1.
Armenia
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Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a sovereign state in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia. The Republic of Armenia constitutes only one-tenth of historical Armenia, Armenia is a unitary, multi-party, democratic nation-state with an ancient cultural heritage. Urartu was established in 860 BC and by the 6th century BC it was replaced by the Satrapy of Armenia, in the 1st century BC the Kingdom of Armenia reached its height under Tigranes the Great. Armenia became the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion, in between the late 3rd century to early years of the 4th century, the state became the first Christian nation. The official date of adoption of Christianity is 301 AD. The ancient Armenian kingdom was split between the Byzantine and Sasanian Empires around the early 5th century, under the Bagratuni dynasty, the Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia was restored in the 9th century. Declining due to the wars against the Byzantines, the fell in 1045. An Armenian principality and later a kingdom Cilician Armenia was located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea between the 11th and 14th centuries. By the 19th century, Eastern Armenia had been conquered by the Russian Empire, during World War I, Armenians living in their ancestral lands in the Ottoman Empire were systematically exterminated in the Armenian Genocide. By 1920, the state was incorporated into the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, in 1936, the Transcaucasian state was dissolved, transforming its constituent states, including the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, into full Union republics. The modern Republic of Armenia became independent in 1991 during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Republic of Armenia recognises the Armenian Apostolic Church, the worlds oldest national church, as the countrys primary religious establishment. The unique Armenian alphabet was invented by Mesrop Mashtots in 405 AD, Armenia is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, the Council of Europe and the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Armenia supports the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which was proclaimed in 1991, the native Armenian name for the country is Հայք. The name in the Middle Ages was extended to Հայաստան, by addition of the Persian suffix -stan, the further origin of the name is uncertain. It is also postulated that the name Hay comes from one of the two confederated, Hittite vassal states—the Ḫayaša-Azzi. The exonym Armenia is attested in the Old Persian Behistun Inscription as Armina, the ancient Greek terms Ἀρμενία and Ἀρμένιοι are first mentioned by Hecataeus of Miletus. Xenophon, a Greek general serving in some of the Persian expeditions, describes many aspects of Armenian village life and he relates that the people spoke a language that to his ear sounded like the language of the Persians. According to the histories of both Moses of Chorene and Michael Chamchian, Armenia derives from the name of Aram, a descendant of Hayk
Armenia
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Reconstruction of Herodotus ' world map c. 450 BC, with Armenia shown in the center
Armenia
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Flag
Armenia
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The Armenian pagan Temple of Garni, probably built 1st century AD, is the only "Greco-Roman colonnaded building" in Armenia and the entire former Soviet Union.
Armenia
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The Etchmiadzin Cathedral, Armenia's Mother Church traditionally dated 303 AD, is considered the oldest cathedral in the world.
2.
Armenia 1
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Public Television of Armenia, Hayastani Hanrayin herrustaynkerut’yun, ARMTV or APMTV, is Armenias public television station that began transmissions in 1956. Armenia Public Television dates back to September 5,1955 when the USSR Council of Ministers made the decision to construct 27 programme centres, on 29 November 1956, the date of Sovietization of Armenia, the first programme of Armenian television was transmitted. The official opening of the Armenian television took place on February 9,1957 as regular programmes began to air, later that year on August 6,1957 the first news programme was transmitted, titled the News of the Week. At first the news programme was not periodical, but by February,1958 the news programme became periodical, on October 13,1957 the State Committee on Radio and Television Programmes of the Council of Ministers of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic was formed. In March 1973 the television station began its preparations for the changeover to transmissions in colour, engineers for a colour mobile station, TV production laboratory, video recording units were obtained to begin this process. On May 1,1973 the station made its first colour transmission from Lenin Square for the May Day Parade, initially, the colour programmes were transmitted only from the mobile station, from the large celebrations, concerts, sport events of the country. Starting from 1978 about 50 percent of the programmes of the first, starting in August,1973, the first video recordings were broadcast, which made 70 percent of the programmes in 1978. In 1978 it became possible to see also the channel of the Central Television in Armenia. He started the reformation of the Armenian television, both in terms of content and structure and those changes were called to comply with the situation of the Kharabagh Freedom movement, and the breakdown of USSR. Armenia declared its independence on September 21,1991, a month later, the president of the country signed the RA Law On Mass Media. For the first time in Armenia the information system had an opportunity to develop in a free, the freedom of speech and purely national propaganda were predominant for the Armenian television. The economic crisis of the country seriously influenced the functioning of the National television, capacity were significantly cut and the quantity of viewers decreased. According to the data of November–December 1993, the statistical TV audience was 27. 4%, in November 1996 the 40th anniversary of the Armenian television was celebrated with festivities. The national television continued to preserve with great difficulty what has created during the former years. The bulk of the programs were entertainment and comedy programs, in 1996 the second channel of the Armenian television separated and became a separate program. Robert Mavisakalyan was appointed director of Nork television, within a short period of time Nork was able to attract the attention of the bulk of the audience. The public television started working on the process of translating programmes into Armenian even before the law was adopted, a translation studio equipped with special acoustic and film cutting equipment was created. New roads and prospects opened for the Armenian Public Television in 2005, Public Radio of Armenia Media of Armenia Armenian Public Television Website Armenian Public TV Live Stream
Armenia 1
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Public Television of Armenia Հայաստանի հանրային հեռուստաընկերություն
3.
Eurovision Song Contest 2006
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the 51st Eurovision Song Contest, held at the Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens, Greece on 18 May and 20 May 2006. The hosting national broadcaster of the contest was Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi, the Finnish band Lordi won the contest with the song Hard Rock Hallelujah, written by lead singer Mr. Lordi. Hard Rock Hallelujah was the first ever hard rock song to win the contest, since Eurovision is normally associated with pop music. This was Finlands first victory in Eurovision after waiting forty-five years and it is also noted that they scored the same amount of points in the semi-final and the grand final. In the semi-final, both the hosts sang Katrina and the Waves contest-winning Love Shine A Light, for one of the intervals, Sakis Rouvas sang an English version of his Greek hit Seho Erotefthi called Im in love with you. Helena Paparizou, who performed the song in Kiev, returned to the Eurovision stage in Athens. An official CD and DVD was released and a new introduction was a fan book released from this year. The 2006 contest also saw the 1, 000th song to be performed in the contest, Armenia also entered for the first time in the contest. The venue that was chosen as the host venue, was the Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens, the official logo of the contest remained the same from 2004 and 2005 with the countrys flag in the heart being changed. The 2006 sub-logo created by the design company Karamela for Greek television was based on the Phaistos Disc which is a popular symbol of ancient Greece. According to ERT, it was inspired by the wind and the sea, the golden sunlight, following Istanbuls Under The Same Sky and Kievs Awakening, the slogan for the 2006 show was Feel The Rhythm. This theme was also the basis for the postcards for the 2006 show, to save time in the final, the voting time lasted ten minutes and the voting process was changed, points 1-7 were shown immediately on-screen. The spokespersons only announced the countries scoring 8,10 and 12 points, constantinos Christoforou saluted from Nicosia, the last divided capital in Europe, during Cyprus reading, the telecast displayed Switzerland by mistake. This voting process has been criticized because suspense was lost by only reading three votes instead of ten, and for the first time, the display for the Macedonian entry had the title spelled out in its entirety instead of being abbreviated as it has been in previous years. Participating countries in a Eurovision Song Contest must be members of the EBU. The semi-final was held on 18 May 2006 at 21,00,23 countries performed and all 37 participants and Serbia & Montenegro voted. Shaded countries qualified for the Eurovision Final Notes 1. ^ The song also contained phrases in Spanish,2. ^ The song also contained phrases in French. The finalists were, the four automatic qualifiers France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom, the top 10 countries from the 2005 final, the final was held on 20 May 2006 at 21,00 and was won by Finland
Eurovision Song Contest 2006
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Athens Olympic Indoor Hall
Eurovision Song Contest 2006
Eurovision Song Contest 2006
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Eurovision Song Contest: Athens 2006
4.
Eurovision Song Contest 2008
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Contest. It was hosted in Belgrade, Serbia after Marija Šerifović won the 2007 Contest in Helsinki and this year was the first time there were three contests, two semi-finals which were held on 20 and 22 May, and the traditional grand final which was held on 24 May 2008. The shows were hosted by Jovana Janković and Željko Joksimović at the Belgrade Arena which had a capacity of 25,000 seats. After a total of 272 points, Dima Bilan representing Russia was declared the winner, with the song Believe written by American Jim Beanz, so far this has been the only time Russia has won the contest. Russia came third in the semi-final, making it the winner with the worst semi-final result, ukraine were runners up for the second year running, with 3rd place going to Greece, 4th to Armenia seeing their best result so far and 5th to Norway. 2008 also saw, for the first time ever, Eurovision. tv streaming national finals live on ESCTV with broadcasters permission. On 30 January 2008, Eurovision. tv revealed the theme of the Contest, The Confluence of Sound, Serbia gained the right to host the Contest after Marija Šerifović won the 2007 Contest in Helsinki, Finland. Since Serbia was the winner of the preceding contest, the 2008 contest was held there. The Belgrade Arena was chosen as the venue for the contest, on 14 September 2007, the Mayor of Helsinki handed over the Eurovision keys to the Deputy of Belgrade. This ceremony is meant to be a tradition from the 2008 contest and onward, ukraine was considered an option since they came second in Eurovision Song Contest 2007. YLE were another option, as hosted the previous years competition in Helsinki. Greeces Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi also offered the EBU to host the contest in Athens and it was later decided that the contest would stay in Belgrade, with the EBU giving support. RTS would gain a guarantee of safety and security from the government of Serbia for all visitors, the delegations of Albania, Croatia and Israel had special security. RTS ran a competition led to the creation of the 2008 Contests branding, logo. The theme of the Contest was based around the confluence of sound and this was symbolic as Belgrade lies on the confluence of two European rivers, the Sava and Danube. The logo chosen, a treble clef, formed the basis of the design created by Boris Miljković. The postcards in the first and second semi-final were based around the creation of the flag of the nation that was to perform next, each post card had a short story related to each country and its people. During each postcard a short letter was displayed, the postcards were brought to an end by a stamp with this years Eurovision logo
Eurovision Song Contest 2008
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The Belgrade Arena, the 2008 venue.
Eurovision Song Contest 2008
Eurovision Song Contest 2008
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Presenters Željko Joksimović and Jovana Janković during the first semi-final
Eurovision Song Contest 2008
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Eurovision Song Contest: Belgrade 2008
5.
Eurovision Song Contest 2014
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 was the 59th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following Emmelie de Forests win at the 2013 contest in Malmö and this was the third time that Denmark hosted the contest, the most recent previous occasion being in 2001. The two semi-finals took place on 6 May and 8 May 2014, and the final on 10 May 2014, the shows were presented by Lise Rønne, Nikolaj Koppel and Pilou Asbæk. The host broadcaster, DR, chose the B&W Hallerne as the host venue after considering several bids from cities and venues across Denmark, thirty-seven countries participated, this includes the return of Poland after a two-year absence and Portugal after a one-year absence. Overall, there were two countries competing compared to the previous year, making thirty-seven participants, the smallest number since 2006. Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Serbia announced their withdrawal from the 2014 Contest, San Marino and Montenegro both qualified for the final for the first time. The winner was Conchita Wurst with the song Rise Like a Phoenix, written by Charley Mason, Joey Patulka, Ali Zuckowski and this was Austrias first win in the competition since 1966. Jokes made about Wurst had sparked controversy, whilst Russia were booed several times during the contest, the Netherlands and Sweden finished second and third respectively with the former achieving their best result since their victory in the 1975 Contest. Armenia finished fourth, which equals their best result to date, while Hungary finished fifth, of the Big Five, only Ruth Lorenzo of Spain achieved a place in the top ten. A new record of 195 million viewers for the Eurovision Song Contest was reported, the host broadcaster, DR, and the EBU won the International TV Award at the Ondas Awards for their production of the contest. On 2 September 2013, Danish public broadcaster DR announced that it had chosen Copenhagen as the host city for the 2014 contest, the contest was held at the former shipyard Refshaleøen, in the B&W Hallerne, with the social networking hashtag #JoinUs as the motto. The mayor of Copenhagen, Frank Jensen, declared in late August that the city would contribute to the budget with 40 million. He also announced that the aim was to make the Eurovision 2014 into the greenest contest to date since Copenhagen had been elected European Green Capital for 2014. Five cities had been considered as host city of the contest, including Herning and Copenhagen, later, Fredericia and Aalborg entered the phase with the Messe C and Gigantium venues, respectively. The fifth city to join the phase was Horsens, with the venue being the courtyard of the former Horsens State Prison, in the event that Horsens had been chosen to host the contest, the courtyard would have been covered by a permanent glass roof. The contest was set to take place on 13,15 and 17 May 2014, however. On 17 June 2013, the municipality executive of Aalborg decided not to bid for hosting the contest due to the lack of sufficient hotel capacity. On 25 June 2013, the Municipality of Fredericia announced that the Triangle Region had withdrawn its bid on hosting the contest, DR required the hosting venue to have no pillars blocking any views and an interior height of at least 16 metres
Eurovision Song Contest 2014
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B&W Hallerne, located on Refshaleøen Island, Copenhagen
Eurovision Song Contest 2014
Eurovision Song Contest 2014
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Parken Stadium, which hosted the 2001 contest.
Eurovision Song Contest 2014
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Jyske Bank Boxen, hosted the final of Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2013.
6.
Eurovision Song Contest 2007
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the 52nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It was won by first-time appearance as an independent country Serbia and was held at the Hartwall Areena in Helsinki, Finland earned the right to host the event after heavy metal band Lordis victory at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. It was the first time the Contest had been held in Finland, a budget of €13 million was presented for arranging the contest. Other bids to host the contest came from Espoo, Turku, the hosts were Finnish television personality Jaana Pelkonen and Finnish musician, stage performer and actor Mikko Leppilampi. Krisse Salminen acted as guest host in the room. A record number of 42 countries participated, the European Broadcasting Union put aside its limit of 40 countries, which would have meant excluding some countries using a ranking order scheme. This trend continued at the 2008 and 2009 Contests, on 12 March 2007, the draws for the running order for the semi-final, final and voting procedure took place. A new feature allowed five wild-card countries from the semi-final and three countries from the final to choose their starting position, the heads of delegation went on stage and chose the number they would take. In the semi-final, Austria, Andorra, Turkey, Slovenia and Latvia were able to choose their positions, in the final, Armenia, Ukraine and Germany were able to exercise this privilege. All countries opted for spots in the half of both evenings. Shortly after the draw, the entries were approved by the EBU, the United Kingdom chose their entry after the deadline because they were granted special dispensation from the EBU. The contest saw some changes to the voting time-frame. The compilation summary video of all entries including phone numbers was shown twice, the voting process was the same as 2006 except there was fifteen minutes to vote, an increase of five minutes on the 2006 Contest. In the final, the results from each country were once again shown from one to seven points automatically on screen and only eight, ten and twelve were read by the spokespeople. For the first time, the winner was awarded a promotion tour around Europe, visiting Denmark, Spain, Sweden, the tour was held between 16 May and 21 May. The event was sponsored by European communications group TeliaSonera, and — as with several previous contests — Nobel Biocare, apocalyptica were the interval act, and played a medley of songs, Worlds Collide, Faraway and finally Life Burns. The official logo of the contest remained the same as 2006, the stage was in the shape of a kantele, a traditional Finnish instrument. On 20 February 2007 a reworked official website for the contest was launched marking the first public exhibition of this years theme, an official CD and DVD were released
Eurovision Song Contest 2007
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The hosts Jaana Pelkonen and Mikko Leppilampi
Eurovision Song Contest 2007
Eurovision Song Contest 2007
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Hartwall Areena, the venue of ESC 2007
Eurovision Song Contest 2007
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Eurovision Song Contest: Helsinki 2007
7.
Anytime You Need
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Anytime You Need was the Armenian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, performed in English and Armenian by Hayko. This was the first occasion on which the Armenian language was used in a Contest entry, Hayko addresses himself to his lover, telling her that while other relationships end, theirs will endure. He explains that All Ill ever do is watch over you and he promises her that he will be there whenever she calls crying with the blues and that he will dry your tears when you cry. The final lines of the song are delivered in Armenian, and feature a similar profession of love, the performance featured Hayko standing in the centre of the stage in front of an artificial tree. There were two backing musicians, one of whom was described by BBC commentator Terry Wogan as looking like a red Indian, due to Armenia having finished the previous Contest in the top ten, the song was automatically qualified for the final. At the close of voting, it had received 138 points and this was the exact position Armenia had finished on debut in 2006. Hayko Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007
Anytime You Need
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"Anytime You Need"
8.
Eurovision Song Contest 2010
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2010 was the 55th annual Eurovision Song Contest, broadcast from the Telenor Arena in Bærum, Greater Oslo, Norway. Norway gained the rights to host the contest after achieving a record breaking victory in Moscow the previous year and it was the third time Norway had hosted the contest, having previously done so in 1986 and 1996. The 2010 winner was Germany with Lena singing Satellite, written by American Julie Frost and it was Germanys first win in twenty-eight years, its second since the Contests inception, and its first win as a unified country. It was also the first time a Big Four country won the contest since the introduction in 2000. The semi-finals took place on 25 and 27 May 2010 while the final was scheduled for 29 May 2010, the European Broadcasting Union announced that the voting system used in the semi-finals would change from previous years to balance jury voting with televoting. A return of accompaniment by orchestra was also proposed, but did not happen, thirty-nine countries took part in the contest, with Georgia returning after a one-year hiatus, and Andorra, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Montenegro withdrawing. Lithuania originally announced its withdrawal from the competition, but was later among the 39 participants confirmed by the EBU and this represents a larger budget than that allotted in the 2007 Contest in Helsinki, but is not as much as the budget in Moscow for 2009. The revised estimated cost for the now stands at 211 million kroner. At a press conference in Oslo on 27 May 2009, it was announced that the show was to be held in the Oslo metropolitan area, NRK argued that Oslo was the only city with the required capacity, venues, and infrastructure to hold the show. On 3 July 2009, it was decided that the venue would be the newly constructed Telenor Arena, the Oslo Spektrum was ruled out to host the contest due to its smaller size and capacity as was Valhall in Oslo and the Hamar Vikingskipet. The theme art, a series of intersecting circles, was selected to represent gathering people, in addition to the base colour of white, the logo was created in black, gold, and pink. A preview of the design was released on 6 May 2010, featuring no LED screens. The basic synopsis of the postcards is a group of little golden balls forms the shape of each country. Then, they move and form a screen where we can see a video of a little crowd from in a city of the country about to perform supporting and cheering their act. After that, a few seconds of the performer of the country getting ready in the stage are shown, and then, NRK announced the hosts of the contest on 10 March 2010. Those chosen were Erik Solbakken, Haddy Jatou Njie, and Nadia Hasnaoui, Solbakken and Njie opened the three shows, introduced the artists, and reported from the green room during the voting, with Hasnaoui presenting the voting section and scoreboard announcements. This was the time that more than two hosts were presenting the shows, after the 1999 Contest. This replaces the semi-final format used in the 2008 and 2009 contests in which the countries with the top nine highest points from the results in each semi-final qualified for the final
Eurovision Song Contest 2010
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Screenshot from the rehearsals where the design can be seen
Eurovision Song Contest 2010
Eurovision Song Contest 2010
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Telenor Arena, 28 May 2010
Eurovision Song Contest 2010
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Lena performing the winning entry, " Satellite," for Germany.
9.
Eva Rivas
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Eva Rivas is a Russian-Armenian singer. Rivas was born and raised in Rostov-on-Don to an Armenian mother and she took the stage name Eva Rivas from her Greek great-grandmother. Growing up in Rostov, she sang in the Armenian Arevik ensemble, on 14 February 2010, Rivas won the Armenian National Final and went on to represent Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 with the song Apricot Stone. She was placed sixth in the semi-final and advanced to the final where she performed 21st in the line-up, to promote her song that year, Rivas visited, prior to the contest, some European countries. Rivas plans to continue to travel around Europe, promoting her song and making new ones and she had wished to represent Armenia again in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, however, ultimately Armenia did not participate that year. Eva is a judge in The Voice of Armenia, Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 Official Website Official Page on Facebook Official Page on Twitter Official Page on Google+ Official Page on Instagram Official Page on Youtube
Eva Rivas
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Eva Rivas in Oslo, May 2010
10.
Eurovision Song Contest 2015
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2015 was the 60th anniversary edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest musical event. The contest took place in Vienna, Austria, following Austrian Conchita Wursts victory in the 2014 and this was the second time that Austria hosted the contest, the 1967 being the first. The 2015 contest consisted of two semi-finals, which place on 19 and 21 May, and a final, held on 23 May 2015. The shows were presented by Mirjam Weichselbraun, Alice Tumler and Arabella Kiesbauer while Conchita Wurst was hosting the green room, forty countries participated in the contest, with Australia making a guest appearance, and Cyprus, the Czech Republic, and Serbia returning. Ukraine, however, announced their withdrawal due to financial and political reasons around the Ukrainian crisis, once all the votes had been announced, based on 50% jury and 50% televoting, Sweden won the contest for the sixth time, with Måns Zelmerlöws song Heroes. Sweden became the first country to win the contest twice in the current format, and this was the second win in four years. Italy won the voting with Russia in second place. Sweden won the voting, with Latvia in second place. This is the first time since the juries were reintroduced alongside the televoting in 2009 that the winner didnt place first in the televoting, for the first time, the top four of the contest all scored 200 points or better. Russias entry A Million Voices became the first non-winning Eurovision song to score over 300 points, Austria and Germany became the first countries 2003 to score no points in the final. Austria is also the first host country to score nul points, the 2015 contest also saw the best ever result for Montenegro since its independence, and the Czech Republic. Also the top two countries of this contest were the same as the top two countries in the 2012, being Sweden and Russia, over 197 million viewers worldwide watched the contest, beating the 2014 viewing figures by 2 million. The Wiener Stadthalle hosts the annual Erste Bank Open tennis tournament, after Austrias victory in the 2014 Contest, their delegation revealed the possibility of hosting the contest either in the capital city, Vienna, or in Salzburg. Vienna, considered the front-runner, had two venues in the phase, Wiener Stadthalle and the trade centre, Messe Wien. Also in the race were Stadthalle Graz and Schwarzl Freizeit Zentrum, with a maximum capacity of 30,000, the Wörthersee Stadium in Klagenfurt also joined the race, however, it would require the construction of a roof for the contest to be hosted there. Innsbruck also joined the race with Olympiahalle, which hosted ice hockey, a fifth city, Linz, joined the race with Brucknerhaus, although the venue is not big enough for the contest. Being geographically close to Linz, Wels showed desire to host the event as well, oberwart, with the Exhibition hall, and Vorarlberg, with the Vorarlberger Landestheater, were the latest cities to declare an interest. On 29 May 2014, Austrian host public broadcaster ORF and the EBU released some requirements, ORF requested interested parties to respond by 13 June 2014
Eurovision Song Contest 2015
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The venue of the contest, Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna
Eurovision Song Contest 2015
Eurovision Song Contest 2015
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Stage design of the contest
Eurovision Song Contest 2015
11.
