Tonight: The Greek song selection LIVE on Eurovision.tv
18 February 2009 at 02:36 CET
Three songs - Out Of Control (composed by Dimitris Kontopoulos, lyrics by Alexandra Zakka), Right On Time (composed by Dimitris Kontopoulos, lyrics by Craig Porteils and Cameron Giles-Webb ) and This Is Our Night (by the same team) - are up for selection tonight.
Greek television viewers have a say in the result through televoting. A professional jury will get the help of Eurovision Song Contest fans, as one of the jury votes represents the outcome of a poll hold amongst members of the website Esctoday.com.
Other 2009 participants to perform
Several foreign 2009 Eurovision Song Contest entrants, include those of Cyprus (Christina Metaxa), Belarus (Petr Elfimov), Malta (Chiara), Montenegro (Andrea Demirovic), Turkey (Hadise) and the United Kingdom (Jade) have been invited to the spectacular show to introduce their songs to the Greek audience.
Kalomira, who sang Greece to a third place in last year's Eurovision Song Contest, will step on the Athinon Arena stage to sing her song once again.
First big announcement
The first big announcement in the lead up to the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest came from Greece, just weeks after the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. Sakis Rouvas (37), who represented Greece in 2004 with Shake It - he finished third! - and hosted the contest in Athens in 2006, would make another come-back to the Eurovision Song Contest stage in 2009. A televised song selection will give viewers the opportunity to pick Sakis' song for Moscow. The singer, originially from Corfu, is active in the Greek and Cypriot music business since 1991, and launched over a dozen successful albums. Over the past 17 years, he sold an estimated two million albums. This year, the popular singer will return to the international stage as Greece relies on him to bring back the contest to Hellenic soil.
Top-three success
Greece has been rather successful the past years at Europe's favorite TV-show, having finished in the top-three several times, including Sakis Rouvas himself in 2004 with his Shake It, and Kalomira's Secret Combination last year.
Watch LIVE at 21:00 CET
You can watch the Greek song selection LIVE on Eurovision.tv, and discuss the show in the comments section below. While Greek TV viewers watch the break, you can continue to follow what's going on inside the show's venue through the webcast! CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE WEBCAST..
