Poland participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 with the song "Follow My Heart" written by André Franke,

Michał Wiśniewski Michał Krystian Wiśniewski (born 9 September 1972 in Łódź) is a Polish pop vocalist, leader of the pop group Ich Troje,''Gazeta_Wyborcza''/ref>_who_sang_for_Poland_at_the_2003_Eurovision_Song_Contest.html" ;"title="Gazeta_Wyborcza''.html" ; ...

, Jacek Łągwa and

Real McCoy "The real McCoy" is an idiom and metaphor used in much of the English-speaking world to mean "the real thing" or "the genuine article", e.g. "he's the real McCoy". The phrase has been the subject of numerous false etymologies. History The phr ...

. The song was performed by the band

Ich Troje Ich Troje ("The Three of Them") is a Polish pop band. Ich Troje was founded in 1996 by songwriter Michał Wiśniewski and composer Jacek Łągwa. Since 2000, Ich Troje has been one of the most successful Polish groups. They have sold more than 1.5 ...

featuring Real McCoy. The Polish broadcaster

Telewizja Polska Telewizja Polska S.A. (; "Polish Television"; TVP), also known in English as the public Polish Television is a Polish state media corporation. It is the largest Polish television network, although viewership has been declining in the 2010s. Sinc ...

(TVP) organised the national final ''Piosenka dla Europy 2006'' in order to select the Polish entry for the 2006 contest 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 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 ...

. The national final took place on 28 February 2006 and featured fifteen entries. "Follow My Heart" performed by Ich Troje featuring Real McCoy was selected as the winner after gaining the most points following the combination of votes from a six-member jury panel and a public vote. Poland competed in the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 18 May 2006. Performing in position 12, "Follow My Heart" 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 Poland placed eleventh out of the 23 participating countries in the semi-final with 70 points.

Background

Prior to the 2006 Contest, Poland had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest ten times since its first entry in

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. Poland's highest placement in the contest, to this point, has been second place, which the nation achieved with its debut entry in

with the song "

To nie ja! "To nie ja!" (; "It wasn't me!"; often rendered without the exclamation mark) was the entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1994, performed in Polish by Edyta Górniak. This marked Poland's debut at the contest, and consequently the first time th ...

" performed by

Edyta Górniak Edyta Anna Górniak (; born 14 November 1972) is a Polish pop singer with a career spanning 3 decades. Górniak started as a musical theatre actress in 1990. She performed in the most popular musical in Polish history, the Tony Award-nominated ...

. Poland has only, thus far, reached the top ten on one other occasion, when

performing the song "Keine Grenzen – Żadnych granic" finished seventh in

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. In 2005, Poland failed to qualify from the semi-final round with their entry "Czarna dziewczyna" performed by Ivan and Delfin. The Polish national broadcaster,

(TVP), broadcasts the event within Poland and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. TVP confirmed Poland's participation in the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest on 11 November 2005. In 2003 and 2004, TVP organised televised national finals that featured a competition among several artists and songs in order to select the Polish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. The broadcaster opted to internally select the 2005 entry, however, along with their participation confirmation, TVP announced that the Polish entry for the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest would be selected via a national final.

Before Eurovision

Piosenka dla Europy 2006

''Piosenka dla Europy 2006'' was the national final organised by TVP in order to select the Polish entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. The show took place on 28 January 2006 at the Studio 5 of TVP in

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, hosted by

Artur Orzech Artur Dariusz Orzech (born 22 February 1964, in Jelenia Góra) is a Polish journalist, radio and television presenter and music broadcaster. After graduating from ''IV Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Adama Mickiewicza w Warszawie'' in 1983 with an ...

and Agnieszka Szulim. A combination of public televoting and jury voting selected the winner. The show was broadcast on

TVP1 TVP1 (TVP Jeden, ''Program I Telewizji Polskiej'', ''"Jedynka"'') is the main public television channel of TVP (Telewizja Polska S.A.), Poland's national television broadcaster. It was the first Polish channel to be broadcast and remains one ...

and

TVP Polonia TVP Polonia (formerly known as TV Polonia) is the international channel of the Telewizja Polska (TVP). The channel is co-funded by the TVP and the Polish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and broadcasts from the TVP headquarters in Warsaw. TVP Polon ...

as well as streamed online at the broadcaster's website ''tvp.pl''. The national final was watched by over 5 million viewers in Poland with a market share of 36%.

