Cyprus

Our prediction for the 2nd semifinal

Two days ago we made a prediction for the first semi-final. Okay, no Albania and Latvia, but Moldova and Iceland instead. But don’t forget: we got no less than eight countries right! That’s why we’re taking the risk for another prediction tonight, this time for the second semifinal. We think that these are the countries that will advance to the final tomorrow: Finland: Who doesn’t know The Rasmus? These rockers have a huge fan base all over Europe. They will vote en masse. Finland makes it to the final. Serbia: The bookmakers are even predicting that Serbia will finish in the top-10. The act with washing hands will be appreciated by enough people for a place in the final. Unfortunately, Britain’s Prince Harry lives in the US. He would definitely vote for this song that mentions his wife. Azerbaijan: This country almost always makes it to the final according to a fixed recipe: a foreign team writes a song. A strong act is built around it. A guarantee for success! Australia: This song is one you either love or hate. There are plenty of people who really appreciate the act with the mask and feathers. The message also gets across. Sheldon is also a very good singer. Cyprus: A surprising song in Greek. Cyprus is not necessarily high on all lists, but it is just such a number that still gets enough appreciation to reach the final tomorrow evening. Estonia: This song makes people happy. And if there’s one thing we need right now, it’s hope, and what’s this song about….? Stefan will be in the final on Saturday. Romania: Spain votes in this semi-final and that helps, but in the meantime WRS also puts on a slick show. We think there is a good chance that it will be a final place. Poland: This is one of two entries on which our entire team is unanimous: Poland goes to the final with the rock-solid, well-sung ballad. Welcome back in the final, Poland! Belgium: The Belgian gospel song is one of a kind, well sung and therefore stands out in a positive way. Although the Belgians themselves seem to have doubts, we are convinced of a place in the final for Jérémie Makiese. Sweden: If Sweden doesn’t go to the final, nobody will. Even when everything went wrong, Cornelia Jacobs remained professional. The bookmakers are still predicting a very high position. But are we right? We’ll know in about 24 hours!

Day 7: A crystal mask, a thunderstorm and Murphy’s Law

The penultimate day of rehearsal: it is becoming increasingly clear what the viewer can expect. Today we saw the last artists of the second semifinal. Let’s take a closer look at the rehearsals: AUSTRALIA: Whatever you think of Sheldon Riley, he sings like no other. During his emotional ballad he wears the white suit with the enormous drag of feathers. He wears his crystal mask for most of the act, but it goes off. It can’t be difficult for Australia to make it to the final. CYPRUS: For the first time in years, Cyprus is singing (partially) in Greek again. Andromache and her dancers stand in a kind of shell as they sing the song. We have to admit that we would describe Andromache’s vocals as ‘not bad’. If is that a recommendation….? IRELAND: Ireland falls into the ‘how nice’ category. Brooke’s vocals are certainly not bad, neither is the act. However, you may wonder if this is the song with which Ireland will finally reach the final again. We cannot rule out the possibility that it will not work. NORTH MACEDONIA: Perhaps Andrea had hoped for greater success. She was not happy with her first rehearsal. The song comes across as screaming; a hoarseness that suits Kaliopi (2012 and 2016) but not Andrea. ESTONIA: Unfortunately, Stefan can’t count on the 12 points from Armenia, because the country where his roots lie is performing in the other semifinal. The many movements he makes do have an effect on Stefan’s voice, but somehow it doesn’t seem to matter for the entry. It is a happy song that can easily go through to the final. ROMANIA: The Romanians made some minor changes to the act, making it even better and slicker. Furthermore, it seemed as if WRS had changed the melody of the chorus a little bit here and there. In any case, a spectacular show is in store for Romania. POLAND: The ballad of Polen starts very calmly with Ochman alone on stage. Halfway through, when the song becomes a little less quiet, the aforementioned dancers (forest nymphs?) come on stage. We see that a heavy thunderstorm erupts on the stage. Finally a strong contender for Poland agiain. MONTENEGRO: A ballad in which not much happens in 3 minutes. The advantage is that not much can go wrong. We had already mentioned the blue dress that Vladana is wearing. Behind her a circle that most resembles the fluff ball of a dandelion. It is not sure whether it stands out enough to go to the final. BELGIUM: The Belgians have a strong singer with a gospel-like power ballad in Jérémie Makiese. He will definitely get points for that. Fortunately, because the act he shows looks a bit stiff and doesn’t really do justice to the song and singer. SWEDEN: Murphy’s Law strikes. If one thing goes wrong, everything immediately goes wrong. Problems with the sound, problems with the technique and a falling cameraman meant that she was only able to do one whole runthrough. Cornelia did manage to show how professional she is, by showing a good rehearsal even with all that trouble. CZECH REPUBLIC: The act with lots of light and nice graphics fits very well with the Czech entry. In that respect it is a unity. The vocals, however, leave a lot to be desired. That could cost them their heads if it has to be clear who will go to the final.

