Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...
participated in the
Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with the song "Comme ci, comme ça" written by Dimitris Korgialas and Poseidonas Giannopoulos. The song was performed by
Evridiki
Evridiki Theokleous ( el, Ευρυδίκη Θεοκλέους, ; born 25 February 1968), known professionally as simply Evridiki, is a Greek-Cypriot rock, pop, and electropop singer. She is best known in Europe for representing her home countr ...
, who was selected by the Cypriot broadcaster
Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) in January 2007 to represent Cyprus at the 2007 contest in
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
, Finland. Evridiki had previously represented
Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 1992
Cyprus entered the Eurovision Song Contest 1992 with "Teriazoume" by Evridiki, after she won the Cypriot national final.
National final
The Cypriot broadcaster, CyBC, held a national final to select the Cypriot entry for the Eurovision Song Cont ...
and
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
where she both placed eleventh. The Cypriot song, "Comme ci, comme ça", was presented to the public on 23 February 2007 during the special show ''Cyprus 12 Points, Chypre 12 Points''. This was the first time that Cyprus was represented with a song performed entirely in the
French language
French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...
at the Eurovision Song Contest.
Cyprus competed in the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 10 May 2007. Performing during the show in position 3, "Comme ci, comme ça" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Cyprus placed fifteenth out of the 18 participating countries in the semi-final with 65 points.
Background
Prior to the 2007 contest, Cyprus had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest twenty-four times since their debut in the
1981 contest. Its best placing was fifth, which it achieved three times: in the
1982 competition with the song "Mono i agapi" performed by
Anna Vissi
Anna Vissi ( el, Άννα Βίσση, , ; born 20 December 1957), is a Greek Cypriot singer and songwriter. She studied music at conservatories and performed locally before moving to the professional scene in Athens, in 1973, where she signed ...
, in the
1997 edition with "Mana mou" performed by Hara and Andreas Constantinou, and the
2004 contest with "Stronger Every Minute" performed by
Lisa Andreas. Cyprus' least successful result was in the
1986 contest when it placed last with the song "Tora zo" by
Elpida, receiving only four points in total. However, its worst finish in terms of points received was when it placed second to last in the
1999 contest with "Tha'nai erotas" by
Marlain Angelidou
Marlain Angelides (Greek: Μαρλέν Αγγελίδου) is a Greek-Cypriot singer and actress. She was a member of the Greek girl group Hi-5, and represented Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest 1999 with " Tha 'Ne Erotas". Angelidou, her ...
, receiving only two points.
The nation failed to qualify for the final in with "Why Angels Cry" performed by
Annet Artani
Annette Denise Stamatelatos (born 6 September 1976), better known by her stage name Annet Artani (Αννέτ Αρτάνη in Greek), is a Greek-American singer and songwriter. She is best known for representing Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Con ...
.
The Cypriot national broadcaster,
Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC), broadcasts the event within Cyprus and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. Cyprus has used various methods to select the Cypriot entry in the past, such as internal selections and televised national finals to choose the performer, song or both to compete at Eurovision. In 2006, the broadcaster organised a national final to select the Cypriot entry. However, CyBC opted to select the 2007 Cypriot entry via an internal selection, a method which was last used by the broadcaster in 2003.
Before Eurovision
Internal selection
On 26 January 2007, CyBC announced that they had internally selected
Evridiki
Evridiki Theokleous ( el, Ευρυδίκη Θεοκλέους, ; born 25 February 1968), known professionally as simply Evridiki, is a Greek-Cypriot rock, pop, and electropop singer. She is best known in Europe for representing her home countr ...
to represent Cyprus in Helsinki. Evridiki previously represented Cyprus at the Eurovision Song Contest in
1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
and
1994
File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...
where she placed eleventh on both occasions with the songs "Teriazoume" and "Ime anthropos ki ego", respectively. Her contest song, "Comme ci, comme ça", was written by Dimitris Korgialas and Poseidonas Giannopoulos, and is the first Cypriot entry in the contest to be performed entirely in the
French language
French ( or ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the Latin spoken in Gaul, and more specifically in Nor ...
.
"Comme ci, comme ça" was presented to the public on 23 February 2007 during the special show ''Cyprus 12 Points, Chypre 12 Points'', which took place at the CyBC Studio 3 in
Nicosia
Nicosia ( ; el, Λευκωσία, Lefkosía ; tr, Lefkoşa ; hy, Նիկոսիա, romanized: ''Nikosia''; Cypriot Arabic: Nikusiya) is the largest city, capital, and seat of government of Cyprus. It is located near the centre of the Mesaor ...
