Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007

ESC National Year
Year = 2007
Country = GRE
Preselection = National Final
50% Tele-Voting/SMS
50% Judging panel
Preselection date = February 28 2007
Entrant = Sarbel
Song = "Yassou Maria"
Final result = 7th, 139 points

Greece and Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi (ERT) chose to hold a national final this year after efforts to find a big name artist for an internal selection failed. The artists involved were Sarbel, Christos Dantis, and Tamta. The national final took place February 28 2007, and was called "Eurovision 2007". Each artist choose a song, and performed it in their own way. The winner was Sarbel with the song "Yassou Maria" which was chosen via 50% Tele-voting/SMS Messaging and 50% internal jury. [ cite web | title = Information on the National Selection and singers | url = http://www.eurovisionathens.gr/en/news.asp?id=22788 ERT En icon]

National final

The national final took place on February 28 2007 at the Athinon Arena, at 9:00 PM CET with hosts Fotis Sergoulopoulos and Maria Bakodimou. [ cite web | title = Greece: Hosts decided | url = http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/7425|publisher="ESCToday"|accessdate=2008-08-08|date=2007-01-30] The artists involved in the national final were Sarbel, Christos Dantis, and Tamta. Each artist sang the song they chose in their own special way. The winner was chosen via 50% Tele-voting/SMS Messaging and 50% internal jury. Similar to the previous year's show, there was also entertainment in the show. Some of the international guests included Swiss participant DJ Bobo, Cypriot participants Evridiki and Dimitris Korgialas, Belarus participant Dmitry Koldun, and Bulgarian participants Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankulov. [ cite web | title = Information on guests at the National Selection | url = http://www.oikotimes.com/site/index.php?id=8107 Oikotimes En icon] . Greek entertainment included Natasa Theodoridou, Michalis Hatzigiannis, and Despina Olympiou. Elena Paparizou and Sakis Rouvas were also guest at the show but did not sing. [ cite web | title = Information on Elena Paparizou and Sakis Rouvas being involved in the National Final | url = http://www.oikotimes.com/site/index.php?id=7917 Oikotimes En icon] The hosts also provided comedy skits, an award show to past entries, and information on past acts. It was broadcast live by ERT, ERT World, and a webcast via their site [http://www.ert.gr/ www.ERT.gr] . It was also broadcast live by 8 other countries [ cite web | title = Information on the broadcast | url = http://www.oikotimes.com/site/index.php?id=7894 Oikotimes En icon] . The winner of the selection was Sarbel with the song "Yassou Maria".

The songs

arbel

Sarbel chose to sing the song "Yassou Maria" with lyrics by Mack and composed by popular Greek-Swedish composer team Alex Papaconstantinou and Marcus Englof who had previously written music for 2005 winner Elena Paparizou. Sarbel described the song as "a whole new style within itself" because of its pop, Latin, and touch of ethnic Greek sounds.cite web|url=http://www.esctoday.com/specials/read/7573|title=The Greek finalists speak to esctoday!|last=Floras|first=Stella|date=2007-03-25|publisher="ESCToday"|accessdate=2008-08-08] Sarbel was accompanied on stage by four female dancers. He wore black leather pants, and a silver shirt. There were blue lights and fire in the background. The choreography was complex which led to some problems with his microphone.

Tamta

Tamta chose to sing the ballad "With Love" composed by Eurovision veteran Nikos Terzis. [ cite web | title = Information on Tamta's song from Oikotimes | url = http://www.oikotimes.com/site/index.php?id=7848|publisher="Oikotimes"] Lyrics were by Posidonas Giannopoulos. The ballad included ethnic Balkan sounds in addition to the main melody and a part of the song was in Greek. Tamta went on stage with 2 male dancers and had a stage act with pyrotechnics. She wore a white dress with while glove and a white hood. The background was organge-yellow. The male dancers used red ribbon-flags on stage. The video wall in the background showed the words "love" and "happiness" in different languages. The song had a microphone glitch in it mid-way when one of the dancers stepped on a wire.

Christos Dantis

Christos Dantis chose "No Madonna", a song composed by himself with lyrics by Natalia Germanou. [ cite web | title = Stop the press! H Madonna είναι και στη...eurovision! | url = http://www.mad.tv/news/?id=23928|language=Greek|publisher="MAD TV"|accessdate=2008-08-08|date=2007-01-16] Together in 2005, they also composed the winning Eurovision song "My Number One" for Elena Paparizou. The song was rock-dance with an ethnic Greek twist. [ cite web | title = Information on the style of Christos Dantis' song | url = http://www.oikotimes.com/site/index.php?id=7722 Oikotimes Gr icon] Christos Dantis was accompanied by 5 female dancers with blond wigs made to resemble Madonna. The stage show included a fog machine and the songs lyrics written on the video wall talking to the audience. He wore a black suite on stage, then later a shiny black jacket. The female dancers mid-way in the song removed their skirts. The song also had a microphone glitch in it.

Result of National Final

By order performed:

At Eurovision

Sarbel competed with Yassou Maria in the Eurovision Final in Helsinki, Finland on May 12 2007. Greece was not required to sing in the semi-final as Anna Vissi, Greece's entry at the 2006 contest, reached ninth place.

During a draw, Greece was assigned a running order of 10 in the contest. Sarbel appeared after 4 ballads, and before 1 disco song. He went on stage with 4 girls with short dresses. They used the same dance routine as the Greek National Final, but with minor changes. Those changes included the end part, which used ribons attached to the girls skirts during the end bridge, with Sarbel acting as sort of a puppeteer. Later the ribbons were used to make a heart around Sarbel and the girls at the very end.

Greece's entry for the 2007 contest finished in 7th place with 139 points, 1 point ahead of Armenia and 6 points behind Belarus.

ee also

*Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest
*Eurovision Song Contest 2007

References