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 ...

's entry in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2004 The Eurovision Song Contest 2004 was the 49th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Istanbul, Turkey, following the country's victory at the with the song "Everyway That I Can" by Sertab Erener. Organised by the European Broa ...

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 the first after a twenty-five-year break. They were represented by Maryon with the song "Notre planète".

Before Eurovision

Internal selection

TMC announced in October 2003 that the Monégasque entry for the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest would be selected internally. Female performers residing in

Southern France Southern France, also known as the South of France or colloquially in French language, French as , is a defined geographical area consisting of the regions of France that border the Atlantic Ocean south of the Marais Poitevin,Louis Papy, ''Le midi ...

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast of ...

were able to submit an application between 24 January 2004 and 14 February 2004. The broadcaster received 500 applications at the closing of the deadline and 21 performers were selected by TMC for performer auditions which took place on 21 February 2004. On 22 February 2004, TMC announced that Maryon was selected as the Monégasque entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 with the song "Notre planète". Her song was "Notre Planete", a disco-themed song about the Mediterranean Sea and its need for protection. Monaco's Prince Albert congratulated Maryon publicly upon her selection.

At Eurovision

Because of Monaco's absence from the contest, they had to compete in the semi-final (incidentally this was the first televised Eurovision semi-final). On the night in

, Maryon performed her song along with some back-up dancers – however she finished in 19th place out of 22 acts, before

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 ...

and

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 ...

, with just 10 points and therefore had failed to qualify to the Final. The voting from Monaco during the semi-final was declared invalid because of the lack of votes cast and so a back-up jury had to be used for the semi-final. Some suggested she suffered from France's decision not to broadcast the semi-final and therefore not vote – the two nations would have a tradition of giving each other high marks. The year later the

EBU The European Broadcasting Union (EBU; french: Union européenne de radio-télévision, links=no, UER) is an alliance of public service media organisations whose countries are within the European Broadcasting Area or who are members of the Co ...

stated that every country broadcasting the final would also have to broadcast the semi-final, meaning that this problem did not arise for

Lise Darly Lise Darly (born 27 December 1981) is a French singer and was selected to represent Monaco in the 2005 Eurovision Song Contest, held in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. Lise was born in Nice. She made her mark by beating over a hundred rivals to ...

Voting

Points awarded to Monaco

Points awarded by Monaco

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 2004

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004

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 ...