London Greek Radio

Eurovision draw for Greece and Cyprus

Tony Neophytou LGR - Friday 1st of February 2008

Cypriot Evdokia has been drawn into Semi-Final Two

Cyprus: good chances of qualifying?

Greece and Cyprus will avoid each other in the two-tier Eurovision qualifier - both countries are in alternate Semi-Finals, which will decide the makeover of the 25 countries.

New format decides Eurovision semi-finalists
On 28 January 2008, all 38 countries in the semi-finals were separated into the six pots based on voting history and geographical location.

Cyprus and Greece were placed in Pot three but avoided meeting each other - and the absence of the 12-pointer mutual exchange might conceivably weaken their chances of qualifying.

Semi-Final One (Greece) Tuesday 20 May 20.00 GMT
Greece will be set to compete in the opening salvo to the qualifiers - the decision for their entrant will be made on February 27 at the Athinon Arena Music Hall. Three artists are in contention - Kostas Martakis (Always and Forever), Kalomoira (Secret Combination) and Chrispa (A Chance for Love).

Semi-Final Two (Cyprus) Thursday 22 May 20.00 GMT
Cyprus has been drawn into the second of the qualifying heat stages with opponents Turkey, Bulgaria, Albania and Portugal.

Who shall vote for Cyprus?
Cyprus's Eurovision fate is to be wrestled with the other 18 countries who shall determine the complexion to the last round.

Evdokia’s traditional rebetiko flavoured ‘Femme Fatale’ has broken the mould of the latent Eurovision initiative, their performance has a striking resemblance to a scene reminiscent of a Cypriot taverna and the sun-kissed tourist will love it!

The beautifully stunning Evdokia had sealed a comfortable win - after it gained 6.279 tele-votes, which followed the national decider on January 12.

The French title does disquise the fact the song is in Greek. It permeates a division of opinion into those who simply adore it, and others who forecast a mitigating disaster on the horizon - but this analyst does reckon on quite a few votes, it is a border-line qualification, for the reasons which are explained.

The love/loath it factor is actually a big plus point - unlike Cyprus's former initiatives with Evridiki and Annette Artani - which progressively 'grew on people', that's rarely a reciple for success within the Eurovision 'instant impact' scenario.

"Geia Sou Manga, Ego Ime Gynaika"
Evdokia, born in 1981 in Nicosia, is a feisty Cypriot lass who will unleash her feminine charms on the unsuspecting voter, with the fully fledged plate-breaking anthem. The choreographed routine - Evdokia, the male dancers and a wooden dining table, serve to conguer those images of a taverna located on the Limassol sea-front.

Nikos Evaggelou had written the show-stopper, with orchestration by Neophytos Neophytou.

If anything else however, this commentator would have preferred more of the definite Cypriot sound - which is slightly overpowered with a rumba vibe which occurs in the mid-way of the song. The Portuguese will be thrilled with it, nevertheless, so a few votes will be on hand from that side - that's one prediction.

Still it is a hard challenge to conceptualise who is exactly going to root for the Cypriot song.

The tune has a genuine credence of ethnic consciousness which could lead to supportive wranglings off Albania, Bulgaria and Croatia and Portugal, with a bit of good fortune even beyond the boundaries of the Eastern European.

The traditional ethnic number may not fare so well in the Scandinavian region with Sweden and Denmark. But having said that the Cypriot effort has a solid, tangible ethnic identity, which neither of Cyprus's two former attempts ever had - 'Femme Fatale' has got a charm factor, but it is hard to predict whether that is really strong enough to ease it through to the grand final.

19 countries were allocated into each of the qualifying phases - only 10 will progress into the latter stages. The nine are chosen by the public and the tenth qualifier is by the judge’s vote. The hosts Serbia and the four main financial contributors with Spain, Germany, UK and France are exempt from the burden of qualification. The final will be held on May 24.

Neighbourly voting
The suspicion to the regional block-vote has been weakened with the two-tier qualification. The salient point can be made for Greece and Cyprus in their mutual exchange of high marks - which are to avoid each other in the preliminaries. One example of how it would affect the regional alliances, Russia are in Semi-Final One, but Belarus and Ukraine are in Semi-Final Two - and that means the Belarusian’s and Ukranian's cannot vote for their neighbour.

The limitations of the semi-final qualifying will satisfy the Eurovision critic who has protested at the pro-neighbourly back-slapping state of affairs.

The two semi-finals will produce the 20 acts into the final heat stages on Saturday 24 May.

Semi-Final 1 - Tuesday 20 May at 20.00 GMT
GREECE, Montenegro, Finland, Ireland, Israel, Poland, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Estonia, Netherlands, Romania, Moldova, San Marino, Slovenia, Norway, Belgium, Andorra, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Russia

Semi-Final 2 - Thursday 22 May 20.00 GMT
CYPRUS, Croatia, Denmark, Bulgaria, Portugal, Ukraine, Switzerland, FYR Macedonia, Iceland, Latvia, Belarus, Hungary, Albania, Sweden, Turkey, Lithuania, Georgia, Czech Republic, Malta

British viewers will be able follow the progress of Cyprus on BBC3 - to broadcast the second tier of qualification.

The draw to decide the running order of the songs in each Semi-Final and the Final will be conducted at the Heads of Delegation meeting on 17 March 2008.