All songs for the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 have been selected. During the weeks between the national final season and the actual Eurovision Song Contest, we will introduce all 39 entries in random order. Part fourteen of the series is dedicated to the Greek entry.

Basic information

Performers:	Giorgos Alkaios & Friends (ΓιÏ�ργος Αλκαίος & Friends)
Song:	OPA (ΟΠΑ – Come on)
Language:	Greek
Music:	Giorgos Alkaios (ΓιÏ�ργος Αλκαίος)
Lyrics:	Giannis Antoniou (Γιάννης Αντωνίου), Friends
Draw:	13th in the first semi final

The song

OPA is an up-tempo pop song with electronic an ethnic influences in the arrangement. The lyrics are about the Greek attitude to overcome the problems in life with positive energy and music:

Δάκρυα καυτά, ψέμματα πολλά Μοιάζουν σα βουβή ταινία Που δεν βλέπω πια ΩΠΑ! Βάζω μια φωτιά Σ'Ï�λα τα παλιά Î�λα θα αλλάξω – ΩΠΑ! Και θα το φωνάξω – ΩΠΑ!

Hot tears, many lies They seem like a silent movie That I don't want to watch anymore Come on! I burn Everything in the past I will change everything – Come on! And I will shout – Come on!

The performers

Giorgos Alkaios has Greek and Portuguese roots. He lived in the United States at the very beginning of his life, but was brought back to Greece when he was three years old. His first appearance in public was during the talent search Ela sto fos in 1989. After a short trip to the world of theatre, he turned back to music and went on tour with Christos Dantis, who would later write the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest winning song My number one for Elena Paparizou and compete in the 2007 Greek national final. In 1992, Giogos Alkaios released his first album Me ligo trak (Με λίγο τρακ), which spawned the highly popular single Ti (Τι – also known as Ti ti), a cover version of the Arabic song Didi by Khaled.

Over the following years, he released many albums, some of which were certified gold or platinum in Greece. He also wrote and produced songs for other artists, most notably the song Opa opa for Notis Sfaniakis. Not being a major hit in its orginal version, Antique coverd it in 1999 and scored a number one hit. Despina Vandi also released a version of this song in 2004.

Supporting group Friends consists of five employees of Giorgos Alkaios' record label Friends Music Factory: Iakovos Gogua (Ιάκωβος Gogua), Petros Zlatkos (Πέτρος Ζλάτκος), Evgenios Buli (Ευγένιος Buli), Anastasis Kanaridis (Αναστάσης Καναρίδης) and Lazaros Ioannidis (Λάζαρος Ιωαννίδης). They joined forces for the Greek national final for the Eurovision Song Contest and won the national selection. Their entry OPA is the first Greek entry to be performed entirely in Greek since the language rule was abolished in 1999.

The songwriters

The Greek entry was written by Giorgos Alkaios (music), Giannis Antoniou (lyrics) and backing group Friends (lyrics). Giannis Antoniou is also working for Friends Music Factory.

The national selection

The Greek national final was held with seven acts competing. Originally, nine acts were supposed to compete but two of them were disqualified as their songs leaked on the internet. The winning song was chosen by a mixture of jury voting an televoting. Three acts tied for first place at the end of the show and therefore Giorgos Alkaios was chosen to represent Greece in Oslo being the favourite of the televoters. Giorgos Karadimos had been the favourite of the jury.

Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest

Greece joined the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974. Despite seven top ten placings between 1974 and 1998, the country was not among the most successful participants in the contest. This changed in 2001, when Greece reached third place in Copenhagen. After another two unsuccessful attempts in 2002 and 2003, Greece has finally found its run of luck and finished in the top ten every year from 2004 onwards including a first victory in 2005. It is also the only country that managed to finish in the top ten every year of every contest held since the introduction of the semi final stage.

ΕυχÏ�μαστε στην Ελλάδα και στον ΓιÏ�ργο Αλκαίο καλή επιτυχία και καλά αποτελέσματα στο Οσλο!

Videos

Giorgos Alkaios speaking to esctoday.com before the national final:

Performance in the national final/Official preview video:

The final studio version of the song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGTEZcoRSSI

Giorgos Alkaios with Ti ti:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AtJ588VmUE

Tomorrow, we will take a look at the Ukrainian entry.

Previous parts of this series:

1. Ireland
2. Belarus
3. Albania
4. Denmark
5. Russia
6. Bulgaria
7. Switzerland
8. FYR Macedonia
9. Armenia
10. Spain
11. Poland
12. Croatia
13. Finland