1.
Tallinn
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Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland,80 km south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm, from the 13th century until 1918, the city was known as Reval. Tallinn occupies an area of 159.2 km2 and has a population of 444,591, approximately 33% of Estonias total population lives in Tallinn. Tallinn was founded in 1248, but the earliest human settlements date back 5,000 years, making it one of the oldest capital cities of Northern Europe. The initial claim over the land was laid by the Danes in 1219 after a raid of Lyndanisse led by Valdemar II of Denmark. Due to its location, the city became a major trade hub, especially from the 14th to the 16th century. Tallinns Old Town is one of the best preserved cities in Europe and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Tallinn is the political, financial, cultural and educational center of Estonia. Often dubbed the Silicon Valley of Europe, it has the highest number of startups per person in Europe and is a birthplace of international companies. The city is to house the headquarters of the European Unions IT agency, providing to the global cybersecurity it is the home to the NATO Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. It is ranked as a city and has been listed among the top 10 digital cities in the world. The city was a European Capital of Culture for 2011, along with Turku in Finland and it has been suggested that Quwri may have denoted a predecessor of the modern city. The earliest names of Tallinn include Kolyvan, which is known from East Slavic chronicles, up to the 13th century, the Scandinavians and Henry of Livonia in his chronicle called the town Lindanisa (or Lyndanisse in Danish, Lindanäs in Swedish and Ledenets in Old East Slavic. It has been suggested that the archaic Estonian word linda is similar to the Votic word lidna. According to this suggestion, nisa would have the meaning niemi, producing Kesoniemi, another ancient historical name for Tallinn in Finnish is Rääveli. The Icelandic Njals saga mentions Tallinn and calls it Rafala, which is a variant of the name Raphael, after the Danish conquest in 1219, the town became known in the German, Swedish and Danish languages as Reval. The name originated from Revelia Revala or Rävala, the adjacent ancient name of the surrounding area and it is usually thought to be derived from Taani-linn, after the Danes built the castle in place of the Estonian stronghold at Lindanisse. However, it could also have come from tali-linna, or talu-linna, the element -linna, like Germanic -burg and Slavic -grad / -gorod, originally meant fortress, but is used as a suffix in the formation of town names
2.
Opera
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Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. In traditional opera, singers do two types of singing, recitative, a style and arias, a more melodic style. Opera incorporates many of the elements of theatre, such as acting, scenery. The performance is given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble. Opera is a key part of the Western classical music tradition, in the 18th century, Italian opera continued to dominate most of Europe, attracting foreign composers such as George Frideric Handel. Opera seria was the most prestigious form of Italian opera, until Christoph Willibald Gluck reacted against its artificiality with his operas in the 1760s. The first third of the 19th century saw the point of the bel canto style, with Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti. It also saw the advent of Grand Opera typified by the works of Auber and Meyerbeer, the mid-to-late 19th century was a golden age of opera, led and dominated by Richard Wagner in Germany and Giuseppe Verdi in Italy. The popularity of opera continued through the era in Italy and contemporary French opera through to Giacomo Puccini. During the 19th century, parallel operatic traditions emerged in central and eastern Europe, the 20th century saw many experiments with modern styles, such as atonality and serialism, Neoclassicism, and Minimalism. With the rise of recording technology, singers such as Enrico Caruso, since the invention of radio and television, operas were also performed on these mediums. Beginning in 2006, a number of opera houses began to present live high-definition video transmissions of their performances in cinemas all over the world. In 2009, an opera company offered a download of a complete performance. The words of an opera are known as the libretto, some composers, notably Wagner, have written their own libretti, others have worked in close collaboration with their librettists, e. g. Mozart with Lorenzo Da Ponte. Vocal duets, trios and other ensembles often occur, and choruses are used to comment on the action, in some forms of opera, such as singspiel, opéra comique, operetta, and semi-opera, the recitative is mostly replaced by spoken dialogue. Melodic or semi-melodic passages occurring in the midst of, or instead of, the terminology of the various kinds of operatic voices is described in detail below. Over the 18th century, arias were accompanied by the orchestra. Subsequent composers have tended to follow Wagners example, though some, the changing role of the orchestra in opera is described in more detail below
3.
