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Eurovision Song Contest 2006
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Everything about The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 totally explained

The Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was the 51st Eurovision Song Contest, held at the Olympic Indoor Hall in Athens, Greece on the 18 May 2006 (for the semi-final) and 20 May 2006 (for the final). The hosting national broadcaster of the contest was ERT. The Finnish band Lordi won the contest with the song "Hard Rock Hallelujah" with a record 292 points. "Hard Rock Hallelujah" was the first ever hard rock song to win the contest (Eurovision is normally associated with softer pop music and schlager). This was also Finland's(1961 debut) first victory in Eurovision after 45 years of participation.The official logo of the contest remained the same from 2004 and 2005 with the country's flag in the heart being changed. The 2006 sub-logo created by the design company Karamela for Greek television was apparently based on the Phaistos Disc which is a popular symbol of ancient Greece. According to ERT, it was "inspired by the wind and the sea, the golden sunlight and the glow of the sand". Following Istanbul's "Under The Same Sky" and Kiev's "Awakening", the slogan for the 2006 show was "Feel The Rhythm". This theme was also the basis for the postcards for the 2006 show, which emphasized Greece's historical significance as well as being a major modern tourist destination.
   The hosts of the Eurovision Song Contest in Athens were popular Greek singer Sakis Rouvas (the Greek representative at Eurovision in 2004) and the Greek-American television presenter and actress, Maria Menounos. In the semi-final, both the hosts sang Katrina and the Waves' contest-winning "Love Shine A Light". For one of the intervals, Sakis Rouvas sang an English version of his Greek hit "S' exo Erotefti" called "I'm in love with you". Helena Paparizou, who performed the winning song in Kiev, returned to the Eurovision stage in Athens. Following the examples of Sertab Erener and Ruslana in the last two years, Helena Paparizou sang in the interval acts for the final. She sang "My Number One" and "Mambo!". Greek dancers were also present in the interval acts, as well as other Greek elements. An official CD and DVD was released and a new introduction was an official fan book released from this year, and every year to come with detailed information of every country.
   To save time in the final, the voting time lasted ten minutes and the voting process was changed: points 1-7 were shown immediately on-screen. The spokespersons only announced the countries scoring 8, 10 and 12 points. Despite this being intended to speed proceedings up, there were still problems during voting - EBU imaging over-rode Maria Menounos during a segment in the voting interval and some scoreboards were slow to load. The Netherlands' spokesperson Paul de Leeuw also caused problems, giving his mobile number to presenter Rouvas during the Dutch results, and slowing down proceedings, also by announcing the first seven points. Constantinos Christoforou (who also represented Cyprus in 1996, 2002 and 2005) saved the day by making a political, still requisite, statement when saluting from "Nicosia, the last divided capital in Europe". During Cyprus reading, the telecast displayed Switzerland by mistake. This voting process has been criticized because suspense was lost by only reading three votes instead of ten.
   The 2006 contest also saw the 1,000th song to be performed in the contest, when "Every Song Is A Cry For Love" by Ireland's Brian Kennedy was first sung in the semi-final. Armenia also entered for the first time in the contest. A number of fans were also shocked by the success of the Lithuanian entry - LT United singing 'We Are The Winners' and the failure of the Belgian entry - 'Je t'adore' by Kate Ryan, to qualify from the Semi-Final.

Individual entries

Participating countries

Participating countries in a Eurovision Song Contest must be active members of the EBU.

