Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006

Poland’s entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 in Athens was "Follow my Heart", sung by Ich Troje. As Poland's 2005 entry did not make it to the final, the song had to compete in the semi-final where it placed 11th, thus not advancing to the final either.

It was the second time the group represented Poland, following their 7th place in 2003 in Riga. This time the group was joined on stage by German dance music producer Olaf Jeglitza a.k.a. Real McCoy who enjoyed a couple of massive dance hits in the mid 1990s.

National Final

The Polish preselection was televised live. The result was determined by combining the scores awarded by a professional jury and viewers, who could express their preferences by means of televoting. Scores were awarded in a way similar to the Eurovision format. Regardless of the actual ratios of votes received, the song most favored by jury or televoters respectively was given 12 points, the second favorite 10, and the following songs were graded from 8 to 1. Due to the number of songs in the contest, it meant that the four songs least favored by either jury or televoters got "nul points" from them (see table below for details). Due to the possibility of the tie, it was determined that the televoting results have precedence over jury grades, which was actually the case and granted "Ich Troje" the ESC ticket.

The whole event did not attract many established Polish artists, with "Brathanki" being the only one other than "Ich Troje". "Denzel" also enjoyed some popularity in Poland at some time, but the rest of the performers (including also non-Polish speaking foreign artists) was rather hoping to launch their career there.

Result

The group

"Ich Troje" was created in 1997 by songwriter Michał Wiśniewski and composer Jacek Łągwa. The group's name can be translated as "the three of them", as it originally comprised of Wiśniewski, Łągwa and a third female singer, which alternated through the years. "Ich Troje" is perhaps one of the most popular musical ensemble in Poland over the recent years, even though they are frequently scrutinized by professional music critics. In the eliminations, the jury comprising of some of the aforementioned critics and seasoned performers (chaired by stalwart Maryla Rodowicz) reflected that sentiment by awarding Ich Troje relatively low scores. After the televoting scores were announced, the members of the jury barely hid or even openly expressed their dissatisfaction with the result.

The song and performance

"Follow My Heart" is a 1990s style synthesizer led track and is also multi-lingual (the version performed at the ESC contained lyrics in Polish, German, English and Russian). The song was composed by André Franke, and the lyrics were written by Michał Wiśniewski, Jacek Łągwa and Real McCoy. Some notable changes to the group took place in comparison with their previous ESC entry and other performances. First of all, the current female vocalist Anna Świątczak (and Wiśniewski's love interest, pregnant with their baby) was joined by her predecessors Magda Femme (also Wiśniewski's former wife) and Justyna Majkowska, therefore (combined with Real McCoy) reaching the limit of six performers on stage. Secondly, Wiśniewski sported green rather than usual red hair, which was not related to the ESC but rather to a promotional contract with a mobile network operator, whose color code is green.

The group performed in ornate costumes displaying an eclectic mix of different historical styles and themes. The whole performance was rather full of gravitas and pompous, with Łągwa sitting by a grand piano and Wiśniewski kissing Świątczak and displaying affection towards the unborn baby. This was somewhat counterbalanced by Real McCoy wandering around the audience while delivering his rap lines (he was the only artist not to actually perform on stage in ESC 2006).

"Follow My Heart" came 11th out of 23 entries in the semi-final, which was a repeat of the 2005 result (Poland also placed 11th in the semi-final), and a near miss, as only the 10 entries that come first in the semi-final advance to the final night. Therefore, Poland will have to compete in the semi-final again in ESC 2007.

ee also

Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest