As esctoday.com reported last week, the name of the artist that will represent Spain in Athens this year, is scheduled to be announced this evening in the TV programme España Directo, starting 18:00 CET on TVE 1, 19:30 CET on TVE Internacional for Europe, Asia and Africa, and 22:05 CET on TVE Internacional for America. With this announcement, TVE will finally put an end to all sort of speculations and rumours that have been coming about for weeks as response to the lack of information from TVE.
In mid December, TVE made an official announcement by which artists could submit their songs until the 31st January, with a national finale in mind. Some of the various requirements set by TVE were that the singer had to have Spanish citizenship or live in Spain for more than two years, the song had to be basically in one of Spain�s four official languages (Basque, Catalan, Castilian or Galician) and the singer had to be backed up by a record label.
For all that time, many unknown and famous singers, even artists that represented Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest before, sent their songs to TVE. Once the deadline had passed and because of the silence kept by TVE, all kinds of rumours broke out, including the speculation that TVE had already picked the Spanish representative by an internal selection. Although these rumours were always denied by TVE, finally it was officially informed that 245 songs had been sent, but the choice would be made by an internal committee. Last week in the TV programme España directo and this weekend in different ads, TVE finally revealed the name of the four finalists to represent Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest. The first act is Azúcar Moreno, who the media first started to talk about as the Spanish representative for Athens. Toñi and Encarna Salazar from Badajoz already entered The Eurovision Song Contest way back in 1990. The Extremaduran sisters are best remembered by the the Eurovision Song Contest public for having one of the most memorable moments in the Eurovision Song Contest. The backing track could not be heard on stage, so Azúcar Moreno walked off leaving the audience puzzled. Once the technical problem was mended, Azúcar Moreno walked on stage again and gave a very temperamental performance finishing fifth with their effort Bandido. Ever since, they are one of the best-selling artists in Spain, have released over 10 multi-platinum albums and have toured Spain, the United States and Latin America.
The name of Chenoa was left unsaid until this weekend. The 30-year-old Majorcan singer was born in Mar del Plata, Argentina. She's currently one of Spain's major female artists and, as a soloist, has released 4 albums so far. Rutinas, the first single off her latest album, Nada es igual, out in stores since November, topped the Spanish singles chart in late January. If Chenoa is finally selected, it won't be the first time she walks on stage at The Eurovision Song Contest. In 2002, she sang backing vocals for Rosa on Europe's living a celebration. Out of the four hopefuls, Chenoa is the one enjoying more support from the The Eurovision Song Contest fans.
From Teruel is David Civera. Like Azúcar Moreno, he already represented Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest. Five years ago, he finished sixth shaking hot hips with his entry Dile que la quiero. The ever smiling 27-year-old Aragonese heartthrob draws lots of fans, combining successfully Latin rhythms, rumba and tango with pop and dance music. He has released four multi-platinum albums so far and readies a brand new one for May coinciding with the Eurovision Song Contest. His songs, such as Que la detengan, Bye bye, Rosas y espinas or Perdóname are usually accompanied by a dance routine easy to follow by the disco regulars and have become club and party classics. Two Mondays ago, David Civera won ¡Mira quén baila, the ballroom contest on TVE 1.
Las Ketchup are the last artist on the list of hopefuls to represent Spain and the most likely to win the ticket to Athens, according to the media. Some weeks ago, TV website vertele.com and Madrid-based newspaper La razón assured that TVE had already selected Las Ketchup as this year's Spanish entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest. The rest of the media echoed this information and dashed to published that the Muñoz sisters would represent Spain in Athens with the song Bloody Mary, written by Manuel Ruiz, aka Queco, the same producer of their smash hit The ketchup song and last year's Spanish entry Brujería. The Andalusian sisters Pilar, Lola and Lucía from Cordova moved over 7 million copies of The ketchup song, which became a chart-topper in more than 20 countries including Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Wallonia, Flanders, Sweden, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States Billboard Hot Latin Tracks.
This evening, in the TV programme España directo starting at 18:00 CET on TVE 1, the Spanish entrant will finally be announced.