Final

The finalists were:
  • the four automatic qualifiers France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom;
  • the top 10 countries from the 2005 final (other than the automatic qualifiers);
  • the top 10 countries from the 2006 semi-final.
The final was held on 20 May 2006 at 21:00 (CET). Countries in bold automatically qualified for the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 Final.
Draw Country Language Artist Song Translation Place Points
01 English Six4One If We All Give A Little - 16 30
02 English, Spanish Arsenium feat. Natalia Gordienko & Connect-R Loca Crazy 20 22
03 English, Hebrew Eddie Butler Together We Are One - 23 4
04 English Vocal Group Cosmos I Hear Your Heart - 16 30
05 Norwegian Christine Guldbrandsen Alvedansen The Elf Dance 14 36
06 Spanish Las Ketchup Un Bloody Mary One Bloody Mary 21 18
07 English Fabrizio Faniello I Do - 24 1
08 English Texas Lightning No No Never - 14 36
09 English Sidsel Ben Semmane Twist of Love - 18 26
10 English Dima Bilan Never Let You Go - 2 248
11 English, Macedonian Elena Risteska Ninanajna - 12 56
12 English, Italian Mihai Trăistariu Tornerò I'll Return 4 172
13 Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian Hari Mata Hari Lejla Layla 3 229
14 English, French LT United We Are The Winners - 6 162
15 English Daz Sampson Teenage Life - 19 25
16 English Anna Vissi Everything - 9 128
17 English Lordi Hard Rock Hallelujah 1 292
18 English Tina Karol Show Me Your Love - 7 145
19 French Virginie Pouchain Il était temps The Time Has Come 22 5
20 Croatian Severina Moja štikla My Stiletto 12 56
21 English Brian Kennedy Every Song Is A Cry For Love - 10 93
22 English Carola Invincible - 5 170
23 Turkish, English Sibel Tüzün Süper Star Superstar 11 91
24 English André Without Your Love - 8 129

Semi-final

The semi-final was held on 18 May 2006 at 21:00 (CET). 23 countries performed and all 37 participants voted. Shaded countries qualified for the Eurovision Final
Draw Country Language Artist Song Translation Place Points
1 English André Without Your Love - 6 150
2 English Mariana Popova Let Me Cry - 17 36
3 English Anžej Dežan Mr Nobody - 16 49
4 Catalan Jenny Sense tu Without You 23 8
5 English Polina Smolova Mum - 22 10
6 Albanian Luiz Ejlli Zjarr e ftohtë Fire And Cold 14 58
7 English Kate Ryan Je t'adore I Adore You 12 69
8 English Brian Kennedy Every Song Is A Cry For Love - 9 79
9 English Annet Artani Why Angels Cry - 15 57
10 French, Tahitian Séverine Ferrer La coco-dance The Coco Dance 21 14
11 English, Macedonian Elena Risteska Ninanajna - 10 76
12 English, Polish, German, Russian, Spanish Ich Troje feat. Real McCoy Follow My Heart - 11 70
13 English Dima Bilan Never Let You Go - 3 217
14 Turkish Sibel Tüzün Süper star Superstar 8 91
15 English Tina Karol Show Me Your Love - 7 146
16 English Lordi Hard Rock Hallelujah - 1 292
17 English, Imaginary Treble Amambanda - 20 22
18 English, French LT United We Are The Winners - 5 163
19 English, Portuguese Nonstop Coisas de nada Meaningless Things 19 26
20 English Carola Invincible - 4 214
21 English Sandra Through My Window - 18 28
22 Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian Hari Mata Hari Lejla Layla 2 267
23 English Silvia Night Congratulations - 13 62

