Cypriot Eurovision entry is a brave effort

Tony Neophytou LGR - Tuesday 6th of May 2008

Cyprus’s Evdokia Kadi will plan an amazing performance that is to unleash her ‘Femme Fatale’ tendencies on the spectator.

The theatrical effort is a brave choice for the island who strive to qualify for the final, and with a song, that goes against the grain of Eurovision 'easy pop listening'. But it still deserves full marks for even daring to be different.

Is the Cypriot Eurovision entry sufficiently different to make the final?

Evdokia who hails from Nicosia had beaten her contemporaries Sofia Strati and Marlain to win the vote outright, in January of this year.

"It’s been many years since a purely ethnic song has entered for Cyprus"the artist had observed.

The fans hitherto starved of the quintessential Greek language in the Eurovision had embraced the option. "People had missed sending a purely Greek song to Eurovision – a factor that helped me to win the Cypriot vote".

Her decision to solicit Cyprus's Eurovision bid was motivated by the tune itself, she liked the fact it had "a definite Greek recognition in both the verse and sound."

"Eurovision is a massive event in Cyprus, I was a fan of the competition, but never thought I’d enter it. The song was right for me. They suggested the idea to me and I accepted the offer".

The singer herself is a realist however, not dismissing the potential stumbling block to progress further into the competition.

"It is a risk to enter with a Greek song! We took a risk in choosing to enter the Cypriot selection; the risk is still alive with the Eurovision Semi-Final".

The inter-play of genres stir a bit of induced excitement, swaying as it does from zeimbekiko, rumba, pop, to great sounding Balkan rifts supplanted into the song, and of course, Greek. Her tune is cute. The superb baglamadaki in the first few seconds is especially outstanding!

The contender is reminiscent of the ‘golden age’ Greek movies of the 1960’s, which belied the strong female lead, and pronounced by legendary artists, such as Aliki Vougiouklaki and Irene Mercouri.

The context although unintentional is straight out of a traditional Cypriot taverna, and the sun-kissed tourist will adore it!

It is a brave effort to sing a non-Eurovision formulaic number but to have gone down the path of a theatrically-driven performance, which may very well flop if voters opt instead for easy ‘infectious’ pop.

The 'hook' line is amiss, the tune itself is unavoidably plunged into a sea of obscurity, and what becomes heightened is the inherent weakness of the lack of a punchy ‘chorus’. The tune never really establishes a firm foothold, which is likely to equally fade from people's consciousness. The 40-50 second slow-burning introduction, is unlikely to help much either, after which however, it picks up a gear into a quite pleasant rhythmical beat.

Her performance will strive to pull off amazing choreography with latent surprises. Evdokia herself had refused to go into concrete details on the matter as 'it wouldn’t be a surprise if I did'.

The fate of qualification will be assessed on a strong visual performance. What are the chances of witnessing a plate-smashing routine? I hope so!

Eurovision wouldn’t be the same without ‘ripping off clothes’ and so Evdokia won’t disappoint either. The artist will undergo a ‘make-over’ between a silver
'tin-foil' custome into a modern ‘femme fatale’ with a fetching red/black mini-skirt, while performing the sultry moves. She probes and teases, her four male dancers, into succombing to her dominant control - pretty much in line with the song's theme, 'Fatal Woman' and it all looks quite entertaining. Her knowledge of the bouzoukia is used to a great affect too, and for anyone planning a trip to Limassol - check out her performances at the Notes Club.

One nice touch, Evdokia is positioned onto a wooden table, her fellow dancers, raise both the artist and furniture into the air, to signify the climatic conclusion to the three minutes.

Undoubtedly Evdokia’s striking gorgeous looks, and ‘glamorous’ customes plus the dancers, who will wear black and orange smart suits, might prove worthy of a sure-fire hit.

The fiercest criticism that is levelled against the initiative is the perception of it as dated, old-fashioned and non-Eurovision.

Some people have approached me with a view of criticising the ‘cabaret’ and ‘old-fashioned feel’ of the contender. The perspective is indeed not without merit, but having said that, the effort is good at fulfilling the criterion, after all this is supposedly a quaint, nostalgic, Cypriot tune.

The dancers will be Tefkros Neokleous, Andreas Vanezis, Polys Kourousides and Christos Shakallis. The choreography is to be charged by Elena Shakallis.

Composer is Nicos Evangelou while the lyrics are penned by Vangelis Evangelou.

17th position in the draw, a great and memorable performance should vastly improve Cyprus’s chances into progression into the final.

The prospect would also revive the flagging Cypriot Eurovision fortunes – after the elimination of Annette Artani and Evridiki at the process of qualification.

Evdokia will intend to release her debut album after Eurovision.

She joined the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (Cybc) Folk Orchestra in 2006, to pursue other avenues in music.

Your VOTE counts! Support Cyprus!
Eurovision Semi-Final Two, Thursday 22 May, BBC3 at 8pm GMT

•   Advertisements