Greece : Yianna Terzi to Lisbon with the song “Oniro mou”.
The drama around the Greek national final seems to have reached an end. Recently, information around the hosts, the duration and other details οφ the national final concept kept coming up but after last night’s developments the picture changed rapidly. According to yesterday’s update, Areti Ketime and Chorostalites were excluded from the national selection as their record companies failed to submit on time the bank guarantee letter for the amount of 20.000€.
This latest development means that the national final is off and opens the way to an internal selection of Yianna Terzi and her song “Oniro mou“. Just minutes ago the national broadcaster released on local media the official announcement declaring Yianna Terzi and her song as the next Eurovision representative in Lisbon.
This is ERT’s press release that went public just a minutes ago:
«The administration of ERT had decided at the beginning of the season to hold a national final which would determine the country’s representative at the 63rd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. This decision complies with the EBU framework of regulations , leaving the initiative of way to select their representative to the countries.
Under this framework , in October 2017 the first researching talks were held with the record labels in order to see the possibility of participating in the national selection with a song in Greek Lyrics and sound.
After this a total of 20 songs from 14 record companies were submitted to ERT. Ert’s executive administration formed an Artistic and Organizing committee consisted of the channel’s employees having as a basic rule that the members of both committees will differ, in order to secure a fair procedure.
The Artistic committee selected the following songs:– «Don’t Forget the sun» by Areti Ketime – SPICY MUSIC
– «From Thrace to Crete» by Chorostalites – SPIDER MUSIC
– «Το oniro mou» by Yianna Terzi – PANIC ENTERTAINMENT GROUP
The Organizing Committee examined the Artistic Committee’s recommendation and concluded in the participation of the three songs in the national selection which was going to be ERT’s responsibility to hold.
The three record companies were invited in private and joint meetings with ERT’s executives in order to determine the contract’s terms, based on which the acts would participate in the national final. Basic conditions of the contract were, the Artistic Excellence according to EBU standards and the distribution of the financial cost between ERT and the companies, in a way that will serve both sides’ interest.
After days of discussion with all three record companies, we concluded in a final draft of the binding contract, which predicted the collaboration of the two parts on the artistic presentation of the country’s entry and the submission by each record label a bank letter guaranteeing the amount of 20.000 euro. Notable that ERT’s initial proposal was for 90.000 euro . However after the objections coming from the three record companies and the narrow economic conditions in the Greek music market we lowered the amount to 20.000 predicting a 70.000 euro penalty in case of breach of contract.
In a common meeting with ERT’s officials it was decided the national final to be held on February 22 2018, as long as the signed contract and the bank letter were submitted until 12/2 and after the extension given, as requested by the companies, until 15/2.
After the deadline expired only PANIK ENTERTAINMENT GROUP had submitted the contract and the bank letter guaranteeing the amount of 20.000 euro.
Complying literally with the agreed terms, ERT accepted the proposal, fact that makes a national final not necessary, despite initial intentions.
Therefore, ERT’s Administration announces that Greece will be represented in the 63rd Edition of the Eurovision Song Contest by Yianna Terzi and the song “To oneiro mou” written and composed by Aris Kalimeris, Michali Papathanasiou and Dimitri Stamatiou”
Listen to the song Oniro mou (My Dream ) that will represent Greece on the Eurovision Stage next May in Lisbon:
