The Eurovision Song Contest 2004 was the 49th edition of the
Eurovision Song Contest
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 ...
. It took place in
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
, following the country's victory at the with the song "
Everyway That I Can
"Everyway That I Can" is the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 sung in English by Sertab Erener for . The song was written by Demir Demirkan in early 2003 and produced and arranged by Ozan Çolakoğlu, famous for his works with pop ...
" by
Sertab Erener
Sertab Erener (born 4 December 1964) is a Turkish singer, songwriter and composer. With her coloratura soprano voice, she started working as a backing vocalist for Sezen Aksu, and with Aksu's help she released her first studio album in the 1990 ...
. Organised by the
European Broadcasting Union
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...
(EBU) and host broadcaster
Turkish Radio and Television Corporation
The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT; Turkish : ) is the national public broadcaster of Turkey, founded in 1964. TRT was for many years the only television and radio provider in Turkey. Before the introduction of commercial radio ...
(TRT), the contest was held at the
Abdi İpekçi Arena
Abdi İpekçi Arena, formerly known as Abdi İpekçi Sports Complex, was a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the Zeytinburnu district of Istanbul, Turkey, situated just outside the ancient city walls, in Yedikule.
History
Designed in 1979 ...
, and, for the first time, consisted of a semi-final on 12 May, and a final on 15 May 2004.
The two live shows were presented by Turkish actors
Korhan Abay
Korhan Abay (born 1954) is a Turkish actor, author, film director and producer.
Career
Abay is a show-business icon in Turkey, well known for his work as an actor, writer, host and producer of numerous national and international TV shows and ev ...
and
Meltem Cumbul
Meltem Cumbul (born 5 November 1969) is a Turkish actress and TV personality.
Biography
Meltem Cumbul's career encompasses 16 feature films including Berlinale Golden Bear winner '' Head-On'' movie, 6 TV serials including
''Yılan Hikayesi ...
. It was the first time that Turkey had hosted the contest, 29 years after the country made its debut, and was also the first time since the contest in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
that it was not hosted in the host country's capital city. This was the only edition of the contest that was hosted in a city other than the host nation's capital in the 21st century, until Germany picked
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf ( , , ; often in English sources; Low Franconian and Ripuarian: ''Düsseldörp'' ; archaic nl, Dusseldorp ) is the capital city of North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous state of Germany. It is the second-largest city in th ...
as the host city for the
2011 edition.
Thirty-six countries participated in the contest, beating the record of twenty-six in the previous edition.
Albania
Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...
,
Andorra
, image_flag = Flag of Andorra.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Andorra.svg
, symbol_type = Coat of arms
, national_motto = la, Virtus Unita Fortior, label=none (Latin)"United virtue is stro ...
,
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 ...
and
Serbia and Montenegro
Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...
took part for the first time this year. The old relegation system was replaced with a semi-final format. This was done in order to accommodate the increasing number of countries who wished to participate. The new format allowed all countries to participate every year, rather than being forced to sit out per the relegation rules, which had been the standard since . Because of this,
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
,
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
,
Lithuania
Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...
,
Macedonia,
Monaco
Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
and
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
all returned to the contest, Monaco not having competed since .
The winner was
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
with the song "
Wild Dances
"Wild Dances" is a single by Ukrainian singer-songwriter Ruslana. The song, representing , won the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 held in Istanbul with a score of 280 points. A Ukrainian-language version called "Dyki tantsi" () was released in Rus ...
", performed by
Ruslana
Ruslana Stepanivna Lyzhychko ( uk, Руслана Степанівна Лижичко, ''Ruslana Lyzhychko''; born 24 May 1973), known mononymously as Ruslana, is a World Music Award and Eurovision Song Contest winning recording artist, holdi ...
who wrote it with her husband
Oleksandr Ksenofontov
Oleksandr Ksenofontov (or Xenophontov) ( uk, Олександр Ксенофонтов) (born 14 April 1968) is a Ukrainian record producer and lyricist. He is the husband of the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2004, Ruslana. Ksenofontov ...
. This was Ukraine's first victory in the contest, only one year after the country made its debut in 2003.
Serbia and Montenegro
Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...
,
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
,
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
,
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 ...
and
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
rounded out the top five. Due to the expansion of the contest, this year was the first time in which a non-winning entry scored over 200 points. Prior to this contest, only the winning entries in
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 ...
and
1997 had passed this mark. In this contest, the top 3 songs all got over 200 points. An official CD was released and, for the first time, the entire contest was released on DVD which included the semi-final and the final.
