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Quick quotes of Sunday, 18th of May

19 May 2008 at 04:21 CEST

GEORGIA: Diana Gurtskaya 

“It was my dream to come to ESC and I succeeded in it and I'm here now and I'm very happy about it” – Diana said.

“The perfume is my promo product and it was the idea of my family and I'm really grateful for this wonderful idea. If everything goes out well I think I'll make my own scent.” – Diana added.

“Definitely [the song] will be translated in many languages. It will be translated to Russian and various other languages. We already have the Serbian version, but unfortunately I wasn't able to learn it by now,” said Diana.

At the end of the conference, Diana invited journalists to follow her outside and take pictures of her setting doves free from the cage. As she set the doves free, she shouted: “Peace will come!” 

HUNGARY: Csezy

“We're overall satisfied. There was a bit of disagreement, but that's all settled now. Everything is done to our satisfaction by RTS. We thank them for that,” said Hungarian HoD about the 2nd rehearsal.

Csezy said: "The most important thing is that my country is proud of me."

At the end of the conference the back vocals performed a traditional Hungarian song (which was a tribute to Serbian folk music, as they said) and the Hungarian ESC entry for this year "Candlelight". 

MALTA: Morena

Morena is very pleased with the 2nd rehearsal. We would like to thank everybody, the director, the organizers. We are satisfied with the final product” – the delegation PR commented the 2nd rehearsal.

When asked what her strategy was, Morena said “We are just gonna have fun on stage, we want that everybody have fun with us, we are just going to party on stage.” 

“I have to thank to all backing vocalists and dancers who are not only dancers but really, really good backing vocalists” – one of delegation members said. Morena sang “Vodka”, Malta’s Eurovision 2008 entry. “They are all great, the competition is really tough this year, whoever wins it is really great” – Morena said when questioned about what she would tell other contestants if she won the ESC 2008 in Belgrade. 

CYPRUS: Evdokia Kadi

When asked about the second rehearsal, Evdokia said: “Everything was great for the second time. Every time we have rehearsals everything is getting better.” HoD added: “We're getting there, we're almost there. I'm sure that when Arena is full everyone will give 100 percent of their power.”

HoD said about the performance: “We're happy with what the production is doing; there won't be big changes, slight changes only.”

Evdokia was asked what her favorites at this ESC were. She answered: “Many. Fortunately there are many, many good songs.”

At the end of the conference, Evdokia performed “Femme Fatale". 

FYR MACEDONIA: Tamara, Vrčak & Adrijan

“We loved the 2nd rehearsal. We were amazed by the organization and the stage itself, the concept Confluence of Sound is original. –HoD Milanka Rasic said.  The director of the video for “Let me love you” is the famous Serbian director Dejan Milićević – Milanka said. We made six version of the song and therefore we have six different videos. I think this ESC is to be remembered for years,” – Milanka continued. They sang their ESC 2008 entry, Let me love you, at the press conference and later on they sang the Macedonian version of Life is (Angel si ti) by Tose Proeski, which represented the country in Istanbul 2004.

PORTUGAL: Vânia Fernandes 

Regarding the second rehearsal, Vania said:  “Our rehearsal was OK. We had some problems with the sound. We did it three times. The first time the sound wasn't as good as the last rehearsal. The last rehearsal the sound was perfect, I don't know what happened. But we ended with everyone hearing themselves, which is the most important. It was great, it was a great rehearsal.”

When asked about the background on the stage during their act, a member of the Portuguese delegation said: “When we came here we had to try different options. Firstly, we tried with the background from the organization and this time we tried something different. We wanted to adjust everything. This time we were satisfied even more than the last time. So, you'll see even more blue waves.”

During the conference, Vania performed Non ho l'eta and the Serbian version of her song Senhora do mar.

UNITED KINGDOM: Andy Abraham 

“It was great. We've kind of moved on with the dynamics of the visuals. It's starting to get the final shape. I'm looking forward to doing my thing,” said Andy about his second rehearsal.

Andy performed a song from his new album a capella. Also, when asked to sing a in any other language but English, Andy performed a song by Julio Iglesias. 

A journalist asked Andy if he would change if he won at the ESC. “No, not in the slightest. I know myself, I'm comfortable within myself. My friends and family would slap me down,” said Andy.

GERMANY: No Angels 

At the beginning of the conference, the German HoD read the press release about Jessica's sickness, saying she had a viral infection and that she will be singing at the contest, but will not be able to appear at the press conference. 

“Rehearsals were much, much, much better than yesterday. Yesterday was the first rehearsal, now it got better, it's growing and growing,” said the German delegation. No Angels were asked if Jessica's sickness affected the rehearsal. “It didn't affect it. Of course we were missing her, it was a little bit strange, but it was OK.”

Since she revealed that her grandmother was Serbian during the first conference, Nadja was asked if she spoke Serbian and if she had ever been to BelgradeSerbia and Yugoslavia before the war. Now it's very emotional for me, I feel very good here. My grandma came back from Belgrade three weeks ago, she was here to visit the family,” Nadja replied. before. “No, I don't speak Serbian. I was in 

No Angels performed their song Still in Love with You at the end of the press conference

FRANCE: Sébastien Tellier 

Sébastien was asked about his memories connected with the ESC. “When I was young I used to watch it with my grandparents, because they were great fans of ESC,” he replied.

“We didn't' show you everything, we're keeping some surprises for the next Saturday. You'll see,” said the French HoD. 

When asked to sing something different than his ESC song, Sébastien performed La Dolce Vita.

“It's such wonderful country,” Sébastien said about Serbia.

“I want to thank the Serbian TV for the great organization. Usually, I don't say this. We feel very comfortable here,” HoD France said. 

SPAIN: Rodolfo Chikilicuatre

The Spanish HoD said "Our common feeling is that we're in a very beautiful country."

When asked why they made an extended version of the song (which was originally much shorter) for the ESC, Rodolfo said: "We did that just to spend more time on the stage."

A journalist asked what Disco and Graphica had been doing before they had met Rodolfo. Graphica replied: "Before we met Rodolfo we were nothing and now we're happy with him."

When asked how long it had taken him to learn to play the plastic guitar, Rodolfo said: "I got my first guitar from my father. It was a long time until I realized I had to put batteries inside to make it work."

"I'm very proud to be here and I came to win the ESC," said Rodolfo. 

SERBIA: Jelena Tomašević and Bora Dugić

Regarding the rehearsal she had just finished, Jelena said: “It was very good. We're so satisfied with sound and the performance on the stage. You'll see the rest in the finals.”

During the conference, Jelena performed a traditional Serbian song, followed by Bora Dugić on flute.

Taking about her first press conference from the previous day, Jelena said: “It was the best press conference in my life. It was very emotional.”

Also, Jelena received a gift from her fan club in Israel – a T-shirt with Hebrew translation of lyrics of “Oro” printed on it.

Jelena performed live her ESC entry “Oro” in different languages – Portuguese, Greek, Spanish and Serbian. Also, Bora Dugić played the flute.