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Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003

Greece competed in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003, held on 24 May 2003 at the Skonto Hall in Riga, Latvia. The Greek broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) organised a public selection process entitled Ena tragoudi gia tin Evropi (Ένα τραγούδι για την Ευρώπη; "A song for Europe") to determine its entry for the contest. Held on 26 February 2003 in Athens, the event saw 10 songs compete to be the Greek entry; the results were determined by a combination of jury, SMS and televoting. Singer Mando with the song "Never Let You Go" received the most votes and was selected to represent the nation. The song was written by Mando and Terry Siganos.

Eurovision Song Contest 2003
Country Greece
National selection
Selection processEna tragoudi gia tin Evropi
(Ένα τραγούδι για την Ευρώπη)
Selection date(s)26 February 2003
Selected artist(s)Mando
Selected song"Never Let You Go"
Selected songwriter(s)
  • Mando
  • Terry Siganos
Finals performance
Final result17th, 25 points
Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2002 • 2003 • 2004►

To promote the entry, a music video and five track CD single for the song were released and Mando made appearances at events in Cyprus, Croatia and Malta, as well as at Mediterranean party in Riga in the lead up to the contest. "Never Let You Go" was performed 17th at the international contest on 24 May 2003 and at the close of the voting process, finished in 17th place, receiving 25 points from six countries.

Background

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Main article: Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest

The Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) is the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) member for Greece and is responsible for selection of the nation's entry.[1][2] Prior to the 2003 contest, Greece had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 23 times since its first entry in 1974. To this point, its best result was third place which was achieved in 2001 with the song "Die for You". Greece's least successful result was in 1998 when it placed 20th with the song "Mia krifi evaisthisia" by Thalassa, receiving only twelve points in total, all from Cyprus.[3]

Before Eurovision

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Ena tragoudi gia tin Evropi

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Initially titled Psifiste gia to elliniko tragoudi (Ψηφίστε για το ελληνικό τραγούδι; "Vote for the Greek Song"), Ena tragoudi gia tin Evropi (Ενα τραγουδι για την Ευρωπη; "A song for Europe") was the Greek selection process developed by ERT to select the Greek entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2003.[4] The competition took place on 26 February 2003 at the Ciné Keramikos Nightclub in Athens and was hosted by Dafni Bokota, Rika Vagiani and Popi Tsapanidou; it was televised on ET1 with a radio broadcast on Kosmos 93.6.[5][6][7] The event was directed by Christos Fasois, produced by Stefanos Agorastakis and the sets were designed by Vassilis Tsirogiannis.[8]

Competing entries

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Artists and composers had until 2 December 2002 to submit their entries. From all 243 entries submitted, 10 entries were selected by a seven-member jury to participate in the national final. The jury consisted of past Eurovision contestants Evridiki (Cyprus 1992 and 1994) and Paschalis Arvanitidis (Greece 1977), joined by Dafni Bokota, Giorgos Katsaros, Iro Trigoni, Johnny Kalimeris and Antonis Andrikakis.[9] The competing artists were revealed on 10 February 2003 and the songs in their entirety were presented on 23 February 2003.[4] Music videos of each competing entry aired on ET1 as part of the presentation and were rebroadcast over the three day period leading up to the event.[4][10]

Competing entries[5][7]
Artist Song Songwriter(s)
Alexandros Chatzis "I agapi einai dromos – L'amore e la strada" (Η αγάπη είναι δρόμος) Persa Souka, Vanta Koutsokosta
Dimitra Aggelou and Alter Ego[a] "Kapoios erotas fotia" (Κάποιος έρωτας φωτιά) Christos Giannopoulos
Giannis Vardis "Mia stigmi" (Μια στιγμή) Dimitris Kontopoulos, Michalis Sfikas, Dimitris Sotakis
Giorgos Kaminaris, Lakis Papadopoulos and Liana Papalexi "Kapote – Come With Me" (Κάποτε) Giorgos Kaminaris, Stefanos Kotronakis
Giorgos Nassios "It's Alright" Giorgos Nassios
Kostas Chrisis "Gotta Be a Way for Love" Konstantinos Tseleste, Kostas Chrisis
Mando "Never Let You Go" Mando, Terry Siganos
Maria Atsopardi "Tis nychtes megalono" (Τις νύχτες μεγαλώνω) Panagiotis Giatrakos, Giannis Pattas
Marian Georgiou "Can't Escape – Come Back" Konstantinos Tseleste
Sabrina "Camera" Nikos Doukakis