Location
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
was chosen as the host city of the 2004 edition following
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
's victory in the contest in
Riga
Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...
,
Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...
with
Sertab Erener
Sertab Erener (born 4 December 1964) is a Turkish singer, songwriter and composer. With her coloratura soprano voice, she started working as a backing vocalist for Sezen Aksu, and with Aksu's help she released her first studio album in the 1990 ...
's "
Everyway That I Can
"Everyway That I Can" is the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 sung in English by Sertab Erener for . The song was written by Demir Demirkan in early 2003 and produced and arranged by Ozan Çolakoğlu, famous for his works with pop ...
". Originally the
Mydonose Showland, an entertainment center in the form of a giant pyramid tent near to
Atatürk International Airport was chosen by host broadcaster TRT to host the event, but was later changed to the
Abdi İpekçi Arena
Abdi İpekçi Arena, formerly known as Abdi İpekçi Sports Complex, was a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the Zeytinburnu district of Istanbul, Turkey, situated just outside the ancient city walls, in Yedikule.
History
Designed in 1979 ...
as the contest approached due to its bigger capacity.
The Mydonose Showland, renamed later to Istanbul Show Center, was demolished in 2009 after a fire destroyed it in April that year. The Abdi İpekçi Arena closed after the 2016/2017 basketball season and was demolished in early 2018.
A number of other venues in the city were reported as possible venues, these included
Ataköy Athletics Arena
Ataköy Athletics Arena ( tr, Ataköy Atletizm Salonu), is an indoor sporting arena for track and field athletics events located in Ataköy, Istanbul, Turkey.
Construction
The venue was constructed special for the 2012 IAAF World Indoor Champi ...
and
(ICEC), the latter of which lost out to Mydonose Showland.
Istanbul Chamber of Commerce
The Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ICOC) () is an institution that organizes and records the commercial transactions of individuals and commercial institutions located in Istanbul; in addition the ICOC also keeps records for these companies. The a ...
president Mehmet Yıldırım offered the
World Trade Center Istanbul World Trade Center Istanbul (WTCI) ( tr, İstanbul Dünya Ticaret Merkezi, İDTM) is a service company established in 1982 and based in Yeşilköy, Istanbul, Turkey, which, to promote international commerce and world trade, provides commercial infor ...
(WTCI) as a venue for the event and confirmed that the Chamber would also provide financial support for the contest's organisation.
Format
Visual design
The contest's new official generic logo was used for the first time this year, with the heart-shaped flag in the centre due to be changed for future contests. The slogan for Istanbul's contest was "Under the Same Sky", which communicated the importance of a united Europe and
Turkish integration.
Voting structure
Every country in the competition, including those who did not qualify for the final, were allowed to vote for other countries. After all performances were completed, each country opened their phone lines to allow their viewers to vote for their favourite song. Voting for the country in which you are situated is not allowed, however. Each country awarded points based on the number of votes cast for each song: the song which received the most viewer votes was awarded 12 points, the second 10 points, the third 8 points and then 7, 6, 5, etc. down to 1.
In the event of a tie, the number of countries to vote for the tying songs would be counted, and the song having the most countries awarding points to it, would be the winner. In the event of a further tie, then the previously used method of counting back on the number of 12 points, 10 points etc., would be used to find an eventual winner.
This was also the first year that the scores were only re-read by the hosts in one language. Before 2004 every point was repeated in
French and
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
, but due to 36 countries voting, and more in years to come, in 2004 to save time the hosts only re-read each score in one language. This was in the opposite of the original country representative spoke in.
Opening and interval acts
A new ABBA video was shown in the semi-final, briefly outlining how
ABBA
ABBA ( , , formerly named Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Anni-Frid or Björn & Benny, Agnetha & Frida) are a Swedish supergroup formed in Stockholm in 1972 by Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. The group's ...
started and what the response was of the first record company they approached. It featured small puppets of the band performing snippets of their songs (the voices being the ones of the band) and featured
Rik Mayall
Richard Michael Mayall (7 March 1958 – 9 June 2014) was an English actor, stand-up comedian and writer. He formed a close partnership with Ade Edmondson while they were students at Manchester University and was a pioneer of alternative ...
as the record company manager.
This was cut from the Eurovision Song Contest DVD and released separately. References to the video that were made running up to the showing of it were also cut.
In the semi-final and the final, Meltem Cumbul warmed up the audience with a sing-a-long of Eurovision classic "
Nel blu dipinto di blu (Volare)", originally performed by
Domenico Modugno
Domenico Modugno (; 9 January 1928 – 6 August 1994) was an Italian singer, actor and, later in life, a member of the Italian Parliament. He is known for his 1958 international hit song "Nel blu, dipinto di blu (song), Nel blu dipinto di blu", ...
. Sertab Erener returned to the stage in the final to perform "Everyway That I Can", the 2003 winning song, and one of her new songs called "
Leave
Leave may refer to:
* Permission (disambiguation)
** Permitted absence from work
*** Leave of absence, a period of time that one is to be away from one's primary job while maintaining the status of employee
*** Annual leave, allowance of time away ...
". Sertab also interviewed contestants in the green room. The Turkish dance ensemble
Fire of Anatolia
The Fire of Anatolia or Anadolu Ateşi is a Turkish dance group consisting of 120 dancers, several choreographers and other technical staff. The group has performed in more than 85 countries from the United States to China and Japan, in front of ...
performed as the interval act.
Participating countries
This year's Eurovision contest was the first to be a two-day event, with one qualifying round held on a Wednesday and the grand final held on the following Saturday. Under this new format,
byes In cricket, a bye is a type of extra. It is a run scored by the batting team when the ball has not been hit by the batter and the ball has not hit the batter's body.
Scoring byes
Usually, if the ball passes the batter without being deflected, th ...
into the final were given to the 'Big 4'; , , and the (as the largest financial contributors to the
European Broadcasting Union
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of Public broadcasting, public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who ar ...
) and the ten highest placed finishers in the contest.
, , and participated in the contest for the first time, with returning after a 25-year absence. were due to return after an absence of 11 years, but later pulled out after money issues arose between
RTL and the
EBU. was also due to return after last participating in 1998, however at the end they did not take part in the contest. Hungary would eventually return to the contest
one year later
"One Year Later" is a 2006 comic book storyline running through books published by DC Comics. It involves a narrative jump exactly one year into the future of the DC Universe following the events of the ''Infinite Crisis'' storyline, to explore ...
.
All participating countries had the right to vote in both the qualifying round and the grand final. This was the first year in which all 36 participating countries voted based on a public phone vote, in the final. However , and did not broadcast the semi-final (as they were not participating in it) and therefore did not give votes for it like the other thirty-three countries. In Belgium, the French-language
RTBF did not broadcast the semi-final, but the Dutch-language
VRT did. Monaco's televoting results in the semi final were rendered invalid and a back-up jury had to be used, but no problems occurred in the final.
Returning artists
Semi-final
The semi-final was held on 12 May 2004 at 21:00 (
CET
CET or cet may refer to:
Places
* Cet, Albania
* Cet, standard astronomical abbreviation for the constellation Cetus
* Colchester Town railway station (National Rail code CET), in Colchester, England
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Comcast En ...
). 22 countries performed and all participants voted except
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
and
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
who opted not to broadcast the show.
Final
The finalists were:
* the four automatic qualifiers , , and the ;
* the top 10 countries from the
2003 contest (other than the automatic qualifiers);
* the top 10 countries from the 2004 semi-final.
The final was held on 15 May 2004 at 21:00 (
CET
CET or cet may refer to:
Places
* Cet, Albania
* Cet, standard astronomical abbreviation for the constellation Cetus
* Colchester Town railway station (National Rail code CET), in Colchester, England
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Comcast En ...
) and was won by .
Detailed voting results
Semi-final
12 points
Below is a summary of all 12 points in the semi-final:
Final
12 points
Below is a summary of all 12 points in the final:
Spokespersons
Each country appointed a spokesperson to announce their respective country's points in the final. The voting order in the 2004 contest was determined alphabetically by each country's
ISO two-letter country code.
# Pati Molné
#
#
#
Mija Martina
Mija Martina Barbarić (born 26 April 1984) is a Bosnian Croat singer and TV host from Bosnia and Herzegovina who used to work as a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Tourism and Environment of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
She represent ...
#
#
Denis Kurian
, native_name_lang =
, image =
, alt =
, caption =
, birth_name = Dzianis Kurian
, birth_date =
, birth_place = Minsk, BS ...
#
Emel Aykanat
Emel Aykanat (born 8 June 1975), better known as Emel, is a Turkish-Swiss singer. Her first big success came with the single ''Somebody Dance with Me'' with DJ BoBo.
