ERT excludes Despina Vandi from selection

by Sietse Bakker 380 views

With enthusiasm, ERT officials told our colleagues from Oikotimes.com that super star Despina Vandi would represent Greece at the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest. Daphne Bogota, who is responsible for Eurovision Song Contest issues at the Greek broadcaster ERT, now confirmed that Vandi will not represent Greece in 2005!

Bogota admits that Despina Vandi and ERT were close to a deal, but now had to conclude that the star was too expensive to send to Kiev next year. According to Daphne Bogota, Vandi was also worried to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest while her international career is going well. “Here at ERT, we don't understand that Greek artists are so insecure to participate”, she said.

Within the next 5 to 10 days, ERT will announce if a national selection or an internal one will take place for Greece its Eurovision Song Contest entry. The most possible scenario is an internal selection of the performer and a national song selection with 3 to 5 songs, written and composed by Greek musicians.

ERT has Antique singer Elena Paparizou as possible backup. Paparizou represented Greece in 2001 as female part of the duo Antique, singing Greece to a third place with Die for you.

It's the first time ERT's Daphne Bogota officially replied concerning the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest.