1.
Albania
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Albania, officially the Republic of Albania, is a country in Southeastern Europe. It has a population of 3.03 million as of 2016, Tirana is the nations capital and largest city, followed by Durrës and Vlorë. The country has a coastline on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, the Adriatic Sea to the west. Albania is less than 72 km from Italy, across the Strait of Otranto which connects the Adriatic Sea to the Ionian Sea. In antiquity, the area of Albania was home to several Illyrian, Thracian. After the Illyrian Wars, it part of the Roman provinces of Dalmatia, Macedonia and Moesia Superior. In 1190, the first Albanian state, the Principality of Arbanon was established by archon Progon in the region of Krujë, the territory of Albania was conquered by the Ottoman Empire in the 15th century, of which it remained part of for the next five centuries. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in Europe, following the Balkan Wars, the Kingdom of Albania was invaded by Italy in 1939, which formed Greater Albania, before becoming a Nazi German protectorate in 1943. The following year, a socialist Peoples Republic was established under the leadership of Enver Hoxha, Albania experienced widespread social and political transformations in the communist era, as well as isolation from much of the international community. In 1991, the Socialist Republic was dissolved and the Republic of Albania was established, Albania is a democratic and developing country with an upper-middle income economy. The service sector dominates the economy, followed by the industrial. After the fall of communism in Albania, Free-market reforms have opened the country to foreign investment, especially in the development of energy, Albania has a high HDI and provides universal health care system and free primary and secondary education to its citizens. Albania is a member of the United Nations, NATO, WTO, World Bank, the Council of Europe, the OSCE and it is also an official candidate for membership in the European Union. Albania is one of the members of the Energy Community, Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. It is home to the largest lake in Southern Europe and one of the oldest lakes in Europe, Albania is the Medieval Latin name of the country. The name may have a continuation in the name of a settlement called Albanon and Arbanon. During the Middle Ages, the Albanians called their country Arbëri or Arbëni, Albanians today call their country Shqipëri. As early as the 17th century the placename Shqipëria and the ethnic demonym Shqiptarë gradually replaced Arbëria, the two terms are popularly interpreted as Land of the Eagles and Children of the Eagles
Albania
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Albanian Peasants costumes - illustration by Percy Anderson for Costume Fanciful, Historical and Theatrical, 1906
Albania
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Flag
Albania
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After serving the
Ottoman Empire for 20 years
Skanderbeg deserted and began a rebellion (helmet of
George Kastrioti preserved in
Vienna).
Albania
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Köprülü Mehmed Pasha was the most effective and influential
Ottoman Grand Vizier of
Albanian origin.
2.
Radio Televizioni Shqiptar
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Radio Televizioni Shqiptar is the public broadcaster of Albania, founded in 1938 in Tirana. RTSH runs two analogue and digital television stations RTSH1 HD and RTSH2 HD, five digital thematic television stations known as RTSH, in addition, four regional radio and TV stations serve in Gjirokastër, Korçë, Kukës, and Shkodër. The international radio service broadcasts radio programmes in Albanian and seven other languages via medium wave, and uses the theme from the song Këputa një gjethe dafine as its signature tune. Since 1999, RTSH has been a member of the European Broadcasting Union, RTSH is the official organizer of the Albanian Song Festival Festivali i Kenges, the winner of which represents Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest. RTSH is funded by a combination of advertising, a licence fee of US$12.00. The beginnings of RTSH date to the creation of Radio Tirana on 28 November 1938, the first Albanian radio station was launched by King Zog I and Queen Geraldine Apponyi in a ceremony at the former building of the Municipality of Tirana. This officially marked the first broadcast of Radio Tirana, in 1987,66 hours of programmes were broadcast in 20 foreign languages every day. In 1959, Radio Tiranas director by that time, Petro Kita, founded the first Experimental Television Center to provide the basis for the latter Albanian television, TVSH. The first test programme was held on 29 April 1960, at 6,00 pm and was introduced by the journalist Stoli Beli, the official launch was set for 1 May 1960. Children movies and then programmes were broadcast, three times a week for about one hour. Television programs were launched by 1971. Color broadcasts started in 1981, and became regular by 1982, in 2002 TVSH ranked second with an audience share of 17. 1%. The second channel, TVSH2, began broadcasts in 2003. In 2012, several digital channels were launched under the RTSH logo. Despite the countrys size and isolationist policies, Radio Tirana was a fairly major international broadcaster during the Cold War. Its programmes had a reputation for being more than dull propaganda. During Albanias alliance with China in the 1960s and 1970s, Radio Tirana had to walk a line between being anti-West whilst also being anti-Soviet. As such, Radio Tirana kept close to the policy of the Peoples Republic of China
Radio Televizioni Shqiptar
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King Zog and Queen Geraldine Apponyi (here on a picture from 1939) launched Radio Tirana in 1938.
Radio Televizioni Shqiptar
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Pin badge, late 1980s
Radio Televizioni Shqiptar
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Mount Dajt overlooking Tirana. RTSH transmitters are mounted on the highest peak at the altitude of 1613 meters.
Radio Televizioni Shqiptar
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RTSH Headquarters in Tirana
3.
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
4.
Eurovision Song Contest 2012
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was the 57th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, following Ell & Nikkis win at the 2011 contest in Düsseldorf, the contest was held at the newly constructed Baku Crystal Hall, with semi-finals held on 22 and 24 May 2012, followed by the final held on 26 May 2012. The contest was won by singer Loreen from Sweden with the song Euphoria—written by Thomas G, son and Peter Boström, russia finished in second place, with Serbia finishing in third. They were followed by the host country, Azerbaijan, which reached the 4th place, albania finished 5th, achieving its first top 5 placing. Germany, Italy and Spain were the three members of the Big Five that managed to rank within the top 10, finishing in 8th, 9th and 10th places respectively. Azerbaijan got the right to host the 2012 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest after winning the previous 2011 edition with the song Running Scared performed by Ell & Nikki. Shortly after Azerbaijans victory at the 2011 edition, officials announced that a new 23,000 seat concert venue was to be built near National Flag Square in Baku, as a potential venue for the event. Three days later, other options were revealed by organisers, such as the 37, 000-seat Tofiq Bahramov Stadium. On 2 August 2011, Alpine Bau Deutschland AG was awarded the contract to construct the Baku Crystal Hall, preparations for construction began in the area shortly after the announcement. Even though the full cost of the contract was not named, on 8 September 2011, Azad Azerbaijan TV reported that Baku Crystal Hall would be the venue of the contest, but no formal confirmation was made at the time by the EBU. On 25 January 2012, it was confirmed that the Baku Crystal Hall would be the venue of the contest, even though the venue had an extended capacity of 23,000 people, only 16,000 people were able to attend each show. Tickets for the contest became available online for purchase on 28 February 2012, the results format of each show remained the same with each countrys votes being decided on a 50,50 split between televoting and a national jury. Each participating country had their own jury, which consisted of five professional members of the music industry. Under the official released on 24 November 2011, the number of participants in the final was raised to 26, including the host nation, the Big Five. This was the time in the Eurovision Song Contest that 26 countries were in the final. The draw that determined the semi-final running order was held on 25 January 2012 at the Buta Palace, the participating countries, excluding the automatic finalists, were split into six pots, based upon how those countries voted in past contests. From these pots, half competed in the first semi-final on 22 May 2012, the other half in that particular pot competed in the second semi-final on 24 May 2012. 1. ^ Armenia withdrew approximately a month and a half after the allocation draw
Eurovision Song Contest 2012
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Presenters of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, from left to right –
Leyla Aliyeva,
Eldar Gasimov and
Nargiz Birk-Petersen
Eurovision Song Contest 2012
Eurovision Song Contest 2012
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Semi-final allocation draw ceremony at the
Buta Palace in Baku.
Eurovision Song Contest 2012
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Inside of Baku Crystal Hall.
5.
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
6.
Eurovision Song Contest
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The competition was based upon the existing Sanremo Music Festival held in Italy since 1951. The contest has been broadcast every year for sixty years, since its inauguration in 1956 and it is also one of the most watched non-sporting events in the world, with audience figures having been quoted in recent years as anything between 100 million and 600 million internationally. Eurovision has also been broadcast outside Europe to several countries that do not compete, such as the United States, Canada, New Zealand, and China. An exception was made in 2015, when Australia was allowed to compete as a guest entrant as part of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the event. In November 2015, the EBU announced that Australia was invited back as a participant in the 2016 contest after their success in 2015, following their success again in 2016, Australia will compete again in 2017. Since 2000, the contest has also been broadcast over the Internet via the Eurovision website, winning the Eurovision Song Contest provides a short-term boost to the winning artists career, but rarely results in long-term success. Notable exceptions are ABBA, Bucks Fizz and Céline Dion, all of whom launched successful careers after their wins. Ireland holds the record for the highest number of wins, having won the contest seven times—including four times in five years in 1992,1993,1994 and 1996. Under the current voting system, the highest scoring winner is Jamala of Ukraine who won the 2016 contest in Stockholm, under the previous system, in place from 1975 to 2015, the highest scoring winner is Alexander Rybak of Norway with 387 points in 2009. Satellite television did not exist, and the Eurovision Network comprised a terrestrial microwave network, the name Eurovision was first used in relation to the EBUs network by British journalist George Campey in the London Evening Standard in 1951. The first contest was held in the town of Lugano, Switzerland, seven countries participated—each submitting two songs, for a total of 14. This was the only contest in more than one song per country was performed, since 1957. The 1956 contest was won by the host nation, Switzerland, the programme was first known as the Eurovision Grand Prix. This Grand Prix name was adopted by Denmark, Norway and the Francophone countries, the Grand Prix has since been dropped and replaced with Concours in French, but not in Danish or Norwegian. The Eurovision network is used to carry news and sports programmes internationally. However, in the minds of the public, the name Eurovision is most closely associated with the Song Contest, a country as a participant is represented by one television broadcaster from that country, typically, but not always, that countrys national public broadcasting organisation. The programme is hosted by one of the participant countries, during this programme, after all the songs have been performed, the countries then proceed to cast votes for the other countries songs, nations are not allowed to vote for their own song. At the end of the programme, the song with the most points is declared as the winner, the programme is invariably opened by one or more presenters, welcoming viewers to the show
Eurovision Song Contest
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Opening act in Düsseldorf in 2011
Eurovision Song Contest
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Entered at least once
Eurovision Song Contest
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Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen 2014
Eurovision Song Contest
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Lena, representing Germany, performing
Satellite during a rehearsal in 2010
7.