Score sheet

Televoting was used in all nations except Monaco & Albania, who didn't hold a televote due to the chances of the threshold number of votes needed to validify the televoting results being reached in Monaco being very low and some problems occurred in the Albanian televoting. In the semi final, Andorra joined Monaco & Albania in using the jury due to insufficient televoting numbers.
  Televoting Results
Switzerland   0 4 0 0 0 12 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 6 0 0
Moldova 0   0 0 0 2 0 0 0 3 0 12 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Israel 0 0   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Latvia 0 0 0   0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 8 2 0 0 4 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 0
Norway 0 3 0 6   0 0 0 1 7 0 0 0 0 0 2 5 3 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 1 0 0
Spain 0 0 0 0 0   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0
Malta 0 0 0 0 0 0   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Germany 7 0 0 3 1 5 0   3 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 5 0
Denmark 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 0   0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 8 0 0 0
Russia 0 10 12 12 3 7 5 6 2   8 8 6 12 1 8 12 12 2 7 5 7 5 12 4 6 7 3 5 10 8 2 10 12 5 0 4 10
F.Y.R Macedonia 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   0 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 0 6 7 6 0 0 0 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 6
Romania 1 12 10 2 4 12 10 5 6 4 2   2 1 6 7 6 1 7 5 6 6 3 4 5 3 10 2 4 4 10 0 3 3 2 0 2 2
Bosnia-Herzegovina 12 5 2 0 8 1 0 7 8 6 12 7   4 0 6 10 10 6 12 2 10 12 5 12 0 2 6 12 0 2 8 4 4 3 12 12 7
Lithuania 0 4 3 10 5 4 1 1 7 5 3 0 0   10 4 8 5 0 6 12 3 0 0 3 7 4 4 3 8 4 6 8 6 10 7 0 1
United Kingdom 0 0 0 1 2 0 3 0 4 0 0 0 0 0   0 0 0 0 1 8 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
Greece 5 1 0 0 0 0 8 8 0 0 7 10 1 3 7   1 0 5 0 0 4 4 8 0 1 0 10 6 0 12 5 0 2 0 0 8 12
Finland 8 6 7 8 12 10 7 10 12 8 6 4 7 10 12 12   7 8 10 10 12 7 0 8 10 6 8 7 12 5 7 12 7 12 0 0 5
Ukraine 0 8 6 5 0 3 2 0 0 10 5 3 5 7 0 5 2   0 4 1 1 8 10 2 5 12 0 2 5 6 1 6 10 6 2 0 3
France 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0   0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0
Croatia 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 10 0 12 0 0 0 0 0 0   0 0 2 0 10 0 0 0 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0
Ireland 3 0 0 4 7 0 4 4 5 0 0 2 0 6 8 0 4 2 1 2   5 0 3 1 4 5 0 0 6 0 4 2 0 1 10 0 0
Sweden 2 2 5 7 10 6 6 0 10 2 1 5 3 5 4 0 7 6 3 3 7   0 6 7 8 8 5 1 7 0 0 7 5 7 5 10 0
Turkey 10 0 1 0 0 0 0 12 0 0 4 6 10 0 3 3 0 0 12 0 0 0   0 0 0 0 7 0 0 0 12 0 0 0 0 7 4
Armenia 0 7 8 0 0 8 0 3 0 12 0 1 0 2 0 10 0 8 10 0 0 0 10   0 0 0 12 0 0 7 10 5 8 0 0 0 8
The table is ordered by appearance in the final, then by pre-determined voting order.

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 point in the final:
N. To From
8 Bosnia & Herzegovina Albania, Croatia, FYR Macedonia, Monaco, Serbia & Montenegro, Slovenia, Switzerland, Turkey
8 Finland Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Sweden, United Kingdom
7 Russia Armenia, Belarus, Finland, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine
3 Turkey France, Germany, Netherlands
2 Armenia Belgium, Russia
2 Greece Cyprus, Bulgaria
2 Romania Moldova, Spain
1 Croatia Bosnia & Herzegovina
1 Lithuania Ireland
1 Moldova Romania
1 Spain Andorra
1 Switzerland Malta
1 Ukraine Portugal

Other countries

  • On June 18, 2005, Austrian newspaper Kurier reported that the Austrian broadcaster ORF wouldn't be taking part in the 2006 contest.
  • On October 5, 2005 the managing director of Georgia Television & Radio Broadcasting stated that Georgia wouldn't enter the 2006 contest.
  • On October 6, 2005 Česká televize announced that the Czech Republic wouldn't participate.
  • On December 9, 2005 Hungarian broadcaster Magyar TV announced that Hungary wouldn't participate for financial reasons.
  • Italy hasn't taken part in the Contest since 1997. Serbia and Montenegro withdrew from the contest due to a scandal in the selection process, which has caused tensions between the Serbian broadcaster, RTS, and the Montenegrin broadcaster, RTCG. Serbia and Montenegro did retain voting rights for the contest. Serbia and Montenegro's withdrawal left a vacancy in the final. In the delegations meeting on March 20, it was decided that Croatia, who finished 11th in the 2005 Contest, would fill the empty spot.
       The other EBU countries that didn't participate were Slovakia, Luxembourg, Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Libya and San Marino. Liechtenstein wasn't able to participate as it doesn't have a national television or radio service and therefore isn't a member of the EBU.

