Portugal participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song „Senhora do mar (Negras águas)“ written by Andrej Babić and Carlos Coelho. The song was performed by Vânia Fernandes. The Portuguese broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) organised the national final Festival da Canção 2008 in order to select the Portuguese entry for the 2008 contest in Belgrade, Serbia. The competition took place on 9 March 2008 where „Senhora do mar (Negras águas)“ performed by Vânia Fernandes emerged as the winner after gaining 35.24% of the public televote.
Portugal was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 22 May 2008. Performing as the closing entry during the show in position 19, „Senhora do mar (Negras águas)“ was announced among the 10 qualifying entries of the second semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 24 May. This marked the first time that Portugal qualified to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest from a semi-final since the introduction of semi-finals in 2004. It was later revealed that Portugal placed second out of the 19 participating countries in the semi-final with 120 points. In the final, Portugal performed in position 13 and placed thirteenth out of the 25 participating countries with 69 points.
Festival da Canção 2008
Festival da Canção 2008 was the 44th edition of Festival da Canção that selected Portugal’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. Ten entries competed in the competition which took place on 9 March 2008 at the Teatro Camões in Lisbon. The show was hosted by Sílvia Alberto and broadcast on RTP1 and RTP Internacional as well as online via the broadcaster’s official website rtp.pt.
Competing entries
Ten producers were invited by RTP for the competition. The producers worked in coordination with their selected composers on the songs which were required to be created and submitted in the Portuguese language by 22 February 2008 in its final versions, while its performers were chosen by RTP. The selected producers were revealed between 24 and 30 January 2008, while the competing artists were revealed between 25 January and 15 February 2008. The producers were:
- Carlos Coelho
- Carluz Belo
- Elvis Veiguinha
- Fernando Martins
- Gimba
- Jan van Dijck
- Ménito Ramos
- Miguel Majer and Ricardo Santos (Donna Maria)
- Nuno Feist
- Renato Júnior
| Artist | Song | Songwriter(s) | Producer(s) |
| Alex Smith | „Obrigatório ter“ | Jan van Dijck, Pedro Malaquias | Jan van Dijck |
| Big Hit | „Por ti, Portugal“ | Fernando Martins, Alexandra Valentim, João Baião | Fernando Martins |
| Blá Blà Blá | „Magicantasticamente“ | Gimba, Luís Miguel Viterbo | Gimba |
| Carluz Belo | „Cavaleiro da manhã“ | Carluz Belo | Carluz Belo |
| Lisboa não sejas francesa | „Porto de encontro“ | Miguel Majer, Ricardo Santos | Miguel Majer, Ricardo Santos |
| Marco Rodrigues | „Em água e sal“ | Tiago Machado, Inês Pedrosa | Elvis Veiguinha |
| Ricardo Soler [pt] | „Canção pop“ | Renato Júnior, Nuno Markl | Renato Júnior |
| Tucha | „O poder da mensagem“ | Ménito Ramos | Ménito Ramos |
| Vanessa | „Do outro lado da vida“ | Nuno Feist, Nuno Marques da Silva | Nuno Feist |
| Vânia Fernandes | „Senhora do mar (Negras águas)“ | Andrej Babić, Carlos Coelho | Carlos Coelho |
Final
The final took place on 9 March 2008. In addition to performances of the ten competing entries, each of the competing artists performed a cover version of a former Eurovision winning song both solo and as a group (with the songs „Waterloo“ by ABBA, „Making Your Mind Up“ by Bucks Fizz and „Hallejulah“ by Milk and Honey). The winner, „Senhora do mar (Negras águas)“ performed by Vânia Fernandes, was selected solely by a public televote held in Portugal, France, Spain, Germany and Switzerland. Be-Dom and Hip Hop BCM performed as the interval acts.
Following Vânia Fernandes’s victory at Festival da Canção 2008, the singer filmed the music video for „Senhora do mar (Negras águas)“ in Madeira and Porto Santo which was presented on 4 April 2008. An English language version of the song, titled „Lady of the Sea“, was also recorded. Both the Portuguese and English versions of the song were released on a CD single ahead of the contest, which also included karaoke and instrumental edits and a remix by Portuguese DJ Rui da Silva.
| Draw | Artist | Song | Cover performance (Original artist) | Televote | Place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marco Rodrigues | „Em água e sal“ | „Après toi“ (Vicky Leandros) | 5,944 | 3 |
| 2 | Carluz Belo | „Cavaleiro da manhã“ | „L’oiseau et l’enfant“ (Marie Myriam) | 2,049 | 8 |
| 3 | Big Hit | „Por ti, Portugal“ | „Hold Me Now“ (Johnny Logan) | 2,934 | 6 |
| 4 | Lisboa não sejas francesa | „Porto de encontro“ | „Puppet on a String“ (Sandie Shaw) | 1,974 | 9 |
| 5 | Vânia Fernandes | „Senhora do mar (Negras águas)“ | „Non ho l’età“ (Gigliola Cinquetti) | 17,650 | 1 |
| 6 | Vanessa | „Do outro lado da vida“ | „Everyway That I Can“ (Sertab Erener) | 2,622 | 7 |
| 7 | Ricardo Soler | „Canção pop“ | „Ne partez pas sans moi“ (Celine Dion) | 4,736 | 4 |
| 8 | Alex Smith | „Obrigatório ter“ | „My Number One“ (Helena Paparizou) | 6,928 | 2 |
| 9 | Tucha | „O poder da mensagem“ | „J’aime la vie“ (Sandra Kim) | 626 | 10 |
| 10 | Blá Blà Blá | „Magicantasticamente“ | „Save Your Kisses for Me“ (Brotherhood of Man) | 4,616 | 5 |
Vânia Fernandes came 13th at the ESC. One of the members of the group ‚Big Hit‘ was Gonçalo Medeiros who was a backing singer for Portugal in ESC 2004. One of the members of the group ‚Blá Blá Blá‘ was Francisco Andrade who was a backing singer for Portugal in ESC 2004. Another member was Ana Ferreira who was a backing singer for Portugal in ESC 2007.