Giorgos Alkaios & Friends won the Greek final with the song Opa and thus will represent the country in the next Eurovision Song Contest. The winner was declared after both the professional jury and the public voted in the show contested by seven acts.

Giorgos Alkaios is a well known name in the Greek music scene. This year he participated in the running for the Eurovision Song Contest with Opa, a distinctively ethnic beat he wrote himself. Giorgos stated that Opa is a positive concept to balance the negative aspect of the recession hit all over the world.

The show broadcasted on ERT was hosted by Rika Vagiannis and Tzeni Balatsinou. Last year’s Greek representative Sakis Rouvas could not make it for the actual show but he passed his message on a pre-recorded show while his latest Eurovision performance was aired.

This year’s Cypriot and Bulgarian representatives John Lilygreen & The Islanders and Miro promoted their Eurovision entries. Yiorgos Alkaios & Friends will represent Greece in the first semi-final of the next Eurovision Song Contest to be held in Oslo.

esctoday.com poll results

The esctoday.com poll voters agreed with the choice. Giorgos Alkaios & Friend had won the poll with 29.9% of the votes.

esctoday.com national final awards

The 2010 esctoday.com National Final Awards will be held between April and May, which means between the national final season and the Eurovision Song Contest. We will repeat the same format with two rounds for nominations which was used this year – you can read how it works here. However, this time the individual polls for each country will always be held right after the national final, when the entries are still fresh. You can vote for your favourite performance not to qualify in the Greek national final here and for your favourite song not to qualify here.

Watch the Greek entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-QSibwEXZ0

Watch the interview that The Alkaios gave this week on esctoday.com