Anjeza Shahini
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Anjeza Shahini is an Albanian singer. She represented Albania at the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest with the song The Image of You in the debut year in the ESC. Anjeza Shahini was born in Tirana the capital of Albania, in 2003, by the age of 16-year-old, Anjeza Shahini, won the first edition of Friday Night Fever, the Albanian version of Pop Idol. In December of the year, along with 29 other singers, she competed at the three-day RTSH song festival at the Tirana Palace of Congress with the song Imazhi yt. After two preliminary rounds, Shahini reached the final on 20 December, at the end of which, hosts Adi Krasta and Ledina Çelo presented her as the winner of the combined jury and televote. That meant she would represent Albania in the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest in Istanbul, Turkey, for the ESC finals, a three-minute English version of the song entitled The Image of You was created. Anjeza sang in the semi-final of ESC on 12th of May 2004 and this top-ten finish, secured Anjeza a place in the final where on 15th of May she competed with contestants from twenty-four other countries and finished seventh with a total of 106 points. In 2004, Anjeza recorded a song with the Kosovo band Marigona, in 2005 she signed a contract with an artist management agency based in Vienna. Anjeza Shahini made it through the two semi-finals to the last twenty at the National Final and was one of the favourites to win. However, at the final, which aired on 18 December 2005, on 3 June 2006, Anjeza Shahini was a special guest performer at the Euro Video Grand Prix contest, which was held in Albania. She opened the contest with the song Welcome to Europe, which was produced as a single by same studio production in Vienna. After completing her studies in Austria in 2007, Anjeza returned to Albania and she performed at Këngët e Shekullit 2, a successful series on TV Klan consisting of remakes of the best Albanian songs from the past century. She took part in Kënga Magjike 2007 with the song Nxënësja më e mirë, where the other singers votes landed her in 4th place, in August 2008, Anjeza Shahini released her first album, Erdhi momenti, containing only new songs, all in Albanian. The songs Erdhi Momenti and Lot Pendimi were promoted with a video produced by Max Production. Shahini took part in the Albanian national Festival 2009 with the ballad Ne Pasqyre for Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, the song was well received by the public, but the jury placed her second. In 2010 Anjeza Shahini finished her contract with Eurostar and became an independent artist and their song Ti dhe une was awarded for Best Interpretation. A music video was released after the festival in partnership with PinkMoon production and this song was very successful in Albania and Kosovo. In 2012 Anjeza released the ballad Te desha shume, composed by Endrit Shani, Anjeza Shahini took part in the Albanian Eurovision Song Contest Selection for 2013 with the song LOVE, when she again finished in second place
Anjeza Shahini
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Anjeza Shahini during the Eurovision Song Contest
Anjeza Shahini
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Anjeza Shahini in the Eurovision 2004 final
8.
Rona Nishliu
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Rona Nishliu is an Albanian Kosovar singer and songwriter. She came to prominence after representing Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan. Rona Nishliu was raised in her birth town Mitrovica, but had to move with her family to Pristina at the age of thirteen due the political reasons in her hometown, in 2004 she entered Ethet e së premtës mbrëma - a similar show to Idols. She successfully passed the first rounds and entered the live shows, after the show, she worked on Radio Blue Sky in Prishtina as a presenter. In 2005, Rona teamed up with Vesa Luma and Teuta Kurti to enter the 43rd edition of Festivali i Këngës, the trio were qualified for the final night held on December 18,2005 but lost to Ledina Çelo who was declared the winner. The song was a Pop-Dance track, and even winning the contest. Nishliu represented Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku and she is the first singer from Kosovo to represent Albania in the contest. Because of the Qafa e Vishës bus tragedy, RTSH deferred the first semifinal by more than two hours on May 22, resulting in low ratings during Nishlius appearance. It did not affect Nishlius own participation in the contest, as she got second place in the semi-final, Albania used its jury votes to vote for the other 17 countries in the semifinal, and it used the jury votes again on May 26. RTK also did not air highlights from the first semifinal due to the bus crash and she ended up winning fifth place in the final with 146 points - Albanias best result to date. She became an Albanian citizen on 12 January 2012, Nishliu was committed to her humanitarian work immediately after Eurovision. She became a member of a project called Bonu cool, mos bjer shpullë and she released a song especially for this occasion called Se vetëm zemra flet saktë which speaks against adolescent gender violence, produced and penned by Rona herself. The song is part of a public awareness campaign led by the Kosovo Gender Studies Centre. It was supported and financed by the European Union, on 18 September 2014, Rona Nishliu held a concert in Belgrade, Serbia to promote the Kosovar culture, part of the Mirëdita, dobar dan festival. She received an ovation from the public. In Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Montenegro, she is known as a pop singer/musician, the audience in Pristina and Tirana know her also as an experimental jazz singer. Her interpretation is characterized with nuances of music influences as well. Her vocal range and interpretative power are her strongest points, Nishliu is depicted for her humanitarian spirit, taking part in numerous humanitarian concerts for the people in the need
Rona Nishliu
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Rona Nishliu performing at a jazz concert in
Pristina,
Kosovo.
9.
Eurovision Song Contest 2003
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2003 was the 48th annual Eurovision Song Contest. The contest took place in Riga, Latvia on 24 May 2003 and it was the first win and hosting of the competition for Latvia with only their third participation after debuting at the 2000 contest. Latvijas Televīzija chose the Skonto Hall as the venue after conducting a bidding process among several cities and venues in Latvia. The hosts for the contest were the years winner Marie N and former Latvian representative at the 2000 contest, Renārs Kaupers. The design of the contest was built around the theme Magical rendez-vous, Denmark, Finland, Lithuania, Macedonia and Switzerland were required to withdraw due to their poor results in the 2002 contest. This was the first win for Turkey at the Eurovision Song Contest, Norway and Sweden rounded out of the top five, placing fourth and fifth respectively. The United Kingdom achieved their worst result to date, coming in last place, the 2003 contest was the last contest to take place on one evening. This was also the last contest in which a system was used to determine which countries would participate in the following years contest. On 22 August 2002, Latvian public broadcaster Latvijas Televīzija announced that it had chosen the Skonto Hall in Riga as the host venue for the 2003 contest. Latvia won the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 on 25 May 2002 in Tallinn and this was Latvia’s first victory in the contest, which also carried the right for LTV to organise the 2003 contest. LTV initially had concerns with staging the contest. Rubenis elaborated that LTV was prepared to cover the side and broadcasting of the contest. The Government of Latvia allotted €5.3 million for the event with a further €1.1 million being provided by the Riga City Council – covering the anticipated organisational costs for the contest. Three cities were considered as host city of the contest, Riga, Ventspils, LTV requested proposals from the three cities concerning how they plan to organise the contest. Riga City Council offered the Mežaparks Open-air Stage, Skonto Hall, Jūrmala City Council offered the Dzintari Concert Hall with plans to expand and upgrade the facility and surrounding infrastructure. LTV’s organisational task force decided to proceed with the bids from Riga and Ventspils, eliminating Jūrmala. LTV ultimately chose the Skonto Hall as the venue to stage the contest, the rules also modified the eligibility criteria for entries, changing the date of release cut-off point for songs from 1 January 2003 to 1 October 2002. The draw for running order was held on 29 November 2002 in Riga, hosted by Marie N and Renārs Kaupers, the official sponsors for the contest were Latvian mobile telecom provider Latvijas Mobilais Telefons and Latvian bank company Parex Banka
Eurovision Song Contest 2003
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Skonto Hall, Riga; venue of the 2003 contest
Eurovision Song Contest 2003
Eurovision Song Contest 2003
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Eurovision Song Contest: Riga 2003
10.
The Image of You
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The Image of You was the debut entry for Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest, being performed in English by Anjeza Shahini in the semi-final of the 2004 Contest. The song was performed 13th in the semi-final, following Lithuanias Linas & Simona with Whats Happened To Your Love. the song ended the night in fourth place with 167 points, enough to qualify for the final. Drawn seventh in the final, the song followed Germanys Max with Cant Wait Until Tonight, at the close of voting, the song had received 106 points to finish seventh, which guaranteed Albania a final berth at the 2005 Contest. The song itself begins with Shahini singing over a melody before it quickly builds to a moderately-paced dance number. The lyrics deal with the feelings in what appears to be a whirlwind romance. An Albanian version of the song was released, entitled Imazhi yt. The song was succeeded as Albanian representative in 2005 by Tomorrow I Go, performed by Ledina Çelo
The Image of You
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"The Image of You"
The Image of You
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Anjeza Shahini performing "The Image of You" at the semi-final.
11.
