Eurovision Song Contest 2007 Semi-Final

Above: Logo of this year's Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision Song Contest 2007 Final

Venue	Hartwall Arena
Host(s)	Jaana Pelkonen & Mikko Leppilampi
Date	Thursday, May 10, 2007
Participants	28
EBU Scrutineer	Svante Stockselius
Executive Producer	Heikki Seppälä
Director	Timo Suomi

Voting method

Citizens of each participating country vote by telephone and SMS. Each country's 10 favourites are awarded 1 to 8, 10 and 12 points based on the number of votes. Only the top-10 were announced in the show by opening 10 envelopes.

Finland was the proud host for the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest Semi-Final. The country had tried to win the contest since 1961 and only 45 years later, Finland was filled with joy when Lordi won with Hard Rock Hallelujah in Athens. Helsinki 2007 became a 'True Fantasy', which was the theme of the competition.

Oslo 2010

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Participants at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 Semi-Final

#	Representing country	Performer(s)	Song title, writer(s) and composer(s)	Points	Place
01	Bulgaria BNT	Elitsa Todorova & Stoyan Yankulov	Water	146	06
02	Israel IBA	Teapacks	Push The Button	017	24
03	Cyprus CyBC	Evridiki	Comme Ci, Comme ça	065	15
04	Belarus BTRC	Dmitry Koldun	Work Your Magic	176	04
05	Iceland RÚV	Eiríkur Hauksson	Valentine Lost	077	13
06	Georgia GPB	Sopho	My Story	123	08
07	Montenegro RTCG	Stevan Faddy	Ajde Kroci	033	22
08	Switzerland SSR SRG	DJ BoBo	Vampires Are Alive	040	20
09	Moldova TRM	Natalia Barbu	Fight	091	10
10	The Netherlands NOS	Edsilia Rombley	On Top Of The World	038	21
11	Albania RTSH	Aida & Frederik Ndoci	Hear My Plea	049	17
12	Denmark DR	DQ	Drama Queen	045	19
13	Croatia HRT	Dragonfly feat. Dado Topic	Vjerujem U Ljubav	054	16
14	Poland TVP	The Jet Set	Time To Party	075	14
15	Serbia RTS	Marija Šerifović	Molitva	298	01
16	Czech Republic ČT	Kabát	Malá Dáma	001	28
17	Portugal RTP	Sabrina	Dança Comigo (vem Ser Feliz)	088	11
18	F.Y.R. Macedonia MKRTV	Karolina	Mojot Svet	097	09
19	Norway NRK	Guri Schanke	Ven A Bailar Conmigo	048	18
20	Malta PBS	Olivia Lewis	Vertigo	015	25
21	Andorra RTVA	Anonymous	Salvem El Món	080	12
22	Hungary MTV	Magdi Rúzsa	Unsubstantial Blues	224	02
23	Estonia ETV	Gerli Padar	Partners In Crime	033	22
24	Belgium RTBF	The KMG's	Love Power	014	26
25	Slovenia RTVSLO	Alenka Gotar	Cvet Z Juga	140	07
26	Turkey TRT	Kenan Dogulu	Shake It Up Shekerim	197	03
27	Austria ORF	Eric Papilaya	Get A Life - Get Alive	004	27
28	Latvia LTV	Bonaparti.lv	Questa Notte	168	05

A long Semi-Final

Finland welcomed a new record of participating countries in its capital Helsinki: 42 delegations took part, of which 28 took part in the Semi-Final . Austria came back to the contest after dropping out voluntarily in 2006. Same happened with its neighbour Hungary, and also Serbia (as independent country), Georgia, Montenegro and the Czech Republic took part for the first time.

The competition saw a mix of experienced singers and newcomers. Edsilia from the Netherlands had already participated in the 1998 Eurovision Song Contest and achieved an excellent 4th place back then. Olivia Lewis had tried to win the Maltese national final with more than ten songs over the years and she finally with able to win it with the pop-ethno song Vertigo. Karolina had already represented FYR Macedonia before in 2002. Dance-pop star DJ Bobo from Switzerland, who had already sold millions of CDs in his career, and wanted to give it another push on the Eurovision Song Contest stage singing Vampires Are Alive. However, the Semi-Final also saw lots of newcomers like the pop-punk band Anonymous from Andorra, who had decided to sing their song Salvem El Món in Catalan and in English.

The results

The results of the Semi-Final caused quite a stir when the representatives of the 10 countries were announced that qualified for the Final: Serbia, Hungary, Turkey, Belarus, Latvia, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Georgia, FYR Macedonia and Moldova. Western European newspapers were upset that not even one 'traditional country' from Western Europe managed to qualify - but admitting at the same time that the quality of the songs from Eastern Europe was higher.