The island of Cyprus is working in full swing in order to prepare everything and go for a… Replay in Tel Aviv! Today saw a press conference at their embassy in Athens, where the Cypriot national broadcaster CyBC officially presented the Georgian-Greek singer Tamta as their leading artist for Eurovision 2019!

Tamta was accompanied by the Director General of CyBC Mr. Michalis Maratheftis, the Cypriot Head of Delegation Mrs. Evi Papamichael, Mrs. Margarita Matsa from Minos EMI record label and Mr. Giannis Koutsaftakis from Erodios Live Management.

The artist shared her great excitement about taking to the Eurovision stage for the first time, something that had been considered many times in the past, as she said. At the same time, she expressed how touched she has been by the love and support she has received after CyBC’s announcement.

Here are Tamta’s words:

I am currently experiencing a very powerful moment in my career and life. This year, I accepted CyBC’s proposal warmly because I trust the whole Cypriot team and the song’s composer Alex Papaconstantinou, with whom I have collaborated again in the past.

“Replay” is a track that suits me, I like it a lot! Eurovision has been around me for many years, I can’t wait any longer! I want to go and enjoy it!

I promise to give all my positive energy to the Eurovision project and I hope to make all the Cypriots proud!

When Mr. Maratheftis took the floor, he said that everybody at CyBC is very excited with Tamta’s participation and that the entire team is going to try its best in Tel Aviv, in order to make the island of Aphrodite proud, as Tamta herself stated too.

The Director General of CyBC also hinted details about Tamta’s performance on the Eurovision stage, as he pointed out that they are going to reach the limit of permissible people on stage, given by the EBU. Thus, Tamta will be joined by 5 people (dancers and/or vocalists).

Song to be released on 5 March

The press conference also gave very interesting information about the song Replay and its upcoming release. As announced by CyBC, the track will be unveiled on 5 March, together with its video clip, which is scheduled to be filmed in the days to come in Greece. The video’s shooting will take place under the directing instructions of Giannis Michelopoulos.

Cyprus at Eurovision 2018

Last January, the popular Greek artist Eleni Foureira was internally selected by the Cypriot broadcaster CyBC to represent the nation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon, with the dance pop song Fuego, penned by the highly-acclaimed Swedish-Greek composer Alex Papaconstantinou and his team, consisting of Geraldo Sandell, Viktor Svensson, Anderz Wrethov and Didrick.

Following the rehearsals’ beginning in Lisbon, Eleni had been highly tipped as the hot favourite for the victory at the Grand Final, bringing Cyprus closer than ever to their first Eurovision trophy. Eventually, after progessing to the final, she came 2nd with a total of 436 points. This is the best result for the island of Aphrodite in the contest, since their debut in 1981.

Cyprus will be competing in the first half of the first semi-final on 14 May.