Estonia: All Eesti Laul 2021 shows to be held in Tallinn

Estonia: All Eesti Laul 2021 shows to be held in Tallinn
Tuesday, 03 November 2020

  • The Estonian national broadcaster, EER , has revealed that all three shows of the country's national selection for Eurovision 2021 , Eesti Laul 2021, will be held exclusively in Tallinn. 

    Last year's conductor, Tõnis Niinemets, during the show "Ringvaate" on EER talking about the next edition of Eesti Laul, he mentioned that the show will run entirely in the EER studios in Tallinn. Precisely he said: 

     "We're trying to see if this old and slightly depreciated TV house can withstand this crowd. Because time is as it is, we can't be sure that we can let the audience into the hall. That's why it's definitely easier for us to do it all ourselves."If people can be invited to the hall by then, they hope to organize the final in Saku Great Hall.

    While the covid-19 pandemic is still escalting and the restrictions on gathering fullly implemented the Estonian broadcaster will have no choice than to organise the Estonian national selection in the house. 

    In addition Niinemets , who last year presented the national final alongside with Karl-Erik , confimred that EER is looking for a new co-presenter for next year's selection. Specifically he said: 

    "It was undoubtedly a very pleasant and fruitful collaboration, but life makes its own corrections. I can't speak for Karl-Erik until the end, but this year I know, but who's next to me can't say him at the moment"

     

    Eesti Laul 2021

    Meanwhile the national selection process is in progress. The opportunity  for acts and composers to submit songs at a discounted price to the Estonian national selection ended, but the submission period will last until November 6 at 12.00. Now the participation fee for an Estonian-language song is 50 euros and the participation fee for a foreign or multilingual song is 150 euros. One performer or ensemble can submit up to five songs to the competition. The limit of five songs also applies to authors.

    By now, according to Niinemets, almost a hundred songs have been submitted to the competition, and Estonian Song will take place in any case. He says: 

     "Most of these stories still arrive in the last week, so I invite everyone who is able to write stories to still send them."

    The semi-finals of Eesti Laul 2021 will take place on February 18 and 20, the final on March 6, 2021.

     

    Estonia in Eurovision 

    Estonia joined the Eurovision family in 1994 . On their debut participation they were represented by Silvi Vrait, who finished 2nd last with only 2 points. Seven years later the country was crowned winner of  Eurovision Song Contest 2001 for the first and only time until today. Tanel Padar, Dave Benton & 2XL, performed the song Everybody and against all odds achieved to bring the trophy from Copenhagen in Estonia.

    However this success didn’t continue as Estonia failed to qualify for the final from 2004-2008. In 2009 after successive bad results led to the establishment of Eesti Laul, as the show through which the country has been selecting its Eurovision entries the last ten years, having seven times qualified to the final.
    In 2019 with Swedish singer, Victor Crone won Eesti Laul 2019 and rerpesented Estonia with his song, “Storm”. The Estonian representative finished in 20th place in the final with 76 points, marking Estonia’s qualification to the final for a second year in a row.

    Uku Suviste won the Esti Laul 2020 national final with the song "What Love Is" but due to the cancellation of Eurovision the musician was deprived the chance to represent Estonia in Rotterdam this year. Lets remember his Eurovision 2020 entry:

    Source: EER