Merciless Eurovision: what happened to the winners of the competition in recent years.

It was no coincidence that Eurovision 2008 took place in Serbia. Serbia was unable to participate the previous year, but promised that it would win the competition in 2007. Marija Šerifović fulfilled this promise by making Serbia the host country of the competition.

43 countries submitted applications to participate in the competition, which became an absolute record for the entire existence of Eurovision. Such excitement led to the need to change the format of the competition. Since 2008, only the Big Four countries, as well as the host country of the competition, could apply for mandatory participation. All other participants had to fight for a place in the final.

The remaining 38 countries were divided into two groups. Participants in the first and second semi-finals, respectively, were determined by drawing lots. The first 10 countries in the final table of each semi-final received the right to participate in the Eurovision 2008 final.

Eurovision 2008 - logo, slogan and course of the competition

As before, business card competition remained unchanged, and inside the heart made of the letter V was the flag of Serbia.

The treble clef, formed by the merging of two “currents” - blue and red, was chosen as the main image of the substrate. This logo symbolizes the confluence of the Danube and Sava - two rivers in Serbia.

The slogan of the competition was chosen to match the image and sounds like “Merging Sound”. This formulation symbolizes the unification of many voices from different countries under a single Eurovision flag.

First semi-final

Kalomira

The earliest stage of the competition took place on May 20. 19 countries presented their performers to television viewers and jury members. The voting results showed that first place in the first semi-final went to Greece and its representative Kalomira with the song “Secret Combunation”.

Sirusho, an Armenian singer, took second place in the Eurovision 2008 semi-final with the song “Qele, Qele”, performed in a mixture of English and Armenian.

Dima Bilan

The top three was completed by Dima Bilan with the song “Believe”. This was already his second performance at the competition. He first took part in the event in 2006, where he won 2nd place - best result Russia after Alsou's performance at Eurovision 2000, where she also took 2nd place.

Ice G

Based on the results of the jury's vote, Poland and its representative Tamara Diane Wimer, who performed under the pseudonym Ice G and performed the song “For Life,” were included in the 10 performers from the first semi-final. It is noteworthy that the opinion of the jury members coincided with the opinion of television viewers. Now the American singer who represented Poland is better known as Tamara G.

Elnur and Samir

The 2008 debutants also performed in the first part of the competition. At Eurovision 2008, Azerbaijan was represented by Elnur and Samir with the song “Day after day”. Taking 6th place, they managed to guarantee themselves a performance in the finals.

The group from San Marino “MiOdio” with the song “Complice”, unfortunately, performed very poorly - it was the worst performance, ending up in 19th place, gaining only 5 votes.

Second semi-final

Ani Lorak

At Eurovision 2008, Ukraine presented Ani Lorak with the song “Shady Lady” - the performance was very successful, and the girl took first place in the second semi-final.

Vanya Fernandes

On the second line is the Portuguese Vanya Fernandes and his “Senhora do mar”, performed in state language.

Simon Matthew

The top three was completed by Danish singer Simon Matthew with the song “All Night Long”.

Charlotte Perrelli

The reserve jury included Sweden and Charlotte Perrelli with the song “Hero” among the 10 performers from the second semi-final, raising it by 2 places relative to the audience vote. As a result, Macedonia lost its place in the final.

• Hungary's performance was disastrous. Singer Chesi and her song “Candlelight” received only 6 votes.

Eurovision 2008 - final

At Eurovision 2008, 25 countries took part in the final - these are representatives of the Big Four, the country hosting the competition, that is, Serbia, as well as 10 winners from each semi-final.

First place at Eurovision 2008 went to Russia, represented by Dima Bilan. Dima's performance, like 2 years ago, was very impressive. He was supported on stage by the famous Russian figure skater Evgeni Plushenko, as well as the Hungarian composer and violinist Edwin Marton, who performed a lively melody on the violin. A small ice rink was equipped especially for the performance for Plushenko. This legendary trio looked simply amazing, and the composition “Believe,” filled with deep meaning, moved many viewers to tears. Bilan broke away from other performers by as much as 42 points.

Second place went to Ani Lorak at Eurovision 2008 - the winner of the second semi-final from Ukraine. Her performance was very dynamic, in a traditional pop music style.

The top three was completed by Kalomira, the representative of Greece and the winner of the first semi-final of the competition.

At Eurovision 2008, postcards from participants were presented in a very unusual format - representatives various countries and professions “drew” the flags of the performing country different ways- painting, jumping, skating, etc. On top of such a flag, each country presented a letter to Serbia in its state language. The letter had to contain a joke. This approach was liked by many spectators and was able to defuse the tense atmosphere of the competition.

Before Serbia's performance, the postcard included all the previous participants, and the greeting “Welcome to Serbia!” was displayed as an inscription.

Victory or fraud?

The results of Eurovision 2008 did not satisfy everyone - Ukraine announced falsification of the points, as a result of which Dima Bilan won, and not Ani Lorak. The accusation was supported by several other European countries, including Great Britain, whose performance in the final of the competition turned out to be the worst.

But the falsification was not proven, especially since Ukraine itself gave Russia 12 points in the final, so Dima Bilan received his crystal microphone, and Ani Lorak went home with the “Heart of Eurovision” award.

One way or another, despite the ambiguous result, Russia managed to win the Eurovision Song Contest for the first and so far only time. We will soon find out whether we will be able to repeat the success.

The final will be broadcast live music competition"Eurovision". It will start on Saturday, May 24, at 23:00 Moscow time. 25 groups and performers will participate in the final. The live broadcast will also be available on the Rossiya TV channel.

The website "Mobile Reporter" postedVIDEO filmed in Dima Bilan's dressing room shortly before he took the stage on Tuesday.

On May 20, the first 10 finalists of Eurovision 2008 were determined. Among them, with a support group represented by.According to music experts, the “Russian Musketeers,” as they call themselves, have a good chance of winning the competition, the Rossiya channel website reports. WITH technical point From a visual perspective, their composition was impeccable and, without a doubt, the most complex of the 19 that were presented on the podium of the Belgrade Arena complex on Tuesday.