Day 3: start of the 2nd semi rehearsals

Day three of rehearsals: the second semifinal has started. Nobody knows about the stage anymore. We try to keep you informed. For the time being, we’ll stick to the nine countries that rehearsed. FINLAND: Expectations were obviously high with a big name like The Rasmus in da’ house. In black and yellow rain gear, the stars stood on stage between huge black balloons. Eurovision.tv praises the professionalism of the band members. ISRAEL: It was quite exciting whether Israel would participate or not. However, the security issues died down. And so Michael Ben David stood on stage in white, surrounded by his dancers. Remarkable: eurovision.tv reports that there is good singing. That has not been done so far. SERBIA: Konstrakta’s act is little different from what we saw during the national final. She has the healthy hair of Megan Markle, which she also sings about. She washes her hands regularly. The dancers around her carry towels. Everything to stay “In corpore sano”, in a healthy body. AZERBAIJAN: It was to be expected: Azerbaijan has a standout act. Nadir Rustamli sings from a sort of staircase that looks like a grandstand. There is also a dancer in that stand. Halfway through the act, the stand is split in two and the dancer and singer can see each other. GEORGIA: Circus Mircus represents Georgia. And clowns belong to a circus. A singer in a leather jacket and flying goggles, a man with an eye patch and a belly organ and a bassist who seems to have borrowed the hat from the Ukrainians. That last man has a beard of flowers. Many colors can be seen on stage. Surreal is how even the official site describes it. MALTA: Emma Muscat performs in a dress covered with silver. She is flanked by four dancers. Later during the act, she sits behind a huge piano. She also uses the so-called B-stage, just in front of the green room. The sun springs into action and gives off its golden light during this act. SAN MARINO: You can expect a striking act from Achille Lauro. He wears body stocking, cowboy boots and hat, a black boa and he is at a red rodeo. While you’d expect that with the title “Stripper,” the clothes don’t come off. Where there is smoke there is fire: that certainly applies to this act, which ends with a lot of pyro technics. AUSTRALIA: Of course Sheldon Reily wears his jeweled mask. Surprising is the huge white suit he is also wearing. At the bottom of the suit is a huge tow. Eurovision.tv compares it to a wedding dress that drags on the floor. It almost seems as if Sheldon is staying in the clouds. CYPRUS: Andromache is singing in a purple dress with what looks like a huge fan behind her. The dancers move around that fan. The fan is also used to display the graphics. Different colors are visible.

This is the running order

Today, the running order for the two semifinals in the Eurovision Song Contest has been announced. The running order for the final is not known yet, apart from Italy: Mahmood and Blanco will perform in 9th place. 1st semifinal: Albania Latvia Lithuania Switzerland Slovenia Ukraine Bulgaria The Netherlands Moldova Portugal Croatia Denmark Austria Iceland Greece Norway Armenia 2nd semifinal: Finland Israel Serbia Azerbaijan Georgia Malta San Marino Australia Cyprus Ireland North Macedonia Estonia Romania Poland Montenegro Belgium Sweden Czech Republic

It’s Andromache for Cyprus!

The Southern country has released it’s entry for this year’s Eurovision. The Greek Andromache will sing “Ela” in Italy. The song is in partly Greek. It’s the first time in four years we’re hearing the Greek language. Cyprus is keeping it’s streak with sending artists that are partnered with Panik Records. Marvin Diettman has been assigned to do the staging. Do you think Andromache will be a successor to Elini foureira, Tamta and Elena tsagrinou?

Allocation draw: these are the semifinals

From the Madama Palace in Turin, the allocation draw took place this afternoon. The draw was hosted by Carolina Di Domenico and Gabriele Corsi. During the ceremony, mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb (Rotterdam) handed over the key of the Eurovision City to his Turinese colleague Stefano Lo Russo. The semifinals will be as follows: 1st semifinal, 1st half: Albania Latvia Switzerland Slovenia Bulgaria Moldova Ukraine Lithuania The Netherlands 1st semifinal, 2nd half: Norway Russia Portugal Denmark Armenia Austria Croatia Iceland Greece The countries that will not attend a semifinal but will vote in the 1st one are: France and Italy. 2nd semifinal, 1st half: Australia Georgia Cyprus Serbia Finland Azerbaijan San Marino Israel Malta 2nd semifinal, 2nd half: Montenegro Romania Czech Republic Poland Belgium North Macedonia Sweden Estonia Ireland The countries that will not attend a semifinal but will vote in the 2nd one are: United Kingdom, Spain and Germany.

