Edition 49

The forty-ninth edition of the **Global Music Festival** took place at the TECA in Aberdeen, Scotland. It was the sixth time the country hosted the contest, after Scotland's fifth victory in the forty-eighth edition with the song Someone You Loved performed by Lewis Capaldi - which scored 303 points, which is Scotland's highest score to date. This edition consisted of three semi-finals which were all launched on the 03 March 2019 and a grand final which took place from the 11 March 2019. All four of the shows in this edition were hosted by Hollywood star James McAvoy and actress Karen Gillian, who appeared in Doctor Who and in the Marvel cinematic universe as Nebula. McAvoy makes his debut as a presenter in the forty-ninth edition while Gillian makes her return for a fifth time after hosting the sixteenth, nineteenth, twenty-eighth, and forty-third editions. Gillian currently holds the record for hosting the most Global Music Festival editions.

Fifty-seven countries participated in this edition of the contest. six countries made their return in this edition. The forty-ninth edition saw the second appearance for Ecuador, who first participated in the twenty-first edition. Armenia, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada and Czech Republic also made their return to the contest. On the other hand, Croatia decided it was time for them to leave the contest after participating since the twenty-fourth edition. Colombia, Ghana, the Philippines, San Marino, Syria, Taiwan, Uruguay and Vietnam all withdrew from the contest.

The power six for this edition were Scotland, Lithuania, Kosovo, China, Norway and Turkey - these were the delegations that placed in the top six from the previous edition. Their placement in the power six means that they received an automatic place to perform in the final of this edition, while also being allowed to vote in one of the semi-finals in this edition.

 Slogan
 Venue
 Presenter(s)
 Participants
 Winner
 Saara Aalto - Dance Like Nobody's Watching

## Participants

* Brazil
* Bulgaria
* Canada
* Czech Republic
* Ecuador
* Croatia
* Ghana
* The Philippines
* San Marino
* Syria
* Taiwan
* Uruguay
* Vietnam

## Pots for the Semi-Final Allocation Draw

The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place on the 03 March 2019. The fifty-one semi-finalists were allocated to five pots, based on the previous results of each participating country, calculated by the averages of the past results. Drawing from each pot helps to create an equal split of successful and not-so successful countries in each semi-final to give countries an equal chance of qualification.
Malta, Finland and Ireland were not included in the pots because the head of delegations for these countries are on the admin team and are in charge of the first, second and third semi-finals respectively; as a result, the countries were automatically assigned to another semi-final: Malta were assigned to semi-final two, and Finland were assigned to semi-final three, and Ireland were assigned to semi-final one.

Also, in the semi-final allocation draw the power six nations (Scotland, Lithuania, Kosovo, China, Norway and Turkey) were all drawn to vote in one of the respective semi-finals. Kosovo and China were assigned to vote in the first semi-final, Lithuania and Norway were assigned to vote in the second semi-final, and Scotland and Turkey were assigned to vote in the third semi-final.

## Semi Final One

 Kosovo and  China from the power six were randomly allocated to vote in this semi-final, as well as, the countries who participated in this semi-final - as always countries not in this semi-final had the choice whether they wanted to vote in this semi-final or not.  Ireland were automatically assigned to this semi-final because the head of delegation for Ireland is on the admin team and is the organiser for the third semi-final - this is done to allow the admins to have the uncertainty of their countries' result.

## Semi Final Two

 Lithuania and  Norway from the power six were randomly allocated to vote in this semi-final, as well as, the countries who participated in this semi-final - as always countries not in this semi-final had the choice whether they wanted to vote in this semi-final or not.  Malta were automatically assigned to this semi-final because the head of delegation for Malta is on the admin team and is the organiser for the first semi-final - this is done to allow the admins to have the uncertainty of their countries' result.

## Semi Final Three

 Scotland and  Turkey from the power six were randomly allocated to vote in this semi-final, as well as, the countries who participated in this semi-final - as always countries not in this semi-final had the choice whether they wanted to vote in this semi-final or not.  Finland were automatically assigned to this semi-final because the head of delegation for Finland is on the admin team and is the organiser for the second semi-final - this is done to allow the admins to have the uncertainty of their countries' result.

## Grand Final

Thirty countries participated in the final of this edition of the **Global Music Festival** - the power six, the seven qualifiers from the three semi-finals and the three wildcard entries (one from each semi-final). All fifty-seven participating countries were eligible to vote in the final; however, only the thirty finalists were obligated to vote! The votes of the non-qualifiers and non-participants were all combined in to the televote. However, only thirty non-qualifiers and non-participants could vote. The running order for the final was announced shortly after the semi final results on the 11 March 2019. The results for the final were released on the 19 March 2019.