RTÉ Television broadcasts live coverage of both Semi-Finals and the Final of the 54th Eurovision Song Contest from the Olimpiysky Indoor Arena in Moscow with commentary from Marty Whelan.
As with last year, all countries barring the UK, Spain, Germany, France and last year’s winner Russia, must compete in one of two semi-finals to qualify for the Final, with 10 countries qualfiying from each semi-final. Sinead and Black Daisy will perform in the second Eurovision Semi-Final on Thursday 14 May, competing against 18 other countries for a place in the Final.
Both Semi-Finals will be broadcast live on RTÉ Two television from 8 to 10pm with the final being broadcast on RTÉ One.
18 countries will be represented in the first Semi-Final on Tuesday 12th May; Andorra, Armenia, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Finland, Iceland, Israel, FYR Macedonia, Malta, Montenegro, Portugal, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland and Turkey.
Irish viewers are eligible to vote in the second Semi-Final in which Sinead and Black Daisy compete on Thursday 14 May. 19 countries will be represented; Albania, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine.
Ireland’s song Et Cetera was written by Niall Mooney, Jonas Gladnikoff, Daniele Moretti and Christina Schilling and was chosen from six entries on the Late Late Show Eurosong Special earlier this year, proving the favourite in both the jury and televote.
21 year-old Sinead Mulvey started singing professionally at the age of thirteen when she was picked from hundred of girls for the lead role of Cinderella in a Dublin pantomime. Her passion for singing and dancing set alight, she has been working consistently on her stage performance since, appearing in many high-profile productions and TV programmes in Ireland. Sinead came very close to representing Ireland in the Eurovision in 2005 when she made it to the national final. She was delighted when her dream came true this year as her performance with Black Daisy saw “Et Cetera” top both the public and jury vote in this year’s Irish Eurosong final. Sinead says, “I have been a Eurovision fan for as long as I can remember. Representing Ireland in the Eurovision is truly a dream come true for me and I can’t wait to Rock Russia with Black Daisy and Et Cetera!”
Black Daisy are an all girl pop/rock group who hail from Dublin, Ireland. 26 year-old LA Halvey (short for Lesley-Ann) from Limerick is singer and bassist, 21-year-old Nicki Billings, from Wicklow is on guitar, while Asta Mileriene, originally from Alytus, Lithuania is the drummer. Asta started playing drums in a band called AIRIJA (Ireland in Lithuanian). In 2001 she moved to Ireland and continued her music career with NOJUS, a Lithuanian band based in Dublin.
Black Daisy are a fun loving upbeat band, with influences ranging from 80s music to pop/chart music and of course good old Rock’n’Roll! The girls write their own songs and gig regularly in venues to audiences everywhere.
Black Daisy are Ireland’s only high profile all girl rock band, and intend to continue to play their infectiously catchy music all around the world….starting with Moscow!! The girls are delighted to team up with singer Sinead Mulvey to represent Ireland with the extremely upbeat catchy song ‘Et Cetera’, and promise to make Ireland proud in Eurovision 2009!
Sinead and Black Daisy will compete against 18 other countries for a place in Saturday’s final.
The songwriters
Four songwriters from across Europe collaborated on “Et Cetera”; Niall Mooney from Galway, Ireland, Jonas Gladnikoff from, Stockholm, Sweden, Christina Schilling from Copenhagen, Denmark and Daniele Moretti from Rome, Italy.
The team of songwriters have notched up several national finals between them but this year hit on a winning combination with the catchy Pop/Rock tune “Et Cetera”.
Niall Mooney from Galway, came close to have his song represent Ireland in 2004 when he came third in the national final. Collaborating closely with Jonas Gladnikoff, together they have clocked up 7 national finals around Europe in the last 5 years.
Music was always a part of the life of Jonas Gladnikoff, a 24-year old songwriter and musician from Stockholm. Having studied songwriting and music production after finishing high school, he set off to become a professional songwriter and has since worked with some of the biggest names in the European music industry. Among his most frequent songwriting partners are both Niall Mooney and Christina Schilling. 28-year old Danish songwriter and singer Christina Schilling works with songwriters and producers throughout Europe. Jonas and Christina came second in this year’s Danish national final with a composition performed by the popular Icelandic-Danish singer Hera Björk. Jonas and Christina are currently working on Hera Björk’s album.
Jonas, Niall and Christina enlisted Daniele Moretti to complete the writing team. 24 year-old Daniele, who plays and sings with Klame, an Italian Nu metal band is delighted to have been asked to collaborate on “Et Cetera”.