Eastern flavor in Eurovision contest

A Slovenian mock-opera artist, a Hungarian blues singer and a Ukrainian drag queen in a glitzy silver outfit were among 24 competitors in the Eurovision Song Contest -- an annual extravaganza of colliding musical tastes.

The showdown in Finland today will have an Eastern European flavor after former communist bloc countries scored a near clean-sweep in the semifinal that ended in the early hours Friday.

Some 3,000 enthusiasts braved near-freezing temperatures to watch the acts on giant screens in Helsinki’s central square, broadcast live from the concert arena a few miles away.

Today, performers from Belarus, Bulgaria, Georgia, Hungary, Latvia, Macedonia, Moldova, Serbia, Slovenia and Turkey join last year’s top 10, as well as the traditional “Big Four” -- Britain, France, Germany and Spain -- which are given automatic participation as the show’s biggest sponsors. The winner will be picked by millions of European viewers voting by phone and text messages.