Eurovision Song Contest 2007

Infobox Eurovision
name = Eurovision Song Contest 2007
theme = "True Fantasy"


final = 12 May 2007
semi = 10 May 2007
presenters = Jaana Pelkonen
Mikko Leppilampi
Krisse Salminen (Green Room host)
host = flagicon|FIN YLE
venue = Hartwall Areena, Helsinki, Finland
winner = flag|Serbia
"Molitva"
vote = Each country votes by tele-vote or SMS. The country's 10 favourites are awarded 12, 10, then 8 through 1 points based on votes. All participating countries present points, totalling them to determine a winner.
entries = 42: 28 in the semi-final; 24 in the final, 10 of which came from the semi-final.
debut = flag|Czech Republic
flag|Georgia
flag|Montenegro
flag|Serbia
return = flag|Austria
flag|Hungary
withdraw = flag|Monaco
null = None
interval = Apocalyptica
opening = Lordi movie from Rovaniemi
footnotes =
con = Eurovision Song Contest
pre = ◄2006
nex = 2008►The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the 52nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It was won by Serbia [ [http://www.eurovision.tv/index/main?page=66&event=435 Marija from Serbia wins Helsinki 2007] , Eurovision.tv ] and was held at the Hartwall Areena in Helsinki, Finland from 10 May to 12 May. The host broadcaster was YLE.

Finland earned the right to host the event after heavy metal band Lordi's victory at the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. It was the first time the Contest had been held in Finland. A budget of €13 million was presented for arranging the contest. Other bids to host the contest came from Espoo, Turku and Tampere. The hosts were Finnish television personality Jaana Pelkonen and Finnish musician, stage performer and actor Mikko Leppilampi. Krisse Salminen acted as guest host in the green room, and reported from the crowds at the Senate Square.

A record number of 42 countries participated. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) put aside its limit of 40 countries, which would have meant excluding some countries using a ranking order scheme.fact|date=November 2007

Visual design

The official logo of the contest remained the same as 2006; the flag in the centre of the heart was changed to the Finnish flag. The European Broadcasting Union and YLE announced that the theme for the 2007 contest would be "True Fantasy", which embraced Finland and "Finnishness" in terms of the polarities associated with the country. [ [http://www.yle.fi/Eurovision/main.php?id=1416 The 2007 Eurovision Song Contest theme is True Fantasy] , 27 November 2006, YLE] The design agency "Dog Design" was responsible for the design of the visual theme of the contest which incorporated vibrant kaleidoscopic patterns formed from various symbols including exclamation marks and the letter F. [ [http://www.Eurovision.tv/content/view/190/1/ Eurovision.tv meets dog design] , Eurovision.tv] The stage was in the shape of a kantele, a traditional Finnish instrument. On 20 February 2007 a reworked official website for the contest was launched marking the first public exhibition of this year's theme. An official CD and DVD were released (but no HD DVD or Blu-ray, despite the event being broadcast in high definition for the first time). An official fan book was also released.

Format

On 12 March 2007, the draws for the running order for the semi-final, final and voting procedure took place. A new feature allowed five wild-card countries from the semi-final and three countries from the final to choose their starting position. The heads of .

The contest saw some minor changes to the voting time-frame. The compilation summary video of all entries including phone numbers was shown twice. The voting process was the same as 2006 except there was fifteen minutes to vote, an increase of five on the 2006 Contest. In the final, the results from each country were once again shown from one to seven points automatically on screen and only eight, ten and twelve were read by the spokespeople. For the first time, the winner was awarded a promotion tour around Europe, visiting Denmark, Spain, Sweden, the Netherlands, Greece and Germany. The tour was held between 16 May and 21 May. The event was sponsored by European communications group TeliaSonera, and — as with several previous contests — Nobel Biocare.

Individual Entries

Participating countries

Participating countries in a Eurovision Song Contest must be active members of the EBU.

42 countries submitted preliminary applications. Although in previous years the maximum number of participating countries was 40, the EBU allowed all 42 to participate in 2007. The Czech Republic, Serbia, Montenegro and Georgia all entered the contest for the first time in 2007. [http://esckaz.com/2007/event.htm ESC 2007 Event page] , ESCKaz.com] Monaco announced its withdrawal on 12 December 2006, [ [http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/6987 EXCLUSIVE: Monaco withdraws] , December 12 2006, ESCtoday.com] and the EBU announced the final lineup of 42 countries on 15 December 2006.

Final

The finalists were:
*the four automatic qualifiers France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom;
*the top 10 countries from the 2006 final (other than the automatic qualifiers);
*the top 10 countries from the 2007 semi-final.

The final was held on 12 May 2007 at 21:00 (CET).