Competing entries

TVP opened a submission period for interested artists and songwriters to submit their entries between 11 November 2005 and 10 December 2005. The broadcaster received 112 submissions at the closing of the deadline, including entries from

Anabel Conde Anabel is a feminine given name. It is the Spanish version of Annabel. Notable people with this given name include: * Anabel Alonso (born 1964), Spanish comedy actress * Anabel Conde (born 1975), Spanish singer * Anabel Gambero (born 1972), for ...

, which represented Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest in

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, which represented Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest in

, and Ivan and Delfin, both of them which represented Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

. An eleven-member selection committee selected fifteen entries from the received submissions to compete in the national final. Among the members of the selection committee included Bogdan Olewicz (composer), Zygmunt Kukla (conductor, composer), Robert Sankowski (journalist), Janusz Kosiński (journalist) and Piotr Klatt (musician, songwriter, journalist and music producer at TVP and artistic director of the

Opole Festival The National Festival of Polish Song in Opole ( pl, Krajowy Festiwal Piosenki Polskiej w Opolu, KFPP) is an annual music festival in Opole, Poland. Together with the Sopot Festival it is one of the two most important music festivals in Poland. Th ...

). The selected entries were announced on 20 December 2006. Among the competing artists was the band

, which represented Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest in

Final

The televised final took place on 28 January 2006. Fifteen entries competed and the winner, "Follow My Heart" performed by

featuring

, was determined by a 50/50 combination of votes from a six-member professional jury and a public vote. The jury consisted of

Maryla Rodowicz Maria Antonina Rodowicz, known professionally as Maryla Rodowicz, (Polish pronunciation: born 8 December 1945 in Zielona Góra), is a Polish singer, guitarist and actress. Throughout over 50 years of her career, she released twenty Polish and f ...

(singer), Maria Szabłowska (music journalist at TVP and

Polish Radio Polskie Radio Spółka Akcyjna (PR S.A.; English: Polish Radio) is Poland's national public-service radio broadcasting organization owned by the State Treasury of Poland. History Polskie Radio was founded on 18 August 1925 and began making ...

), Elżbieta Skrętkowska (creator of '' Szansa na Sukces''), Beata Drążkowska (member of OGAE Poland), Zygmunt Kukla (conductor, composer) and Robert Leszczyński (journalist). Ich Troje featuring Real McCoy and Katarzyna Cerekwicka were both tied for the first place with 17 points, however the results of the public vote took precedence and led to the victory of Ich Troje featuring Real McCoy. In addition to the performances of the competing entries, the band Bajm and 2004 Polish Eurovision entrants

Blue Café Blue Café are a Polish musical group with jazz, soul and Latin influences. The band was formed in Łódź in 1998 and had three consecutive hit singles in Poland in 2002-03. They were nominated in the category Best Polish Act at the 2003 MTV E ...

performed as the interval acts.

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country, the " Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) and the ten highest placed finishers in the

contest are required to qualify from the semi-final on 18 May 2006 in order to compete for the final on 20 May 2006; the top ten countries from the semi-final progress to the final. On 21 March 2006, a special allocation draw was held which determined the running order for the semi-final and Poland was set to perform in position 12, following the entry from Macedonia and before the entry from

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 ...

. The semi-final and the final were broadcast in Poland on

and

with commentary by

. The Polish spokesperson, who announced the Polish votes during the final, was Maciej Orłoś.

Semi-final

Ich Troje and Real McCoy took part in technical rehearsals on 11 and 13 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 17 and 18 May. The Polish performance featured the members of Ich Troje performing in white, gold and beige ornate costumes and joined by two backing vocalists, while Real McCoy performed off stage amongst the audience. Male vocalist of Ich Troje, Michał Wiśniewski, had green and white hair rather than his usual red due to his promotional contract with a mobile network operator. Wiśniewski concluded the performance by tearing off the dress of pregnant vocalist and his then-fiancée Anna Świątczak and displayed affection towards their unborn baby. The stage was predominately in blue and red colours with gold stars displaying on the background. The performance also featured pyrotechnic effects. At the end of the show, Poland 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 Poland placed eleventh in the semi-final, receiving a total of 70 points.

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Poland and awarded by Poland in the semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Finland in the semi-final and the final of the contest.

Points awarded to Poland

Points awarded by Poland

References

{{Authority control

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 ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006

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 ...