Here are some updates and highlights in the Press Centre at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest in Kiev on 6 May 2017.
We have Brendan Murray from Ireland with two young girls and sparkling glasses. There is Valentina and Jimmy from San Marino with composer Ralph Siegel. Also, there is Anja Nissen from Denmark
We now have the results from the 20th country – it is the little island of COMOROS. Quite an interesting vote. Again as the system we use for the voting pictures does not supply Comoros, we use some photo’s.
12 points – France
10 points – Malta
8 points – Cyprus
7 points – Greece
6 points – Croatia
5 points – Russia
4 points – Ireland
3 points – Belgium
2 points – Spain
1 point – San Marino
The running order of the Second Semi-Final of the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest:
1. Serbia
2. Austria
3. Russia
4. FYR Macedonia
5. Malta
6. Romania
7. The Netherlands
8. Hungary
9. Denmark
10. Ireland
11. San Marino
12. Croatia
13. Norway
14. Switzerland
15. Belarus
16. Bulgaria
17. Lithuania
18. Estonia
19. Israel
The 13rd country to reveal their votes is MALAWI. The program we use to make the voting picture does not have Malawi in their system, so we have to give you their points in the form of text
12 points – San Marino
10 points – Macedonia
8 points – Croatia
7 points – Montenegro
6 points – Ireland
5 points – Finland
4 points – Norway
3 points – Sweden
2 points – Austria
1 point – Russia
The 7th country, BOTSWANA reveals their voting.
The 6th country to reveal their votes is SWAZILAND. The program we use to make the voting picture does not have Swaziland in their system, so we have to give you their points in the form of text
12 points – Sweden
10 points – Russia
8 points – Spain
7 points – Austria
6 points – Germany
5 points – United Kingdom
4 points – Croatia
3 points – Malta
2 points – Ireland
1 point – Hungary
It is time for the 3rd set of voting results – this time it comes from Namibia. Thank you to the voting panel there.
In a series of articles, I will report on all my Eurovisions leading up to Kyiv which I have attended with accreditation.
This ranks as one of the most special years at Eurovision for me because for the first time I got accreditation and so I could be at the venue meeting the participating artists. It was the first time that I came face-to-face with some of Europe’s top performers. The biggest highlight however was getting the Eurovision CD promo singles. No more travelling around the European capitals after Eurovision to try and buy the entries.
The trip to Dublin was however a slight nightmare. I decided to travel with Sudan airways as that was the most direct route. Well, imagine my shock when we landed at Khartoum airport and their only truck delivering fuel to the planes was broken and around 2000 individuals were carrying fuel in buckets to the plane. We sat there 3 hours while they did that – not being allowed off the plane as we had no visas.
The most outstanding for me was meeting the singers of Iceland, Sweden and Bosnia. All three were big names in their home countries, yet they seemed so down-to-earth and sitting in the cafeteria with them having coffee was such a treat. They did not act important. They really cared for their fans and it was such an eye opener for me.
That year Sweden brought us SE PA MEJ by Jan Johansen, which became a monster hit in Sweden. Also in South Africa it was a big hit in English as ANOTHER NIGHT. I was also able to pitch this song to BMG South Africa on my return and that was the start of my involvement in getting SA artists to cover Eurovision songs in a big way.
1995 also had a horror incident – I wanted to meet the Danish singer Aud Wilken but she refused to meet me because right at that moment was the big scandal of Allan Bossak from South Africa who stole Danish charity funds.
Nils Kristiansen, a Eurovision fan who tragically passed away in 2000, made a banner for OGAE Norway as a gift and Morten Thomassen, the current president of OGAE Norway took this
to his very first Eurovision in 1992 in Malmo. Finally the banner worked in 1995 when Norway won in Dublin. This was the first banner ever shown on screen in a Eurovision-show and it has been on screen many times since 1992. In 1992 the
legendary commentator from UK Terry Wogan even said when the banner was shown after the Norwegian song: Victory for Norway – I don’t think so.
Musically the highlights for me were
Russia – Lullaby for a volcano – Philipp Kirkorov
Iceland – Nuna – Bo Haldorsson
Croatia – Nostalgija – Magazin & Lidija
Sweden – Se pa mej – Jan Johansen
1995 brought some horrors in the shape of
Poland – Sama – Justyna Steczkowska
Austria – Die welt dreht sich verkehrt – Stella Jones
United Kingdom – Love city groove – Love city groove
31 of the 42 Eurovision entries have made the ESC top 250 which was revealed on New Year’s eve.
lets look at them
204 – Malta
203 – Belarus
171 – Serbia
168 – Slovenia
166 – Ireland
148 – San Marino
146 – Italy
143 – Lithuania
142 – Germany
140 – Israel
135 – Azerbaijan
099 – Belgium
094 – Hungary
078 – Czech republic
076 – Croatia
058 – United Kingdom
056 – Latvia
053 – Netherlands
050 – Sweden
049 – Austria
048 – Iceland
045 – Denmark
043 – Estonia
033 – Spain
031 – Armenia
027 – Poland
015 – Australia
012 – France
006 – Bulgaria
004 – Ukraine
003 – Russia