Greece and Ellinikí Radiofonía Tileórasi (ERT) chose to host a national selection with the winner being chosen by an "expert" jury. Elpida was chosen with "Sokrati" (re-titled "Socrates" for the TV broadcast) and placed 8th at Eurovision.

Before Eurovision

National final

The national final took place on 5 February 1979 at the Municipal Theater in

Piraeus Piraeus ( ; el, Πειραιάς ; grc, Πειραιεύς ) is a port city within the Athens urban area ("Greater Athens"), in the Attica region of Greece. It is located southwest of Athens' city centre, along the east coast of the Saron ...

and was hosted by Vasilis Tsivilikas. The winning song was chosen by a jury of 65 people who awarded each song a mark out of 10.

At Eurovision

"Sokrati" was performed seventh on the night (following

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 ...

Laurent Vaguener Jean Baudlot (16 February 1947 – 24 March 2021) was a French music composer, most notable for composing music for videogames in the 1980s and 1990s and collaborations with Richard Clayderman, Nicolas de Angelis, Michèle Torr and Joe Dassin. ...

with "Notre vie c'est la musique" and preceding Switzerland's

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and Pfuri, Gorps & Kniri with "Trödler Und Co"). At the close of voting, it had received 69 points, placing 8th in a field of 19. Elpida was accompanied on stage by

Lia Vissi Olympia "Lia" Vissi (born 15 May 1955) is a Greek-Cypriot singer, songwriter and composer who most notable for her two participations in the Eurovision Song Contest and being older sister of Greek Cypriot singer Anna Vissi. Career Vissi parti ...

(who will later represent

Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest Cyprus has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 38 times since making its debut in 1981. Cyprus' first entry was the group Island, who finished sixth. The country's best result in the contest is a second-place finish with Eleni Foureira ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

Polina Polina ( hu, Alsófalu) is a hamlet in the Revúca District, Banská Bystrica Region, Slovakia. Other uses * Pojan, Fier, a town in Abania near Ancient Illyrian Apollonia also called Polina. * Polina (given name) Polina is a Greek (Πωλί� ...

(who was to represent Greece in the

Eurovision Song Contest 1986 The Eurovision Song Contest 1986 was the 31st edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Bergen, Norway, following the country's victory at the with the song " La det swinge" by Bobbysocks! Organised by the European Broadcast ...

, but Greece withdrew), Yiannis Samsiaris and Stelios Goulielmos, all four of them being backing vocalists. It was succeeded as Greek representative at the 1980 Contest by Anna Vissi & The Epikouri with " Autostop".

Voting

References

{{Eurovision Song Contest 1979

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 Eurovision