Eurovision 2023 Postcards

Albanian act Albina & Familja Kelmendi consists of lead singer Albina Kelmendi and five members of her close family. This postcard shows the family in their element, as they share a traditional Albanian meal including grilled meatballs and ‘Tirana Terrine’ al fresco in the beautiful Grand Park. Note from the shoot: The family really are as loving as they come across in the postcard. They were great fun on location.

Armenia are represented by singer-songwriter and street dancer Brunette. In this postcard, we find Brunette dancing around the remarkable brutalist architecture of the Yerevan Botanical Garden. Dancing is Brunette’s favourite hobby, and she often shows her dance moves on social media.

Representing Australia is 5-piece progressive metal band Voyager. The postcard takes place Matagarup Bridge, before plummeting back to earth on a zipline. The group come from Perth and are proud of their roots in this beautiful city.

Austrian duo Teya & Salena take to the ice – skating round the magical Wiener Eistraum, or “Vienna Ice Dream”, ice rink in front of Vienna City Hall. Like many Austrians they grew up ice skating during the winter. They enjoyed their day on the ice very much!

Twins Tural and Turan Bagmanov will represent Azerbaijan as TuralTuranX. We meet them at one of many giant chessboards to be found in Baku - the capital of chess-mad Azerbaijan. The brothers learned to play chess as children and as still keen chess players now.

Self-confessed fashionista Gustaph takes part in a fashion shoot underneath the famous Atomium monument. Note from the shoot: Viewers may be interested to know that the man taking the photos is Gustaph’s husband (a professional photographer). Gustaph had to put up with freezing cold temperatures during the shoot, with only paper thin, but fabulous outfits to keep him warm!

Rockers Let 3 come from Rijeka – Croatia’s principal port town. The postcard honours their link to their beloved home-town as the band head to the harbour for a one-of-a-kind fishing trip.

The Czech postcard plays on Vesna’s dream-like aesthetic, following the band members as they find themselves lost in an enchanting maze on the grounds of Louc?en? Castle. Note from the shoot: There was only one path that led to the centre of the maze, and the band and the crew both got completely lost while trying to find it. Their delight at reaching the centre was genuine.

Danish artist Reiley cycles around colourful Copenhagen, taking in the sights as he goes. On average, each Dane cycles 1.4 kilometers a day and Denmark has over 7,000 kilometres of segregated, dedicated cycle paths. The colourful buildings references Reiley’s fame on social media - where he often appears in front of a variety of brightly coloured backgrounds. Notes from the shoot: The black item around Reiley’s neck is an inflatable helmet that rapidly inflates to protect the wearer at the first sign of a crash.

Estonian artist Alika goes for a spine-tingling walk on the roof of the enormous Tallinn TV Tower, even summoning the courage to dangle her feet over the edge. Note from the shoot: Alika had never walked on top of the TV tower before. She wasn't nervous at all - she loved it at the top of the tower and couldn't help herself from dancing around and sitting right on the edge, watching the world go by. She was of course attached to a safety line at all times!

Rapper, singer, and songwriter Ka¨a¨rija¨ has a reputation for energetic, shirtless performances described by the man himself as: ‘It’s crazy, it’s party!’ In his postcard he puts his own take on the sauna experience, injecting colour and energy to this classic Finnish pastime.

French artist La Zarra rides through the gardens of Cha^teau de Fontainebleau on the back of a stunning black stallion. La Zarra is an accomplished horse rider and has ridden since she was a teenager. Her flamboyant riding helmet was specially designed by her stylist team.

Georgian artist Iru Khechanovi is a keen runner. Here we see her jogging through the historic old town of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. Her goal is to reach the magnificent Narikala Fortress.

Note from the shoot: Iru battled through endless rain (and a brutally hilly route) to reach the fortress. The rain was so bad that the crew had to hide in a restaurant, where Iru taught the crew to eat Georgian dumplings.

German industrial metal band Lord of the Lost formed in 2007 in Hamburg. Here, we see in a traditional boat on a canal in their hometown’s warehouse district of Speicherstadt. The band are big fans of the Beatles, and the Speicherstadt is where the fab four played during their early years.

Greek artist Victor Vernicos enjoys boxing in his spare time and loves the outdoors and beaches of Greece. He regularly trains outside, and in his postcard he performs a boxing training routine on the beautiful Cape Sounion.

Iceland’s Dilja´ loves working out at the gym and weightlifting in her spare time. Her song "Power" is an anthem of strength, of taking control of your life. In her postcard she demonstrates her strength next to the magical Kvernufoss waterfall.

Note from the shoot: There was a severe weather warning on the day of filming. Heavy snow and high winds meant that conditions were too dangerous for the crew and Dilja to make it to the waterfall. They sat it out and waited and waited for the weather and wind to clear. Eventually they got lucky with a small pocket of calm weather so that they could approach the waterfall and start filming.

Irish entrants Wild Youth take a trip along one of the most scenic roads in Ireland. 500m above sea level it passes through the Wicklow mountains. The Johnny Fox pub where they band end up, is not only one of Irelands oldest pubs (established in 1798) it’s also a famous music venue with regular traditional Irish music and dancing. It’s a favourite watering hole for the band.

Noa Kirel is one of Israel's most popular artists. She has come to Masada rock plateau to perform her own form of spiritual movement. Her name "Noa" also means "movement" in Hebrew.

Note from the shoot: Noa – who is already very well known in Israel - was mobbed on location by a group of school children who recognised her.

Italy’s artist Marco Mengoni has a love for vintage motorbikes, and Rome. In the postcard he takes a ride past some of Rome’s iconic sites. Note from the shoot: When Marco was on his motorbike travelling through Rome during the filming, he was approached by a police officer. But rather than pull Marco over for an offence, he asked for an autograph for his daughter.

