The Eurovision Song Contest 2003 was the forty-eighth Eurovision Song Contest and was held at the Skonto Hall in Riga, Latvia on May 24, 2003. The hosts of the evening was 2002 contest winner Marie N and Renārs Kaupers, whose band placed third place at the Eurovision Song Contest 2000. This was the second time that a Eurovision contest had been hosted by two former participants, this happening earlier in 1991. Sertab Erener, the entrant for Turkey, was the winner of the event with the song "Every Way That I Can", which earned 167 points. Turkey managed to win the contest despite receiving points from only 21 countries. This is less than Belgium who came 2nd receiving points from 22 countries, and Russia who came 3rd receiving points from 23 countries. Sertab Erener's song clearly showed her nationality with a striking violin hook in typically Turkish pop style, emphasised with attractive dancers accompanying her performing a bellydance. The song received an explosive reception from the Latvian audience. Erener had changed the song to include a faster tempo, melismas and sang counter to the rhythm in tandem with the Turkish drums.
The contest featured a usual collection of typical Eurovision-style dance numbers and power ballads with unique performances which allowed several acts to stand out from the usual fare. Alf Poier, the Austrian entry, gave a performance that was a clear attempt to poke fun at the contest's excesses, with a stage act involving cardboard cut-out animals playing musical instruments. The second placed Belgian entry Urban Trad produced a song somewhere in the space between folk and New Age music with instrumentation including piano-accordion, bagpipes, the recorder, and lyrics in "an imaginary language", delivered without substantial artifice. Nicola from Romania performed "Don't Break My Heart" which featured back-up dancers who changed costumes several times and played with a huge record player prop. In the end, voting came down to a three-way race between Russia, Belgium and Turkey, with the usual pattern of ethnic blocs and quarrels mostly holding sway — but with a few surprising exceptions, most notably eight points from Cyprus to Turkey, after both countries had ignored each other in the voting for twenty years. Slovenia were the last country to issue votes, and they decided the winner, awarding ten points to Turkey. It is worth mentioning that second-to-last voter Sweden did not give any points at all to Belgium and only two points to Russia. Belgium finished just two points behind in second. Second favourite before the contest, Beth of Spain managed to end up 8th, due to a disappointing performance. After her rehearsal, her odds of winning across Europe went down considerably. She blamed a sore throat, but although she was third in Spanish Fame Academy Operación Triunfo, she wasn't to do so well in Eurovision. However, the song, Dime (Tell Me) managed to chart all across Europe and she remains one of the most successful people to come from reality TV in Spain.
01 Iceland Birgitta "Open Your heart"
02 Austria Alf Poier "Weil der Mensch zählt"
03 Ireland Mickey Joe Harte "We've got the world"
04 Turkey Sertab Erener "Everyway that I Can"
05 Malta Lynn Chircop "To Dream Again"
06 Bosnia & Herzegovina Mija Martina "Ne brini" / "Could it be"
07 Portugal Rita Guerra "Deixa-me sonhar"
08 Croatia Claudia Beni "Više nisam tvoja"
09 Cyprus Stelios Constantas "Feeling Alive"
10 Germany Lou "Let's get happy"
11 Russia T.A.T.U "Ne ver, ne boysa"
12 Spain Beth "Dime"
13 Israel Lior Nakis "Words of Love" / "Milim la'ahava"
14 Netherlands Esther Hart "One More Night"
15 UK Jemini "Cry Baby"
16 Ukraine Olexandr Ponomaryov "Hasta La Vista"
17 Greece Mando "Never Let You Go"
18 Norway Jostein Hasselgård "I'm not afraid To move on"
19 France Louise Baileche "Monts et merveilles"
20 Poland Ich Troje "Keine Granzen" / "Żadnych granic"
21 Latvia F.L.Y. "Hello from Mars"
22 Belgium Urban Trad "Sanomi"
23 Estonia Ruffus "Eighties coming back"
24 Romania Nicola "Don't break my heart"
25 Sweden Fame "Give me your love"
26 Slovenia Karmen Stavec "Nanana"
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anahialfonso4ever 2008-03-30 03:24:46
the best were Spain, Germany, Iceland, Belgium, Turkey, Cyprus, Sweden, and may be Russia
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