Greece are reported to be returning to a national selection process following the countries failure to reach the Eurovision final in 2016.
Greece are to hold a national final at the end of February according to Gossip-tv.gr. According to the report ERT will be partnering with another channel to produce the selection process as was seen in previous years. The website also reports that record labels will be invited to be involved in the selection process.
The 2016 contest saw ERT opt to internally select their entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time since 2004. The national broadcaster selected Argo with the song “Utopian Land”, they failed to qualify for the final in Stockholm. The result was the worse that the country has ever seen which from 2004-2015 managed to qualify for the final every year, being the only country alongside Romania, Ukraine and Russia to achieve this.
Greece is one of a number of countries who are changing their selection process for the 2017 contest. Portugal has revamped their national selection alongside Switzerland and Slovenia. While Montenegro opted to hold an open submissions process for the Eurovision Song Contest for the first time since 2009.
Details regarding the selection process is expected to be announced in January.
Source: Gossip-tv.gr
[tw-accordion class=””] [tw-accordion-section title=”Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest”] Greece debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 represented by Marinella and the song “Krasi, thalassa kai t’agori mou”, she finished 11th scoring a total of 7 points. It was just three years later when the country had their first top.5 finish with Paschalis, Marianna, Robert and Bessy coming 5th with “Mathima solfege”. In 2001 Greece achieved their first top.3 result with Antique and the song “I Would Die For You”, the song became a European hit charting across the continent. In 2005 Helena Paparizou returned to the Eurovision stage this time as a solo artist and took Greece to victory in Kyiv. Her song “My Number One” won with 230 points, beating runners-up Malta by 38 points.[/tw-accordion-section] [/tw-accordion]
Remember how the competing candidates’ videos had the formula of “one location and MAD TV microphone”? Let’s just hope Greece’s selection uses a different formula, that way whoever’s chosen to represent the country can film a new video for the winning entry shortly after the selection ended.