, hosted by Marina Filippidou and Giannis Charalampous and broadcast on
RIK 1 and
RIK Sat as well as online via the broadcaster's website ''cybc.cy''. In addition to the song presentation, the show featured guest performances by
2007 Belarusian Eurovision entrant Dmitry Koldun
Dmitry Aleksandrovich Koldun ( be, Дзмітры Аляксандравіч Калдун, Dzmitry Kaldun; russian: link=no, Дми́трий Алекса́ндрович Колду́н; born 11 June 1985) is a Belarusian pop singer.
Koldun ros ...
,
2007 Maltese Eurovision entrant Olivia Lewis
Olivia Lewis (born 18 October 1978) is a singer from Qormi, Malta.
She has competed in the Malta Song For Eurovision festival, which selects the country's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest several times. At her 11th attempt she finally wo ...
,
2007 Polish Eurovision entrants The Jet Set
The Jet Set is a Polish R&B duo which consists of English-born David Junior Serame (South African ancestry) and Russian-born Sasha Strunin. They represented Poland in the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki.
Eurovision S ...
and
2007 Romanian Eurovision entrant Todomondo. The official preview video for "Comme ci, comme ça", directed by White Room, was filmed on 5 March 2007 in
Athens
Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...
, Greece, and presented on 10 March 2007 during the CyBC evening news broadcast.
Promotion
Evridiki made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Comme ci, comme ça" as the Cypriot Eurovision entry. On 28 February, Evridiki performed "Comme ci, comme ça" during the
Greek Eurovision national final. On 20 and 21 March, Evridiki performed during the MITT International Tourism Exhibition which was held at the Expocentre Fairgrounds in
Moscow
Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...
, Russia. Evridiki also took part in promotional activities in Belarus where she appeared during the BTRC morning programme ''Dobrai Ranitsy, Belarus'' on 22 March. On 20 April, Evridiki performed during the ''12 Points Party DeLuxe'' event which was held at the Noorderterras in
Antwerp
Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504, , Belgium. Evridiki completed promotional activities in the United Kingdom between 21 and 23 April, which included a performance at the Club Palace in
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
on 22 April.
At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country, the "
Big Four Big Four or Big 4 may refer to:
Groups of companies
* Big Four accounting firms: Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KPMG, PwC
* Big Four (airlines) in the U.S. in the 20th century: American, Eastern, TWA, United
* Big Four (banking), several groupings ...
" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) and the ten highest placed finishers in the
2006
File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...
contest are required to qualify from the semi-final on 10 May 2007 in order to compete for the final on 12 May 2007. On 12 March 2007, a special allocation draw was held which determined the running order for the semi-final. Cyprus was drawn to perform in position 3, following the entry from
Israel
Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...
and before the entry from
Belarus
Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by R ...
.
Both the semi-final and the final were broadcast in Cyprus on
RIK 1 and
RIK SAT with commentary by Vaso Komninou. The Cypriot spokesperson, who announced the Cypriot votes during the final, was Giannis Charalampous.
Semi-final
![Evridiki 2007 Eurovision](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Evridiki_2007_Eurovision.jpg)
Evridiki took part in technical rehearsals on 3 and 5 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 9 and 10 May. The Cypriot performance featured Evridiki dressed in a silver and black outfit, joined by two backing vocalists, a drummer, a keyboardist and a guitarist. During the performance, Evridiki raised her microphone and performed robotic dance movements. The LED screens displayed white and blue patterns, while pyrotechnic effects were also featured for the performance. The backing vocalists that joined Evridiki on stage were Froso Stilianou and Marianna Gerasimidou, while the musicians were Dimitris Horianopoulos, the co-composer of "Comme ci, comme ça" Dimitris Korgialas, and Giannis Skoutaris.
At the end of the show, Cyprus was not announced among the top 10 entries in the semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Cyprus placed fifteenth in the semi-final, receiving a total of 65 points.
Voting
Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Cyprus and awarded by Cyprus in the second semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Bulgaria in the semi-final and to Greece in the final of the contest.
Points awarded to Cyprus
Points awarded by Cyprus
References
{{Eurovision Song Contest 2007
2007
File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...
Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007
Eurovision
The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...