Eurovision Song Contest 2004

Eurovision Song Contest 2004
"Under The Same Sky"
Dates
Semi-final	12 May 2004
Final	15 May 2004
Host
Venue	Abdi İpekçi Arena, Istanbul, Turkey
Presenter(s)	Korhan Abay, Meltem Cumbul
Directed by	Sven Stojanovic
Host broadcaster	TRT
Website	eurovision.tv/event/istanbul-2004
Participants
Number of entries	24 in final, another 12 DNQ from the semi-final
Debuting countries	Albania Andorra Belarus Serbia and Montenegro
Returning countries	Denmark Finland {{country data {{{1}}} | flaglink/core | variant = | size = | name = | altvar = | altlink = in the Eurovision Song Contest }} Lithuania Monaco Switzerland
Participation map
Vote
Voting system	Each country awarded 12, 10, 8-1 points to their 10 favourite songs
Winning song	Ukraine "Wild Dances"

The Eurovision Song Contest 2004, the 49th in the series, was held in the Abdi İpekçi Arena in Istanbul, Turkey, with the final on 15 May 2004 and the new semi-final three days earlier on 12 May 2004.

The hosting national broadcaster of the contest was TRT. The Ukrainian singer Ruslana Lyzhichko won the contest with the song "Wild Dances", and a score of 280 points. It is notable that this was only Ukraine's second participation in the contest.

The contest's new official generic logo was used for the first time this year, with the heart-shaped flag in the centre due to be changed for future contests. The slogan for Istanbul's contest was "Under The Same Sky", which communicated the importance of a united Europe and Turkish integration.

The hosts of the Eurovision Song Contest in Istanbul were Korhan Abay and Meltem Cumbul. In the semi-final and the final, Meltem Cumbul warmed up the audience with a sing-a-long of Eurovision classic "Nel blu dipinto di blu (Volare)", originally by Domenico Modugno. Sertab Erener returned to the stage in the final to perform "Everyway That I Can", the 2003 winning song, and one of her new songs called "Leave". Sertab also interviewed contestants in the green room. The Turkish dance ensemble "Fire of Anatolia" performed as the interval act. An official CD was released and, for the first time, the entire contest was released on DVD.

An hour after the semi-final had been aired, the European Broadcasting Union discovered that there had been problems with the vote counting in Monaco and Croatia. Digame, an affiliate of Deutsche Telekom, who had been responsible for processing all the votes, reported that they had encountered problems with their calculation software, and there was a problem with text message voting in Croatia. Consequently, some votes were not counted in the results announced at the end of the broadcast of the semi-final. When the results were corrected to include these additional votes, they were found not to have affected which countries had qualified for the Final.

It is also noted that Serbia and Montenegro finished 1st in the Semi-Final with 263 points and then finished 2nd in the Final with 263 points.

This year was also notable as it was the first year that Turkey voted for Cyprus and the second year in a row that Cyprus voted for Turkey. Nevertheless, in a move that angered some Cypriots, when the country presented its votes no map of the island was shown (all other presenters were preceded with their country being highlighted on a map). This was due to Turkey's recognition of the northern half of the island as an independent republic (not recognized by any other state). It is likely Turkey pulled out of showing the map because it would have only highlighted the southern portion of the island, and thus angered the international community.

This was also the first year that the scores were only re-read by the hosts in one language. Before 2004 every point was repeated in French and English, but due to 36 countries voting, and more in years to come, in 2004 to save time the hosts only re-read each score in 1 language.

There were technical problems when in a short hiatus halfway through the songs, (used for the advertising break), the hosts tried to contact various parties in Europe. They tried contacting Germany, Spain and Turkey, but in the end they only managed to get a response from Germany. Also during the Romanian postcard introduction, the information for the Romanian entry appeared on the screen, but was quickly taken away. A final hiccup was very minor, when on her way to present Ruslana the trophy, Sertab Erener got her shoe stuck in a speaker grill by the side of the stage and had to be freed by stagehands. This didn't delay proceedings in any way though, and other than the above the show ran smoothly.

Three days after the final of the contest, notable Turkish singer Çetin Alp died, in the host city itself. He was noted for his song, Opera, which earned "nul points" in the Eurovision Song Contest 1983 in Munich, Germany.

Participating countries

This year's Eurovision contest was the first to be a two-day event, with one qualifying round held on a Wednesday and the grand final held on the following Saturday. Under this new format, byes into the final were given to the 'Big 4'; the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Spain (as the largest financial contributors to the European Broadcasting Union) and the ten highest placed finishers in the 2003 contest. Andorra, Albania, Belarus and Serbia and Montenegro participated in the Contest for the first time, with Monaco returning after an 25-year absence. Luxembourg were due to return after an absence of 11 years, but later pulled out after money issues arose between RTL and the EBU. All participating countries had the right to vote in both the qualifying round and the grand final. This was the first year in which all 36 participating countries voted based on a public phone vote. However France, Poland and Russia did not broadcast the semi-final (as they were not participating in it) and therefore did not give votes for it like the other thirty-three countries.

Final

The finalists were:

• the four automatic qualifiers France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom;
• the top 10 countries from the 2003 contest (other than the automatic qualifiers);
• the top 10 countries from the 2004 semi-final.

The final was held on 15 May 2004 at 21:00 (CET).

Countries in bold automatically qualified for the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 Final.

Draw	Country	Language	Artist	Song	Translation	Place	Points
01	Spain	Spanish	Ramón	"Para llenarme de ti"	To Be Filled By You	10	87
02	Austria	German	Tie Break	"Du bist"	You Are	21	9
03	Norway	English	Knut Anders Sørum	"High"	-	24	3
04	France	French, Spanish	Jonatan Cerrada	"À chaque pas"	With Every Step	15	40
05	Serbia and Montenegro	Serbian	Željko Joksimović	"Lane moje" (Лане моје)	My Sweetheart	2	263
06	Malta	English	Julie & Ludwig	"On Again... Off Again"	-	12	50
07	Netherlands	English	Re-Union	"Without You"	-	20	11
08	Germany	English, Turkish	Max	"Can't Wait Until Tonight"	-	8	93
09	Albania	English	Anjeza Shahini	"The Image of You"	-	7	106
10	Ukraine	English, Ukrainian	Ruslana	"Wild Dances"	-	1	280
11	Croatia	English	Ivan Mikulić	"You Are The Only One"	-	13	50
12	Bosnia and Herzegovina	English	Deen	"In The Disco"	-	9	91
13	Belgium	English	Xandee	"1 Life"	-	22	7
14	Russia	English	Julia Savicheva	"Believe Me"	-	11	67
15	{{country data {{{1}}}	flaglink/core	variant =	size =	name =	altvar =	altlink = in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 }} || English || Toše Proeski || "Life" || - || 14 || 47
16	Greece	English	Sakis Rouvas	"Shake It"	-	3	252
17	Iceland	English	Jónsi	"Heaven"	-	19	16
18	Ireland	English	Chris Doran	"If My World Stopped Turning"	-	22	7
19	Poland	English, Spanish	Blue Café	"Love Song"	-	17	27
20	United Kingdom	English	James Fox	"Hold On to Our Love"	-	16	29
21	Cyprus	English	Lisa Andreas	"Stronger Every Minute"	-	5	170
22	Turkey	English	Athena	"For Real"	-	4	195
23	Romania	English	Sanda	"I Admit"	-	18	18
24	Sweden	English	Lena Philipsson	"It Hurts"	-	5	170

Semi-final

The semi-final was held on 12 May 2004 at 21:00 (CET). 22 countries performed and all participants voted except France, Poland and Russia.

