Mysterious Song Contest 41

Semi-finals dates
 Final dates
 Venue
 Presenter(s)
 Director
 Executive supervisor
 Host
 Number of entries
 Voting system
 Winning song

**Mysterious Song Contest** welcomes the world to  Iceland for the 41st Edition.

The **Mysterious Song Contest #41** will be the 41st edition of the annual Mysterious Song Contest Wikia. It will take place in the **Laugardalshöll**, located in **Reykjavík**,  Iceland, following the country's victory at the 40th edition with iLL BLU & Glowie performing **"Tribalist"**. This will be the **first** time the country hosts the contest.

The contest is scheduled to consist of 2 semi finals and finally the grand final, with official dates for the semi finals being **25th August 2018** and **30th August 2018**. The grand final official date being the **10th September 2018**. All three live shows were hosted by **Anita Briem** and **Bjork**.

As of **16th August 2018** **48** confirmed countries participated in the contest. **3** countries have made their debut, The countries being  Equatorial Guinea,  Gambia and  Mongolia. **16** countries returned to the contest after absences, while **15** countries withdrew. Albania,  Mayotte,  New Zealand and  Portugal were set to join the contest but later withdrew their applications to go to **Iceland** and compete.

## Location

It will take place in the **Laugardalshöll**, located in **Reykjavík**,  Iceland, following the country's victory at the 40th edition with iLL BLU & Glowie performing "Tribalist ".

### **Venue**

The **Laugardalshöll** in **Reykjavík**, which has a capacity of approximately **11,000** attendees, was announced as the host venue on **8th August 2018**. This will be the Arena's first time hosting the contest.

### **Bidding phase and host city selection**

Following **Iceland's** triumph, the Mysterious Broadcasting Union (MBU)'s Executive Supervisor for the Mysterious Song Contest, issued the hosting invitation to **RÚV** during the winner's press conference.

**RÚV**  Iceland, announced on **5th August 2018** that with the contest being held in **Iceland** that any city, town or arena that would like to host the contest would had four days to apply to the broadcaster with their interest.

The following selection criteria were outlined for the selection of the host city:-

* The venue must be covered with a capacity of at least 1,000 but ideally up to 10,000 attendees.
* An international press centre must be able to accommodate no less than 1,550 journalists.
* Venues must also be provided for the opening and closing ceremonies of at least 3,000 attendees.
* The host city must be able to guarantee the safety and security of participants, members of delegations and guests.
* The host city must provide a social program alongside their bid, showcasing the hospitality, originality, cultural values and identity of both the city and Fiji.

     **Host City**

 Kaplakriki
 Reykjavík
 Harpa Concert Hall
 Laugardalshöll
It hosts various sporting events, such as handball, basketball, volleyball and athletics, as well as for other events. Aside from sporting events, it is the largest concert venue in Iceland, with a maximum capacity of 11,000. Aside from sports and music events, it serves as a general purpose hall for all manner of events.

## Format

### **Presenters**

On **17th August 2018**, **RÚV** announced that the contest would be hosted by **Anita Briem**, and **Bjork**.

**Spokesperson #01**:- Anita Briem
Anita Briem (born 29 May 1982) is an Icelandic actress. She is known for her role as Jane Seymour on The Tudors and her role as Hannah Ásgeirsdottir in Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Briem was born on 29 May 1982 in Reykjavík and is the daughter of drummer Gunnlaugur Briem of Mezzoforte and back-up vocalist Erna Þórarinsdóttir. She started acting when she was nine at the National Theatre of Iceland. She moved to England at the age of sixteen and in 2004 she graduated from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, having received the John Barton award in Stage Fighting.

**Spokesperson #02**:- Bjork
Björk Guðmundsdóttir; born 21 November 1965 is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, actress, record producer, and DJ. Over her four-decade career, she has developed an eclectic musical style that draws on a range of influences and genres spanning electronic, pop, experimental, classical, trip hop, IDM, and avant-garde music, while collaborating with a range of artists and exploring a variety of multimedia projects.

### **Voting**

The competition will consist of **02** semi-finals and a final. The **10** countries with the highest scores in each semi-final will qualify to the grand final where they will join the top 6 countries from the previous edition  **Bulgaria,  North Macedonia,  Germany,  Norway,  Serbia and the host nation  Iceland**.

Each participating country had their own national jury/HoD. Each member of a respective nation's jury is required to rank every song, except that of their own country, to produce an overall ranking from first to last place. The song which scored the highest overall rank received 12 points, while the tenth-best ranked song received 1 point.

