The Sound Of Europe 7

## Editions

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The **Sound Of Europe 7**was the 7th edition of the Sound Of Europe. It took place in **Menora Mivtachim Arena, Tel Aviv, Israel**, following **Israel's victory** with **Ishtar Alabina** and her song **"Last Kiss"**. This was the first time that Israel hosted the contest. The 7th edition consisted of **two semi-finals**, which took place on 27 January 2016, and **a final**, held on 3 February 2016. The shows were presented by **Dana International** and **Nadav Guedj** while **Mei Finegold** was hosting the green room. Forty-six countries participated in the 7th edition.

Croatia, with "Lozinka Za Raj" by Zeljko Vasic & Nina Badric, and Ukraine, with "Wild Child" by Elen Levon, were disqualified because the jury members of from both countries did not send their votes until the deadline. They were both placed in the 1st semi-final.

Once all the votes had been announced, based on 50% jury and 50% televoting, **Italy** won the contest, with **Annalisa's** song **"Senza Riserva"**.

## Location

**Tel Aviv** or Tel Aviv-Yafo, is the second most populous city in Israel, behind Jerusalem, with a population of 414,600. Tel Aviv forms part of the Tel Aviv Metropolitan Area, also known as Gush Dan, which constitutes Israel's largest metropolitan area so as to house 3,464,100 residents, 42% of the country's population. Tel Aviv-Yafo is the largest and most populous section of the metropolitan area.

The city is located on the Mediterranean coast in central-west Israel and is governed by the Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality, headed by Ron Huldai. Tel Aviv is home to many foreign embassies. Residents of Tel Aviv are referred to as Tel Avivim or by the singulars: Tel Avivi (for males) and Tel Avivit (for females).

Tel Aviv was founded by the Jewish community on the outskirts of the ancient port city of Jaffa (Hebrew: יָפוֹ Yafo) in 1909. Immigration by mostly Jewish refugees meant that the growth of Tel Aviv soon outpaced Jaffa's, which had a majority Arab population at the time. Tel Aviv and Jaffa were merged into a single municipality in 1950, two years after the establishment of the State of Israel. Tel Aviv's White City, designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2003, comprises the world's largest concentration of Bauhaus buildings.

Tel Aviv is a global city, a technological and economic hub, home to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, corporate offices and research and development centers. It is the country's financial capital and a major performing arts and business center. Tel Aviv has the second-largest economy in the Middle East after Dubai, and is the 31st most expensive city in the world. With 2.5 million international visitors annually, Tel Aviv is the fifth-most-visited city in the Middle East. Known as "The City that Never Sleeps" and a "party capital", it has a lively nightlife, dynamic atmosphere and a famous 24-hour culture.

### **Venue**

The contest took place in Menora Mivtachim Arena in Tel Aviv, following Israel's victory at the 6th edition of the contest in Budapest with the song "Last Kiss", performed by Ishtar Alabina. The Menora Mivtachim Arena has a capacity of approximately 10,383 attendees. The arena is home to the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball club, a member of the Maccabi Tel Aviv sports club. It is a large multi-purpose sports arena in southern Tel Aviv, Israel. It is one of the major sporting facilities in the Greater Tel Aviv Area.

## Format

The edition consisted of two semi-finals and a final. The ten countries with the highest scores in 1st semi-final qualified to the final while the eleven with the highest scores qualified to the final from the 2nd semi-final.

Each participating country had their own national jury, which consisted of five professional members of the music industry. Each member of a respective nation's jury was required to rank every song, except that of their own country. The voting results from each member of a particular nation's jury were combined to produce an overall ranking from first to last place. Likewise, the televoting results were also interpreted as a full ranking, taking into account the full televoting result rather than just the top ten. The combination of the jury's full ranking and the televote's full ranking produced an overall ranking of all competing entries. The song which scored the highest overall rank received 12 points, while the tenth-best ranked song received 1 point.

### **Running order**

The final running order of the competing performances at the semi-finals and the final were decided by the producer of the show and approved by the Executive Producer, the Executive Supervisor, the CBU and the Reference Group.

### **Presenters**

On 20 December 2015, IBA announced that **Dana International**and **Nadav Guedj**were the hosts of the 7th edition. **Mei Finegold** was also chosen as host of the green room.

### **National host broadcaster**

During an initial meeting between the host broadcaster IBA and CBU (Contest Broadcasting Union) in 24 December 2015, the representatives of the core organising team were selected. **Merfi Amadeus** was announced as the executive producer and **Kostas Bouris** as the executive supervisor.

## Participants

46 countries will participate in the edition. The edition consisted of two semi-finals with 20 and 21 countries, from which the 10 and 11 respectively with the highest scores qualified, and a final. One country returned to the contest; Cyprus, who last took part in the 5th edition, returned to the contest after a one-edition break.

### **Big 5**

  United Kingdom | Little Mix
  Russia | Polina Gagarina
  Netherlands | Sharon Doorson
  Norway | Carina Dahl

## Results

### **Semi-final 1**

20 countries took part in the first semi-final. The ten songs in places 1 to 10 qualified for the final and are marked in orange. Israel, United Kingdom and Norway voted from the Big 5.

### **Semi-final 2**

21 countries took part in the first semi-final. The eleven songs in places 1 to 11 qualified for the final and are marked in orange. Israel, Russia and Netherlands voted from the Big 5.

## Other countries

* Andorra - Ràdio i Televisió d'Andorra (RTVA) announced that the country would not participate in the 7th edition of the Sound Of Europe.