Career
At the age of 17 years, she toured as a background singer with Six W ...
#
# Loukas Hamatsos
#
Thomas Anders
Bernd Weidung (born 1 March 1963), known by his stage name Thomas Anders, is a German singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the lead vocalist of the pop duo Modern Talking.
Starting his singing career while still in school ...
#
Camilla Ottesen Camilla Ottesen (born 11 November 1972 in Frederiksberg, Denmark) is a Danish television presenter, notable for having hosted the first Junior Eurovision Song Contest in Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2003, 2003 with Remee. She won the 2003 Danish T ...
#
Maarja-Liis Ilus
Maarja-Liis Ilus, sometimes better known by her performing name Maarja (born 24 December 1980) is an Estonian pop musician and presenter. She has represented Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest twice. She was only 15 when she participated in the ...
#
Anne Igartiburu
Anne Igartiburu Verdes (born 18 February 1969 in Elorrio, Biscay, Spain) is a Spanish Basque television presenter and actress.
Biography
She studied Industrial Marketing. She started working in the local television of Mondragón in 1993. She ...
# Anna Stenlund
#
#
Lorraine Kelly
Lorraine Kelly, (born 30 November 1959) is a Scottish journalist and television presenter. She has presented various television shows for ITV, including '' Good Morning Britain'' (1988–1992), '' GMTV'' (1993–2010), ''This Morning'' (2003 ...
# Alexis Kostalas
#
Barbara Kolar
Barbara Kolar (born 18 April 1970) is a Croatian actress, television presenter at the Croatian Radiotelevision and the radio presenter at Antena Zagreb. She is the most famous for hosting the '' Ples sa zvijezdama'' ( en, Dancing with the Stars) a ...
#
Johnny Logan
#
Merav Miller
Merav Miller (Hebrew: מירב מילר, born May 21, 1971) is an Israeli news presenter and broadcaster.
Miller was born and raised in Kfar Saba, served in the Israeli Air Force, then worked as a flight attendant and studied communications at a ...
# Sigrún Ósk Kristjánsdóttir
#
#
Lauris Reiniks
Lauris Reiniks (born July 11, 1979 in Dobele, Latvia) is a Latvian pop music singer, songwriter, television host, and actor. Lauris has graduated from Jelgava Music college, studied, although never graduated, communication studies at the Universi ...
# Anne Allegrini
# Karolina Petkovska
# Claire Agius
#
Esther Hart
#
Ingvild Helljesen
#
#
#
Andreea Marin
Andreea Violeta Marin (born 22 December 1974, in Roman, Neamț County) is a Romanian television presenter and TV personality.
Early life and career
She majored in Journalism, Public Relations & Advertisement, Computer Programming and Mathemat ...
#
Yana Churikova
Yana Alekseyevna Churikova (russian: Яна Алексеевна Чурикова; born 6 November 1978) is a Russian journalist and television host who worked on MTV Russia before moving to Channel One, where she hosted seven seasons of the '' ...
#
Jovan Radomir
Jovan Radomir (born 8 September 1963 in Srbac, SR Bosnia and Herzegovina, SFR Yugoslavia) is a Serbian-Swedish television presenter, best known for presenting music programmes for Sveriges Television (SVT). His family's origin is Bosnian Serb.
H ...
#
Peter Poles
Peter Poles (born February 6, 1978 in Slovenj Gradec) is a Slovenian television personality, responsible for presenting the Slovenian televote results in various editions of Eurovision Song Contest. Poles first filled this role in 2003, return ...
# Meltem Ersan Yazgan
#
Pavlo Shylko
Pavlo Yurievich Shylko ( Ukrainian: Павло Юрійович Шилько) (also known as DJ Pasha, born 6 August 1977 in Mezhdurechensk) is a Ukrainian radio and television presenter. He co-hosted Eurovision Song Contest 2005 with Maria Efro ...
Broadcasts
Incidents
Just before the
Slovenia
Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...
n entry was about to be performed, the Turkish broadcaster accidentally took a commercial break which meant the Slovenian song was not heard by Turkish viewers.
