Cyprus – Eurovision Song Challenge – Heat 1

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After seeing Christer Bjorkman as a judge last week they whittled down the acts to 10 remaining in the Cypriot National Selection for Eurovision 2015.

The show starts at 21:20 CET and you can watch LIVE HERE and we are hosting our LIVE BLOG here.

You have the company of Andrew James Main tonight and he will give you his thoughts on each participant.

Just refresh the page to get my views and predictions on the acts that I think should make the Final. If you don’t agree with me then make sure to let me know. The official Twitter Hashtag for the night is #EurovisionCy – SO USE IT!!!

So we’ve started the next stage of CyBC’s innovative approach to picking a song and, hopefully, a winner at the 60th Eurovision Song Contest.  Alex Panayi and Elena Patroclou will be getting involved.  Our hostess, as you may have guessed already, is Cyprus’s Miss Universe.  So if you want pedigree, look no further.

In our online poll we had over 60 thousand votes and the 6 acts that you chose were

Cyprus Poll Results. Photo : Eurovision Ireland

10 Acts 

1) Christina Tselepou – “In These Arms”

Up first tonight we have Christina and we see some of the things that all the judges have to say to her in terms of advice and experience. A ballad on first and she is a little timid and nervous on the first few notes. But Christina comes to the fore in the chorus. She is gaining in confidence and has a good strong voice once she gets going. Its a perfectly good song but not sure its a belter that would qualify easily for the Eurovision Final

2) Nearchos Evangelou feat. Charis Savva – “Deila Den Agapo”

Lots more advice from the judges regarding how to sing the song and stage presence. Our only male/female duet in the contest. Both are young and pretty. They have lovely voices that compliment each other in this ballad that mixes Greek and French. The ballad jumps from being slow and quiet to contrasting dramatic moments as it progresses. It is very dated but very well sung. Again not convinced this would have an easy passage to the Eurovision Final. It is 4th favourite in our poll.

3) Christos Rialas – “Beat Of My Heart”

Ioanna is a Cypriot who lives in London. This is a more upbeat song but it does sound like she is slightly off-key tonight. The song has a certain oomph to it at times and has a Greek feel to it with some of the rhythms. It does improve as it gets going but my worry is it would bomb if sung out of tune at Eurovision. It think Ioanna is just a little bit over confident in the performance.

4) Giannis Karagiannis – “One thing I Should Have Done”

Another ballad but this time its from a young handsome male singer. This song is written by Mike Connaris of “Stronger every minute” fame. Its is a much more modern sounding ballad and Giannis has a very pleasant voice.  A polished performance simple and understated. This would be the best option so far if Cyprus want to choose a ballad.

5) Christos Rialas – “Meine”

This is the favourite in our online poll. Christos has a very strong voice and sings his haunting ballad really well. It has a very traditional Greek Cypriot feel to it and would not be out of place in a contest in the 80’s as it reminds me of many of the ethnic entries of old. A really strong and emotional performance from Christos and I think this would actually do well at Eurovision.

We now have a break for a brief news program. So we will be back shortly with the other 5 songs.

6) Hovig – “Stone In A River”

Hovig is  6th favourite in our poll so will really need to Shine to beat some of the others to next weeks final. This man can sure sing and has a very rugged style of voice. Strong in all the right places as well as having some warm glowing moments too. A strong ballad which is certainly in a more modern vein to some of the others on show tonight. I can certainly see this fit in at Eurovision and would have a fair chance of reaching the Grand Final in Vienna.

7) Minus One – “Shine”

Now we have our only group left in the contest. They bring us a good piece of rock to mix it up a bit. Shine is a song title that has made it to Eurovision on many occasions already but this must be the first rock version. This song is 5th in our online poll. It certainly stands out from the crowd. Rock is a very popular genre at Eurovision these days and tends to do rather well when it is done well. Minus One bring a good representation of the genre to this years contest. It sound instant and memorable and has lots of good energy and melodies. The lead vocal is really good and the backing vocals compliment them also. I think Cyprus would make a great choice by sending this to Vienna. Excellent!

8) Doody – “Magic”

Doody is 3rd favourite in our online poll and will have to spread some of his magic to get to the final. Doody looks very young but has the looks of a pop singer. A decent pop song for sure with a rather unusual backing tune. Different from anything I have heard of this genre in the last few contests. Not sure it has the special magic sparkle to shine enough at Eurovision to do all that well though. It has a bit of rap and a bit of gospel backing vocals which makes for a very unusual mix indeed. Hmmmm.

9) Panagiotis Koufogiannis – “Without Your Love”

Panagiotis is our 2nd favourite and is a very handsome lad indeed. Eyes that you could get lost in. Anyway enough of that nonsense and on to the song.  We have a beautiful ballad and oh what a voice. This has Eurovision written all over it. I think it would do very well at Eurovision and give Cyprus one of the better Eurovision placings.  A potential winner of Eurovision? Possibly the only on that Cyprus are offering us this year. My overall favourite of the night by far.

10) Pieros Kezou – “Said It All Before”

The last song of the evening and we have our first Conchita style beard but on a man. A very moody feel to this song. It is very unique it reminds me a bit of Roy Orbison. It is sung well with lots of backing vocals filling the song out well. But it may be too different for Eurovision. However a good finish to the show.

So there we have it and we have heard all 10 songs that are in contention to go to Vienna for Cyprus. The jury will pick 6 songs to advance to next Sunday’s Final on the 1st February. My pick of the 10 would be the following.

Minus One, Panagiotis Koufogiannis, Giannis Karagiannis, Hovig.

The qualifiers are Minus One, Nearchos Evangelou feat. Charis Savva , Panagiotis, Doody, Giannis and Hovig.

Author/Editor : Andrew James Main

Source : Eurovision Ireland