Andorra in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005

Eurovision Song Contest 2005
Country	Andorra
National selection
Selection process	Artist: Eurocàsting 2005 Song: Desitja'm sort
Selection date(s)	Artist: 19 December 2004 Song: 22 January 2005
Selected entrant	Marian van de Wal
Selected song	"La mirada interior"
Selected songwriter(s)	Rafael Artesero Daniel Aragay Rafa Fernández
Finals performance
Semi-final result	Failed to qualify (23rd)
Andorra in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2004 • 2005 • 2006►

Andorra participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with the song "La mirada interior" written by Rafael Artesero, Daniel Aragay and Rafa Fernández. The song was performed by Marian van de Wal. Andorran broadcaster Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra (RTVA) organised a national final in order to select the Andorran entry for the 2005 contest in Kyiv, Ukraine. The national final consisted of two stages, one which selected the chosen artist and one that determined the song that would be performed. The winner of the national final was selected by a 50/50 combination of jury voting and televoting from the Andorran public, which eventually resulted in the selection of Marian van de Wal to be the second Andorran representative for Eurovision.

As Andorra failed to qualify for the 2004 final, the country was forced to compete in the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 19 May 2005. Performing during the show in position 18, "La mirada interior" was not announced among the 10 qualifying entries of the semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Andorra placed twenty-third out of the 25 participating countries in the semi-final with 27 points.

Background[]

Prior to the 2005 Contest, Andorra had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest once after submitting its debut entry the year before in 2004.^[1] Andorra's first entry was selected via a large national final organised by RTVA and Catalan broadcaster TV3, which resulted in "Jugarem a estimar-nos" performed by Marta Roure being selected to represent the microstate for the first time. ^[2] It was not only the first Andorran entry in the contest, but also the first ever entry to be fully performed in the Catalan language.^[3] However, the attempt was not successful, achieving just twelve points in the semi-final, all coming from neighbouring country Spain. ^[4]

The Andorran broadcaster (RTVA) confirmed their participation in the 2005 contest in the autumn of 2004, also revealing that a different national selection format would be used to determine the Andorran representative. ^[5]

Before Eurovision[]

The selection of the Andorran Eurovision entry took place over two rounds. The first round was the artist selection, where the Andorran entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was selected on 19 December 2004. The second round was the song selection, where the Andorran entry for the 2005 contest was selected on 22 January 2005.

Eurocàsting 2005[]

Auditions took place between 24 and 26 October 2004 at the Fira d'Andorra in Andorra la Vella. Out of 32 applicants, 16 candidates qualified for the next stage by a combination of votes from a public televote and the votes from a professional jury. The top three candidates qualified for Eurocàsting 2005 by the public and jury vote.^[6]

Final[]

The final of Eurocàsting 2005 took place on 19 December 2004 at the Centre de Congressos in Andorra la Vella, hosted by Meri Picart and Josep Lluís Trabal. Each finalist performed two songs in Catalan and the winner was selected by a combination of public SMS voting (2/7) and a five-member jury (5/7). As there was a tie for the first place between Marian van de Wal and Mar Capdevila, the tie was resolved after the youngest jury member selected Marian van de Wal as the winner.

Desitja'm sort[]

The song that Marian van de Wal represented Andorra with was selected through a national final called Desitja'm sort. A song submission period was open for composers to submit their entries in Catalan. At the conclusion of the submission period, an expert committee selected three songs for the national final.^[7]

Desitja'm sort took place on 22 January 2005 at the Centre Cultural i de Congressos Lauredià in Sant Julià de Lòria, hosted by Meri Picart and Josep Lluís Trabal. All competing songs were performed by Marian van de Wal and the winning song, "La mirada interior", was selected by a combination of public SMS voting (2/9) and a seven-member jury (7/9).

At Eurovision[]

According to the then Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country, the "Big 4" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) and the ten highest placed finishers in the 2004 contest were required to qualify from the semi-final in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. As Andorra did not make the top 10 of the previous contest or was a member of the "Big 4", Marian van de Wal was forced to compete in the semi-final. Decided in an allocation draw held in March 2005, Andorra was drawn to compete in position 18 of the semi-final, following the entry from Macedonia and preceding the entry from Switzerland.

In Andorra, the semi-final and the final were televised on RTVA with commentary by Meri Picart and Josep Lluís Trabal. The Andorran spokesperson, who announced Andorra's jury voting results during the final, was Ruth Gumbau, a journalist and ATV presenter.^[8]

Semi-final[]

Marian van de Wal and her backing vocalists during a rehearsal for the semi-final.

At Eurovision, Marian and her team (which included Anabel Conde who came second for Spain at the Eurovision Song Contest 1995) wore green dresses, while the shirtless male dancers wore black pants and held black feathers. Everyone had simple choreography except the male dancers who moved around the stage in a more complex way.

At the end of the show, Andorra was not announced among the top 10 entries in the semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final.^[9] It was later revealed that Andorra placed twenty-third in the semi-final, receiving a total of 27 points. This meant that Andorra was forced to compete in the semi-finals again in the 2006 contest.

Voting[]

Between 1998 and 2008, the voting was calculated by 100% televoting from viewers across Europe. However, in 2005 the EBU introduced an undisclosed threshold number of televotes that would have to be registered in each voting country in order to make that country's votes valid. If that number was not reached, the country's backup jury would vote instead. In both the semi-final and final of the contest, this affected several countries including Andorra. Therefore, the country had to use a backup jury panel to calculate the Andorran results. This jury judged each entry based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression of the act. In addition, no member of a national jury was permitted to be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently.

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Andorra and awarded by Andorra in the semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Israel in the semi-final and Spain in the final of the contest. Andorra also notably gave 10 points to fellow microstate: Monaco in the semi-final of the contest and 10 points to Latvia in the final.

Points awarded to Andorra[]

Points awarded to Andorra (Semi-final)^[10]

Score	Country
12 points
10 points	Spain
8 points
7 points	Netherlands
6 points	Albania
5 points
4 points	Moldova
3 points
2 points
1 point

Points awarded by Andorra[]

Points awarded by Andorra (Semi-final)[10] Score Country 12 points  Israel 10 points  Monaco 8 points  Denmark 7 points  Austria 6 points  Iceland 5 points  Netherlands 4 points  Romania 3 points  Finland 2 points  Ireland 1 point  Hungary

Points awarded by Andorra (Final)[11] Score Country 12 points  Spain 10 points  Latvia 8 points  Israel 7 points  Romania 6 points  Hungary 5 points  France 4 points  Greece 3 points  Denmark 2 points  Norway 1 point   Switzerland

References[]