Eurovision Song Contest 2017

The **Eurovision Song Contest 2017** (_shortly ESC)_ was the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in the International Exhibition Centre in Kyiv, Ukraine, after Jamala won for Ukraine in 2016 in Stockholm, Sweden with her song "1944".

Ukraine hosted the contest for the second time after 2005. The competition was held from 9th to the 13th; the **first semifinal** was on Tuesday, **May 9**, the **second semifinal** on Thursday, **May 11** and the **grand final** was on Saturday, **May 13**.

## Venue

The contest happened in the International Exhibition Centre in Kyiv. The venue holds 13,000 people and the venue will be rebuilt for the contest.

The ESC 2005, which was also held in Kyiv, took place in the Palace Of Sports. This was also a possible venue for 2017, but might not fulfill today's demands.

However, the venue must have a maximum capacity of 10,000. The venue also has to be covered and an international press centre has to be in reach. Also it must have a capacity for 1,550 journalists.

The following cities applied for being a host city:
- Dnipro
- Kharkiv
- Kherson
- **Kyiv** (capital city)
- Lviv
- Odesa

## Countries that will not participate/return/debut in 2017

- : The Bosnian television agency BHRT announced that they are in current financial difficulties, so financing for the ESC is not possible. Bosnia returned in 2016 by getting the money of sponsors.
- : The country of Kazakhstan became an associate-member of the EBU in the beginning of 2016. Later on they said that it could be possible that Kazakhstan would participate for the first time. On the 31th of October, the date on which the list of countries taking part in 2017 was published by the EBU, Kazakhstan wasn´t named as a participating country. A reason why they did not debut was not announced.
- : The country of Luxembourg announced that they would not return to the contest. Luxembourg last participated in 1993. Of all the countries which have taken part in the competition, Luxembourg have not participated for the longest time.
- : The Turkish television TRT said that they will not be participating in 2017. They said that there are not satisfied about the voting system and the rules with the "Big-5". Turkey have not participated in the competition since 2013.
- : The Slovakian television RTVS also said that they will not return in 2017. A real reason wasn´t mentioned. Slovakia last participated in 2012.

## Returning artists

Some artists participated in the contest before and will represent their country again or as a another role:
|Country|Artist|Participated before in...||
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="2"||Koit Toome|1998|
|Laura|2005|||
||Imri Ziv|2015, 2016 (as a backing vocalist)||
||SunStroke Project|2010||
||Tijana Bogićević|2011 (as a backing vocalist)||
||Omar Naber|2005||

## Semi-Final

Portugal and Romania will return; both quit last year's contest. Bosnia and Herzegovina, who returned in last year's contest, have quit this year because of financial difficulties.

On the 31th of October 2016 it was announced by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), that there will be 43 countries to participate in 2017.

### First Semi-Final

The first semi final will take place on Tuesday, the 9th of May 2017. 18 countries will compete, the 10 countries with the most votes of them will qualify for the final.

The running order will be decided and announced when all the countries have selected their entry.

Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom will vote in this semi-final.
|#|Country|Artist|Song|Language|Translation|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|04||Lindita Halimi|"World"|English||
|03||Isaiah Firebrace|"Don´t Come Easy"|English||
|08||DiHaj|"Skeletons"|English||
|05||Blanche|"City Lights"|English||
|07||Norma John|"Blackbird"|English||
|02||Tako|"Keep The Faith"|English||
|06||Slavko Kalezić|"Space"|English||
|09||Salvador Sobral|"Amar pelos dois"|Portuguese|To love by the two|
|01||Robin Bengtsson|"I Can´t Go On"|English||
|16||Artsvik|"Fly With Me"|English||
|15||Hovig|"Gravity"|English||
|14||Martina Bárta|"My Turn"|English||
|10||Demy|"This Is Love"|English||
|13||Svala|"Paper"|English||
|18||Triana Park|"Line"|English||
|12||SunStroke Project|"Hey Mamma"|English||
|11||Kasia Mos|"Flashlight"|English||
|17||Omar Naber|"On My Way"|English||

### Second Semi-Final

The second semi-final will take place on Thursday, the 11th of May 2017. 19 countries will compete, the 10 countries with the most votes of them will qualify for the final.