Eurovision Song Contest 2016
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2016 was the 61st edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, Sweden, following Swedens victory at the 2015 in Vienna with the song Heroes and this was the third time the contest had taken place in Stockholm, after 1975 and 2000, the latter also being held at the Globe. The contest consisted of two semi-finals on 10 and 12 May and the final on 14 May 2016, with all three live shows hosted by Zelmerlöw and Petra Mede, the winner of the contest was Ukraine with the song 1944, performed by Jamala. This was Ukraines second win and its first since 2004 and it was also the first song with lyrics in Crimean Tatar to win or enter the contest. Forty-two countries participated in the contest, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia and Ukraine returned after absences from recent contests, while Australia also returned after debuting as a special guest in 2015. Twenty-six countries competed in the final, which was the first to be broadcast on television in the United States. In the final, Australia finished second, improving on its debut in 2015, while Bulgaria finished fourth, its best result since its debut, Justin Timberlake performed during the interval act of the final. A record-breaking 204 million viewers watched the contest, beating the 2015 viewing figures by over 5 million. The contest took place in the Ericsson Globe in Stockholm, following Swedens victory at the 2015 contest in Vienna with the song Heroes, performed by Måns Zelmerlöw. The Ericsson Globe has a capacity of approximately 16,000 attendees, host broadcaster Sveriges Television announced on 24 May, the day after winning the 2015 contest, that the Tele2 Arena in Stockholm was their first choice venue. However, other cities and arenas were invited to apply, a press centre with a specific size had to be made available at the venue. A specific number of hotels and hotel rooms had to be available in the vicinity of the venue. The host city had to be near a major airport, an announcement regarding the venue was expected from SVT by midsummer, with the Ericsson Globe announced as the venue on 8 July. These were subject to change depending on SVT, but were confirmed when Stockholm was announced as the host city. Discussions were held in 2014 between the EBU and the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union regarding the inclusion of a guest performance from the ABU TV Song Festival at the contest. The EBU confirmed on 16 July 2015 that they are looking into the possibility of the proposal, however, the EBU published the public rules of the contest on 28 October, which stated that the start time would remain at 21,00 CEST. The core team for the contest was announced by SVT and the EBU on 26 October, johan Bernhagen and Martin Österdahl were Executive Producers, while Tobias Åberg was Head of Production. The three live shows were directed by Sven Stojanović and the contest was produced by Christer Björkman, the EBU announced on 18 February 2016 that a new voting system would be implemented at the contest for the first time since 1975
Eurovision Song Contest 2016
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The Ericsson Globe, Stockholm; venue of the 2016 contest
Eurovision Song Contest 2016
12.
Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Russia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 20 times since their debut in 1994 and has participated every year since 2000. Russia is the country that has never missed the final since the introduction of the semi-finals in 2004. Their debut was in the 1994 contest after Russia became a member of the European Broadcasting Union, in 2003,2007 and 2016 Russia placed 3rd, with t. A. T. u. According to unconfirmed information, Russia was required to submit Tatyana Ovsiyenko with the song My Sun, since the introduction of the semi-finals, Russia is the only country that has never missed a final. Russia won their first Eurovision Song Contest in 2008, when Dima Bilan, participating for the time in the contest, won with the song Believe. Russia was the most successful country in Eurovision in 2000-2009, with one win, however, in 2010 they finished 11th, and in 2011 they were 16th, which was the worst place for Russia since 1995. Interest in the fell, but in 2012 Buranovskiye Babushki finished in second place. Since 2008, there is an alternation on broadcast and selection, with Russia-1 on even years, ^ In 1996 Russia failed to qualify from the audio only pre-qualification round. The official Eurovision site does not count 1996 in Russias total list of appearances, ^ Russia was forced to sit out another year in 1999, as the EBU only allows countries which had broadcast the previous years contest to enter the next years contest. If a country won the year, they did not have to compete in Semi Finals. In addition, back in 2005-2007, countries who done well did not have to compete in Semi Finals the following year. co. uk
Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Serebro at Helsinki (2007)
Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Russia
Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Dima Bilan at Belgrade (2008)
Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Anastasiya Prikhodko at Moscow (2009)
13.
Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Georgia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest nine times, debuting at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. On 27 October 2006, Georgia, confirmed that they wished to debut at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, at the contest, Georgia managed to progress from the semi-final, but only came 12th in the final. Georgia appeared for its time in the contest for 2008. It had slightly better luck than in 2007, progressing from the semi-final, due to the 2008 South Ossetia war, it had been debated by Georgian Public Broadcaster whether Georgia would be present at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow. GPB chairman stated that it would not be unreasonable to withdraw, after winning the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2008, and getting the maximum 12 points from Russia they were encouraged to participate again in 2009. After a national final was held on 18 February 2009 the selected entry for Georgia was decided to be Stefane & 3G with their 70s-inspired song We Dont Wanna Put In. However the song gained controversy due to the lyrics of the song, which included perceived political references to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, which GPB denied. Nevertheless, the EBU banned the song from competing due to its lyrics, GPB claimed that the EBUs rejection of the song was due to political pressure exerted by Russia, and withdrew again from the contest on 11 March. Georgia returned to the Contest in 2010, after a one-year gap, Sopho sang the song Shine at the Contest, written by Hanne Sørvaag, Harry Sommerdahl and Christian Leuzzi. Georgia competed in the second semi-final of the contest on 27 May, performing in the 16th slot, Georgia came 9th in the final, with 136 points, achieving their best place so far. In 2011, Georgia sent the rock band Eldrine to the contest in Düsseldorf and they managed to equal Sopho Nizharadzes 9th place of the year before. In 2012, Georgia sent Anri Jokhadze to the contest in Baku, Azerbaijan with the song Im a Joker, on 24 May 2012, he became the first Georgian representative to fail to reach the Eurovision Song Contest final. In 2013, Georgia selected its entry internally, Sopho Gelovani & Nodiko Tatishvili was the first duo to represent Georgia in Eurovision. The song was produced by 2012s winning composer Thomas G, Son, in the second semi-final Georgia qualified in 10th, and in the final Georgia came in 15th place with 50 points. In 2014, Georgia selected jazz fusion band The Shin alongside vocalist Mariko Ebralidze to the contest in Copenhagen and their song, Three Minutes to Earth, was panned by critics and placed last in the second semi-final. This is the worst Georgian result to date, in 2015, Georgia held a national final for the first time since 2012. Nina Sublatti and her song Warrior were chosen to represent Georgia in the contest and it qualified from the first semi-final. Nina Sublatti eventually reached an 11th place in the grand final, on December 15,2015, Georgia internally selected Nika Kocharov & Young Georgian Lolitaz to represent Georgia in the 2016 contest They finished 9th in semi-final and 20th in the grand final
Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Diana Gurtskaya at Belgrade (2008)
Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest
Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Eldrine at Düsseldorf (2011)
Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Sopho Gelovani & Nodiko Tatishvili at Malmö (2013)
14.
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Greece has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 37 times since its debut in 1974, missing six contests in that time. Greece won for the first time in 2005 with My Number One, the national broadcaster, Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi broadcast the event each year and organised the process for the selection of the Greek entry. Greece has never finished last in the contest, in the 21st century, Greece has been more successful, with ten top-ten results, including third-place finishes for Antique in 2001, Sakis Rouvas in 2004 and Kalomira in 2008. Greece was disqualified from the Eurovision Song Contest 1982 after it was revealed that Themis Adamantidis was to sing Sarantapente Kopelies, a previously released song. A known Greek folk song had been revised for the competition, Greece was forced to pay a fine, and was allowed to return the following year. Had Adamantidis been allowed to perform Sarantapente Kopelies, he would have appeared second at Harrogate, after returning in 1983, ERT decided that all of the possible songs were of low quality and decided not to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 1984. Had she performed, she would have appeared eighteenth and she would have performed the song Wagon-lit, the following year ERT announced that it would not return at the Eurovision Song Contest 2000 due to financial reasons. The song also made Greece the first country not a member of Big Four to win the contest without going through a semifinal. Before Greeces win, the highest score was third place, achieved by duo Antique in 2001 with Die for You and then again by Sakis Rouvas in 2004 with Shake It. Greeces least successful result was at 20th place in 1998 with the song Mia Krifi Evesthisia by Thalassa, with 12 points, all from Cyprus, riskyKidd, with 35 points, but this time Cyprus was out of the contest. In 2006, the 51st Eurovision Song Contest was held in Athens, Greece, the two hosts were popular singer, and former contestant, Sakis Rouvas and Greek American presenter Maria Menounos. The singer representing Greece in their own country was popular Greek Cypriot artist Anna Vissi, for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest, ERT was able to secure a high-profile artist once again and planned a national final to choose the song. Greece has been one of the most successful countries in the Eurovision Song Contest in the 21st century, including ninth in 2006, seventh in 2007, third in 2008, seventh in 2009, eighth in 2010 and seventh in 2011. In 2014, Greece finished in 20th place, which, along with 1998, is the countries worst result in the contest, Greece was one of only three countries to have never failed to qualify from the semifinals since their 2004 introduction. In addition, Greece also qualified from the 1996 audio-only pre-qualifying round, in 2015, Greece failed to reach the top-ten for the third time in four years, finishing 19th. Since 2013, the music channel MAD produces the Greek national final, for 2016, ERT selected the Eurovision entry internally. They selected the band Argo with the song Utopian Land For the first time since the semi-finals were introduced in 2004 and they finished 16th in the first semi-final. Greece is famous for, especially in recent years, always giving twelve points to Cyprus and this is one of many examples of the bloc voting seen in contest which also occurs between Iberian, Balkan, Scandinavian, ex-Soviet and Baltic countries
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Sakis Rouvas in Istanbul (2004)
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Helena Paparizou receiving her prize after her win in Kiev (2005)
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Sarbel in Helsinki (2007)
15.
France in the Eurovision Song Contest
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France has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 59 times since its debut at the very first contest in 1956. France is one of seven countries to be present at the first contest. France first won the contest in 1958 with Dors, mon amour performed by André Claveau, frances fifth victory came in 1977, when Marie Myriam won with the song Loiseau et lenfant. France have also finished four times, with Paule Desjardins in 1957, Catherine Ferry in 1976, Joëlle Ursull in 1990 and Amina in 1991. France finished last for the first time in 2014, when Twin Twin received only two points. France have failed to reach the top 10 in 12 of the last 14 contests, the exceptions being Patricia Kaas, who was eighth in 2009, and Amir, several French broadcasters have been used to present Eurovision in the country, formerly RTF, ORTF and TF1. The first semi-final in 2004 was not broadcast, from 2015, France 2 resumed the responsibility of organising an entry and broadcasting the final and from 2016, both semi-finals will be broadcast by France 4. The change is an attempt to better ratings and results in forthcoming contests. Radio coverage has been provided, although not every year, by France Inter from 1971 to 1998 and since 2001, in 1982, RTL Radio transmitted the contest due to the countrys absence that year. France has often changed the process used in order to find the countrys entry for the contest. France is one of the most successful countries in the Eurovision, winning the contest five times, coming second four times, France was ranked first in number of victories without interruptions from 1960 to 1993. Moreover, Amina was close to victory with the song Le Dernier qui a parlé. in 1991, therefore, the countback rule applied, but both countries had an equal number of twelve points, but the victory went to Sweden, when France had fewer 10-point scores. Today, with the new rules, France would have won the competition, one year before, France was also close to winning with Joëlle Ursull performing Serge Gainsbourgs song White and Black Blues. The song finished in second place with Irelands entry. However, in recent years, the French results have been somewhat disappointing, since 1998, when the televoting was invented, France has almost always been in the bottom-10 countries in the final, coming 18th, 19th, 22nd, 23rd, 24th and 25th. France finished in last place, for the first time in their Eurovision history, yet, France have had some good results during the 21st century. In 2001, Canadian singer Natasha St-Pier came 4th for France with her song Je nai que mon âme, being the favourite to win the contest by fans and odds. This good result was carried into the 2002 contest, when Sandrine François came 5th with Il faut du temps, with these ambitions, the French superstar Patricia Kaas represented France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia
France in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Guy Mardel in Naples (1965)
France in the Eurovision Song Contest
France in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Dan Ar Braz in Oslo (1996)
France in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Les Fatals Picards in Helsinki (2007)
16.
Eurovision Song Contest 2002
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2002 was the 47th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. The contest took place in Tallinn, Estonia, following Tanel Padar, Dave Benton & 2XLs win at the 2001 contest in Copenhagen, for the first time, a slogan was implemented. This years theme was called A Modern Fairytale, which was evident in the postcards aired between the songs, which showed classic fairytales ending in modern Estonian situations, the final took place on the 25 May 2002 at the Saku Suurhall. Opening the show were the champions, Tanel Padar and Dave Benton. The contest was won by Latvia, represented by Marie N with the song I Wanna, the United Kingdom and host country Estonia shared 3rd place with 111 points each, while France finished in 5th place with 104 points. Despite being one of the favourites to win the contest, Denmark finished last with just 7 points and had to sit out of the years contest. Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia and it is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland,80 km south of Helsinki in Finland, east of Stockholm in Sweden, and west of Saint Petersburg in Russia. Founded in 1248 but the earliest human settlements back to 3000 years BC. Due to its important strategic location the city became a major trade hub. Tallinns Old Town is one of the best preserved and intact medieval cities in Europe and is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Saku Suurhall was chosen as the venue for the contest. It is the largest arena in Estonia, built in 2001 and it is named after the Estonian brewery and soft drink company Saku. These countries replaced the bottom 6 countries from the 2001 contest, portugal declined to enter the Contest due to internal problems in the Portuguese broadcaster RTP. Controversy erupted during the competition over remarks by commentators on Swedish and Belgian TV, the song received zero points from the Swedish audience but earned two from the Belgians, finishing 12th overall. In the televoting household shall not be permitted to vote more than three times and this year saw allegations that the juries in use were guilty of swapping votes between each other. Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final, For the first time, founded by Christer Björkman and Richard Herrey, the awards are named after the creator of the annual competition, Marcel Bezençon. The awards are divided into 3 categories, Press Award, Artistic Award, as had been the case every year since the mid-1980s, the contest was broadcast in Australia on SBS-TV with the BBC commentary. Within a few years, the contest would grow to be so popular in Australia, Serbia and Montenegro After the breakup of Yugoslavia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia last participated in 1992. Radio Television of Serbia broadcast the show, originally, first time as Serbia and Montenegro had planned debuts, but the EBUs late changes to the relegation procedure meant that they could not compete
Eurovision Song Contest 2002
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Laura Voutilainen, Winner of Fan Award
Eurovision Song Contest 2002
Eurovision Song Contest 2002
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Eurovision Song Contest: Tallinn 2002
Eurovision Song Contest 2002
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An alternative cover showing the title as Eurovision Song Contest: Estonia 2002.
17.
Sweden
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
Sweden
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A Vendel-era helmet, at the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities.
Sweden
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Flag
Sweden
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A romantic nationalist interpretation of Valdemar IV taking control over Gotland. The final battle outside the walls of Visby in 1361 ended with a massacre of 1,800 defenders of the city.
Sweden
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Stockholm in mid-17th century
18.
Belgrade
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Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and its name translates to White city. The urban area of the City of Belgrade has a population of 1.34 million, one of the most important prehistoric cultures of Europe, the Vinča culture, evolved within the Belgrade area in the 6th millennium BC. In antiquity, Thraco-Dacians inhabited the region, and after 279 BC Celts conquered the city and it was conquered by the Romans during the reign of Augustus, and awarded city rights in the mid-2nd century. In 1521, Belgrade was conquered by the Ottoman Empire and became the seat of the Sanjak of Smederevo and it frequently passed from Ottoman to Habsburg rule, which saw the destruction of most of the city during the Austro-Ottoman wars. Belgrade was again named the capital of Serbia in 1841, northern Belgrade remained the southernmost Habsburg post until 1918, when the city was reunited. As a strategic location, the city was battled over in 115 wars, Belgrade was the capital of Yugoslavia from its creation in 1918, to its final dissolution in 2006. Belgrade has an administrative status within Serbia and it is one of five statistical regions of Serbia. Its metropolitan territory is divided into 17 municipalities, each with its own local council, City of Belgrade covers 3. 6% of Serbias territory, and 22. 5% of the countrys population lives within its administrative limits. It is classified as a Beta- global city, chipped stone tools found at Zemun show that the area around Belgrade was inhabited by nomadic foragers in the Palaeolithic and Mesolithic eras. Some of these belong to the Mousterian industry, which are associated with Neanderthals rather than modern humans. Aurignacian and Gravettian tools have also discovered there, indicating occupation between 50,000 and 20,000 years ago. The first farming people to settle in the region are associated with the Neolithic Starčevo culture, there are several Starčevo sites in and around Belgrade, including the eponymous site of Starčevo. The Starčevo culture was succeeded by the Vinča culture, a more sophisticated farming culture that grew out of the earlier Starčevo settlements which is named for a site in the Belgrade region. Evidence of early knowledge about Belgrades geographical location comes from ancient myths, the rock overlooking the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers has been identified as one of the place in the story of Jason and the Argonauts. The Paleo-Balkan tribes of Thracians and Dacians ruled this area prior to the Roman conquest, Belgrade was inhabited by a Thraco-Dacian tribe Singi, after the Celtic invasion in 279 BC, the Scordisci took the city, naming it Singidūn. In 34–33 BC the Roman army led by Silanus reached Belgrade, jovian reestablished Christianity as the official religion of the Roman Empire, ending the brief revival of traditional Roman religions under his predecessor Julian the Apostate. In 395 AD, the passed to the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire
Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade
19.
Helsinki
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Helsinki is the capital and largest city of Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland. Helsinki has a population of 629,512, a population of 1,231,595. Helsinki is located some 80 kilometres north of Tallinn, Estonia,400 km east of Stockholm, Sweden, Helsinki has close historical connections with these three cities. The Helsinki metropolitan area includes the core of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Kauniainen. It is the worlds northernmost metro area of one million people. The Helsinki metropolitan area is the fourth largest metropolitan area in the Nordic countries, Helsinki is Finlands major political, educational, financial, cultural, and research center as well as one of northern Europes major cities. Approximately 75% of foreign companies operating in Finland have settled in the Helsinki region, the nearby municipality of Vantaa is the location of Helsinki Airport, with frequent service to various destinations in Europe and Asia. In 2009, Helsinki was chosen to be the World Design Capital for 2012 by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, the city was the venue for the 1952 Summer Olympics and the 52nd Eurovision Song Contest 2007. In 2011, the Monocle magazine ranked Helsinki the most liveable city in the world in its Liveable Cities Index 2011, in the Economist Intelligence Units August 2015 Liveability survey, assessing the best and worst cities to live in globally, Helsinki placed among the worlds top ten cities. Helsinki is used to refer to the city in most languages, the Swedish name Helsingfors is the original official name of the city. The Finnish name probably comes from Helsinga and similar names used for the river that is known as the Vantaa River. Helsingfors comes from the name of the parish, Helsinge and the rapids, which flowed through the original village. As part of the Grand Duchy of Finland in the Russian Empire, one suggestion for the origin of the name Helsinge is that it originated with medieval Swedish settlers who came from Hälsingland in Sweden. Others have proposed that the name derives from the Swedish word helsing, other Scandinavian cities located at similar geographic locations were given similar names at the time, for example Helsingør and Helsingborg. The name Helsinki has been used in Finnish official documents and in Finnish language newspapers since 1819, the decrees issued in Helsinki were dated with Helsinki as the place of issue. This is how the form Helsinki came to be used in written Finnish, in Helsinki slang the city is called Stadi. Hesa, is not used by natives to the city, helsset is the Northern Sami name of Helsinki
Helsinki
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Clockwise from top: Helsinki Cathedral, view of central Helsinki, Headquarters of Sanoma, Helsinki city centre at night, beaches at Aurinkolahti, Parliament House and Suomenlinna.
Helsinki
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Coat of arms
Helsinki
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Central Helsinki in 1820 before rebuilding. Illustration by Carl Ludvig Engel.
Helsinki
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Construction of Suomenlinna began in the 18th century.
20.
Oslo
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Oslo is the capital and the most populous city in Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality, founded in the year 1040, and established as a kaupstad or trading place in 1048 by Harald Hardrada, the city was elevated to a bishopric in 1070 and a capital under Haakon V of Norway around 1300. Personal unions with Denmark from 1397 to 1523 and again from 1536 to 1814, after being destroyed by a fire in 1624, the city was moved closer to Akershus Fortress during the reign of Christian IV of Denmark and renamed Christiania in his honour. It was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838, following a spelling reform, it was known as Kristiania from 1877 to 1925, at which time its original Norwegian name was restored. Oslo is the economic and governmental centre of Norway, the city is also a hub of Norwegian trade, banking, industry and shipping. It is an important centre for industries and maritime trade in Europe. The city is home to companies within the maritime sector, some of which are among the worlds largest shipping companies, shipbrokers. Oslo is a city of the Council of Europe and the European Commission intercultural cities programme. Oslo is considered a city and ranked Beta World City in studies carried out by the Globalization and World Cities Study Group. It was ranked one in terms of quality of life among European large cities in the European Cities of the Future 2012 report by fDi magazine. A survey conducted by ECA International in 2011 placed Oslo as the second most expensive city in the world for living expenses after Tokyo. In 2013 Oslo tied with the Australian city of Melbourne as the fourth most expensive city in the world, as of January 1,2016, the municipality of Oslo has a population of 658,390, while the population of the citys urban area was 942,084. The metropolitan area had an population of 1.71 million. The population was during the early 2000 increasing at record rates and this growth stems for the most part from international immigration and related high birth rates, but also from intra-national migration. The immigrant population in the city is growing faster than the Norwegian population. As of January 1,2016, the municipality of Oslo has a population of 658,390, the urban area extends beyond the boundaries of the municipality into the surrounding county of Akershus, the total population of this agglomeration is 942,084. To the north and east, wide forested hills rise above the city giving the location the shape of a giant amphitheatre. The urban municipality of Oslo and county of Oslo are two parts of the entity, making Oslo the only city in Norway where two administrative levels are integrated
Oslo
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From upper left: Rising skyline over Bjørvika, Royal Palace, Akershus Castle, sunset over the Oslofjord, Stortinget, Oslo Opera House
Oslo
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Det Kongelige Slott (The Royal Palace) is the home of the Royal Family.
