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Mr Paadam steps down after 11 years
Estonia: Heidy Purga takes over Eurolaul production
Ms. Purga will offer a fresh approach to the Estonian selection of their entry for Moscow. She is quoted to have done a lot for Estonian pop music both on TV and on radio. She has also been a judge on the Estonian version of Pop Idol, Eesti otsib superstaari.
She promises changes to the selection process and hopes to attract more new names. She says further that Eurovision music should not differ from the music people listen to on a daily basis and musicians and songwriters should be able to take part with the kind of music they normally do. She will not confirm whether the Estonian entry will be selected by a jury alone or by the public.
Both MS. Purga and ERR's Hanno Tomberg praise Juhan Paadam's achievements in running the Estonian Eurovision production for 11 years, which include a victory in 2001 anmd hosting the contest in Tallinn in 2002. Ms. Purga promises further details on the Estonian selection process for mid-October.
In an interview with elu24.ee, Mr Padam stated jokingly that after a long time he will be able to do something very pleasant “watch the show and join the critics of Eurovision”. “Maybe somebody thinks that it’s a party all the time –travelling far away with beautiful girls etc. But actually it is a TV project which involves many people. Because it’s one of most popular TV-shows in Estonian Television (ETV) after the President’s New Year Eve speech and broadcast from President’s reception ceremony on Independence Day, the producer of Eurolaul has a huge responsibility.”, he confesses.
So what will he do now with the extra free time on his hands? A book with his memoires from the years he has dealt with the Eurovision Song Contest is quite possible, he says: “Materials that I have collected during that 11 years are quite intriguing and even explosive, I must admit.” As for the appointment of Ms Purga, “Heidy Purga is very charming young lady. Full stop”, says Mr Paadam enigmatically.
In September a decision was made in Estonia to participate in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow after a boycott had been suggested in the country. The public, however, showed a 66% support for participation in a poll organised by ERR.
Special thanks to Martin Paberit for his assistance with the article.
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She says further that Eurovision music should not differ from the music people listen to on a daily basis and musicians and songwriters should be able to take part with the kind of music they normally do.
*****
Just like with Finn, this s the stanza that stays most in my mind after having read this article. She is very right. This is how any country should work with selecting songs for NFs. The times were we could still talk about "typical ESC songs" are gone, they belong to the dark ages (in this case, the 80s....)
However, I disagree with you Finn, that this is so hard. Look at this year's top 5. All the songs were more or less modern, with good hit potential, and many of them became hits. I had expected more of "Believe", it was a modern chartoriented song, but maybe something got lost along the way when it came to promotion etc. Still, it was actually a big hit in many countries. So ESC is not so much behind at all! 
Anyway...good to see the nice attitude given by this woman above. And, to see that they have decided to TAKE PART...not some kind of ridiculous boycotts or anything.
@ Eurosheep
I adore Romeo Ja Julia! Estonian truly is one of the most beautiful languages in the world!
Keelatud Maa has to be my favourite estonian song by far, I like most of their entries though
Euro Sheep
lol. I hope Carolina will stay on as a presenter
There are also some words which look the same in Estonian and Finnish but they have a (slightly) different meaning.
Jonny
Yes, the Hungarian language belongs to the same group.
By the way Euro Sheep, your sheep has competition haha, say hello to Euro Snail! 
Euro Sheep
Thanks for the info about the languages and the voting 
On the subject of hardcore fans, do you know in 2004 the BBC recieved about 50,000 votes for the UK entry It does amaze me how dumb some people can be in the UK lol!
I didn't know that was Laura giving the Estonian votes in 2007 A "Laura" also gave the Finnish points aswell, it was Laura from 2002, who sang "addicted to you" 
Stockholm
I think euro sheep explained it I'm guessing Estonian and Finnish are to each other as Portuguese is to Spanish? Apparently the Hungarian language belongs to the same group as Estonian and FInnish, although its not so similar to them
Stockholm calling
It must be awful if you never liked that song!!! 4 years on the chart - no wonder the last presenter quit in August 2007...I wonder if it has driven Caroline Norén crazy yet! and Sanna's now at number 3 - noooo!!! And yes, where were Lena + Orup - they should be number one!!!
Jonny
"in the second round Vanilla N only got 262 votes" haha lol. It was only meant to be the top 3 songs from the first round which you could vote for: "Partners In Crime", "Romeo ja Julia" and "Sunflowers" (by Laura ) so those 262 votes were from hardcores fans who never gave up! And there are lots of differences between Estonian and Finnish (although they are closely related - they are NOT mutually intelligible) - in Finnish they use the letter "y" whereas they don't in Estonian and Estonian uses the letter "õ" whereas Finnish doesn't!!!
An interesting fact: when Laura was giving Estonia's points in the Helsinki final, Mikko actually greated her by saying "Tere õhtust!" which means good evening in Estonian
Jonny
Very strange, indeed !?
I think the Estonians and the Finns can understand each other fairly well
Stockholm
I can't believe it either! 
The thing I find most baffling is that in the first round of voting Gerli Padar got more than twice as many votes than Vanilla N, and in the second round Vanilla N only got 262 votes 
Whats going on in Estonia!
I find it hard to tell the difference betweem Estonian and Finnish aswell, in fact
Jonny
I don't understand either why Estonia never sent Vanilla Ninja. "Birds of peace" was great I hope they will try once more.
As for the language I think it's hard to tell the difference between Estonian and Finnish.
Euro Sheep
I also listened to Svensktoppen. "Du är min man" number one, I can't believe it. You know I never liked that song. And where are Lena Ph and Orup? They are number one in the sales charts
Euro Sheep
Yeah Vanilla Ninja are god like! Their album "love is war" is amaazzzzinnng!!!!
