OVSC12

## OrbisVision Song Contest #12  *In all that we share*

 The Pochonbo Electronic Ensemble performing "Women are Flowers", "The Dear Name Is Kim Jong-il" and "Heullari"
 **Grand Final:**
 Red Velvet performing a medley of their hits
 The Korean folk song "Arirang" performed by Baek Mi-gyeong

## Participants

### Debuting

 Ecuador
  Syria
  Uruguay

### Returning

 American Samoa
  Armenia
  Australia
  Bulgaria
  Estonia
  Faroe Islands
  Guam
  Indonesia
  Latvia
  Luxembourg
  Martinique
  San Marino
  Serbia
  Slovakia
  South Korea
  Ukraine
  US Virgin Islands

### Withdrawing

 Chile
  Colombia
  Croatia
  Finland
  Guernsey
  Iran
  Israel
  Kosovo
  Kyrgyzstan
  Lebanon
  Malta
  Malaysia
 Monaco
  New Zealand
  Niue
  Palau
  Slovenia
  Suriname
  Vietnam
  Zimbabwe

## Voting

### System

Each country awards a set of 1 - 7 points, followed by 8, 10 and 12 points for their top 3 favourite songs

### Winner

 Italy
 "Falene" by Michele Bravi and Sophie and the Giants

After their surprise shock win in Tampere, the North Korean capital of Pyongyang hosted the 12th OrbisVision Song Contest!

This is the country's first time hosting, as well the third time an Asian country has hosted. North Korea is also the first socialist country to host the contest.

It was also the first to have a stadium as the venue and the first venue to be over the usual capacity previous host cities has used.

The show consisted of 3 shows, 2 semi-finals and a Grand Final.

44 countries have confirmed their participation.

The contest was won for the first time by Italy, with the song "Falene" by Michele Bravi and English group Sophie and the Giants. This was the first time a Southern European country won the contest and the fourth time a European country has won.

## Location

### Host city

Pyongyang (Korean: 평양), located on the Taedong River on the southwest of North Korea, is the capital city of the country known as the Capital of the Revolution, and its "showcase city" where people have a markedly higher standard of living than elsewhere in the country.

Many of the nation's tourist attractions can be found here and will likely form part of most travel itineraries to North Korea. Largely destroyed during the Korean War in 1952, it was rebuilt to be a model city to boost morale in North Korea.

The Russian-style architecture features wide boulevards and lots of green space and decoration.

The streets are laid out in an orderly grid, and the city is divided into self-sufficient urban neighborhoods all with similar amenities nearby.

As movement is restricted in the city, it stands out among large Asian cities for being spacious, uncrowded, and quiet.

Pyongyang has been an important city in the region for millenia.

In the 300s and 400s, it was the capital first of Nanglang and then of the Goguryeo kingdom. Historically an important commercial center, in the 16th through 19th centuries it became the center of Christian missionary work in Asia.

When Korea was split after the end of World War II, the Soviet Army entered Pyongyang, and it became the temporary capital, which was later made official with the founding of North Korea.

During the Korean War, it was largely destroyed as a result of the largest aerial raid of the entire war. With help from the Soviet Union, it was quickly rebuilt.

### Venue

After KBS' immediate appointment as the host broadcaster of OVSC12, Pyongyang and its colossal Rungrado 1st of May Stadium were chosen to host the contest.

This is the first time the contest has been hosted in a stadium instead of the usual indoor arenas that have hosted in previous edition.

This 114,000 capacity stadium was first conceived after North Korea intensified its plans to present itself as the legitimate Korean state after South Korea's capital, Seoul, won the right to host the 1988 Summer Olympics.

It opened in 1989 to host the 13th World Festival of Youth and Students, which in fact was the only international event ever to be staged by North Korea.

This enormous stadium is the second-largest stadium in the world by seating capacity after India's Narendra Modi Stadium in Delhi, which has a 132,000-seat capacity.

The stadium's scalloped roof has 16 arches arranged in a ring, made to resemble a magnolia blossom.

The stadium is currently used to host football, athletics events and most often the mass games of the Arirang Festival.

## Participating countries

### Semi-final 1

Canada, Greece and Thailand will vote in this semi-final. Qualifiers are marked in blue.

### Semi-final 2

North Korea, Brazil and Andorra will vote in this semi-final. Qualifiers are marked in blue.

### Grand Final

1. ↑  The title of this song means "the heat" in Hawaiian and is sung during the chorus.
2. ↑  Contains some phrases in English.