Lisbon
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Lisbon is the capital and the largest city of Portugal, with a population of 552,700 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km². Its urban area extends beyond the administrative limits with a population of around 2.7 million people. About 2.8 million people live in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area and it is continental Europes westernmost capital city and the only one along the Atlantic coast. Lisbon lies in the western Iberian Peninsula on the Atlantic Ocean, the westernmost areas of its metro area is the westernmost point of Continental Europe. Lisbon is recognised as a city because of its importance in finance, commerce, media, entertainment, arts, international trade, education. It is one of the economic centres on the continent, with a growing financial sector. Humberto Delgado Airport serves over 20 million passengers annually, as of 2015, and the motorway network, the city is the 7th-most-visited city in Southern Europe, after Istanbul, Rome, Barcelona, Madrid, Athens and Milan, with 1,740,000 tourists in 2009. The Lisbon region contributes with a higher GDP PPP per capita than any region in Portugal. Its GDP amounts to 96.3 billion USD and thus $32,434 per capita, the city occupies 32nd place of highest gross earnings in the world. Most of the headquarters of multinationals in the country are located in the Lisbon area and it is also the political centre of the country, as its seat of Government and residence of the Head of State. Lisbon is one of the oldest cities in the world, julius Caesar made it a municipium called Felicitas Julia, adding to the name Olissipo. Ruled by a series of Germanic tribes from the 5th century, in 1147, the Crusaders under Afonso Henriques reconquered the city and since then it has been a major political, economic and cultural centre of Portugal. Unlike most capital cities, Lisbons status as the capital of Portugal has never been granted or confirmed officially – by statute or in written form. Its position as the capital has formed through constitutional convention, making its position as de facto capital a part of the Constitution of Portugal. It has one of the warmest winters of any metropolis in Europe, the typical summer season lasts about four months, from June to September, although also in April temperatures sometimes reach around 25 °C. Although modern archaeological excavations show a Phoenician presence at this location since 1200 BC, another conjecture based on ancient hydronymy suggests that the name of the settlement derived from the pre-Roman appellation for the Tagus, Lisso or Lucio. Lisbons name was written Ulyssippo in Latin by the geographer Pomponius Mela and it was later referred to as Olisippo by Pliny the Elder and by the Greeks as Olissipo or Olissipona. The Indo-European Celts invaded in the 1st millennium BC, mixing with the Pre-Indo-European population and this indigenous settlement maintained commercial relations with the Phoenicians, which would account for the recent findings of Phoenician pottery and other material objects
4.
Portugal
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Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. It is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, to the west and south it is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and to the east and north by Spain. The Portugal–Spain border is 1,214 kilometres long and considered the longest uninterrupted border within the European Union, the republic also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira, both autonomous regions with their own regional governments. The territory of modern Portugal has been settled, invaded. The Pre-Celts, Celts, Carthaginians and the Romans were followed by the invasions of the Visigothic, in 711 the Iberian Peninsula was invaded by the Moors, making Portugal part of Muslim Al Andalus. Portugal was born as result of the Christian Reconquista, and in 1139, Afonso Henriques was proclaimed King of Portugal, in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal established the first global empire, becoming one of the worlds major economic, political and military powers. Portugal monopolized the trade during this time, and the Portuguese Empire expanded with military campaigns led in Asia. After the 1910 revolution deposed the monarchy, the democratic but unstable Portuguese First Republic was established, democracy was restored after the Portuguese Colonial War and the Carnation Revolution in 1974. Shortly after, independence was granted to almost all its overseas territories, Portugal has left a profound cultural and architectural influence across the globe and a legacy of over 250 million Portuguese speakers today. Portugal is a country with a high-income advanced economy and a high living standard. It is the 5th most peaceful country in the world, maintaining a unitary semi-presidential republican form of government and it has the 18th highest Social Progress in the world, putting it ahead of other Western European countries like France, Spain and Italy. Portugal is a pioneer when it comes to drug decriminalization, as the nation decriminalized the possession of all drugs for use in 2001. The early history of Portugal is shared with the rest of the Iberian Peninsula located in South Western Europe, the name of Portugal derives from the joined Romano-Celtic name Portus Cale. Other influences include some 5th-century vestiges of Alan settlements, which were found in Alenquer, Coimbra, the region of present-day Portugal was inhabited by Neanderthals and then by Homo sapiens, who roamed the border-less region of the northern Iberian peninsula. These were subsistence societies that, although they did not establish prosperous settlements, neolithic Portugal experimented with domestication of herding animals, the raising of some cereal crops and fluvial or marine fishing. Chief among these tribes were the Calaicians or Gallaeci of Northern Portugal, the Lusitanians of central Portugal, the Celtici of Alentejo, a few small, semi-permanent, commercial coastal settlements were also founded in the Algarve region by Phoenicians-Carthaginians. Romans first invaded the Iberian Peninsula in 219 BC, during the last days of Julius Caesar, almost the entire peninsula had been annexed to the Roman Republic. The Carthaginians, Romes adversary in the Punic Wars, were expelled from their coastal colonies and it suffered a severe setback in 150 BC, when a rebellion began in the north
5.
