More information about the German national final for the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest to be held on 6th March has been published on eurovision.de, the official website by broadcaster NDR. Head of delegation Ralf Quibeldey explained the changes to the competition and revealed the interval acts of the show: Ruslana from Ukraine, winner of the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest and Verka Serduchka, runner-up in Helsinki.
Like in the last two years, famous former Eurovision Song Contest participants will perform in the show. Ruslana was already one of the interval acts in the 2005 German national final and her winning song Wild dances was also voted Best Eurovision Song Contest entry ever in a voting that was presented in the German pre-show of the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest. Verka Serduchka's Dancing lasha tumbai was one of the three entries in the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest that managed to enter the German single charts (peaking at #74).
Quibeldey explains that the number of participants has been raisedfrom three to five because they wanted to show more genres of music. The acts for the national final were chosen by a panel including executives of NDR upon consultation with various record labels. The reasons for a song to be chosen for the national finalwere among others live qualities of the singer(s), the song itself and a certain amount of originality. Professionalism and experiencewere first priority and all artists had to be signed with a record label.
Each of the five acts will bring a well-known supporter of the own entry to the national final. This is actually not a new idea, already in 1989 and 1990 famous television personalities introduced the various entries. The names of the supporters are yet to be revealed, but Quibeldey promises a surprise.
The German national final will be held on 6th March with five acts competing. Germany finished 19th in the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest with Roger Cicero who sang Frauen regier'n die Welt. Nevertheless, as a big4 country, the winner of the national final will go directly to the final of the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest in Belgrade.
