Greece, which at one point said it might not be able to afford sending an entrant to the Eurovision contest, will be represented by the anti-austerity ditty Alcohol Is Free, performed by the group Koza Mostra and singer Agathonas Iakovidis, which won a competition over three other entries.
The song that won the ticket to this year’s competition in Malmo, Sweden was selected by a combination of a committee and audience vote and was presented by singer Despina Vandi and actor Giorgos Kapoutzidis.
“Our song talks about one of our nights when we went out and had some fun, but it also talks about in a metaphoric way about the crisis and everything going on in the last few years in Greece and in Europe,” Koza Mostra told Eurovision.tv. “It’s about getting away from all those problems.”
Unlike recent entries which were sung in English, this year’s is mostly in Greek by the six-member group, which inexplicably is dressed in kilts and wearing high-top black sneakers.
The national broadcaster ERT decided last month that Greece should take part, citing the event’s high television ratings and saying that private sponsorship would cover the cost of sending an entry to Sweden.
In November, government spokesman Simos Kedikoglou had suggested that Greece would not take part in Eurovision. “Public television should not participate in the Eurovision contest out of respect for the overriding public sentiment,” he said in an interview with Vima radio.
The other songs were One Last Kiss sung by Thomai Apergi, Angel, sung by Alex Leon featuring Giorgina, and Hilies Kai Mia Nychtes (A Thousand and One Nights) sung by Aggeliki Iliadi. Greece won the contest in 2005 with Helena Paparizou’s My Number One.
Listen to Greece’s Eurovision entry “Alcohol is Free” below:
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