singer that screams reality show reject ultimately probably won't.

For Donatas Montvydas, or Donny Montell (24), creating, singing and dancing is his passion in life, a way to discharge emotionally. "If there is at least one person in the world (including me), for whom my creative work gives pleasure, then I’d like to be a part of the music.”
Donatas Montvydas was born on October 22, 1987, in Vilnius. Donny is a successful participant of various TV-shows: his voice mesmerized both the audience and jury at Duets Of The Stars and he won the Lithuanian version of the Dancing With the Stars.
 
 

It's netiher one thing nor t'other this one I'm afraid. Again Malta find itself with a harmless but ultimately weak piece of fluff. Mr Calleja has an air steward position on his CV, and he does indeed seem to have a touch of the Scooch's about him.
Good points; capable voice, nice soft shoe shuffle.
Not-so-good points: much quiff, turntable prop, people under the stairs.
So all in all an unlikely qualifier and yet another year of disappointment for the Maltese. However what goes around comes around, and the well of good feeling to this longstanding Euro islet is filling up again.

Kurt Calleja together with his band will represent Malta at the next Eurovision Song Contest in Baku. Kurt is twenty-two years old and is from Hamrun. His favourite genre of music is pop, rock and semi-classical.
In 2008 Kurt moved to the UK for a year to work as an air steward. During this period in England, Kurt spent most of his free time studying the piano and performing in a number of small venues such as restaurants, bars and clubs.
The song This Is The Night is written by Kurt Calleja and composed by Johan Jämtberg, Mikael Gunnerås. Kurt together with the composers is working on his first album which will be out shortly.
 
 
We have a live outsider on our hands and it comes from Edward Norton's eastern cousin. Only a cheeky relation to a Hollywood star can come up with a lyric like "This twumpet makes you my girl". Ooh er.
Pasha (or Pavel) Parfeny is the ringleader of a motley assortment of instruments, including big horn, ethnic string, a tippy tappy keyboard thing, and a couple of fine backing singers. Sure it's a mess, but it's a catchy mess, and I think it'll steam into the Final, defying the odds of being a hilly outpost. So don your baggy braced-up waders and sing "hup hup hup" whilst riding that girl.
Pasha Parfeny’s real name is Pavel Parfeny. The artist has a big musical experience behind him. He participated in different national and international festivals where he almost always took first place. In his country, he is known as Pasha Parfeny or simply Pasha.
Pasha Parfeny was born on May 30th, 1986 in Moldova. Music has always played an important role in his life. Pasha’s parents who are both musicians have always supported his musical career. Pasha’s mother was a piano teacher at the music school of the city of Orhei. His father was a singer and guitarist.
 
 
Unfortunately Rambo's request to bring his ass onto the stage was refused by the EBU as it would've been as cruel to the donkey, as the performance is to Europe. A massive outsider and universally rubbished by the damp fans, this is indubitably my favourite song of the year. Although you may have issues recognising much English, I don't care (& neither indeed, does he). Sadly lthough it has the best video of 2012 (featuring Bill Hicks doppelganger on a yacht), it is increasingly likely that Mr Amadeus won't be able to convey the real joy of a bizarre mumbling wooden donkey thrashabout. Send an interesting text.
Rambo Amadeus is a true cult figure of the Ex-Yugoslav music scene. The self-called “World Mega Tzar” is famous for his crazy jazz-funk music, interesting texts and unpredictable live performances, spiced with brutal satire, which is sometimes standing on the border of stand-up comedy. The name of Rambo Amadeus is linked with the creation of the term of “turbo folk”, a unique music phenomenon of the Balkan Region, often linked to strange taste, aggressive folk music and mass popularity. As a youth, Antonije Pušic won a number of recognitions for his achievements in sports sailing. He has issued 19 albums, and won numerous prizes for his music work, for the music theme in the movie Boomerang and the Golden Rose at the festival of Montreux.
 
