Eurovision with ... Rouvas-surprise!

In order to avoid leaks of the songs and to cover by donors the increased cost of 200,000 euros for this year's Eurovision; ERT prepares for the evening of the song selection, which will compete in our country's name in Moscow. On 17 February or 18 depending on the day of Olympiakos' match in the UEFA Cup, the Greek final will take place where Sakis Rouvas will present live the 3 songs that Dimitris Kontopoulos composed. The television audience and the jury will be asked to choose what they will sent to the Russian capital.

The ace in the sleeve of ERT is none other than the element of surprise. According to our sources the organisers are seriously considering the possibility to keep the songs secret until the night of choice, ie, bypassing the traditional press conference-presentation. The aim is to increase the expectation of the public and to minimize the chances of leakage, as happened last year with songs of Kalomira and Kostas Martakis. Already the music has been composed and the lyrics  (there is a possbillity of 90% written in English) are ready for two out of three.

At the same time, increased by approximately 200,000 euro will be the cost of participation of Greece in the European Song Contest. Reasons for the increase is and the high cost of living in Moscow, which was condemned at the outset by all participating countries. Operators of ERT have stressed that the Eurovision is the only event that «returns it's cost in double», where geared towards finding three major donors-instead of two like the past years- to cover the total cost expected to exceed 900,000 euros.

07 JAN 2009

ELEFTHEROS TYPOS