The running order will be decided and announced when all the countries have selected their entry. After a request of the Swiss TV-broadcaster SRF, Switzerland was directly determined to participate and vote in Semi-Final 2.

France, Germany and Ukraine will vote in this semi-final.
|Draw|Country|Artist|Song|Language|Translation|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|02||Nathan Trent|"Walking On Air"|English||
|08||Anja Nissen|"Where I Am"|English||
|07||Joci Pápai|"Origo"|Hungarian, Romani|Origin|
|09||Brendan Murray|"Dying To Try"|English||
|04||Claudia Faniello|"Breathlessly"|English||
|06||OG3NE|"Lights And Shadows"|English||
|03||Jana Burčeska|"Dance Alone"|English||
|05||Ilinca feat. Alex Florea|"Yodel It!"|English||
|01||Tijana Bogićević|"In Too Deep"|English||
|14||NAVI|"Historyja majho žyccia"|Belarussian|Story of my life|
|15||Kristian Kostov|"Beautiful Mess"|English||
|11||Jacques Houdek|"My Friend"|English, Italian||
|17||Koit Toome & Laura|"Verona"|English||
|18||Imri Ziv|"I Feel Alive"|English||
|16||Fusedmarc|"Rain Of Revoltuion"|English||
|12||JOWST feat. Aleksander Walmann|"Grab The Moment"|English||
|10||Valentina Monetta & Jimmie Wilson|"Spirit Of The Night"|English||
|13||Timebelle|"Apollo"|English||

### Big-Five (including host country Ukraine)

These five countries are directly qualified for the final. Ukraine, as the host country, will also be performing directly in the Grand Final.
|Country|Artist|Song|Language|Translation|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
||Alma|"Requiem"|French, English|-|
||Levina|"Perfect Life"|English||
||Francesco Gabbani|"Occidentali´s Karma"|Italian||
||Manel Navarro|"Do It For Your Lover"|English, Spanish||
||O.Torwald|"Time"|English||
||Lucie Jones|"Never Give Up On You"|English||

### Detailed list of participating countries

|Country and broadcaster|Artist|Song|Lyrics and composer|Language|Translation|Selection||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|(RTSH)|Lindita Halimi|"World"|Klodian Qafoku, Gerald Xhari|English||rowspan="2"|National final|
|(ARMTV)|Artsvik Harutyunyan|"Fly With Me"||English||||
|(SBS)|Isaiah Firebrace|"Don´t Come Easy"|David Musumeci, Anthony Egizii|English||rowspan="3"|Internal selection|
|(ORF)|Nathan Trent|"Running on Air"|Bernard Penzian, Nathan Trent|English||||
|(ITV)|DiHaj|"Skeletons"||TBA||||
|(BTRC)|NAVIBAND|"Histroyja majho zyccia"|Artem Lukjanenka|Belarussian|Story of my life|National final||
|(VRT)|Blanche|"City Lights"||English||rowspan="5"|Internal selection|
|(BNT)|TBA|TBA|TBA|English||||
|(HRT)|Jacques Houdek|"My Friend"|Jacques Houdek, Tony Roberth Malm, Arjana Kunštek, Fabrizio Laucella|English||||
|(CyBC)|Hovig|"Gravity"|Thomas G:son, Hovig|English||||
|(CT1)|Martina Bárta|"My Turn"|TBA|English||||
|(DR)|Anja Nissen|"Where I Am"|Anja Nissen, Angel Tupai, Michael D’Arcy|English||rowspan="3"|National final|
|(ERR)|Koit Toome & Laura|"Verona"|Sven Löhmus|English||||
|(YLE)|Norma John|"Blackbird"|Lasse Piirainen, Leena Tirronen|English||||
|(France2) <small>(Big-5-member)</small>|Alma|"Requiem"|Nazim Khaled|French|-|Internal selection||
|(GBS)|Tako Gatschetschiladse|"Keep The Faith"|Tako Gatschetschiladse|English||rowspan="5"|National final|
|(ARD) <small>(Big-5-member)</small>|Levina|"Perfect Life"|Lindy Robbins, Dave Bassett, Lindsey Ray|English||||
|(ERT)|Demy|"This Is Love"|Dimitris Kontopoulos, John Ballard, Romy Papadea|English||||
|(MTVA)|Joci Pápai|"Origo"|József Pápai|Hungarian, Romani|Origin|||
|(RÙV)||||||||
|(RTE)|Brendan Murray|||English||Internal selection||
|(IBA)|Imri Ziv|"I Feel Alive"|Dolev Ram, Penn Hazut|English||rowspan="6"|National final|
|(RAI) <small>(Big-5-member)</small>|Francesco Gabbani|"Occidentali´s Karma"|Fabio Ilacqua, Francesco Gabbani, Luca Chiaravalli, Filippi Gabbani|Italian, English|-|||
|(LTV)|Triana Park|"Line"|Agnese Rakovska, Kristaps Ērglis, Kristians Rakovskis|English||||
|(LRT)||||||||
|(PBS)|Claudia Faniello|"Breathlessly"|Philip Vella, Sean Vella, Gerard James Borg|English||||
|(TVM)|SunStroke Project|"Hey Mamma"|SunStroke Project, Alina Galetskaia|English||||
|(RTCG)|Slavko Kalezić|"Space"|Stefan Örn, Momčilo Zeković|English||rowspan="2"|Internal selection|
|(AVOTROS)|O´G3NE|||English||||
|(NRK)||||English||rowspan="3"|National final|
|(TVP)|Kasia Mos|"Flashlight"|Kasia Moś, Pete Baringger, Rickard Bonde Truumeel|English||||
|(RTP)|Salvador Sobral|"Amar Pelos Dois"|Luísa Sobral|Portuguese|To Love By The Two|||
|(MRT)|Jana Burčeska|||English||Internal selection||
|(TVR)|Ilinca feat. Alex Florea|"Yodel It!"|Mihai Alexandru, Alexandra Niculae|English||National final||
|(Russia1)|TBA|TBA|TBA|||rowspan="3"|Internal selection|
|(SMRTV)|TBA|TBA|TBA|TBA||||
|(RTS)|Tijana Bogićević|"In Too Deep"|Borislav Milanov, Bo Persson, Johan Alkenas, Lisa Ann-Marie Linder|||||
|(RTVSLO)|Omar Naber|"On My Way"|Omar Naber|English||rowspan="6"|National final|
|(TVE) <small>(Big-5-member)</small>|Manel Navarro|"Do It For Your Lover"|Manel Navarro|English, Spanish||||
|(SVT)||||English||||
|(SRF)|Timebelle|"Apollo"|Elias Näslin, Nicolas Günthardt, Alessandra Günthardt|English||||
|(NTU) <small>(Host country)</small>|O.Torwald|"Time"|Jewhen Halytsch, Denys Misjuk, Mykola Rajda, Oleksandr Solocha|English||||
|(BBC) <small>(Big-5-member)</small>|Lucie Jones|"Never Give Up On You"|The Treatment, Emmelie de Forest, Lawrie Martin|English||||

_<small>An internal selection of the national TV-station is a secret selection without a national final, where the pupilarity is able to vote.</small>_

## Other

- The Head of the Ukrainian national broadcaster NTU, Zurab Alasania, has withdrawn in protest to the Government’s budget for the broadcaster in 2017. For 2017, the Ukrainian Government has provided €42.8 million, of which more than €16 million will be spent on Eurovision. That leaves the broadcaster with just €7 million Euros, which is clearly too low money for other projects in the future, according to Zurab.
- For the first time ever, Russia got drawn in the second semi-final. Russia always participated in the first semi-final since the introduction of semi-finals.
- Belarus will be represented by a song in Belarussian language for the first time.
- Christer Björkmann, a Swedish TV-producer for the national final _Melodifestivalen_ and show producer of the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 and 2016, will join the Ukrainian producing team.
- For the first time ever, there will be only men who will host the contest.