Eurovision Song Contest 2005
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the 50th annual Eurovision Song Contest. The contest took place at the Palace of Sports in Kiev, Ukraine, the contest consisted of two shows, the semi-final and final, which took place on 19 and 21 May 2005, respectively. The shows were hosted by Maria Efrosinina and Pavlo Shylko, thirty-nine countries participated, including the débuts of Bulgaria and Moldova and the return of Hungary, which was last represented in 1998. The winner for 2005 was Greece with the song My Number One performed by Helena Paparizou, written by Christos Dantis and Natalia Germanou and it scored 230 points, beating Malta into second place by a margin of 38 points. This was the first victory for Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest, romania, Israel and Latvia rounded out the top five. The Big Four countries ended up as the Last Four, all placing in the four position of the scoreboard in the final. The official logo of the contest remained the same from the 2004 contest with the flag in the heart being changed. Following Istanbuls Under The Same Sky, the slogan for the 2005 show was Awakening, the postcards for the 2005 show illustrated Ukraine’s culture and heritage along with a more modern and industrial side to the country. The hosts of the Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev were television presenter Maria Masha Efrosinina, previous winner Ruslana returned to the stage in Kiev to perform in the interval act and to interview the contestants backstage in the green room. The famous Ukrainian boxers Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko opened the televoting, while a special trophy was presented to the winner by Ukraines president, Viktor Yushchenko. An official CD and DVD was released and a new introduction was an official pin set, the EBU also commissioned a book The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History by British/American author John Kennedy OConnor to celebrate the contests fiftieth anniversary. The book was presented on screen during the break between songs 12 and 13, the book was published in English, German, French, Dutch, Swedish, Danish and Finnish. During the semi final, there were a few volume falls in the sound, most notably during the Norwegian song and these were not fixed for the DVD release. 2005 was no exception for scandals regarding the representatives from the countries participating, germanys entrant in the Eurovision Song Contest rejected calls to quit after her producer admitted manipulating the countrys pop charts with mass purchases of her single. Gracia Baur defended her producer David Brandes, also behind Swiss entry Vanilla Ninja, bulgarias debut was overshadowed by a scandal. The song Lorraine by Kaffe was accused of plagiarism, the song sounded too similar to another one released by Ruslan Mainov in 2001. There were also problems in Malta with the electricity supply during the contest, there was a controversy regarding the Turkish entry, TRT got a false jury which led to the victory of the song Gülseren, which the 2003 winner Sertab Erener said was not the best choice. There were similar controversies in Macedonia which led to a victory for Martin Vučić
Eurovision Song Contest 2005
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Eurovision Song Contest: Kyiv 2005
Eurovision Song Contest 2005
Eurovision Song Contest 2005
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The first of two official albums of the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, showing the participation of
Lebanon. (bottom row, third from right)
12.
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
13.
Frederik Ndoci
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Frederik Ndoci is an Albanian singer, songwriter, poet, writer, actor and international Recording artist. He also represented his country at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, before winning the Festivali i Këngës 45, he also won the 28th competition, along with M. Nallbani & his sister Julia Ndoci. He performed Balada e Gurit at the 45th festival, the song was re-titled Hear My Plea and translated into English for the Eurovision performance, which was only credited to Frederick. In Eurovision Song Contest semifinal he was placed 17th and didnt qualify to the final, Frederik grew up in a family of artists from the northern Albanian city of Shkodra. His sister, Rita Ndoci was a singer of folkloric music. Another sister, Julia Ndoci, started a career as a right after Frederik. Frederik studied in the Academy of Arts and got diploma for actor and he performed in 6 movies, starring in main and supporting roles. Frederik Ndoci was named Man Of Thousand Voices because he sings baritone, tenor, bass, despite his success, he has had his share of difficulties and several times mostly caused from the Albanian communist regime of the time. After his brief career in acting, Frederik’s recording debut came out of Italy where he played guitar, the album Canta Frederik was well received in Italy and the subsequent video was aired on several TV stations. Frederik made inroads with his second album Sono Gitano, when it became a best seller in Italy, the CD continues to be a best seller in Frederik’s home country and parts of Eastern Europe. S. It was here that he was courted by the Christian College Heritage and commissioned to record his third CD, Frederik, featuring American Christian sacred songs, Frederik recorded his first project in English. In 2011 he wrote a book called I Lindur dhe Plak i Divorcuar thus starting a potential career as a writer. Canta Frederik Sono Gitano Vitet Gri Frederik & Friends Romance Canterina Festivali i Këngës Video of song Hear my plea OGAE Albania
Frederik Ndoci
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Frederik Ndoci singing at the
Eurovision Song Contest in 2007
14.
Hear My Plea
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Hear My Plea was the Albanian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, performed in English and Albanian by Frederik Ndoci. The song is a ballad, with Ndoci pleading with an unnamed power to bring his love back to him. He uses increasingly dramatic imagery to underscore his feelings, since Albania failed to qualify for the final of the 2006 contest it was forced to sing in the semi-final of the 2007 contest. Here it performed 11th, following the Netherlands Edsilia Rombley with On Top of the World, at the close of voting, the song had received 49 points, placing 17th in a field of 28, failing to qualify for the final. An Albanian-only version of the song was recorded, entitled Balada e gurit, the song was succeeded as Albanian representative at the 2008 contest by Olta Boka with Zemrën e lamë peng
Hear My Plea
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"Hear My Plea"
15.
Olta Boka
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Olta Boka is an Albanian singer who was chosen to represent Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with her song Zemrën e lamë peng. She is the youngest singer to represent a country in the Eurovision Song Contest since the year 2004 with Lisa Andreas representing Cyprus at 16, Olta Boka has participated in Ethet e së Premtes Mbrëma show in Albania. On top fest 11 edition Olta Boka was awarded with top Albania Radio price, with the same price was also awarded Erik Lloshi. Eurovision Song Contest 2008 Festivali i Këngës Gjeniu i Vogel Kënga Magjike Top Fest Dance With Me 1
Olta Boka
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Olta Boka in the
Eurovision Song Contest 2008
16.
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
17.
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
18.
Serbia
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Serbia, officially the Republic of Serbia, is a sovereign state situated at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans. Relative to its territory, it is a diverse country distinguished by a transitional character, situated along cultural, geographic, climatic. Serbia numbers around 7 million residents, and its capital, Belgrade, following the Slavic migrations to the Balkans from the 6th century onwards, Serbs established several states in the early Middle Ages. The Serbian Kingdom obtained recognition by Rome and the Byzantine Empire in 1217, in the early 19th century, the Serbian Revolution established the nation-state as the regions first constitutional monarchy, which subsequently expanded its territory. During the breakup of Yugoslavia, Serbia formed a union with Montenegro which dissolved peacefully in 2006, in 2008 the parliament of the province of Kosovo unilaterally declared independence, with mixed responses from the international community. Serbia is a member of organizations such as the UN, CoE, OSCE, PfP, BSEC. An EU membership candidate since 2012, Serbia has been negotiating its EU accession since January 2014, the country is acceding to the WTO and is a militarily neutral state. Serbia is an income economy with dominant service sector, followed by the industrial sector. The country ranks high on the Social Progress Index as well as the Global Peace Index, relatively high on the Human Development Index, located at the crossroads between Central and Southern Europe, Serbia is found in the Balkan peninsula and the Pannonian Plain. Serbia lies between latitudes 41° and 47° N, and longitudes 18° and 23° E. The country covers a total of 88,361 km2, which places it at 113th place in the world, with Kosovo excluded, the area is 77,474 km2. Its total border length amounts to 2,027 km, all of Kosovos border with Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro are under control of the Kosovo border police. The Pannonian Plain covers the third of the country while the easternmost tip of Serbia extends into the Wallachian Plain. The terrain of the part of the country, with the region of Šumadija at its heart. Mountains dominate the third of Serbia. Dinaric Alps stretch in the west and the southwest, following the flow of the rivers Drina, the Carpathian Mountains and Balkan Mountains stretch in a north–south direction in eastern Serbia. Ancient mountains in the southeast corner of the country belong to the Rilo-Rhodope Mountain system, elevation ranges from the Midžor peak of the Balkan Mountains at 2,169 metres to the lowest point of just 17 metres near the Danube river at Prahovo. The largest lake is Đerdap Lake and the longest river passing through Serbia is the Danube, the climate of Serbia is under the influences of the landmass of Eurasia and the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea
Serbia
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Clay figure from
Vinča culture, 4000–4500 BC, British Museum
Serbia
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Flag
Serbia
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Felix Romuliana,
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Serbia
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Temnić inscription, is one of the oldest records of
Old Church Slavonic Cyrillic script from the territory of Serbia.
19.
Kejsi Tola
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Kejsi Tola is an Albanian singer. She was the winner of Ethet, in May 2009 she represented Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Moscow, Russia with Carry Me In Your Dreams. Her career started when she was 11 years old in the talent show Young Voices of Albania, winning the first prize, in the first competition of Gjeniu i Vogël she was one of the ten finalists. After a short break, at the age of 16, she entered Ethet, Albanian version of Idol where after more than 2 months of competition, she was awarded as the winner. Later in 2008 winner of the Albanian Radio Television Song Contest with the song Më merr në ëndërr and she is currently studying in the artistic lyceum of Jordan Misja in Tirana. Tola represented Albania at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 in Russia after winning the final on December 21. She finished 17th with 48 points and her song for the competition was called Carry Me in Your Dreams. Kejsis entry has been submitted by Edmond Zhulali who was responsible for the very first Eurovision entry The Image of You in Eurovision Song Contest 2004 performed by Anjeza Shahini. “I love singing and this is important for me. Music gives me an inner strength, which I sometimes don’t show up in my daily life, Tola attempted to enter the Eurovision Song Contest again in 2010, for the second consecutive time, by participating in Festivali i Këngës 2009 on 27 December 2009. But she placed just 15th with her ballad Ndonjëherë, Kejsi tried once more to represent Albania for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany. However, her mid-tempo song Pranë did not go through the second semi-final during the selection process, in 2012, Tola attempted to enter the Eurovision Song Contest for third time in 2013. Her song is called Sjemi më atje and she finished 4th with 42 points
Kejsi Tola
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Kejsi Tola (2009)
20.