Russians
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Russians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Eastern Europe. The majority of Russians inhabit the state of Russia, while notable minorities exist in Ukraine, Kazakhstan. A large Russian diaspora exists all over the world, with numbers in the United States, Germany, Israel. Russians are the most numerous group in Europe. They are predominantly Orthodox Christians by religion, the Russian language is official in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan, and also spoken as a secondary language in many former Soviet states. There are two Russian words which are translated into English as Russians. One is русские, which most often means ethnic Russians, another is россияне, which means citizens of Russia. The former word refers to ethnic Russians, regardless of what country they live in, under certain circumstances this term may or may not extend to denote members of other Russian-speaking ethnic groups from Russia, or from the former Soviet Union. The latter word refers to all people holding citizenship of Russia, regardless of their ethnicity, translations into other languages often do not distinguish these two groups. The name of the Russians derives from the Rus people, the name Rus would then have the same origin as the Finnish and Estonian names for Sweden, Ruotsi and Rootsi. According to other theories the name Rus is derived from Proto-Slavic *roud-s-ь, the modern Russians formed from two groups of East Slavic tribes, Northern and Southern. The tribes involved included the Krivichs, Ilmen Slavs, Radimichs, Vyatiches, genetic studies show that modern Russians do not differ significantly from Belarusians and Ukrainians. Some ethnographers, like Zelenin, affirm that Russians are more similar to Belarusians, such Uralic peoples included the Merya and the Muromians. Outside archaeological remains, little is known about the predecessors to Russians in general prior to 859 AD when the Primary Chronicle starts its records and it is thought that by 600 AD, the Slavs had split linguistically into southern, western, and eastern branches. Later, both Belarusians and South Russians formed on this ethnic linguistic ground, the same Slavic ethnic population also settled the present-day Tver Oblast and the region of Beloozero. With the Uralic substratum, they formed the tribes of the Krivichs, in 2010, the worlds Russian population was 129 million people of which 86% were in Russia,11. 5% in the CIS and Baltic countries, with a further 2. 5% living in other countries. Roughly 111 million ethnic Russians live in Russia, 80% of whom live in the European part of Russia, ethnic Russians historically migrated throughout the area of former Russian Empire and Soviet Union, sometimes encouraged to re-settle in borderlands by the Tsarist and later Soviet government. On some occasions ethnic Russian communities, such as Lipovans who settled in the Danube delta or Doukhobors in Canada, after the Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War starting in 1917, many Russians were forced to leave their homeland fleeing the Bolshevik regime, and millions became refugees
6.
