Eurovision Song Contest 2006

Eurovision Song Contest 2006
"Feel The Rhythm"
ESC2006logo.png
Semi-final date 18 May 2006
Final date 20 May 2006
Presenter(s) Maria Menounos
Sakis Rouvas
Director Sven Stojanovic
Host broadcaster Greece ERT
Venue Olympic Indoor Hall
Athens, Greece
Winning song  Finland
"Hard Rock Hallelujah"
Voting system
Each country awards 1-8, 10, and 12 points to their 10 favourite songs
Number of entries 37
Debuting countries  Armenia
Returning countries None
Withdrawing countries  Austria
 Hungary
 Serbia and Montenegro
Nul points None
Opening act
SF: Eurovision Medley performed by Greek dancers,
Sakis Rouvas and Maria Menounos performing "Love Shine a Light"
Final: Foteini Darra performing "The Mermaid Song" accompanied by Greek dancers,
Elena Paparizou performing "My Number One"(Secondary opening act)
Interval act
SF: Sakis Rouvas performing "I'm in Love with You"
Final: Elena Paparizou performing "Mambo!"
Participation Map
ESC 2006 Map.svg

     Participating participants     Countries who did not qualify for the final     Non-participants that have entered in the past
Eurovision Song Contest
◄2005    Wiki Eurovision Heart (Infobox).svg    2007►

The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the 51st Eurovision Song Contest, held at the Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens, Greece on 18 May (for the semi-final) and 20 May 2006 (for the final). The hosting national broadcaster of the contest was Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi (ERT). The Finnish band Lordi won the contest with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" with 292 points. (However this record was broken with Norway's win with 387 points in 2009). "Hard Rock Hallelujah" was the first ever hard rock song to win the contest, since Eurovision is normally associated with softer pop music and schlager. This was Finland's first victory in Eurovision after 45 years of participation.

The hosts of the Eurovision Song Contest in Athens were popular Greek singer Sakis Rouvas, the Greek representative at Eurovision in 2004 and 2009, and the Greek American television presenter and actress, Maria Menounos.[1] In the semi-final, both the hosts sang Katrina and the Waves' contest-winning "Love Shine A Light". For one of the intervals, Sakis Rouvas sang an English version of his Greek hit "S'eho Erotefthi" called "I'm in love with you". Elena Paparizou, who performed the winning song in Kiev, returned to the Eurovision stage in Athens. Following the examples of Sertab Erener and Ruslana in the last two years, she sang twice in the final, "My Number One" in the opening and "Mambo!" in the interval; Greek dancers were also present in the interval acts, as well as other Greek elements. An official CD and DVD was released and a new introduction was an official fan book released from this year, and every year to come with detailed information of every country.

The 2006 contest also saw the 1,000th song to be performed in the contest, when "Every Song Is a Cry for Love" by Ireland's Brian Kennedy was first sung in the semi-final. Armenia also entered for the first time in the contest.

Contents

Format

Visual design

The official logo of the contest remained the same from 2004 and 2005 with the country's flag in the heart being changed. The 2006 sub-logo created by the design company Karamela for Greek television was apparently based on the Phaistos Disc which is a popular symbol of ancient Greece. According to ERT, it was "inspired by the wind and the sea, the golden sunlight and the glow of the sand". Following Istanbul's "Under The Same Sky" and Kiev's "Awakening", the slogan for the 2006 show was "Feel The Rhythm". This theme was also the basis for the postcards for the 2006 show, which emphasized Greece's historical significance as well as being a major modern tourist destination.

Voting

To save time in the final, the voting time lasted ten minutes and the voting process was changed: points 1-7 were shown immediately on-screen. The spokespersons only announced the countries scoring 8, 10 and 12 points. Despite this being intended to speed proceedings up, there were still problems during voting - EBU imaging over-rode Maria Menounos during a segment in the voting interval and some scoreboards were slow to load. The Netherlands' spokesperson Paul de Leeuw also caused problems, giving his mobile number to presenter Rouvas during the Dutch results[2], and slowing down proceedings, also by announcing the first seven points. Constantinos Christoforou (who also represented Cyprus in 1996, 2002 and 2005) saluted from "Nicosia, the last divided capital in Europe"; during Cyprus' reading, the telecast displayed Switzerland by mistake. Also, since Christoforou took time to read out the 12 points in order to create some suspense, the points were already added to Greece in order to proceed with the voting. This voting process has been criticized because suspense was lost by only reading three votes instead of ten. And for the first time, the display for the Macedonian entry had the title spelled out in its entirety (as "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia") instead of being abbreviated as it has been in previous years (as "FYR Macedonia").