Carry Me in Your Dreams
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Carry Me in Your Dreams was the Albanian entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, held in Moscow, Russia. The song was composed by Edmond Zhulali and Agim Doçi, composers of Albanias first entry to Eurovision, The Image of You by Anjeza Shahini and it finished 17th with 48 points. The song was the winner of Festivali I Këngës 47, the used to select Albanias Eurovision entry. Albania was the first country to select and publicly present its song, the song was chosen as the winner of the festival on 21 December 2008—five months before Eurovision, to be held on 16 May 2009. The song was performed during Festivali I Këngës in Albanian as Më merr në ëndërr, and she received 73 points, placing 7th of the 19 competing songs, and qualifying to the final. At the final on 16 May Tola performed 19th in the order, following Turkeys Hadise with Düm Tek Tek. The song received 48 points, placing 17th of the 25 competing songs, the staging featured two b-boys dressed as mimes and a sequined green man. If only tele-voting had been used, Albania would have come in 11th
Carry Me in Your Dreams
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"Carry Me in Your Dreams"
21.
Juliana Pasha
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Juliana Pasha is an Albanian singer. In 2010 she won Honorary Citizen Award of Burrel from the mayor of the city, after she went into Eurovision in 2010 she won the first prize in the festival Kenga Magjike with the song called Sa e shite zemren. She was a mentor and judge on the first series of Albania, on 27 December 2009, Pasha won the national final to represent Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010. She had previously taken part in the 2007 and 2008 festivals, placing 3rd and 2nd respectively with Qielli i ri and Një jetë, Pasha announced she will release a Christian CD in Albanian and English soon. When the media asked her how important religion is for her – she said it is important because she believes in God. She has also involved in a project called Hanna, who are fighting to remove the blood vengeance tradition in Albania. Eurovision Song Contest 2010 Festivali i Këngës Kënga Magjike Kult Award
Juliana Pasha
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Juliana Pasha
Juliana Pasha
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Juliana Pasha performing "
It's All About You " at Bærum
22.
Christina Aguilera
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Christina María Aguilera is an American singer, songwriter, actress and television personality. Born in Staten Island, New York and raised in Rochester and Wexford, Pennsylvania, she appeared on the television series Star Search, after recording Reflection, the theme for Disneys 1998 film Mulan, Aguilera signed with RCA Records. She rose to prominence with her 1999 self-titled debut album spawned the Billboard Hot 100 number one singles, Genie in a Bottle, What a Girl Wants. The following year, Aguilera released two albums, the Spanish-language album Mi Reflejo and the holiday album My Kind of Christmas. She assumed creative control for her studio album, Stripped, which produced Dirrty, Beautiful. Aguileras fifth studio album, Back to Basics, debuted at one on the album charts of ten countries and spawned the tracks Aint No Other Man. In 2010, Aguilera released her studio album Bionic and starred in the film Burlesque. The following year, she debuted as a coach on the reality television series The Voice. Her seventh studio album, Lotus, was released in 2012, Aguilera has also been featured on several successful collaborations during her career, including Lady Marmalade, Moves like Jagger, and Say Something. Aguilera has been recognized as a pop icon and earned the title Pop Princess in her early years and her work has earned her five Grammy Awards, one Latin Grammy Award, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. She has sold over 17.9 million albums in the United States as of 2014 and 50 million albums worldwide as of 2015. In 2009, she ranked at number 58 on Rolling Stones list of 100 Greatest Singers of All Time, thereby becoming the youngest and the only artist under 30 to be named. Billboard recognized her as the 20th most successful artist of the 2000s, aside from her work in the entertainment industry, Aguilera is involved in charitable activities through human rights, world issues, and her work as a UN ambassador for the World Food Programme. Christina María Aguilera was born in Staten Island, New York, on December 18,1980, to Shelly Loraine, a musician, and Fausto Xavier Aguilera and her father is Ecuadorian, while her mother has German, Irish, Welsh, and Dutch ancestry. Her family moved frequently because of her fathers service, and lived in places including New Jersey, Texas, New York. Aguilera and her mother alleged that her father was physically and emotionally abusive, claims which he denied, Aguilera used music as a form of escape from her turbulent household. Following her parents divorce when she was six years old, Aguilera, her younger sister Rachel, after several years of being estranged, Aguilera expressed interest in reconciling with her father in 2012. Growing up, Aguilera, known locally as the girl with the big voice, aspired to be a singer, singing in local talent shows
Christina Aguilera
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Aguilera at the Sanremo Music Festival
Christina Aguilera
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Aguilera performing "The Voice Within", the fifth single from Stripped, during The Stripped Tour (2003)
Christina Aguilera
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Aguilera singing "What A Girl Wants" during the "Back to Basics World Tour"
Christina Aguilera
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Aguilera (at premiere of "To John With Love", September 2010).
23.
Britney Spears
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Britney Jean Spears is an American singer, dancer, and actress. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, she performed acting roles in stage productions, Spearss first and second studio albums. Baby One More Time and Oops. I Did It Again, became international successes, with the former becoming the album by a teenage solo artist. Title tracks. Baby One More Time and Oops, I Did It Again broke international sales records. In 2001, Spears released her third studio album, Britney. She assumed creative control of her studio album, In the Zone. In 2007, Spearss much-publicized personal issues sent her career into hiatus and her fifth studio album, Blackout, was released later that year, and spawned singles such as Gimme More and Piece of Me. Her erratic behavior and hospitalizations continued through the year, at which point she was placed under a still ongoing conservatorship. Spearss sixth studio album, Circus, included the international chart-topping single Womanizer and her seventh studio album, Femme Fatale, became her first to yield three top-ten singles in the United States. She released her studio album Britney Jean in 2013. Later that year, Spears began the four-year residency show, Britney, Piece of Me, in 2016, Spears released her ninth studio album, Glory. In 2017, she announced that her show would develop into a world tour, Britney. Spears is regarded as a pop icon and credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and she became the best-selling teenage artist of all time and garnered honorific titles including the Princess of Pop. In 2009, Billboard ranked her as the 8th overall Artist of the Decade, the Recording Industry Association of America lists Spears as the eighth top-selling female artist in the United States, with 34 million certified albums. She has sold 100 million albums and over 100 million singles worldwide making her one of the music artists of all time. According to Billboard Spears has sold about 22.38 million singles in digital downloads in US and is the fourth best-selling female artist since Nielsen SoundScan began. Forbes reported that Spears was the highest paid musician of 2012, with earnings of $58 million. Spears was born in McComb, Mississippi, the child of Lynne Irene Bridges and James Parnell Spears
Britney Spears
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Spears at the
102.7 KIIS FM Wango Tango concert in
Carson, California, May 2013
Britney Spears
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Spears performing at the NFL Kickoff Live, September 2003
Britney Spears
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Spears performing during
The Onyx Hotel Tour on April 2004
Britney Spears
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Spears performing "Freakshow" at
The Circus Starring Britney Spears, May 2009
24.
Womanizer (song)
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Womanizer is a song recorded by American singer Britney Spears for her sixth studio album, Circus. It was released on October 3,2008 by Jive Records as the single of the album. Produced and co-written by Nikesha Briscoe and Rafael Akinyemi of The Outsyders, Womanizer is an up-tempo electropop and dance-pop song. Described by Spears as an anthem, the songs lyrics recall a womanizing man. Music critics mostly praised its hook, melody and empowering lyrics, critics also observed it was a stand-out track from its album and also deemed it as a comeback single for Spears. Womanizer was a success worldwide, peaking atop of the charts in Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Norway, Sweden. It also reached the top ten in every country it charted in also receiving several certifications from several countries, in the United States, Womanizer was her first single to reach number-one since. Baby One More Time in 1999. The song broke the record for the highest jump to one at a time which was later broken by Kelly Clarksons My Life Would Suck Without You in 2009. It is also her best-selling digital song in the country, having sold over 3.5 million copies, the music video, directed by Joseph Kahn, was created by Spears as a sequel to the music video of Toxic. It portrays Spears as a woman who disguises herself in different costumes, the video also contains interspersed scenes of Spears naked in a steam room, as a response to the attacks she had received over the years about her weight. The video was nominated for two categories at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards, and went on to win Best Pop Video. The song has been covered by a number of artists from different genres, including Lily Allen, Franz Ferdinand, Spears performed Womanizer on several television shows including The X Factor and Good Morning America, as well as award shows such as the 2008 Bambi Awards. She has also performed the song at The Circus Starring Britney Spears, Womanizer received a Grammy nomination in 2010 in the Best Dance Recording category, but lost to Lady Gagas Poker Face. The song was written and co-produced by Nikesha Briscoe and Rafael Akinyemi of the production team, Spears recorded main vocals with Brendan Dakora at Glenwood Place Studios in Burbank, California and Bojan Genius Dugic at Legacy Studios in New York City. Pro Tools engineering was done by John Hanes, assisted by Tim Roberts, on September 19,2008, a low quality 37 second snippet of the song was posted on the official website of 107.5 The River, a radio station in Lebanon, Tennessee. According to Jive Records, a representative of the played a rough mix of the song for people at the station. The snippet was later removed from the website, the song was scheduled to premiere on September 23,2008, but the release was delayed when Spears went into the studio to re-record some vocals. The new recordings were done with Jim Beanz and Marcella Ms. Lago Araica, the song was finally mixed by Serban Ghenea at MixStar Studios in Virginia
Womanizer (song)
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Spears performing "Womanizer" at
The Circus Starring Britney Spears.
Womanizer (song)
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"Womanizer"
Womanizer (song)
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Spears performing "Womanizer" at the
Femme Fatale Tour.
Womanizer (song)
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Spears during the performance of "Womanizer" on the
Britney: Piece of Me residency concert.
25.
