The Greek representative in this year's Eurovision Eleutheria Eleutheriou will fly to Baku on Saturday to represent her country in the 57th international music contest. Her song "Aphrodisiac" won the hearts of the jury in the first semi-final on Tuesday evening. Both the voice and the dancing abilities of the young singer equally impressed the judges. The vote of the audience and the jury's decision determine in a 50/50 ratio who will continue in the contest. At a press conference after the semi-final, Eleutheria said, "We are here to have fun. It is an honour for me to represent Greece and I hope it is proud of me tonight. When I got on stage, I said to myself 'OK,' even if I do not get to the finals, I will enjoy the moment. But I made it! It was wonderful."
Eleutheria sang and danced live to 16 thousand people who were enthusiastically applauding her in her debut on the big stage. Romania, Moldova, Iceland, Hungary, Denmark, Albania, Cyprus, Greece, Russia and Ireland have qualified for the finals too. Cypriot singer Ivi Adamou impressed the fans of the music show with her voice, youth, vitality and presented choreography. Her song is called "La La Love" and is in the pop rhythm typical for Eurovision and so is Eleutheria Eleutheriou’s song. After the announcement of the results, Ivi told reporters, "It is wonderful that Eleutheria and I are in the finals together. Greece and Cyprus together are strong everywhere."
The second semi-final will be on 24 May, in which the Bulgarian participant Sofi Marinova will present the song "Love Unlimited". She will be the eighth in the order of performances and she will have to compete with many of the Balkan countries - Macedonia, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Turkey. The final of the contest will take place in "Baku Crystal Hall" on the shore of the Caspian Sea on 26 May. The UK, France, Germany and Spain have qualified for the final struggle of Eurovision without going through semi-finals.
In Greece, millions of viewers watched the first round of the television contest live on ERT. Many local pop stars were among them, breathlessly waiting to see if the Greek participation will qualify for the finals in Azerbaijan. During the live broadcast, the profiles of Greek stars on social networks filled with new status and comments associated with Eurovision. Singer Elli Kokkinou complained that she had missed Eleutheria’s performance in the Eurovision because she was putting her daughter to sleep. Actress and TV host Nicky Kartsona was encouraging both the participants. After the performance of Buranovskie Babuski (Buranovo Grannies) from Russia, Despina Vandi posted a Twitter comment to her good friend Kokkinou, "Elli, get ready to go to Eurovision after 20 years. We can do it too after Russia."
On the left side - Russian grannies, on the right side - Greek singers Vandi and Kokkinou.
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