Le Figaro
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Le Figaro is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826 and published in Paris. The oldest national daily in France, Le Figaro is one of the two French newspapers of record, along with Le Monde, and is one of the most widely respected newspapers in the world. In 2012, the paper had a circulation of 330,952 copies per issue. The paper is published in the format, switching from a broadsheet in 2009. The newspaper is owned by Le Figaro Group, whose publications include TV Magazine and Evene, the companys chairman is Serge Dassault, whose Dassault Group has controlled the paper since 2004. Le Figaro was founded as a weekly in 1826, taking its name and motto from Le Mariage de Figaro. Its motto, from Figaros monologue in the final act, is Sans la liberté de blâmer. In 1833, editor Nestor Roqueplan fought a duel with a Colonel Gallois, who was offended by an article in Le Figaro, albert Wolff, Émile Zola, Alphonse Karr and Jules Claretie were among the papers early contributors. It was published irregularly until 1854, when it was taken over by Hippolyte de Villemessant. In 1866 Le Figaro became a daily newspaper and its first daily edition, that of 16 November 1866, sold 56,000 copies, having highest circulation of any newspaper in France. In 1922, Le Figaro was purchased by perfume millionaire François Coty, abel Faivre did cartoons for the paper. By the start of World War II, Le Figaro had become Frances leading newspaper, after the war it became the voice of the upper middle class, and continues to maintain a conservative position. In 1975, Le Figaro was bought by Robert Hersants Socpresse, in 1999, the Carlyle Group obtained a 40% stake in the paper, which it later sold in March 2002. Dassault owns 80% of the paper, in 2006, Le Figaro was banned in Egypt and Tunisia for publishing articles allegedly insulting Islam. Le Figaro switched to Berliner format in 2009, the paper has published The New York Times International Weekly on Friday since 2009, an 8-page supplement featuring a selection of articles from The New York Times translated into French. In 2010, Lefigaro. fr created a section called Le Figaro in English, Le Figaro has traditionally held a conservative editorial stance, becoming the voice of the French upper and middle classes. His son Olivier Dassault is a member of the French National Assembly, Dassault has remarked in an interview in 2004 on the public radio station France Inter that newspapers must promulgate healthy ideas and that left-wing ideas are not healthy ideas. They requested more pluralism and honesty and accused the paper of one-sided political reporting, mougeotte had previously said that Le Figaro would do nothing to embarrass the government and the right
7.
Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Estonia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 22 times since making its debut in 1994. Estonia has won the contest once, in 2001, Estonias first participation in 1994 was not a successful one, coming second last only to Lithuania. The country was relegated from the 1995 contest. From its second entry in 1996, the country entered its best era in the contest, maarja-Liis Ilus and Ivo Linnas fifth place in 1996 was the first top five ranking for a former Soviet country. This made Estonia the first former Soviet country to win the contest, the 2002 contest was held in Tallinn, with Sahlene finishing joint third for the hosts. Estonias total of nine top ten results, is more than any other Baltic country, Estonias record at the contest was a successful one from 1996 to 2002, only failing once to make the top 10. As such the 2002 contest was held in Estonia, in the capital city Tallinn, at the second semi-final of the 2009 contest, Urban Symphony qualified Estonia to the final of the contest for the first time since 2003, receiving 115 points and placing 3rd. The group performed 15th in the final, where it received 129 points, in 2010, Estonia failed to qualify to the final, with the song Siren by Malcolm Lincoln. In 2011, Estonia was represented by Getter Jaani with the song Rockefeller Street and she was the bookmakers pre-contest favorite for victory along with France. She qualified to the final but eventually placed 24th of 25 entries- tying Silvi Vraits 1994 result for Estonias worst placing in the contest final, in 2012, Ott Lepland qualified Estonia to the final with his song Kuula, ending up 4th in the second semi-final. In the final, he equalled Estonias result of 1999 and 2009, together with Urban Symphony in 2009, Kuula gave Estonia its best result in the contest since 2009. ^ Estonia unsuccessfully attempted to participate in 1993, when there was a round for seven countries hoping to make their debut in the contest. The official Eurovision site does not count 1993 in Estonias list of appearances, as of 2016, Estonias voting history is as follows, Points to and from Estonia eurovisioncovers. co. uk
8.