Eurovision Song Contest 2011
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2011 was the 56th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Düsseldorf, Germany, following Lenas win at the 2010 contest in Oslo and this was the first contest to take place outside of the host nations capital city since the 2004 contest in Istanbul. The event was held at the Esprit Arena, with semi-finals held on 10 and 12 May, Italy also returned to the Contest, marking its first participation since 1997. No country withdrew from the contest, the winner was Azerbaijan with the song Running Scared performed by Ell & Nikki. The runner up was Italy, and Sweden finished in third place,2010 Hosts Norway was eliminated in the first semi final. Azerbaijan obtained its first ever victory in any Eurovision since its debut in 2008, Azerbaijan won the viewers voting with Sweden in second place, and Greece in third place. Italy won the voting, with Azerbaijan 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 juryvoting, the broadcast of the final won the Rose dOr award for Best Live Event. Following Lenas win at the 2010 contest with the song Satellite, twenty-three cities submit official bids to the German broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk, in order to be the host city for the 2011 contest. Eight of these continued to show interest in hosting the event including Berlin, Hamburg, Hanover, Gelsenkirchen, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Frankfurt. NDR announced on 21 August 2010 that four of those cities had officially applied to host the 2011 Contest, Berlin, Hamburg, Hanover, decision makers at NDR reportedly doubted the venues ability to provide advantageous acoustic conditions. Berlins speaker Richard Meng neither confirmed nor denied that because, he stated and this message indicated that talks with Düsseldorf to host the song contest in the Esprit Arena were already at an advanced stage. The club later announced on 6 October 2010 that it had obtained permission to move its games if necessary, the Neue Ruhr Zeitung newspaper reported on 12 December 2010 that Fortuna Düsseldorf were to be moved to the Paul-Janes-Stadion due to the contest. Fortuna Düsseldorfs training venue next to the Esprit Arena would be equipped with mobile stands from a Swiss event construction specialist, Nussli Group and this decision was made because the Arena Sportpark Düsseldorf holds better logistic qualifications. The Esprit Arena in Düsseldorf was announced by German broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk as the venue for the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest on 12 October 2010. This was the first Eurovision Song Contest held in Germany since German reunification and that the stadium acquired a rental period of six weeks, in order to allow construction and dismantling work within the Esprit Arena to be carried out. The stadium accommodated a capacity of 38,000 for spectators during the Eurovision Song Contest, Düsseldorf offered 23,000 hotel beds and 2,000 additional beds in the Düsseldorf surroundings and on ships on the River Rhine. The four countries that were part of the Big Four, along with the host of the contest, since Germany was both a Big Four country and the host for the 2011 contest, there was a vacant spot in the final
Eurovision Song Contest 2011
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Eurovision Song Contest 2011 "Feel Your Heart Beat!"
Eurovision Song Contest 2011
Eurovision Song Contest 2011
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The
Esprit Arena, the 2011 venue
Eurovision Song Contest 2011
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Opening act_with
Stefan Raab
26.
Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011
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Albania participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 in Düsseldorf, Germany, selecting their entry through Festivali i Këngës 2010, organised by Albanian broadcaster Radio Televizioni Shqiptar. The semi-finals will be held on 23 and 24 December and the final will be the 25 December. There is still a possibility to add the duet night on 25 December, in that case, the grand final will be replaced on Sunday 26 December. This year, a jury will select 28 from the total of songs submitted to the broadcasters open call. In each semi final,14 songs will compete and from each semi final 5 songs will be eliminated, also the voting system will be different this year. In the grand final, the songs will be judged by two juries, the jury and the alternative jury with the representatives of local Radio Televisions. For the first time the votes were given in Eurovision style,12,10, as customary, the singers will sing live. Because of some problems, the orchestra won’t be fully live though. The basic music will be playback, bojken Lako, Albanian singer and songwriter, is the new producer of this event. The deadline for the submission of the songs was 20 October, with this extension, RTSH gave the singers who are participating in the other popular music festival, Kënga Magjike, more time to work on their songs. The whole show will be hosted by singer and songwriter Jonida Maliqi, juliana Pasha, Albanian representative in 2010, and maNga, Turkish representative in 2010, were guest performers. Albania competed third on the first semi-final of the contest, on 10 May, aurela placed fourteenth with 47 points and didnt qualify to the final. RTSH this year published two Festivali i Këngës 49 magazines with informations of the participants, lyrics, composers, the first one was published in Albanian before Festivali i Këngës. The second magazine was published in Albanian and in English after the Albanian entry was decided and this magazine was used as a promotion of the Albanian representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest Eurovision Song Contest 2011 Festivali i Këngës official website
Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011
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Eurovision Song Contest 2011
27.
English language
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English /ˈɪŋɡlɪʃ/ is a West Germanic language that was first spoken in early medieval England and is now the global lingua franca. Named after the Angles, one of the Germanic tribes that migrated to England, English is either the official language or one of the official languages in almost 60 sovereign states. It is the third most common language in the world, after Mandarin. It is the most widely learned second language and a language of the United Nations, of the European Union. It is the most widely spoken Germanic language, accounting for at least 70% of speakers of this Indo-European branch, English has developed over the course of more than 1,400 years. The earliest forms of English, a set of Anglo-Frisian dialects brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlers in the century, are called Old English. Middle English began in the late 11th century with the Norman conquest of England, Early Modern English began in the late 15th century with the introduction of the printing press to London and the King James Bible, and the start of the Great Vowel Shift. Through the worldwide influence of the British Empire, modern English spread around the world from the 17th to mid-20th centuries, English is an Indo-European language, and belongs to the West Germanic group of the Germanic languages. Most closely related to English are the Frisian languages, and English, Old Saxon and its descendent Low German languages are also closely related, and sometimes Low German, English, and Frisian are grouped together as the Ingvaeonic or North Sea Germanic languages. Modern English descends from Middle English, which in turn descends from Old English, particular dialects of Old and Middle English also developed into a number of other English languages, including Scots and the extinct Fingallian and Forth and Bargy dialects of Ireland. English is classified as a Germanic language because it shares new language features with other Germanic languages such as Dutch, German and these shared innovations show that the languages have descended from a single common ancestor, which linguists call Proto-Germanic. Through Grimms law, the word for foot begins with /f/ in Germanic languages, English is classified as an Anglo-Frisian language because Frisian and English share other features, such as the palatalisation of consonants that were velar consonants in Proto-Germanic. The earliest form of English is called Old English or Anglo-Saxon, in the fifth century, the Anglo-Saxons settled Britain and the Romans withdrew from Britain. England and English are named after the Angles, Old English was divided into four dialects, the Anglian dialects, Mercian and Northumbrian, and the Saxon dialects, Kentish and West Saxon. Through the educational reforms of King Alfred in the century and the influence of the kingdom of Wessex. The epic poem Beowulf is written in West Saxon, and the earliest English poem, Modern English developed mainly from Mercian, but the Scots language developed from Northumbrian. A few short inscriptions from the period of Old English were written using a runic script. By the sixth century, a Latin alphabet was adopted, written with half-uncial letterforms and it included the runic letters wynn ⟨ƿ⟩ and thorn ⟨þ⟩, and the modified Latin letters eth ⟨ð⟩, and ash ⟨æ⟩
English language
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The opening to the Old English epic poem
Beowulf,
handwritten in
half-uncial script: Hƿæt ƿē Gārde/na ingēar dagum þēod cyninga / þrym ge frunon... "Listen! We of the Spear-Danes from days of yore have heard of the glory of the folk-kings..."
English language
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Countries of the world where English is a majority native language
English language
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Title page of Geoffrey Chaucer's
Canterbury Tales c.1400
28.
RTSH
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Radio Televizioni Shqiptar is the public broadcaster of Albania, founded in 1938 in Tirana. RTSH runs two analogue and digital television stations RTSH1 HD and RTSH2 HD, five digital thematic television stations known as RTSH, in addition, four regional radio and TV stations serve in Gjirokastër, Korçë, Kukës, and Shkodër. The international radio service broadcasts radio programmes in Albanian and seven other languages via medium wave, and uses the theme from the song Këputa një gjethe dafine as its signature tune. Since 1999, RTSH has been a member of the European Broadcasting Union, RTSH is the official organizer of the Albanian Song Festival Festivali i Kenges, the winner of which represents Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest. RTSH is funded by a combination of advertising, a licence fee of US$12.00. The beginnings of RTSH date to the creation of Radio Tirana on 28 November 1938, the first Albanian radio station was launched by King Zog I and Queen Geraldine Apponyi in a ceremony at the former building of the Municipality of Tirana. This officially marked the first broadcast of Radio Tirana, in 1987,66 hours of programmes were broadcast in 20 foreign languages every day. In 1959, Radio Tiranas director by that time, Petro Kita, founded the first Experimental Television Center to provide the basis for the latter Albanian television, TVSH. The first test programme was held on 29 April 1960, at 6,00 pm and was introduced by the journalist Stoli Beli, the official launch was set for 1 May 1960. Children movies and then programmes were broadcast, three times a week for about one hour. Television programs were launched by 1971. Color broadcasts started in 1981, and became regular by 1982, in 2002 TVSH ranked second with an audience share of 17. 1%. The second channel, TVSH2, began broadcasts in 2003. In 2012, several digital channels were launched under the RTSH logo. Despite the countrys size and isolationist policies, Radio Tirana was a fairly major international broadcaster during the Cold War. Its programmes had a reputation for being more than dull propaganda. During Albanias alliance with China in the 1960s and 1970s, Radio Tirana had to walk a line between being anti-West whilst also being anti-Soviet. As such, Radio Tirana kept close to the policy of the Peoples Republic of China
RTSH
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King Zog and Queen Geraldine Apponyi (here on a picture from 1939) launched Radio Tirana in 1938.
RTSH
–
Radio Televizioni Shqiptar (RTSH)
RTSH
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Pin badge, late 1980s
RTSH
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Mount Dajt overlooking Tirana. RTSH transmitters are mounted on the highest peak at the altitude of 1613 meters.
29.
Adrian Lulgjuraj
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Adrian Lulgjuraj is an Albanian singer from Montenegro. Together with Bledar Sejko, he represented Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö with the song Identitet, the song failed to qualify for the final. Lulgjuraj was born in the city of Ulcinj, the southern-most city of Montenegro. Although raised in an Albanian-majority city, Lulgjuraj was always involved in projects and he is known for his charity work and the original genre in music. Lulgjuraj entered the Albanian music industry in early 2010, participating in various TV shows and he entered the competition twice, both times entering the finals, and receiving numerous awards. Lulgjuraj was also a helping-coach in The Voice of Albania, the Albanian version of The Voice of Holland, adrian is married to Ana Pejović Lulgjuraj, former Miss Montenegro in 2000. 2012, Identitet 2012, Evoloj 2011, Të mori një det Festivali i Këngës Top Fest
Adrian Lulgjuraj
–
Adrian Lulgjuraj
30.