The Semi-Final scoreboard can be found at "External Links" further down.

12 Points

Below is a summary of all 12 point in the final:

Commentators

*AND - Meri Picart & Josep Lluís Trabal
*ARM - Gohar Gasparian
*AUT - Andi Knoll
*BLR - Denis Kurian & Alexander Tikhanovich
*BEL - Jean-Pierre Hautier & Jean-Louis Lahaye (RTBF) / André Vermeulen & Anja Daems (VRT)
*BIH - Dejan Kukrić
*BUL - Georgi Kushvaliev & Elena Rosberg
*CRO - Duško Čurlić
*CYP - Vasso Komninou
*CZE - Kateřina Kristelová
*DEN - Søren Nystrøm Rasted & Adam Duvå Hall [ [http://www.bt.dk/article/20070411/UNDERHOLDNING/704110338/0/A Vi tager MGP dødsens alvorligt] , BT.dk]
*EST - Marko Reikop
*FIN - Heikki Paasonen & Ellen Jokikunnas & Asko Murtomäki "(fi)" / Thomas Lundin "(sv)"
*FRA - Julien Lepers & Tex
*flagicon|MKD FYR Macedonia - Milanka Rašić
*GER - Peter Urban
*GRE - Fotis Sergoulopoulos & Maria Bakodimou
*HUN - Gábor Gundel Takács
*ISL - Sigmar Guðmundsson
*IRL - Marty Whelan
*LAT - Kārlis Streips
*LTU - Darius Užkuraitis
*MLT - Antonia Micallef
*MNE - Dražen Bauković, Tamara Ivanković
*NED - Cornald Maas (both evenings) & Paul de Leeuw (final only)
*NOR - Per Sundnes
*POL - Artur Orzech
*POR - Isabel Angelino and Jorge Gabriel
*ROU - Andreea Demirgian
*RUS - Yuri Aksyuta and Yelena Batinova
*SRB - Duška Vučinić-Lučić
*SLO - Mojca Mavec
*SUI - Bernhard Thurnheer (SF), Jean-Marc Richard (TSR), Claudio Lazzarino and Sandy Altermatt (RTSI)
*ESP - Beatriz Pécker
*SWE - Kristian Luuk and Josef Sterzenbach
*TUR - Hakan Urganci
*UKR - Tymur Miroshnychenko
*GBR - Paddy O'Connell & Sarah Cawood (semi-final) & Terry Wogan (final) (BBC TV), Ken Bruce (BBC Radio 2)

pokespersons

Announcing the votes.
*ALB - Leon Menkshi
*AND - Marian van de Wal
*ARM - Sirusho (will represent Armenia in Eurovision Song Contest 2008)
*AUT - Eva Pölzl
*BLR - Juliana
*BEL - Maureen Louys
*BIH - Vesna Andree Zaimović
*BUL - Mira Dobreva
*HRV - Barbara Kolar
*CYP - Giannis Charalampous
*CZE - Andrea Savane
*DEN - Susanne Georgi
*EST - Laura Põldvere
*FIN - Laura Voutilainen
*FRA - Vanessa Dolmen
*flagicon|MKD FYR Macedonia - Elena Risteska (singer for this country in ESC 2006)
*GEO - Neli Agirba
*GER - Thomas Hermanns
*GRE - Alexis Kostalas
*HUN - Éva Novodomszky
*ISL - Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir
*IRL - Linda Martin
*ISR - Jason Danino-Holt
*LAT - Janis Šipkevics
*LTU - Lavija Šurnaitė
*MLT - Mireille Bonello
*MDA - Andrei Porubin
*MNE - Vidak Latković
*NED - Paul de Leeuw (the 12 points were announced by Edsilia Rombley, who performed twice at ESC, in 1998 and 2007)
*NOR - Synnøve Svabø
*POL - Maciej Orłoś
*POR - Francisco Mendes
*ROU - Andreea Marin Bănică
*RUS - Yana Churikova
*SRB - Maja Nikolić
*SLO - Peter Poles
*ESP - Ainhoa Arbizu
*SWE - André Pops
*SUI - Sven Epiney
*TUR - Meltem Ersan Yazgan
*UKR - Katya Osadchaya
*GBR - Fearne Cotton

Maps

Participation

legend|#566e00|Big 4 countries that automatically qualify for the final

* Debuting countries
† Returning countries

Controversy

Some countries have protested against the voting system following the 2007 contest. Robert Abela, in charge of Malta's contingent, suggested many results were "not based solely on the public vote", while also admitting the 12 points Malta gave United Kingdom were fixed deliberately in protest of bloc-voting. "The way the voting is processed in the EBU is wrong, and needs updating", say many Eurovision fans. cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6654719.stm|title=Malta slates Eurovision's voting|publisher=BBC News|date=2007-05-14|accessdate=2007-05-17]