    Ratings

    After the Contest, EBU officials that the overall ratings for the Semi-Final were 35% higher than in 2005, and for the Final had risen by 28%.
       In France, average market shares reached 30.3%, up by 8% over the 2005 figure. Other countries that showed a rise in average market shares included Germany with 38% (up from 29%), United Kingdom with 37.5% (up from 36%), Spain with 36% (up from 35%), Ireland with 58% (up from 35%) and Sweden, which reached over 80% compared to 57% the year previously.
       Voting revenues had also risen from the Kiev Contest, and the official Eurovision website, www.eurovision.tv, reported visits from over 200 countries and over 98 million page views, compared with 85 million in 2005.

    Trivia and Records

    From the Final
  • Finland waited 44 years since their debut in 1961 to achieve their first victory. The Finns have been waiting since 1977 for their fourth set of 12 points; this year they finally achieved one again - in fact, they received eight.
  • Sweden's Carola obtained 170 points without getting any 12-pointers and reached 5th place.
  • Though Turkey was the fourth country with the most 12s (received from France, Germany and Netherlands), the entry by Sibel Tüzün only reached 11th place with 91 points.
  • Lithuania waited 12 years to receive their first 12 points. This was finally realised by votes from Ireland.
  • Runner-up Russia and 4th placed Romania were voted for by 35 countries, more than winner Finland, who received votes from 34 countries.
  • The United Kingdom placed 19th, receiving points from 10 countries, while FYR Macedonia (12th), Croatia (13th) and Denmark (18th) were voted for by 9, 8 and only 5 countries respectively.
  • It is noticed that Turkey received 91 points both in the semi final and the final,while FYR Macedonia received 76 points in the semi final and 56 points in the final.Though if the country also received 76 points in the final it would still have been placed 12th.
  • As at the conclusion of the 2006 contest, Greece holds the record for the most successful run in the Eurovision Song Contest since its shake-up in 2004. It is the only country that hasn't yet been relegated to the semi-final (excluding the Big 4), after having attained places in the top 10 since then (third in 2004, first in 2005, ninth in 2006).

    Non-participating regions where the contest was broadcast

    Australia : Although Australia isn't itself eligible to enter, the semi-final and final were broadcast on SBS. As is the case each year, they were not however broadcast live due to the difference in Australian time zones. Australia aired the United Kingdom's broadcast, including commentary from Paddy O'Connell and Terry Wogan. Before the broadcasts, viewers were told by an SBS host that the Eurovision Song Contest was one of their most popular programmes. The final rated an estimated 462,000, and was ranked 21st of the broadcasters top rating programs for the 2005/06 financial year. (External Link) ; Azerbaijan : Azerbaijan were willing to enter the contest but since AzTV applied for active EBU membership but was denied on 18 June 2007, they missed the contest and have to wait until they're accepted. Another Azerbaijan broadcaster, OTV, broadcast the contest. It is a passive EBU member, and has broadcast it for the last 2 years. It was the only non-participating broadcaster this year to send its own commentators to the contest.(External Link)

    Italy: Italian television didn't enter because RAI, the national broadcaster, is in strong competition with commercial TV stations and they believe that the Eurovision Song Contest wouldn't be a popular show in Italy. They have not broadcast the contest in recent years, although an independent Italian channel for the gay community has shown the show. ; Monaco: Monaco broadcast the final on TMC after having withdrawn from this competition in December 2006. A return is possible next year.

    Worldwide : A live broadcast of the Eurovision Song Contest was broadcast worldwide by satellite through Eurovision streams such as Channel One Russia, ERT World, TVE Internacional, TVP Polonia, RTP Internacional and TVR i. The official Eurovision Song Contest website also provided a live stream without commentary using the peer to peer transport Octoshape. ; Possible broadcasts : Japan, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands Antilles, Suriname and Vietnam may have broadcast as well, as they've also broadcast the contest in the past. While Liechtenstein has no television broadcaster of its own, Liechtensteiners could watch the contest on Swiss, Austrian or German television.

