Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Estonia

Estonia

Member station ERR
National selection events
Appearances
Appearances 22 (14 finals)
First appearance 1994
Best result 1st: 2001
Worst result Last: 2016 SF
External links
ERR page
Estonia's page at Eurovision.tv
For the most recent participation see
Estonia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2016

Estonia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 22 times since making its debut in 1994. Its first appearance would have taken place in 1993, however a qualification round was installed for seven former Eastern bloc countries hoping to make their debut in the contest, with Estonia failing to qualify. Estonia has won the contest once, in 2001.

Estonia's first participation in 1994 was not a successful one, coming second last only to Lithuania. The country was then relegated from the 1995 contest. From its second entry in 1996, the country entered its best era in the contest, finishing in the top eight in six out of seven contests (1996–2002). Maarja-Liis Ilus and Ivo Linna's fifth place in 1996 was the first top five ranking for a former Soviet country. Maarja-Liis Ilus returned to finish eighth in 1997, Evelin Samuel and Camille were sixth in 1999 and Ines was fourth in 2000, before Tanel Padar, Dave Benton & 2XL gave Estonia its first victory in 2001. This made Estonia the first former Soviet country to win the contest and the second eastern European country to win, after Yugoslavia in 1989. The 2002 contest was held in Tallinn, with Sahlene finishing joint third for the hosts.

Since the introduction of the semi-final round in 2004, Estonia has failed to reach the final on eight occasions and has reached the top ten three times, with Urban Symphony in 2009, Ott Lepland in 2012, who both finished sixth, and Elina Born & Stig Rästa who finished seventh in 2015. Estonia's total of nine top ten results, is more than any other Baltic country.

History

Estonia's record at the contest was a successful one from 1996 to 2002, only failing once to make the top 10 (in 1998 when it ended up in 12th place). The country's first win came in 2001, when Tanel Padar and Dave Benton, along with 2XL, sang "Everybody" and received 198 points, therefore making Estonia the first former USSR country to win the Contest and the second country of eastern Europe after Yugoslavia. As such the 2002 contest was held in Estonia, in the capital city Tallinn.

From 2004 to 2008 Estonia failed to qualify to the finals, mostly receiving poor results – during that period its best entry was 12th place in the 2004 semi-final by Neiokõsõ with the "Tii" (The Way), sung in the Võro language, a southern-Estonian dialect.

Despite news that Estonia might withdraw from the 2009 contest, set to be held in Moscow, Russia, due to the war in South Ossetia, Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR) confirmed that, due to public demand, Estonia would send an entry to Moscow.[1][2] After a new national final, Eesti Laul, was introduced to select the Estonian entry, the winner was Urban Symphony with "Rändajad" (Nomads[3] or Travellers), which had beaten the televoting favourite, Laura, by the votes of a jury.[4][5]

At the second semi-final of the 2009 contest, Urban Symphony qualified Estonia to the final of the contest for the first time since 2003, receiving 115 points and placing 3rd. The group performed 15th in the final, where it received 129 points, placing 6th of 25 competing entries as well as being the highest placing non-English language song at the 2009 competition.

In 2010, Estonia failed to qualify to the final, with the song "Siren" by Malcolm Lincoln.

In 2011, Estonia was represented by Getter Jaani with the song "Rockefeller Street". She was the bookmakers' pre-contest favorite for victory along with France. She qualified to the final but eventually placed 24th of 25 entries- tying Silvi Vrait's 1994 result for Estonia's worst placing in the contest final.

In 2012, Ott Lepland qualified Estonia to the final with his song "Kuula", ending up 4th in the second semi-final. In the final, he equalled Estonia's result of 1999 and 2009, ending up 6th. Together with "Urban Symphony" in 2009, "Kuula" gave Estonia its best result in the contest since 2009.