Oslo
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Port of Christiania anno 1800 Aquatint by John William Edy
Oslo
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The seal of Haakon V Magnusson, the King who made Oslo the capital of Norway
21.
Copenhagen
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Copenhagen, Danish, København, Latin, Hafnia) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark. Copenhagen has an population of 1,280,371. The Copenhagen metropolitan area has just over 2 million inhabitants, the city is situated on the eastern coast of the island of Zealand, another small portion of the city is located on Amager, and is separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the strait of Øresund. The Øresund Bridge connects the two cities by rail and road, originally a Viking fishing village founded in the 10th century, Copenhagen became the capital of Denmark in the early 15th century. Beginning in the 17th century it consolidated its position as a centre of power with its institutions, defences. After suffering from the effects of plague and fire in the 18th century and this included construction of the prestigious district of Frederiksstaden and founding of such cultural institutions as the Royal Theatre and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Later, following the Second World War, the Finger Plan fostered the development of housing, since the turn of the 21st century, Copenhagen has seen strong urban and cultural development, facilitated by investment in its institutions and infrastructure. The city is the cultural, economic and governmental centre of Denmark, Copenhagens economy has seen rapid developments in the service sector, especially through initiatives in information technology, pharmaceuticals and clean technology. Since the completion of the Øresund Bridge, Copenhagen has become integrated with the Swedish province of Scania and its largest city, Malmö. With a number of connecting the various districts, the cityscape is characterized by parks, promenades. Copenhagen is home to the University of Copenhagen, the Technical University of Denmark, the University of Copenhagen, founded in 1479, is the oldest university in Denmark. Copenhagen is home to the FC København and Brøndby football clubs, the annual Copenhagen Marathon was established in 1980. Copenhagen is one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world, the Copenhagen Metro serves central Copenhagen while the Copenhagen S-train network connects central Copenhagen to its outlying boroughs. Serving roughly 2 million passengers a month, Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup, is the largest airport in the Nordic countries, the name of the city reflects its origin as a harbour and a place of commerce. The original designation, from which the contemporary Danish name derives, was Køpmannæhafn, meaning merchants harbour, the literal English translation would be Chapmans haven. The English name for the city was adapted from its Low German name, the abbreviations Kbh. or Kbhvn are often used in Danish for København, and kbh. for københavnsk. The chemical element hafnium is named for Copenhagen, where it was discovered, the bacterium Hafnia is also named after Copenhagen, Vagn Møller of the State Serum Institute in Copenhagen named it in 1954. Excavations in Pilestræde have also led to the discovery of a well from the late 12th century, the remains of an ancient church, with graves dating to the 11th century, have been unearthed near where Strøget meets Rådhuspladsen
Copenhagen
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From upper left: Christiansborg Palace, Frederik's Church, Tivoli Gardens and Nyhavn.
Copenhagen
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Reconstruction of Copenhagen c. 1500
Copenhagen
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The Tøjhus Arsenal (1604)
Copenhagen
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The Børsen, former stock exchange (completed 1640)
22.
Vienna
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Vienna is the capital and largest city of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austrias primary city, with a population of about 1.8 million, and its cultural, economic and it is the 7th-largest city by population within city limits in the European Union. Today, it has the second largest number of German speakers after Berlin, Vienna is host to many major international organizations, including the United Nations and OPEC. The city is located in the part of Austria and is close to the borders of the Czech Republic, Slovakia. These regions work together in a European Centrope border region, along with nearby Bratislava, Vienna forms a metropolitan region with 3 million inhabitants. In 2001, the city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, apart from being regarded as the City of Music because of its musical legacy, Vienna is also said to be The City of Dreams because it was home to the worlds first psycho-analyst – Sigmund Freud. The citys roots lie in early Celtic and Roman settlements that transformed into a Medieval and Baroque city and it is well known for having played an essential role as a leading European music centre, from the great age of Viennese Classicism through the early part of the 20th century. The historic centre of Vienna is rich in architectural ensembles, including Baroque castles and gardens, Vienna is known for its high quality of life. In a 2005 study of 127 world cities, the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked the city first for the worlds most liveable cities, between 2011 and 2015, Vienna was ranked second, behind Melbourne, Australia. Monocles 2015 Quality of Life Survey ranked Vienna second on a list of the top 25 cities in the world to make a base within, the UN-Habitat has classified Vienna as being the most prosperous city in the world in 2012/2013. Vienna regularly hosts urban planning conferences and is used as a case study by urban planners. Between 2005 and 2010, Vienna was the worlds number-one destination for international congresses and it attracts over 3.7 million tourists a year. The English name Vienna is borrowed from the homonymous Italian version of the name or the French Vienne. The etymology of the name is still subject to scholarly dispute. Some claim that the name comes from Vedunia, meaning forest stream, which produced the Old High German Uuenia. A variant of this Celtic name could be preserved in the Czech and Slovak names of the city, the name of the city in Hungarian, Serbo-Croatian and Ottoman Turkish has a different, probably Slavonic origin, and originally referred to an Avar fort in the area. Slovene-speakers call the city Dunaj, which in other Central European Slavic languages means the Danube River, evidence has been found of continuous habitation since 500 BC, when the site of Vienna on the Danube River was settled by the Celts. In 15 BC, the Romans fortified the city they called Vindobona to guard the empire against Germanic tribes to the north
Vienna
Vienna
Vienna
Vienna
23.
Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013
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Armenia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö, Sweden. Dorians represented Armenia with the song Lonely Planet, which qualified from the second semi-final of the competition and placed 18th in the final, on 22 January 2013, ARMTV announced that they had internally selected Gor Sujyan to represent Armenia. It was later decided that Gor Sujyan would perform at Eurovision with his band Dorians, the national final to select Armenias entry for the Eurovision Song Contest took place on 2 March 2013, hosted by Gohar Gasparyan and Avet Barseghyan. A submission period was opened from 22 January until 20 February and 70 applications in total were received from composers from Spain, Belgium, Sweden, France and Armenia. Gor Sujyan performed four songs, supported on stage by his band Dorians, a combination of public and jury votes chose Lonely Planet, music by Tony Iommi and lyrics by Vardan Zadoyan, as the winning song. The professional jury consisted of, Sergey Smbatyan, Sona, Erik Antaranyan, Gevorg Hakobyan, Armenia was allocated to compete in the second semi-final on 16 May for a place in the final on 18 May. In the second semifinal, the producers of the show decided that Armenia would perform 11th, following Israel, Armenia qualified from the second semi-final, placing 7th and scoring 69 points. At the second semi-final winners press conference, Armenia was allocated to perform in the first half of the final, in the final, the producers of the show decided that Armenia would perform 12th, following Germany and preceding the Netherlands. Armenia placed 18th in the final, scoring 41 points, Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest Eurovision Song Contest 2013
Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013
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Dorians at the second semi-final dress rehearsal in Malmö.
24.
Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014
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Armenia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Aram Mp3 represented Armenia with the song Not Alone which he co-wrote with Garik Papoyan, the song was chosen by internal selection by the Armenian broadcaster Public Television of Armenia. Armenia qualified from the first semi-final and placed 4th in the final with 174 points, during the program, Aram Mp3 was announced as the Armenian representative for Copenhagen. The presentation of the Armenian entry, Not Alone, took place on 14 March 2014 during a special presentation programme aired on Armenia 1 and hosted by Gohar Gasparyan. During the semi-final allocation draw on 20 January 2014 at the Copenhagen City Hall, in the first semi-final, the producers of the show decided that Armenia would open the semi-final and perform 1st, preceding Latvia. Armenia qualified from the first semi-final, placing 4th and scoring 121 points, during the winners press conference for the first semi-final qualifiers, Armenia was allocated to compete in the first half of the final. In the final, the producers of the show decided that Armenia would perform 7th, following Romania, Armenia placed 4th in the final, scoring 174 points. The Armenian performance featured Aram Mp3 performing on stage alone, the stage atmosphere during the performance transitioned from dark settings to explosive and pulsating elements projected on the LED screens as the song progressed. The Armenian spokesperson revealing the result of the Armenian vote in the final was Anna Avanesyan, the Armenian votes in the final were based on 50% jury voting and 50% televoting results. Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest Eurovision Song Contest 2014 Official Public Television of Armenia Eurovision website
Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014
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Aram Mp3 at the first semi-final dress rehearsal
25.
Vahe Tilbian
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Vahe Tilbian is an Ethiopian singer of Armenian descent. A solo artist, he became lead singer for the Ethiopian group Zemen Band and he released his debut solo album Mixology in 2012. He was part of the pan-Armenian music formation Genealogy who represented Armenia in Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song Face the Shadow finishing 16th overall, Vahe Tilbian is an Ethiopian-Armenian artist. Vahe is known for his style – from rock to techno, reggae to R&B, Armenian to Ethiopian, Vahe was born and raised in Ethiopia. Both his parents are of Armenian origin and his paternal grandfather escaped the Armenian Genocide in 1923 and by way of Syria eventually settled in Ethiopia. His mothers side of the family all left the ancient lands of Western Armenia by the late 1890s or early 1900s, Vahe values his Armenian roots and believes that it was the cruel history of Armenia that built his unique artistic character. Vahe heard the call of the stage as a later in life after he graduated from University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada studying Biology. Vahe has always involved in dancing and being a professional International Style Latin American ballroom dancer was the co-creator. Within this period of time Vahe was singing as a tenor in a choir in Addis Ababa called The Motley Singers. After working in the sector for over 3 years as a young college graduate, in 2008 Vahe left his job. He joined the band Z Beyaynetus with the support of his friend Bitik Emlaelu and Ledj Leo. Soon, Kenny Allen, performer and producer from DC residing in Ethiopia, heard him at one of the local bars and he agreed and became his permanent supporting vocalist and worked together around town and on local music festival stages for many years. Following which Vahe decided to diversify his genre and repertoire joining a band called Eshee Havana. In 2011 he made the final auditions to the Big Brother Africa show, Vahe wrote the lyrics to his first song called “Life or Something Like it” and Michael Hailu put the melody together and they recorded it in 2010. This gave him the enthusiasm and courage to write more lyrics, vahes single “Don’t Stop” was nominated for an Armenian Pulse Music Award for the best song in English by an Armenian artist in 2012. The song won the 3rd place by online voting, in November 2012 Vahe finished his album titled Mixology, and released it for free. In May 2013, Vahe released a video for the song Yene Tizita, meaning nostalgia or memories, directed and produced by Aramazt Kalayjian. This was a new rendition of the old Ethiopian song form, Vahe became the lead singer at Zemen Band for 2 years
Vahe Tilbian
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Vahe Tilbian
26.
Stephanie Topalian
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Stephanie Topalian Western Armenian Սթեֆանի Թօփալեան, professionally known as Stephanie is a singer and actress. Stephanie is signed with SME Records Japan and she released two albums, self-titled Stephanie in 2008 and Colors of my Voice in 2009 and has won the Japanese Music Awards in 2007. A number of her songs have featured in Japanese films and she has also taken roles in a few Japanese films, notably Pride. In 2014, she was included in the Armenian super group project Genealogy to represent Armenia in the 2015 version of the Eurovision Song Contest with the song Face the Shadow and she was born to a Japanese mother and an Armenian father in Los Angeles, California. Although Stephanie is residing in Japan she has a commitment to her Armenian background and is very attached to her grandparents. Her paternal grandfather Jean Pierre Topalian was from France and her grandmother Koharik Mikaelian Topalian was born in Lebanon and her Armenian grandparents had relocated to the United States from Lebanon, choosing final destination and place of dwell the state of Wisconsin. She heard many stories about the Armenian Genocide – a historical event that changed so many destinies, including her grandparents’. Those stories led to the enhancement of her consciousness on the issue and despite being far from homeland Stephanie is true to her Armenian roots and is a learner of the culture. Stephanie graduated from Aoyama Gakuin University Law School and she is bilingual, and speaks Japanese and English. She began singing at an age and at age 13. At 14, Stephanie sent a demo tape of her singing to various music productions. Rinoie was impressed with her singing, and at the age of 19 Stephanie made her debut in Japan from SME Records. She achieved the “Best New Artist Award” at the prestigious 49th Japan Record Awards in 2007, Stephanie Topalian – her magical voice and wide vocal diapason has already touched thousands of hearts in Japan. Stephanies songs were featured in the Japanese Anime scene and her debut single Kimiga Iru Kagiri and the follow up single Because of You became the ending themes of the anime Kiss Dum. Her fifth single Changin, was featured as the last ending theme of the anime D. Gray-man. In early 2008, her single Friends became the ending theme for the anime television series Gundam 00. The song appeared in the Top 10 of Japanese Oricon charts, as an actress Stephanie debuted in the film Pride in 2009, based on Yukari Ichijos shōjo comic. She portrayed the protagonist Shio Asami, and also part in the films theme song
Stephanie Topalian
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Stephanie Topalian
27.
List of host cities of the Eurovision Song Contest
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This page is a list of cities and venues that have hosted the Eurovision Song Contest, one or more times. Future venues are shown in italics, since 1958, the host city has customarily been in the winner country of the previous year. There have been exceptions, however, when certain issues have prevented the winner to host the years contest. The host country then passed to the country that had come second, such events occurred in 1960,1963,1972,1974 and 1980. With 6 contests, Dublin is the city that has hosted the most contests and it is followed by London and Luxembourg, and Copenhagen and Stockholm. Host City Insignia is a trophy awarded to cities hosting the Eurovision Song Contest. The symbol is a key ring to which the Eurovision Song Contest Host Cities can attach their city key or other symbol representing the city. Additionally, there is a fob with a picture of the Helsinki Senate Square attached to the key ring, the idea of the rotating trophy was proposed jointly by the City of Helsinki, the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE and EBU in connection with the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest. Hand-engraved on the ring are the texts, Eurovision Song Contest Host City, all Host Cities up until the year 2006. The concept and fob were designed by the ANTEEKSI Team and the ring by jewellery designer Taru Tonder, List of host cities of the ABU Song Festivals List of host cities of the Junior Eurovision Song Contest City of Helsinki news at 13.09
List of host cities of the Eurovision Song Contest
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BBC Television Centre in London hosted the 1963 Contest.
List of host cities of the Eurovision Song Contest
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Host cities of Eurovision Song Contest in Europe
List of host cities of the Eurovision Song Contest
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The Scandinavium in Gothenburg: venue for the 1985 Contest.
List of host cities of the Eurovision Song Contest
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The film studios at Cinecittà in Rome played host to the 1991 Contest.
28.
List of Eurovision Song Contest presenters
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This list includes those who have acted as presenters of the Eurovision Song Contest, since the competitions inception in 1956. From 1988, it has been the norm to have two presenters for the contest, all contests before 1978 have had one presenter, and only a few after 1988 have had only one presenter. The 1999 contest was the first to consist of three presenters in one contest, kvalifikacija za Millstreet was the preselection for the Eurovision Song Contest 1993. Seven countries took part, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Estonia, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia
List of Eurovision Song Contest presenters
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1979 hostess: Yardena Arazi.
List of Eurovision Song Contest presenters
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1994 host: Gerry Ryan, pictured in March 2010, one month before his death.
List of Eurovision Song Contest presenters
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1997 host: Ronan Keating.
List of Eurovision Song Contest presenters
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2006 hostess: Maria Menounos.
29.
Eurovision Song Contest 1956
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1956 was the debut edition of the Eurovision Song Contest, held at the Teatro Kursaal in Lugano, Switzerland on Thursday 24 May. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union, the music competition was inspired by the Italian Sanremo Music Festival. Lohengrin Filipello hosted the first contest which lasted approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes, seven countries participated, with each of them performing two songs. Two jury members from all participating countries cast their votes in secret, from that meeting, the concept of the Eurovision Song Contest was born. A decision was reached to hold the first ever contest in the Swiss resort of Lugano the following year, the chosen venue for the contest was the Teatro Kursaal in Lugano, a city in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy. The event was inspired by the Italian music festival, as well as that the contest was hosted in Italian. The programme lasted approximately one hour and 40 minutes, although it was mainly a radio programme, there were cameras in the studio for the benefit of the few Europeans who possessed a television. The interval act, whistling by the Joyeux Rossignols, had to be extended due to a delay in the voting procedure and it had been strongly recommended that each participating country have a preliminary national song contest. Two jury members from all participating countries travelled to Lugano to cast their vote on the songs in secret, the voting system at this Contest allowed juries to vote for any competing song, including those of their own country. Additionally, the Swiss jury was allowed by the EBU to vote also on behalf of the Luxembourg delegation, some even think that the Swiss entry won because of this rule. It is one of two contests to not have survived completely, along with the 1964 contest. Seven countries participated in the first ever contest, each were represented with two songs, two more countries, Austria, and Denmark were also expected to take part in the contest, but they missed the submission deadline and therefore could not take part. Each performance had a maestro who conducted the orchestra, the conductors listed conducted both performances for the indicated countries. Simon Barclays book The Complete and Independent Guide to the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 includes a table with what appears to be the rankings, under the chart he writes that the votes awarded have never been disclosed. According to writer Jan Feddersen, Im Wartesaal zum großen Glück was probably voted No.2 behind Lys Assia, the participating national broadcasters sent commentators to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language. Details of the commentators and the station that they represented are shown in the table below. Official website Listen to the whole 1956 contest
Eurovision Song Contest 1956
30.
Eurovision Song Contest 1960
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1960 was the fifth edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It was held on Tuesday 29 March 1960 in London, although the Netherlands had won the contest in 1959, the Netherlands Television Foundation declined to host another contest so soon after staging the event in 1958. The honour of hosting the contest therefore passed to the United Kingdom, therefore, the BBC chose Catherine Boyle to be the mistress of ceremonies at the contest for the first time. Frances win this year was their second in the contest, the contest was won by France with the song Tom Pillibi, performed by Jacqueline Boyer. The 1960 Eurovision Song Contest was hosted in London, the Royal Festival Hall, the venue for the 1960 contest, is a 2, 900-seat concert, dance and talks venue within Southbank Centre in London. It is situated on the South Bank of the River Thames, the result was a win for France, however Germany, Monaco and the UK led in the early stages of voting. The UK came second with 25 points, four more points than the song in 1959. Interest in the contest started to grow across Europe, with the number of participating nations increasing to 13 this year, norway made its debut with one of their leading jazz singers. Luxembourg returned to the contest after a break with a song in native Luxembourgish language. The Netherlands were mistakenly announced as Holland, each country had 10 jury members who each awarded 1 point to their favourite song. The table above shows the order in which votes were cast during the 1960 contest along with the spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country. Each national broadcaster sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language. Details of the commentators and the station for which they represented are also included in the table below. ^ The song was performed in Norwegian, but the title of the song is in the North Sami dialect of the Sami languages, translating as the expression Hey Hey
Eurovision Song Contest 1960
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Royal Festival Hall, London. Host venue of the 1960 Eurovision Song Contest.
Eurovision Song Contest 1960
31.
Eurovision Song Contest 1961
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1961 was the sixth Eurovision Song Contest. It was held on 18 March 1961 and was the first to place on a Saturday night. It was hosted in the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès located in Cannes, France, Luxembourg won for its first time with the song Nous les amoureux performed in French by Jean-Claude Pascal. As the contest overran its time, and the show was being broadcast live. The original building was built in 1949 and was located on the boulevard of Promenade de la Croisette and it also hosted the 1959 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. Jacqueline Joubert presented the show, having already done so two years earlier in 1959, the stage used for the 1961 Contest was notably larger than in previous years and was decorated with flowers. It is noticeable that during the voting, Luxembourg gave the UK8 points and it was the largest amount of points given to a country by a single jury since 1958, when Denmark provided France with 9 points. Such a high number of obtained by a country wouldnt be achieved until 1970. A total of sixteen countries took part in the Contest, including the three debuting countries, Finland, Spain, and Yugoslavia, there were no returning or withdrawing countries this particular year. Each performance had a conductor who maestro the orchestra, each country had 10 jury members who each awarded 1 point to their favourite song. The table below shows the order in which votes were cast during the 1961 contest along with the spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country. Each national broadcaster sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language. Details of the commentators and the station for which they represented are also included in the table below. All the juries announced their votes in French
Eurovision Song Contest 1961
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Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France - Host venue of the 1961 Eurovision Song Contest.
Eurovision Song Contest 1961
32.
Eurovision Song Contest 1964
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1964 was the ninth edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, after the victory in the 1963 edition. Italy won the contest for the first time scoring 49 points with the song Non ho letà, the host venue for the contest was Tivolis Koncertsal in Denmarks capital city Copenhagen, which lies within Denmarks famous amusement park and pleasure garden Tivoli Gardens. Each country had 10 jury members who distributed three points among their one, two, or three favourite songs, the points were totaled and the first, second, and third placed songs were awarded 5,3, and 1 votes in order. If only one song got every point within the jury it would get all 9 points, if only two songs were chosen, the songs would get 6 and 3 points in order. A political protest occurred after the Swiss entry, a man trespassed onto the stage holding a banner that read Boycott Franco & Salazar, whilst this was going on, television viewers were shown a shot of the scoreboard, once the man was removed the contest went on. Her performance was given a repeat on British television the following afternoon. As with the 1956 contest, no recording of the actual contest performance is known to survive. Reports say that this is there was a fire at the studios of DR. No other broadcaster recorded the show other than for the Winners reprise. It has been speculated that the BBC once held a copy of the show, as an empty tape canister marked Eurovision 1964 was found during a storage cleanup, but the tape was missing, presumably wiped. The audio of the show however is still intact. Sweden did not participate because of a boycott by singers, portugal made its début in the contest, however they became the first country to score nul points on their début. Germany, Switzerland, and Yugoslavia also scored nul points for the first time, the Netherlands became the first country to send a singer of non-European ancestry, Anneke Grönloh was of Indonesian descent. The Spanish group Los TNT was the first group of three or more participants of the history of the ESC, one artist returned to the contest this year, Switzerlands Anita Traversi that represented the country in 1960. Each national broadcaster sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language. Details of the commentators and the station for which they represented are also included in the table below
Eurovision Song Contest 1964
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"Tivolis Koncertsal"-Tivoli Concert Hall, Copenhagen - Host venue of the contest.
