Eurovision Song Contest 2006
The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the 51st edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Athens, following Helena Paparizou's win at the 2005 contest in Kiev, Ukraine with the song "My Number One". Held at the Nikos Galis Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens, Greece on 18 May and 20 May 2006, the organising was done by the Greek national broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation; 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 hard rock song to win the contest, since Eurovision is associated with softer pop music and schlager. This was Finland's first victory in Eurovision after waiting forty-five years, it is noted that they scored the same amount of points in the semi-final and the grand final. The hosts of the Eurovision Song Contest in Athens were Greek singer Sakis Rouvas, the Greek representative at Eurovision in 2004 and 2009, the Greek American television presenter and actress, Maria Menounos.
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 "S'eho Erotefthi" called "I'm in love with you". Helena Paparizou, who performed the winning song in Kiev, returned to the Eurovision stage in Athens. Following the examples of Sertab Erener and Marie N in the last three years, she sang twice in the final, "My Number One" in the opening and her current song "Mambo!" in the interval. An official CD and DVD was released and a new introduction was an official fan book released from this year, every year to come with detailed information of every country; the 2006 contest saw the 1,000th song to be performed in the contest, when "Every Song Is a Cry for Love" by Ireland's Brian Kennedy was sung in the semi-final. Armenia entered the contest for the first time; the venue, chosen as the host venue was the Nikos Galis Olympic Indoor Hall, located in the Athens Olympic Sports Complex, in the capital city of Greece.
Completed in 1995, it was the largest indoor venue in use for sporting events at the 2004 Summer Olympics. The official logo of the contest remained the same from 2004 and 2005 with the country's 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, a popular symbol of ancient Greece. According to ERT, it was "inspired by the wind and the sea, the golden sunlight and the glow of the sand". Following Istanbul's "Under The Same Sky" and Kiev's "Awakening", the slogan for the 2006 show was "Feel The Rhythm"; this theme was the basis for the postcards for the 2006 show, which emphasized Greece's historical significance as well as being a major modern tourist destination. To save time in the final, the voting time lasted ten minutes and the voting process was changed: points 1-7 were shown on-screen; the spokespersons only announced the countries scoring 10 and 12 points. Despite this being intended to speed proceedings up, there were still problems during voting – EBU imaging over-rode Maria Menounos during a segment in the voting interval and some scoreboards were slow to load.
The Dutch spokesperson Paul de Leeuw caused problems, giving his mobile number to presenter Rouvas during the Dutch results, slowing down proceedings by announcing the first seven points. Constantinos Christoforou saluted from "Nicosia, the last divided capital in Europe"; 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 active 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 contains phrases in Spanish. 2.^ The song contains phrases in French. The finalists were: the four automatic qualifiers France, Germany and the United Kingdom; the final was won by Finland.
Countries in bold automatically qualified for the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 Final. Notes 3.^ The song contains words in Spanish. The following people were the spokespersons for their countries. A spokesperson delivers the results of national televoting during the final night, awarding points to the entries on behalf of his or her country. A draw was held to determine each country's voting order. Countries revealed their votes in the following order: Although Serbia & Montenegro did not compete in the contest, they still regained voting rights due to a scandal, caused during their National Selection. Televoting was used in all nations except Albania. Monaco used a jury. Albania used a jury. In the semi final and Albania used the jury voting due to insufficient televoting numbers. Coincidentally and Monaco were two of the three countries that d
Linas and Simona
Linas and Simona was a duo, which represented Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004. With 26 points they could not participate in the final. However, they befriended Ruslana, the winner of the Eurovision 2004, together recorded Fight for Love and Freedom; this song was released in album I Love U on 22 July 2005. In 2005 they were representatives of an anti-AIDS campaign in Lithuania; the couple separated in late 2007 ending the duo. Their last work, live album Linas and Simona presents UAB MUSIC Live featuring Stasys Povilaitis, Violeta Riaubiškytė, was released in February 2008. Linas Adomaitis was born on 10 April 1976 to a family of a professional violinist, he attended music school from early age and now holds a master's degree from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theater. Linas started his music career in 1995 with quartet called L+; the band played in R&B style. They released four albums before adjourning in 2000. Linas started solo career. Simona Jakubėnaitė participated in about 15 large international music festivals before taking part in Fizz Superstar contest in 2002.
The show was similar to the American Idol and took place in the three Baltic states. Simona did not win the contest, but started working together. For a while she was Linas' backing singer. After the separation from Linas, she went to study at the Berklee College of Music
Jeronimas Milius
Jeronimas Milius is a Lithuanian singer. Since 2003, he has been the leader of the heavy/power metal band Soul Stealer. Jeronimas Milius was elected to represent his country in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 on 2 February 2008 collecting 11 674 votes leaving Aistė Pilvelytė with Troy on Fire close behind whose backing vocalist he was in the national final for Eurovision Song Contest 2006. With his opera-like rock ballad "Nomads in the Night" he didn't make it to the final ending his performance in the semi-final, he appeared on the UK talent show'Superstar', a search by Andrew Lloyd Webber to find the next'Jesus' in his new arena production of Jesus Christ Superstar.. About Jeronimas Milius. Eurovision Official Website. Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008
Eurovision Song Contest 2005
The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the 50th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Kiev, following Ruslana's win at the 2004 Contest in Istanbul, Turkey with the song "Wild Dances"; the contest consisted of two shows: the semi-final and final, which took place on 19 and 21 May 2005 at the Palace of Sports. The shows were hosted by Pavlo Shylko. Thirty-nine countries participated, including the débuts of Bulgaria and Moldova and the return of Hungary, last represented in 1998. Organizers hoped that this event would boost Ukraine's image abroad and increase tourism, while the country's new government hoped that it would give a modest boost to the long-term goal of acquiring European Union membership; the winner for 2005 was Greece with the song "My Number One" performed by Helena Paparizou, written by Christos Dantis and Natalia Germanou, both successful singer-songwriters in Greece. It scored 230 points; this was the first victory for Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest.
Romania and Latvia rounded out the top five. The "Big Four" countries ended up as the "Last Four", all placing in the bottom four position of the scoreboard in the final. Kiev is the capital and largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper; the Palace of Sports, a multi-purpose indoor arena, was confirmed by officials as the host venue in September 2004. However, in order to host the contest, the facilities had been brought up to the standard required by the European Broadcasting Union. At the end of December 2004, work began on the renovation of the hall, for which 4 million francs were allocated. Renovation works were to be finished by 20 April, they were completed at the beginning of May; the arena could accommodate over 5,000 seated spectators. Additionally 2,000 press delegates were catered for. Hotel rooms were scarce as the contest organisers asked the Ukrainian government to put a block on bookings they did not control themselves through official delegation allocations or tour packages: this led to many people's hotel bookings being cancelled.
The official logo of the contest remained the same from the 2004 contest with the country's flag in the heart being changed. Following Istanbul's'Under The Same Sky', the slogan for the 2005 show was'Awakening', which symbolised the awakening of the country and city ready to present itself to Europe; 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 and DJ Pavlo "Pasha" Shylko. 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 Ukraine's president, Viktor Yushchenko. An official CD and DVD was released and a new introduction was an official pin set, which contains heart-shaped pins with the flags of all thirty-nine participating countries.
The EBU commissioned a book "The Eurovision Song Contest – The Official History" by British/American author John Kennedy O'Connor to celebrate the contest's fiftieth anniversary. The book was presented on screen during the break between songs 12 and 13; the book was published in English, French, Swedish and Finnish. During the semi final, there were a few volume falls in the sound, most notably during the Norwegian song, shortly after the intro; these were not fixed for the DVD release. 2005 was no exception for scandals regarding the representatives from the countries participating. Germany's entrant in the Eurovision Song Contest rejected calls to quit after her producer admitted manipulating the country's pop charts with mass purchases of her single. Gracia Baur defended her producer David Brandes behind Swiss entry Vanilla Ninja, said she would go to the finals in Kiev despite complaints from other German singers. Bulgaria's 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 problems in Malta with the electricity supply during the contest, so TV viewers were unable to watch their national selection from the beginning. 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 an eventual victory for Martin Vučić; the Ukrainian song had to be changed because it would bring a political message to the people, EBU stated that no politics could be involved in the contest. The entry for Serbia and Montenegro was overshadowed by a scandal and an accusation of plagiarism. Portugal's entry, "Amar", had poor sound quality, with the female singer's microphone failing many times on stage, it is notable that the programme lasted just short of 3.5 hours. This was due to the long voting procedure, where 39 countries voted, reading out every single score.