There were technical problems when in a short hiatus halfway through the songs used for the advertising break the hosts tried to contact various parties in Europe. They tried contacting
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
,
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
and
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
, but in the end were only able to get a response from
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. During the
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...
n postcard introduction, the information for the Romanian entry appeared on the screen, but was quickly taken away. A final minor hiccup occurred when, on her way to present the winner the trophy,
Sertab Erener
Sertab Erener (born 4 December 1964) is a Turkish singer, songwriter and composer. With her coloratura soprano voice, she started working as a backing vocalist for Sezen Aksu, and with Aksu's help she released her first studio album in the 1990 ...
got her shoe stuck in a speaker grill by the side of the stage and had to be freed by stagehands. However this did not delay proceedings, and other than the above the show ran smoothly.
An hour after the semi-final had been aired, the European Broadcasting Union discovered that there had been problems with the vote counting in
Monaco
Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...
and
Croatia
, image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg
, image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg
, anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, capit ...
. Digame, an affiliate of
Deutsche Telekom
Deutsche Telekom AG (; short form often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a German telecommunications company that is headquartered in Bonn and is the largest telecommunications provider in Europe by revenue. Deutsche Telekom was ...
, who had been responsible for processing all the votes (from 2004), reported that they had encountered problems with their calculation software, and there was a problem with
text message
Text messaging, or texting, is the act of composing and sending electronic messages, typically consisting of alphabetic and numeric characters, between two or more users of mobile devices, desktops/ laptops, or another type of compatible comput ...
voting in Croatia. When the votes were counted, results showed that Croatia had awarded themselves 4 points, which is against Eurovision rules. Later, an official EBU statement read that there had been technical problems at the side of the Croatian mobile service provider, who neglected to delete the illegal votes from the results. Consequently, some votes were not counted in the results announced at the end of the broadcast of the semi-final. When the results were corrected to include these additional votes, they were found not to have affected which countries had qualified for the final.
This year was also notable as it was the first year that
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
voted for
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 ...
and the second year in a row that Cyprus voted for Turkey. Nevertheless, in a move that angered some Cypriots, when the country presented its votes no map of the island was shown (all other presenters were preceded with their country being highlighted on a map). This was due to Turkey's recognition of the
northern half of the island as an independent republic (not recognised by any other state). It is likely Turkey pulled out of showing the map because it would have only highlighted the southern portion of the island, and thus angered the international community.
Other awards
In addition to the main winner's trophy, the AP Awards and the
Marcel Bezençon Awards
The Marcel Bezençon Awards were first handed out during the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 in Tallinn, Estonia honouring
the best competing songs in the final. Founded by Christer Björkman ( Sweden's representative in the Eurovision Song Contes ...
were contested during the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest.
AP Awards
Marcel Bezençon Awards
The
Marcel Bezençon Awards
The Marcel Bezençon Awards were first handed out during the Eurovision Song Contest 2002 in Tallinn, Estonia honouring
the best competing songs in the final. Founded by Christer Björkman ( Sweden's representative in the Eurovision Song Contes ...
, organised since 2002 by Sweden's then-Head of Delegation and 1992 representative
Christer Björkman
Christer Samuel Björkman (; born 25 August 1957) is a Swedish singer and television producer. He represented Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest 1992 with the song "I morgon är en annan dag". From 2002 to 2021, he served as a producer of Me ...
, and 1984 winner
Richard Herrey
Per ''Richard'' Herrey, born 1964 in Strömstad, is a Swedish artist, politician in the Moderate Party, media personality and restaurant manager.
Biography
Richard Herrey won Melodifestivalen in 1984 together with his brothers Per och Louis as ...
, honours songs in the contest's final.
The awards are divided into three categories: the Artistic Award which was voted by
previous winners of the contest, the Composer Award, and the Press Award.
Official album
''Eurovision Song Contest: Istanbul 2004'' was the official compilation album of the 2004 contest, put together by the European Broadcasting Union and released by
EMI Records
EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company of the same name in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succ ...
and
CMC International
CMC International was an American independent record label founded by Bill Cain and Tom Lipsky in 1991, focused mainly on classic rock, and classic heavy metal. The label was the haven of many hard rock, arena rock, thrash metal, glam metal, and ...
on 26 April 2004. The album featured all 36 songs that entered in the 2004 contest, including the semi-finalists that failed to qualify into the grand final.
Charts
References
External links
Official websiteEBU press notice regarding voting problems in the semi-finalDetails about the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest in IstanbulVideo Clips (BBC Eurovision 2004)(RealPlayer)
{{Authority control
2004
Music festivals in Turkey
2004 in Turkey
2000s in Istanbul
2004 song contests
Music in Istanbul
May 2004 events in Europe
Events in Istanbul