ERT, the Greek national broadcaster has further whittled down the potential Eurovision entries from the initial 5 to 3. It now looks like Greece will be holding its national final with a total of 3 acts battling for the golden ticket to Lisbon.

Last month, ERT sent out an invite to national record companies in order to submit a proposal with potential candidates for the 2018 Greek Eurovision national final. The key requirement was that the song had to be entirely in Greek with Greek ethno-influence and sound.

The broadcaster received a total of 20 songs from 14 different local record companies for the national final.

Hereafter an artistic committee evaluated all submitted entries and whittled them down to a total of 5 songs. These songs were then handed over to a special working group committee at ERT in order to deliberate the next steps towards organizing a national final.

Then there were 3

ESCToday has learned that ERT’s special working group committee has now whittled down the songs from 5 to 3 as 2 of the entries did not fully comply with the 2018 Greek Eurovision national selection’s requirements and rules.

We must note that ERT has not officially commented on this matter nor confirmed the names of the potential candidates.

The lucky 3 entries

• Areti Ketime – Don’t forget the Sun – (Spice Records)
  
• Chorostalites – Apo tin Thraki os tin Kriti – (Spider Records)
  
• Gianna Terzi – To oniro mou – (Panik Records)

Out of the competition

• Duo Fina – Idio Tempo – (Records on Top)
  
• Tony Vlachos – Baila Jazz – (Spider Music)
  

We have also learned that ERT will be holding meetings with the alleged 3 record companies next week, in order to define the terms of the collaboration. Once all the details are finalised and confirmed, ERT will make an official announcement regarding its 2018 Eurovision national final and plan of action.

ERT’s plan or Eurovision 2018

Greece is planning to hold a national final in order to select its Eurovision entry act during the last week of February. The exact date and venue is yet to be determined and confirmed.

More information and details regarding the 2018 Greek Eurovision project will be released in due course.

Greece in Eurovision

Greece debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 with Marinella and has won the event in 2005 with Helena Paparizou‘s My number one, thus bringing the contest for the very first time on Greek soil in 2006.

The country has been one of the most successful countries in the competition in recent years, having not missed a single Grand Final with the exception of 2016 when it didn’t qualify to the Grand Final in Stockholm.

In 2017, Demy was selected internally to represent Greece at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv. She made he nation proud with her entry This is love. Despite an extraordinary performance she placed 19th in the Grand Final.

The 2018 Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled to be held on 8, 10 and 12 May at the Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal.