ERT has confirmed the rumours surrounding the Greek national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2018. After some controversial decisions, the broadcaster has selected Yianna Terzi for this year’s competition. She will perform ‘Oneiro Mou’ (My Dream), composed by herself, Aris Kalimeris, Michalis Papathanasiou and Dimitris Stamatiou.
Controversial National Selection
A few months ago, local media revealed that ERT had asked national record companies to send their proposals of potential candidates to compete in a national final set to be held on 22nd February. ESCToday later revealed that the broadcaster had received 20 entries, while other sites reported the five names that had been selected to take part in the show:
An internal artistic committee has indeed examined 20 candidate songs, submitted by record companies following the letter sent earlier. The committee focused on five songs. Their recommendation will be examined by a working group, that will be set up in order to determine the next steps towards the organization of a national final., they said.
The initial five finalists were as follows:
- Areti Ketime – Don’t forget the Sun
- Chorostalites – Apo tin Thraki os tin Kriti
- Duo Fina – Idio Tempo
- Gianna Terzi – Oneiro mou
- Tony Vlachos – Baila Jazz
However, two candidates were disqualified by the broadcaster because they didn’t meet the requirements to compete in the selection. So, only three acts were still in the race:
- Areti Ketime – Don’t forget the Sun
- Chorostalites – Apo tin Thraki os tin Kriti
Duo Fina – Idio Tempo- Gianna Terzi – Oneiro mou
Tony Vlachos – Baila Jazz
At that stage, ERT asked the finalist record labels to pay the fees of participation and other expenses under contract, which apparently wasn’t known before according to some of the involved companies. Thus, only one discography, Panik Entertainment Group, was able to pay the required quantity of money before the deadline and their artist Yianna Terzi was automatically selected to represent Greece in Lisbon cancelling the plans of national final.
What do you think about the Greek drama? Do you like their song for Eurovision 2018?