Who will win in Hungary? Watch it live tonight!

This year marks the fifth time that the A Dal festival has served to pick the Hungarian representative in the Eurovision Song Contest. And indeed it has grown from an experiment to the most popular annual pop music competition in Hungary.

The following acts will compete in the final of A Dal 2016 tonight:

• Freddie - Pioneer
• Parno Graszt - Már nem szédülök
• André Vásáry - Why
• Olivér Berkes & Andi Tóth - Seven Seas
• Petruska – Trouble in My Mind
• Gergő Oláh – Győz a jó
• Kállay Saunders Band – Who We Are
• Mushu – Uncle Tom

Two rounds of voting will lead to the winner: First an expert jury panelwill determine four super-finalists. After that it's wholly up to the TV viewers to decide who will have the honour to represent Hungary in Stockholm. 

Apart from the winner's trophy, the special prizes Best Remix of A Dal and Best Acoustic Performance will be awarded tonight too.

In the first semi-final, the jury had already handed the award for the Best Lyrics of A Dal, which was received by Borbála Csarnai - she wrote the lyrics to Freddie's song Pioneer. One week before that Petruska had been given the award for the Best Newcomer.

Meet tonight's contestants!

Mushu

Mushu is one of the youngest groups in A Dal 2016. The three young members all have different musical backgrounds. Mushu Israel, the singer-songwriter and bass guitarist of the band, considers himself a punk, but blues, soul, indie and synthpop also have an influence on the band's music. Guitarist Kert Antal Tony is an experienced folk-guitarist and drummer Kozák Örs is a jazz student.

Freddie

Freddie became known as the "shower boy" in the Hungarian Rising Star when he admitted that he only had the shower head as his audience for a long time. The singer is a relatively new face in the Hungarian music scene but he already has many fans thanks to his uniquely smoky voice and his top hit Mary Joe.

Parno Graszt

The Roma folk band was formed in 1987 and its name means White Horse. The band is known worldwide for their authentic gypsy music. While playing music in their home county the band is often accompanied by fellow citizens of their hometown who sing and dance together with them on stage. Their song Már nem szédülök (I don’t feel dizzy anymore) is written by their founder József Oláh.

André Vásáry

André Vásáry is a male soprano singer with an outstanding vocal range. He has proved to be a successful Hungarian performer not only as a classical singer but also in the crossover genre. Vásáry has worked in several international cooperations and his talent is acknowledged worldwide. The singer considers social responsibility a crucial part of his life and he performs regularly at charity events.

Olivér Berkes & Andi Tóth

The members of the duo are both qualified in many fields. Olivér Berkes is a business student and a permanent performer in the musical scene of Hungary with many successful songs under his belt. Andi Tóth won the X Factor talent show in 2015, making her the youngest Hungarian winner of the programme. She is also a performing actress in both TV and theatrical productions.

Kállay Saunders Band

Frontman András Kállay Saunders is an experienced Eurovision Song Contest participant – he reached the fifth place in 2014 for Hungary in Copenhagen. Kállay Saunders founded his band with the aim to perform accompanied by live musicians in the future. Their first album is called Delivery Boy as a memento of the time when the singer worked as a pizza delivery boy besides his studies.

Gergő Oláh

Gergő Oláh's way to success was a long one, from being a community worker to becoming one of the most acknowledged Roma performers. After winning the Hungarian version of X Factor in 2012, Oláh has released several hit songs and also performs in musicals. He has a music band called Roma Soul and they re-write well-known Hungarian songs and world hits with the use of authentic gypsy music elements.

Petruska

The young singer-songwriter combines elements of British rock with Hungarian folk motifs in his music. Due to his suggestive, direct and humorous performances Petruska is a dominant figure in Hungary's young musician generation. His next album will be released in Spring 2016 and was inspired by the challenges of his generation.

A Dal - which means The Song - is a popular national selection format developed by the Hungarian public service broadcaster. Already for the fifth time, it serves as a platform to select the Hungarian entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. Since A Dal has been introduced as the Hungarian national selection method for the Eurovision Song Contest in 2012, it has proved to be not only a successful TV show but also an important new platform to introduce artists, bands and composers to a large audience. 

Csilla Tatár and Levente Harsányi will be the presenters of the show. The expert jury will consist of Zséda, Pierrot, Károly Frenreisz and Miklós Both. You can find more detailed information about the voting below. 

The maths behind the Voting

The voting procedure is as follows:

• From each heat (quarter final) the jury votes have picked the best 5 acts. After the jury voted, televoting qualified 1 more act from the 5 that had not been chosen by the jury.
• In each semi-final, out of 9 respective acts, 3 were first selected by the jury. Then televoting chose 1 more act from the 6 that had not been chosen by the jury.

Note that in every instance of jury voting, televoting also makes up 20% of the result - the TV viewers are counted like a "fifth juror".

The TV viewers can vote through the app, A Dal website or text messages. 

In the final, out of the 8 acts, the jury will select 4 to go to the super-final, where televoting solely decides the winner.