Eesti otsib superstaari
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Eesti otsib superstaari is an Estonian reality-competition gameshow airing on TV3. It debuted on 11 March 2007 and it has become one of the most popular shows in Estonia. Part of the Idol franchise, it originated from the reality program Pop Idol created by the British entertainment executive Simon Fuller, the program seeks to discover the best singer in Estonia through a series of nationwide auditions. The outcomes of the stages of the competition are determined by the viewers. Through telephone and SMS text voting, viewers have chosen as winners Birgit Õigemeel, Jana Kask, Ott Lepland, Liis Lemsalu, Rasmus Rändvee, the format features a panel of judges who critique the contestants performances. The judges are former recording artist, music critic and journalist Mihkel Raud, singer Maarja-Liis Ilus and singer, composer and pianist Rein Rannap and Radio DJ, journalist and TV producer Heidy Purga belonged to the judging panel of the first season. To date, five seasons have been broadcast, as summarised below, the hosts were actress Aigi Vahing and choreographer Jüri Nael. The judging panel consisted of singer, guitar player, music critic and journalist Mihkel Raud, composer and pianist Rein Rannap and radio disc jockey, the winner of the series was Birgit Õigemeel, who won a recording contract and 100000 kroons. She used the money dedicated for the contract on building her own recording company MTH Publishing. In January 2008 she released her debut album and held the number one spot for several weeks. Since winning the show, Õigemeel has released three albums and several singles. The runner-up, Luisa Värk also has released an album and several singles, main article, Eesti otsib superstaari, victory to Jana Kask before Arno Suislep The second season of Eesti otsib superstaari debuted on 3 February 2008. Actors and comedians Ott Sepp and Märt Avandi emerged as the new presenters, the judging panel remained the same. The Finale of the series was held in the Linnahall arena to an audience of 3000 people, more than 70000 calls and text messages were sent during the televoting. The series was won by Jana Kask, who collected 52, Kask signed a record dea while the album was not released by the recording company because of riskful situation in the local music market. In late summer, Kask started collaboration with manager Ivar Must, main article, Eesti otsib superstaari, victory to Ott Lepland before Birgit Varjun The third season of Eesti otsib superstaari premiered on 6 September 2009. In autumn 2008, TV3 announced that the season would be postponed due to the recession. The auditions for the series started in August 2009
9.
Chuvash people
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The Chuvash people are a Turkic ethnic group, native to an area stretching from the Volga Region to Siberia. Most of them live in Republic of Chuvashia and surrounding areas, the Tabghach An early medieval Xianbei clan and founders of the Northern Wei dynasty in China. The Old Turkic name Tabghach was used by some Inner Asian peoples to refer to China long after this dynasty, gerard Clauson has shown that through regular sound changes, the clan name Tabghach may have transformed to the ethnonym Chuvash. There are rival schools of thought on the origin of the Chuvash people, one is that they originated from a mixing between the Turkic Sabir tribes of Volga Bulgaria and also according to some researches with local Finno-Ugric populations. Another is that the Chuvash are a remainder of the pre-Volga Bulgar population of the Volga region and they are unusually susceptible to Osteopetrosis, with a prevalence of 1 of every 3, 500–4,000 newborns. The closest ancestors of the Chuvashes seem to be the Turkic Volga Bulgars and it cannot be absolutely proven that the Chuvashs are indeed direct descendants of the early Bulgars, but it is does seem very likely. Racially, the Chuvash seem to be a mixed Finnic and Turkic type, in the samples of the Chuvash DNA project haplogroups J2 and E are more common than the rest of the haplogroups among Chuvashes, followed by N and R1a. According to the data of Rootsi et al, Chuvash carriers of Haplogroup R1a belong to the Balto-Slavic Z282 subclade. A study sampling of unrealted 96 Chuvashes concluded, Earlier genetic research using autosomal DNA markers suggested a Finno-Ugric origin for the Chuvash and this study examines non-recombining DNA markers to better elucidate their origins. The majority of individuals in this sample exhibit haplogroups H, U, and K, all representative of western and northern Europeans, multidimensional scaling was used to examine distances between the Chuvash and 8 reference populations compiled from the literature. Mismatch analysis showed a unimodal distribution, along with neutrality tests, the mismatch distribution is suggestive of an expanding population. Their maternal markers appear to most closely resemble Finno-Ugric speakers rather than fellow Turkic speakers, later, the assertion H, U, and K are absent in Altaic or Mongolian populations turned into virtually absent in Altaic or Mongolian populations. MtDNA gene pool was found to be 89. 1% Caucasian,9. 1% Mongoloid, thus, present-day Chuvash who speak an Altaic-Turkic language are probably more closely related to ancient Mesopotamian-Hittites and northern European populations than to central Asia-Altaic people. Thus, the signal for Chuvashes is close to the supposed arrival time of Oghur speakers in the Volga region. The Chuvash have a central European and some Mediterranean genetic background, Chuvash and the fifth representing present day Bulgarians. From the data obtained in the present work, the backgrounds of both populations are clearly different. On the other hand, whether the Chuvash are a remnant of the Bulgar Hordes cannot be resolved with the data presented in this paper, and further studies are necessary. In the beginning of the first century AD, the Bulgars started moving west through Zhetysu, there they established several states (Old Bulgaria on the Black Sea coast and the Suar Duchy in modern-day Dagestan
10.
