Edition 64

The sixty-fourth edition of the **Global Music Festival** took place at the Casinó Lugano in Lugano, Switzerland. It was the second time the country hosted the contest, after Switzerland's second victory in the sixty-third edition with the song "Shadows" performed by Stefanie Heinzmann - which scored an impressive 364 points. This edition consisted of two semi-finals which were all launched on the 25 February 2020 and a grand final which took place from the 4 March 2020. All three of the shows in this edition were hosted by actress Sofia Milos, magician and entertainer Marco Tempest and previous participant (alongside Timebelle) Miruna Manescu.

Fifty-nine countries participated in this edition of the contest. We had a number of countries return after long break from the contest. Guyana returned for their second participation since their debut - taking a 34 edition break. Other returnees after notably long absences included: Armenia (14 edition break), India (10 edition break), Lebanon (13 edition break), Moldova (17 edition break), Portugal (6 edition break), Thailand (12 edition break), United Arab Emirates (10 edition break) and Zimbabwe (11 edition break). There were another 5 returning countries that had lesser breaks: Albania, Barbados, Colombia, Italy and Malta. Unfortunately, Peru and South Korea decided to withdraw from this edition.

The power six for this edition were Switzerland, Norway, The Netherlands, Sweden, Australia and Georgia - 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

## Other Participants

* South Korea

## Semi-Final Allocation Draw

The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place on the 24 February 2020. 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. Finland and
Ireland were not included in the pots because the head of delegation for these countries are on the admin team and are in charge of the second and first semi-final respectively; as a result, Finland was automatically assigned to semi-final one and Ireland was automatically assigned to semi-final two.

Also, in the semi-final allocation draw the power six nations (Switzerland, Norway, The Netherlands, Sweden, Australia and Georgia) were all drawn to vote in one of the respective semi-finals. Switzerland, Norway and Georgia were assigned to vote in the first semi-final and The Netherlands, Sweden and Australia were assigned to vote in the second semi-final.

## Semi Final One

 Switzerland,  Norway and  Georgia 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. Unfortunately, Armenia failed to vote before the deadline, so the country was disqualified.

## Semi Final Two

 The Netherlands,  Sweden and  Australia 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 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 and the twenty-four qualifiers from the two semi-finals. All 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.