page_title: Eurovision Song Contest 2004
section_title: Location
hierarchical_section_title: Eurovision Song Contest 2004 / Location
caption_attribution_description: Abdi İpekçi Spor Salonu
context_page_description: The Eurovision Song Contest 2004 was the 49th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Istanbul, Turkey, following Sertab Erener's win at the 2003 contest in Riga, Latvia with the song "Everyway That I Can". It was the first time Turkey had hosted the contest - 29 years after the country made its debut. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union and host broadcaster Turkish Radio and Television Corporation, the contest was held at the Abdi İpekçi Arena, and consisted of a semi-final on 12 May, and the final on 15 May 2004. The two live shows were hosted by Korhan Abay and Meltem Cumbul.
  It was the first Eurovision Song Contest held in a transcontinental country and city, in a Muslims-majority country and in Turkic language-speaking country.
  Thirty-six countries participated in the contest, beating the record of twenty-six in the previous edition. Albania, Andorra, Belarus and Serbia and Montenegro took part for the first time this year. The old relegation system was replaced with a semi-final format. This was done in order to accommodate the increasing number of countries who wished to participate.
context_section_description: The contest was held in Istanbul following Turkey's victory in the 2003 contest in Riga, Latvia with Sertab Erener's "Everyway That I Can". Originally the Mydonose Showland was chosen by TRT to host the event, but was changed to the Abdi İpekçi Arena as the contest approached due to its bigger capacity. Korhan Abay and Meltem Cumbul were presenters of the show.
  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 which included the Semi-final and the Grand Final.
caption: Abdi İpekçi Arena, Istanbul – host venue of the 2004 contest.
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Make": "OLYMPUS IMAGING CORP.", "Image Model": "u9010,S9010", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Version 1.0", "Image DateTime": "2012:05:04 07:37:09", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "996", "Image PrintIM": "[80, 114, 105, 110, 116, 73, 77, 0, 48, 51, 48, 48, 0, 0, 37, 0, 1, 0, 22, 0, ... ]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "9204", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4467", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/80", "EXIF FNumber": "46/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Creative", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "64", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2012:05:04 07:37:09", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2012:05:04 07:37:09", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "2", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "84/25", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "61/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4288", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3216", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "5554", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "34", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Landscape", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal"}