Many people, including United Kingdom commentator Terry Wogan, noticed this and commented about the marathon-like voting procedure, when Russia voted he stated "How many more have we got to go? What time is it?". Because the show overran so badly, the EBU changed the way the votes were announced in 2006 into a much shorter method, where o
Russo-Georgian War
The Russo-Georgian War was a war between Georgia and the Russian-backed self-proclaimed republics of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. The war took place in August 2008 following a period of worsening relations between Russia and Georgia, both constituent republics of the Soviet Union; the fighting took place in the strategically important Transcaucasia region. It was regarded as the first European war of the 21st century; the Republic of Georgia declared its independence in early 1991 as the Soviet Union began to fall apart. Amidst this backdrop, a war between Georgia and separatists left parts of the former South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast under the de facto control of Russian-backed but internationally unrecognised separatists. Following the war, a joint peacekeeping force of Georgian and Ossetian troops was stationed in the territory. A similar stalemate developed in the region of Abkhazia, where Abkhaz separatists had waged war in 1992–1993. Following the election of Vladimir Putin in Russia in 2000 and a pro-Western change of power in Georgia in 2003, relations between Russia and Georgia began to deteriorate, reaching a full diplomatic crisis by April 2008.
By 1 August 2008, South Ossetian separatists had begun shelling Georgian villages, with a sporadic response from Georgian peacekeepers in the area. Artillery attacks by pro-Russian separatists broke a 1992 ceasefire agreement. To put an end to these attacks and restore order, the Georgian Army was sent to the South Ossetian conflict zone on 7 August. Georgians took control of most of a separatist stronghold, in hours. Russian troops had illicitly crossed the Russo-Georgian state border and advanced into the South Ossetian conflict zone by 7 August before the Georgian military response. Russia accused Georgia of "aggression against South Ossetia", launched a big land and sea invasion of Georgia on 8 August with the pretext of "peace enforcement" operation. Russian and South Ossetian forces fought Georgian forces in and around South Ossetia for several days, until Georgian forces retreated. Russian and Abkhaz forces opened a second front by attacking the Kodori Gorge held by Georgia. Russian naval forces blockaded part of the Georgian coast.
The Russian air force attacked targets in undisputed parts of Georgia. This was the first war in history. An information war was waged during and after the conflict. Nicolas Sarkozy, the President of France, which had the presidency of the European Union, negotiated a ceasefire agreement on 12 August. Russian forces temporarily occupied the Georgian cities of Zugdidi, Senaki and Gori, holding on to these areas beyond the ceasefire; the South Ossetians destroyed most ethnic Georgian villages in South Ossetia and were responsible for an ethnic cleansing of Georgians. Russia recognised the independence of Abkhazia and South Ossetia from Georgia on 26 August and the Georgian government severed diplomatic relations with Russia. Russia completed its withdrawal of troops from undisputed parts of Georgia on 8 October. Russian international relations were unharmed; the war displaced 192,000 people and while many returned to their homes after the war, 20,272 people ethnic Georgians, remained displaced as of 2014.
Since the war, Russia has occupied Abkhazia and South Ossetia in violation of the ceasefire agreement of August 2008. In the 10th century AD, Georgia for the first time emerged as an ethnic concept in the territories where the Georgian language was used to perform Christian rituals. After the Mongol invasions of the region, the Kingdom of Georgia was split into several states. In the 19th century, the Russian Empire took over the Georgian lands. In the aftermath of the Russian revolution, Georgia declared independence on 26 May 1918; the Ossetian people are autochthonous to North Ossetia. Controversy surrounds the date of Ossetian arrival in Transcaucasia. According to one theory, they first migrated there during the 13th and 14th centuries AD, resided alongside the Georgians peacefully for hundreds of years. In 1918, conflict began between the landless Ossetian peasants living in Shida Kartli, who were affected by Bolshevism and demanded ownership of the lands they worked, the Menshevik government backed ethnic Georgian nobility, who were legal owners.
Although the Ossetians were discontented with the economic stance of Tbilisi authorities, the tension shortly transformed into ethnic conflict. During uprisings in 1919 and 1920, the Ossetians were covertly supported by Soviet Russia, but so, were defeated; the independent Democratic Republic of Georgia was invaded by the Red Army in 1921 and a Soviet government was installed. The government of Soviet Georgia created an autonomous administrative unit for Transcaucasian Ossetians in April 1922, called the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast. Historians such as Stephen F. Jones, Emil Souleimanov and Arsène Saparov believe that the Bolsheviks awarded this autonomy to the Ossetians in exchange for their help against the Democratic Republic of Georgia, since this area had never been a separate entity prior to the Russian invasion. Nationalism in Soviet Georgia gained momentum in 1989 with the weakening of the Soviet Union; the Kremlin endorsed South Ossetian nationalism as a counter against the Georgian independence movement.