Blast from the past: Romania 2004

We know a lot about Eurovision; this is knowledge we want to share with you. Therefore we’d like to bring you a blast from the past. Back to 2004, when Sanda represented Romania with “I admit”. Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest In the Eurovision Song Contest, Romania did not do bad, but real top scores were yet to come. It was “Tell me why”, the song with which Monica Anghel and Marcel Pavel reached the 9th place, the best score so far. In 2003, Nicola became 10th. That was enough for Romania to be placed directly in the 2004 final. National selection The Romanian national selection contained two semifinals: one with 12 and one with 11 songs. On March 13, Dan Teodorescu and Nicola hosted the national final with, again, 12 songs. The contest was held in the TVR TV-Studios in Bucharest. Supermarket with “De 2 ore te astept“, 12th with 0 points Nico with “Feeling snow white“, 9th with 4 points Shake with “Music”, 11th with 1 point Andra with “Just a little love“, 2nd with 17 points Elena Cârstea with “Don’t be afraid“, 4th with 16 points Paula Seling with “Perfect“, 6th with 8 points Salamandra with “Într-o zi“, 6th with 8 points Maria Radu with “All this time“, 2nd with 17 points Sanda Ladoşi with “I admit“, 1st with 24 points Parlament with “Tot pe ea“, 5th with 9 points Alexandra Ungureanu with “Happy“, 9th with 4 points Hara with “Lovely“, 6th with 8 points Sanda Sanda Ladoși was born in Târgu Mures, Romania, on january 2nd 1970. She started making music at a very young age. It was in 1988 when she first won an award at the Mamaia festival. She won the contest again in 1994 in duet with Ștefan Iordache. Sanda released four albums in the nineties. In 1999 she took part in the national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest. Five years later she was a participant again, but this time she won. Her Eurovision song “I admit” was included in her fifth album “Khalinin”, which was released in 2006. After this album, she decided to withdraw from showbusiness and become a mother. She has 2 children now. A few years later, Sanda Ladoși came back with shows and concerts, but also developed a new passion. She became a circus acrobat. In addition, she appeared as a guest in many plays at the “Constantin Tanase” Magazine Theater. In 2017, Sanda Ladoși became deputy director of the Metropolitan Circus in Bucharest. I admit The Eurovision Song “I admit” was an uptempo song. “I admit I fell for you so badly and I admit you make my senses wild”, Sanda sang. You can find the full lyrics of the song here. During the performance at the Eurovision Song Contest in Istanbul, Sanda was joined by to singers and 3 dancers. She was wearing a black romper suit. The act was more of a dance act than a singing act. Results The voting became a big disappointment for Romania. With 10 points, awarded by the Spanish jury but furthermore only a few points from Cyprus (3), Israel (1) and Portugal (4), Romania ended up with a total of 18 points and an 18th place.

41 countries in 2022 Eurovision Song Contest

41 countries will take part in the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest in Turin. That is what EBU announced today. In comparison with the 2021 contest, Armenia and Montenegro return. The full list is here: Albania Australia Armenia Austria Azerbaijan Belgium Bulgaria Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Georgia Germany Greece Iceland Ireland Israel Italy Latvia Lithuania Malta Moldova Montenegro North Macedonia Norway Poland Portugal Romania Russia San Marino Serbia Slovenia Spain Sweden Switzerland The Netherlands Ukraine United Kingdom France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom will directly be placed in the final, to be held on may 14. The other countries will have to qualify through a semifinal on may 10 or 12. As one of the ‘big five’ was this year’s winner, there will only be 25 countries in the final.

