Estonian broadcaster ERR has launched Eesti Laul 2016 which will once again serve as the selection process for Estonia’s Eurovision entry. Any Estonian residents are welcome to submit songs to the broadcaster until Monday 2 November, which is earlier than the deadline in previous years. This, according to executive producer Mart Normet, is to allow the songs to have a greater period of airplay and the artists more time to prepare the live performance before the show in March.
Estonia’s Eurovision entries have had mixed fortunes at the contest since the introduction of the Eesti Laul format in 2009, but last year in Vienna, Elina Born & Stig Rästa gave the country a very strong result, finishing 7th with ‘Goodbye to Yesterday’. Speaking as the competition is launched for another year, Stig encouraged composers and artists to enter and outlined the doors that could be opened by taking part:
I could not be happier to know that the song I wrote and performed in Eesti Laul and the Eurovision Song Contest is being played all over Europe. This would have been difficult to achieve without the competition.
The competition to find the best new Estonian song, and the 2016 Eurovision entry will take place in Tallinn on Saturday 5 March, with ticket information being released towards the end of October.