Shaded countries qualified for the Eurovision Final

Draw	Country	Language	Artist	Song	Translation	Place	Points
1	Finland	English	Jari Sillanpää	"Takes 2 To Tango"	-	14	51
2	Belarus	English	Aleksandra & Konstantin	"My Galileo"	-	19	10
3	Switzerland	English	Piero & the MusicStars	"Celebrate"	-	22	0
4	Latvia	Latvian	Fomins & Kleins	"Dziesma par laimi"	A Song About Happiness	17	23
5	Israel	English, Hebrew	David D'Or	"Leha'amin" (להאמין)	To Believe	11	57
6	Andorra	Catalan	Marta Roure	"Jugarem a estimar-nos"	We'll Be Playing at Loving Each Other	18	12
7	Portugal	Portuguese	Sofia Vitória	"Foi magia"	It Was Magic	15	38
8	Malta	English	Julie & Ludwig	"On Again... Off Again"	-	8	74
9	Monaco	French	Maryon	"Notre planète"	Our Planet	19	10
10	Greece	English	Sakis Rouvas	"Shake It"	-	3	238
11	Ukraine	English, Ukrainian	Ruslana	"Wild Dances"	-	2	256
12	Lithuania	English	Linas and Simona	"What's Happened To Your Love?"	-	16	26
13	Albania	English	Anjeza Shahini	"The Image of You"	-	4	167
14	Cyprus	English	Lisa Andreas	"Stronger Every Minute"	-	5	149
15	{{country data {{{1}}}	flaglink/core	variant =	size =	name =	altvar =	altlink = in the Eurovision Song Contest 2004 }} || English || Toše Proeski || "Life" || - || 10 || 71
16	Slovenia	English	Platin	"Stay Forever"	-	21	5
17	Estonia	Võro	Neiokõsõ	"Tii"	Path	11	57
18	Croatia	English	Ivan Mikulić	"You Are The Only One"	-	9	72
19	Denmark	English	Thomas Thordarson	"Shame on You"	-	13	56
20	Serbia and Montenegro	Serbian	Željko Joksimović	"Lane moje" (Лане моје)	My Sweetheart	1	263
21	Bosnia and Herzegovina	English	Deen	"In The Disco"	-	7	133
22	Netherlands	English	Re-Union	"Without You"	-	6	146

Voting structure

Every country in the competition, including those who did not qualify for the final, were allowed to vote for other countries. After all performances were completed, each country opened their phonelines to allow their viewers to vote for their favourite song. Voting for the country in which you are situated is not allowed, however.

Each country awarded points based on the number of votes cast for each song: the song which received the most viewer votes was awarded 12 points, the second 10 points, the third 8 points and then 7, 6, 5, etc. down to 1.

In the event of a tie, the number of countries to vote for the tying songs would be counted, and the song having the most countries awarding points to it, would be the winner. In the event of a further tie, then the previously used method of counting back on the number of 12 points, 10 points etc, would be used to find an eventual winner.

Score sheet

Final

		Televoting Results
	Spain	87	12	0	0	0	7	2	6	0	7	2	0	0		0	8	0	3	0	0	8	1	0	0	3	1	3	4	0	1	12	5	0	0	0	2	0
	Austria	9	0	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Norway	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0
	France	40	7	1	0	0	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	12	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	4	0	0	0	0
	Serbia and Montenegro	263	2	7	12	12	3	7	12		10	10	7	1	6	10	10	3	8	12	3	7	7	2	5	1	10	6	10	6	5	7	8	10	12	12	8	12
	Malta	50	6	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	0	0	0	2	1	2	6	4	0	4	6	0	3		0	0	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	1
	Netherlands	11	0	0	0	0	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Germany	93	0	2	10	3	0	0	10	0	0		0	2	12	0	7	4	0	1	4	0	0	1	0	7	0	0	3	1	6	8	4	0	0	3	5	0
	Albania	106	0		5	4	1	0	7	8	0	5	4	0	0	3	1	1	10	6	2	0	4	0	1	0	12	10	1	3	0	0	1	0	7	4	6	0
	Ukraine	280	10	5	4	6	5	10	0	10	8	6	5	12	8	8	2	5	7	8	7	12	12	12	12	6	8	8	7	7	12	10	6	12	10	8	12
	Croatia	50	0	0	3	10	0	5	3	5	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0	5	0	7
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	91	0	10	7		0	0	5	6	0	0	8	0	0	0	0	0	0	10	0	0	0	0	0	4	4	0	2	10	0	0	0	0	8	10	7	0
	Belgium	7	1	0	0	0		0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Russia	67	0	0	0	0	0	12	0	1	6	0	0	8	0	4	0	0	2	0	0	6	0	8	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	10
	FYR Macedonia	47	0	6	0	8	0	0	1	12	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	0		1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	4	3
	Greece	252	8	12	2	5	8	6	4	7	12	7	3	5	7	6	6	12		7	5	10	6	10	7	10	7	12	6	2	7	6	12	7	4	6	10	8
	Iceland	16	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	5	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0
	Ireland	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	7	0	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Poland	27	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	4	0	0	1	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	3	7	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	1	0	0	5
	United Kingdom	29	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0		0	0	8	0	2	0	3	0	0	4	0	0	2	0	2	1	2	0	0	0
	Cyprus	170	4	0	6	0	4	8	2	3		8	6	7	3	7	5	10	12	4	10	3	10	5	4	2	0	7	8	4	4	3	3	6	6	1	1	4
	Turkey	195	3	8	8	7	12	3	8	2	4	12	10	0	2	5	12	6	6	3	1	2	5	3	2	8	6	0	12	8	8	0	10	8	5	0		6
	Romania	18	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4		0	0	0	0	0
	Sweden	170	5	4	1	2	2	4	0	4	5	3	12	10	5	12	3	8	0	0	12	5	8	6	8	0	2	5	0	12	10	5	7	3		2	3	2
Rows are ordered by appearance, columns are ordered by voting order.

Semi-final

		Televoting Results
	Finland	51	0	7	0	0	1	0	0	0	6	0	0	7	3		0	5	0	0	0	3	0	0	6	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Belarus	10	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	8	0	0	5
	Switzerland	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Latvia	23	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	4	2	0	6		2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Israel	57	3	5	1	0	2	3	0	3	2	1	2	0	4	2	2	3	0	0		0	0	0	0	0	6	2	0	7	5	0	0	4	0
	Andorra	12		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	12	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Portugal	38	12	0	0	0	4	0	7	0	0	0	0	0	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0		8	0	0	0	0
	Malta	74	5	6	0	4	0	1	0	0	0	0	4	10	0	0	5	1	1	1	6	2	7	7	0	4		3	0	4	0	0	1	0	2
	Monaco	10	4	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Greece	238	8	12	5	5	10	8	3	10	12	10	3	4	7	5	12		6	2	12	6	8	6	4	7	12	6	5	8	12	4	4	12	10
	Ukraine	256	10	3	4	5	8	12	2	8	8	6	6	12	10	8	7	7	8	10	10	10	12	10	5	8	10	7	7	12	7	6	8	8
	Lithuania	26	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	7	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	3	1	0		8	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Albania	167	6		7	6	5	0	10	6	1	8	7	1	2	6	6	8	7	5	4	4	0	5	3	12	8	5	8	2	6	7	5	6	1
	Cyprus	149	2	0	6	0	6	6	1	2		4	5	6	1	7	10	12	2	8	3	8	4	3	12	0	5	10	4	3	1	3	3	5	7
	FYR Macedonia	71	0	8	2	8	0	0	5	12	0	3	1	0	0	0	0	4	5	0	0	0	0	0	0		1	1	0	0	4	2	6	3	6
	Slovenia	5	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	Estonia	57	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	0		0	12	1	0	0	0	0	7	10	12	0	0	0	0	1	5	0	1	0	0	3
	Croatia	72	0	0	8	10	0	7	6	5	0	5	0	0	0	1	0	0		0	0	0	3	1	0	6	0	4	0	1	0	0	7	0	8
	Denmark	56	0	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	3	0		3	0	4	0	0	0	0	5	12	0	0	10	0	2	0	6	0	2	5	0	1	0
	Serbia and Montenegro	263	1	4	12	12	7	10	12		10	12	10	0	8	10	8	10	12	6	8	0	1	4	7	10	4	12	10	10	10	12	12	7	12
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	133	0	10	10		3	0	8	7	0	7	12	0	0	0	4	0	10	7	0	0	0	0	0	5	0	8	12	0	0	10	10	10	0
	Netherlands	146	7	0	3	2	12	5	4	1	5	2	8	8	5	3	3	6	4	12	7	5	5	2	8	3	7		2	6	3	0	2	2	4
	Rows are ordered by appearance, columns are ordered by voting order.

