Now here's a bit of a novelty from Norway's final, it's a song in Norwegian. Of the 18 entries which competed in the Melodi Grand Prix semi-finals, only one song was in Norwegian and perhaps partly due to that, it's made it through to the final. 18 year old Christine Guldbransen who has co-written her song has already recorded and released two albums, after making her initial impact in 2004 with the song "Surfing In The Air". The song "Alvedansen", and especially the performance has shades of Eimear Quinn and "The Voice", and in a very varied Norwegian final, this could creep up on the rails and get the ticket to Athens. We now known six of the eight finalists in next Saturday night's final, and on Friday 3rd February, two more will be chosen from the six runners up, to fill the remaining slots. I will be previewing the Norwegian final next week.

This year's smallest national final will be held in Berlin on March 9th, when just three songs compete to represent Germany in Athens. Eurovision fans might want to see Vicky Leandros make a comeback, but she may have her work cut out for her. The country pop quintet Texas Lightning is the brainchild of German comedian Olli Dittrich. The lead singer is Australian born Jane Comerford. So far the band have specialised in country flavoured cover versions of well known pop songs like Madonna's Like A Virgin" and Abba's "Dancing Queen" on their debut album. They've obviously had to come up with something original for the Eurovision Song Contest and "No No Never" is likely to be one of the more unusual songs you'll hear in any national final in 2006. It might originate from Germany, but this song certainly sounds like authentic American country music.