Latvian band Sudden Lights get in touch with their nation’s glorious natural beauty when they go for a cold-water swim.

Note from the shoot: The band love the tradition of saunas and cold-water swimming. Two members of the band go ice swimming several times a year, but it was drummer Ma¯rtin¸s? Mati¯ss Zemi¯tis's first time. They were only allowed to stay in the water for 60 seconds as the sea was so cold on the day of the shoot. Backstage crew and medics were on hand with hot water bottles, hot drinks, and warm blankets after the swim. The band love the area, and often organise

Lithuania’s Monika Linkyte? loves all sport and can often be found hiking through the wilds of Lithuania. One of her favourite hobbies is Muay

Thai, here she is sparring with a trainer.

Maltese act The Busker takes a trip to the beach on one of the country’s iconic vintage buses.

Note from the shoot: During filming Sean’s (band member) eyes would not stop watering due to the intense sunshine – his makeup was running down his face all day!

Moldovan entrant and nature lover Pasha Parfeni plants a tree in the forest. Pahsa is a passionate environmentalist. He cares deeply about nature and preserving our natural environment. Away from music his favourite activity is spending time in the forests of Moldova. It was Pascha’s idea to film him planting a tree for his postcard.

Netherlands duo Mia Nicolai & Dion Cooper go roller-skating in colourful Zaandam. They are both keen and accomplished skaters. Note from the shoot: Mia and Dion had a hard time dodging the many cyclists riding on the streets of Zaandam.

Norway’s Alessandra is a voracious reader, with a particular interest in philosophy. Her favourite books are Dante’s The Divine Comedy and Inferno Here she visits Oslo’s beautiful Deichman Library to pick up her next read.

We see Portuguese competitor Mimicat at the Pantea~o Nacional before she ventures to one of her favourite places in Libson - the Feira da Ladra street market (also known as the "thieves market") - which is one of Lisbon's oldest markets in the historic Alfama district.

Representing Romania is Theodor Andrei - a singer, composer, and actor, with an impressively long list of theatre and voice-acting credits. He started performing at a very young age. He is also an accomplished mime artist - here he is performing mime and mimicking the statue behind him.

San Marino’s fun-loving artists Piqued Jacks head up to one of San Marino’s stunning hilltop towers. They play volleyball – a popular pastime in San marino - at the top of the iconic castle.

Serbian artist Luke Black is embracing his love of Surrealism by fencing his way around the walkways of the Belgrade Museum of contemporary art. He has been an avid fencer since he was a child.

One of the Slovenian band Joker Out’s favourite group past-times is playing pinball. Apart from music this is the bands other passion. When the band need to take a break from long hours rehearsing – they always play pinball. Here, they all gather around three vintage pinball machines on the rooftop of Radio Slovenija in the capital Ljubljana.

Spanish artist Blanca Paloma is a singer, set designer and costume designer. Here she is experimenting with "flamenco fringes" which is the material often used to make costumes in traditional flamenco culture. Blanca's song is dedicated to her grandmother who passed away recently. Not only did her grandmother teach her to sing, she also taught her to sew and it is thanks to her that Blanca started work as a costume designer.

Note from the shoot: The first thing Blanca did when arriving at the amphitheatre was to stand centre stage and belt out a capella singing at the top of her voice. She has grown up in theatres and they are her happy place. Theatres are where Blanca learned her craft as a stage designer and costume designer.

Swedish artist Loreen gets in touch with her spiritual side as she does yoga and meditation on a remote island.

Notes from the shoot: Enholmen island sits just of the coast of the larger island of Gotland. Gotland is very close to Loreen’s heart, as she lives there for part of the year. The smoking incense Loreen is holding is white sage, which she uses as part of a cleansing and purifying ritual. On location not only did she purify herself, but also several members of the crew! Loreen practices meditation regularly. The sheep skins she sits on are also a speciality of Gotland.

Switzerland’s Remo Forrer loves water sports and spends his summers wakeboarding on the lakes in Switzerland. He has been wakeboarding for 3 years, and even trained as a sporting goods salesman. Remo grew up in the countryside and loves nature, which he loves to explore with his dog Luis. Note from the shoot: Lake Zurich was busy on the day of the shoot. Many Swiss locals stopped by at the beach for a swim on the day of the shoot - one of whom was fully nude. Remo insisted on jumping straight into the water on the shoot day - go big or go home!

Ukrainian entrants Tvorchi create a piece of street art. They paint a heart in Ukrainian colours, a reference to their song – “Heart of Steel”. A heart of steel is a symbol of strength and resilience.

UK entrant Mae Muller began posting music on social media platforms like SoundCloud and quickly gained a following. In this postcard she records a social media video on the banks of the river Thames using various transitions drawn from social media to change locations. As a Londoner Mae is very proud of her hometown – Her video is a ‘postcard’ of London from the River Thames.

Australian-Cypriot Andrew Lambrou grew up in Sydney an avid basketball player. His postcard gives him the chance to show off his skills on a court next to Akti Olympion Beach in Limassol.

Note from the shoot: The basketball jersey Andrew is wearing in the postcard is his favourite Greek basketball player. Most of the day was spent trying to stop members of the public from picking up the basketballs and shooting hoops themselves.

Poland’s Eurovision entrant Blanka performs a raucous DJ set at the University of Warsaw.

Note from the shoot: Blanka is an accomplished DJ, who loves the colour orange – so the location suited her perfectly. The physics students at Warsaw University made Blanka feel very welcome - they fetched liquid nitrogen (dry ice) from the labs specially for the party.