GREECE

The Greek entry was unveiled in March 10^th via a video and press conference. A month earlier, ERT announced that Argo (formerly Europond) has been internally selected by the broadcaster to represent them at Eurovision. Their song is called “Utopian land”

This is a typically Greek sounding song in terms of orchestration. It starts in 7/8 tie then reverts back to a more ear friendly 4/4 time, however it does go back to 7/8 near the end too.  The verses are rapped in Greek/Pontian whilst the chorus is sang in English. The rapping parts sound ok, as do the singing bits but put together they sound a little odd. Moreover the changes in time signature also jar a little. The backing track, as a whole, has a great quality to it shame that the instrumental parts are a little messy at times.

This is the first time for quite a while that a relatively unknown act has been sent to Eurovision to represent Greece. Argo consists of a four singers - Vladimiros Sofianidis (who also wrote the song) , Christina Lachana, Ilias Kesidis and Maria Elbrus and two instrumentalists - Konstantinos Topouzis playing the Pontian lyre and  Alexandros Papadopoulos is playing the tabor. The band has been going since 2001 from their base in Thessaloniki. Their work is normally performed in Greek and the dialect of Pontian although this song also has some English. Their work is inspired by hip-hop but they use a whole range of classical and national instruments as well.

The video gives us no clues at all about what the performance might be like in Stockholm as it seemingly does not contain any of the 6 performers of the band. Being 6 of them there is no room for extra singers or dancers to support them. The entry seems very lacklustre and lackadaisical and doesn’t really go anywhere or come to a peak. I am not sure how well this would go down in the hall as it doesn’t have enough power or emotion to get everybody going. Greece have a 100% qualifying record to the final and I think this puts that in serious jeopardy. Looking at its position in the first half of semi 1, they do have some neighbours and diaspora votes but I am not sure how a jury will react to this. If there’s any justice, this will not qualify. If it does, it is bound to be a very poor show in the final, possibly bottom 5.

ARTIST – Argo

SONG – Utopian Land

MUSIC – Vladimiros Sofianidis

LYRICS – Vladimiros Sofianidis