Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest
| Cyprus | |
|---|---|
| |
| Member station | CyBC |
| Appearances | |
| Appearances | 31 (25 finals) |
| First appearance | 1981 |
| Last appearance | 2013 |
| Best result | 5th: 1982, 1997, 2004 |
| Worst result | Last: 1986 |
| External links | |
| CyBC page | |
| Cyprus's page at Eurovision.tv | |
Cyprus made its debut in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1981. Cyprus' best result, fifth place, has been achieved on three occasions: in 1982 with Anna Vissi, 1997 with Hara & Andreas Constantinou, and 2004 with Lisa Andreas.
History of Cyprus at the Eurovision Song Contest
Since its first entry, Cyprus has participated every year except 1988, 2001 and 2014. In 1988, Cyprus withdrew its entry after broadcaster CyBC determined that the intended entry was ineligible; the song had been entered (but not selected) in the 1984 national selection process, which was a violation of the Cypriot selection rules. In 2001, the country did not qualify for the contest due to insufficiently high average scores in previous contests, according to the qualification process at the time. In 2014, the broadcaster decided to withdrew from the contest and cited public indifference and the economic crisis for not taking part.[1]
Most of the Cypriot entries have been sung in Greek or English; the exceptions are in 2000, in which the song "Nomiza" included both Greek and Italian, and in the 2007 contest, in which Evridiki performed "Comme Ci, Comme Ça" entirely in French.
Withdrawal
On 3 October 2013, the Cypriot broadcaster Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) withdrew from the 2014 contest for an indefinite period, thus making the 2013 contest in Malmö their last participation. Reasons that were cited are public opinion regarding the 2012–13 Cypriot financial crisis and budget restrictions as factors that influenced this decision.[1]
Voting
Cyprus is famous for always exchanging 12 points with Greece in the Semi Final and Final, though there have been exceptions. The last time Cyprus gave Greece less than 12 points was in 1996 (10 points), while the last time Greece gave Cyprus less than 12 points was in 1995 (8 points). Since the advent of televoting in 1998, the two countries have consistently given each other the maximum 12 points.
Cyprus and Turkey, another participant, never voted for each other until 2003, a taboo attributed to the ongoing Cyprus dispute. Turkey occupied northern Cyprus since 1974. As a result Turkey refuses to recognize the Republic of Cyprus, a full EU and EBU member.
Popularity of the Contest
Since its first entry in 1981, Cyprus has had a mixture of good and bad results. The best result achieved so far is a fifth place, reached by Anna Vissi in 1982, Hara and Andreas Constantinou in 1997 and Lisa Andreas in 2004. The lowest result was a last place in 1986, with the song "Tora Zo" sung by Elpida.
In the 1980s and 1990s, Cyprus had managed to reach the top 10 a number of times, something which made the Contest become popular in the Cypriot public. Since the last best result of the country in 2004, Cyprus's performance has dropped notably. From 2006 to 2009 and again in 2011 & 2013, the country didn't manage to reach the final.
At the same time when Cyprus's performance in the contest dropped vertically, Greece's performance improved very fast by one win and seven top ten results in one decade. This created a shift of interest, with the Cypriot public being more interested in the success of the Greek entry. This is probably because Greece, since 2004, seems to send very popular singers that have a well established fan-club in Cyprus, while Cyprus usually elects their contestants through an open contest, which often results in young and somewhat unknown artists representing the country.
Contestants
| Year | Artist | Title | Final | Points | Semi | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Island | "Monika" ("Μόνικα") | 6 | 69 | N/A | N/A |
| 1982 | Anna Vissi | "Mono I Agapi" ("Μόνο η αγάπη") | 5 | 85 | ||
| 1983 | Stavros & Constantina | "I Agapi Akoma Zi" ("Η αγάπη ακόμα ζει") | 16 | 26 | ||
| 1984 | Andy Paul | "Anna Maria Lena" ("Άννα Μαρία Λένα") | 15 | 31 | ||
| 1985 | Lia Vissi | "To Katalava Arga" ("Το κατάλαβα αργά") | 16 | 15 | ||
| 1986 | Elpida | "Tora Zo" ("Τώρα ζω") | 20 | 4 | ||
| 1987 | Alexia | "Aspro Mavro" ("Άσπρο-μαύρο") | 7 | 80 | ||
| 1989 | Yiannis Savvidakis & Fani Polymeri | "Apopse As Vrethume" ("Απόψε ας βρεθούμε") | 11 | 51 | ||
| 1990 | Haris Anastazio | "Milas Poli" ("Μιλάς πολύ") | 14 | 36 | ||
| 1991 | Elena Patroklou | "SOS" | 9 | 60 | ||
| 1992 | Evridiki | "Teriazoume" ("Ταιριάζουμε") | 11 | 57 | ||
| 1993 | Kyriakos Zympoulakis & Dimos Van Beke |