Individual Entries

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006

Albania · Andorra · Armenia · Belarus · Belgium · Bosnia and Herzegovina · Bulgaria · Croatia · Cyprus · Denmark · Estonia · Finland (winner) · France · Germany · Greece · Iceland · Ireland · Israel · Latvia · Lithuania · Macedonia · Malta · Moldova · Monaco · Netherlands · Norway · Poland · Portugal · Romania · Russia · Slovenia · Spain · Sweden · Switzerland · Turkey · Ukraine · United Kingdom
Italics indicates semi-finalists who did not advance to the final.

Participating countries

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

Semi-final

The semi-final was held on 18 May 2006 at 21:00 (CET). 23 countries performed and all 37 participants and Serbia & Montenegro voted.

Shaded countries qualified for the Eurovision Final

Draw Country Language Artist Song English translation Place Points
01  Armenia English André "Without Your Love" - 6 150
02  Bulgaria English Mariana Popova "Let Me Cry" - 17 36
03  Slovenia English Anžej Dežan "Mr Nobody" - 16 49
04  Andorra Catalan Jenny "Sense tu" Without You 23 8
05  Belarus English Polina Smolova "Mum" - 22 10
06  Albania Albanian Luiz Ejlli "Zjarr e ftohtë" Fire and Cold 14 58
07  Belgium English Kate Ryan "Je t'adore" I Adore You 12 69
08  Ireland English Brian Kennedy "Every Song Is a Cry for Love" - 9 79
09  Cyprus English Annet Artani "Why Angels Cry" - 15 57
10  Monaco French, Tahitian Séverine Ferrer "La Coco-Dance" The Coco Dance 21 14
11  Macedonia English, Macedonian Elena Risteska "Ninanajna" (Нинанајна) - 10 76
12  Poland English, Polish, German,
Russian[3]		 Ich Troje feat. Real McCoy "Follow My Heart" - 11 70
13  Russia English Dima Bilan "Never Let You Go" - 3 217
14  Turkey Turkish Sibel Tüzün "Süper Star" Superstar 8 91
15  Ukraine English Tina Karol "Show Me Your Love" - 7 146
16  Finland English Lordi "Hard Rock Hallelujah" - 1 292
17  Netherlands English, Imaginary Treble "Amambanda" - 20 22
18  Lithuania English, French LT United "We Are The Winners" - 5 163
19  Portugal English, Portuguese Nonstop "Coisas de nada" Meaningless Things 19 26
20  Sweden English Carola "Invincible" - 4 214
21  Estonia English Sandra Oxenryd "Through My Window" - 18 28
22  Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnian Hari Mata Hari "Lejla" Layla 2 267
23  Iceland English Silvia Night "Congratulations" - 13 62

Final

The finalists were:

The final was held on 20 May 2006 at 21:00 (CET) and was won by Finland.

Countries in bold automatically qualified for the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 Final.

Draw Country Language Artist Song English translation Place Points
01  Switzerland English six4one "If We All Give A Little" - 16 30
02  Moldova English Arsenium feat. Natalia Gordienko
& Connect-R		 "Loca" Crazy 20 22
03  Israel English, Hebrew Eddie Butler "Together We Are One" - 23 4
04  Latvia English Vocal Group Cosmos "I Hear Your Heart" - 16 30
05  Norway Norwegian Christine Guldbrandsen "Alvedansen" The Elf Dance 14 36
06  Spain Spanish Las Ketchup "Un Blodymary" A Bloody Mary 21 18
07  Malta English Fabrizio Faniello "I Do" - 24 1
08  Germany English Texas Lightning "No No Never" - 14 36
09  Denmark English Sidsel Ben Semmane "Twist of Love" - 18 26
10  Russia English Dima Bilan "Never Let You Go" - 2 248
11  Macedonia English, Macedonian Elena Risteska "Ninanajna" (Нинанајна) - 12 56
12  Romania English, Italian Mihai Trăistariu "Tornerò" I'll Return 4 172
13  Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnian Hari Mata Hari "Lejla" Layla 3 229
14  Lithuania English, LT United "We Are The Winners" - 6 162
15  United Kingdom English Daz Sampson "Teenage Life" - 19 25
16  Greece English Anna Vissi "Everything" - 9 128
17  Finland English Lordi "Hard Rock Hallelujah" - 1 292
18  Ukraine English Tina Karol "Show Me Your Love" - 7 145
19  France French Virginie Pouchain "Il était temps" It Was Time 22 5
20  Croatia Croatian Severina "Moja štikla" My High Heel 12 56
21  Ireland English Brian Kennedy "Every Song Is a Cry for Love" - 10 93
22  Sweden English Carola "Invincible" - 5 170
23  Turkey Turkish, English Sibel Tüzün "Süper Star" Superstar 11 91
24  Armenia English André "Without Your Love" - 8 129

