March 9: Controversial contests

It's been a scandalous Eurovision weekend as five more countries (Russia, Estonia, Serbia, Slokavia and Ukraine) reveal their 2009 entries.

To begin with, this year's hosts Russia, will be represented by Anastasia Prihodko from Ukraine with the song 'Mama'. Anastasia had originally entered her native country's contest. But according to news reports, after her song failed to make the finals she was so incensed that she wrote to the Ukrainian President to contest her expulsion. Maybe the President had more important things to deal with, or perhaps he just isn't a big Eurovision fan, but when this tactic appeared to fail Anastasia decided to try her luck in Russia.

Anastasia will be the first Ukrainian to represent Russia at the ESC, and is the first female to represent the country since 2005. Will throwing her out of the competition be Ukraine's biggest regret? It will if Russia triumph for the second year running. As last year's winner, Russia gets automatic entry into the final, so Anastasia is already one step ahead of her Ukrainian rival.

Ukraine will be represented by 26-year-old Svetlana Loboda with 'Be My Valentine'. Svetlana is already an established pop star at home and is proving to be quite the match for her Ukrainian-masquerading-as-Russian rival, performing an impressive drum solo in the middle of her song.

There were far less controversial finals taking place at the weekend in Slovakia and Estonia, with both countries opting for songs in their native languages. The Slovaks have gone for Kamil Mikulcík & Nela Pocisková with 'Let' tmo', a soulful duet which will be their first Eurovision entry in 11 years. Estonia has chosen 'Rändajad' by Urban Symphony, a 6 piece band that incorporates a string quartet. Apparently, Rändajad tells the story of a never-ending journey with plenty of risks along the way - sounds a bit like Eurovision really!

Last year's hosts Serbia also provided a touch of scandal this weekend as accusations of vote-rigging and competition-fixing were rife. The Serbs picked their winner over the course of a two day festival called Beovizija. The semi-final took place on Saturday, with 20 acts being cut down to 10. Surprise was expressed when it became clear that the favourite, Ana Nikolic, had not been put through. According to various news reports, it was found that the tele-voting period had been cut short from 10 minutes to 5 minutes, and so with a re-calculation of the votes, both Ana Nikolic and another act were added to the list of finalists on Sunday morning. After the scandal, however, Ana refused to take part.

Following the final vote on Sunday night, Marko Kon became Serbia's entry with his song 'Cipela', sung in Serbian, accompanied by Milan Nikolic on the accordion. Unsurprisingly protests have already started by fans disagreeing with Marko Kon's selection. One thing's for sure, Marko's got the award for best hair in the bag!

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