12 points

Below is a summary of all 12 point in the final:

N.	Recipient nation	Voting nation
8	Ukraine	Estonia, Israel, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Turkey
7	Serbia and Montenegro	Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Sweden, Switzerland, Slovenia, Ukraine
5	Greece	Albania, Cyprus, Malta, Romania, United Kingdom
4	Sweden	Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Norway
	Turkey	Belgium, Germany, France, Netherlands
2	Spain	Andorra, Portugal
1	Albania	FYR Macedonia
	Cyprus	Greece
	France	Monaco
	Germany	Spain
	FYR Macedonia	Serbia and Montenegro
	Russia	Belarus

Spokespersons

In order of appearance on the final night

• Andorra - Pati Molné
• Albania - Zhani Ciko
• Austria - Dodo Roscic
• Bosnia & Herzegovina - Mija Martina (Bosnian representative singer in 2003 contest)
• Belgium - Martine Prenen
• Belarus - Denis Kurian
• Switzerland - Emel Aykanat
• Serbia & Montenegro - Nataša Miljković
• Cyprus - Loukas Hamatsos
• Germany - Thomas Anders (former member of Modern Talking)
• Denmark - Camilla Ottesen
• Estonia - Maarja-Liis Ilus (Estonian representative singer in the 1996 and 1997 contests)
• Spain - Anne Igartiburu
• Finland - Anna Stenlund
• France - Alex Taylor
• FYR Macedonia - Karolina Petkovska
• United Kingdom - Lorraine Kelly
• Greece - Alexis Kostalas
• Croatia - Barbara Kolar
• Ireland - Johnny Logan (the only double ESC winner at that time - in 1980 and 1987)
• Israel - Merav Miller
• Iceland - Sigrún Ósk Kristjánsdóttir
• Lithuania - Rolandas Vilkoncius
• Latvia - Lauris Reiniks
• Malta - Claire Agius
• Monaco - Anne Allegrini
• The Netherlands - Esther Hart (Dutch representative in the 2003 contest)
• Norway - Ingvild Helljesen
• Poland - Maciej Orłoś
• Portugal - Isabel Angelino
• Romania - Andreea Marin
• Russia - Yana Churikova
• Sweden - Jovan Radomir
• Slovenia - Peter Poles
• Turkey - Meltem Ersan Yazgan
• Ukraine - Pavlo Shylko (DJ Pascha) (Would be the presenter of the Eurovision Song Contest 2005 held in Kiev following Ruslana's victory.)

Map

  Participating countries

  Countries who did not qualify for the final

  Countries who have participated in the past but did not this year

External links

• Official website
• EBU press notice regarding voting problems in the semi-final
• Details about the 2004 Eurovision Song Contest in Istanbul
• Video Clips (BBC Eurovision 2004) (Realplayer)