Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011

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Eurovision Song Contest 2011
Country Greece
National selection
Selection processEllinikós Telikós 2011
Selection date(s)2 March 2011
Selected entrantLoukas Yorkas feat. Stereo Mike
Selected song"Watch My Dance"
Selected songwriter(s)
  • Giannis Christodoulopoulos
  • Eleana Vrahali
Finals performance
Semi-final resultQualified (1st, 133 points)
Final result7th, 120 points
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2010 • 2011 • 2012►

Greece took part in the Eurovision Song Contest 2011, held between 10 and 14 May 2011, placing seventh.[1] On 2 March 2011, as part of the selection process organized by the Greek national broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), six competing acts—Antigoni Psihrami, Kokkina Halia, Loukas Yorkas, Nikki Ponte, Trimitonio, and Valando Tryfonos—performed their prospective entries live during a televised event. "Watch My Dance" was selected to represent Greece at the Eurovision Song Contest by a combination of a public televote and panel of judges. At the contest, it placed first in the first semi-final and seventh in the final marking Greece's eighth top ten placing in as many years.

Background[]

Main article: Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2011 contest, Greece had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirty-one times since its first entry in 1974,[2] winning it in 2005 with the song "My Number One" performed by Elena Paparizou,[3] and having placed third three times: in 2001 with the song "Die for You" performed by the duo Antique; in 2004 with "Shake It" performed by Sakis Rouvas; and in 2008 with "Secret Combination" performed by Kalomoira. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Greece has had a top ten placing each year. Its least successful result was in 1998 when it placed twentieth with the song "Mia krifi evaisthisia" by Thalassa, receiving only twelve points in total, all from Cyprus.[4]

The Greek national broadcaster, Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), is in charge of Greece's participation each year, including the selection process for its entry.[5][6] Although its selection techniques have varied over the decades, the most common has been a national final in which various acts compete against each other with pre-selected songs, voted on by a jury, televoters, or both. In most cases, internal selections have been reserved for high-profile acts, with the song either being selected internally or with multiple songs —by one or multiple composers— performed by the artist during a televised final. One of the more unorthodox methods was a reality television talent competition format inspired by the Idol series that ran for many months in 2004, ultimately being scrapped.[7] The notability of the participants has also varied, from previously unsigned acts to established music superstars. Since the 2010s ERT has used national finals with generally less-established acts.

For the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest, ERT decided to hold a six-performer national final to choose the song to represent them, with all of the acts having been recently participating on a reality talent competition, either The X Factor or Greek Idol.[8] Compared to previous years, both ERT and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism have towed down efforts for 2011.[9]

Before Eurovision[]

Selection[]

Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) initially explored taking a completely different approach for the 2011 contest, also looking to take a more low key and modest approach to their participation in the contest in comparison to previous years when the contest was viewed as a national event. The new board of members at ERT quickly realized that time was not sufficient, and thus turned to the more traditional selection method of co-operating with record labels.[10] ERT also explored the option of selecting an act internally, as it had done in previous years, but was unable to secure a major act.[11]

Ellinikós Telikós 2011[]

Ellinikós Telikós 2011 was the Greek national final developed by ERT to select the Greek entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. The competition took place on 2 March 2011 at the ERT studios in Athens (22:00–00:00 CET), hosted by Lena Aroni.[12] The show was televised on NET, ERT World as well as online via the ERT website ert.gr and the official Eurovision Song Contest website eurovision.tv.[13] The national final was watched by an estimated 836,000 viewers in Greece with a market share of 17.4% according to ABG Nielsen Hellas.[14]

Competing entries[]

After requesting proposals from record labels, six artists, all from the talent shows Greek Idol and The X Factor Greece, were selected by ERT to participate in the national final.[15][16] The decision to select young newcomer acts was to appeal to a younger audience, while also giving the emerging acts a chance to further their careers through their participation in the competition. The six acts were announced on 11 January 2011.[17][18] The six competing artists and their respective record labels had until 4 February 2011 to submit their songs, with one-minute samples of the competing songs being premiered on ERT radio station Deftero 103.7 (ERA2) on 9 February 2011.[19][20] The songs in their entirety were scheduled to be presented on 15 February 2011 during a special program, hosted by Lena Aroni and televised on NET, however all six songs were leaked by news website Newsit.gr (the same website responsible for leaks in the 2011 national final) the day before the program.[21][22][23]

Artist Song Songwriter(s) Label
Antigoni Psihrami "It's All Greek to Me!" Apostolos Psihramis, Dimitris S., Gerard James Borg Minos EMI
Kokkina Halia "Come With Me" Kokkina Halia, Andreas Galanopoulos Sony Music Greece
Loukas Yorkas feat. Stereo Mike "Watch My Dance" Giannis Christodoulopoulos, Eleana Vrahali Minos EMI
Nikki Ponte "I Don't Wanna Dance" Jonas Saeed, Pia Sjöberg Sony Music Greece
Trimitonio "Hamogela" Nikos Terzis, Vaggelis Konstantinidis 7
Valando Tryfonos "The Time is Now" Johan Ramström, Patrik Magnusson, Martti Vuorinen Sony Music Greece


Final[]

The final took place on 2 March 2011. Six songs competed and the winner, "Watch My Dance" performed by Loukas Yorkas feat. Stereo Mike, was selected by a 50/50 combination of public voting and jury voting.[8][24] The jury consisted of Marina Lahana (radio producer and Head of ERA2), Mihalis Tasousopoulos (radio producer), Andreas Pilarinos (conductor), Giorgos Parianos (songwriter) and Bessy Malfa (actress).[25] Public voting was conducted through telephone or SMS.

