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Eurovision Song Contest 1999
Participating broadcaster	Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC)
Country	Cyprus
National selection
Selection process	National final
Selection date(s)	9 February 1999
Selected artist(s)	Marlain Angelidou
Selected song	"Tha 'nai erotas"
Selected songwriter(s)	Giorgos Kallis Andreas Karanikolas
Finals performance
Final result	22nd, 2 points
Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄1998 • 1999 • 2000►

Cyprus was represented at the Eurovision Song Contest 1999 with the song "Tha 'nai erotas" (Θα'ναι έρωτας), composed by Giorgos Kallis, with lyrics by Andreas Karanikolas, and performed by Marlain Angelidou. The Cypriot participating broadcaster, the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC), selected its entry through a national final.

Nine songs competed in the national final, held on 9 February 1999, where a panel of high-profile media personalities selected the winning song. Marlain Angelidou with the song "Tha 'nai erotas" received the most votes and was selected to represent Cyprus in the contest. Angelidou performed 14th at the international contest and at the close of the voting process, finished in 22nd place, receiving just two points from the United Kingdom. The result was seen as unexpected as Cyprus had been a favourite to win the contest in betting odds.

Background

Prior to the 1999 contest, the Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest representing Cyprus 17 times since its first entry in 1981. It then participated yearly, only missing the 1988 contest when its selected song "Thimame" performed by Yiannis Dimitrou was disqualified for being previously released. To this point, its best placing was fifth, achieved twice: in 1982 with the song "Mono i agapi" performed by Anna Vissi and in 1997 with "Mana mou" performed by Hara and Andreas Constantinou. Its least successful result was in 1986 when it placed last with the song "Tora zo" by Elpida, receiving only four points in total.

Before Eurovision

Diagonismós Tragoudioú Giourovízion 1999: Epilogí Tis Kypriakís Symmetochís

Competing entries

The Cyprus Broadcasting Corporation (CyBC) opened a submission period for songs until 18 December 1998. By the end of the submission period, 66 entries had been submitted. On 17 January 1999, in radio room one of the CyBC studios, a 14-member jury listened to the received submissions and chose ten songs to compete in the national final. The selection was done in two stages: first the songs were listened to and the jury voted and selected 30 entries; and from those 30 entries, the ten competing entries for the national final were selected.

"24 chronia" was withdrawn by its composer, Aristos Moschovakis, prior to the final. Production problems were cited as the reason for the song's withdrawal.

Final

The final was broadcast live at 21:00 EET on RIK 1 on 9 February 1999 in a show titled Diagonismós Tragoudioú Giourovízion 1999: Epilogí Tis Kypriakís Symmetochís (Διαγωνισμός Τραγουδιού Γιουροβίζιον 1999: Επιλογή Της Κυπριακής Συμμετοχής). The contest was held at the Monte Caputo Nightclub in Limassol, and was hosted by Loukas Hamatsos. The winner was chosen by a panel of high-profile media personalities, one of whom was Thanos Kalliris, who had represented Greece in 1987 as part of Bang.

The winning song was "Tha 'nai erotas", composed by George Kallis, with lyrics by Andreas Karanicolas, and performed by Marlain Angelidou. Angelidou had previously attempted to represent Cyprus the previous year as part of a duo, placing second behind Michalis Hatzigiannis.

Promotion

To promote the entry, an event was held at Zoo nightclub in Cyprus where Angelidou and her team were greeted by media while the music video of "Tha 'nai erotas" played in the background. The song was commercially released by record label Malvina Music.

At Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest 1999 took place at the International Convention Center in Jerusalem, Israel on 29 May 1999. According to Eurovision rules, the 23-country participant list for the contest was composed of: the winning country from the previous year's contest; the 17 countries, other than the previous year's winner, which had obtained the highest average number of points over the last five contests; and any countries which had not participated in the previous year's content. Cyprus was one of the 17 countries with the highest average scores, and thus were permitted to participate. The running order for the contest was decided by a draw held on 17 November 1998; Cyprus was assigned position 14, following Iceland and preceding Sweden.