Bledar Sejko
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Bledar Sejko is an Albanian guitarist, composer, and singer who represented Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö with his song Identitet, which he performed with Adrian Lulgjuraj. According to Sejko, the song includes combined motives from Northern Albania and Chameria and he also appeared in the 2011 edition of the contest, performing alongside Aurela Gaçe in her song Feel the Passion. Sejkos nickname has always been Qepa and he taught guitar to Makashi and has always been known as a great performer of the instrument in Albania. He created Megahertz, the first rock band in Albania, sejkos last participation to the Festivali i Këngës before Identitet had been in 1992 with his group Thunder Way. Their song, Legjenda e Heroit, had come last in that festival
Bledar Sejko
–
Sejko at
ESC 2013
31.
Herciana Matmuja
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Hersjana Matmuja, also known as Hersi Matmuja or simply Hersi is an Albanian singer, best known for winning the 52nd edition of Festivali i Këngës. In 2014 she represented Albania in Eurovision Song Contest held in Copenhagen, Denmark, Hersi Matmuja was born on February 1,1990 in Kukës. She started singing when she was 8 years old and as a child participated in many festivals, during that time, she also studied Canto at Liceu Jordan Misja in Tirana, where she received the highest possible grade of 10/10 upon completion. In 2003, she provided the voice of Melody in the Albanian dub of The Little Mermaid II. She returned to participate in the Festivali i Këngës three more times, Hersi also participated twice in Kënga Magjike. In October 2014, she graduated from the Santa Cecilia Conservatory with the score of 30/30. She speaks Albanian, English and Italian, despite her classical music training, Hersi says her musical influences include Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Lady Gaga, Celine Dion, Rihanna, Björk and ABBA. She studies at Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Matmuja was among the 16 participants taking part at the 52nd edition of Festivali i Këngës. Her song Zemërimi i një nate was written by Jorgo Papingji and she performed on the first presentation night and shortly became a favourite to win the show. She opened the night and received 69 points from the jury, thus getting the rights to represent Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen. She left Klodian Kaçani and Me ty behind with 24 points, the Eurovision version of Zemërimi i një nate and official video was released on 20 March. Matmuja performed in the first semi final, on 6 May and she didnt qualify for the final on 10 May
Herciana Matmuja
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Hersjana Matmuja (2014)
32.
Eurovision 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 2014
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B&W Hallerne, located on Refshaleøen Island, Copenhagen
Eurovision 2014
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Eurovision Song Contest 2014 #JoinUs
Eurovision 2014
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Parken Stadium, which hosted the
2001 contest.
Eurovision 2014
–
Jyske Bank Boxen, hosted the final of
Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2013.
33.
Elhaida Dani
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Elhaida Dani is an Albanian singer. She rose to fame after winning Star Academy Albania in 2009, later that year, she auditioned for The Voice of Italy, and won the show with over 70% of the public vote. She released her first single Baciami e Basta through Universal Music in Italy, in December 2014 she won the 53rd edition of Festivali i Këngës with the song Diell, and was going to represent Albania at the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 in Vienna, Austria with this song. However, on 23 February 2015 Dani announced that the songwriters had withdrawn the song from the competition. The next day it was revealed that the song will be called Im Alive, Elhaida Dani was born on 17 February 1993 in Shkodër, north Albania. She studied piano from the age of 6 and she started appearing on national television in 2008, after participating in Kënga Magjike with her song Fjala e fundit. In 2009, she auditioned for the Albanian version of Star Academy and she then continued singing at various music competitions around the Balkans. In 2011 she participated in Sunčane Skale, held in Montenegro with Si asnjëherë. later that year, she won two competitions in Bulgaria and Romania. She also participated at the 50th edition of Festivali i Këngës with Mijëra vjet, in early 2012, she worked with Threedots Music Albania, a popular music label and wrote Sje më, and won Albanias biggest music show, Top Fest. After returning to Albania, the first song she sang was Ya nabi salam alayka of Maher Zain in the Medrese Haxhi Sheh Shamia of Shkodra. After seeking a career and winning many music competitions in the Balkan region, Elhaida decided to temporarily move to Rome. She appeared on the Blind auditions with Jessie Js Mamma Knows Best and received a huge feedback from the jury and she chose to join Riccardo Cocciantes team, and the world-renowned songwriter became her coach. She advanced to the battles and knockouts and reached the finals in May 2013, in 2014, Dani revealed that she was going to participate at the 53rd edition of Festivali i Këngës, with the hope to represent Albania at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest. Her song Diell was among the 28 participating entries, the competition was held from 26 to 28 December in Tirana. She was the favourite to win the show, on 28 December 2014, Elhaida won the contest with a total of 82 points. After Festivali i Këngës, Dani was forced to change her Eurovision song Diell to Im Alive and she then competed in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with this song. She qualified from the first semi final in tenth place
Elhaida Dani
–
Dani at the
Eurovision Song Contest 2015
34.
Eurovision Song Contest 2015
–
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
–
The venue of the contest,
Wiener Stadthalle in
Vienna
Eurovision Song Contest 2015
Eurovision Song Contest 2015
–
Stage design of the contest
Eurovision Song Contest 2015
35.
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
–
The Ericsson Globe, Stockholm; venue of the 2016 contest
Eurovision Song Contest 2016
36.
Albanian language
–
Centuries-old communities speaking Albanian-based dialects can be found scattered in Greece, Southern Italy, Sicily, and Ukraine. Due to the large Albanian diaspora, the number of speakers is much higher than the native speakers in Southeast Europe. The first audio recording of Albanian was made by Norbert Jokl on 4 April 1914 in Vienna, the Albanian language is part of the Indo-European language group. In general there is insufficient evidence to connect Albanian with one of those languages, Albanian is now considered an isolate within Indo-European, no extant language shares the same branch. The only other languages that are the surviving member of a branch of Indo-European are Armenian. Although Albanian shares lexical isoglosses with Greek, Balto-Slavic, and Germanic languages, in 1995, Ann Taylor, Donald Ringe and Tandy Warnow described as surprising their finding, using quantitative linguistic techniques, that Albanian appears to comprise a subgroup with Germanic. This theory is reinforced by subsequent research by the same authors, Albanian also shares two features with Balto-Slavic languages, a lengthening of syllabic consonants before voiced obstruents and a distinct treatment of long syllables ending in a sonorant. Other conservative features of Albanian include the retention of the distinction between active and middle voice, present tense and aorist. In another but uncommon hypothesis, Albanian is grouped with both Balto-Slavic and Germanic based on the merger of Proto-Indo-European *ǒ and *ǎ into *ǎ in a northern group. However, this shift is now regarded as only part of a larger push chain that affected all long vowels. The earliest loanwords attested in Albanian come from Doric Greek, whereas the strongest influence came from Latin, curtis, the loanwords do not necessarily indicate the geographical location of the ancestor of Albanian language. However, according to linguists, the borrowed words can help to get an idea about the place of origin. The period during which Proto-Albanian and Latin interacted was protracted and drawn out roughly from the 2nd century BC to the 5th century AD. This is borne out into three layers of borrowings, the largest number belonging to the second layer, which may be compared to, for example. The first, with the fewest borrowings, was a time of less important interaction, the final period, probably preceding the Slavic or Germanic invasions, also has a notably smaller number of borrowings. Other formative changes include the syncretism of several case endings, especially in the plural. Such borrowing indicates that the Romanians migrated from an area where the majority was Slavic to an area with a majority of Albanian speakers and their movement is probably related to the expansion of the Bulgarian Empire into Albania around that time. Jernej Kopitar was the first to note Latins influence on Albanian, Kopitar gave examples such as Albanian qiqer from Latin cicer, qytet from civitas, peshk from piscis and shigjetë from sagitta
Albanian language
–
Illyrians, Dacians, Getae and Thracians at 200 BCE
Albanian language
–
Albanian
Albanian language
–
October 1899 issue of the magazine Albania, the most important Albanian periodical of the early 20th century
Albanian language
–
Albanian children at school
37.
Eurovision Song Contest 2009
–
The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was the 54th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest and was hosted by Russia after their win in 2008. It took place between 12 and 16 May 2009 at the Olympic Indoor Arena in Moscow, Russia, third place went to Azerbaijan, fourth to Turkey, and the United Kingdom taking 5th, seeing their best placing since 2002. Forty-two countries participated in the contest, Slovakia announced that it would return to the contest, Latvia and Georgia originally announced their intention to withdraw, but it was later stated by the European Broadcasting Union that both countries would indeed participate. However, Georgia later decided to withdraw after the EBU rejected its selected song as being a breach of contest rules, the contest was held in Russia following its victory in the 2008 contest in Belgrade, Serbia, with Dima Bilans Believe. Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister of Russia, stated that the contest would be held in Moscow and it was proposed by Channel One that the contest be held in Moscows Olympic Indoor Arena, and this proposal was evaluated by the European Broadcasting Union and confirmed on 13 September 2008. The Director-General of the venue, Vladimir Churilin, refuted rumours of emergency reconstruction of the building, saying and we now can take up to 25 thousand spectators. The contest final took place on 16 May 2009 at the Olympic Indoor Arena in Moscow, thirty-seven countries participated in one of the two semi-finals of the contest, with the Big Four countries and the host pre-qualified for the final. In addition to those pre-qualified, the final included the ten selected countries from each semi-final. However, it was confirmed that the Big Four countries would continue to qualify for the final at the 2009 contest. Host broadcaster Channel One presented the sub-logo and theme for the 2009 contest on 30 January 2009, the sub-logo is based upon a Fantasy Bird, which can be used with many colours. As in previous years, the sub-logo was presented alongside the generic logo,2009 was the first year since 2001 that there was no slogan for the contest. The stage was designed by New York-based set designer John Casey, Casey, who had previously designed the stage for the Eurovision Song Contest 1997 in Dublin, was also involved in design teams for the 1994 and 1995 contests. He explained that even before worked with the Russians on the TEFI Awards in Moscow in 1998, was inspired by and drawn to art from the Russian Avant Garde period, especially the constructivists. Tried to come up with a design for the contest that incorporates Russian avant-garde art into a contemporary setting. Casey explained that together, the various LED shapes form the finished product, furthermore, large sections of the stage can move, including the circular central portion of curved LED screens, which can be moved to effect and allow each song to have a different feel. Finally a phrase in transliterated Russian and its English translation were shown, the music accompanying the postcards was written and produced by Matthew Herbert. On Friday 30 January 2009, the draw to decide which countries would appear in either the first or second semi-final took place, the participating countries excluding the automatic finalists were split into six pots, based upon how those countries have been voting. From these pots, half competed in the first Semi Final on 10 May 2009, the other half in that particular pot will compete in the second Semi Final on 12 May 2009
Eurovision Song Contest 2009
–
The venue of the contest,
Olympic Indoor Arena in
Moscow
Eurovision Song Contest 2009
Eurovision Song Contest 2009
–
The stage of the contest
Eurovision Song Contest 2009
–
Alexander Rybak after winning the final.