 
Joan "Sioux" Franka had a bit of difficulty when she stood in a coal bucket. But even with her "blackfoot" and "poor knee" which made her "hopi" around, she has still managed to make it to through to Eurosong to represent the mighty Dutch. Joan and her guitar perform a twee little pop song, a pleasant yet deranged slice of hippy nonsense, which can only be improved by a huge Red Indian head-dress, tambourines and a banjo. In the true spirit of the Dutch being mad as a bucket of frogs, I do hope "You and Me" gets through to the final, however it could be a close run thing.
At the age of 22, Joan Franka is a gifted singer/songwriter and a talented poet who has a story to tell through her song.
Joan Franka was born in Rotterdam on April 2, 1990. She has a Dutch mother and a Turkish father, who sadly died when she was two years old. “You and Me” tells the story of a childhood memory, in which she often played “Cowboys and Indians” with her first boyfriend. That’s why she wore an Indian-style dress and headdress during her performance to add lustre to her childhood memory. The headdress was made in a bridal shop. She deals with her emotions by writing both songs and poems. Inspiration often comes out of nowhere. She likes being creative, including with her wardrobe.
 
 

The keen ones out there may recall the Swede last year breaking out of a glass box. Their neighbours have decided to follow suit with a walloper and formation gyrations from his gymnastic backing dancers. It's been well regarded at home but I'm not quite as confident as Hammerfest builders. The song itself is fast-paced loud pop nonsense which allows Tooji to wander back and forward across the stage with his George Hamilton haircut and a badly judged metallic venetian blind backdrop. Should qualify but can't see it troubling the leaderboard on Saturday.

Iranian-Norwegian Tooji comes from a close-knit family with a strong passion for music and the creative arts. Tooji was born in Shiraz in Iran in 1988. He had his first birthday whilst fleeing to Norway.
The family’s Persian roots have given Tooji strong references, both musically and personally. A good life with a close-knit family in a new country has influenced his upbringing since. Some choices have been more important than others, and working with refugees in asylum centres has made its mark on him. Tooji now works as a child protection consultant in the department of after-care, a job he finds intense and socially important, challenging and vital. His song “Stay” immediately tops iTunes, and Tooji becomes an overnight sensation.
 
 
Aah the Portuguese. Stuck in an agrarian past and not afraid to show it year after year. Be it either the badly focussed rainbow pop folk, or the beige slacked ballards, Portugal have consistently underperformed since the last Cod wars.
Diminuative Filipa Sousa is the latest native to take a week's break from carrying fish in a wicker basket from the harbour, and all the emoting and arm waving in the world won't ultimately distract from what is a deeply boring piece of fado. I sometimes think parts of this "life of mine" is somewhat misjudged.
Filipa Sousa (27) experimented with Portugal's traditional musical style, Fado, for fun when she was 16, and hasn't stopped since. Being a Fado singer, she's been invited to sing for the Portuguese communities abroad, and thanks to her victory in the 2012 Festival Da Canção, she will represent Portugal at the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku.
Filipa Sousa was born on March 2, 1985, in Albufeira and she aims to be the first ever winner of the Eurovision Song Contest for Portugal with Vida Minha written by Carlos Coelho and Andrej Babic.
 
 
This is one of those "hup hup" songs, a peculair Balkan/Cuban/Alpine mix of polished horn and accordion. Mandinga, a novelty act fronted by an Eastern barbie in a orange miniskirt, hope to tear
This is being talked up as a potential success story but I'm not so sure. From a normally marvellous Eurosong nation, this is one of the weaker Bucharesti entrants. When all said and done it's all one long chorus of "la la lei"s which fills around 1:20 but is a real stretch for a full 3 mins. A finalist for sure, but an under-achiever.
Mandinga promise a spectacular stageshow in Baku where they will represent Romania with Zaleilah, a unique juxtaposition of Cuban and Romanian sounds. The group is capable of pleasing the most heterogeneous crowds. Mandinga consists of 7 members: Elena (lead vocals), Alex (trumpet), Chupi (drums), El Niño (congas), Omar (piano), Zach (saxophone) and Tony (trombone). Only six of them will sing on the stage in Baku, Tony being just their Green Room supporter.
The band started 10 years ago. Since then they have become known as the best latino band in the country. Any Mandinga appearance on a stage turns into a spectacular show due to the blend of sounds, virtuosity and impeccable visual construction.
 