Eurovision Song Contest 1964
Eurovision Song Contest 1964
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Dutch contestant Anneke Grönloh 's dress
33.
Eurovision Song Contest 1966
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1966 was the 11th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held on 5 March 1966 in Luxembourg, Luxembourg, the host venue was Grand Auditorium de RTL in Villa Louvigny. The winner was Austria with the song Merci, Chérie performed and composed by Udo Jürgens and this would remain Austrias only win in the contest until their second win in 2014. The rule stating that a country could only sing in any of its national languages was created in this year. The 1966 Eurovision Song Contest was hosted in Luxembourg City, the venue chosen to host the 1966 contest was the Villa Louvigny, which also hosted the Eurovision Song Contest 1962. The building served as the headquarters of Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion and it is located in Municipal Park, in the Ville Haute quarter of the centre of the city. During the voting process, the presenter accidentally greeted United Kingdom by saying Good night, London. She then realized her mistake and said Good evening, London, after Michael Aspel,1966 marked the year the first ever black singer graced the Eurovision stage, Milly Scott representing the Netherlands. She was also the first singer to use a portable microphone and this was the last contest that Denmark participated in until 1978, more than a decade later. It was also one of the first contests in which an entry was not accompanied by an orchestra, during the Saturday afternoon rehearsal Modugno performed the new arrangement with three of his own musicians as opposed to the orchestra, which went over the three minute time limit. Following his rehearsal Modungo was confronted by the producers about exceeding the time limit and was asked to use the original arrangement with the orchestra. Modungo was so dissatisfied with the orchestra that he threatened to withdraw from the Contest, despite websites and the official programme listing Angelo Giacomazzi as the conductor, Giacomazzi actually played the piano for the entry. All countries which participated in the 1965 contest returned for a consecutive year. There were no new nations, nor any returning, nor withdrawals, each performance had a conductor who was maestro of the orchestra. Udo Jürgens from Austria whose previous participations were in 1964 and 1965, and Domenico Modugno from Italy,1. ^ The song also contains phrases in French. Each national broadcaster sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language. Details of the commentators and the station for which they represented are also included in the table below
Eurovision Song Contest 1966
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Villa Louvigny, Luxembourg. Host venue of the 1966 Eurovision Song Contest.
Eurovision Song Contest 1966
Eurovision Song Contest 1966
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Udo Jürgens with last year's winner France Gall
34.
Eurovision Song Contest 1969
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1969 was the 14th in the series. Four countries won the contest, the first time ever a tie-break situation had occurred, however, there was no rule at the time to cover such an eventuality, so all four countries were declared joint winners. France became the first country to win the contest four times, the Netherlands win was their third. Spain and the United Kingdom each won for the second time, and it was the first time that any country had a winning ESC entry two years in a row. The venue selected to host the 1969 contest was the Teatro Real, the theatre reopened in 1966 as a concert theatre and the main concert venue of the Spanish National Orchestra and the RTVE Symphony Orchestra. The final featured a metal sculpture created by surrealist Spanish artist. The surrealist Spanish artist Salvador Dalí was responsible for designing the publicity material for the 1969 contest as well as the sculpture which was used on stage. It was the first time that the contest resulted in a tie for first place, since there was at the time no rule to cover such an eventuality, all four countries were declared joint winners. Had the later tie-break rule been in place, the Netherlands would have won, United Kingdom would then have been runner up, having received 5 points from Sweden. On the other hand, with the present tie-break rule been in place, France would have been the overall winner, both countries received votes from 9 countries, but France received 4 points from 2 countries whereas Spain received 3 points as their highest vote. A common urban legend on ESC forums and festivals is that just prior to the show, Laurita Valenzuela, the producers assured her that such a thing would never happen. Austria was absent from the contest, refusing to participate in a contest staged in Franco-ruled Spain, only the BBC has the exclusive right to represent the United Kingdom. Each performance had a conductor who led the orchestra, five artists returned in this years contest. Louis Neefs for Belgium who last represented the nation in 1967, the table below shows the order in which votes were cast during the 1969 contest along with the spokesperson who was responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country. Each national broadcaster sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language. Details of the commentators and the station for which they represented are also included in the table below
Eurovision Song Contest 1969
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Teatro Real, Madrid. Host venue of the 1969 Eurovision Song Contest.
Eurovision Song Contest 1969
Eurovision Song Contest 1969
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Lenny Kuhr 's dress
Eurovision Song Contest 1969
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The final results of ESC 1969
35.
Eurovision Song Contest 1970
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1970 was the 15th Eurovision Song Contest, held on 21 March 1970 at the RAI Congrescentrum in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The Amsterdam contest is regarded as one of the most significant in Eurovision history for a number of reasons, Ireland won with eighteen-year-old Dana and a song called All Kinds of Everything. The UK came second for the time, six votes behind Ireland. Luxembourg received zero votes for the only time, due to there being four winners in the previous contest, a question was raised as to which nation would host the 1970 Eurovision. With the UK having hosted the 1968 Contest and Spain the 1969 Contest, only France, a toss of a coin resulted in the host country being decided as the Netherlands. The Congrescentrum, venue of the 1970 contest, is a semi-permanent exhibit at the Ferdinand Bolstraat to Amsterdam and this building was replaced in 1961 by the current RAI building on Europes Square. The current congress and event center on Europe Square, was designed by Alexander Bodon, the Dutch producers were forced to pad out the show as only 12 nations decided to make the trip to Amsterdam. The result was a format which has endured almost to the present day, an extended opening sequence set the scene, while every entry was introduced by a short video postcard featuring each of the participating artists, ostensibly in their own nation. However, the postcards for Switzerland, Luxembourg and Monaco were all filmed on location in Paris, interestingly, the long introduction film was followed by what probably is one of the shortest ever introductions by any presenter. Willy Dobbe only welcomed the viewers in English, French and Dutch, on screen captions introduced each entry, with the song titles listed all in lower case and the names of the artist and composers/authors all in capitals. The set design was devised by Roland de Groot, a design was composed of a number of curved horizontal bars. To avoid an incident like in 1969, a tie rule was created and it stated that, if two or more songs gained the same number of votes and were tied for first place, each song would have to be performed again. After which each national jury would have a show of hands of which they thought was the best, if the countries tied again, then they would share first place. Austria, Finland, Norway, Portugal and Sweden boycotted this contest as they were not pleased with the result of 1969, Portugal did however host a National final, being won by Sérgio Borges. Of the participating singers, a number were already established performers, notably, the United Kingdom sent Welsh singer and Apple recording artist Mary Hopkin, while David Alexandre Winter represented Luxembourg. The contest is notable for the appearance of the then unknown Julio Iglesias. In the run-up to the Contest, the United Kingdom were favourites to win, so sure of victory, the UK delegation had organised a winners party to be thrown after the contest. In the end, the two countries in the running were the UK and Ireland, albeit the latter holding the lead throughout the voting
Eurovision Song Contest 1970
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RAI Congrescentrum, Amsterdam - host venue of the 1970 Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest 1970
Eurovision Song Contest 1970
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Dana sings the winning song All Kinds of Everything
36.
Eurovision Song Contest 1971
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1971 was the sixteenth edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Dublin, Ireland on 3 April 1971, monacos win was their first and only victory. The song was performed by a French singer, living in France, sung in French, conducted by a French native, the contest was held at the Gaiety Theatre in Dublin, the capital and most populous city of Ireland. This was the first time that the contest was held in Ireland, for the first time, each participating broadcaster was required to televise all the songs in previews prior to the live final. Reports suggested that Castel had not even had time to buy a suitable dress for the show. The BBC were worried about the audience reaction to the UK song due to the hostilities raging in Northern Ireland. They specifically selected a singer from Northern Ireland, Clodagh Rodgers, however, Rodgers still received death threats from the IRA for representing the UK. Groups of up to six people were allowed to perform for the first time and this was only RTÉs second outside broadcast in colour. The contest was broadcast in Iceland, the USA and Hong Kong several days later, while this meant that no country could score fewer than 34 points, it had one major problem, some jury members tended to award only one or two points. Whether this was done to increase their respective countries chances of winning is not known for sure, however, the system remained in place for the 1972 and 1973 contests. Malta made their début in this years contest, while Austria, Finland, Norway, Portugal and this brought the total number of countries to eighteen. Each performance had a conductor who directed the orchestra, two artists returned to the competition this year, Katja Ebstein represented Germany for the second consecutive year, while Jacques Raymond had previously represented Belgium in 1963. Below is a summary of all perfect 10 scores that were given during the voting, the table below shows the order in which votes were cast during the 1971 contest, along with the spokespeople who were responsible for announcing the votes for their respective country. Each national broadcaster sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language. Details of the commentators and the station for which they represented are also included in the table below. The Eurovision Song Contest, The Official History, John Kennedy OConnor, Carlton Books Ltd, ISBN 1-84442-994-6 Official website
Eurovision Song Contest 1971
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Gaiety Theatre, Dublin - host venue of the 1971 Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest 1971
Eurovision Song Contest 1971
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Saskia & Serge finishing 6th with their entry " Tijd "
37.
Eurovision Song Contest 1973
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1973 was the 18th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was won by the Luxembourg entry, Tu te reconnaîtras, the voting was a very close one, with Spain finishing only 4 points behind and Cliff Richard of the United Kingdom another 2 points after. The city of Luxembourg, also known as Luxembourg City, is a commune with city status, and it is located at the confluence of the Alzette and Pétrusse Rivers in southern Luxembourg. The city contains the historic Luxembourg Castle, established by the Franks in the Early Middle Ages, the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, inaugurated in 1964 as the Théâtre Municipal de la Ville de Luxembourg, became the venue for the 1973 contest. It is the major venue for drama, opera and ballet. The language rule forcing countries to enter songs sung in any of their languages was dropped. After finishing second in the contest, the song went on to become an international hit. The somewhat elliptical lyrics to Portugals entry Tourada provided sufficient cover for a song that was understood as a blistering assault on the countrys decaying dictatorship. Also, the breasts was used during Swedens song entry. However, no action was taken by the EBU, an argument broke out between the singer Maxi and her Irish delegation over how the song should be performed. During rehearsals she repeatedly stopped performing in frustration, when it began to appear possible that Maxi might withdraw from the contest, RTÉ immediately sent over another singer, Tina Reynolds, to take her place just in case. In the end Miss Reynolds wasnt needed as Maxi did perform, Cliff Richard represented the UK with the song Power to All Our Friends. He came 3rd with 123 points, the winner though was Anne-Marie David with Tu te reconnaîtras. In the UK it was released in English under the title Wonderful Dream and this gave rise to one of the best-known Eurovision anecdotes, frequently recounted by the UKs long-serving commentator Terry Wogan. He recalled that the floor manager strongly advised the audience to remain seated while applauding the performances, each country had two jury members, one aged between 16 and 25 and one aged between 26 and 55. They each awarded 1 to 5 points for each song immediately after it was performed, the juries watched the show on TV from the Ville du Louvigny TV Studios of CLT and appeared on screen to confirm their scores. Seventeen nations took part in this years contest, malta was drawn to perform in 6th place between Norway and Monaco, but the Maltese broadcaster withdrew before the deadline to select an entry. The 1973 contest marked the first time that women conducted the ESC orchestra, monica Dominique conducted the Swedish entry and Nurit Hirsh conducted the Israeli entry
Eurovision Song Contest 1973
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Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg. Host venue of the 1973 Eurovision Song Contest.
Eurovision Song Contest 1973
38.
Eurovision Song Contest 1976
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1976 was the 21st edition of the contest hosted by NOS and held in The Hague, Netherlands. The arena for the event was the Nederlands Congrescentrum, teach-Ins victory in Stockholm the previous year gave The Netherlands the right to host the contest for the third time. The Contest was won by Brotherhood of Man, who sang Save Your Kisses for Me in English, the Hague is the seat of government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the capital city of the province of South Holland. It is also the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam, located in the west of the Netherlands, The Hague is in the centre of the Haaglanden conurbation and lies at the southwest corner of the larger Randstad conurbation. The contest took place at the Congresgebouw, the venue was constructed in 1969. The scoring system introduced in the years competition returned in 1976. Each jury gave 12 points to the best song,10 to the second best, then 8 to the third, unlike today, the points were not given in order, but in the order the songs were performed. The current procedure was not established until 1980, Sweden, Malta and Turkey withdrew from this contest reducing the number of participating countries down to eighteen from the previous competitions record of nineteen countries that took part. Austria and Greece returned to the contest, Sweden withdrew from the contest, as the broadcaster Sveriges Radio did not have enough money to host another contest if Sweden won again. A new rule was introduced that in the future each broadcaster participating would have to pay a part of the cost of staging the contest. Malta, having selected Enzo Guzman with the song Sing Your Song, Country Boy to represent them, then withdrew from the contest for undisclosed reasons, Malta would not return to the competition until 1991. The entry from Greece aroused controversy as it was about the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, the previous year Greece had withdrawn from the contest in protest over this matter. This year it was Turkeys turn to withdraw, liechtenstein attempted to submit an entry to the contest, but as they had no broadcasting service of their own, they were not allowed to. Their entry would have been Little Cowboy by Biggi Bachmann, each performance had a conductor who maestro the orchestra. Four artists returned to the contest in 1976, each national broadcaster also sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language
Eurovision Song Contest 1976
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Nederlands Congrescentrum, The Hague. Host venue of the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest.
Eurovision Song Contest 1976
39.
Eurovision Song Contest 1977
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1977 was the 22nd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, and was held in London, United Kingdom on 7 May 1977. The contest was won by Marie Myriam, representing France, with the song Loiseau et lenfant and this was Frances fifth victory, a record at the time. It was also Frances second victory on English soil, as well as its most recent victory to date, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its founding by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Wembley Conference Centre, which opened in 1977, was the first purpose-built conference centre in the United Kingdom, the centre was chosen as host venue for the song contest, which was presented by Angela Rippon. The language rule was brought back in this contest, four years after it had dropped in 1973. However Germany and Belgium were allowed to sing in English, because they had chosen the songs they were going to perform before the rule was reintroduced. At one point before the contest Tunisia was going to participate, had Tunisia gone ahead they would have appeared fourth on stage. Yugoslavia also withdrew, and did not return until 1981, the Belgian act Dream Express had created some controversy in the press with reports that the three female members would wear transparent tops, this did not materialise for the actual event. The British conductor Ronnie Hazlehurst used an umbrella and wore a hat during the UK entry. Each performance had a conductor who maestro the orchestra, several artists returned to the 1977 Contest. Beatrix Neundlinger and Günter Grosslercher from the group Schmetterlinge both represented Austria in 1972 as part of the band The Milestones, irelands participant The Swarbriggs returned after their previous appearance back in 1975. Ilanit from Israel returned after previously representing the nation in 1973, michèle Torr, Luxembourgs 1966 entrant participated for Monaco. And finally Fernando Tordo and Paulo de Carvalho returned once more after they previously represented the nation as solo acts back in 1973 and 1974 respectively, ^ Contains some words in English. Each national broadcaster sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language
Eurovision Song Contest 1977
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Eurovision Song Contest 1978
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1978 was the 23rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held on 22 April 1978 in Paris, the contest was won by Izhar Cohen & the Alphabeta who represented Israel with the song A-Ba-Ni-Bi. Although A-Ba-Ni-Bi is the title, French television mistakenly captioned on screen the song title as Ah-Bah-Nee-Bee. The presenters were Denise Fabre and Léon Zitrone, and this was the first time more than one presenter hosted an edition of the Contest, twenty countries participated, a record at the time. The winning entry is a song sung in the Hebrew equivalent of Ubbi dubbi. This was Israels first Eurovision win, the win caused problems for several North African and Middle-Eastern nations that were televising the contest, even though they were not participating. Jordanian TV finished the show with a photo of a bunch of daffodils on screen, norway finished last for the fifth time, gaining the first nul points during the current voting system was implemented in 1975. The venue was built by French architect Guillaume Gillet, and was inaugurated in 1974, björn Skifs was unhappy with the rule that every country would have to perform in their native language. He planned to sing in English anyway, but changed his mind at the very last moment and he therefore sang the first few lines in gibberish before finding the words again. This pattern would repeat over the years, in 1979 Greece took part in the Contest with Sokrati in Jerusalem -. In 1980 both countries returned, with Autostop and Petr Oil respectively, despite Turkeys failure to recognize the Greek government in Cyprus, all three countries performed together when Cyprus debuted in 1981 and it continued until 2012. Denmark returned to the contest this year, for the first time since 1966, the Greek entry this year was a song called Charlie Chaplin, in reference to the comedian who died the previous year. In a curious twist, however, regular entrants Peter, Sue and they lost out at third place however. The song from Monaco also made reference to Charlie Chaplin, each performance had a conductor who maestro the orchestra. Several artists returned to the 1978 Contest, ireen Sheer had previously represented Luxembourg in 1974, and finished in equal fourth place. ^ Contains some words in French, ^ Contains some words in English. Each country had a jury who awarded 12,10,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 points for their top ten songs. Each national broadcaster sent a commentator to the contest, in order to provide coverage of the contest in their own native language
Eurovision Song Contest 1978
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Eurovision Song Contest 1979
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1979 was the 24th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held on 31 March 1979 in Jerusalem, Israel, the event was staged at the International Convention Center. The presenters were Daniel Peer and Yardena Arazi, the winner was Israel with the song Hallelujah, performed by Gali Atari and Milk and Honey. Therefore, this was Israels consecutive second win, and overall win, in the contest. 19 countries participated, the 20 countries that took part at the previous 1978 Contest, except for Turkey which was going to participate. Yugoslavia, that missed the 1978 Contest, also didnt want to take part nor transmit the 1979 show for political reasons, as well as being broadcast live in the 19 competing countries, the contest was broadcast in Turkey, Romania, Hong Kong and Iceland. As of 2017, it was the last time the contest was held in March, located on a plateau in the Judean Mountains between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea, Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world. In the ancient cuneiform, Jerusalem was called Urusalima, meaning City of Peace and it is considered holy to the three major Abrahamic religions—Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Each country had a jury who awarded 12,10,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 point for their top ten songs. This was the last year in which the points were announced via order of appearance, Israel gained a good lead in the early stages of the voting, but Spain eventually caught up and took a good lead themselves. At the close of the jurys votes, Israel were one point behind Spain. Spain ended up giving Israel 10 points, causing the crowd to erupt into enormous cheers, at one point before the contest Turkey was going to participate. The country would have appeared 11th on stage, represented by Maria Rita Epik and 21, for each nations performance, the orchestra was conducted by the following, Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final
Eurovision Song Contest 1979
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The venue of the contest, International Convention Center in Jerusalem
Eurovision Song Contest 1979
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Eurovision Song Contest 1980
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1980 was the 25th Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 19 April 1980 in The Hague. The presenter was Marlous Fluitsma, although each song was introduced by a presenter from the participating nation, in some cases, this was the same person providing the commentary. The contest was won by Johnny Logan, representing Ireland with a song called Whats Another Year, after Spain, the 2nd-place winner of 1979, and reportedly the UK, refused to host, the Netherlands finally agreed to host the show in a small-scale production. As with the recent 1977 and 1978 contests, there were no pre-filmed postcards between the songs, with a guest presenter from each nation introducing the entries, NOS spent just US$725,000 on the project. Morocco joined the Eurovision family for the first time, monaco withdrew, and would not return again. Australian-born Johnny Logan representing Ireland was the winner of this Eurovision with the song and this was Irelands second time winning the competition, having won in 1970 with All Kinds of Everything, which was also held on Dutch soil. They would finish in place again the following year, finally winning it in 1982. Germany would go on to second again in 1985 and 1987. United Kingdom returned to form by coming third, the Hague is the seat of government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the capital city of the province of South Holland. It is also the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam, located in the west of the Netherlands, The Hague is in the centre of the Haaglanden conurbation and lies at the southwest corner of the larger Randstad conurbation. The scoring system implemented in 1975 remained the same, each country had a jury who awarded 12,10,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 point for their top ten songs. However this year for the first time, countries were required to cast their votes in ascending order,1,2,3 etc and this change made for the added excitement of waiting for each country to award their highest 12 points at the end of each voting round. For each nations performance, the orchestra was conducted by the following, Notes a. ^ Although the song was completely in Norwegian, the Netherlands gained a strong lead early on, getting the maximum douze points from three of the first four voting countries. This was not to last, however, as Germany and eventually Ireland overtook them, below is a summary of all 12 points in the final, Each song was introduced by a presenter from the national country. Thelma Mansfield introduced the song in Irish, whereas the song was performed in English
Eurovision Song Contest 1980
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Johnny Logan performing his winning song " What's Another Year "
Eurovision Song Contest 1980
Eurovision Song Contest 1980
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Katja Ebstein during rehearsals
Eurovision Song Contest 1980
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Maggie MacNeal during rehearsals
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Eurovision Song Contest 1981
