San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016
| Eurovision Song Contest 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Country |
 San Marino | |||
| National selection | ||||
| Selection process | Internal Selection | |||
| Selection date(s) |
Artist: 12 January 2016 Song: TBA | |||
| Selected entrant | Serhat | |||
| San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest | ||||
| ||||
San Marino will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016. The song will be performed by Turkish singer Serhat, who was internally selected by the Sammarinese broadcaster San Marino RTV (SMRTV) in January 2016 to represent the nation in the 2016 contest in Stockholm, Sweden.
Background
Prior to the 2016 Contest, San Marino had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest six times since its first entry in 2008.[1] Their debut entry in 2008, "Complice" performed by Miodio, failed to qualify to the final and placed last in the semi-final it competed in. San Marino subsequently withdrew from the contest in 2009 and 2010, returning in 2011 with Italian singer Senit performing "Stand By", which also failed to take the nation to the final. Between 2012 and 2014, San Marino sent Valentina Monetta to the contest on three consecutive occasions, which made her the first singer to participate in three consecutive contests since Udo Jürgens, who competed in 1964, 1965 and 1966 for Austria. Her entries in 2012 ("The Social Network Song") and 2013 ("Crisalide (Vola)") also failed to qualify San Marino to the final. However, in 2014, Monetta managed to bring San Marino to the final for the first time where she placed 24th with the song "Maybe". In 2015, the nation once again failed to qualify to the final with the song "Chain of Lights" performed by Anita Simoncini and Michele Perniola.
The Sammarinese national broadcaster, San Marino RTV (SMRTV), broadcasts the event within San Marino and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. SMRTV confirmed San Marino's participation at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest on 24 September 2015.[2] All of San Marino's entries at the Eurovision Song Contest have, to this point, been selected via internal selection, a procedure which the broadcaster opted for once again to select their 2016 entry.[3]
Before Eurovision
Internal selection
On 12 January 2016, SMRTV held a press conference at SMRTV studios where they announced that they had internally selected Turkish singer Serhat to represent San Marino at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest. The SMRTV Director, Carlo Romeo, and the Sammarinese Head of Delegation, Alessandro Capicchioni, were also in attendance.[3][4][5] There are some reports that Ralph Siegel (who composed San Marino's past four entries) will be the composer of Serhat's song.[6] However, SMRTV has not confirmed this.
At Eurovision
According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot.[7] On 25 January 2016, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. San Marino was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 10 May 2016, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[8]
References
- ↑ "San Marino Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
- ↑ Jiandani, Sanjay (24 November 2015). "San Marino: Has SMRTV confirmed participation in Eurovision 2016?". ESCToday. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
- 1 2 Weaver, Jessica (9 January 2016). "San Marino: Artist announcement on 12 January". ESCToday. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
- ↑ "Eurofestival 2016: San Marino RTV presenta l'artista" (in Italian). SMRTV. 9 January 2016. Retrieved 9 January 2016.
- ↑ Roxburgh, Gordon (12 January 2016). "Serhat to represent San Marino". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
- ↑ "São Marino: Ralph Siegel será o compositor do tema de Serhat" (in Portuguese). ESC Portugal. 5 February 2016. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
- ↑ Jordan, Paul (21 January 2016). "Semi-Final Allocation Draw on Monday, pots revealed". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
- ↑ Jordan, Paul (25 January 2016). "Allocation Draw: The results!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 25 January 2016.
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