Czech Republic: Benny Cristo will represent the country at Eurovision 2021
One more country confirms it Eurovision 2021 act! Czech Republic has confirmed that Benny Cristo will represent the country in next year’s Eurovision contest in Rotterdam.
Once the Eurovision song contest was cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak the question that came up was what will happen with this year’s acts that didn’t eventually have the chance to perform on stage in Rotterdam their Eurovision entries. The EBU through a clear statement excluded the ESC 2020 songs ,by not allowing the same entries for 2021 but leaving to the broadcasters to decide whether they will return with the same acts or not. The decision was accepted by broadcasters and acts with mixed feelings. However some nations out of the 41 countries that were to participate in this year’s contest have already confirmed their participation and there act or the format that will determine next year’s representative.
The Czech Republic will be joining the countries that have decide to continue with their ESC 2020 hopeful in next year’s edition in Rotterdam. Czech TV manager Lucie Kapounová explains:
Benny won this year’s National selection, but unfortunately did not have the opportunity to appear on the big stage of Eurovision, so we decided to address him as a representative for next year. However, we would like to let fans and viewers talk about which song would represent next year, because according to the rules it cannot be “Kemama”. We will keep the public informed in a timely and continuous manner.
The artist himself stated:
I am very happy that Czech television has given me the opportunity to show what I have, even next year. I can promise all the fans and viewers that I will fully use the time I have because of the global events. You have something to look forward to.
A FEW WORDS FOR BENNY CRISTO
Ben Cristovao , Portuguese Ben da Silva Cristóvão (born June 8, 1987 in Pilsen ) aka Benny Cristo , is a Czech singer , songwriter , actor , athlete and songwriter. His mother comes from the Czech Republic, biological father from Angola . His younger sister is stand-up comedian Bianca Cristovao.
In 2009 he was a finalist of the Czech Slovak Superstar talent contest , where he finished 7th. But few know that he originally wanted to dance there.His experience in this competition motivated him to further focus on his singing career. In 2010, he released his debut album Definitely Different , the most successful singles being Give Me Some More and Put It On Me . A year later ( 2011 ) released the second album Benny Cristo . The album contains a song with Monika Bagárová I want and hit Cheers . For example, he performed before the American electro-pop group Far East Movement and Cuban-American rapper Pitbull .
In 2013 , Ben Cristovao and his video Bombs (directed by Tomáš Kasal) were nominated for the video clip of the year in the Czech Nightingale survey . This year, in addition to the single Bomby released the song Body and Stop . Ben Cristovao also (along with other musicians such as David Koller, Dan Barta, Michael Kocab, Vojta Dyk) participated in the project of Nikagda civic activity forgotten , which called for the 2013 elections and warned against the return of communists and inclinations to Russia.
In 2013 he released his third album Made In Czechoslovakia . The album contains a total of 16 songs, including Bomby , Sweet Chilli , Instagram , Molly (feat. Ego) and Body (feat. Supa) .
In 2015, Ben Cristovao performed in the sold-out Forum Karlín.
In 2016 he was awarded the Czech Nightingale award in the Most Streamed Czech Song category. He did not receive the award personally and said that he did not want to be in the same room with the band Ortel, which is known for its xenophobic lyrics. This year he recorded the cover of David Koller’s Nothing is Permanent . The song was released along with other songs by artists like Katarzia , Kato , Mucha , Vladimir 518 ) on David Koller’s recording David Koller & Friends .
In 2017 he released his latest album Poslední . This album did not come out on a classic CD, but fans could download it using a QR code on a T-shirt with special graphics. The main motif of the whole graphic was the painting Seagull in the sea, which was painted directly by Cristovao. The album comes from the song Program , for which it was made by Tomáš Kasal. In September 2017 Ben Cristovao performed a concert in Prague’s Yellow Spa for 4000 people. The recording of several songs from this concert came out in video form via VR glasses.
In 2018 Ben Cristovao performed at the Angel Music Awards with the song Legs , the guest was Jiří Korn . This year, together with Maria Čírová (produced by The Glowsticks ), he prepared the central song Padam for the Czech-Slovak dance film Backstage by Andrea Sedláčková . In the film, Ben Cristovao also plays the role of the jury of the dance competition. It also features Ivana Chýlková , Roman Luknár and Kryštof Hádek . In 2018, Ben Cristovao became a juror of the Czech Slovak Superstar talent contest .
The Eurovision story so far
Czech Republic appeared for the first time in the Contest in 2007 with Kabat. A a row of disappointing results the country withdrew in 2010 and didn’t return until 2016. In 2016 its returned was followed by a grand final qualification for the first time . The best result came for the country in 2018 with Mikolas Josef who achieved a 6th placing in the Lisbon with his song και Lie to me.
Last year, Lake Malawi represented the country and finished 11th in the final . This was the country’s third qualification to the final . The outstanding element was the gap between the jury voting that placed the group 8th with 150 points while the public vote placed the Czech at the 24th place.
This year Benny Cristo was to represent the country with his song Kemama but due to the corovirus outbreak his Eurovision journey stayed incomplete.