Final

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The final took place on 26 February 2003.[6] Ten songs competed and the winner, "Never Let You Go" performed by Mando, was selected by a combination of jury voting (40%), SMS voting (which ran between 23 and 26 February 2003) (30%) and televoting (30%).[4][11] The jury consisted of Katsaros, Rena Kapitsala, Giorgos Papastefanou, Johnny Kalimeris, Antonis Andrikakis, Munro Forbes and Eurovision Song Contest 2002 winner Marija Naumova.[12] The selected song "Never Let You Go" was written by Mando herself along with Terry Siganos.[5] The singer was well known in Greece, having tried to represent the nation in the past and having penned the song "Where You Are" for Jessica Simpson.[6][13] Eurovision news website ESCToday noted that the scale of the national final was much larger than had been organised in the past for the Greek entry. The event included a dance routine by Greek choreographer Fokas Evangelinos that was performed following the conclusion of the 10 candidate entries' performances and showcased Greek Eurovision entries of the past dating back to 1974. These included Marinella's "Krasi, thalassa ke t'agori mou" (1974), Paschalis, Marianna, Robert and Bessy's "Mathima solfege" (1977), Tania Tsanaklidou's "Charlie Chaplin" (1978), Elpida's "Sokrati" (1979), Anna Vissi and the Epikouri's "Autostop" (1980), Bang's "Stop" (1987) and Antique's "Die for You" (2001).[14] It also featured performances by Michalis Rakintzis singing Greece's 2002 entry "S.A.G.A.P.O." from the previous year as well as 2003 Cypriot representative Stelios Constantas singing his Eurovision entry "Feeling Alive".[6][8]

Results of Ena tragoudi gia tin Evropi – 26 February 2003[14][15]
Draw Artist Song Jury
(40%) 		SMS (30%) Televote (30%) Place
Votes Place Votes Place
1 Giorgos Nassios "It's Alright" 5 780 8 5,320 7 7
2 Sabrina "Camera" 2 4,679 3 18,721 4 3
3 Maria Atsopardi "Tis nychtes megalono" (Τις νύχτες μεγαλώνω) 6 941 6 6,388 6 6
4 Dimitra Aggelou and Alter Ego "Kapoios erotas fotia" (Κάποιος έρωτας φωτιά) 8 514 10 3,477 9 9
5 Mando "Never Let You Go" 1 5,376 2 34,096 1 1
6 Alexandros Chatzis "I agapi einai dromos – L'amore e la strada" (Η αγάπη είναι δρόμος) 4 3,166 4 21,063 3 4
7 Kostas Chrisis "Gotta Be a Way for Love" 9 789 7 4,918 8 8
8 Giannis Vardis "Mia stigmi" (Μια στιγμή) 3 8,595 1 32,096 2 2
9 Marian Georgiou "Can't Escape – Come Back" 10 569 9 2,860 10 10
10 Giorgos Kaminaris, Lakis Papadopoulos and Liana Papalexi "Kapote – Come With Me" (Κάποτε) 7 1,412 5 8,221 5 5

Promotion

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To promote the entry, "Never Let You Go" was a released as a CD single with five versions.[13] It was later accompanied by a music video that was released in early May 2003. Directed by Kostas Kapetanidis, the video premiered on Greek music channel MAD TV. Mando also embarked on a promotional tour in the lead up the Eurovision Song Contest, appearing in Cyprus, Croatia and Malta, where she appeared on Maltese television.[16] On 23 May, she attended the Mediterranean Party in Riga along with entrants from Cyprus, Spain, Malta and Israel, performing "Never Let You Go" in two versions.[17]

At Eurovision

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The Eurovision Song Contest 2003 took place at the Skonto Hall in Riga, Latvia, on 24 May 2003.[18] According to the Eurovision rules, the participant list for the contest was composed of: the winning country from the previous year's contest; any countries which had not participated in the previous year's contest; and those which had obtained the highest placing in the previous contest, up to the maximum 26 participants in total.[19] The draw for running order had previously been held on 29 November 2002 in Riga, with the results being revealed during a delayed broadcast of the proceedings later that day.[20] The contest was broadcast within Greece on ET1 television and ERA radio with commentary by Dafni Bokota and Nikos Triboulidis, respectively.[7]

"Never Let You Go" was performed 17th on the night (following Ukraine's Olexandr with "Hasta la vista" and preceding Norway's Jostein Hasselgård with "I'm Not Afraid to Move On").[21] For her Eurovision appearance, Mando wore a black gown with a very tight lace-up bodice.[22] Her performance featured four backing vocalists, which included her sister and Alex Panayi.[23]