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1981 was the 26th event of its kind, and was held on 4 April 1981 at the Simmonscourt Pavilion of the Royal Dublin Society in Dublin. The presenter was Doireann Ní Bhriain, the United Kingdoms Bucks Fizz were the winners of this contest with the song Making Your Mind Up, beating second place Germany by four points. Dublin is the capital and largest city of Ireland, Dublin is in the province of Leinster on Irelands east coast, at the mouth of the River Liffey. Founded as a Viking settlement, the Kingdom of Dublin became Irelands principal city following the Norman invasion, the city expanded rapidly from the 17th century and was briefly the second largest city in the British Empire before the Acts of Union in 1800. Following the partition of Ireland in 1922, Dublin became the capital of the Irish Free State, the contest took place under heavy guard at the 15,000 seat Simmonscourt Pavilion of the RDS, which was normally used for agricultural and horse shows. Over 250 armed soldiers and police were on hand to protect against any likely political demonstrations, having won the year before, Ireland hosted the 1981 contest - the second time they had done so. As in 1971, the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest was produced by the countrys broadcaster RTÉ, the presenter on this occasion was Doireann Ni Bhriain, who was well known in Ireland at the time as a TV presenter and for the current affairs radio show Women Today. She was chosen for her fluency in Irish and English as well as having studied French, the director was Ian McGarry, while Noel Kelehan was the chief conductor for the show. It cost RTÉ over £300,000 to stage, although this included £110,000 from the EBU, from this, the Irish Government expected to make around £2,000,000 from tourism as a result of staging the show. The RDS would go on to host the next Irish Eurovision production in 1988 and this year marked the début of Cyprus in the contest, who finished sixth. Returning to the contest was Israel, who did not compete the previous year, yugoslavia also returned to the competition after a five-year absence. Italy withdrew for the first time from the contest, due to lack of interest, of the performers, many previous contestants returned to the contest this year. Notably, Jean-Claude Pascal for Luxembourg, who had won the contest 20 years earlier, repeated entrants Peter, Sue and Marc returned for the fourth time, after 1971,1976 and 1979. Performing again for Switzerland, they remain the only act to sing in four different languages, other returnees were Marty Brem who had taken part the year before for Austria, Tommy Seebach for Denmark, and Björn Skifs for Sweden. Bucks Fizz member, Cheryl Baker had performed in 1978 with the band Co-Co for the UK, while Sheeba member Maxi had performed as a solo artist in 1973 for Ireland. Andy Hill – the producer of the single - said that had they known, the interval act was traditional Irish band Planxty, who performed the lengthy piece Timedance, which depicted Irish music through the ages. The dancers were from Dublin City Ballet with choreography by Iain Montague and this is seen as a precursor to Riverdance, which became famous after its performance in 1994. The song, which was written by Bill Whelan, went on to be released as a Planxty single, the voting proved to be memorable for its closeness
Eurovision Song Contest 1981
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Eurovision Song Contest 1982
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1982 was the 27th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held on 24 April 1982 in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, the German entrant, Nicole, was winner with the song Ein bißchen Frieden. Germany received 1.61 times as many points as runner-up Israel, which was a record under the current scoring system until 2009 and this was the first time that Germany won the contest. They have competed in the every year since the contests inception. The opening of the contest showed a map of Europe, with the translation Where is Harrogate, popping up on-screen from the languages of the various countries. The question was always in the language in which the countrys song was performed. The Irish entry was sung in English, but the translation of the question in the map was in Irish, then the map zoomed into Harrogates location in Yorkshire, followed by an introduction video spotlighting the town. Greece was due to participate in the contest with the song Sarantapente Kopelies performed by Themis Adamantidis, although drawn to perform in second place, ERT withdrew the entry a few weeks before the contest. Antenne 2 became the new broadcaster for Eurovision after public outcry, the tradition of previous years winners handing over the prize to current winners was not followed by Bucks Fizz, winners in 1981. Irish band Chips lost out in their national finals, which would, had they been successful, have led to the situation of two bands in the same Eurovision with the same name. Harrogate is a spa town in North Yorkshire, England, historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist destination and its visitor attractions include its spa waters and RHS Harlow Carr gardens. Nearby is the Yorkshire Dales national park and the Nidderdale AONB, Harrogate grew out of two smaller settlements, High Harrogate and Low Harrogate, in the 17th century. The town became known as The English Spa in the Georgian Era, in the 17th and 18th centuries its chalybeate waters were a popular health treatment, and the influx of wealthy but sickly visitors contributed significantly to the wealth of the town. The Harrogate International Centre was chosen as the host venue for the contest, the grand convention and exhibition centre opened short time prior to the contest, and was the first big event held in the main 2000-seat auditorium. There were 18 competitors in this years final, No year since has had this few competitors in the final of the competition. Each country had a jury who awarded 12,10,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 point for their top ten songs, Germany had the advantage of performing last. After coming second in 1980 and second in Dublin the year previously, Ralph Siegel, the winner, Nicole, beat the nearest competition by 61 points and over 13 million West Germans watched her victory on television. Germany was the leader for nearly the entire voting process
Eurovision Song Contest 1982
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Eurovision Song Contest 1983
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1983 was the 28th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Munich, then West Germany, on 23 April 1983, corinne Hermes was the winner of this Eurovision with the song, Si la vie est cadeau. This was Luxembourgs fifth victory in the contest which equalled the record set by France in 1977 and it was also the second year in a row where the winning entry was performed last on the night and the second year in a row in which Israel won 2nd place. The 1983 contest was the first to be televised in Australia, via Channel 0/28 in Sydney and Melbourne. The contest went to become a popular show in Australia, leading to an intended one-off participation in the 60th anniversary contest in 2015. Ireland was not in the contest because RTÉ was in action at that time. At one point, murmurs and boos arose from the crowd at the Greek jurys decision to give host country Germany only one point and this was the only occasion in which Greece didnt award any point to Cyprus. Due to Charells choice to announce points in three languages instead of two, the voting went on for nearly an hour, stretching the Eurovision contest past three hours for the first time ever. The language problems also occurred during the contest introductions, as Charell introduced Norwegian conductor Sigurd Jansen as. Johannes. Skorgan, having been forced to make up a name on the spot after forgetting the conductors name. Ofra Haza from Israel, who took the place, had an enduring success with her song Hi which became a hit in Europe. This year also marked the first performance of Swedens Carola Häggkvist and her song, Främling, became very popular in Sweden and in various other European countries. In the Netherlands, the reached the top five, coupled with a Dutch-language version which was performed by Carola herself. The 4th placed Džuli, also became a hit in Europe, singer Daniel released an English-language version as Julie. This years nul points were shared by Spain and Turkey, additionally, she sang her song barefoot. Some olés were heard from the present audience when she ended her performance, turkeys entry, Opera, performed by Çetin Alp & the Short Waves, could on the other hand be said to fit in well with the spirit of Eurovision of that time. The interval show was a dance set to a medley of German songs which had become internationally famous. The host, Marlene Charell, was the lead dancer, host conductor in bold Each country had a jury who awarded 12,10,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 point for their top ten songs. Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final, the following is a list of spokespersons who announced the votes for their respective country
Eurovision Song Contest 1983
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Eurovision Song Contest 1986
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1986 was the 31st Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 3 May 1986 in Grieghallen in Bergen, Norway. It was the first occasion on which Norway played host to the contest, the presenter was Åse Kleveland, a well-known folk guitarist who was President of the Norwegian Association of Musicians. The 1986 contest was a first for Eurovision in that royalty were among the guests—Crown Prince Harald, Crown Princess Sonja, Princess Märtha Louise, Sandra Kim was the winner of this Eurovision with the song Jaime la vie, representing Belgium. Aged 13, Kim was the youngest ever Eurovision winner, current rules require Eurovision Song Contest participants to be at least 16, so unless the rule is changed, Kims record will never be broken. In the lyrics of her song, Kim claimed to be 15 years of age, switzerland, who finished second, appealed for her to be disqualified, but this was to no avail. By 1985, Norway had received the distinction of being the nul points country. By the autumn of 1985, NRK had decided to hold the years contest at the Grieghallen in Bergen, turning down other bids from capital Oslo. In addition, NRK also had a special diamond-encrusted dress made for presenter Åse Kleveland for her opening number, the prized dress, which weighed upwards of 15 pounds, is still available for viewing at NRKs costuming department at Marienlyst in Oslo. Kleveland sang the multilingual Welcome to Music as the act, incorporating English and French primarily. BBC commentator Terry Wogan, at the close of Klevelands number, dryly remarked, Katie Boyle never sang, did she. So, imagine our joy when last year we won, and the pleasure we feel today, being able to welcome 700 million viewers to the top of Europe, to Norway. One of the interval acts presented featured Norwegian musicians Sissel Kyrkjebø and Steinar Ofsdal, accompanied by Norwegian national broadcasting orchestra, Kringkastingsorkesteret. They opened with the song of the city of Bergen, Udsikter fra Ulriken. Ofsdal played a range of traditional Norwegian folk instruments such as accordion, recorder, the presentation launched Kyrkjebø into a career as an internationally recognized artist. Iceland competed for the first time, as the national broadcaster RÚV finally cemented their satellite television connections with the rest of Europe, greece withdrew, having been drawn eighteenth in order of presentation. The reason behind the withdrawal, was that the Eurovision contest coincided with Holy Saturday and their entry would have been Wagon-lit performed by Polina. The Italian broadcaster, RAI, simply decided not to send any delegation to Bergen, host conductor in bold The winning song, Belgiums Jaime la vie, received points from every jury. Belgium was the winner in the voting from the results of the jury out of twenty
Eurovision Song Contest 1986
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Eurovision Song Contest 1988
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1988 was the 33rd edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. The contest took place on 30 April 1988 in Dublin, Ireland, the presenters were Pat Kenny and Michelle Rocca. The host broadcaster was Radio Telefís Éireann which revamped the production style compared to its earlier editions. The winner was Switzerland with the song Ne partez pas sans moi, performed by future international superstar Celine Dion, Switzerland beat the United Kingdom by just a point in the last vote to win the title. The Cypriot song had been drawn to be performed 2nd in the running order, the stage itself, conceived by Paula Farrell under chief production designer Michael Grogan, was also the largest and most elaborate ever constructed for the Eurovision Song Contest. The Postcards featured the participants doing things in Ireland from culture, to tradition, lowney was also the director of the shows interval act, introduced after the competing songs and before the votes announcement. Each country had a jury who awarded 12,10,8,7,6,5,4,3,2 and 1 point for its top ten songs and this edition features one of the closest and fickle-ending votes in the history of the contest. With three countries left to vote, the UK was well in the lead with 133 points against Switzerlands 118, with the conclusion of voting from the penultimate jury, the UK was holding a five-point lead over Switzerland. Switzerland was the first to be named with six points, edging it into a one-point lead over the UK, after earlier strong votes from most countries to the UK, it seemed highly likely that the UK would be given one of the higher remaining set of points. Twenty-one countries took part, after a plan of twenty-two. This was classed as a breach of the Cypriot rules of selecting their entry at this time as well as an infringement of the Eurovision Song Contest rules, the contest helped launch an international career for two artists, the winner for Switzerland Celine Dion and Luxembourg’s representative Lara Fabian. Belgian-Canadian Lara Fabian started a career after the contest with becoming established in various countries worldwide. The UK entry was written and composed by Julie Forsyth, the daughter of the entertainer Bruce Forsyth who was present, when interviewed afterwards he was particularly annoyed at the Dutch jury not having given a vote to the UK, as they had done some work there
Eurovision Song Contest 1988
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Eurovision Song Contest 1989
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1989 was the 34th annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held on 6 May 1989 in Lausanne, Switzerland, the program was presented by Lolita Morena and Jacques Deschenaux. Riva, representing Yugoslavia, won with the song Rock Me and this was the only victory for Yugoslavia as a unified state. The United Kingdoms Ray Caruana, lead singer with Live Report was outspoken about coming second to what he considered a less worthy song. They had been defeated by 7 points, two of the performers, Nathalie Pâque and Gili Natanael were respectively 11 and 12 years old at their time of competing. Due to bad publicity surrounding their participation, the European Broadcasting Union introduced the rule stating no performer is allowed to take part before the year of their 16th birthday. The previous years winner, Celine Dion, opened the show with a performance of her winning song. The song went on to become a top ten hit in the US a year later - effectively launching her into international success. Each country had a jury who awarded 12,10,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 point for their top ten songs
Eurovision Song Contest 1989
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Eurovision Song Contest 1990
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1990 was the 35th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Zagreb, Yugoslavia on 5 May 1990, the presenters were Helga Vlahović Brnobić and Oliver Mlakar. Toto Cutugno was the winner of this contest with the song Insieme,1992 and this was the second victory for Italy, the first one having been Non ho letà, performed by Gigliola Cinquetti in 1964. However, the song was an even more sweeping evocation of European unity, in anticipation of the completion of the European single market. A national final was held in Malta, which was won by Maryrose Mallia with Our Little World of Yesterday, there was a slightly uncomfortable beginning to the rehearsal week when, offended by press comments concerning their ages, the two presenters quit the show. They were briefly replaced by Rene Medvešek and Dubravka Marković, who were much younger, the Eurovision Song Contest 1990 was the first to implement an age rule. The European Broadcasting Union were forced to bring in a rule after criticism arose over the ages of two performers at 1989 contest, being just 11 and 12 years old. From 1990, no artist under the age of 16 on the day of the contest could perform on stage. This rule meant that the record for the youngest ever winner at Eurovision could never be broken, as Sandra Kim, who won for Belgium at the 1986 competition, was just 13 years old. A notorious mishap occurred at the start of the first song and they walked off the stage in barely concealed annoyance and the audience was left in confusion for a moment, but the song was then restarted without any further problems. The 1990 contest was the first to feature a mascot, Eurocat. Notes 1. ^ Contains some phrases in English, French and Serbo-Croatian
Eurovision Song Contest 1990
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Eurovision Song Contest 1992
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1992 was the 37th Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 9 May 1992 in Malmö, Sweden. The presenters were Lydia Cappolicchio and Harald Treutiger, Linda Martin, representing Ireland, was the winner of this Eurovision with the song Why Me. The song was written by Johnny Logan, who had won the 1980 contest as singer and the 1987 contest as singer/songwriter. The contest took place at the ice arena of Malmö where the stage set was in the shape of a Viking ships bow with a dragon in the centre. The opening sequence included women dressed in the Swedish colours of yellow and blue, the filmic postcard tradition was continued with clips based on each country. Last years winner, Carola, appeared on stage in a dress with sheer sleeves. However, the Irish sent Linda Martin, who had the past experience of coming in 2nd place in the 1984 contest, but also paired up again with Johnny Logan. In the end, Ireland won the contest with a 16-point lead over the United Kingdom, malta with Little Child, performed by Mary Spiteri, also scored very well coming in 3rd place with 123 points. This was the first time that the three highest-placed songs had all been in English, Sweden, the host country, finished 2nd last. Switzerland had to replace its original choice of entry, Soleil, soleil which was to have performed by Géraldine Olivier. The song did not comply with some of the rules of the selection contest and so, despite having won. Each country had a jury who awarded 12,10,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 point for their top ten songs
Eurovision Song Contest 1992
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Eurovision Song Contest 1993
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1993 was the 38th Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 15 May 1993 in Millstreet, County Cork, Ireland. Niamh Kavanagh was the winner of this Eurovision for Ireland with the song and this was Irelands fifth victory, and equalled the tally of five Eurovision victories achieved by France in 1977 and Luxembourg in 1983. However, the venue, a large indoor well- equipped equestrian centre was deemed more suitable as the location by RTÉ. With huge support from local and national authorities, plus several businesses in the region and it was also the largest outside broadcast ever attempted by state broadcaster RTÉ and was deemed a technical triumph for all involved. The stage was created by Alan Farquharson, who was also chief production designer two years later in Dublin, BBC newsreader Nicholas Witchell caused controversy by remarking on the air, shortly before the contest, that it would be held in a cowshed in Ireland. The top two countries of this contest were the same as the top two countries in the years contest, being Ireland and the United Kingdom. This was, however, merely a measure that was plainly not a sustainable solution for future years. After some extremely tight voting, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia edged through, each country had a jury who awarded 12,10,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 point for their top ten songs. The voting required a jury to deliberate in the midst of the war in Bosnia. Warm applause rang round the hall as a voice on a phone line was heard to deliver the familiar greeting, Hello Millstreet. By the final few juries it became clear that either Ireland or the United Kingdom were going to win, after the penultimate jury had voted, it looked to be a lost cause for second-placed Sonia of the UK as she was eleven points behind Niamh Kavanagh. Ostensibly due to technical difficulties, the final jury to announce their results was the Maltese jury. However, the name of neither country came up, instead it was Ireland that were awarded the final points of the evening, finishing with what looked in retrospect a comfortable twenty-three-point victory. Interestingly, given the way the votes were cast, having Maltas vote announced last was the way for the contest for victory to go down to the final jury. 1993 was the last year that the points were announced by telephone
Eurovision Song Contest 1993
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Eurovision Song Contest 1994
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1994 was the 39th Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 30 April 1994 in the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. As of 2017, it was the last time the contest was held in April, the presenters were Cynthia Ní Mhurchú and Gerry Ryan. The pair hosted the evening in French, English and Irish, once again Ireland won the contest for the third time in a row, when Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan were the winners with a song written by Brendan Graham, Rock N Roll Kids. This was a sixth victory for Ireland, giving it the outright record number of victories at the Eurovision Song Contest. It was also the first time — and to date the only time — that the contest had been won by the country in three consecutive years. The contest opened with a film of stars floating in water, fireworks and caricatures dancing around, drinking coffee. The cameras then went live to the venue itself, where dressed in white and wearing caricatured heads of well-known Irish figures. The presenters entered the stage spectacularly from a bridge which descended from the roof of the theatre and this year’s video postcards had a literary theme, showing contestants reading, fishing and doing other activities around Ireland. The floor was painted with a dark blue paint to give a watery effect. Because Italy and Luxembourg withdrew voluntarily, the bottom 5 of the 1993 Contest were relegated and this meant that Belgium, Denmark, Israel, Slovenia and Turkey did not participate this year opening spaces for the new countries. This contest also saw Luxembourg withdraw from Eurovision indefinitely, Poland took part for the first time and caused a scandal when Edyta Górniak broke the rules by singing her song in English during the dress rehearsal. Only six countries demanded that Poland should be disqualified, though the rules required 13 countries to complain before Poland could be removed from the competition. The proposed removal did not occur and Poland went on to come 2nd in the contest, for the first time in Eurovision history, voting was done via satellite instead of by telephone, and as a result, viewers could see the spokespersons onscreen. When the voting started, Hungary took the lead from the first six juries and was ahead of all the other countries. However, Ireland powered their way through the board ending up the winners with a 60-point lead over second-placed Poland. The interval act was the first ever performance of the Irish dancing spectacular Riverdance, featuring Michael Flatley, ^ Contains some words in English. Each country had a jury who awarded 12,10,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 point for their top ten songs. With advances in technology, this was the first contest in which the spokesperson for each national jury appeared on-screen, live from their own countries
Eurovision Song Contest 1994
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Eurovision Song Contest 1995
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The Eurovision Song Contest 1995 was the 40th Eurovision Song Contest and was held on 13 May 1995 in the Point Theatre in Dublin, Ireland. This years competition was the last with one host until 18 years later in 2013 in Malmö. This contest broke the chain of victories that Ireland enjoyed in 1992,1993 and this was Irelands 3rd year in succession to host the contest - and to mark the 40th show, it was opened with a 4-minute retrospective showing images from the contests history. The Norwegian group Secret Garden was the winner of this contest with the instrumental song. Incidentally, Secret Gardens violinist was Fionnuala Sherry, who is Irish and it was his birthday that night, but according to host Kennedy, He wouldnt say which one. Nonetheless, the audience sang Happy Birthday for him, assisted by the orchestra, after winning the 1994 contest, RTÉ were worried about whether they could afford to host a third consecutive contest in 1995. The BBC had offered to take on the responsibility of hosting the contest, in the end RTÉ decided to stage the contest on its own. However they did ask the EBU that, should Ireland win once more, the favourite to win the contest, according to bookmakers, was Sweden with the pop-ballad Se på mig. Other countries in contention for the win were Croatia, Denmark, Israel, Spain, the winning song was something new at Eurovision in that it contained only 24 words accompanied by long violin solos. The United Kingdom contributed a modern rap number, while the previous year’s runner-up, Poland, after the voting was completed, Norway was the winner with 148 points, followed by Spains Vuelve conmigo with 119 points, and Sweden gaining 100 points. The stage was designed by Alan Farquharson who also designed the set of the 1993 contest that took place in Millstreet, the interval act consisted of several well known Irish performers including Clannad, Brian Kennedy and was composed by leading musician Michael OSuilleabhan. The EBU decreased the number of back to 23 to make sure the show wouldnt last longer than 3 hours. 5 of the 6 countries that were relegated the year came back to the contest, Luxembourg decided to stop participating completely and Italy withdrew voluntarily. This rumour did, however inspire a popular episode of Father Ted, in any event, RTÉ ended up hosting the contest once again in 1997. Each country had a jury that awarded 12,10,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1 point for their top ten songs. Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final, FR Yugoslavia After the breakup of Yugoslavia, third channel of Radio Television of Serbia broadcast the show, although Yugoslavia did not participate
Eurovision Song Contest 1995
54.
Eurovision Song Contest 2004
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2004 was the 49th Eurovision Song Contest and it was held in the Abdi İpekçi Arena in Istanbul, Turkey. This was the first occasion in which the contest was held in Turkey after they had won the competition in 2003 with Sertab Erener singing Everyway That I Can, the hosting national broadcaster of the contest was Turkish Radio and Television Corporation. Ukrainian singer Ruslana won the contest with Wild Dances and it is notable that this was only Ukraines second participation in the contest. This was also the year in a row in which the contest was won by a woman. To accommodate the number of countries who wished to participate. The countries which didnt qualify for the final are normally calculate like participating countries, the contest was held in Istanbul following Turkeys victory in the 2003 contest in Riga, Latvia with Sertab Ereners Everyway That I Can. Originally the Mydonose Showland was chosen by TRT to host the event, korhan Abay and Meltem Cumbul were presenters of the show. In the semi-final and the final, Meltem Cumbul warmed up the audience with a sing-a-long of Eurovision classic Nel blu dipinto di blu, originally by Domenico Modugno. Sertab Erener returned to the stage in the final to perform Everyway That I Can, the 2003 winning song, Sertab also interviewed contestants in the green room. The Turkish dance ensemble Fire of Anatolia performed as the interval act, an official CD was released and, for the first time, the entire contest was released on DVD which included the Semi-Final and the Grand Final. The contests new official logo was used for the first time this year. The slogan for Istanbuls contest was Under The Same Sky, which communicated the importance of a united Europe and this year was also notable as it was the first year that Turkey voted for Cyprus and the second year in a row that Cyprus voted for Turkey. Nevertheless, in a move that angered some Cypriots, when the country presented its votes no map of the island was shown and this was due to Turkeys recognition of the northern half of the island as an independent republic. It is likely Turkey pulled out of showing the map because it would have highlighted the southern portion of the island. This was also the first year that the scores were only re-read by the hosts in one language. Before 2004 every point was repeated in French and English, but due to 36 countries voting and this was in the opposite of the original country representative spoke in. Also, this year was the first time in which a non-winning entry scored over 200 points, prior to this contest, only Rock n Roll Kids and Love Shine a Light, the winners in 1994 and 1997 had passed this mark. In this contest, all songs in the top 3 got over 200 points and this years Eurovision contest was the first to be a two-day event, with one qualifying round held on a Wednesday and the grand final held on the following Saturday
Eurovision Song Contest 2004
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Abdi İpekçi Arena in Istanbul, the 2004 venue.
Eurovision Song Contest 2004
Eurovision Song Contest 2004
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Eurovision Song Contest: Istanbul 2004
55.
Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Albania has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 13 times since its debut in 2004. In 2004, Albanias first entry at Eurovision, Anjeza Shahini and this remained the countrys best result in the contest until 2012, when Rona Nishliu placed fifth. RTSH first showed interest in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2003, however three more countries also applied to enter the contest for the first, and Albania was not allowed to compete in the contest, having been forced to wait another year before debuting. The first Albanian entrant to the Eurovision Song Contest was decided through the long-standing Albanian song contest, the winner of Festivali I Këngës 42 would go on to represent Albania in its first Eurovision Song Contest. The winner was Anjeza Shahini with the song Imazhi yt and this was translated into English, and performed at Eurovision as The Image of You. She qualified for the final, coming 4th, and received 106 points in the final and this placing allowed Albania to skip the semi-final of the 2005 contest, automatically qualifying for the final. The Albanian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was again selected through Festivali I Këngës, the winner of Festivali I Këngës 43 was Ledina Çelo with Nesër shkoj, translated as Tomorrow I Go in English. Çelo could not replicate Shahinis 7th place, receiving only 53 points, in the semi-final of the 2006 contest he received 58 points, placing 14th of 23 in his semi-final and failing to qualify for the final. The 2007 entry was Frederik Ndoci with Hear My Plea, performed at Festivali I Këngës 45 as Balada e gurit, the song was performed at Eurovision in both English and Albanian. In the semi-final of the 2007 contest he received 49 points, placing 17th of 28 in his semi-final, the winner of Festivali I Këngës 46 was Zemrën e lamë peng by Olta Boka. Press reactions in Albania were not happy with the decision, despite this, Olta Bokas victory remained, and she sang for Albania at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade, Serbia. At the contest she qualified Albania for the final, placing 9th in a field of 19 in the second semi-final, Albania was the first country to select both their artist and publicly present their song for Eurovision 2009. The winner was selected by Festivali I Këngës. The winner of Festivali I Këngës 47 was Kejsi Tola with the song Më merr në ëndërr, the song was performed in English as Carry Me in Your Dreams. Albania finished 7th out of 19 in the 2nd semifinal with 73 points, in the final, where both jury and televoting were used, Albania scored 48 points, finishing 17th in a field of 25. However, had only televoting been used Albania would have placed 11th in the contest, conversely if only jury voting had been used Albania would have placed 23rd. The winner of Festivali I Këngës 48 was decided on 27 December and she represented Albania at Eurovision 2010 in Oslo with the song Nuk mundem pa ty. The song is a typical composition, and has been compared to Christina Aguileras Keeps Gettin Better
Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Anjeza Shahini at Istanbul (2004)
Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest
Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Frederik Ndoci at Helsinki (2007)
Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Olta Boka at Belgrade (2008)
56.
Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Australia is the first country from the Oceania region to participate in the contest. Australian broadcaster Special Broadcasting Service first broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest in 1983 and has continued to do so every year since. The contest has attracted an audience in Australia, primarily because of the countrys political and cultural ties with the European Union. Early broadcasts of the contest in Australia either featured no commentary or used the United Kingdoms commentary as transmitted by the BBC, in 2001, actress and comedian Mary Coustas provided commentary for the contest performing as her comedic character Effie. Between 2002 and 2003, SBS presenter Des Mangan provided commentary for the Australian audience, since 2009, Julia Zemiro and Sam Pang have been assigned as commentators for the competition by SBS. In addition to broadcasting the contest, SBS has also broadcast the 50th and 60th anniversary programmes, from 2010 to 2014, SBS allowed Australian viewers to participate in their own televote for the Grand Finals. However, these votes were not counted at the actual contest, the SBS commentary team and Australian delegation were awarded a commentary booth of their own at the 2012 contest in Baku. They have been allocated a commentary booth every year since, the song, co-written by Australian Tony Cole, finished second with 114 points. English-born Australian singer-songwriter, Olivia Newton-John, represented the United Kingdom in 1974 in Brighton with the song Long Live Love, john Farrar, who was born in Melbourne, performed as part of The Shadows for the United Kingdom at the 1975 contest. Martin Lee, singer in Brotherhood of Man, which won the 1976 contest, austria paid tribute to Australia in 1977 in London with their entry Boom Boom Boomerang performed by Schmetterlinge. The song was considered controversial at the due to being the first song to openly mock the contest itself. Johnny Logan, winner of the contest in 1980 and 1987 for Ireland, was born in Frankston, Victoria in 1954, in 1996 in Oslo, Norway, Australian singer Gina G represented the United Kingdom with her performance of Ooh Aah. Jane Comerford, who was born in Newcastle, New South Wales, performed in the 2006 contest for Germany as a part of Texas Lightning with the song No No Never, which took 14th place and 36 points. Australians Craig Porteils and Cameron Giles-Webb co-wrote the song This Is Our Night which was performed by Sakis Rouvas for Greece at the 2009 contest. Katrina Noorbergen, an Australian living in Berlin, co-wrote the song A Million Voices which was performed by Polina Gagarina for Russia at the 2015 contest and she also performed as one of Gagarinas backing singers in the contest. Tonino Speciale, who grew up in Western Sydney, co-wrote the song Black Smoke which was performed by Ann Sophie for Germany at the 2015 contest, mary-Jean ODoherty, an American-born and half-Australian opera singer, performed as part of the group Genealogy for Armenia at the 2015 contest. Australias first appearance in the international broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest occurred on 14 May 2013 during the first semi-final in Malmö, a short pre-recorded video titled Greetings from Australia, submitted by SBS and hosted by Julia Zemiro, was broadcast during the interval acts. On 24 March 2014, the Danish broadcaster DR gave permission to SBS to perform as an act in the second semi-final of Eurovision Song Contest 2014
Australia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Australia
57.
Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Austria has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 49 times since its debut in 1957. The country has won twice, in 1966, with the song Merci Chérie by Udo Jürgens, Austria currently holds the record for longest gap between wins, with 48 years between victories. Austria finished last at its first attempt in the contest in 1957, before Liane Augustin gave the country its first top five result in 1958, having finished sixth in 1964 and fourth in 1965, Udo Jürgens won the contest at his third attempt in 1966. This would be Austrias only top three result of 20th century, the countrys best result over the next 46 years would be fifth place, which it achieved with Milestones in 1972, Waterloo & Robinson in 1976 and Thomas Forstner in 1989. Austria has finished last in the final a total of seven times, the country also finished last in the semi-final in 2012. After a three-year absence, ORF announced on 28 July 2010 that Austria would return to the contest in 2011, because of this, Austria became the first host country to receive nul points. Austria has opted out of participation in several Contests, the first of these was the 1969 Contest, which was staged in Madrid. As Spain was ruled at that time by Francisco Franco, Austria chose to boycott the Contest, the following year, Austria was again absent. This was due to the result in 1969 in which four songs tied for first place. From 1973 to 1975, Austria stayed away as well, the exact reason for this is unclear, however the scoring system in use at one of these Contests - allowing all entrants a guaranteed number of points - may have been a factor. The country was ineligible to compete in 1998 and 2001, as it had not achieved high placings in the five previous years. They returned for the 2007 contest in Helsinki, but came second to last in the semi-final, despite withdrawing, the final of the 2008 contest was screened on ORF. ORF decided not to participate in the 2009 contest, but did broadcast the final as in 2008, the EBU announced that they would work harder to bring Austria back to the contest in 2010, along with former participants Monaco and Italy. It was, however, confirmed that Austria would not participate in the 2010 Contest in Oslo, in July 2010, the chairman of ORF, Alexander Wrabetz, stated that Austria would return for the 2011 contest, due to it being held in its neighbour Germany. In 2011, Austria reached the final for the first time since 2004, ^ Specifically Styrian, a Southern Bavarian dialect spoken in Styria. ^ Specifically Mühlviertlerisch, a Central Bavarian dialect spoken in Upper Austria, ^ While Austria and Germany both finished with no points, Austria is listed as finishing ahead of Germany due to the tiebreaker rule that favours the song performed earliest in the running order. Therefore, Germany finished in 27th place, with Austria in 26th, if a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. In addition, back in 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the finals the following year
Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Udo Jürgens performing " Sag ihr, ich lass sie grüßen " at Naples (1965)
Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest
Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Tie Break performing " Du bist " at Istanbul (2004)
Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Eric Papilaya performing " Get a Life – Get Alive " at Helsinki (2007)
58.
Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Azerbaijan made its debut at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2008, after İctimai Televiziya became an active member of the European Broadcasting Union. İTV had broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest in previous years, purchasing broadcasting rights from the EBU, Azerbaijan is the last country in the Caucasus to participate, Armenia was the first one, in 2006, followed by Georgia in 2007. Azerbaijan since their debut in 2008 has never missed the final. Azerbaijan reached the Top 5 in five contests, and achieved the Top 5 place finishes each once - 3rd in 2009, 5th in 2010, 1st in 2011, 4th in 2012. Azerbaijans first try at Eurovision proved to be successful as the qualified for the final from the first semi-final. Previously, another broadcaster, AzTV, wanted to participate in 2007, AzTV was denied active EBU membership on 18 June 2007, as it was considered too connected to the Azerbaijani government. On 5 July, İTV became a full EBU member, azerbaijans first Eurovision performance by Elnur and Samir made it in the top ten placed at number 8 with 132 points. In 2009 Azerbaijan achieved an improvement on their 2008 debut, coming third and receiving 207 points with the song Always, on 14 May 2011, Azerbaijan won the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 with a song by Ell & Nikki. With their entry only receiving 5.26 points per voting country, since debuting in 2008 the contest has been extremely popular in the country. After placing in the Top 10 at their debut in 2008 and also ending in the Top 5 from 2009-2013, Azerbaijan expects their act to end up in the Top 5 and the country often hires very well established songwriters and producers to make their entry for the contest. Azerbaijan issued a stamp dedicated to Azerbaijan’s victory with Ell & Nikki at Eurovision. The duo also became national stars after their Eurovision 2011 win, the country spent €160 million on hosting the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, including building a completely new arena for the event. As of 2015, this is the largest amount of any host has ever spent on hosting the Eurovision Song Contest. Table key NOTE, If a country had won the previous year, founded by Christer Björkman and Richard Herrey, the awards are named after the creator of the annual competition, Marcel Bezençon. The awards are divided into three categories, Press Award, Artistic Award, and Composer Award. co. uk
Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Elnur & Samir in Belgrade (2008)
Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest
Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Aysel & Arash in Moscow (2009)
Azerbaijan in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Safura Alizadeh in Oslo (2010)
59.
Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Belgium has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 58 times since making its debut as one of the seven countries at the first contest in 1956. The only countries with more appearances are Germany, France and the United Kingdom, Belgium have been absent only three times in total, in 1994,1997 and 2001, due to low scores in the previous contests that relegated them from the contest. Belgium has won the contest once, in 1986, in the first 20 years of the contest, Belgiums best result was Tonias fourth place in 1966. In 1978, Jean Vallée achieved Belgiums first top three placement, when he was second, in 1986, Sandra Kim became the first and to date only winner for Belgium, when she performed the song Jaime la Vie, to win as a 13-year-old in Bergen. Belgiums only other top three result came in 2003, when the group Urban Trad finished second in Riga, losing out by two points. Belgium have finished last in the contest five times, most recently in 2000 and have twice received nul points, in 1962 and 1965. After the introduction of the round in 2004, Belgium failed to reach the final in seven out of eight contests, the exception being Tom Dice. Belgium has since achieved two top ten results, with Loïc Nottet finishing fourth 2015, and Laura Tesoro finishing 10th in 2016. Belgium has two national broadcasters of the contest, Flemish broadcaster Vlaamse Radio- en Televisieomroep and French-speaking broadcaster Radio télévision belge de la communauté française, the two broadcasters rotate selection for the Eurovision Song Contest each year. While VRT normally hosts a national final, Eurosong, when selecting their entries for Eurovision, Belgium has won the contest once, in 1986 when Sandra Kim won with her song Jaime la vie in Bergen, Norway. Although she claimed she was 15 years old, she was actually only 13, currently the minimum age for participation is 16 and thus Sandra Kim will remain the youngest winner unless the age limit is lowered. By winning in 1986, Belgium became the last of the French-speaking countries to win the contest, now Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Monaco and Switzerland all had won at least once. Belgium scored a record at the time, with Sandra Kim earning a never seen before amount of 176 points. Kim received 77. 2% of the maximum score, which, as of 2016. Belgiums next best placing has been second which it has achieved twice at the 1978 and 2003 contests, however, it has been last seven times. In 2003, Urban Trad sang in an invented language earning second place with 165 points,2 points fewer than that years winner Turkey, ishtar did the same in 2008, but came 17th in the first semi-final and thus did not qualify for the final. In the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 Belgium participated in the first semi-final on 12 May 2009, however they received just one point which came from Armenia, the 2010 entry for Belgium was Tom Dice, runner-up of the Belgian Flemish version of The X Factor in 2008. Dice was internally selected and announced by VRT on 25 November 2009, Tom Dice finished 1st in the first semi-final, allowing Belgium to participate to the final for the first time since the introduction of the semi-finals
Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Xandee performing " 1 Life " at Istanbul (2004)
Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest
Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest
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The KMG's performing " Love Power " at Helsinki (2007)
Belgium in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Ishtar performing " O Julissi " at Belgrade (2008)
60.
Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Estonia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 22 times since making its debut in 1994. Estonia has won the contest once, in 2001, Estonias first participation in 1994 was not a successful one, coming second last only to Lithuania. The country was relegated from the 1995 contest. From its second entry in 1996, the country entered its best era in the contest, maarja-Liis Ilus and Ivo Linnas fifth place in 1996 was the first top five ranking for a former Soviet country. This made Estonia the first former Soviet country to win the contest, the 2002 contest was held in Tallinn, with Sahlene finishing joint third for the hosts. Estonias total of nine top ten results, is more than any other Baltic country, Estonias record at the contest was a successful one from 1996 to 2002, only failing once to make the top 10. As such the 2002 contest was held in Estonia, in the capital city Tallinn, at the second semi-final of the 2009 contest, Urban Symphony qualified Estonia to the final of the contest for the first time since 2003, receiving 115 points and placing 3rd. The group performed 15th in the final, where it received 129 points, in 2010, Estonia failed to qualify to the final, with the song Siren by Malcolm Lincoln. In 2011, Estonia was represented by Getter Jaani with the song Rockefeller Street and she was the bookmakers pre-contest favorite for victory along with France. She qualified to the final but eventually placed 24th of 25 entries- tying Silvi Vraits 1994 result for Estonias worst placing in the contest final, in 2012, Ott Lepland qualified Estonia to the final with his song Kuula, ending up 4th in the second semi-final. In the final, he equalled Estonias result of 1999 and 2009, together with Urban Symphony in 2009, Kuula gave Estonia its best result in the contest since 2009. ^ Estonia unsuccessfully attempted to participate in 1993, when there was a round for seven countries hoping to make their debut in the contest. The official Eurovision site does not count 1993 in Estonias list of appearances, as of 2016, Estonias voting history is as follows, Points to and from Estonia eurovisioncovers. co. uk
Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Neiokõsõ at Istanbul (2004)
Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest
Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Sandra Oxenryd at Athens (2006)
Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Gerli Padar at Helsinki (2007)
61.
Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest
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No other country has been represented as often. France and the United Kingdom come in a second, missing only two contests each. Before German reunification in 1990, it presented as West Germany. Germany has won two contests, in 1982 and 2010, Germany first won the contest in 1982, at the 27th attempt in Harrogate, when Nicole won with the song Ein bisschen Frieden. The second German victory came 28 years later at the 2010 contest in Oslo, Germany have finished second four times and third five times, for a total of eleven top three placements. Katja Ebstein, who finished third in 1970 and 1971, Germany also finished second with Lena Valaitis in 1981 and the group Wind in both 1985 and 1987. The other third places were achieved by Mary Roos in 1972, Mekado in 1994, with one win and four second places, Germany is one of the most successful countries of the 1980s. Germany has finished last on seven occasions, receiving nul points in 1964,1965 and 2015, Germany, along with the United Kingdom, Italy, France and Spain, is one of the Big Five countries that are automatically qualified to the final, regardless of the placing. This is due to being the largest financial contributors to the contest, since 1996, ARD consortium member Norddeutscher Rundfunk has been responsible for Germanys participation in the contest. The Eurovision Song Contest semi-final is broadcast on NDR Fernsehen, and the final is broadcast on Das Erste, although German contestants have had varied levels of success, public interest remains high and the contest is one of the most watched events each year. Between 2010 and 2012, private broadcaster ProSieben worked in partnership with NDR, Germany has often changed the selection process used in order to find the countrys entry for the contest, either a national final or internal selection has been held by the broadcaster at the time. ARD had selected an artist and song to represent them at the Eurovision Song Contest 1996, to be held in Oslo, due to the large number of countries wanting to compete at Eurovision, they determined that only 23 of the 30 countries could compete. Hosts Norway qualified automatically, the other 29 songs went into an audio only pre-qualification round, unfortunately for Germany its entry, Leon with Planet of Blue, failed to earn enough points to progress to the final, finishing 24th. ARD and the EBU were not happy with this, as Germany was the biggest financial contributor at the time and this is the only time that Germany has been absent from the contest. In the 2000s, Germany has been notable for their adoption of musical styles which are not typical of Eurovision, such as country and western, Germany tied for last at the 2008 contest for points, but was awarded 23rd of 25th place when the results were posted. In 2009, ARD held a selection for the first time since 1995 due to lack of interest. Alex Christensen and Oscar Loya were selected to represent Germany at the 2009 contest, however they only managed to receive 35 points, placing 20th of 25 competing countries. In 2010, ARD approached former entrant and songwriter Stefan Raab and it has been said that Raab was approached due to his good record at the contest, finishing 5th in 2000 as well as writing entries in 1998 and 2004, which finished 7th and 8th respectively
Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Walter Andreas Schwarz at Lugano (1956)
Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Germany
Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Katja Ebstein at Amsterdam (1970)
Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Roger Cicero at Helsinki (2007)
62.
Hungary in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Hungary has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 14 times since making its debut in 1994. Hungary attempted to participate in 1993 but failed to qualify from a qualifying competition set up for seven former eastern bloc countries. Hungarys first contest in 1994 remains its most successful, with Friderika Bayer finishing in fourth place, Hungary would not return to the top ten for 13 years, until Magdi Rúzsa finished ninth in 2007. This was followed in 2014 by András Kállay-Saunders, who gave Hungary its fourth top ten placement and best result since 1994, when he finished fifth. The countrys first entry would have been Andrea Szuláks in 1993 but a round was installed just for former Eastern Bloc countries. The first real participation was of Friderika Bayer in 1994, after three rounds of voting the Hungarian entry had taken the top marks each time and was in contention to win. However, as the competition progressed it attracted fewer votes, though it ended up in a credible fourth place. This made Hungary the only debuting nation to lead the voting, the 1995 entry was not as successful, garnering only 3 points, narrowly beating last placed Germany. In 1996 Hungary suffered another qualification lost when Gjon Delhusas song didnt make it through the pre-qualification round, Hungary began a hiatus from the competition after the 1998 contest, returning in 2005 when they reached a 12th place in the final with NOX. Hungary however announced not to again in 2006, although it returned to the contest in 2007 with Magdi Rúzsa. She came 9th in Helsinki with her song Unsubstantial Blues, the first Hungarian entry in English, after coming last in the semi-final in the 2008 contest, Magyar Televízió, the Hungarian broadcaster, confirmed Hungarys participation at the 2009 contest in Russia. Ádok eventually finished 15th in the second semi-final, failing to qualify Hungary to the final for the second time. On 27 December 2010, it was confirmed that MTV had agreed to return to the 2011 edition, on 22 May 2011, MTV confirmed their 2012 participation. In 2013, Hungary made it to the Top 10, when ByeAlex reached the 10th place with Kedvesem. They achieved even more success in 2014, when András Kállay-Saunders reached the 5th place with his song Running, achieving the best result Hungary has had since their first participation in 1994. Hungary is one of two countries to have unsuccessfully attempted to participate in both 1993 and 1996. The official Eurovision site does not count either year in Hungarys list of appearances, as of 2016, Hungarys voting history is as follows, Composer Award Points to and from Hungary eurovisioncovers. co. uk
Hungary in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Magdi Rúzsa at Helsinki (2007)
Hungary in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Hungary
Hungary in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Csézy at Belgrade (2008)
Hungary in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Kati Wolf at Düsseldorf (2011)
63.
Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest
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The countrys best result is two second-place finishes, with Selma in 1999 and Yohanna in 2009. As of 2016, Iceland is the only Northern European country that has yet to win the Eurovision Song Contest, with the introduction of semi-finals in 2004, Iceland automatically qualified for the final that year thanks to Birgittas 8th place the previous year. In 2008, Iceland reached the final for the first time since then, since the two semi-final system was introduced in 2008, Iceland has qualified for the final in seven straight contests, however, it failed to qualify for the final in 2015 and in 2016. Despite these mixed fortunes, Iceland is the second most successful country never to win the contest, sigríður Beinteinsdóttir has participated four times. Hera Björk has participated four times, stefán Hilmarsson has participated twice, as have Selma Björnsdóttir, Eiríkur Hauksson, Jón Jósep Snæbjörnsson and Gréta Salóme Stefánsdóttir. The Icelandic broadcaster for the contest is Ríkisútvarpið, table key NOTE, If a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. In addition, back in 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the finals the following year. If, for example, Germany and France placed inside the top ten, as of 2016, Icelands voting history is as follows, Iceland has broadcast the show since 1970. The first to be broadcast live was the 1983 edition after the plan to broadcast the 1982 contest failed, since 1985, RÚV has broadcast the contest on the radio using same commentator for TV and radio and the Internet broadcast since early 2000s. Points to and from Iceland eurovisioncovers. co. uk Iceland 2011 Tirydou Finales Nationales
Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Eiríkur Hauksson at Helsinki (2007)
Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Iceland
Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Euroband at Belgrade (2008)
Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Eythor Ingi at Malmö (2013)
64.
Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Ireland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 50 times since making its debut at the 1965 Contest in Naples. Since then, they have missed only two contests, in 1983 in Munich and 2002 in Tallinn, Ireland is the most successful country in the contest, with a total of seven wins. Raidió Teilifís Éireann is Irelands representative broadcaster at the contest, the semi-finals are broadcast on RTÉ Two, All of the Irish entries have been performed in English with the exception of the 1972 entry, Ceol an Ghrá, which was sung in Irish. Sean Dunphy finished second at the 1967 contest, behind Sandie Shaw, before Dana gave Ireland its first victory in 1970, the countrys next best result of the 1970s was in 1977, when The Swarbriggs plus two finished third. Johnny Logan gave Ireland a second victory in 1980, with Whats Another Year, Logan then wrote the 1984 entry Terminal 3, which finished second, performed by Linda Martin. In 1987, Logan became the first and only performer to win the contest twice, Irelands most successful decade to date in the contest is the 1990s, which began with Liam Reilly finishing joint second in 1990. Ireland then achieved a three consecutive victories in the contest. In 1992,1984 runner-up Linda Martin returned to win with another Johnny Logan composition and this was followed up by Niamh Kavanaghs victory over Sonia in 1993 with In Your Eyes and Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan winning in 1994 with Rock n Roll Kids. The decade saw yet another victory in 1996 when Eimear Quinn won with The Voice, Ireland also finished second in 1997 with Marc Roberts. In the 21st century, Ireland has fared well, only reaching the top 10 on three occasions, with Eamonn Toal sixth in 2000, Brian Kennedy tenth in 2006 and Jedward eighth in 2011. Ireland finished last in the final for the first time in 2007, since the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Ireland has failed to reach the final six times, in 2005,2008,2009,2014,2015 and 2016. 2016 marked the first time that Ireland failed to qualify in three consecutive years, Ireland has competed in the Contest almost continuously since the countrys debut in 1965. In 1983 a strike at the national broadcaster RTÉ meant that the station lacked the resources to send a participant so RTÉ broadcast the Contest with the BBC commentary feed. In 2002 Ireland was relegated from the Contest, in keeping with the EBU rules, RTÉ broadcast that years event as they intended to return in 2003, and a TV commentator was sent to the host city, Tallinn. Ireland has sent 50 entries to the Eurovision Song Contest, of these seven have won, Ireland has been relegated once, in 2001 Gary OShaughnessy finished twenty-first with Without Your Love. In addition, six Irish entries have featured in the semi-final of the Contest, in 2005, Donna & Joe finished fourteenth in the pre-qualifier, failing to qualify for the final. In 2006, Brian Kennedy finished ninth in the semi-final, ensuring an Irish presence in the Athens final, Kennedy finished tenth in the final. Ireland also featured in the first semi-final in 2008 and in the second semi-final in 2009, Irelands recent results in the Contest have been poor in comparison to the 1990s, coming last in 2007 and 2013
Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Butch Moore at Naples (1965)
Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Ireland
Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Dana at Amsterdam (1970)
Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Red Hurley At The Hague (1976)
65.
Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Latvia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 17 times since making its debut at the contest in 2000, where the group Brainstorm finished third with the song My Star. Latvia won the contest in 2002, with Marie N and the song I Wanna, Latvia is the second former Soviet country to win the contest. The 2003 contest was held in the Latvian capital Riga, the country achieved its third top 10 result in 2005, when Walters and Kazha finished fifth with The War Is Not Over. Latvia qualified for the final for the first time since 2008 at the 2015 contest with Aminata and her sixth place in the final is Latvias fourth top 10 finish and best result in the contest since 2005. Latvia made its 10th appearance in the final in 2016, Latvia has had seventeen Eurovision entries since its debut. To select the 2017 Latvian Eurovision entry, Spotify data will be included in national Eurovision vote, ^ The song is in English, however, there are some phrases in Latvian. If a country had won the year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. In addition from 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. If, for example, Germany and France placed inside the top ten, as of 2016, Latvias voting history is as follows, Points to and from Latvia eurovisioncovers. co. uk
Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Pirates of the Sea performing " Wolves of the Sea " at Belgrade (2008)
Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Latvia
Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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PeR performing " Here We Go " at Malmö (2013)
Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Aarzemnieki performing " Cake to Bake " at Copenhagen (2014)
66.
Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Malta has never won the contest, although it has twice finished second and twice finished third. Maltas two seconds and two thirds, make it the most successful country not to win the contest, in the last 10 contests, Malta has only once reached the top 10, when Gianluca Bezzina finished eighth in 2013. Together with France, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom, the only use of the Maltese language was three lines in the 2000 entry Desire, performed by Claudette Pace. The Maltese broadcasters of the show are the Public Broadcasting Services, all shows are transmitted live on TVM and Radio Malta. Also, along with Croatia and Sweden it was the country to never be relegated, under the previous rules of the contest. If a country had won the year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. In addition, back in 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the finals the following year. If, for example, Germany and France placed inside the top ten, ^ Spain originally gave its 12 points to Israel and 10 to Norway. After the broadcast it was announced that Spanish broadcaster wrongly tallied the votes and Germany should have got the top mark -12 points - instead of being snubbed, the mistake was corrected and so Germany was placed 7th over Norway
Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Julie and Ludwig at Istanbul (2004)
Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest
Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Olivia Lewis at Helsinki (2007)
Malta in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Morena at Belgrade (2008)
67.
Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Montenegro debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2007. Previously it participated as part of Yugoslavia and Serbia and Montenegro, the 2005 entrants from Serbia and Montenegro, No Name, were from Montenegro, as were the 1983 and 1984 entrants for Yugoslavia. Since Montenegro became an independent state on 21 May 2006, the nation has taken part in the Eurovision Song Contest, the country made its solo debut in the 2007 contest and so far has managed mediocre results with qualifying twice for the grand final. It contributed for some good results for Ex-Yugoslavia and Serbia. 2009 saw the third best result to date finishing 11th place in the first semi-final. In November 2009 RTCG announced that Montenegro would withdraw from the 2010 contest, RTCG submitted an application for the 2011 contest, which was held in Düsseldorf, Germany. For the next years after 2007, Montenegro have been starting the first semi-final for three years in a row until 2013 when they were allocated to the half of the first semi-final. In 2014, Montenegro qualified for the Grand Final for the first time in its history with Sergej Ćetkovićs Moj svijet, in 2015, Montenegro qualified for the Grand Final for the second time with Knez who performed song Adio, composed by Zeljko Joksimovic. Song Adio has two versions, on English and French language, Knez managed their best result ever, finishing in the 13th place. ^ Contains some phrases in Montenegrin and German, as of 20163, Montenegros voting history is as follows,3. Montenegro in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest Serbia and Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest Yugoslavia in the Eurovision Song Contest Points to and from Montenegro eurovisioncovers. co. uk
Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Stevan Faddy at Helsinki (2007)
Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest
Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Stefan Filipović at Belgrade (2008)
Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Rambo Amadeus at Baku (2012)
68.
Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Norway has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 55 times since making its debut in 1960 and has only been absent twice since then. In 1970, the country boycotted the contest over disagreements about the voting structure, Norway has won the contest three times. The contest is broadcast in Norway by NRK, which also broadcasts Norways national selection competition, Norways first entrant in the contest in 1960 was Nora Brockstedt, who finished fourth. Åse Kleveland then finished third in 1966 and these would remain Norways only top five results until 1985, when Bobbysocks gave the country its first victory with the song La det swinge. The country achieved two top five results over the next ten years, with both Karoline Krüger in 1988 and Silje Vige in 1993, finishing fifth. Norways second victory came in 1995 with Secret Gardens mainly instrumental, in 1996, Elisabeth Andreassen, who had won the contest as one half of Bobbysocks, returned to finish second. In 2003, Jostein Hasselgård was fourth, Norway won for the third time in 2009, with Alexander Rybaks smash hit Fairytale. The 2009 winning score of 387 points being the highest ever winning total and it also achieved the biggest ever margin of victory. Norway also has the two distinctions of having finished last in the Eurovision final more than any other country. The country has finished last eleven times, failing to score a point four times, since the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Norway has finished in the top ten six times. In 2015 Mørland & Debrah Scarlett finished eighth with A Monster Like Me, Norway has a total of 11 top five and 22 top ten results in the contest. If a country had won the year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. In addition from 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. If, for example, Germany and France placed inside the top ten, ^ Spain originally gave its 12 points to Israel and 10 to Norway. After the broadcast it was announced that Spanish broadcaster wrongly tallied the votes and Germany should have got the top mark -12 points - instead of being snubbed, the mistake was corrected and so Germany was placed 7th over Norway. The organisation consists of a network of 40 Eurovision Song Contest fan clubs across Europe and beyond, and is a non-governmental, non-political, and non-profitable company. In what has become a tradition for the OGAE fan clubs. Melodi Grand Prix Norway in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest Norway in the Eurovision Young Musicians Melodi Grand Prix Points to and from Norway eurovisioncovers. co. uk
Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Maria Haukaas Storeng performing " Hold On Be Strong " at Belgrade (2008)
Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest
Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Alexander Rybak, performing " Fairytale " at Moscow (2009)
Norway in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Margaret Berger performing " I Feed You My Love " at Malmö (2013)
69.
Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Portugal has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 48 times since its debut in the 1964 contest. Since then it has missed five contests,1970,2000,2002,2013 and 2016, Portugal has yet to win the contest and holds the record for most appearances in the contest without a win. In fact, the country has yet to reach the top five of any contest, the contest is broadcast in Portugal by Rádio e Televisão de Portugal. Portugals debut entry was António Calvário with Oração, it was not a successful debut for the country, with Calvário coming last in the contest. Since then Portugal has come last on two occasions, in 1974, when Paulo de Carvalho sang E depois do adeus. Prior to Moniz finishing sixth in 1996, Portugals best result in the contest was two seventh-place finishes, for Carlos Mendes in 1972 and José Cid in 1980,1996 remains the last time that Portugal reached the top ten. Despite having some really weak results the 90s were the most successful decade for the country reaching the top 10 four times, Portugal had admission to take part in the 2000 and 2002 contest but refused. Its place was taken by Latvia both times, which ended up winning the contest in the latter year, since semi-finals were introduced in 2004, Portugal has failed to reach the final eight times, including from 2004 to 2007. The country did reach the final from 2008 to 2010, in 2008, Vânia Fernandes finished 13th with the song Senhora do Mar, Portugals best outcome since 1998. As of 2016,2010 remains the last time Portugal participated in the Eurovision final, having failed to qualify from the four more times. Portugal has been absent from five contests since their first participation, the countrys first absence was in 1970 where Portugal, along with four other countries, boycotted the contest due to the result of the previous year, when four countries were announced the winner. Portugal missed the 2000 contest due to their poor results over the past five years. Despite being eligible to enter the 2002 contest, RTP declined to enter, the fourth absence was in 2013, when Portugal didnt participate for financial reasons. The fifth absence was in 2016, Festival da Canção is the Portuguese national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, organized by RTP, and is normally held in February/March of the year of the contest. It is one of the longest-running Eurovision selection methods, previously a number of regional juries selected the winner, however recently the winner has been selected through televoting. In 2009 and 2010, a 50-50 system between district juries and televote has been used. In the years when Portugal was absent from the contest, the Festival da Canção hasnt been held and it is worth noticing that three out of five times that Portugal was absent the contest was held in Sweden. Table key NOTE, If a country had won the previous year, in addition from 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year
Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Simone de Oliveira at Naples (1965)
Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest
Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest
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José Cid at The Hague (1980)
Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Sofia Vitória at Istanbul (2004)
70.
Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Romania has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 17 times, debuting in the 1994 contest. With a total of five top 10 placements, their best results have been third in 2005 with Luminița Anghel & Sistem, fourth in 2006 with Mihai Trăistariu, and third in 2010 with Paula Seling & Ovi. This in turn disqualified their 2016 entry, Moment of Silence sung by Ovidiu Anton, however, it is now officially resolved and they are returning to Eurovision in 2017. In 1994 Romania debuted in Ireland by sending Dan Bittman as the countrys first contestant with the song Dincolo de nori, by failing to receive a high place in the final, Romania was not allowed to participate in 1995, and had to wait until 1996. In 1996 Romania selected Monica Anghel and Sincron for the contest in Oslo, Norway, because of the low results in the previous years, Romania did not enter for the 1997 contest. In 2000 Romania again returned to the contest held in Stockholm, Sweden, the band did not succeed to get a high place, so yet again Romania would have to miss the 2001 contest held in Denmark. They did manage to bring the first „12 points” for the country, after missing the 2001 contest, Romania returned to the contest held in Tallinn, Estonia in 2002. The country finally received their first top 10 place since their debut, Romania ended on 9th place with 71 points, of which 12 from two countries, Macedonia and Russia. The success from last year continued, witnessing Romania reach another top 10 place in Riga, Nicola and her song Dont Break My Heart. The song was on the 10th place by receiving a total of 73 points, once again, they received 12 points from Russia. In 2004, Romania sent Sanda to compete for the country with the song I Admit, yet they received ten points from Spain. Romania was on 1st place in the semi-final with 235 points, more points than those received by winning Greece in the final. Up to date, Romanias best result is third. They got twelve points from Moldova and Spain solely, but received at least one point from every voting nation that year but the Netherlands, yet they received a couplet of twelve points among others. The song wasnt a failure, as it won the Marcel Bezençon composer award and it received points from Moldova. Gheorghe only took top points from Moldova, which awarded her 12 points, Spain, which usually gave Romania their twelve points only rewarded them with seven points. They got the twelve points from Moldova,10 points from Spain, Portugal, Israel, Norway and Sweden and eight points from the United Kingdom, Denmark. During the National Selection, an act was held after the midnight passed. Niamh Kavanagh, Chiara Siracusa, Paula Seling and Ovi sang together Happy New Year, the winner was the band Hotel FM with the song Change
Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Todomondo at Helsinki (2007)
Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Romania
Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Nico & Vlad at Belgrade (2008)
Romania in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Mandinga at Baku (2012)
71.
San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest
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San Marino has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 7 times, debuting in the 2008 contest, followed by participation in 2011,2012 and 2013. Having failed to qualify in their first four attempts, San Marino qualified for the Eurovision final for the first time in 2014, five months later, the broadcaster confirmed their participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 in Belgrade. The first Sammarinese entry in the Eurovision Song Contest was Miodio, San Marino holds the honour of being the 50th country to participate at Eurovision, participating 5th in the first semi-final of the contest. However, Miodio failed to qualify for the final, receiving just 5 points in total, despite this, the winner of the 2008 contest, Dima Bilan, concluded his Winners Tour in San Marino. SMRTV had originally planned to compete at the 2009 contest in Moscow, the Sammarinese Minister of Culture announced shortly after the 2008 contest that they have good hopes to return. SMRTV announced that it would be reviewing the 2008 contest, in the end, SMRTV announced its withdrawal from the 2009 contest, having already applied to enter. The broadcaster insisted that this was not due to the results of the previous year. San Marino did not return for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, the broadcaster announced that it hoped to return to the competition in the future and discussed possible participation in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. SMRTV made an application to participate in the 2011 contest, which was later confirmed and it was the second participation in the ESC for San Marino. The singer Senit was announced as the Sammarinese entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 and she sang Stand By, performed in English. As in 2008, SMRTV broadcast the full event, for the second time, San Marino failed to qualify for the final, coming sixteenth out of nineteen countries, with 34 points. On 17 January, it was confirmed by the EBU that San Marino will be participating in the 2012 edition, SMRTV confirmed on 14 March, that Valentina Monetta would represent San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in May. She was internally selected by SMRTV, facebook Uh, Oh, Oh was presented as the Sanmarinese entry. However, it was announced that the songs lyric breached rule 1.2.2. g of the competition, the lyric and the title of the song were changed shortly afterwards to The Social Network Song. Monetta performed the song during the first semi-final, but failed to advance to the final, San Marino confirmed in November 2012 that they would participate in the 2013 contest. Artist Lys Assia had been rumoured to represent the country with her song All in your head which failed to make the final of Switzerland. Instead, at a conference in January 2013, Valentina Monetta was revealed as the choice to represent San Marino at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2013. She performed the song Crisalide in the second semi-final on 16 May in Malmö, for the fourth time, San Marino failed to qualify for the final, despite being, unlike previous year, a fans favourite
San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Miodio performing " Complice " at Belgrade
San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest
San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Valentina Monetta performing Maybe in 2014 at Copenhagen
72.
Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Slovenia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 22 times since its debut in 1993. Since then, the country has missed two contests, in 1994 and 2000. Slovenias best result in the contest is seventh place, both in 1995 with Darja Švajger and 2001 with Nuša Derenda, the countrys only other top ten result being a tenth-place finish for Tanja Ribič in 1997. Since the introduction of the round in 2004, Slovenia has failed to reach the final on nine occasions. Slovenia had previously represented at the contest as Yugoslavia between 1961 and 1991. Four of the 27 entries were from Slovene artists, the Slovene national final to select their entry is EMA, broadcast, along with Eurovision, by Radiotelevizija Slovenija. Table key NOTE, If a country had won the previous year, in addition from 2004–2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. If, for example, Germany and France placed inside the top ten, the countries who placed 11th and 12th were advanced to the following years grand final along with the rest of the top ten countries
Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Alenka Gotar performing " Cvet z juga " at Helsinki (2007)
Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest
Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Rebeka Dremelj performing " Vrag naj vzame " at Belgrade (2008)
Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Ansambel Žlindra and Kalamari performing " Narodnozabavni rock " at Oslo (2010)
73.
United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest
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The United Kingdom has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 59 times and is one of the most successful countries to compete in the contest. They first participated in the second contest in 1957, the UK has entered every year since 1959, and has won the contest a total of five times. Along with Sweden, the UK is one of two countries with Eurovision victories in four different decades. The British public broadcaster, the BBC, broadcasts the event each year and organises the selection process for the entry. For most years, the public had been able to vote for the winner, using in the past postcard voting, where the viewers sent postcards with their vote to the BBC, but more recently televoting. In 2009 and 2010, a new national selection format was held to find the singer who would go on to sing the internally selected song at the contest. From 2011 to 2015, for the first time in UKs Eurovision history and this resulted in the national selection process being suspended, however, this returned in 2016. The United Kingdom has finished last in three contests, in 2016, the UK failed to reach the top 10 for the seventh consecutive time, with the duo Joe and Jake finishing 24th. It was alleged that the United Kingdom were expected to take part in the first contest in 1956, and this was later revealed by the EBU in January 2017 to be a mythical fact created by fans of the contest. Patricia Bredin was the first performer to represent the UK at Eurovision, at their second attempt in the contest in 1959, the UK achieved the first of their record fifteen runner-up positions, when Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson sang Sing, Little Birdie. In 1968, another performer was selected to represent the UK with the song Congratulations. In London, Cliff Richard gave the UK their sixth second-place finish, Congratulations remains one of only two non-winning UK Eurovision songs to top the UK charts. The UKs pulling of second was provided by the Scottish singer Lulu in 1969 with the song Boom Bang-a-Bang, another established performer, she had reached the US #1 spot with To Sir with Love in 1967. Having finished second on three occasions in the 1970s, with Mary Hopkin in 1970, The New Seekers in 1972. The UK achieved their victory in 1976 with Brotherhood of Man and Save Your Kisses for Me, who won with 164 points. In 1977, the UK finished second for the time represented by Lynsey de Paul. The UKs fourth victory came in 1981, with Bucks Fizz, the group was created especially for the UK selection contest A Song for Europe. At Eurovision in Dublin, they defeated Germanys Lena Valaitis by four points, the group went on to continued success, with 13 UK top 40 hits over the next five years
United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Ronnie Carroll at Luxembourg (1962)
United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest
United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Kathy Kirby at Naples (1965)
United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Scooch at Helsinki (2007)
74.
Andorra in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Andorra has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest six times, debuting in the 2004 contest. Interest in the contest had been great for a time, despite the local Andorran broadcaster, Ràdio i Televisió dAndorra. A majority of the songs have so far been sung in Catalan, as of 2017, Andorra is the only country to have participated in the contest and never to have featured in the final. Despite the homeland interest in the competition, Andorra has never qualified for the final, in 2007, a qualification for the final was predicted, but with a 12th-place finish, it just missed out. In the past RTVA held a large reality show contest to select its entry for Eurovision, from 2006, RTVA held an internal selection process to select the Andorran entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. RTVA confirmed its participation in the 2009 contest in Moscow, Russia and it announced that there would be a public selection process - something not seen in the country since 2005. Andorras 2009 entry once again failed to qualify, getting only 8 points in the semifinal, in the finals, Andorra has always given its 12 points to Spain, with the exception of 2007. As the two nations are neighbouring, this has very little to dispel accusations of political voting which have been going on for a long time. In December 2009, RTVA announced that Andorra would withdraw from the 2010 Contest due to a lack of funding for an Andorran entry and this came after RTVA submitted an entry for the contest, in case funding could be found to submit an entry. However no funding could be found, and so Andorra was forced to withdraw, Andorra did not participate in the 2011 contest due to financial difficulties, or in the 2012 contest, for the same reason. Andorra did not participate in subsequent contests, on 8 November 2011, it was announced by the Andorran broadcaster, RTVA, that they would leave the EBU, due to financial reasons and a cut of subsidies from the Andorran government. After a meeting with the EBU director Ingrid Deltenre in June 2012, RTVA decided to stay in the EBU, ^ Andorra finished in 23rd place at the 2006 contest, even though 24 countries appear on the semi-final scoreboard published by the European Broadcasting Union. Serbia & Montenegro withdrew from the competition before the contest but still voted, as of 2009, Andorras voting history is as follows, Points to and from Andorra - eurovisioncovers. co. uk RTVAs Eurovision page EuroAndorra, the Pyrenean eurosite OGAE Andorra site
Andorra in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Marta Roure performing " Jugarem a estimar-nos " at Istanbul (2004)
Andorra in the Eurovision Song Contest
Andorra in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Anonymous performing " Salvem el món " at Helsinki (2007)
Andorra in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Gisela performing " Casanova " at Belgrade (2008)
75.
