Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007

Greece and Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi (ERT) chose to hold a national final this year after efforts to find a big-name artist for an internal selection failed. The artists involved were Sarbel, Christos Dantis, and Tamta. The national final took place February 28, 2007, and was called "Eurovision 2007". Each artist choose a song, and performed it in their own way. The winner was Sarbel with the song "Yassou Maria" which was chosen via 50% televoting and SMS voting and 50% jury voting.[1]

Eurovision Song Contest 2007
Country Greece
National selection
Selection processEurovision 2007
Selection date(s)28 February 2007
Selected entrantSarbel
Selected song"Yassou Maria"
Selected songwriter(s)
Finals performance
Final result7th, 139 points
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2006 • 2007 • 2008►

Background
Main article: Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2007 Contest, Greece had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-seven times since its first entry in 1974,[2] winning in 2005 with the song "My Number One" performed by Elena Paparizou,[3] and being placed third twice: in 2001 with the song "Die for You" performed by the duo Antique and in 2004 with "Shake It" performed by Sakis Rouvas. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Greece has had a top ten placing each year.[4] Greece's least successful result was in 1998 when it placed twentieth with the song "Mia Krifi Evesthisia" by Thalassa, receiving only twelve points in total, all from Cyprus.[5]

The Greek national broadcaster, Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi (ERT) broadcasts the event in Greece each year and organizes the selection process for its entry.[6] From 2004 to 2006, ERT had selected high-profile artists internally and set up national finals to choose the song, while for 2007 it held a televised national final to choose both the song and performer. As every other year since his first participation in the 2004 contest, ERT asked Sakis Rouvas to represent Greece but he did not accept.[7]

Before Eurovision

Eurovision 2007

Eurovision 2007 was the Greek national final developed by ERT to select the Greek entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2007.[8] The competition took place on 28 February 2007 at the Athinon Arena Music Hall in Athens (21:00 CET), hosted by Fotis Sergoulopoulos and Maria Bakodimou.[9] The show was televised on ERT, ERT World as well as online via the ERT website ert.gr by 8 other countries.[10]

Competing entries

Three artists were invited by ERT to participate in the national final. The three acts: Christos Dantis, Sarbel and Tamta were announced on 18 February 2005 during a press conference held at the Central Athens Hotel in Athens.[8] On 7 February 2007, the competing songs were released and premiered on ERT Satellite and Star News.[11]

Final

The final took place on 28 February 2007. Three songs competed and the winner, "Yassou Maria" performed by Sarbel, was selected by a 50/50 combination of public voting and jury voting. The jury consisted of Mimis Plessas, Dimitris Kontopoulos, Giorgos Andrikaki, Petros Kostopoulos, Eleonora Meleti, Johnny Kalimeris, Konstantis Spyropoulos, Rea Toutounzi, Barry Viniker and Antonis Karatzikos.[12] Public voting was conducted through telephone or SMS.

In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the interval acts featured guest performances by 2007 Belarusian Eurovision entrant Dmitry Koldun, 2007 Bulgarian Eurovision entrants Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankulov, 2007 Cypriot Eurovision entrant Evridiki and Dimitris Korgialas, 2007 Swiss Eurovision entrant DJ Bobo, 1998 Cypriot Eurovision entrant Michalis Hatzigiannis and singers Natasa Theodoridou and Despina Olympiou. Former Greek Eurovision representatives Elena Paparizou and Sakis Rouvas were also present at the show, and the hosts Fotis Sergoulopoulos and Maria Bakodimou provided comedy skits and an award show to past Eurovision entries.[13]

Final – 28 February 2007
DrawArtistSongSongwriter(s)JuryTelevoteTotalPlace
1Sarbel"Yassou Maria"Alex Papaconstantinou, Marcus Englöf, Mack17.46%22.23%39.69%1
2Tamta"With Love"Nikos Terzis, Posidonas Giannopoulos17.22%11.80%29.02%3
3Christos Dantis "No Madonna"Christos Dantis, Natalia Germanou15.31%15.97%31.29%2

At Eurovision
Sarbel at Eurovision 2007 Final in Helsinki, Finland

Sarbel competed with Yassou Maria in the Eurovision Final in Helsinki, Finland on May 12, 2007. Greece was not required to sing in the semi-final as Anna Vissi, Greece's entry at the 2006 contest, reached ninth place.

During a draw, Greece was assigned a running order of 10 in the contest. Sarbel appeared after 4 ballads, and before 1 disco song. He went on stage with 4 girls with short dresses. They used the same dance routine as the Greek National Final, but with minor changes. Those changes included the end part, which used ribbons attached to the girls skirts during the end bridge, with Sarbel acting as sort of a puppeteer. Later the ribbons were used to make a heart around Sarbel and the girls at the very end.

Greece's entry for the 2007 contest finished in 7th place with 139 points, 1 point ahead of Armenia and 6 points behind Belarus. With changes to the format of the competition coming into effect for 2008, Greece would have to compete in one of two semi-finals for qualification into the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. As Greece was not the winner of the 2007 Contest and was not a member of the Big Four, other results in the previous contest no longer pre-qualified nations to the final of the forthcoming contest.

Points awarded to Greece
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