Voting

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Televoting was an obligatory voting method for all participating countries. Point values of 1–8, 10 and 12 were awarded to the 10 most popular songs of the televote, in ascending order. Countries voted in the same order as they had performed.[19] At the close of voting, Greece placed 17th in the field of 26 entries, with the performance having received 25 points.[21] This total included the top 12 points from Cyprus, to which the nation also awarded its 12 points.[24] As the nation failed to reach the top 11 in the final, the country had to compete in the semi-final of the following year's contest.[25][26]

Notes and references

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Notes

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  1. ^ The song's writer Christos Giannopoulos was initially announced as the artist to perform the song with Alter Ego, however he was replaced by Dimitra Aggelou prior to the competition.[5]

References

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  1. ^ Paravantes, Maria (11 June 2005). "Joy In Greece Over Eurovision Win". Billboard. Vol. 117, no. 24. p. 17. Retrieved 16 January 2009 – via Google Books.
  2. ^ Floras, Stella (11 June 2013). "Greece shuts down public broadcaster ERT". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 13 September 2022.
  3. ^ "History by Country: Greece". European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Archived from the original on 1 August 2019. Retrieved 20 December 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d Opheim, Bjørn Erik (10 February 2003). "Marie N member of Greek final jury". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 18 July 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  5. ^ a b c d Haralambidou, Jenny (27 February 2003). "To Never Let You Go sth Riga ths Letonias" (in Greek). Hellenic Radio. Archived from the original on 11 November 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  6. ^ a b c d Vatmanidis, Theo (28 February 2003). "Mando to Represent Greece in Riga". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 8 November 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  7. ^ a b c "Τετάρτη 26 Φεβρουαρίου ο ελληνικός διαγωνισμός" (in Greek). Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT). 2003. Archived from the original on 16 February 2003. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  8. ^ a b "Η Μαντώ και το 'Never let you go' ταξιδεύουν για τη Ρίγα" (in Greek). Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT). 2003. Archived from the original on 28 March 2003. Retrieved 28 August 2022.
  9. ^ Opheim, Bjørn Erik (18 December 2002). "Amount of Greek entries up from 130 to 243". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 18 July 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  10. ^ "Στις 26 Φεβρουαρίου η επιλογή τραγουδιού". Ta Nea. 11 February 2003. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  11. ^ Mathioudaki, Katerina (28 February 2003). "Ο Βαρδής πρώτος στην ψηφοφορία κοινού... Η Μαντώ όμως πήρε τη νίκη με την ψήφο της επιτροπής..." MusicCorner.gr (in Greek). Archived from the original on 18 July 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  12. ^ "Παρασκήνια 2003: Μεγάλα ονόματα, πενιχρό αποτέλεσμα και στη μέση ο… Ντέμης Ρούσσος". INFE Greece (in Greek). 20 February 2017. Archived from the original on 13 October 2020. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
  13. ^ a b Paravantes, Maria (3 May 2003). "Global Music Pulse: Alpha Plus". Billboard. Archived from the original on 10 January 2022. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  14. ^ a b Ελληνικός Τελικός Eurovision 2003 (Television production) (in Greek). Dimosia Tileorasi (DT). 5 March 2014 [26 February 2003]. Retrieved 22 September 2022 – via YouTube.
  15. ^ Mathioudaki, Katerina (28 February 2003). "Ο Βαρδής πρώτος στην ψηφοφορία κοινού..." (in Greek). Music Corner. Archived from the original on 18 July 2020. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  16. ^ Vatmanidis, Theo (30 April 2003). "Mando on Promotional Tour". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 1 March 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  17. ^ Barak, Itamar (23 May 2003). "Mediterranean party took place last night". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 13 May 2021. Retrieved 8 April 2021.
  18. ^ "Riga 2003–Eurovision Song Contest". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 2 January 2021. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
  19. ^ a b "Rules of the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest" (PDF). European Broadcasting Union. 20 November 2002. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 April 2003. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  20. ^ Bakker, Sietse (28 November 2002). "Draw to be made public Friday 17:00 CET". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 7 November 2020. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  21. ^ a b "Final of Riga 2003". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 7 April 2021. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
  22. ^ Bakker, Sietse (23 May 2003). "Detailed report about the first dress rehearsal!". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 11 November 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  23. ^ Barak, Itamar (16 March 2003). "Mando is preparing her stage performance". ESCToday. Archived from the original on 11 November 2021. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
  24. ^ a b c "Results of the Final of Riga 2003". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 7 April 2021. Retrieved 7 April 2021.
  25. ^ "The end of a decade: Istanbul 2004". Eurovision Song Contest. 25 December 2009. Archived from the original on 2 August 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
  26. ^ O'Connor 2010, pp. 177–179.

Sources

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