Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016
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GreeceSong: 10 March 2016
| Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eurovision Song Contest 2016 | ||||
| Participating broadcaster | Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) | |||
| Country | Greece | |||
| Selection process | Internal selection | |||
| Announcement date | Artist: 9 February 2016 Song: 10 March 2016 | |||
| Competing entry | ||||
| Song | "Utopian Land" | |||
| Artist | Argo | |||
| Songwriters | Vladimiros Sofianidis | |||
| Placement | ||||
| Semi-final result | Failed to qualify (16th) | |||
| Participation chronology | ||||
| ||||
Greece was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 with the song "Utopian Land", written by Vladimiros Sofianidis and performed by the band Argo. The Greek participating broadcaster, the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), internally selected its entry for the contest. Argo were announced as the Greek representatives on 9 February 2016, a month before their song "Utopian Land" was presented.
To promote the entry, a music video for "Utopian Land" was released and Argo performed the song at the INFE Greece Eurovision Party in Athens. Greece was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 10 May 2016. Performing during the show in position 2, "Utopian Land" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. This marked the first time that Greece failed to qualify to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest since the introduction of semi-finals in 2004. It was later revealed that Greece placed 16th out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 44 points.
Prior to the 2016 contest, Greece had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 36 times since their debut in 1974. To this point, they won the contest once, in 2005 with the song "My Number One" performed by Helena Paparizou. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Greece managed to thus far qualify to the final with each of their entries. Between 2004 and 2011, the nation achieved eight consecutive top ten placements in the final. To this point, Greece's least successful result in the final was 20th place, which they achieved in 1998 with the song "Mia krifi evaisthisia" by Thalassa and in 2014 with the song "Rise Up" by Freaky Fortune and RiskyKidd. In 2015, Greece placed 19th in the final with the song "One Last Breath" performed by Maria Elena Kyriakou.[1]
As part of its duties as participating broadcaster, the Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) organises the selection of its entry in the Eurovision Song Contest and broadcasts the event in the country.[2][3] ERT's predecessor, the National Radio Television Foundation (EIRT), debuted in the contest in 1974 and then ERT participated from 1975 until 2013, when the broadcaster was shut down by a government directive and replaced with the interim Dimosia Tileorasi (DT) and later by the New Hellenic Radio, Internet and Television (NERIT) broadcaster.[4][5][6] On 28 April 2015, a legislative proposal that resulted in the renaming of NERIT to ERT was approved and signed into law by the Hellenic Parliament; ERT began broadcasting once again on 11 June.[6][7] ERT then confirmed its intentions to participate at the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 on 28 August 2015.[8]
For the three contests preceding 2016, television channel MAD TV had organised a national final to select the entry for Greece.[9] For the 2016 contest, however, ERT regained the role of deciding the entry, opting for an internal selection. This was the first time since 2004 that the broadcaster did not use a national final to select its artist and/or song.[10]
Before Eurovision
Internal selection
On 2 February 2016, ERT announced that they would be selecting Greece's act and song internally.[10][11] A week later on 9 February 2016, they issued a press release that confirmed the band Argo (formerly known as Europond) as the Greek representatives for the 2016 contest. Argo consisted of six members at the time of the announcement: Christina Lachana, Maria Venetikidou, Vladimiros Sofianidis, Kostas Topouzis, Ilias Kesidis and Alekos Papadopoulos.[12] Prior to selecting Argo, ERT had also approached other artists including Mariza Rizou, Irene Skylakaki and Eleonora Zouganeli.[13]
The song that Argo participated with in the Eurovision Song Contest, "Utopian Land", was presented on 10 March 2016 through a televised press conference and radio premiere. It was presented via three of Hellenic Radio's stations: ERA 1, ERA 2 and KOSMOS.[14] The press conference was held at Hellenic Radio's Studio E at the House of Radio in Athens and was televised during the ERT1 programme Studio 3, hosted by Marilena Katsimi and Silas Seraphim.[15][16] In regards to the song, ERT director Dionisis Tsaknis stated: "The song has strong ethnic and Balkan sounds, but not in a traditional way. It's an exciting song in Greek, bringing the country's own identity to the contest. The lyrics will refer to the refugee crisis and the financial difficulties we are facing, but the song is really happy and upbeat."[11] "Utopian Land", which was written by Argo band member Vladimiros Sofianidis, contains lyrics in English and Greek including phrases in the Pontic Greek dialect.[17][18]
Promotion
To promote "Utopian Land", the official music video, produced by Beetroot productions and filmed in Thessaloniki, was screened on 10 March 2016 at the time of the song's reveal.[19][20][21] A re-edited version of the video, adding shots of the song's singers, was later released in early May.[22] To further promote the entry, the group performed live at the INFE Greece Eurovision Party in Athens where they were joined by the likes of Constantinos Christoforou, Barrice and RiskyKidd. They then spoke to Alpha TV responding to criticism their song had received from the public.[23]