Blast from the past: Ireland 2003

We know a lot about Eurovision; this is knowledge we want to share with you. Therefore we’d like to bring you a blast from the past. Back to 2003, we will talk about the Irish entry, “We’ve got the world”, sung by Mickey Harte. You’re a star In the days when Pop Idol was one of the most popular shows in the world, with national versions in every country, it was Ireland that decided not to have a regular national final. The Irish entry was chosen by a Pop Idol-like show called “You’re a star”. It all started with 13 artists: Azi Jegbefume, Brian Ormond, Catherine Yore, Catriona McGinty, Joanne Fahy, Lisa Bresnan, Michael Leonard, Mickey Harte, Sarah Brophy, Shauna & Coaoimhe McElhinney, Simon Casey, Susan McFadden and Susan McGowan. One by one, they got rejected every week. On february 24, four artists left presented a potential Eurovision song: 1.”I couldn’t love you more“, Michael Leonard (co-composed by Ronan Keating)2.”I’ll still be right here“, Lisa Bresnan3.”We’ve got the world“, Mickey Harte4.”A better plan“, Simon Casey (written and composed by Brian McFadden) Lisa Bresnan had to leave the show. On March 2nd, there was a semifinal. Now it was Michael Leonard who had to leave. The Irish audience now had to choose between Mickey Harte and Simon Casey. On March 8th it was Mickey who got the ticket to the Eurovision Song Contest in Riga. Mickey Harte Mickey Joe Harte was born on August 21, 1973 in Lifford, County Donegal. He started playing the guitar at the age of 13. When he was 18 years old, he wrote his first song, “Candlelight”, inspired by the first Gulf War. However, as a singer/songwriter in the 90s it was hard to get a real breakthrough in Ireland, at that moment the country of the boybands. The success finally came when he participated in the 2002/2003 season of “You’re a star”. As the winner of this contest, he got the ticket to the Eurovision Song Contest. The song, “We’ve got the world”, reached the number one spot in the Irish charts. An album followed. In 2006, Mickey released his 2nd album “Live and learn”. A year later, he could be seen in a reality television show called “Celebrities go wild”. It took a few years before Mickey’s third album “Forward to reality” was released. In 2017, we saw the release of the single “For the broken hearted”. We’ve got the world The song “We’ve got the world” was a love song. “We’ve got the world tonight, let’s hold on together. And we’ve got a love that’s right so open your heart ’cause we’ve got tonight”, Mickey sang. The song was not written by Mickey himself but by Martin Brannigan and Keith Molloy. You can read the full lyrics here. On stage in Riga, Mickey was joined by 3 backing singers, all participants from “You’re a star”: Sara Brophy, Susan McGowan and Catriona McGuinty. Results This was the last year without semifinals. So Mickey was placed directly in the final. The United Kingdom awarded the song with 12 points, both Portugal and Cyprus gave it their 7 points. With a total number of 53 points Mickey became 11th. That was enough for Ireland to be placed directly in the 2004 final.

Blast from the past: Cyprus 1983

We know a lot about Eurovision. That’s why you’ll get a blast from the past every time. Today: the 1983 Cypriot entry “I agapi akoma zi”, sung by Stavros and Constantina. Introduction Cyprus debuted quite succesfully in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1981. The group Island reached a 6th place. A year later, when Anna Vissi was involved, they did even better: a 5th place. Expectations were high. Cyprus was the country to beat. CyBC (Cyprus Broadcasting Authority) had to look for another top song. Stavros Sideras It was no surpsise that CyBC selected Stavros Sideras to do the job. The 35 year old singer debuted in 1976 and released three full albums before he composed and directed the rock opera “The Archion“, together with Doros Georgiadis. In 1981, he wrote the aforementioned Cypriot debut entry for the Eurovision Song Contest, “Monica”, for the group Island. Sideras did not join the stage himself. As said, he wrote the 1983 entry “I agapi akoma zi”. Stavros kept on writing musicals and making albums. In the late nineties he wrote the musical “Pygmalion: the true story“. Constantina Stavros’ duopartner in Eurovision was Constantina or Dina. Her full name is Konstantina Konstantinou. She was born in Nicosia in 1963. When she and Stavros represented Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest she was 19 years old. She was quite unknown in those days. One year after the contest she released her debut album. It was the first of 19 albums up to date. Constantina worked together with Marinella, Anna Vissi, Constantinos Christoforou and many others. In 1997 she wrote the Cypriot Eurovision entry “Mana mou“. The song was performed by her sister Chara and brother Andreas Constantinou. They reached a 5th place. The song and performance “I agapi akoma zi” (Love is still alive) was written and composed by Stavros Sideras himself. The song was arranged by Michalis Rozakis. He was also the conductor for the duo at the contest in Munich. It was a simple love song. You can read the lyrics and translation here. The backing vocals all became (Eurovision) stars in a later time: Stelios Konstantinou was a backing vocal in 1988. Elena Patroclou (Eurovision 1991), Evridiki (Eurovision 1992, 1994 and 2007) and John Vickers (composer of the 1990 Cypriot entry) joined Stelios in the backings. Voting and results There was not much interest in the media for Cyprus, nor in the polls or at the bookmakers’. The voting became a big disappointment. Not even Greece gave points to the song. Seven countries voted for the song. Yugoslavia had the highest amount of points for the song: 6. A total of 26 points were enough for a 16th place.