Andorra in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009

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Eurovision Song Contest 2009
Country Andorra
National selection
Selection processPassaport a Moscou
Selection date(s)4 February 2009
Selected entrantSusanne Georgi
Selected song"La teva decisió (Get a Life)"
Selected songwriter(s)
  • Susanne Georgi
  • Rune Braager
  • Lene Dissing
  • Pernille Georgi
  • Marcus Winther-John
  • Josep Roca Vila
Finals performance
Semi-final resultFailed to qualify (15th)
Andorra in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2008 • 2009

Andorra participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009, as previously confirmed by Andorran broadcaster Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra (RTVA).

After many disappointing results since Andorra's debut in 2004, on top of Andorra's poor 16th place in the semi at the 2008 contest, RTVA announced in June 2008 that they had not decided on whether or not they would be present at the 2009 contest.[1][2] However, on 10 September it was announced by RTVA that they would be present at Eurovision 2009, announcing a new proposal for a national final that would be used to select the Andorran representative.[3]

The winner of the national final was Susanne Georgi with the song "La teva decisió", and she was the sixth Andorran Eurovision entry, competing in the first semi-final on 12 May 2009.[4][5]

Georgi failed to reach the final becoming the sixth Andorran Eurovision entrant to miss the grand final. This was also the last appearance of Andorra at the contest, as the country withdrew from the 2010 contest, and has not returned since.

Before Eurovision[]

Passaport a Moscou[]

Passaport a Moscou was the national final organised by RTVA that selected Andorra's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. The competition took place on 4 February 2009 at the Apolo Andorra Hall in Andorra la Vella, hosted by Meri Picart. The winner was decided upon through a combination of public SMS voting and an expert jury panel.

Competing entries[]

A submission period was open for artists and composers to submit demo versions of their entries between 24 October 2008 and 1 December 2008.[6] The minimum age for artists was 18 and each artist could submit up to three songs, with at least one being performed in Catalan. Artists and composers of any nationality were also able to submit entries, but those that have Andorran citizenship, musical experience and fluency in Catalan, English and French will be given priority. Songs performed in Catalan will also be given priority.[7][8] At the conclusion of the submission period, 107 applications were received: 64 songs were submitted without an artist attached, 28 artists applied with a song and 15 artists applied without a song.[9][10] 41 of the applicants came from Andorra, 27 from Spain; 8 from France and Lithuania; 6 from Sweden; 4 from Greece and Malta; 3 from Belgium; 2 from Ireland and Israel and 1 from Iceland and the United Kingdom.[11] From the received applications, an expert committee selected three entries for the national final.[12] The three competing entries were announced on 13 December 2008 and presented over three presentation shows on 14, 21 and 28 January 2009.[13][14]

On 29 December 2008, "Estrelles d'or" performed by Marc Durandeau and Marc Canturri were disqualified from the national final as Durandeau had submitted a similar song into the Spanish selection for 2008.[15] They were replaced by "Passió obsessiva" performed by Mar Capdevila.[16]

Artist Song Songwriter(s)
Mar Capdevila "Passió obsessiva"
  • Josep Roca, José Juan Santana
  • Gonzalo Vandelvira
Lluís Cartes "Exhaust" Lluís Cartes
Marc Durandeau and Marc Canturri "Estrelles d'or" Marc Durandeau
Susanne Georgi "La teva decisió"
  • Susanne Georgi
  • Rune Braager
  • Lene Dissing
  • Pernille Georgi
  • Marcus Winther-John
  • Josep Roca Vila

Final[]

The final took place on 4 February 2009. The winner, "La teva decisió" performed by Susanne Georgi, was selected by a 50/50 combination of votes from public SMS voting and a professional jury.[4][5]

Final – 4 February 2009
Draw Artist Song Jury
(50%) 		Televote
(50%) 		Total Place
1 Susanne Georgi "La teva decisió" 47% 66% 56.5% 1
2 Mar Capdevila "Passió obsessiva" 23% 13% 18% 3
3 Lluís Cartes "Exhaust" 30% 21% 25.5% 2

Promotion[]

Due to limited funds in ATV, Susanna was not able to participate in a large promotional tour of her entry around Eurovision. However Susanna did promote her entry to some degree. On 27 February, Susanna performed on Punto Radio in neighbouring Spain. This was followed by promotion in Susanna's home country Denmark, getting extensive coverage in newspapers, and on radio and TV, as well as performing at the Danish Grammy Awards.[17]

Spanish broadcaster Televisión Española (TVE) revealed that Andorra would be among a number of nations to perform in a special Eurovision show held days before the final on TVE. The show featured Susanna performing "La teva decisió" along with entries from five other countries, the Big Four of Spain, France, Germany and the United Kingdom, as well as Greece and a number of past Eurovision artists.[18]

At Eurovision[]

Since Andorra did not win the 2008 contest, it had to compete in one of the two semi-finals. Andorra competed in the first semi-final of the contest on 12 May, where Susanna performed 7th in the running order, following Armenia and preceding Switzerland.[19]

RTVA revealed that they were unhappy with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU)'s decision to allow Spain to switch semi-finals for their voting. Having originally been drawn to vote in the first semi-final, the same semi-final as Andorra, TVE asked the EBU to switch semi-finals to allow for promotion of Eurovision itself.[20] RTVA announced their disappointment on this decision, as RTVA believed that, without Spain voting, Andorra's chances of qualifying would be lower. There was also a feeling that the amount of promotion done in Spain was to no avail.[21][22]

At Eurovision, Susanna revealed that she would be accompanied on stage by four backing singers. She also explicitly stated that she would not use backing dancers, as opposed the Spanish entry Soraya, as her performance did not require such resources to improve her performance.[23][24]

Voting[]