 
A joke song wins and Eurosong gets a pasting. In fact the contest has had more nails in it coffin than Spearmint Rhino's changing room, but it's still going. And so we face the fear that 6 old ladies singing in Udmurt and dressing in rugs will win in 2012. The song (in the loosest possible sense) represents what fun means down the harsh Steppes, whereby our gibbering heroines let their hair down by wandering around the stage unencumbered by choreography, offering bread and generally getting in each others way. Of particular senility is the most senior tiny one, who should be put back in her matryoshka. Baffling.
Buranovskiye Babushki are a group of "grannies" from Udmurtia, a republic on the shore of the Volga river in Russia. In March, they won the Russian national final against several stars including the former Eurovision winner Dima Bilan, and now they will try to conquer Europe with their unique style.
The eldest member of the group is 77 years old.
They have been covering Russian and Western popular songs by Aquarium, Kino, The Beatles, Queen, and Shocking Blue. These covers were sung in Udmurt, citing folk music influences.
 
 

This is gummy Valentina's chance to be a cheap Kylie, and she's throwing every amateur ounce behind her three minutes of fame. The hamlet's song this year has provoked widespread guffawing which is a tad harsh as they need all the support they can muster. It's the kid's demographic they're going for here, an irritating pop effort about online activities. So much so that she spends much of the performance tapping at a keyboard whilst jabbering "oh oh oh". I'm guessing she's looking at her odds. She can't face the book, you see. My space in the Cd rack doesn't include this, and I'll warrant your's won't either.

The story of Valentina Monetta representing San Marino is a sort of fairy tale. Taking part in the Eurovision Song Contest requires organisation, partners, resources, the right song and the right interpreter. SMtv in San Marino started working on that last autumn, evaluating different proposals. And initially Valentina wasn’t one of them!
The internal selection started, the proposals left were finally two and then one, but at the very last moment the unplanned happened. They needed a good, young, Sammarinese singer and they needed her straight away. Today, thanks to her experience, better self-awareness and talent, Valentina Monetta started to explore her love of jazz and Bebop rediscovering the importance of Italian music and its artists.
 
 

Believe it or not, I spend a couple of days a year writing balls on a cheesy music contest for the love of it. The continuing joy of my hobby is however based on a few fundamentals that make the low points more bearable. One is an attempt at originality. Serbia have wiped their rubber-panted bottoms on this rule. In 2004 Mr Joksimovic came 2nd with the same song, the same performance and probably will get the same result this year. He has the same death row walk-on, the same hirsute troubled woodwind man, and of course the bland faux-folk ballard. Watch out for the white Grace Jones-alike violin twins.

He was runner up in the 2004 ESC as a performer, took third and sixth places respectively as a composer in the 2006 and 2008 contests. And as if that wasn't enough experience of Europe's Favourite TV Show, Željko Joksimovic also co-hosted the 2008 contest.
Željko Joksimovic was born on the 20th of April, 1972. in Belgrade, Serbia. The defining year in the career of Željko Joksimovic was 2004 when he won the national song contest for Serbia and Montenegro with the song Lane Moje where he finished in second place in the Final. Željko has been given complete control over the Serbian entry. He will both compose and perform the entry.
 
 

There can only be one nomination for this year's unnecessary noise pollution award. A topless poster of Bon Jon Bovi was the only bit of colour on the black juvenile bedroom walls of Jax Mason Jai. You don't recover from something from that, however Mr Mai has somehow managed to convince a seemingly deranged nation that he would be a solid national rep. It's a rock song of course, well I'm told that it's a song although I haven't picked one out. The mohi"caned" drummer is a necessary diversion from Boy George's mate Marliyn, in that he seems to hit the same note for the entire 3mins of perguatory.

Rock musician, singer-songwriter and rhythm guitarist Max Jason Mai is 23 years old. The versatile artist will represent Slovakia with his rock song Don't Close Your Eyes.
Max Jason Mai is a rock musician, singer-songwriter and rhythm guitarist born on November 27th, 1988 in Slovakia. He believes that music can and should change the world, he loves people with a sense of humour and the good things in life. Be they music, sports, yoga, love, or nature. He reveres all living beings, that’s why he’s vegetarian and he doesn’t wear clothes made from leather, as he wouldn’t want to be a handbag either.