Portugal In The Eurovision Song Contest 2008

Portugal participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 with the song "Senhora do mar (negras águas)" written by Andrej Babić and Carlos Coelho. The song was performed by Vânia Fernandes. The Portuguese broadcaster Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP) organised the national final ''Festival da Canção 2008'' in order to select the Portuguese entry for the 2008 contest in Belgrade, Serbia. The competition took place on 9 March 2008 where the winner was selected exclusively by public televoting. "Senhora do mar (negras águas)" performed by Vânia Fernandes emerged as the winner with 17,650 votes.

Portugal was drawn to compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 22 May 2008. Performing as the closing entry during the show in position 19, "Senhora do mar (negras águas)" was announced among the 10 qualifying entries of the second semi-final and therefore qualified to compete in the final on 24 May. This marked the first time that Portugal qualified to the final of the Eurovision Song Contest from a semi-final since the introduction of semi-finals in 2004. It was later revealed that Portugal placed second out of the 19 participating countries in the semi-final with 120 points. In the final, Portugal performed in position 13 and placed thirteenth out of the 25 participating countries with 69 points.

Background

Prior to the 2008 contest, Portugal had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest forty-one times since its first entry in 1964. The nation's highest placing in the contest was sixth, which they achieved in 1996 with the song "O meu coração não tem cor" performed by Lúcia Moniz. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004, Portugal had, to this point, yet to feature in a final. Portugal's least successful result has been last place, which they have achieved on three occasions, most recently in 1997 with the song "Antes do adeus" performed by Célia Lawson. Portugal has also received ''nul points'' on two occasions; in 1964 and 1997. The nation failed to qualify to the final in 2007 with the song "Dança comigo" performed by Sabrina.

The Portuguese national broadcaster, Rádio e Televisão de Portugal (RTP), broadcasts the event within Portugal and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. RTP confirmed Portugal's participation in the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest on 12 September 2007. The broadcaster has traditionally selected the Portuguese entry for the Eurovision Song Contest via the music competition ''Festival da Canção'', with exceptions in 1988 and 2005 when the Portuguese entries were internally selected. Despite rumours of an internal selection due to the resignation of the RTP programmes director Nuno Santos, the broadcaster announced the organization of ''Festival da Canção 2008'' in order to select the 2008 Portuguese entry on 22 January 2008.

Before Eurovision

Festival da Canção 2008

''Festival da Canção 2008'' was the 44th edition of ''Festival da Canção'' that selected Portugal's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008. Ten entries competed in the competition which took place on 9 March 2008 at the Teatro Camões in Lisbon. The show was hosted by Sílvia Alberto and broadcast on RTP1 and RTP Internacional as well as online via the broadcaster's official website ''rtp.pt''.

Competing entries

Ten producers were invited by RTP for the competition. The producers worked in coordination with their selected composers on the songs which were required to be created and submitted in the Portuguese language by 22 February 2008 in its final versions, while its performers were chosen by RTP. The selected producers were revealed between 24 and 30 January 2008, while the competing artists were revealed between 25 January and 15 February 2008.

Final

The final took place on 9 March 2008. In addition to performances of the ten competing entries, each of the competing artists performed a cover version of a former Eurovision winning song both solo and as a group (with the songs " Waterloo" by ABBA, "Making Your Mind Up" by Bucks Fizz and " Hallejulah" by Milk and Honey). The winner, "Senhora do mar (negras águas)" performed by Vânia Fernandes, was selected solely by a public televote held in Portugal, France, Spain, Germany and Switzerland. Be-Dom and Hip Hop BCM performed as the interval acts."Festival da Canção 2008" (2008-03-09). '' Rádio e Televisão de Portugal''. Retrieved on 2008-11-08.

Preparation

Following Vânia Fernandes's victory at Festival da Canção 2008, the singer filmed the music video for "Senhora do mar (negras águas)" in Madeira and Porto Santo which was presented on 4 April 2008. An English language version of the song, titled "Lady of the Sea", was also recorded. Both the Portuguese and English versions of the song were released on a CD single ahead of the contest, which also included karaoke and instrumental edits and a remix by Portuguese DJ Rui da Silva.

Promotion

Vânia Fernandes made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Senhora do mar (negras águas)" as the Portuguese Eurovision entry. On 5 April, Vânia Fernandes appeared during the Bulgarian BNT 1 morning show ''Vsichki pred ekrana'' where she performed together with 2006 Bulgarian contest entrant Mariana Popova. She also completed promotional activities in Malta between 27 and 30 April, including a performance of "Senhora do mar (negras águas)" during the NET talk show programme ''La Qomna Qomna'', as well as in Turkey on 29 April where she performed together with 1996 and 1997 Turkish contest entrant Şebnem Paker

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