German newspaper Bild commented on the irony that Western European countries pay the largest amount for a competition where they apparently have no chance of winning. Germany's sole winner, Nicole, was also quoted as saying "It is obvious that Eastern European countries engage in dirty trade with points every year. Germany should withdraw from the competition". The voting was also brought up in the Parliament of the United Kingdom by Liberal Democrat MP Richard Younger-Ross who suggested the current voting system is "harmful to the relationship between the peoples of Europe". [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6657207.stm|title=MP demands Eurovision vote change|publisher=BBC News|date=2007-05-15|accessdate=2007-05-17]

In contrast, both EBU and many papers in the same West European countries hit back strongly at this criticism, saying that it was more about racism and discrimination being displayed in some West European countries than actual concern for the competition. [http://www.dn.se/DNet/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=2198&a=649712] . The fact that the results would have remained more or less the same, with the same winner, even if only West European votes had been counted was also brought forward as evidence for the criticism being more about negative feelings towards East European countries rather than any actual bias in the competition. In Finland, the organising country, the bad reactions in some countries even became the topic of the leader page in papers, Hufvudstadsbladet accusing those who still divide Europe into a Western and an Eastern part for being stuck in history, and encouraging all Europeans not to let "envious bad losers destroy a nice and all-European spectacle". [http://www.hbl.fi/pagespeed/url/News] . The Swedish paper Expressen wrote about feeling "shame" over the reactions in many west European nations and claimed that the Eurovision Song Contest had never been better. Calling the Serbian winner a "worthy, historic winner", it went on to call the proposals for a separate contest "incredibly pathetic". [http://www.expressen.se/debatt/1.678336]

Gallery

Frederik Ndoci performing "Hear My Plea" for Albania
Anonymous performing "Salvem el món" for Andorra
Hayko performing "Anytime You Need" for Armenia
Eric Papilaya performing Get A Life - Get Alive for Austria

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Koldun performing "Work Your Magic" for Belarus
The KMG's performing Love Power for Belgium
Marija Šestić performing "Rijeka bez imena" for Bosnia & Herzegovina
Elitsa Todorova and Stoyan Yankulov performing "Voda" for Bulgaria
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Dragonfly and Dado Topić performing Vjerujem u ljubav for Croatia
Evridiki performing "Comme Ci, Comme Ça" for Cyprus
Kabat performing Malá Dáma for Czech Republic
DQ performing Drama Queen for Denmark
Gerli Padar performing "Partners in Crime" for Estonia
Hanna Pakarinen performing "Leave Me Alone" for Finland
Les Fatals Picards performing "L'amour à la française" for France
Sopho Khalvashi performing "Visionary Dream" for Georgia
Roger Cicero performing "Frauen regier'n die Welt" for Germany
Sarbel performing "Yassou Maria" for Greece
Magdi Rúzsa performing "Unsubstantial Blues" for Hungary
Eiríkur Hauksson performing "Valentine Lost" for Iceland
Dervish performing "They Can't Stop The Spring for Ireland
Teapacks performing "Push the Button" for Israel
Bonaparti.lv performing "Questa Notte" for Latvia
4Fun performing "Love Or Leave" for Lithuania
Karolina Gočeva performing "Mojot Svet" for FYR Macedonia
Olivia Lewis performing "Vertigo" for Malta
Natalia Barbu performing "Fight" for Moldova
Stevan Faddy performing 'Ajde, Kroči for Montenegro

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Edsilia Rombley performing "On Top of the World" for Netherlands
Guri Schanke performing Ven a Bailar Conmigo for Norway
The Jet Set performing "Time To Party" for "'Poland'
Sabrina performing "Dança Comigo (Vem Ser Feliz) " for "'Portugal'
Todomondo performing "Liubi, Liubi, I Love You" for Romania
Serebro performing "Song #1" for Russia
Marija Šerifović performing Molitva for Serbia
Alenka Gotar performing "Cvet z juga" for Slovenia
D'NASH performing "I Love You Mi Vida" for Spain
The Ark performing "The Worrying Kind" for Sweden
DJ Bobo performing "Vampires Are Alive" for Switzerland
Kenan Doğulu performing "Shake It Up Şekerim" for Turkey

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Verka Serduchka performing "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" for Ukraine
Scooch performing "Flying the Flag (for You)" for the United Kingdom

References

External links

* [http://www.Eurovision.tv/ Official Eurovision Site]
* [http://www.diggiloo.net/?scoreboard.2007.semi/ Semi-final scoreboard]