Estonians
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Estonians are a Finnic ethnic group related to the Finns that mainly inhabit Estonia, a country located south of Finland and the Finnish Gulf. Their national language belongs to Finnic branch and is known as Estonian, Estonia was first inhabited about 10,000 years ago, just after the Baltic ice lake had retreated from Estonia. Living in the area for more than 5,000 years would put the ancestors of Estonians among the oldest permanent inhabitants in Europe. On the other hand, some recent linguistic estimations suggest that Fenno-Ugrian language arrived around the Baltic Sea considerably later, the oldest known endonym of the Estonians is Maarahvas. Eesti, the endonym of Estonia, is thought to be derived from the word Aestii. The Roman historian Tacitus in 98 AD was the first to mention the Aestii people, and early Scandinavians called the south of the Gulf of Finland Eistland. Proto-Estonians were also called Chuds in Old East Slavic chronicles, the Estonian language belongs to the Finnic branch of the Uralic family of languages, as does the Finnish language. The first known book in Estonian was printed in 1525, while the oldest known examples of written Estonian originate in 13th-century chronicles, Estonians are genetically closest to their neighbouring Tver region Russians and Latvians. However, Estonians are still the nearest genetic relatives of Finns, although Estonian national consciousness spread in the course of the 19th century during the Estonian national awakening, some degree of ethnic awareness preceded this development. By the 18th century the self-denomination eestlane spread among Estonians along with the older maarahvas, anton thor Helles translation of the Bible into Estonian appeared in 1739, and the number of books and brochures published in Estonian increased from 18 in the 1750s to 54 in the 1790s. By the end of the more than a half of adult peasants could read. The first university-educated intellectuals identifying themselves as Estonians, including Friedrich Robert Faehlmann, Kristjan Jaak Peterson and Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, the ruling elites had remained predominantly German in language and culture since the conquest of the early 13th century. By the end of 1860 the Estonians became unwilling to reconcile with German cultural and political hegemony, before the attempts at Russification in the 1880s, their view of Imperial Russia remained positive. Estonians have strong ties to the Nordic countries stemming from important cultural and religious influences gained over centuries during Scandinavian and German rule, indeed, Estonians consider themselves Nordic rather than Baltic, in particular because of close ethnic and linguistic affinities with the Finns. An estimated 40,000 Estonians lived in Russia in 1920, in sum,37,578 people moved from Soviet Russia to Estonia. During World War II, when Estonia was invaded by the Soviet Army in 1944, many refugees who survived the risky sea voyage to Sweden or Germany later moved from there to Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States or Australia. Some of these refugees and their descendants returned to Estonia after the nation regained its independence in 1991 and this is at least partly due to the easy access to oscillating migration to Finland. Recognising the problems arising from low birth rate and high emigration, the country has launched various measures to both increase the birth rate and to lure migrant Estonians back to Estonia
11.
Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014
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Estonia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Their entry was selected through Eesti Laul 2014, a final format that consisted of two semi-finals and a final, organised by the Estonian broadcaster Eesti Rahvusringhääling. Tanja was selected to represent Estonia with the song Amazing, and failed to qualify from the first semi-final, Eesti Laul 2014 was the sixth edition of the Estonian national selection Eesti Laul that selected Estonias entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. The format of the included two semi-finals on 14 and 21 February and a final on 1 March 2014. Ten songs competed in each semi-final where the top five from each qualified to compete in the final. On 2 October 2013, ERR opened the period for artists and composers to submit their entries. 