Voting during the final

Countries revealed their votes in the following order:

  1.  Slovenia
  2.  Andorra
  3.  Romania
  4.  Denmark
  5.  Latvia
  6.  Portugal
  7.  Sweden
  8.  Finland
  9.  Belgium
  10.  Croatia
  11.  Serbia and Montenegro
  12.  Norway
  13.  Estonia
  1.  Ireland
  2.  Malta
  3.  Lithuania
  4.  Cyprus
  5.  Netherlands
  6.  Switzerland
  7.  Ukraine
  8.  Russia
  9.  Poland
  10.  United Kingdom
  11.  Armenia
  12.  France
  13.  Belarus
  1.  Germany
  2.  Spain
  3.  Moldova
  4.  Bosnia and Herzegovina
  5.  Iceland
  6.  Monaco
  7.  Israel
  8.  Albania
  9.  Greece
  10.  Bulgaria
  11.  Macedonia
  12.  Turkey

Score sheet

Televoting was used in all nations except Monaco and Albania. Monaco used a jury as the chances of getting enough votes needed to validify the votes were low. Albania used a jury since there were problems with their televote. In the semi final, Andorra joined Monaco and Albania in using the jury due to insufficient televoting numbers.

Semi-final

Televoting Results
Total Score Armenia Bulgaria Slovenia Andorra Belarus Albania Belgium Ireland Cyprus Monaco Macedonia Poland Russia Turkey Ukraine Finland Netherlands Lithuania Portugal Sweden Estonia Bosnia and Herzegovina Iceland Romania Denmark Latvia Croatia Serbia and Montenegro Norway Malta Switzerland United Kingdom France Germany Spain Moldova Israel Greece
Contestants Armenia 150 8 7 3 12 12 3 12 10 7 12 3 2 3 3 12 7 12 2 10 10
Bulgaria 36 8 8 6 1 1 4 5 3
Slovenia 49 2 2 7 3 3 2 1 7 6 7 5 4
Andorra 8 8
Belarus 10 6 1 3
Albania 58 1 1 12 2 3 2 5 7 3 10 2 3 7
Belgium 69 5 7 5 1 6 4 3 7 2 2 5 3 4 3 7 3 2
Ireland 79 3 1 3 7 2 1 4 3 4 4 1 6 2 5 4 1 6 6 2 8 1 5
Cyprus 57 7 2 1 4 10 3 4 4 1 7 2 12
Monaco 14 3 1 2 8
Macedonia 76 8 5 8 12 8 10 1 8 10 6
Poland 70 3 4 1 7 5 10 2 8 3 3 2 1 1 2 6 4 4 2 2
Russia 217 12 12 4 4 12 2 4 10 5 8 4 12 6 1 12 7 7 10 4 6 7 1 12 3 6 4 8 5 12 12 5
Turkey 91 1 6 8 8 10 12 10 6 1 8 10 8 3
Ukraine 146 10 3 2 6 10 3 6 2 2 6 10 7 2 6 10 4 3 5 8 6 2 5 3 3 10 8 4
Finland 292 7 10 10 8 10 10 7 7 12 8 6 6 6 10 8 12 12 8 12 5 10 8 10 8 8 10 5 12 5 12 10 5 7 8
Netherlands 22 4 2 2 4 3 5 1 1
Lithuania 163 6 6 5 6 7 12 4 4 4 10 4 2 5 8 5 5 4 8 2 8 3 4 10 5 3 5 10 1 6 1
Portugal 26 12 7 7
Sweden 214 6 4 7 8 5 5 5 8 2 8 1 7 3 4 10 4 5 12 7 6 10 6 12 5 4 4 10 12 4 6 4 7 7 6
Estonia 28 1 5 5 8 2 7
Bosnia and Herzegovina 267 5 10 12 1 3 10 6 6 5 12 10 5 7 12 8 12 8 3 6 10 1 7 12 8 2 12 12 12 2 12 4 6 10 1 8 1 6
Iceland 62 2 1 7 7 3 6 5 1 7 1 1 2 7 5 1 6
The table is ordered by appearance in the semi-final, then by pre-determined voting order.