"Mi Stamatas" ("Μη σταματάς") | 19 | 17 | ||
| 1994 | Evridiki | "Ime Anthropos Ki Ego ("Είμαι άνθρωπος κι εγώ") |
11 | 51 | ||
| 1995 | Alex Panayi | "Sti Fotia" ("Στη φωτιά") | 9 | 79 | ||
| 1996 | Constantinos | "Mono Yia Mas" ("Μόνο για μας") | 9 | 72 | 15 | 42 |
| 1997 | Hara & Andreas Constantinou | "Mana Mou" ("Μάνα μου") | 5 | 98 | N/A | N/A |
| 1998 | Michalis Hatzigiannis | "Genesis" ("Γένεσις") | 11 | 37 | ||
| 1999 | Marlain | "Tha 'Ne Erotas" ("Θα 'ναι έρωτας") | 22 | 2 | ||
| 2000 | Voice | "Nomiza" ("Νόμιζα") | 21 | 8 | ||
| 2002 | One | "Gimme" | 6 | 85 | ||
| 2003 | Stelios Constantas | "Feeling Alive" | 20 | 15 | ||
| 2004 | Lisa Andreas | "Stronger Every Minute" | 5 | 170 | 5 | 149 |
| 2005 | Constantinos Christoforou | "Ela Ela (Come Baby)" ("Ελα Ελα") | 18 | 46 | X | X |
| 2006 | Annette Artani | "Why Angels Cry" | X | X | 15 | 57 |
| 2007 | Evridiki | "Comme ci, comme ça" | X | X | 15 | 65 |
| 2008 | Evdokia Kadí | "Femme Fatale" | X | X | 15 | 36 |
| 2009 | Christina Metaxa | "Firefly" | X | X | 14 | 32 |
| 2010 | Jon Lilygreen & The Islanders | "Life Looks Better in Spring" | 21 | 27 | 10 | 67 |
| 2011 | Christos Mylordos[2] | "San Aggelos S'agapisa" ("Σαν άγγελος σ'αγάπησα") |
X | X | 18 | 16 |
| 2012 | Ivi Adamou | "La La Love" | 16 | 65 | 7 | 91 |
| 2013 | Despina Olympiou | "An me thimasai" ("Aν με θυμάσαι") | X | X | 15 | 11 |
- XX on the semi-finals denotes auto-qualification. This could be the result of one of the following two reasons; if a country had won the previous year, they did not have to compete in the semi-finals the following year. The other reason being that back in 2004-2007, the top ten countries who were not members of the big four did not have to compete in the semi finals the following year. If, for example, Germany and France placed inside the top ten with Spain and the United Kingdom finishing after 15th place, the countries who placed 11th and 12th were advanced to the following year's grand final along with the rest of the top ten countries.
- XX on the finals denotes an unsuccessful attempt at qualifying to the final.
- In 2012, Cyprus and Ukraine were both awarded with 65 points each in the final, however, according to tie-break procedures, Ukraine finished 15th overall and Cyprus 16th because Ukraine received points from a greater amount of countries between the two.
Voting history
As of 2013, Cyprus' voting history is as follows:
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Marcel Bezençon Awards
Composer Award
| Year | Song | Composer(s) Lyrics (l) / Music (m) |
Performer | Final Result |
Points | Host city |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | "Stronger Every Minute" | Mike Konnaris (m & l) | Lisa Andreas | 5th | 170 | Istanbul |
Commentators and spokespersons
| Year(s) | Commentator | Spokesperson |
|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Fryni Papadopoulou | Anna Partelidou |
| 1982 | ||
| 1983 | ||
| 1984 | Pavlos Pavlou | |
| 1985 | Themis Themistokleous | |
| 1986 | Neophytos Taliotis | |
| 1987 | Fryni Papadopoulou | |
| 1988 | No Television broadcast | Cyprus did not participate |
| 1989 | Neophytos Taliotis | Anna Partelidou |
| 1990 | ||
| 1991 | Evi Papamichail | |
| 1992 | ||
| 1993 | ||
| 1994 | ||
| 1995 | Neophytos Taliotis | Andreas Iakovidis |
| 1996 | Evi Papamichail | Marios Skordis |
| 1997 | ||
| 1998 | Marina Maleni | |
| 1999 | ||
| 2000 | Loukas Hamatsos | |
| 2001 | Cyprus did not participate | |
| 2002 | Melani Steliou | |
| 2003 | Loukas Hamatsos | |
| 2004 | ||
| 2005 | Melani Steliou | |
| 2006 | Constantinos Christoforou | |
| 2007 | Vaso Komninou | Giannis Haralambous |
| 2008 | Melina Karageorgiou | Hristina Marouhou |
| 2009 | Sophia Paraskeva | |
| 2010 | Christina Metaxa | |
| 2011 | Loukas Hamatsos | |
| 2012 | ||
| 2013 | ||
| 2014 | TBA | Cyprus did not participate |
- In addition, since 2009, British writer and TV presenter Nathan Morley has provided the CyBC Radio commentary.
Photogallery
-
Alex Panayi at Dublin (1995)
-
Lisa Andreas at Istanbul (2004)
-
Evdokia Kadí at Belgrade (2008)
-
Despina Olympiou at Malmo (2013)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Jiandani, Sanjay (3 October 2013). "Eurovision 2014: Cyprus will not participate in Copenhagen". ESCtoday. Retrieved 3 October 2013.
- ↑ Floras, Stella (10 September 2010). "Christos Mylordos to Eurovision 2011". ESCToday. Retrieved 10 September 2010.
External links
- eurovision-cyprus.com - Eurovision Song Contest Cyprus
- eurovisioncyprus.ueuo.com - Cyprus Eurovision website (in Greek & English)
- National Final Cyprus
- Points to and from Cyprus eurovisioncovers.co.uk
- Music.net.cy - Cyprus National Finals 2010 (in Greek)
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