In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the interval acts featured guest performances by 2011 Bulgarian Eurovision entrant Poli Genova, 2011 Cypriot Eurovision entrant Christos Mylordos, 2011 Maltese Eurovision entrant Glen Vella and American musician David Lynch.[13]

Final – 2 March 2011
Draw Artist Song Jury Televote Total Place
Percentage Points
1 Kokkina Halia "Come with Me" 5 4% 5 10 6
2 Valando Tryfonos "The Time Is Now" 6 11% 6 12 5
3 Trimitonio "Hamogela" 12 14% 7 19 2
4 Antigoni Psihrami "It's All Greek to Me!" 7 17% 8 15 4
5 Loukas Yorkas feat. Stereo Mike "Watch My Dance" 10 36% 12 22 1
6 Nikki Ponte "I Don't Wanna Dance" 8 18% 10 18 3

Controversy[]

Criticism of non-competing artists and record labels[]

Shortly after ERT announced the six acts, criticism surrounding the selection procedure arose from multiple parties. Music acts and record labels accused the broadcaster of not publishing any rules, regulations, or a deadline concerning the selection procedure, and criticized the lack of transparency from the publicly funded broadcaster.[26][27] Singers Giannis Savidakis,[28] Theoharis Ioanidis,[29] Sofia Berntson featuring Apollon,[30] rapper Bo,[31] and bands Nomisma,[26] and Zante Dilemma featuring Emily Greenslade[27] were amongst the acts that spoke out against ERT. Their respective record labels also put out press releases expressing their complaints, with ERT remaining silent on the issues.[26][27][32][33] Record labels also questioned the legality of ERT's decisions.[30]

Giannis Savidakis, who represented Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 1989, and Theoharis Ioanidis, an actor who made his singing debut on Mega Channel's celebrity reality singing contest Just the Two of Us in 2010, were two of the most vocal acts to speak out.[34][35] Both were on ERT’s initial shortlist, with them having self-confirmed their bids days prior through the media, although both were ultimately cut.[11][36] Savidakis criticized ERT's open call, stating that the broadcaster was vague in its criteria for a prospective entry and questioned why ERT did not give him a reason for his cut.[37] Ioanidis also criticized ERT's decision, with Ioanidis' manager, Ilias Psinakis—who also managed pop-stars and former national final participants Sakis Rouvas and Kostas Martakis in the past—stating his belief that the public should be the ones to decide who is right to fill the role.[37] Psinakis also claimed that Stefanos Korkolis was to be the author of Ioanidis' prospective entry,[37][38] while he blamed politics for playing a role in the rejection, as he is a member of rival political party Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS).[37] On 15 January 2011, LAOS MP Georgios Anatolakis brought up the issue in the Hellenic Parliament, asking the Minister of Culture Pavlos Geroulanos, who helps oversee ERT, for clarifications on Ioanidis' and Savidakis' rejections.[39]

On 27 January 2011, ERT issued an official press release standing by their selection process, and addressed complaints from rejected artists and labels.[40] ERT stated that they chose to work with major labels only, and thus rejected bids from various minor labels, while they only wished to include young up and coming artists in the selection process.[40] Furthermore, they stated that they only chose acts that are primarily professional singers.[40] In response to the press release by ERT, Theoharis Ioanidis, Nomisma, and Bo threatened legal action against ERT.[31] Nomisma stated they planned to sue ERT and ask to block the national final from happening, as well as financial compensation.[31]

Criticism of final show[]

In comparison to past national finals, the program was criticized by journalists as one of ERT's worst productions in years, partially faulted by a low budget.[14] Amongst the issues criticized were Lena Aroni’s poor hosting skills, the lighting and camera work, and also the exclusion of a live audience.[14][41]

At Eurovision[]

Greece performed in the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest in Düsseldorf, Germany, in the second half of the first semi-final of the contest on 10 May 2011.[42] Greece competed in the first semi-final, performing in position 19, closing the show, and qualified for the final, acquiring the 1st place.[43] The public awarded Greece 1st place with 154 points and the jury awarded 9th place with 74 points.[44] In the final, they ended up 7th, which is their eighth consecutive top-10 place since the introduction of the semi-finals in 2004.[42][45] The public awarded Greece 3rd place with 176 points and the jury awarded 14th place with 84 points.[44] The Greek spokesperson was Lena Aroni who replaced Alexis Kostalas who retired after 11 contests (1998, 2001-2010) as spokesperson.

Voting[]

Points awarded to Greece[]

Points awarded by Greece[]

References[]

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