### **Semi-final allocation draw**

The draw to determine the allocation of the participating countries into their respective semi-finals took place on **21st August 2018**. The **42** semi-finalists had been allocated into **eight** pots, based on the geographical locations of the nations. Drawing from different pots helps to increase suspense in the semi-finals. The draw also determined which semi-final would be broadcast and voted by each of the six automatic finalist countries ( **Bulgaria,  North Macedonia,  Germany,  Norway,  Serbia and the host nation  Iceland**).

* Greece
* Kazakhstan
* Moldova
* Romania
* Turkey
* India
* Japan
* Mongolia
* South Korea
* Taiwan
* Indonesia
* Philippines
* Singapore
* Vietnam
* Hungary
* Italy
* Poland
 Pot 5
 * Andorra
* Belgium
* France
* Monaco
* Spain
* Gambia
* Lebanon
* Malta
* Zimbabwe
* Faroe Islands
* Finland
* Latvia
* Sweden
* Colombia
* Mexico
* United Kingdom
* United States

## Participating Countries

The MBU announced on **16th August 2018** that forty-eight countries would participate in the contest. **3** countries have made their debut, The countries being  Equatorial Guinea,  Gambia and  Mongolia. **16** countries returned to the contest after absences, while **15** countries withdrew. Albania,  Mayotte,  New Zealand and  Portugal were set to join the contest but later withdrew their applications to go to **Iceland** and compete.

### **Returning Artists**

We welcome back some artists who have previous joined us in MSC.

* Czech Republic Lenny [Prev. #28]
* Finland Janna Hurmerinta [Prev. #07 for  Estonia]
* Finland Pyhimys [Prev. #40]
* North Macedonia Bebe Rexha [Prev. #28, #31 for  Albania]
* Greece Josephine [Prev. #05]
* Moldova Irina Rimes [Prev. #38]
* Philippines Built by Titan [Prev. #33 for  Sweden]
* San Marino Giorgia Todrani [Prev. #11 for  Italy]
* Spain Alvaro Soler [Prev. #29, #31]

## Finals

### **Semi Final 1**

**21 Countries** are participating in this Semi Final with  **Bulgaria**,  **Germany** and  **Norway** voting as 3 of the 6 automatic qualifiers of this edition. The top 10 countries that score the highest number of points will qualify to the grand final.

     Qualified

### **Semi Final 2**

**21 Countries** are participating in this Semi Final with  **North Macedonia**,  **Iceland** and  **Serbia** voting as 3 of the 6 automatic qualifiers of this edition. The top 10 countries that score the highest number of points will qualify to the grand final.

     Qualified

### **Grand Final**

26 Countries will create the grand final. 10 from Semi Final 1, 10 from Semi Final 2 and the automatic qualifiers  Bulgaria,  North Macedonia,  Germany,  Norway,  Serbia and the host nation  Iceland.

The draw on  Bulgaria,  North Macedonia,  Germany,  Norway,  Serbia and the host nation  Iceland position in the running order were done prior to the Semi Finals.

## Scoring

### **12points**

Below is a summary of the maximum 12 points each country awarded to another in the Grand final:

### **Scoreboards**

#### This is how the votes were scored in each Semi Final.

     Voter was replaced
     Qualified
 File:MSC 41 SF1.png
 File:MSC 41 SF2.png

#### Here is how the world voted in the grand final.

     Voter was replaced
 File:MSC 41 GF.png

## Spokespeople

This is the order of how the votes were released and the spokesperson from each country

01.  Australia Lee Lin Chin
02.  Equatorial Guinea Emilio Buale Coka
03.  North Macedonia Filiz Ahmet
04.  Czech Republic Jaja Vankova
05.  Spain Xavier Serrano
06.  Belgium Celine Buckens
07.  Germany Ian Harding
08.  Malta Marama Corlett
09.  China Shen Yue
10.  France Kendji Girac
11.  India Alia Bhatt
12.  Norway Alisha Boe
13.  RomaniaLoredana Groza

14.  Iceland Magnus Scheving
15.  Philippines Kathryn Bernardo
16.  Gambia Binta Dibba
17.  Greece Eleni Menegaki
18.  Zimbabwe Rick Cosnett
19.  Vietnam Nguyen Duyen
20.  Kazakhstan Anatoliy Tsoy
21.  Bulgaria Mira Aroyo
22.  San Marino Lia Fiorio
23.  South Korea Song Joong-ki
24.  Serbia Jovana Joksimovic
25.  Colombia Andrea Espada
26.  Italy Jody Cecchetto

## National Selections

Here is a list of all the national selections held this edition.

 N/A