Final

Televoting Results
Total Score Switzerland Moldova Israel Latvia Norway Spain Malta Germany Denmark Russia Macedonia Romania Bosnia and Herzegovina Lithuania United Kingdom Greece Finland Ukraine France Croatia Ireland Sweden Turkey Armenia Slovenia Andorra Portugal Belgium Serbia and Montenegro Estonia Cyprus Netherlands Poland Belarus Iceland Monaco Albania Bulgaria
Contestants Switzerland 30 4 12 4 1 3 6
Moldova 22 2 3 12 1 1 3
Israel 4 4
Latvia 30 1 8 2 4 4 3 8
Norway 36 3 6 1 7 2 5 3 2 1 1 4 1
Spain 18 12 6
Malta 1 1
Germany 36 7 3 1 5 3 5 3 1 3 5
Denmark 26 6 3 8 1 8
Russia 248 10 12 12 3 7 5 6 2 8 8 6 12 1 8 12 12 2 7 5 7 5 12 4 6 7 3 5 10 8 2 10 12 5 4 10
Macedonia 56 4 8 8 6 7 6 8 3 6
Romania 172 1 12 10 2 4 12 10 5 6 4 2 2 1 6 6 7 6 1 7 5 6 3 3 4 5 3 10 2 4 4 10 3 3 3 2 2
Bosnia and Herzegovina 229 12 5 2 8 1 7 8 6 12 7 4 6 10 10 6 12 2 10 12 5 12 2 6 12 2 8 4 4 3 12 12 7
Lithuania 162 4 3 10 5 4 1 1 7 5 3 10 4 8 5 6 12 3 3 7 4 4 3 8 4 6 8 6 10 7 1
United Kingdom 25 1 2 3 4 1 8 2 2 1 1
Greece 128 5 1 8 8 7 10 1 3 7 1 5 4 4 8 1 10 6 12 5 2 8 12
Finland 292 8 6 7 8 12 10 7 10 12 8 6 4 7 10 12 12 7 8 10 10 12 7 8 10 6 8 7 12 5 7 12 7 12 5
Ukraine 145 8 6 5 3 2 10 5 3 5 7 5 2 4 1 1 8 10 2 5 12 2 5 6 1 6 10 6 2 3
France 5 2 3
Croatia 56 6 2 10 12 2 10 10 4
Ireland 93 3 4 7 4 4 5 2 6 8 4 2 1 2 5 3 1 4 5 6 4 2 1 10
Sweden 170 2 2 5 7 10 6 6 10 2 1 5 3 5 4 7 6 3 3 7 6 7 8 8 5 1 7 7 5 7 5 10
Turkey 91 10 1 12 4 6 10 3 3 12 7 12 7 4
Armenia 129 7 8 8 3 12 1 2 10 8 10 10 12 7 10 5 8 8
The table is ordered by appearance in the final, then by pre-determined voting order.

12 points

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

N. Recipient nation Voting nation
8 Bosnia and Herzegovina Albania, Croatia, Macedonia, Monaco, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovenia, Switzerland, Turkey
Finland Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Sweden, United Kingdom
7 Russia Armenia, Belarus, Finland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine
3 Turkey France, Germany, Netherlands
2 Armenia Belgium, Russia
Greece Cyprus, Bulgaria
Romania Moldova, Spain
1 Croatia Bosnia and Herzegovina
Lithuania Ireland
Moldova Romania
Spain Andorra
Switzerland Malta
Ukraine Portugal

Other countries

Serbia and Montenegro withdrew from the contest due to a scandal in the selection process, which has caused tensions between the Serbian broadcaster, RTS, and the Montenegran broadcaster, RTCG. Serbia and Montenegro did retain voting rights for the contest.

Serbia and Montenegro's withdrawal left a vacancy in the final. In the delegations meeting on March 20, it was decided that Croatia, who finished 11th in the 2005 Contest, would fill the empty spot.

The other EBU countries that did not participate were Slovakia, Hungary, Luxembourg, Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Libya and San Marino. Liechtenstein was not able to participate as it does not have a national television or radio service and therefore is not a member of the EBU.

Ratings

After the Contest, EBU officials that the overall ratings for the Semi-Final were 35% higher than in 2005, and for the Final had risen by 28%.

In France, average market shares reached 30.3%, up by 8% over the 2005 figure. Other countries that showed a rise in average market shares included Germany with 38% (up from 29%), United Kingdom with 37.5% (up from 36%), Spain with 36% (up from 35%), Ireland with 58% (up from 35%) and Sweden, which reached over 80% compared to 57% the year previously.

Voting revenues had also risen from the Kiev Contest, and the official Eurovision website, www.eurovision.tv, reported visits from over 200 countries and over 98 million page views, compared with 85 million in 2005.

