NEW APPROACH TO SELECT CYPRUS EUROVISION ENTRY
The island of Cyprus has concluded the first round of auditions that will decide who will represent them in the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest in Lisbon. The new approach focuses on fresh talent and budding vocalists to see who is right to enter the competition next year.
A limited number of entrants are chosen to audition for the three-member judges; composer Alex Papaconstantinou (Alex P), choreographer Charis Savva and Christer Björkman, producer of Swedish Eurovision selection Melodifestivalen. The first round of auditions was completed in November resulting in the panel’s task of whittling down the number of applicants to 23.
As previously mentioned on LGR, Alex P is a well-known producer of Greek-Swedish origin and has co-written hits for Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez, Enrique Iglesias and many more. He is known in Eurovision circles with a few Euro-stompers under his belt, including Ivi Adamou’s ‘La La Love’ in 2012 and Sarbel’s ‘Yasou Maria’ in 2007. His most successful entry to date was for the Azerbaijan duo Aysel and Arash, which came third in 2009. He is responsible for composing the song which will represent Cyprus in Portugal next year. Cyprus’ visual director for last year, Charis Savva was responsible for Hovig’s ‘Gravity’ and has been invited to return to plan next May’s Cypriot performance.
The application procedure has triggered a great deal of excitement across Cyprus and from Cypriots living in the UK. The procedure is anonymous and participants are not expected to be revealed during the local heat stages.
Broadcasters CyBc announced that the Cypriot ”sing-off” will air in January 2018 and the judges will select the finalists who will take part in the Cypriot national final which will be aired on TV.
The overall winner, singing the Cyprus entry will be decided by both the public and a selected jury. The combination of these two sets of votes will determine the winner.
The Eurovision song is expected to be recorded weeks after the Cypriot song contest final and is likely to be released in March.
The Cypriot Eurovision delegation has said that they’re hoping that this new contest gets Cyprus into another Eurovision final.
LGR wishes Cyprus the very best of luck!
Picture Charis Savvas (left to right), Alex Papaconstantinou, Christer Björkman
Article written by Tony Neophytou