Prior to the contest, the nation had reached first place in betting odds in April, which prompted a Cypriot delegation representative to respond at a CyBC press conference, saying they would prefer to not win due to the costs of hosting the next year and would instead prefer to place a "respectable second". By late May, however, the British company Ladbrokes had shown Cyprus falling to a predicted sixth place. Despite the odds, the entry only received two points, both from United Kingdom, placing 22nd in the field of 23, beating only Spain. Andrew Adamides of Cyprus Mail wrote in a summary of the contest that Cyprus' poor placing is thought to be attributed to this being the first contest where an entry could be performed in any language (Cyprus' entry was performed in Greek, while the winning song, in English) and possibly due to political voting. For her performance, Angelidou was joined by two backing vocalists: Nicole Jones and Lina Kawar.

Voting

The same voting system in use since 1975 was again implemented for this event, with each country providing 1–8, 10 and 12 points to the ten highest-ranking songs as determined by a selected jury or the viewing public through televoting, with countries not allowed to vote for themselves. This was the second contest to feature widespread public voting, and Cyprus opted to implement this method to determine which countries would receive their points, with an 8-member back-up jury assembled in case technical failures rendered the telephone votes invalid. Around 15,000 calls were registered in Cyprus in total during the five-minute voting window, which determined the nation's points.

Points awarded to Cyprus Score Country 12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points 5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points  United Kingdom 1 point

Points awarded by Cyprus Score Country 12 points  Iceland 10 points  Israel 8 points  Denmark 7 points  Norway 6 points  Sweden 5 points  Lithuania 4 points  United Kingdom 3 points  Malta 2 points  Croatia 1 points  Austria

References

1. ^ "History by Country: Cyprus". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 7 September 2015. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
2. O'Connor 2010, p. 212.
3. "Τα Σημερινά" [Today's]. ΣΗΜΕΡΙΝΗ. 24 September 1998. p. 6. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
4. ^ "Επιλέγηκαν τα δέκα τραγούδια για τη Γιουροβίζιον" [The ten songs for Eurovision were chosen]. ΧΑΡΑΥΓΗ. 18 January 1999. p. 2. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
5. ^ Adamides, Andrew (11 February 1999). "It'll be love for Jerusalem". Cyprus Mail. Archived from the original on 2 February 2018. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
6. "Το «24 χρόνια» εκτός της Γιουροβίζιον" ["24 years" out of Eurovision]. ΧΑΡΑΥΓΗ. 8 February 1999. p. 2. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
7. ^ Mantzilas, Dimitrios (22 December 2018). "Κύπρος 1999: η Μαρλαίν Αγγελίδου, αν και φαβορί, καταποντίστηκε" [Cyprus 1999: Marlene Angelidou, although favourite, was defeated]. INFE GREECE (in Greek). Archived from the original on 31 August 2024. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
8. "ΡΙΚ1" [RIK1]. ΧΑΡΑΥΓΗ. 9 February 1999. p. 12. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
9. "Το «Θα 'ναι έρωτας» στη Γιουροβίζιον" ["It will be love" at Eurovision]. ΧΑΡΑΥΓΗ. 10 February 1999. p. 16. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
10. ^ Adamides, Andrew (16 April 1999). "Preparing for Eurovision". Cyprus Mail. Archived from the original on 3 February 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
11. ^ "Jerusalem 1999–Eurovision Song Contest". European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Archived from the original on 2 January 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
12. ^ "Rules of the 44th Eurovision Song Contest, 1999" (PDF). European Broadcasting Union. Archived (PDF) from the original on 25 February 2021. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
13. "Dana Stole My Song". Cyprus Mail. 14 May 1998. Retrieved 2 July 2022.
14. "We don't want to win the Eurovision song contest". Cyprus Mail. 17 April 1999. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
15. Adamides, Andrew (26 May 1999). "Fancy a flutter on Marlain? Not in Cyprus". Cyprus Mail. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
16. "Precious are Eurovision favourites". BBC News. 25 May 1999. Archived from the original on 14 September 2007. Retrieved 14 March 2021.
17. ^ Adamides, Andrew (2 June 1999). "Eurovision place in the balance after contest fiasco". Cyprus Mail. Archived from the original on 1 February 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
18. ^ "Results of the Final of Jerusalem 1999". European Broadcasting Union (EBU). Archived from the original on 1 April 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.

Further reading

• O'Connor, John Kennedy (2010). The Eurovision Song Contest: The Official History (2nd ed.). London: Carlton Books. ISBN 978-1-84732-521-1.

• Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest
• Countries in the Eurovision Song Contest 1999
• 1999 in Cyprus