Noteworthy occurrences and records

Lordi performing Hard Rock Hallelujah at the opening of ESC 2007

From the Final

Returning artists

Artist Country Previous Year(s)
Anna Vissi  Greece 1980, 1982 (for Cyprus)
Eddie Butler  Israel 1999 (part of Eden)
Viktoras Diawara (part of LT United)  Lithuania 2001 (part of SKAMP)
Fabrizio Faniello  Malta 2001
Ich Troje  Poland 2003
Carola  Sweden 1983, 1991 (winner)

Broadcasting

International broadcasts

Australia Australia 
Although Australia is not itself eligible to enter, the semi-final and final were broadcast on SBS. As is the case each year, they were not however broadcast live due to the difference in Australian time zones. Australia aired the United Kingdom's broadcast, including commentary from Paddy O'Connell and Terry Wogan. Before the broadcasts, viewers were told by an SBS host that the Eurovision Song Contest was one of their most popular programmes. The final rated an estimated 462,000, and was ranked 21st of the broadcasters top rating programs for the 2005/06 financial year. [1]
Azerbaijan Azerbaijan 
Azerbaijan were willing to enter the contest but since AzTV applied for active EBU membership but was denied on June 18, 2007, they missed the contest and have to wait until they're accepted. Another Azerbaijan broadcaster, OTV, broadcast the contest. It is a passive EBU member, and has broadcast it for the last 2 years. It was the only non-participating broadcaster this year to send its own commentators to the contest.[2]
Italy Italy
Italian television did not enter because RAI, the national broadcaster, is in strong competition with commercial TV stations and they believe that the Eurovision Song Contest would not be a popular show in Italy. They have not broadcast the contest in recent years, although an independent Italian channel for the gay community has shown the show.
  Worldwide 
A live broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest was broadcast worldwide by satellite through Eurovision streams such as Channel One Russia, ERT World, TVE Internacional, TVP Polonia, RTP Internacional and TVR i. The official Eurovision Song Contest website also provided a live stream without commentary using the peer to peer transport Octoshape.
Possible broadcasts 
Japan, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands Antilles, Suriname and Vietnam may have broadcast as well, as they have also broadcast the contest in the past. While Liechtenstein has no television broadcaster of its own, Liechtensteiners could watch the contest on Swiss, Austrian or German television.
Gibraltar Gibraltar
Gibraltar screened only the final.

Commentators

Spokespersons

The following people were the spokespersons for their countries. A spokesperson delivers the results of national televoting during the final night, awarding points to the entries on behalf of his or her country. [3]

References

  1. ↑ "In pictures: Eurovision 2006". BBC News. 2006-05-21. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/5001448.stm. Retrieved 2008-08-09. 
  2. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fZNh9OJHGA
  3. ↑ The song is sung proficiently in English, Polish, Russian and German, but also contains some words in Spanish.
  4. ↑ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54kQ9OJDKC0
  5. ↑ "RTE so lonely after loss of Gerry - Marty". 20 May 2010. http://www.herald.ie/entertainment/around-town/rte-so-lonely-after-loss-of-gerry-marty-2187066.html. Retrieved 29 May 2010. "He has been providing commentary for Irish viewers since 2000 and maintains great enthusiasm for the much lampooned contest." 

External links

Eurovision Song Contest
History · Rules · Host cities · Winners · Presenters · Voting · Participation · Language · Top ranking countries · OGAE · Marcel Bezençon Awards  · Congratulations: 50 Years of the Eurovision Song Contest

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Portal
Songs of the Eurovision Song Contest 2006
Final
(by final results)
1. "Hard Rock Hallelujah" · 2. "Never Let You Go" · 3. "Lejla" · 4. "Tornerò" · 5. "Invincible" · 6. "We Are the Winners" · 7. "Show Me Your Love" · 8. "Without Your Love" · 9. "Everything" · 10. "Every Song Is a Cry for Love" · 11. "Süper Star" · 12. "Ninanajna" · 12. "Moja štikla" · 14. "Alvedansen" · 14. "No No Never" · 16. "I Hear Your Heart" · 16. "If We All Give A Little" · 18. "Twist of Love" · 19. "Teenage Life" · 20. "Loca" · 21. "Un Blodymary" · 22. "Il était temps" · 23. "Together We Are One" · 24. "I Do"
Semi-final only
(did not qualify
for the final)
"Amambanda" · "Coisas de nada" · "Congratulations" · "Follow My Heart" · "Je t'adore" · "La Coco-Dance" · "Let Me Cry" · "Mr Nobody" · "Mum" · "Sense tu" · "Through My Window" · "Why Angels Cry" · "Zjarr e ftohtë"
Withdrawn
"Moja ljubavi" · "Vous, c’est nous"