Junior Eurovision 2019: Meet the participants (part 2)

This year’s Junior Eurovision Song Contest is quickly approaching, with the contest to be held on the 24th of November at the Gliwice Arena in Gliwice-Silesia, Poland. This is the first time the contest will be held in Poland, and the show will be hosted by the trio, Ida Nowakowska, Aleksander Sikora and last year’s Junior Eurovision winner, Roksana Węigel.

The contest will feature a total of 19 participants, with Spain returning to the contest after a 13 year break. Both Azerbaijan and Israel have withdrawn from the contest this year. The winner of the contest will be decided through a mix of public and jury vote, with the online voting format continuing this year. The first phase of online voting will begin on the 22nd of November, and will conclude prior to the live show on the 24th of November. The second online phase of public voting will occur during the live show.

Together with our Australian partner website Eurovision Union, we introduce all the participants for the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2019. Now, let’s ‘Share the Joy’ and meet the competitors, from Ireland to North Macedonia! (Catch up on Part 1 here)

Ireland: Anna Kearney – Banshee

This year marks the fifth Irish participation at Junior Eurovision, and like in previous years, the nation used Junior Eurovision Éire to select their participant. Unlike previous years however, this year’s competition only decided the artist rather than both the artist and song. After four heats and a semi-final, it was decided by the judging panel that Anna Kearney would represent Ireland at Junior Eurovision this year.

The song that Anna will be singing at Junior Eurovision is titled Banshee, which was composed by Cyprian Cassar, Jonas Gladnikoff, Niall Mooney and Daniel Caruana and the lyrics were written by Niall Mooney, Anna Banks, Anna Kearney and Fiachna Ó Braonáin.

Italy: Marta Viola – La Voce Della Terra

Once again, Italy internally selected their Junior Eurovision artist and entry. This year, Marta Viola will represent Italy with the song, La Voce Della Terra (The Voice of the Earth). The song discusses environmental issues, which has proven to be a hot topic at this year’s contest. The song was composed by Marco Iardella and Franco Fasano, and the lyrics were written by Emilio di Stefano and Fabrizio Palaferri.

Kazakhstan: Yerzhan Maxim – Armanyńnan Qalma

This year marks Kazakhstan’s second Junior Eurovision appearance, and the nation is hoping to go from strength to strength after finishing in a respectable 6th place in 2018. Representing Kazakhstan this year is Yerzhan Maxim, who was internally selected by the Kazakh broadcaster. He will be performing the song Armanyńnan Qalma at Junior Eurovision.

12 year old Yerzhan has had a lot of experience in the music world, even at his young age. He has participated in the Batumi Dolphin Fest, where he finished in first place, and finished in second place at the Slavianski Bazaar in 2017. The young artist was also a finalist in the 2017 San Remo Junior Festival, and recently participated on the Voice Kids Russia where he was a finalist as well. Avid Junior Eurovision fans will also remember that Yerzhan participated in the 2018 Junior Eurovision national final in Kazakhstan, where he placed third.

Malta: Eliana – We Are More

Malta often switch up their selection methods for Junior Eurovision, and this year they decided to do a public selection, however it did not feature a live show. Instead, the participants were shown on television and on social media performing predominately cover songs, with the winning artist to be selected and the Junior Eurovision entry to be decided at a later date. From the participants, Eliana Gomez Blanco emerged triumphant.

14 year old Eliana will be singing the song We Are More which was composed by Jonas Thander and Rachel Suter. The lyricists of the song are Jonas Thander, Rachel Suter, Kevin Lee and Joe Julian Farrugia. The song features lyrics in English and in Maltese.

The Netherlands: Matheu – Dans Met Jou

The Netherlands once again chose to use a national selection to choose their Junior Eurovision entrant and song. A total of four acts competed in this year’s Junior Songfestival including two groups and two solo acts. The favourite leading into the show ended up as the winner of the show, and that was Matheu with his upbeat song, Dans Met Jou. He received 12 points from both the juries and the televote. The song was written by Jermain van der Bogt and Willem Laseroms.

North Macedonia: Mila Moskov – Fire

North Macedonia internally selected their entrant and song this year, and it was the final entry to be released from the class of 2019. Mila Moskov will be representing the nation with the song Fire, which will be performed in a mix of Macedonian and English languages. The song was written by Magdalena Cvetkoska and composed by Lazar Cvetkoski.

Mila is 14 years old, and comes from Prilep in North Macedonia. She began her music journey at the age of 6 years old, and since then has performed in various music festivals for children across the nation.

That wraps up part 2 of our ‘Meet the Participants’ series for Junior Eurovision 2019. Stay tuned for part 3, where we will meet more of this year’s competitors! Check our Part 1 here and support your favourite acts the Junior Eurovision 2019 poll on Eurovision Union.