Monaco in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Monaco has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 24 times since its debut in 1959. The countrys only win in the contest came in 1971 when Séverine performed Un banc, un arbre, in 1972, Monaco was expected to host the contest, but declined. Monaco is still today, the only microstate which has won the Eurovision Song Contest, Monaco finished last at its first contest in 1959 before achieving three top three results in the 1960s. Two of these were achieved by François Deguelt, who finished third in 1960, romuald also finished third in 1964. Severines victory in 1971 was the first of five top four results in eight years, the others were achieved by Romauld, Mary Christy who was third in 1976, Michèle Torr, fourth in 1977 and Caline & Olivier Toussaint who were fourth in 1978. After participating in 1979, Monaco was absent from the contest for 25 years, Monaco returned to the contest for three years from 2004 to 2006 but failed to qualify from the semi-finals. The Monegasque broadcaster then withdrew from the contest saying that regional voting patterns in the contest have effectively given Monaco no chance of qualifying for the final, Monaco participated in the contest 21 times between its debut in 1959 and 1979. Afterwards the country withdrew from the contest for financial reasons and it only returned in 2004,25 years after its last participation. It withdrew again in 2007, after failing to qualify for the final for three consecutive years, Monaco won the contest in 1971, with the song Un banc, un arbre, une rue, performed by Séverine. The Monegasque victory is rather particular in the history of Eurovision because the songwriter, the singer and the director were not from the country they represented, Séverine even declared to journalists that she had never set foot in Monaco, forgetting that the video-clip was filmed there. Séverines producer was dishonest with her and stole her prize, thus she never got paid for her victory, nevertheless, the singer is still a great fan of the contest. Monacos next best placing has been second which it has achieved once at the 1962 and it has been third three times, in 1960,1964 and 1976, and last twice, in 1959 and 1966. Monaco is among the eight countries which finished last on their first participation, the others being Austria, Portugal, Malta, Turkey, Lithuania, the Czech Republic and San Marino. After winning in 1971, the decided to organise the 1972 contest as an open-air show. However, because of a lack of funds and material, Télé Monte Carlo sought help from the French public broadcaster, ORTF, because TMC wanted the show to be held in Monaco while ORTF wanted it in France, negotiations never succeeded. Monaco left it up to the EBU, the EBU asked Spain and Germany, who respectively finished second and third at the 1971 contest, but the countries were not interested in organising the 1972 contest. It was eventually organised by the BBC in Edinburgh, Monaco was absent from the contest between 1980 and 2003, before returning for three years from 2004–2006, but Maryon, Lise Darly and Séverine Ferrer all failed to progress from the semi-finals. TMC broadcast the 2007 contest opening the way for participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, despite this, Monaco did not compete in Moscow in 2009
Monaco in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Marjorie Noël performing " Va dire à l'amour " in Naples
Monaco in the Eurovision Song Contest
76.
Slovakia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Slovakia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest seven times, debuting in 1994. It had attempted to debut in 1993, but did not pass through the qualifying round, in the first three finals that Slovakia participated in, it placed no better than 18th, which it achieved in 1996. Because of its results, it was forced to miss a year after each contest. It did eventually return to the Contest eleven years later, in 2009, Slovakia had planned on entering the contest at the 1993 contest, but with the introduction of many new countries, a preliminary round was held to trim down the number of new entries. Kvalifikacija za Millstreet featured seven countries competing for three places in the final. Slovakia came fourth in the contest, represented by Elán with Amnestia na neveru, Slovakias Eurovision entries in the 1990s werent very successful, finishing 19th, 18th and 21st. After the 1998 contest, STV decided not to again for a number of years. From 1994 to 1998, STV used a selection to select the Slovak entry for the contest. In 2009, Slovakia organised a national final for the first time. A number of heats preceded a grand final, held on March 8,2009 and Kamil Mikulčík and they finished on 18th place out of 19 in semi-final. Slovakia tried again in 2010 contest with Horehronie by Kristina with similar result, despite being the fan, on 18 February 2011, RTVS revealed their choice for Slovakias Eurovision 2011 entry. The song was Im Still Alive and was performed by twin sisters Daniela, Daniela and Veronika Nízlová had some experience at Eurovision before as backing singers and dancers for Tereza Kerndlová, the Czech entry in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. The 2011 entry was the first Slovak entry performed in English, TWiiNS eventually finished 13th in their Semi Final, which meant they did not qualify for the Grand Final. However, they provided the best result for their country in many years, RTVS sent an artist once again to the Contest in 2012, with a song that was selected internally by RTVS. At a press conference on 7 March 2012, the Slovak entry for the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest was announced and he performed in the second semi final, that was held on Thursday, May 24,2012. The song did not qualify in the finals and it was later revealed that the song finished in last place with 22 points. On 4 December 2012, RTVS announced its withdrawal from Eurovision Song Contest 2013 and it had also been announced that Slovakia would not return at Eurovision Song Contest 2015, citing financial constraints and an incompatibility between the contest and the programming goals of RTVS. However RTVS returned to the Eurovision Young Dancers in 2015, with RTVS explaining that the return of Slovakia to EYD supported domestic production, RTVS announced on 28 September 2015 that Slovakia would not participate in the 2016 contest
Slovakia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Nela Pocisková in Moscow (2009)
Slovakia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Slovakia
Slovakia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Kristina in Oslo (2010)
Slovakia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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TWiiNS in Düsseldorf (2011)
77.
Eesti Laul
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Eesti Laul is an annual music competition organised by Estonian public broadcaster Eesti Rahvusringhääling. It determines the countrys representative for the Eurovision Song Contest, and has been staged every year since 2009, the contest was introduced in 2009, replacing the former Eurolaul festival, used since Estonias first participation in Eurovision in 1993. Since its introduction, the competition has been one of the most popular programmes in Estonia, it is also broadcast on radio. In 2012, the semifinals averaged 199 thousand viewers, and over an estimated 296 thousand people in Estonia watched the final, the contest was introduced by ERR, the organisers of the contest, with a different philosophy on the contest used previously. Eesti Laul was introduced to produce an Estonian contest, with Estonian musical tastes being presented to a European audience, the contest is also an open one, with all information of the songs being revealed in the selection process. The festival has produced three top-ten placings for Estonia at the contest, the winner of the Eesti Laul has been chosen by televoting and panels of jurors since its inception. The competition makes an impact on music charts in Estonia. The introduction of semifinals in 2011 raised the number of contestants from ten to twenty. The introduction of a grand final hosted in Saku Suurhall has attracted tourism to the city. Most of rules are dictated by those of the Eurovision Song Contest, however, regulations have been introduced by the Estonian broadcaster. The competitions official rules are released by ERR early in preparation for each years Eest Laul, there is a limit of six people on stage for each performance. All vocals had to be live, human voices are not allowed on backing tracks. Entries usually are not publicly broadcast until the songsare previewed on television, until 2017, competing songs were only permitted if they were written by all-Estonian team. Since 2017, foreign collaborations were allowed as long as 50% of the authors were Estonians. Artists and songwriters were allowed to submit up to three songs each with an exception to rule for songwriters who participated in songwriting camps organised by the Estonian Song Academy. The twenty selected songs in the contest are shown to the Estonian public through two semi-finals, from each semi-final, five acts get through to the final show. The first winner of Eesti Laul was Urban Symphony with the song Rändajad, at Eurovision, the group changed Estonias previous fortunes at Eurovision, qualifying to the final, and placing 6th in the final with 129 points. Entries which did not qualify for the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest are listed in red and this list includes those who have acted as presenters of Eesti Laul
Eesti Laul
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Eesti Laul
78.
A Dal
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A Dal is the national selection process in Hungary for the Eurovision Song Contest. The contest was introduced in 2012, the contest was introduced by the Médiaszolgáltatás-támogató és Vagyonkezelő Alap, the organisers of the contest, with a different philosophy on the contest used previously. A Dal was introduced to produce a Hungarian contest, with Hungarian musical tastes being presented to a European audience, the contest is also an open one, with all information of the songs being revealed in the selection process. The selected songs in the contest are shown to the Hungarian public through a number of special shows and it includes three heats, two semi-finals, and then a final. Ten songs compete in heat, with six moving on to the semi-finals. Nine songs compete in each semi-final, four songs from each semi-final move on to the final, two advancing due to the jury and two due to the public. The final winner is selected through two rounds of voting, the first round selects the top four songs out of the eight finalists, the first round uses only the jury and the second round uses only the public. The first winner of A Dal was the band Compact Disco with the song Sound of Our Hearts, at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, the group qualified to the final, and placing 24th in the final with 19 points. The most successful A Dal winner is András Kállay-Saunders and his song Running, at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, Kállay-Saunders qualified for the final and later placed 5th with 143 points, earning Hungarys second best placement ever and only top five finish since 1994. Hungary in the Eurovision Song Contest
A Dal
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A Dal
79.
Kdam Eurovision
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The Kdam Eurovision in short known as the Kdam is the Israeli national preselection of the Eurovision Song Contest. The competition was first introduced in 1981, Israel has won the Eurovision Song Contest three times. Izhar Cohen and Alphabeta in 1978 and Milk and Honey in 1979 took part in the Israel Song Festival, emerged as winners of the preselection, Dana International, the Israeli winner in 1998 was chosen in an internal selection contest and not at Kdam. That year, Israel was represented by Esther Ofarim for Switzerland, regular television broadcasts of broadcasts in Israel began in May 1968. In 1972, Ilanit and Shlomo Zach argued that the Israel Broadcasting Authority was entitled to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest, IBA agreed and asked that Ilanit represent Israel at the Eurovision Song Contest in Edinburgh in 1972. But the registration period had already closed for the 1972 competition, in 1973, Ilanit won the bid to represent Israel in Luxembourg at that year’s Eurovision Song Contest, becoming the first official Israeli entry to Eurovision. A committee of the IBA was in charge of selecting the song, Ehud Manor and Nurit Hirsh wrote the chosen song, Ey Sham in Hebrew, although in that years contest, entrants did not have to sing in their national languages. Manor explained that they saw the importance of having that song represent Israel in Hebrew, Ilanit placed fourth in the first-ever Israeli entry. In 1977 Israel sent back Ilanit for a time, with Ahava Hi Shir Lishnayim. After the second Ilanit showing in 1977, the method of voting was changed, in the next two years 1978 and 1979, Israels Eurovision entrants were the winners in the Israel Song Festival. In both cases, the won the Eurovision title. The songs were A-Ba-Ni-Bi by Izhar Cohen in 1978 and Hallelujah by Milk, after winning with Hallelujah, Israel had the right to host the 25th Eurovision contest, but the Israeli budget was not large enough to host two consecutive contests. In 1981, it was decided to change the selection process competition for Israeli artists through competition under Kdam Eurovision. The first such competition was held on 3 March 1981, the band Hakol Over Habibi won the competition in 1981, for 26th Eurovision Contest in Dublin with the song Halayla. Among the prominent Kdam songs that competed were Cinderella by Sexta, Hora by Avi Toledano, the 1984 Eurovision Song Contest in Luxembourg was again set on Yom Hazikaron Memorial Day and Israel canceled its participation yet again. Israel had already picked the song Balalaika by singer Ilanit for the years competition, Kdam Eurovision Song Contest returned for 1985,1986 and 1987. In 1988, IBA suspended the Kdam competition as a cost-cutting measure, Yardena Arazi performed four songs with selected the song Ben Adam. Kdam returned in 1989, with Gili & Galit with Derekh Hamelekh, in 1991,1992,1993,1995 and 1996, the Kdam Eurovision competitions were held
Kdam Eurovision
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Kdam Eurovision logo
80.
Supernova (Latvian TV series)
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Supernova is a Latvian music entertainment show created by the Latvian broadcaster, LTV. It is currently used as the Latvian national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, supernova began airing in 2015, replacing the previous short-lived Latvian national selection Dziesma. Its first winner, Aminata Savadogo went on to bring Latvia to the finals for the first time since 2008, earning Latvia their best placing since 2005, supernova 2015 consisted of two introduction shows, two heats, a semi-final, and a final. The introduction shows took place on 18 and 25 January 2015, the heats on 1 and 8 February 2015, the semi-final on 15 February 2015, and the final on 22 February 2015. The season started out with twenty competitors, however, only four made it to the final, a mix of jury voting and voting from the public decided the qualifiers of the heats and semi-finals, however, only voting from the public decided the winner of the final. Supernova 2016 consisted of two shows, two heats, a semi-final, and a final. The introduction shows took place on 24 and 31 January 2016, the heats on 7 and 14 February 2016, the semi-final on 21 February 2016, the competing artists and their songs were revealed during the second introduction show. The season started out with twenty competitors, however, only four made it to the final, a mix of jury voting and voting from the public decided the qualifiers of the heats and semi-finals, however, only voting from the public decided the winner of the final. Supernova 2017 consisted of two shows, two heats, a semi-final, and a final. The introduction shows took place on 22 and 29 January 2017, the heats on 5 and 12 February 2017, the semi-final on 19 February 2017, the competing artists and their songs were revealed on 13 January 2017. The season started out with twenty-two competitors, however, only four made it to the final, a mix of jury voting and voting from the public decided the qualifiers of the heats and semi-finals, however, only voting from the public decided the winner of the final
Supernova (Latvian TV series)
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Supernova
81.
Eurosong - A MAD Show
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Eurosong - A MAD Show was the national final in search for Greeces song and artist for the Eurovision Song Contest. ERT selected for Eurovision from 2013 to 2015, ERT announced that it had reached an agreement with private music channel MAD TV to take on the organization and production of a national final to select a song to represent Greece in the contest. Additionally, MAD TV will also handle all related preparations associated with the contest, ERT stated that it had taken this decision, after reaching out to record labels and failing to secure a deal with them as in previous years. Additionally, this marks the first time in Greeces participation that ERT outsourced the organization of the final to a private channel. The Eurosong 2014 was broadcast by DT, but the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, was broadcast by NERIT, also, Eurosong is the succeeded pre-selection for Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest, which replaced the Ellinikós Telikós. Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest Ellinikós Telikós
Eurosong - A MAD Show
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The Eurosong 2014 logo.
Eurosong - A MAD Show
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Koza Mostra and Agathonas Iakovidis, the 2013 winners.
Eurosong - A MAD Show
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Freaky Fortune and Riskykidd, the 2014 winners.
Eurosong - A MAD Show
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Maria Elena Kyriakou, the 2015 winner.
82.
Beovizija
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Beovizija was a music festival established in 2003. Since 2007 it was the selection for Serbias representative at the Eurovision Song Contest. Beovizija was organised and broadcast live each year by RTS1, on RTRS in Bosnia and Herzegovina and it was held during February at Belgrades Sava Centar. The competition started in 2004 and was one of the most watched entertainment events in Serbia. In December 2009, RTS announced that it is changing the way it will select its Eurovision competitor and has thus cancelled Beovizija, therefore, the last Beovizija held was in 2009. Serbia and Montenegro were originally due to enter the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time in 2003 since a 11-year expulsion, the expulsion was brought about the break out of wars in the former Yugoslavia under which Serbia and Montenegro participated for the last time in 1992. Unfortunately the EBU stated that too many countries wanted to enter in that year, Serbia and Montenegro was one of them. As a result, Serbia and Montenegro entered the year instead. It was decided that Beovizija would be Serbia’s semi final while Montevizija would be Montenegro’s semi final, the best from the two would compete in a united final show contest under the name Evropesma. The first Beovizija was held a year before Serbia and Montenegro entered Eurovision and was more of a night for the Serbian music industry. In 2003 and 200428 songs competed while 25 were allowed to compete in 2005 and 2006, the voting system has always been 50% jury and 50% televoting while 12,10,8,7.2,1 are awarded to songs. However the number of members has changed. From 2004 -2006 there were 8 jury members while from 2007 there have been only 3 members of the jury for both the semi-final and final night, in 2006 Serbia and Montenegro peacefully split after a referendum. Serbia became an independent country and thus Beovizija became the national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, the country was to debut for the first time independently in 2007. Marija Šerifović - Serbia’s representative won Eurovision that year, Beovizija was held over two nights in February. The semi-final consisted of 20 songs, the public’s and jury’s vote was combined to determine the 10 best songs to proceed to the final. Similarly, the winner of Beovizija was determined, the Serbian music industry awards were handed out on the final night of Beovizija. In 2008 the semi-final were to be held on February 19,2008 while the final a day later
Beovizija
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Beovizija Беовизија
Beovizija
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2008 Beovizija stage
Beovizija
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Beovizija 2008 host couples; Kristina Radenković and Branislav Katić (to the left) and Nina Radulović and Đorđe Maričić (to the right)
83.
OGAE Second Chance Contest
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The OGAE Second Chance Contest is a visual event which was founded in 1987 and is organised by branches of OGAE, the international fan club of the Eurovision Song Contest. Four nations competed in the first contest which took place in 1987, the contest was previously a non-televised event, but evolved over the years by the usage of video tape and nowadays DVD and YouTube. Each summer following the Eurovision Song Contest, each branch can enter one song that failed to win the national selection process for the annual Eurovision Song Contest. The members of each club choose amongst the songs that did not win, votes are cast by members of the OGAE clubs and are returned to the OGAE branch organising the particular years event. Guest juries have been used to cast votes since 1993, the contest began in 1987, when it was then known as Europes Favourite. Four OGAE branches competed in the first contest, coming from the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, the contest quickly expanded and now contains over 20 countries competing each year. Due to the nature of some countries and national finals it is a common occurrence for countries to compete in the contest. The contest takes place during the summer after the years Eurovision Song Contest, a video entry from each branch of OGAE is handed to each competing OGAE club. The votes are then returned to the organising OGAE branch, normally the previous years winning branch, the method of voting has developed since the contests interception, from audio-tape in the contests beginnings to the use of video tape and nowadays by DVD and YouTube. Previously it had known for non-televised national final entries to compete in the Second Chance Contest. This occurred from 1989 to 1991 when OGAE Spain entered songs known to have entered into the countrys internal selection process. After 1999 a new rule was introduced allowing only songs from televised national finals to compete in the Second Chance Contest and this has led some branches ineligible to compete for many years due to no national final being held in the country. In 1993 guest juries have been used in the voting of the contest and these juries are composed of branches that are ineligible to compete in the contest due to no national final being held in their country. Participation in the Second Chance Contest requires competing branches to have had a national final held in their country for the years Eurovision Song Contest. So far 37 countries have represented at the contest at least once. These are listed alongside the year in which they made their debut. Their first participation came at the 2009 Contest, where represented by Slovakia. From 2003 it was decided to hold Retrospective Contests each year containing songs from prior to 1987
OGAE Second Chance Contest
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Arja Saijonmaa winner of the first edition of the OGAE Second Chance Contest in 1987.
OGAE Second Chance Contest
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Map showing each country's number of OGAE Second Chance wins up to and including 2014.
OGAE Second Chance Contest
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Carola was the winner of the 1990 Second Chance Contest, before going on to win the Eurovision Song Contest the following year.
OGAE Second Chance Contest
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Gladys del Pilar winner of the 1994 Second Chance Contest.
84.
Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits
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The concert took place on 31 March 2015 at the Eventim Apollo, in Hammersmith, London. Guy Freeman was the producer and Geoff Posner the director. Simon Proctor was the producer and David Arch was the musical director for the concert. Tickets for the event went on sale at 10am on 6 February 2015, Graham Norton and Petra Mede hosted the event, which saw fifteen acts from thirteen countries performing their Eurovision entries from yesteryear. During the televised show, video montages for some of the Eurovision Song Contest archives were shown in-between each live performance, the United Kingdom entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 was performed at the concert, but never broadcast on the televised show. Riverdance performed a reprise of their 1994 Eurovision Song Contest interval act as part of the anniversary celebrations, the host broadcaster, BBC, and Raidió Teilifís Éireann, simulcast the show on Good Friday,3 April 2015. The Dutch broadcaster, AVROTROS, were the first to announce their decision to not broadcast the event, other countries also announced their decision to decline broadcasting the event, including Luxembourg, who had an act taking part in the event. Confirmation was revealed on 3 February 2015 that the event were to take place in the Eventim Apollo, in Hammersmith. The last time the United Kingdom capital held any Eurovision events was the Eurovision Dance Contest 2007, the details regarding the title of the show were unknown at the time the announcement was made. A decision is expected shortly, so stay tuned, edgar Böhm, executive producer of the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest said in an interview that the BBC had been chosen to host a special anniversary show. Tickets for the concert went on sale from 10, 15am on Friday 6 February 2015 via the BBCs Eurovision website. On 3 February 2015 it was announced that Graham Norton and Petra Mede would co-host the concert show, Norton, who co-hosted the Eurovision Dance Contest with Claudia Winkleman in 2007 and 2008, and is also the current Eurovision commentator for the United Kingdom. Mede was the host for Melodifestivalen 2009, host for the Eurovision Song Contest 2013, fifteen artists, representing thirteen countries, consisting of some of Eurovisions greatest hits, took part in the sixtieth anniversary gala event. The first-ever winner of the contest, Lys Assia, appeared in the audience as a guest of honour, recap montages of Eurovision entries over the last sixty years, were also broadcast in-between performances. These were as follows, Electro Velvet performed their United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 entry and this performance did not appear on the televised show, but was exclusively done for the audience members of the concert hall itself. It was confirmed on 22 March 2015 that the act for Eurovision Song Contests Greatest Hits would be Riverdance. Fifteen Eurovision acts from thirteen countries participated in the anniversary concert, although there were originally fourteen acts confirmed by the BBC, it was later announced on 5 March 2015 that Norways Bobbysocks would join the line-up increasing the total to fifteen. Video montages were shown prior to entry, showing footage for that particular years contest
Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits
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The Eventim Apollo, London
Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits
Eurovision Song Contest's Greatest Hits
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Graham Norton and Petra Mede, the show's two hosts, during the show at the Eventim Apollo.
85.
Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Armenia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 10 times since making its debut in 2006, and has reached the top 10 on seven occasions. Armenias best result in the contest is two fourth-place finishes, achieved by Sirusho in 2008 with the song Qélé, Qélé,2011 is the only year that Armenia has failed to advance from the semi-final round. This was followed by the country withdrawing from the 2012 contest due to security concerns, Armenia debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2006 with the song Without Your Love performed by André. Armenia had never entered the competition before, therefore it had to compete in the semi final, André was the first performer of the semi-finals. The song reached the final of the contest on 20 May 2006, Armenia was one of only three countries that had always placed in the top ten since the introduction of the semi-finals. This record was broken at the 2011 contest, when Emmy, on 7 March 2012, Armenia announced that it would be withdrawing from the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, because of security concerns. Despite their 2012 withdrawal, Armenia confirmed participation in the 2013 contest in Sweden, in 2014 Armenia reached the top 10 after 4 years, represented by Aram Mp3 with the song Not Alone placed 4th. This is the best place that Armenia ever got alongside with Sirusho with the song Qélé, Qélé in 2008, table key NOTE, If a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. In addition from 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. If, for example, Germany and France placed inside the top ten, founded by Christer Björkman and Richard Herrey, the awards are named after the creator of the annual competition, Marcel Bezençon. The awards are divided into three categories, Press Award, Artistic Award, and Composer Award. co. uk
Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Hayko performing " Anytime You Need " at Helsinki (2007)
Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest
Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Sirusho performing " Qélé, Qélé " at Belgrade (2008)
Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Dorians performing " Lonely Planet " at Malmö (2013)
For the most recent participation see
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Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest
