Dora 2006: Seve vs. Jele vs. Banfićka vs. Magazin

32 songs are confirmed for Dora 2006: the largest edition of the show to date. Unlike previous years, the selection includes a roll-call of established performers from the late 90s (alongside the show's annual regulars and the survivors of the reality-show boom) such as Severina, Magazin, Ivana Banfić, Minea, Danijela Martinović, Petar Grašo, and Marija Husar, latterly of the girlband Divas.

Jelena 'ex-Magazin' Rozga head's HTV's list with a solo entry, leading to speculation that she might perform on two songs if Magazin have not chosen a new lead singer in time. A spoof Dora line-up posted to a HTV forum last Tuesday made the almost credible announcement that Jelena's solo song would be titled Pod Poncijem Pilatom, presumably as a sequel to Magazin's 2005 entry Nazaret (or Doris Dragović's 1999 winner Marija Magdalena, written by the same team).

Notwithstanding Aleksandar Kostadinov's irritation at the interference of 'some joker', Jelena has in fact been confirmed to sing - nothing less than Ne zove me Marija (Don't call me Marija). Unfortunately Zovem se Jelena, Jelena was taken by Ms Karleuša several years ago.

A 'satisfied' Aleksandar Kostadinov announced Dora for 2-4 March in its traditional venue of Opatija, and stated it was 'not our problem' if Jelena appeared on two entries. HTV also reserve the right to 'do whatever we want' with the winning song, including extensive reworking or even a change of performer.

Nothing more has been heard yet on anything resembling the Severina-arranged-by-Goran-Bregović story from last week. Perhaps disappointingly, Severina will not be singing anything called Balkan, as last Tuesday's spoof had claimed, and in fact is going to be singing Moja štikla - My high heels. (The Gazette trusts it won't turn out to be a Croatian equivalent of the Black Eyed Peas' inexplicable radio hit My Humps.)

Meanwhile, NBC is developing an American version of the Eurovision Song Contest as a multi-episode challenge to Fox's American Idol. Martin Stenmarck of Sweden jumped the gun last year by performing Las Vegas at the real thing; here's hoping the Nevadans are grateful enough to have Stockholm lined up.