After some weeks of preparations and a weekend full of rehearsals, everything is ready for the Spanish national final in the Estudios Buñuel in Madrid. The presenters, Anne Igartibutu and Ainhoa Arbizu, have both announced the Spanish votes in the Eurovision Song Contest in previous years. The guest stars include Rosa and Sergio Dalma, who represented Spain in 2002 and 1991 respectively. The list of artists and songs taking part tonight, in order of appareance, looks like this:
Venus - Perfecta
Ainhoa Cantalapiedra - Volveré
Fran Dieli - Cuando Se Trata De Ti
Lorena - Amor Mágico
Samuel y Patricia - Perdoname
José Galisteo - Beautiful Life
John Cobra - Carol
Anabel Conde - Sin Miedos
Daniel Diges - Algo Pequeñito
Coral - En Una Vida
The winner will be chosen by a mixture of a five-member jury and the televote in a 50/50 basis. TVE, the Spanish broadcaster, will provide a webcast on their site live from 22:15 CET.
Among the artists we find Anabel Conde, who was the runner-up in Europe's favourite TV show in 1995. Controversial rapper John Cobra, who came 2nd in the online voting mostly thanks to the massive help of a very popular internet forum. Daniel Diges, a highly experienced musical and television performer and the winner of the online voting Coral, who came close to represent Spain in 2008, when she was only beaten by the media phenomenon Rodolfo Chikilicuatre.
In the period 2002-2004 Spain used the highly succesful TV format Operación Triunfo (OT) to decide the act and song that would represent them in the Eurovision Song Contest. This year's line-up sees no less than six among the ten acts coming from the OT academy: 2006's winner Lorena, 2003's winner Ainhoa Cantalapiedra, Fran Dieli and Jose Galisteo, who reached the finals in their OT edition and the band Venus, including two OT ex-participants. Samuel y Patricia are two of the most recent contestans of the casting show.
Last year it was Soraya, one of the most succesful OT contestants, who won the ticket to Moscow, where she got a disappointing 23rd place in the final with La Noche Es Para Mi.