Points awarded to Andorra[]

Points awarded to Andorra (Semi-final 1)[25]
Score Country
12 points
10 points
8 points
7 points
6 points
5 points
4 points  Portugal
3 points  Malta
2 points
1 point  Turkey

Points awarded by Andorra[]

Detailed voting results[]

Detailed voting results from Andorra (Final)[27][28]
Draw Country Results Points
Jury Televoting Combined
01  Lithuania
02  Israel 6 7 13 7
03  France 6 6 3
04  Sweden 4 4 2
05  Croatia
06  Portugal 12 12 6
07  Iceland 10 5 15 8
08  Greece
09  Armenia
10  Russia
11  Azerbaijan
12  Bosnia and Herzegovina 2 2
13  Moldova
14  Malta 4 4 1
15  Estonia
16  Denmark 12 12 5
17  Germany
18  Turkey 3 3
19  Albania
20  Norway 7 8 15 10
21  Ukraine
22  Romania 3 3
23  United Kingdom 8 1 9 4
24  Finland 1 2 3
25  Spain 5 10 15 12

After Eurovision[]

Andorra's broadcaster RTVA announced a 10% reduction in its spending budget for 2010,[29] however, it had anyway submitted a preliminary application to take part in the contest.[30] However, being unable to secure extra funds by 11 December 2009, it decided to withdraw from the 2010 Contest.[31] Following this announcement, many former Andorran Eurovision Song Contest contestants expressed their disappointment in RTVA's decision, and the lack of publicity the country will now receive by not being contestants in the contest.[32]

Andorra has not returned to the contest since.

References[]

  1. ^ Costa, Nelson. "RTVA didn't decide YES or NO Eurovision 2009". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 2008-11-23. Retrieved 2008-06-14.
  2. ^ Hondal, Víctor (2008-06-14). "Andorra: 2009 participation uncertain". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 15 June 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-14.
  3. ^ Jaime Solloso (2008-09-10). "Andorra: RTVA confirm participation in Moscow 2009". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 2008-09-23. Retrieved 2008-09-10.
  4. ^ a b Klier, Marcus (2009-02-04). "Andorra: Susanne Georgi to Eurovision". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 5 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-04.
  5. ^ a b Costa, Nelson (2009-02-04). "Andorra: Susanne Georgi to Moscow!". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 7 February 2009. Retrieved 2009-02-04.
  6. ^ Hondal, Víctor (2008-11-08). "Andorra: New submission deadline set". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 12 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-11-08.
  7. ^ Jiandani, Sanjay (2008-10-27). "Andorran Eurovision 2009 rules!". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 29 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-27.
  8. ^ Jiandani, Sanjay (2008-10-22). "Andorra prepares for Eurovision 2009!". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 23 October 2008. Retrieved 2008-10-23.
  9. ^ Viniker, Barry (2008-12-02). "107 Eurovision entries in Andorra". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 4 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
  10. ^ Konstantopoulos, Fotis. "Andorra: RTVA receives 107 entries for Moscow". Archived from the original on 2008-12-22. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
  11. ^ Siim, Jarmo (2008-12-02). "Andorra: Records beaten!". Eurovision.tv. Archived from the original on 5 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-02.
  12. ^ Hondal, Víctor (2008-12-13). "Andorra: Jury selects the three finalists". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 15 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-13.
  13. ^ "Andorra: RTVA to make announcements tonight". Oikotimes. 2008-12-13. Archived from the original on 2008-12-22. Retrieved 2008-12-13.
  14. ^ Wells, Simon (2008-12-13). "Three Andorran contenders announced". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 2008-12-17. Retrieved 2008-12-13.
  15. ^ Siim, Jarmo (2008-12-29). "Andorran finalist disqualified". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
  16. ^ Floras, Stella (2008-12-29). "Andorra: Mar Capdevila replaces Durandeau in the final". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 31 December 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
  17. ^ Hondal, Victor (2009-05-24). "Andorra: Busy week for Susanna Georgi". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 6 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
  18. ^ Hondal, Victor (2009-04-13). "Big-4, Andorra and Greece to perform on TVE". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 17 April 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
  19. ^ "First Semi-Final of Moscow 2009". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 25 April 2021. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  20. ^ Bakker, Sietse (2009-04-28). "Spain to vote in second Semi-Final". EBU. Archived from the original on 1 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
  21. ^ Hondal, Victor (2009-04-30). "Andorra disappointed over Spanish decision". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 2 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
  22. ^ Costa, Nelson (2009-04-30). "RTVA against EBU decision". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 2009-11-18. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
  23. ^ Hondal, Victor (2009-04-03). "Andorra: Four backing singers for Susanna in Moscow". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 8 May 2009. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
  24. ^ Calleja Bayliss, Marc (2009-04-04). "Revelations on Moscow performance". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 2009-11-18. Retrieved 2009-05-03.
  25. ^ a b "Results of the First Semi-Final of Moscow 2009". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 26 April 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  26. ^ "Results of the Grand Final of Moscow 2009". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 26 April 2021. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  27. ^ Bakker, Sietse (31 July 2009). "Exclusive: Split jury/televoting results out!". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
  28. ^ "Eurovision Song Contest 2009 - Full Results". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original (XLS) on 6 June 2011.
  29. ^ Murray, Gavin (2009-09-11). "Andorra: On course to withdraw from Eurovision 2010". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-09-16.
  30. ^ Hondal, Victor (2009-11-13). "Andorra to take a decision today". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
  31. ^ Victor, Hondal (2009-12-12). "Definitely, no Andorra in Oslo". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-12-12.
  32. ^ Hondal, Victor (2009-12-13). "Andorran eurostars "disappointed" with withdrawal". ESCToday. Retrieved 2009-12-13.
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