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	Facts & Figures
Date	Thursday 18 May 2006
Location	Olympic Indoor Hall, Athens, Greece
Broadcaster	[flag=gr]Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT)
Hosts	Maria Menounos and Sakis Rouvas
Executive Producer	Fotini Yannoulatou
EBU Scrutineer	Svante Stockselius
Director	Volker Weicker
Opening act	Eurovision medley performed by Greek gods and goddesses; „Love Shine a Light“ performed by Sakis Rouvas and Maria Menounos
Interval act	Emilia Tsoulfa and Dimosthenis Tampakos; „I’m In Love With You“ performed by Sakis Rouvas; Greek musical and dance pieces (composed by Dimitris Papadimitriou, choreographed by Fokas Evangelinos)
Qualifiers	[flag=am]Armenia [flag=ie]Ireland [flag=mk]F.Y.R. Macedonia [flag=ru]Russia [flag=tr]Turkey [flag=ua]Ukraine [flag=fi]Finland [flag=lt]Lithuania [flag=se]Sweden [flag=ba]Bosnia & Herzegovina

The 2006 Eurovision Song Contest Semi-Final brought us the 1000th song to be sung at the Eurovision Song Contest: Ireland’s entry Every Song Is A Cry For Love by Brian Kennedy.

A modern, ancient nation hosts the contest

The official logo of the 2006 contest remained the same from 2004 and 2005 with the country’s flag in a heart-shaped form. However, the 2006 sub-logo was based on the Phaistos Disc, which is a popular symbol of ancient Greece. According to ERT, it was „inspired by the wind and the sea, the golden sunlight and the glow of the sand.“ Following Istanbul’s Under The Same Sky and Kyi’s Awakening, the motto for the 2006 show was Feel The Rhythm. This theme was also the basis for the postcards for the 2006 show, which emphasized Greece’s historical significance as well as being a modern tourist destination.

23 countries took part in the Semi-Final, covering all musical ranges: from Finnish hard-rock to Albanian ethnic sounds, via Swedish schlager. Contrary to the 2005 Semi-Final, most experts and fans agreed on the songs that went on to the Final, with the only exception being the shocking exit of Belgian star Kate Ryan, who had had a handful of European smash hits before.

Iceland’s diva character Silvia Night had all the cameras zooming in her direction due to her extravagant behaviour, but didn’t qualify either. In interviews, she referred to the Finnish participants as „stars without a real make-up artist“ and she accused the Swedish participant of poisoning her. People of the host country certainly did not welcome her rather rude comments about Greeks in general, and she was welcomed on stage with loud boo-ing from the audience.

About the results

The lucky 10 that qualified for the final were: Finland, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Russia, Sweden, Lithuania, Armenia, Ukraine, Turkey, Ireland and FYM Macedonia.

The Participants

#	Representing country	Performer(s)	Song title, writer(s) and composer(s)	Points	Place
01	ArmeniaAMPTV	André	Without Your Love	150	06
02	BulgariaBNT	Mariana Popova	Let Me Cry	036	17
03	SloveniaRTVSLO	Andej Dezan	Mr. Nobody	049	16
04	AndorraRTVA	Jennifer	Sense Tu	008	23
05	BelarusBTRC	Polina Smolova	Mum	010	22
06	AlbaniaRTSH	Luiz Ejlli	Zjarr E Ftohtë	058	14
07	BelgiumVRT	Kate Ryan	Je T’adore	069	12
08	IrelandRTÉ	Brian Kennedy	Every Song Is A Cry For Love	079	09
09	CyprusCyBC	Annet Artani	Why Angels Cry	057	15
10	MonacoTMC	Séverine Ferrer	La Coco-dance	014	21
11	F.Y.R. MacedoniaMKRTV	Elena Risteska	Ninanajna	076	10
12	PolandTVP	Ich Troje	Follow My Heart	070	11
13	RussiaC1R	Dima Bilan	Never Let You Go	217	03
14	TurkeyTRT	Sibel Tüzün	Superstar	091	08
15	UkraineNTU	Tina Karol	Show Me Your Love	146	07
16	FinlandYLE	Lordi	Hard Rock Hallelujah	292	01
17	The NetherlandsNOS	Treble	Amambanda	022	20
18	LithuaniaLRT	LT United	We Are The Winners	163	05
19	PortugalRTP	Nonstop	Coisas De Nada	026	19
20	SwedenSVT	Carola	Invincible	214	04
21	EstoniaERR	Sandra	Through My Window	028	18
22	Bosnia & HerzegovinaBHRT	Hari Mata Hari	Lejla	267	02
23	IcelandRÚV	Silvia Night	Congratulations	062	13
24	Serbia & MontenegroRTS	Withdrew from the competition, but still voted		000	24

Scoreboard