38.
Eurovision Song Contest 2010
–
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.
39.
Eurovision Song Contest 2013
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The Eurovision Song Contest 2013 was the 58th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Malmö, Sweden, following Loreens win at the 2012 contest in Baku and it was the fifth time that Sweden had hosted the contest, the last time being in 2000. Sveriges Television chose Malmö Arena as the following the consideration of several venues in Sweden. The host for the contest was Petra Mede, thirty-nine countries participated, including Armenia, which was last represented in 2011. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Portugal, Slovakia and Turkey announced their withdrawal from the 2013 Contest, compared to many of the previous contests in the history of Eurovision, rather than focusing on promoting its own country, Sweden chose to lay focus on the artists and their respective countries. The winner for 2013 was Denmark with the song Only Teardrops sung by Emmelie de Forest and this makes it the second time that Denmark won on Swedish soil. Ukraine finished in place and Norway in fourth, while Russia finished in fifth place. Out of the countries with the Big Five status, only Italy managed to finish in the top ten, third in a row since its return, coming seventh with 126 points, the Netherlands finished ninth in their first participation in a final since 2004. 170 million viewers watched the semifinals and final of the 2013 edition, for the first time since 1985, no country of the former Yugoslav federation participated in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. The concept sees all countries performing in the Grand Final present themselves with their flags before the contest begins. This year, the contestants entered the stage by walking across a bridge over the audience. The idea was continued the following years by Denmark and Austria, on 8 July 2012, the Swedish broadcaster Sveriges Television announced that Malmö Arena in Malmö would be the host venue for the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest. This was the time after 1975,1985,1992 and 2000 that the competition was held in Sweden and the second time, after 1992. This were factors in the choice of Malmö Arena as the host venue, and Malmö as Swedens third-largest city by population after Stockholm and Gothenburg, Øresund bridge was eventually also used as the main artistic medium for the theme of the contest, as an expression of binding cultures. One alternative put forward in the Expressen, was to hold the competition at three different venues – the semi-finals in Gothenburg and Malmö, and the final in Stockholm. This proposal was dismissed as unfeasible by SVT, which declared that the contest would be hosted in one city. On 20 June 2012, it was announced that Gothenburg had withdrawn from the process due to the city being the host of the Göteborg Horse Show in late April 2013. There were also concerns about the availability of hotel rooms due to a variety of events taking place in the same time frame as the Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest 2013
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Square in Malmö before the finals, with time table demonstrating the countdown for the broadcast.
Eurovision Song Contest 2013
Eurovision Song Contest 2013
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Malmö Arena, next to Hyllie Railway Station.
Eurovision Song Contest 2013
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The stage with its movable parts and the audience closely surrounding it during the opening act of the second semi-final
40.
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
–
B&W Hallerne, located on Refshaleøen Island, Copenhagen
Eurovision Song Contest 2014
Eurovision Song Contest 2014
–
Parken Stadium, which hosted the
2001 contest.
Eurovision Song Contest 2014
–
Jyske Bank Boxen, hosted the final of
Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2013.
41.
Hersi Matmuja
–
Hersjana Matmuja, also known as Hersi Matmuja or simply Hersi is an Albanian singer, best known for winning the 52nd edition of Festivali i Këngës. In 2014 she represented Albania in Eurovision Song Contest held in Copenhagen, Denmark, Hersi Matmuja was born on February 1,1990 in Kukës. She started singing when she was 8 years old and as a child participated in many festivals, during that time, she also studied Canto at Liceu Jordan Misja in Tirana, where she received the highest possible grade of 10/10 upon completion. In 2003, she provided the voice of Melody in the Albanian dub of The Little Mermaid II. She returned to participate in the Festivali i Këngës three more times, Hersi also participated twice in Kënga Magjike. In October 2014, she graduated from the Santa Cecilia Conservatory with the score of 30/30. She speaks Albanian, English and Italian, despite her classical music training, Hersi says her musical influences include Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Lady Gaga, Celine Dion, Rihanna, Björk and ABBA. She studies at Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Matmuja was among the 16 participants taking part at the 52nd edition of Festivali i Këngës. Her song Zemërimi i një nate was written by Jorgo Papingji and she performed on the first presentation night and shortly became a favourite to win the show. She opened the night and received 69 points from the jury, thus getting the rights to represent Albania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 in Copenhagen. She left Klodian Kaçani and Me ty behind with 24 points, the Eurovision version of Zemërimi i një nate and official video was released on 20 March. Matmuja performed in the first semi final, on 6 May and she didnt qualify for the final on 10 May
Hersi Matmuja
–
Hersjana Matmuja (2014)
42.
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
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
–
Sakis Rouvas in
Istanbul (
2004)
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Helena Paparizou receiving her prize after her win in
Kiev (
2005)
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Sarbel in
Helsinki (
2007)
43.
Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Italy has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 42 times since making its debut at the first contest in 1956. It was one of seven countries that competed at the very first contest. Italy competed at the contest frequently until 1997, after a fourteen-year absence, the country competed in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. Italy has won the contest twice, in 1958, Domenico Modugno finished third with the song Nel blu, dipinto di blu. Renamed Volare, the became a huge international hit, reaching the US number one spot. Emilio Pericoli also finished third in 1963, before Italy won for the first time in 1964 with Gigliola Cinquetti, Cinquetti returned to the contest in 1974 and finished second with the song Si, losing to ABBA. Italy then finished third in 1975 with Wess and Dori Ghezzi, the countrys best result of the 1980s was Umberto Tozzi and Raf finishing third in 1987. Italys second victory in the contest came in 1990 with Toto Cutugno, other good 1990s results were Mia Martini in 1992 and Jalisse in 1997, who both finished fourth. After 1997, Italy withdrew from the competition, the EBU announced that they would work harder to bring Italy back to the contest in 2010, along with former participants Monaco and Austria, but again Italy did not participate in the contest. Italys return to the contest proved to be successful, with Raphael Gualazzi finishing second, Italy has finished in the top ten in four of the last six contests. In 2015, Il Volo won the televoting receiving votes from all countries, since the introduction of the 50/50 voting system in 2009, this was the first time that the winner of the viewers vote did not win the contest. Italy has withdrawn from the Eurovision Song Contest a number of times, the first withdrawal was in 1981, when RAI stated that interest had diminished in the country. This absence continued through the year, before Italy returned in 1983. Italy again withdrew in 1986 when RAI decided not to enter the contest, from 1994 to 1996 Italy withdrew again, with RAI citing a lack of interest in participating. Italy returned in 1997, before withdrawing again without explanation, none of the Eurovision winning songs were particularly successful in the Italian charts. Despite the Eurovision contests taking place more than a month before the vote, Italian censors refused to allow the contest. The song thus remained censored on most Italian state TV and radio stations for over a month, at the contest in Brighton, Cinquetti finished second, losing to ABBA. Sì went on to be a UK top ten hit, peaking at number eight and it also reached the German top 20
Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Bobby Solo in Naples (
1965)
Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Italy
Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Marco Mengoni in Malmö (
2013)
Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Il Volo in Vienna (
2015)
44.
Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Turkey participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 34 times from their debut in 1975 with the song Seninle Bir Dakika performed by Semiha Yankı, to their withdrawal in 2013. Turkey has always qualified for the final, except the 2011 Contest. Since their debut in the two years Turkey finished last, they scored nul points, before 1997, the countrys only top ten result was achieved by Klips ve Onlar, who placed ninth in 1986. Turkey achieved six top five results between 1997 and 2010, winning once in 2003 with the song Everyway That I Can by Sertab Erener, in 2004, the home entry in Istanbul, For Real by Athena, placed fourth. In 2007, Shake It Up Şekerim by Kenan Doğulu also finished fourth, in 2008, the band Mor ve Ötesi placed seventh. In 2009, Hadise achieved another impressive result for Turkey, finishing in fourth place, in 2010, the nu metal band maNga, achieved Turkeys second best result in the contest, finishing second. Since the introduction of the free language rule as well as televoting, in 1997, Turkey finished third with the song Dinle by Şebnem Paker, who sung all the song in Turkish. The country sent a song partially in English for the first time in 2000 and completely in English in 2003, since 2000, Turkey has had seven entries completely sung in English and four bilingual songs. TRT announced on 14 December 2012 that they would not attend the 2013 competition in Malmö, in September 2013, Turkeys state broadcaster stated a return is unlikely for the 2014 competition, citing the same reasons. Also there was no television broadcast on TRT in 2013 and 2014, test transmissions started on TRT1 on 31 January 1968. A full national television schedule, which at that time linked the areas in and around Ankara, Istanbul, TRT renewed its membership in the European Broadcasting Union starting on 26 August 1972 with Turkeys first Eurovision Network event, a football match, on 13 January 1973. Turkish national broadcaster televised the Eurovision Song Contest between 1973 and 2012 incessantly, even in the years that they werent participating, Turkey debuted to the Eurovision Song Contest in the 1975 Contest, which is the 20th edition of the Contest and held in Stockholm, Sweden. Greece did not participate in the 1975 Contest for unknown reasons according to the EBU, TRT organized a national final for select the first ever Turkish entrant to the Eurovision Song Contest. The final took place on 9 February 1975 in the studios of TRT, the winning song was picked by averaging the ranks from the professional jury and peoples jury as Seninle Bir Dakika by Semiha Yankı. At the close of voting the song had received only 3 points from Monaco, in 1976, Greek entry aroused controversy as it was about the Turkish invasion of Cyprus. This time Turkey withdrew from the Contest to protest the political background of the entry of Greece, Panagia Mou, Turkey didnt take part in the Contest until 1978. The 1979 Contest was held in the Israeli capital, Jerusalem, Turkish entry selected as Seviyorum by Maria Rita Epik but Arab countries compelled the Turkish government to withdraw from the Contest because of Arabs state of war with the host country, Israel. So Turkey withdrew from the Contest for the time in 1979
Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Kenan Doğulu in
2007.
Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Turkey
Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Sertab in the opening of
the 2004 Contest.
Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Mor ve Ötesi in
2008.
45.
Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Spain has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 56 times since making its debut in 1961, where they finished ninth. Spain has competed in the contest continuously since the debut in 1961. The only country with a run of uninterrupted Eurovision appearances is the United Kingdom. The 1969 contest in Madrid is the only time Spain has hosted the event, since lots were drawn after 1969s four way tie and the 1970 contest was hosted by the Netherlands. Spain has also finished second in the contest four times, with Karina in 1971, Mocedades in 1973, Betty Missiego in 1979 and Anabel Conde in 1995, and third in 1984 with Bravo. The country finished last with Nul points in 1962,1965 and 1983, Spain has had less success in recent years, failing to reach the top 10 in 10 of the last 12 contests. The exceptions being 10th-place finishes for Pastora Soler in 2012 and Ruth Lorenzo in 2014, Spain has regularly 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. Between 1977 and 1999, Spains entries were selected internally by TVE, before that, internal selections and national contests, like Pasaporte a Dublín in 1971, were alternated. From 2000, Spain has used various formats with different results. In 2000 and 2001, TVE organised a final called Eurocanción. The result in the Eurovision final was not good and for 2006, in 2007, Spains entry was decided through the Misión Eurovisión 2007 show, with a disappointing result once again. From 2008 to 2010, the Internet was the key element of the used by TVE to select the Spanish entry. In 2008, the social networking website MySpace was involved in the national final Salvemos Eurovisión, a website was created to make it possible for anyone to upload a song and proceed to a televised final if chosen by online voters or an expert jury. The result improved a little, but not much, nevertheless the interest of the Spanish audience was revived again, for 2009, MySpace was still involved in the selection process Eurovisión 2009, El retorno, although some changes were introduced in the format. The result was the worst in the 2000s, 24th place, in 2010, a similar format, Eurovisión, Destino Oslo, selected the Spanish entry, with the best result since 2004. In 2011, Internet voting was scrapped from the new selection method Destino Eurovisión, after a further disappointing result, for 2012, TVE decided to approach an established act, Pastora Soler, and organise a national final to select her song. A top ten result was achieved for the first time since 2004, in 2014, TVE decided to return to a multi-artist national final procedure, called Mira quién va a Eurovisión, five artists were invited to participate by TVE. A top ten result was achieved for the time in three years
Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Conchita Bautista at Naples (
1965)
Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Spain
Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Julio Iglesias at Amsterdam (
1970)
Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Ramón at Istanbul (
2004)
46.
Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Macedonia, presented in the contest as Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 16 times since its official debut in 1998. The country had attempted to participate in 1996, but failed to qualify from the qualifying round. Macedonia is one of the most unsuccessful countries in the contest, Macedonias best result in the contest is Elena Risteskas 12th place finish in 2006. Macedonia has failed to qualify from the round in eight of the last nine contests, the exception being Kaliopi. Macedonias first appearance in the contest was in 1998, the countrys best result was in 2006, when Elena Risteska sang Ninanajna in Athens, Greece and came 12th. Macedonia is the country to have qualified from every semi-final from 2004 to 2007. Since then, only in 2012 Macedonia have made the final, also, Macedonian composers wrote songs for candidates from other parts of Yugoslavia. However, the Macedonian entries never managed to win, and the SR Macedonia was the federal state never to send a Yugoslav entry to the Eurovision Song Contest. ^ Macedonia unsuccessfully attempted to participate in 1996, when there was an audio-only pre-qualifying round for all countries, the official Eurovision site does not count 1996 in Macedonias list of appearances. Macedonia did not progress to the final in either year, in 2008 Sweden beat Macedonia to the final, if a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. The other reason being that back in 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. co. uk Eurovision Macedonia
Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Toše Proeski at
Istanbul (
2004)
Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest
Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Karolina Gočeva at
Helsinki (
2007)
Macedonia in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Tamara,
Vrčak and
Adrian at
Belgrade (
2008)
47.
Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Switzerland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 57 times since making its debut at the first contest in 1956, missing only four contests, in 1995,1999,2001 and 2003. Switzerland hosted the first contest in 1956, and won it themselves, Switzerland won the contest again in 1988. Lys Assia won the very first contest in Lugano in 1956 with the song Refrain and she returned to place second in 1958. In 1993, Annie Cotton gave the country its eighth top three result, when she placed third, in the 21st century, Switzerland has only once reached the top ten, in 2005 with the girl band Vanilla Ninja finishing eighth. Since the introduction of the round in 2004, Switzerland has failed to qualify for the final nine times. At the 2014 contest, Sebalter gave the country its second best result of the century, Switzerland had been absent from Eurovision four times since their participation began in the first contest. These absences, in 1995,1999,2001 and 2003 were caused by poor results in previous contests that relegated Switzerland from the contest, Switzerland has four official languages, French, German, Italian, and Romansh. For decades, the requirements stated that the song had to be performed in a national language. Out of their 55 appearances in the Contest, Switzerland has sent 52 songs,24 of which were in French,12 in German, nine in Italian, nine in English, both of Switzerlands winning songs have been sung in French. ^ The full results for the first contest in 1956 are unknown, the official Eurovision site lists all the other songs as being placed second. 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, Switzerlands voting history is as follows, Over the years Switzerland has broadcast the Eurovision Song Contest on three television stations, SRF, RTS and RSI. Table key Points to and from Switzerland eurovisioncovers. co. uk
Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Jean Philippe at Luxembourg (
1962)
Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Switzerland
Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Yovanna at Naples (
1965)
Switzerland in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Henri Dès at Amsterdam (
1970)
48.
Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
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
–
Stevan Faddy at Helsinki (
2007)
Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest
Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Stefan Filipović at Belgrade (
2008)
Montenegro in the Eurovision Song Contest
–
Rambo Amadeus at Baku (
2012)
49.
Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Croatia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 22 times since making its debut at the 1993 contest. Between 1993 and 2011, the Croatian entrant was selected at the Dora pop festival, Croatias best result in the contest is fourth-place finishes in 1996 and 1999. Croatia first reached the top ten in 1995, when Magazin & Lidija Horvat-Dunjko finished sixth and this would be the first of six top ten results in seven years. Maja Blagdan was fourth in 1996, Danijela Martinović was fifth in 1998, Doris Dragović was fourth in 1999, Goran Karan was ninth in 2000, since then, Croatia has failed to reach the top ten. Since the introduction of the round in 2004, Croatia has failed to reach the final on five occasions. Croatia then withdrew from the contest in 2014 and 2015, on its return in 2016, Croatia reached the final for the first time in seven years. Croatia participated at Eurovision ten times as part of Yugoslavia, in 1963,1968,1969,1971,1972,1986,1987,1988,1989 and 1990. Apart from being the most successful Yugoslav republic in the contest, it gave the socialist republic its only win, Rock Me, sung by Riva in 1989, the Eurovision Song Contest 1990 was held in Zagreb as a result. After the dissolution of Yugoslavia in 1991, the Croatian national public broadcaster Croatian Radiotelevision had organised a festival to select a Croatian representative for the 1992 Contest. If HRT had been a member of the EBU in time for the contest, Croatias first entry as an independent state was in 1993 with the band Put, performing Dont Ever Cry which was, despite the English title, also partially performed in Croatian. The song came third in the Qualification for Millstreet, which allowed their participation in the 1993 contest, Croatias best position, as of 2016, has been with Maja Blagdans 1996 entry Sveta ljubav and Doris Dragovićs 1999 entry Marija Magdalena. Along with Malta and Cyprus and Portugal, Croatia was never relegated in the 1990s, the last time Croatia qualified for the grand final was in 2009. However, on 5 May 2015, HRT announced that it wont broadcast the 2015 contest and it was the first time since 1992 for HRT to not broadcast the contest. On 26 November 2015, it was announced that Croatia would return to the contest in 2016, nina Kraljić with the song Lighthouse qualified to the final, making it that Croatia qualified for the first time since 2009. After the successful return in 2016, Croatian national broadcaster Croatian Radiotelevision confirmed on 17 September 2016 that they would participate in 2017. Yugoslavian entries in 1963,1968,1969,1971,1972,1986,1987,1988,1989 and 1990 are Croatian entries that competed for Yugoslavia, ^ 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. ^ In 2009, Croatia qualified through the back-up jury selection, if a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year
Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Feminnem at Oslo (
2010)
Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest
Croatia in the Eurovision Song Contest
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Klapa s Mora at Malmö (
2013)
For the most recent participation see
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