Contestants

Table key
  Winner
  Second place
  Third place
  Last place
Year Artist Language Title Final Points Semi Points
1993a Janika Sillamaa Estonian "Muretut meelt ja südametuld" Failed to qualify 5 47
1994 Silvi Vrait Estonian "Nagu merelaine" 24 2 No semi-finals
1995 Did not participate
1996 Maarja-Liis Ilus & Ivo Linna Estonian "Kaelakee hääl" 5 94 5 106
1997 Maarja-Liis Ilus Estonian "Keelatud maa" 8 82 No semi-finals
1998 Koit Toome Estonian "Mere lapsed" 12 36
1999 Evelin Samuel & Camille English "Diamond of Night" 6 90
2000 Ines English "Once in a Lifetime" 4 98
2001 Tanel Padar/Dave Benton/2XL English "Everybody" 1 198
2002 Sahlene English "Runaway" 3 111
2003 Ruffus English "Eighties Coming Back" 21 14
2004 Neiokõsõ Võro "Tii" Failed to qualify 12 57
2005 Suntribe English "Let's Get Loud" 20 31
2006 Sandra Oxenryd English "Through My Window" 18 28
2007 Gerli Padar English "Partners in Crime" 22 33
2008 Kreisiraadio Serbian, German, Finnish "Leto svet" 18 8
2009 Urban Symphony Estonian "Rändajad" 6 129 3 115
2010 Malcolm Lincoln & Manpower 4 English "Siren" Failed to qualify 14 39
2011 Getter Jaani English "Rockefeller Street" 24 44 9 60
2012 Ott Lepland Estonian "Kuula" 6 120 4 100
2013 Birgit Õigemeel Estonian "Et uus saaks alguse" 20 19 10 52
2014 Tanja English "Amazing" Failed to qualify 12 36
2015 Elina Born & Stig Rästa English "Goodbye to Yesterday" 7 106 3 105
2016 Jüri Pootsmann English "Play" Failed to qualify 18 24
2017
NOTES:
a. ^ Estonia unsuccessfully attempted to participate in 1993, when there was a pre-qualifying round for seven countries hoping to make their debut in the contest. The official Eurovision site does not count 1993 in Estonia's list of appearances.

Voting history

As of 2016, Estonia's voting history is as follows:

Most points given in the grand finals only
Rank Country Points
1  Russia 163
2  Sweden 155
3  Latvia 88
4  Norway 75
5  Finland 67
Most points received in the grand finals only
Rank Country Points
1  Finland 87
2  Latvia 72
3  Sweden 71
4  Ireland 65
5  Lithuania 56

Most points given in the semis and finals
Rank Country Points
1  Russia 227
2  Sweden 193
3  Latvia 136
4  Finland 127
5  Norway 113
 Ukraine 113
Most points received in the semis and finals
Rank Country Points
1  Latvia 157
2  Finland 156
3  Sweden 109
4  Lithuania 97
5  Ireland 92

Hostings

Year Location Venue Presenters
2002 Tallinn Saku Suurhall Annely Peebo and Marko Matvere

Commentators and spokespersons

Year(s) Television commentator Radio commentator Spokesperson
1994 Vello Rand Marko Reikop (Raadio 2) Urve Tiidus
1995 Jüri Pihel No broadcast Estonia did not participate
1996 Marko Reikop (Raadio 2) Annika Talvik
1997 Helene Tedre
1998 Reet Linna Urve Tiidus
1999 Marko Reikop Vello Rand (Raadio 2) Mart Sander
2000 Evelin Samuel
2001 Ilo-Mai Küttim (Elektra)
2002
2003 Ines
2004 Maarja-Liis Ilus
2005 Mart Juur (Raadio 2)
Andrus Kivirähk (Raadio 2)
2006 Evelin Samuel
2007 Laura Põldvere
2008 Sahlene
2009 Marko Reikop (All)
Olav Osolin (final)
Laura Põldvere
2010 Marko Reikop (All)
Sven Lõhmus (final)
Rolf Roosalu
2011 Marko Reikop Piret Järvis
2012 Mart Juur, Andrus Kivirähk (Raadio 2)
Ilja Ban, Dmitri Vinogradov, Aleksandra Moorast (Raadio 4)
Getter Jaani
2013 Mart Juur (Raadio 2)
Andrus Kivirähk (Raadio 2)
Rolf Roosalu
2014 Lauri Pihlap
2015 Tanja
2016 Daniel Levi Viinalass
2017 TBA TBA TBA

Photogallery

References

  1. Floras, Stella (2008-08-22). "Estonia: Minister discusses possible boycott of Eurovision in Moscow". ESCToday. Retrieved 2008-08-22.
  2. Floras, Stella (2008-09-17). "Estonia will participate in 2009". ESCToday. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
  3. "Estonia: Staging modern fairytale". 2009-04-26. Retrieved 2009-05-19.
  4. Calleja Bayliss, Marc (2009-03-07). "Urban Symphony to represent Estonia in Moscow". Oikotimes. Retrieved 2009-03-07.
  5. Webb, Glen (2009-03-07). "Urban Symphony win Eesti Laul in Estonia". EBU. Retrieved 2009-03-07.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/19/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.