On 11 December 1990, the Supreme Soviet of Georgia, responding to South Ossetia's attempt at secession, annulled the region's autonomy. A military conflict broke out between Georgia and South Ossetian separatists in January 1991. Georgia declared its restoration of independence on 9 April 1991, thus becoming the first non-Baltic state of the Soviet Union to do so; the South Ossetian separatists were aided by
Eurovision Song Contest 1999
The Eurovision Song Contest 1999 was the 44th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Jerusalem, following Dana International's win at the 1998 contest in Birmingham, United Kingdom with the song "Diva"; this was Israel's third victory in the contest, the second time hosting the event. It was held on 29 May 1999 at the International Convention Center, the same venue that hosted it 20 years earlier. Television news anchor Yigal Ravid, singer and 1992 contestant Dafna Dekel and model/actress Sigal Shachmon were the show's hosts, it was the first time that three presenters were used to host the Contest. Israel's two previous winners, Izhar Cohen, who won in 1978 with "A-Ba-Ni-Bi" and Milk and Honey's Gali Atari who won it the next year with "Hallelujah" attended as spectators; the winner of the Contest was Charlotte Nilsson, representing Sweden with "Take Me to Your Heaven", which scored 163 points. This was the second in the 1990s. In the run-up to the Contest, many speculated that it would not be held in Israel, but would be moved to either Malta or stay at the United Kingdom.
This came about after major concerns over funding for the event from the Israeli government arose, alongside the opposition from Orthodox Jews that they would attempt to stop the Contest from coming to Israel after Dana International won the previous year's Contest. This, provided no hindrance for IBA or to the organizing team of the event, the Ussishkin Auditorium at International Convention Center in Jerusalem was selected as the venue for the 44th Contest; as of 2018, this is the last Eurovision Song Contest to have been held in a concert hall rather than in an indoor arena. Long-standing rules in place for decades were abolished during this Contest: rules that each country had to sing in one of their national languages was abolished for the first time since 1977. A majority of the participating countries, fourteen out of twenty-three, chose to sing or in English and only eight in their respective national languages. Furthermore, live music became optional for the first time in the Contest's history.
IBA took advantage of this and decided to drop the orchestra from the Contest as a way to conserve money for the show. This meant; this caused controversy for Eurovision traditionalists, with three-time winner Johnny Logan criticising the move, describing the event now as "karaoke". A compilation CD was released in Israel; the CD omitted the songs from Poland, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Since all compilation CDs have featured all the songs, it was announced in 1999 that, as of the 2000 Contest, the four biggest financial contributors to the European Broadcasting Union – Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom – would all be given automatic entry into the Contest, regardless of their average scores over the past five years. Latvia withdrew at a late stage; this gave Hungary a chance to enter the Contest. This allowed Portugal to compete as the 23rd country. Austria and Herzegovina, Denmark and Iceland returned to the Contest after being relegated from competing in 1998. Lithuania returned to the Contest for the first time in five years.
The Lithuanian delegation has had budget problems to contend with, so the EBU allowed the Lithuanians to arrive in Israel a day than everyone else. The first delegation on the other hand, to arrive were Estonia. After being relegated from the 1998 Contest, Russia's Channel One had decided not to broadcast that year's contest, in order to allow for a strong comeback in Israel. However, as only countries which had broadcast the previous year's contest were allowed to enter the next year's contest, Russia was forced to miss another year, they were joined by Finland, Hungary, Romania and Switzerland. The favourites to win the Contest came from Iceland's Selma with "All Out of Luck", Cyprus's Marlain with "Tha'Ne Erotas", after an internet poll by fans. But, while Iceland finished second to Sweden, Cyprus failed to inspire televotes, finishing second last with only two points, both from the United Kingdom. A number of controversies occurred before the Contest. Two songs selected to compete in Israel were found to be ineligible: Bosnia and Herzegovina's Hari Mata Hari were disqualified after their entry was discovered to have been released in Finland some years previously.
Both artists would represent their countries in Eurovision, in 2006 and 2002 respectively. Croatia's entry attracted objections from the Norwegian delegation, due to synthesised male vocals being used on the backing track of Doris Dragović's entry; the EBU decided to reduce the country's score by a third for the purpose of calculating its five-year average to determine participation in future contests, though it was decided to leave its placement in the 1999 result unaffected. The interval act was provided by Dana International, who performed a cover of the Stevie Wonder song "Free", which although was a smash hit in Israel at the time, caused some controversy there due to the song
For the most recent participation see
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Lithuania in the Eurovision Song Contest