    Gibraltar: Gibraltar screened only the final. ; Kosovo: The Serbian autonomous province of Kosovo, broadcast the contest live on RTK.

    Commentators

  • Andorra - Meri Picart & Josep Lluis Trabal
  • Austria - Andi Knoll
  • Belgium - André Vermeulen & Bart Peeters (Dutch) Jean-Pierre Hautier (French)
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina - Dejan Kukrić
  • Croatia - Duško Čurlić
  • Cyprus - Evi Papamichael
  • Denmark - Mads Vangsø & Adam Duvå Hall
  • Estonia - Marko Reikop
  • Finland - Heikki Paasonen & Jaana Pelkonen & Asko Murtomäki
  • France - Michel Drucker & Claudy Siar
  • Germany - Peter Urban
  • Greece - Giorgos Kapoutzidis & Zeta Makrypoulia
  • Iceland - Sigmar Guðmundsson
  • Ireland - Marty Whelan
  • Latvia - Kārlis Streips
  • Lithuania - Darius Užkuraitis
  • FYR Macedonia - Karolina Petkovska
  • Malta - Eileen Montesin
  • Monaco - Bernard Montiel & Églantine Eméyé
  • Netherlands - Cornald Maas & Paul de Leeuw
  • Norway - Jostein Pedersen
  • Poland - Artur Orzech
  • Portugal - Eládio Clímaco
  • Romania - Andreea Demirgian
  • Russia - Yuri Aksyuta & Tatiana Godunova
  • Serbia - Duška Vučinić-Lučić
  • Slovenia - Mojca Mavec
  • Spain - Beatriz Pecker
  • Sweden - Pekka Heino
  • Switzerland - Sandra Studer (German), Jean-Marc Richard & Alain Morisod (French)
  • Turkey - Bülent Özveren
  • Ukraine - Pavlo Shylko (DJ Pasha)
  • United Kingdom - Paddy O'Connell (semi-final) & Terry Wogan (final) (BBC TV), Ken Bruce (BBC Radio 2)

    Spokespersons

    The following people were the spokespersons for their countries. A spokesperson delivers the results of national televoting during the final night, awarding points to the entries on behalf of his or her country. (External Link)
  • Albania - Leon Menkshi
  • Andorra - Xavi Palma
  • Armenia - Gohar Gasparyan
  • Belarus - Corrianna
  • Belgium - Yasmine
  • Bosnia and Herzegovina - Vesna Andree Zaimović
  • Bulgaria - Dragomir Simeonov
  • Croatia - Mila Horvat
  • Cyprus - Constantinos Christoforou (Cypriot singer in the 1996, 2002 and 2005 Contests)
  • Denmark - Jørgen de Mylius
  • Estonia - Evelin Samuel (Estonian singer in the 1999 Contest and veteran of several 1990s Eurolauls)
  • Finland - Nina Tapio
  • France - Sophie Jovillard
  • Germany - Thomas Hermanns
  • Greece - Alexis Kostalas
  • Iceland - Ragnhildur Steinunn Jónsdóttir
  • Ireland - Eimear Quinn (Irish singer in the 1996 Contest, which she won)
  • Israel - Dana Herman
  • Latvia - Mārtiņš Freimanis (Latvian singer in the 2003 Contest as part of F.L.Y.)
  • Lithuania - Lavija Šurnaitė
  • FYR Macedonia - Martin Vučić (Macedonian singer in the 2005 Contest)
  • Malta - Moira Delia
  • Monaco - Églantine Eméyé
  • Moldova - Svetlana Cocosh
  • Netherlands - Paul de Leeuw
  • Norway - Ingvild Helljesen
  • Poland - Maciej Orłoś
  • Portugal - Cristina Alves
  • Romania - Andreea Marin Bănică
  • Russia - Yana Churikova
  • Serbia and Montenegro - Jovana Janković(Host for the 2008 Contest)
  • Slovenia - Peter Poles
  • Spain - Sonia Ferrer
  • Sweden - Jovan Radomir
  • Switzerland - Jubaira Bachmann
  • Turkey - Meltem Yazgan
  • Ukraine - Igor Posypaiko
  • United Kingdom - Fearne CottonFurther Information

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