In the show on the 7th of February, hosted by brothers Henry and Robert Kõrvits, ten songs competed in Tallinn for the right to represent Estonia in Moscow.
The voting procedure in the initial round was as in a lot of other countries this year, a mixture of jury and televoting. The objective being to reduce the ten finalists down to two super finalists. When the two super finalists were announced, phone lines opened again and televoting would completely decide who would win the Moscow ticket.
Although Laura won the public televoting with Destiny, the juries votes pushed her in to third place and therefore Urban Symphony and Traffic contested the Super Final.
The final results were announced. Urban Symphony were declared the winners. It is the second time that composer Sven Lõhmus has composed a winning entry for the Estonian selection, having won with Suntribe and Let's Get Loud in 2005. You can see their winning entry below.
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40 years of experience!
Urban Symphony was formed two years ago, when singer Sandra Nurmsalu took part in Estonian Television’s most popular young soloist competition Kaks Takti Ette, which included a bands' round. That was what sparked the idea to combine modern electronic music with acoustic instruments to find new and sometimes surprising resonance and colour.
Urban Symphony comprises of the singer and violinist Sandra Nurmsalu, cellists Johanna Mängel and Mari Möldre and viola player Mann Helstein, all of whom have been deeply involved in music since childhood. For performing their Eurovision Song Contest entry, Marilin Kongo and Mirjam Mesak joined the group to sing back vocals.
Urban Symphony girls, who between them have over 40 years of experience in playing musical instruments, admit that as they are young they grant themselves the right to reconsider things, to start their quest all over again or to alter course completely. They are interested in beauty in its purest meaning. The music of Urban Symphony should have a fairy-tale-like effect on listeners – simple, sincere and dreamy.
Since the introduction of the Semi-Final system in 2004 Estonia has never qualified for the Final. Urban Symphony will be hoping to change all of that when they represent Estonia in Moscow in the second Semi-Final on 14th of May. They'll perform eighteenth. Read more about them on their Artist Profile.