And I agree about Eurolaul this year, there were so many good songs and they chose the worst one! I think "365 days" would have been a good choice, however because there were so many ballads this year in Belgrade, it may have got a bit lost. I think their best choice would have been Ska Faktor Or Luisa Vaerk and Traffic, but i'm not sure whether they would have qualified
Jonny
I was actually really puzzled as to why Estonia didn't send Vanilla Ninja in 2007 - they are Gods over there!!! And yes thank you, I got the eMail and have been getting a groove on to the 2 songs you sent me
This year, Estonia had 8 songs out of 10 which would have been wonderful to see in Belgrade - unfortunately they picked one of the other 2! Looking back, I would have wanted Birgit Õigemeel ("365 Days") to have represented them - she is just WOW!
Stockholm calling
Listening to Svensktoppen at the minute fingers crossed that Sanna will be number one again this week, after last week's complete shock!!!
I'm very sad becouse Estonia had WONDERFULL song this year in national final which came second on the end: ICE COLD STORY (or something like that). They should have send that on Eurovision.
Euro Sheep
I much prefer her song to Suntribes one in eurolaul 2005
And as for 2007, I do like Romeo Ja Julia, but "partners in crime" still isn't my favourite in Eurolaul 2007. My absolute favourite is "Birds of peace" by Vanilla Ninja I can't believe Estonia didn't send this - http://uk.youtube.co(...)/watch?v=gzWaNXvXOpk
And although Sahlene is my all time favourite, she sings much much better songs nowadays. "Runaway" is more of a eurovision song, whereas the songs she signs nowadays might not fit in so well though
By the way, I hope you go the email I sent you with her songs in the attachments. The first time it didn't send although I didn't realise until a few days later when the email got sent back to me. Turned out i'd typed your address in wrong But I resent it with the correct address and fingers crossed you got it cause I didn't get it sent back
" She says further that Eurovision music should not differ from the music people listen to on a daily basis and musicians and songwriters should be able to take part with the kind of music they normally do. "
Interesting comment. Thats gonna take some time! ESC songs are so incredibly different to what actual people (at least in this corner of europe) listen to... i mean, i could never seriously picture Dima Bilan in the charts here ESC songs dont have what it takes to break through in a chart because theyre old-fashioned. The only songs with any connection to modern charts lately have been Andorra 2007 and Bulgaria 2008, cant really remember any others (and yes that IS an open invitation to bring indie and dance to eurovision!!) . But I suppose thats why it is the Eurovision Song Contest...
as for favourite estonian entries... look no further than Neiokõsõ in 2004... awesome! Although 1997 and 98 were great too..
I forgot to mention, Maarja and Koit Toome would be interesting choices, they are cool!
And Estonian is indeed a wonderful language, I love it
Laura Põldvere is GREAT when soloing.
I am really hoping for Ines (with a song like Iseendale) or Laura. They would go really far in ESC.
Euro Sheep
I like Laura's solo song much more than the one by Suntribe. It's really good My favourite is Sahlene too. Like most other Swedes I voted for it.
Jonny
"The old guy" was 47 at the time
Jonny
There is no cheese limit when it comes to Eurovision! And I don't know if you have heard of the Estonian singer Laura Põldvere, but she was part of Suntribe and she is amazing - I bought her album online and it is awesome!!! Come to think of it, she came second to Suntribe in Eurolaul 2005 but she still got to go to Kyiv
Here's her solo song from that year: http://uk.youtube.co(...)/watch?v=UFg64V4jyFE
LoL yes, "Kaelakee Hääl" is the one with Maarja and Ivo Linna (a.k.a. "the old guy ) and I had a feeling that Sahléne would be your favourite. Although I like Gerli's song, I think the runners up were better: http://uk.youtube.co(...)/watch?v=49BJX7wwRt0
They need to send another entry in Estonian - it's one of the most beautiful in the world!
My favourite Estonian entry is by far Koit Toome with "Mere lapsed" from 1998.
Such dreamy piano tunes, a romantic voicem great lyrics and a wonderful live performance!
Should have done a lot better!
Other than that, I liked Estonia in 1999, 2000 and 2002.
Euro Sheep
lol . . . well admittedly Suntribe were fun, and their song was very catchy, but for me theres a cheese limit, and they were wayyyy over that limit! My fave estonian entry is Sahlene or Gerlia Padar Although I do like Kaelakee Hääl alot (if im right thats the one with Mairija and the old guy?)
Jonny
Oh, I am shocked! How can you call yourself a fan of Estonia if you didn't like Suntribe!!! They were awesome (maybe not the singing - but still!) I have loved every single one of their entries but my favourite has to be "Kaelakee Hääl"!
Stockholm
Oh god I forgot about that one! No i'm not a fan of their 2001 entry, although to give it some credit, it is VERY catchy!
Good luck Estonia !
I've liked most of the Estonian entries especially 2006, 2003, 2002, 2000 and 1997 (Maarja-Liis also competed in Melodifestivalen in 2003)
Jonny
Did you like their 2001 entry?
Ajdin I am shocked lol!
I have liked every entry of theirs since . . . . ever! (Except 2005 )
Hopefully Estonia can send a good song again to ESC. I think this change was a good idea.
Jonny...
The only entry I loved from Estonia is that one from 2002.
Other good entries are 2004 and 2006 (but not good enought).
I would wish all luck to Estonia (and Andorra) to make it to the final for the first time.
Hopefully this will bring good luck to one of my favourite countries in and out of eurovision! Good luck Estonia
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