🔵 2004 Eurovision Song Contest in Istanbul semifinal (English commentary by Paddy O'Connell)

Dates: Semi-final 12 May 2004 - Final 15 May 2004 Host Venue: Abdi İpekçi Arena, Istanbul, Turkey Presenters: Korhan Abay, Meltem Cumbul Directed by Sven Stojanovic Executive supervisor: Svante Stockselius Executive producer: Bülent Osma Host broadcaster. Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT) Opening act: Sertab Erener Interval act: Semi-final: ABBA: The Last Video Final: Fire of Anatolia The Eurovision Song Contest 2004 was the 49th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Istanbul, Turkey, following Sertab Erener's win at the 2003 contest in Riga, Latvia with the song "Everyway That I Can" – marking the country's first victory in the contest. The national broadcaster Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT), staged the event at the Abdi İpekçi Arena on 12 and 15 May 2004. Ukrainian singer Ruslana won the contest with "Wild Dances". It is notable that this was only Ukraine's second participation in the contest. This was also the third year in a row in which the contest was won by a woman, performing a song composed at least partially by herself (being the previous two Marie N and Sertab Erener, who co-wrote their winning songs for the 2002 and 2003 contests). To accommodate the increasing number of countries who wished to participate, a semi-final was introduced. The countries which did not qualify for the final are normally calculate like participating countries, as well semi-finals are a part of the competition. For the second consecutive year, no returning acts were present – only the sixth time (including 1956) in the history of the contest that this happened and it was the first time this had happened in two consecutive years. The semi-final was held on 12 May 2004 at 21:00 (CET). 22 countries performed and all participants voted except France, Poland and Russia. This was the first ever semi-final in Eurovision history. Draw Country Artist Song Language Place Points 01 Finland Jari Sillanpää "Takes 2 to Tango" English 14 51 02 Belarus Aleksandra and Konstantin "My Galileo" English 19 10 03 Switzerland Piero Esteriore & The MusicStars "Celebrate" English 22 0 04 Latvia Fomins and Kleins "Dziesma par laimi" Latvian 17 23 05 Israel David D'Or "Leha'amin" (להאמין) Hebrew, English 11 57 06 Andorra Marta Roure "Jugarem a estimar-nos" Catalan 18 12 07 Portugal Sofia Vitória "Foi magia" Portuguese 15 38 08 Malta Julie and Ludwig "On Again... Off Again" English 8 74 09 Monaco Maryon "Notre planète" French 19 10 10 Greece Sakis Rouvas "Shake It" English 3 238 11 Ukraine Ruslana "Wild Dances" English, Ukrainian 2 256 12 Lithuania Linas and Simona "What's Happened to Your Love?" English 16 26 13 Albania Anjeza Shahini "The Image of You" English 4 167 14 Cyprus Lisa Andreas "Stronger Every Minute" English 5 149 15 Macedonia Toše Proeski "Life" English 10 71 16 Slovenia Platin "Stay Forever" English 21 5 17 Estonia Neiokõsõ "Tii" Võro 11 57 18 Croatia Ivan Mikulić "You Are the Only One" English 9 72 19 Denmark Tomas Thordarson "Shame on You" English 13 56 20 Serbia and Montenegro Željko Joksimović & Ad-Hoc Orchestra "Lane moje" (Лане моје) Serbian 1 263 21 Bosnia and Herzegovina Deen "In the Disco" English 7 133 22 Netherlands Re-Union "Without You" English 6 146