It has been revealed that the resident band which performed at Festival da Canção 2015 has been removed for the 2017 contest.
RTP has opted to remove the resident band from Festival da Canção will all of the songs now been performed with pre-recorded backing tracks. The resident band was introduced for the 2015 contest which saw all of the competing songs performed with the backing of the resident band. The removal of the resident band is one of a number of changes occurring in this years contest, including the removal of the rule that all songs must be performed in Portuguese.
The format of this years Portuguese selection is as follows. The qualifiers from each semi final will be decided by 50% televote and 50% jury voting. A total of four songs will qualify from each semi final, meaning eight songs will compete in the final, the same voting process is used in the final. The jury voting is made up of 7 regional juries from across mainland Portugal as well as the Azores and Madeira. The dates of the selection shows are:
- 19 February – Semi Final 1
- 26 February – Semi Final 2
- 5 March – Final
The 16 composers invited to submit songs for the competition are:
- Luísa Sobral
- Marcia
- Rita Redshoes
- David Santos (Noiserv)
- Celina da Piedade
- Samuel Úria
- Nuno Gonçalves (The Gift)
- Pedro Silva Martins (Deolinda)
- Toli Caesar Machado (GNR)
- João Pedro Coimbra (Mesa)
- Nuno Figueiredo (Virgin Suta)
- Pedro Saraiva (Sir Aiva / DR Sax)
- Nuno Feist
- Jorge Fernando
- João Only
- Heber Marques
Source: ESC Portugal
[tw-accordion class=””] [tw-accordion-section title=”Portugal in the Eurovision Song Contest”] Portugal debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1964 represented by António Calvário, the country finished last scoring nul points. To date the best result of Portugal in the contest is 6th place. This 6th place came in 1996 when Lúcia Moniz performed “O meu coração não tem cor” on stage in Oslo, Norway. She scored 92 points receiving 12 points from both Norway and Cyprus. Since their debut in 1964 Portugal has missed a total of five contests, the latest being in 2016.[/tw-accordion-section] [/tw-accordion]
