The Cypriot final which will decide the country's next representative in the Eurovision Song Contest is about to begin. Watch it live with us through CyBC's site or eurovision.tv as well as on RIK Sat.
Satellite broadcast
The show will be broadcast by RIK Sat.
Hotbird 7A (13.0E) – 11470.00 V / 27500 5/6
Hellas Sat 2 (39.0E) – 11552.00 H / 2933 3/4
Hellas Sat 2 (39.0E) – 12524.00 V / 30000 5/6
Live webcast
A live webcast through the CyBC site will be provided here and eurovision.tv here. ATTENTION: To watch through esctv (the eurovision.tv online channel) you need to to download the Octoshape plug-in first.
At the time of publication the CyBC webcast was experiencing capacity problems.
The article will be constantly updated.
Live coverage
And here we go! And it is “Verka” and “Marija”, two actresses in the characteristic Helsinki outfits, who kick off the show fighting over who is the biggest star. Now we are treated to Marija’s winning performance of Molitva which sure brings back memories.
Eleni Skarpari is the first to go singing a snippet of Destiny, the English version of Molitva.
1.Moments of madness -Eleni Skarpari
Eleni looks stunning in a simple black dress, sitting on a stool, her hair down. Her song is a slow, sentimental ballad or isn’t it? The beat picks up as the song progresses and it becomes quite powerful. She is accompanied by 3 violins and and a viola. Her performance is strong and quite touching.
2.Turning to you -Myria Pambori and Alexis Manison
Myria follows with a rock ballad. In her postcard she performs Natalia Barbu’s Fight rather weakly. Her appearance reminds us of Hanna Pakarinen, black evening gown, emo hairdo. Her performance of the song is not as strong a the song requires. Alexis performs just a short rap part in the song. In the end, Myria, falls on the floor in a theatrical way.
3.Rescue me -Mirto Meletiou
The first dancers of the evening come on stage to accompany Myrto. Not much to say about Rescue me, an up beat pop song with some rock elements but rather forgettable.
4.This can't be love -Sofia Strati
Sofia delivers the most impressive performance of the evening so far. Dressed in green, she reigns the stage singing her song to perfection and dancing. A powerful composition combining many elements from pop, rock balladish at parts. Looks like a strong candidate for Belgrade.
5.Femme Fatale -Evdokia Kadi
And now a song in Greek, the only one tonight. Typical start of a zeibekiko, heavy traditional Greek rhythm quite different to the Turkish zeybek, traditionally danced in the past by a lone, male dancer surrounded by a clapping audience. The song is typically Greek and it excites the audience. Evdokia takes off her white overcoat to display a black, mini dress underneath. The song picks up as it progresses and Evdokia does something most Greeks do in night clubs….gets on a table and dances!
Andreas Ektoras, the host of the evening says hi to all eurovision fans in Europe, watching (or trying to webcast permitting) the Cypriot final and it is time for the first song by Nikolas Metaxas
6.I can't be -Nikolas Metaxas
Nikolas is standing alone,casually dressed, playing his guitar and he seems to have his own fan club in the audience who go crazy. His song is a slow, sentimental ballad he delivers quite well and which is received very enthusiastically by the audience.
7.Rejection -Marlain Angelidou
One of the most anticipated performances of the night is on now. Marlain Angelidou shakes the place with her powerful rock song. An experienced stage performer, Marlain moves comfortably on stage alone at first and then joined by two male dancers. Her delivery is vocally perfect although the song is demanding.
8.Butterfly -Nikolas Metaxas
The second song from Nikolas. A really powerful ballad, maybe the best lyrics of the evening, and the young artist delivers it to perfection with the crowd cheering all through the song.
9.Sugar Mountain –Elizabeth
And it’s reggae time! Elisabeth’s song is happy, summeryand up beat and she delivers it very well. That was maybe the most memorable tune of the evening. Elisabeth is alone on stage, a pity as the song would be nicely implemented and enhanced by backing dancers.
10.Calling you –Constantinos Andronikou
Last song for tonight and another ballad. Good vocals by Costantinos but the overall impression is rather old fashioned. There should have been more effort put in styling and presentation of the song which is a very tender and sentimental one.
And the lines are open. In 15 minutes we will know the second full song for Belgrade (as we do not have the full version of Andorra’s Casanova yet)
And now a surprise for our readers ;-). The esctoday.com award for the best dressed artist in the Eurovision Song Contest is presented with a countdown of the five best dressed acts.
- Sopho of Georgia
-
D'Nash of Spain
-
Roger Cicero of Germany
-
Edsilia Rombley of the Netherlands
-
Sabrina of Portugal
are presented in a countdownas YOU voted for them.
Now it is time for last year's participants, Evridiki and Dimitris Korgialas to perform Comme ci, comme ca. Evridiki wishes better luck to this year's winner and goes out to say that she hopes tonight's winner will do better than they did. We see a little video with highlights from Helsinki shot by Evridiki.gr and Evridiki goes on to present her new song I zoi echei chroma, which is the theme song of the 2008 campaign of the Greek ministry of Health and it will be released soon for charity.
And another two surprises follow. Evridiki is awarded with the esctoday.com award of Best act not to qulaify to the final last year as YOU voted for her. This is followed by a countdown of the worst dressed acts also as voted by the readers of esctoday.com.
Two more songs and now it is time for the result
Marlain angelidou wins the jury vote and Evdokia with femme fatale wins the televote.
And the winner is Evdokia Kadi with Femme fatale. Congratulations Evdokia!
