France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009

Patricia Kaas, one of France's most successful musical artists, represented France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 on 16 May 2009 in Moscow, Russia.[1][2] The French broadcaster France Télévisions once again used an internal selection as it had in the past to choose the song "Et s'il fallait le faire", which was the first single from Kaas's new album Kabaret.[3][4][5]

Eurovision Song Contest 2009
Country France
National selection
Selection processInternal Selection
Selection date(s)Artist: 28 January 2009
Song: 1 February 2009
Selected entrantPatricia Kaas
Selected song"Et s'il fallait le faire"
Finals performance
Final result8th, 107 points
France in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2008 • 2009 • 2010►

Background
Main article: France in the Eurovision Song Contest

France was one of the seven countries to compete in the very first contest in 1956. The country's first win came in 1958, with André Claveau's "Dors, mon amour" (Sleep, my love). France is one of Eurovision's most successful countries, having won the contest five times in total. However, its last victory came in 1977, over 30 years ago, and more recent French entries in the contest have been less successful, with very few entries reaching the top 5 since the 1980s.[6]

France has been represented at Eurovision by a total of four different broadcasting organisation: Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (RTF) was the first French broadcaster to organise the French Eurovision participation; RTF was dissolved in 1964, and was replaced by Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française (ORTF), who took over in 1965. In 1974 ORTF was also dissolved, and was replaced by seven different institutions. Télévision Française 1 took over the French Eurovision participation in 1975, and continued until 1982, when the broadcaster withdrew voluntarily from the 1982 contest. The head of entertainment at the time, Pierre Bouteiller, said, "The absence of talent and the mediocrity of the songs were where annoyance set in. [Eurovision is] a monument to inanity [sometimes translated as 'drivel']."[7] Antenne 2 took over from TF1 in 1983, and its current incarnation, France Télévisions, has continued to organise France's Eurovision entry since.[6]

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

France 3 announced on 26 December 2008 that the French entry for the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest would be selected internally, with the French Head of Delegation for the Eurovision Song Contest Bruno Berberes stating that the French broadcaster had secured a big name with a large and popular notoriety after the French 2008 entrant Sébastien Tellier created considerable interest among French show business and record companies.[8]

On 28 January 2009, it was announced during the France 2 programme Vivement Dimanche that the French entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 would be Patricia Kaas.[9][10] Information that Kaas would represent France at the Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was reported by Belgian newspaper La Meuse on 10 January 2009 but was originally denied by Kaas' management.[11][12][13] Her song "Et s'il fallait le faire" was written by Fred Blondin and Anse Lazio and was released as the first single from Kaas' new album Kabaret, released on 15 December 2008.[3][4][5]

Promotion

Kaas spent some time promoting her entry before Eurovision in France and Europe. Kaas performed her Eurovision entry at the Russian national final on 7 March,[14] and also performed her entry on the French talent show Star Academy, as a duet with one of the contestants.[15]

At Eurovision

France automatically pre-qualified for the final of the contest as one of the "Big Four". France Télévisions are obliged to the second semi-final on 14 May 2009, where French viewers had the ability to vote.[16][17] France performed third in the running order of the final and finished in 8th place. Although France finished in 8th place, they only received one top three vote the entire show, a 10 points from Russia. France was the only country in the top sixteen of the final to receive just one top three score.

France Télévisions revealed that their commentators for the Eurovision final were TV host and actor Cyril Hanouna and journalist and radio/TV producer Julien Courbet, broadcast on France 3.[18] Only the second semi-final of the contest was broadcast on France 4, where the commentators were Peggy Olmi and Yann Renoard.[19]

Split results
  • In the Final France came 8th with 107 points: the public awarded France 17th place with 54 points and the jury awarded 4th place with 164 points.

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

Points awarded to France
Points awarded to France (Final)
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

See also

References
  1. Viniker, Barry (30 January 2009). "France TV confirms Patricia Kaas for Eurovision". ESCToday. Retrieved 30 January 2009.
  2. Siim, Jarmo (30 January 2009). "Now confirmed - Patricia Kaas to represent France!". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 30 January 2009.
  3. Demailly, Patrice (1 February 2009). "Patricia Kaas, l'épatant retour" (in French). Nord Eclair. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
  4. Floras, Stella (1 February 2009). "France Eurovision entry is 'S'il fallait le faire'". ESCToday. Retrieved 1 February 2009.
  5. Sanz Martin, Jorge (2 February 2009). "France: "Et s'il fallait le faire" to Moscow". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 5 February 2009. Retrieved 2 February 2009.
  6. "History by Country: France". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 31 January 2009.
  7. 1982 Eurovision source in French
  8. Floras, Stella (26 December 2008). "France prepares "A lovely surprise for Eurovision 2009"!". ESCToday. Retrieved 26 December 2008.
  9. Viniker, Barry (28 January 2009). "France: Patricia Kaas says YES to Eurovision". ESCToday. Retrieved 28 January 2009.
  10. van Tongeren, Mario (28 January 2009). "France: Patricia Kaas confirms participation". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 6 February 2009. Retrieved 28 January 2009.
  11. Klier, Marcus (11 January 2009). "France: Patricia Kaas chosen for Eurovision?". ESCToday. Retrieved 11 January 2009.
  12. Konstantopoulos, Fotis (10 January 2009). "Patricia Kaas for France, newspaper claims". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 20 January 2009. Retrieved 30 January 2009.
  13. Murray, Gavin (17 January 2009). "France: Kaas denial preceded participation news". ESCToday. Retrieved 17 January 2009.
  14. Klier, Marcus (7 March 2009). "National final in Russia". ESCToday. Retrieved 7 March 2009.
  15. Jiandani, Sanjay (15 March 2009). "France: Watch Patricia perform in a duet". ESCToday. Retrieved 15 March 2009.
  16. Bakker, Sietse (30 January 2009). "LIVE: The Semi-Final Allocation Draw". EBU. Retrieved 30 January 2009.
  17. Konstantopolus, Fotis (30 January 2009). "LIVE FROM MOSCOW, THE ALLOCATION DRAW". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 2 February 2009. Retrieved 30 January 2009.
  18. Costa, Nelson (14 March 2009). "Eurovision commentators revealed by FR3". Oikotimes. Archived from the original on 17 March 2009. Retrieved 14 March 2009.
  19. "Programme de l'Eurovision 2009" (in French). France 3. Archived from the original on 29 April 2009. Retrieved 10 May 2009.
  20. Eurovision Song Contest 2009
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.