189 submissions were received by the deadline - the highest amount since the conception of the Eesti Laul format, a jury selected 20 semi-finalists from the submissions and the selected songs were announced during the entertainment program Ringvaade on 12 December 2013. The selection jury consisted of Maarja-Liis Ilus, Janek Murd, Erik Morna, Siim Nestor, Kaupo Karelson, Valner Valme, Tauno Aints, Ingrid Kohtla, Owe Petersell, Toomas Puna and Kostja Tsõbulevski. Sofia Rubina, August Hunt, Norman Salumäe, Tanja, Traffic, Liisi Koikson, Tuuli Rand, Kadri Koppel, composer Sven Lõhmus has previously composed three Estonian entries, Lets Get Loud, Rändajad and Rockefeller Street. In the weeks leading up to the start of the competition,1. ^ The title of Kõrsikuds song is a wordplay with two homonyms. The first semi-final of Eesti Laul 2014 took place on 14 February 2014, hosted by Helen Sürje and Henrik Kalmet with additional commentary provided by Indrek Vaheoja, the performances of the competing songs were filmed earlier between 6 February 2014 and 9 February 2014. Ten songs competed for five spots in the final with the decided upon by the combination of the votes from a jury panel. The second semi-final of Eesti Laul 2014 took place on 21 February 2014, hosted by Helen Sürje and Henrik Kalmet with additional commentary provided by Indrek Vaheoja, the performances of the competing songs were filmed earlier between 6 February 2014 and 9 February 2014. Ten songs competed for five spots in the final with the decided upon by the combination of the votes from a jury panel. The final of Eesti Laul 2014 took place on 1 March 2014 at the Nokia Concert Hall in Tallinn, hosted by Marko Reikop and Henrik Kalmet. Five songs from each semi-final, all together 10 songs, competed in the first round of the competition where a jury, the public vote in the first round registered 52,190 votes. Amazing performed by Tanja and Maybe-Maybe performed by Super Hot Cosmos Blues Band qualified to the super final, in the super final, Amazing performed by Tanja was selected as the winner through a public televote which registered 57,272 votes. During the semi-final allocation draw on 20 January 2014 at the Copenhagen City Hall, in the first semi-final, the producers of the show decided that Estonia would perform 3rd, following Latvia and preceding Sweden
12.
Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015
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Estonia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song Goodbye to Yesterday, written by Stig Rästa. The song was performed by Elina Born and Stig Rästa, Estonian broadcaster Eesti Rahvusringhääling organised the national final Eesti Laul 2015 in order to select the Estonian entry for the 2015 contest in Vienna, Austria. After two semi-finals and a final, Goodbye to Yesterday performed by Elina Born and Stig Rästa were selected, in the first of the Eurovision semi-finals Goodbye to Yesterday placed third out of the 16 participating countries, securing its place among the 27 other songs in the final. In Estonias twenty-first Eurovision appearance on 23 May, Goodbye to Yesterday finished in seventh place, prior to the 2015 Contest, Estonia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty times since its first entry in 1994. Estonia has won the contest once in 2001 with the song Everybody performed by Tanel Padar, Dave Benton, in 2014, Amazing performed by Tanja failed to qualify Estonia to compete in the final. On 17 September 2014, the broadcaster revealed details regarding their selection procedure, Eesti Laul 2015 was the seventh edition of the Estonian national selection Eesti Laul, which selected Estonias entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2015. The competition consisted of twenty entries competing in two semi-finals on 7 and 14 February 2015 leading to a ten song final on 21 February 2015, all three shows were broadcast on Eesti Televisioon. The format of the included two semi-finals on 7 and 14 February and a final on 21 February 2015. Ten songs competed in each semi-final where the top five from each qualified to complete the ten song lineup in the final. The results of the semi-finals were determined by the 50/50 combination of votes from a professional jury, the original format of Eesti Laul featured only the two highest ranked songs from the first round of voting in the final qualifying to the second round of voting. In 2015, the final round featured three finalists instead of two. ERR opened the period for artists and composers to submit their entries between 17 September 2014 and 1 December 2014. A record 219 submissions were received by the deadline—the highest amount since the conception of the Eesti Laul format, a jury selected 20 semi-finalists from the submissions and the selected songs were announced during the ETV entertainment program Ringvaade on 4 December 2014. The selection jury consisted of Erik Morna, Toomas Puna, Owe Petersell, Siim Nestor, Kaupo Karelson, Valner Valme, Lenna Kuurmaa, Ago Teppand, Anne Veski, Ingrid Kohtla and Mingo Rajandi. Among the competing artists was previous Eurovision Song Contest entrant Robin Juhkental who represented Estonia in 2010 as part of the group Malcolm Lincoln. Airi Vipulkumar Ka nsar, Elina Born, Liis Lemsalu, Luisa Värk, Maia Vahtramäe, NimmerSchmidt, Stig Rästa and Wilhelm had all previously competed in Estonian national finals. The first semi-final of Eesti Laul 2015 took place on 7 February 2015, hosted by Helen Sürje and Indrek Vaheoja with additional commentary provided by Mart Juur, the performances of the competing songs were filmed earlier on 30 January 2015. Ten songs competed for five spots in the final with the decided upon by the combination of the votes from a jury panel
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Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest