Edition 23

The twenty-third edition of the **Global Music Festival**​ took place at the Ondrej Nepela Arena in Bratislava, Slovakia.  It was the first time the country hosted the contest after Slovakia's first victory in the twenty-second edition with Lina Mayer's song "Don't Leave Me Now" - which scored an impressive score of 196 points.  This edition consisted of three semi-finals which were all launched on the 12 December 2017 and a grand final which took place from the 16 December 2017. All four of the shows in this edition were hosted by Slovak model Adriana Sklenaříková and Slovak singer Kristina - who represented Slovakia in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2010.  This edition, the participants had a choice: the participants could treat this as a normal edition and send an artist from their country; or they could send a Christmas song from any country in the world - for example, Chile have sent an Icelandic Christmas song and Norway have sent a Swedish Christmas Song.

Fifty-eight countries participated in this edition of the contest.  We saw the exciting debut of Panama.  As well as, the return of Belgium, Brazil, Canada, FYR Macedonia, Germany, Iceland, India, Israel, Kosovo, Morocco, Puerto Rico and Wales.  Also, a number of countries sadly withdrew from this edition: Argentina, Colombia, Comoros, Cuba, Denmark, Portugal, Russia and Ukraine.

The power six for this edition were Slovakia, Mexico, Finland, Germany, Israel and Andorra -  these were the delegations that placed in the top six from the previous edition: Belarus switched to Germany and Hungary switched to Israel.  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.

In this edition, Japan were announced as the winner (and their first win) with the song "Someday We'll Know" performed by FAKY, which scored an impressive 199 points - the third highest score in the history of the contest to-date. Also, Venezuela, The Netherlands, Morocco, Hungary and Israel all received their highest placements in the history of the contest, placing second, third, fourth, fifth and twenty-fifth respectively; furthermore, Morocco and Israel qualified for the first time.  However, some countries did receive their worst placements in the history of the contest; most notably, Barbados failed to qualify for the first time since the first edition and have now lost their 100% qualification streak (which leaves Finland as the only country to have been in every final since the first edition).  Furthermore, other countries received their worst placements to-date including: Belarus and the Czech Republic who both failed to qualify for the first time since their respective debuts; Slovenia who came last in the first semi-final; and finally, Estonia and Iceland.

 Slogan
 Venue
 Presenter(s)
 Participants
 Theme
 Winner

## Participants

* Brazil
* Canada
* FYR Macedonia
* Germany
* Iceland
* India
* Israel
* Kosovo
* Morocco
* Puerto Rico
* Wales
* Colombia
* Comoros
* Cuba
* Denmark
* Portugal
* Russia
* Ukraine

## 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 11 December 2017.  The fifty-two 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 and Ireland were not included in the pots because the head of delegations for the countries are on the admin team and are each in charge of one of the semi finals.  Malta were automatically assigned to the second semi final and Ireland were automatically assigned to the first semi final.

Also, in the semi-final allocation draw the power six nations (Slovakia, Mexico, Finland, Germany, Israel and Andorra) were all drawn to vote in one of the respective semi-finals.  Slovakia and Andorra were assigned to the first semi-final, Mexico and Germany were assigned to the second semi-final, and Finland and Israel were assigned to the third semi-final.

## Odds

The odds for the semi finals were released on the 15 December 2017 by the admins in charge of their respective semi finals, below you can see the odds for the top seven (the predicted qualifiers) in each semi final:

And, below are the odds for the favourites to win the final of the twenty-third edition:

## ​Semi Final One

 Slovakia and  Andorra 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 (as always) 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.  After the results were announced, there were discussions about selecting one of the non-qualifiers to progress to the final as a wildcard entry -  Albania were selected as the wildcard entry.

## ​Semi Final Two

 Mexico and  Germany 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 (as always) 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.  Unfortunately,  Norway had to withdraw from this edition because of personal reasons.  After the results were announced, there were discussions about selecting one of the non-qualifiers to progress to the final as a wildcard entry -  China were selected as the wildcard entry.

## ​Semi Final Three

 Finland and  Israel 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. After the results were announced, there were discussions about selecting one of the non-qualifiers to progress to the final as a wildcard entry -  Brazil were selected as the wildcard entry.

## ​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-eight participating countries were eligible to vote in the final; however, only the thirty finalists were obligated to vote!  The running order for the final was announced shortly after the semi final results on the 16 December 2017.  The results for the final were released on the 23 December 2017 - just in time for Christmas haha!