Hungary returns to Eurovision stage

After a seven year absence from the Eurovision Song Contest stage, Hungary made their return this morning with the first rehearsal of their much fancied song, Forogj világ. After a smooth running practice, the team moved upstairs to the press conference hall to greet the waiting journalists.

Nox completed a steady sound check and quickly moved onto their first stage performance. This is one of the acts that people thought may not sound too good on stage, but it�s a good performance once again.

The routine has five male backing dancers mixing traditional Hungarian dancing with some more modern themes. The movement remains close to the centre of the stage, making this one of the easier acts for the camera crews to manage. The vocals deteriorated a little with each performance, but it only has to be performed once on the night, so this should not be a problem.

The Hungarian press conference was opened by the head of delegation, who expressed her thanks to the audience for the reception that they had received and her delight at Hungary�s return to Eurovision. The band�s manager then explained that he would act as an interpreter because the group�s English is not so good.

The first question related to the dance routine, questioning it�s similarity to Riverdance. It was explained that the routine is “a traditional Hungarian dance, mixed with gypsy, Ukrainian/Belarusian folk dance and Jewish dance. This is Nox�s style”. The composer, Szabolcs Harmath, was asked if this song was written or changed especially for the Eurovision Song Contest, to which he replied that “This is the traditional Nox style of song, but they had looked at the characteristics of the event” to apply the finishing touches.

They talked about their third album Shining, which was released in Hungary last week and already went Gold. It sold over 15000 copies, a big deal in the country, and Nox currently top every music chart there. Nox are the biggest band in their home country, selling over 100,000 albums in the last year.

The group were asked about their video, and whether 6 people could recreate the show on stage. They announced that they will start a tour of 80 shows when they return after the Eurovision Song Contest with a large dance troop, huge lighting and pyrotechnic displays and a live orchestra, adding �we�re sorry that we can�t do it here, but these are the rules. We have to try to recreate the effect with only 6 people�.

Finally, a question about Hungary�s absence for the last 7 years, why they left, why they came back, and will they stay involved. �We watched the event, especially last year and were very happy to find out that we could enter again�. The Head of delegation added that �to participate, it is a question of finance. Many countries have struggled after regime change, and our broadcaster could not afford to participate. This year we managed to convince them that we could not afford to miss it�. This received the biggest applause of the press conference.