Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017

Georgia participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song "Keep the Faith" written by Anri Jokhadze and Tamara Gachechiladze. The song was performed by Tamara Gachechiladze. The Georgian entry for the 2017 contest in Kiev, Ukraine was selected through a national final organised by the Georgian broadcaster Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB). The national final consisted of twenty-five competing acts participating in a televised production where the winner was determined by a 60/40 combination of votes from jury members made up of music professionals and a public telephone vote. "Keep the Faith" performed by Tamara Gachechiladze was selected as the winner.

Eurovision Song Contest 2017
Country Georgia
National selection
Selection processNational Final
Selection date(s)20 January 2017
Selected entrantTamara Gachechiladze
Selected song"Keep the Faith"
Selected songwriter(s)
Finals performance
Semi-final resultFailed to qualify
(11th, 99 points)
Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2016 • 2017 • 2018►

Georgia was drawn to compete in the first semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest which took place on 9 May 2017. Performing during the show in position 2, "Keep the Faith" was not announced among the top 10 entries of the first semi-final and therefore did not qualify to compete in the final.

Background
Main article: Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Prior to the 2017 Contest, Georgia had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest nine times since their first entry in 2007.[2] The nation's highest placing in the contest, to this point, has been ninth place, which was achieved on two occasions: in 2010 with the song "Shine" performed by Sofia Nizharadze and in 2011 with the song "One More Day" performed by Eldrine. The nation briefly withdrew from the contest in 2009 after the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) rejected the Georgian entry, "We Don't Wanna Put In", for perceived political references to Vladimir Putin who was the Russian Prime Minister at the time.[3][4] The withdrawal and fallout was tied to tense relations between Georgia and then host country Russia, which stemmed from the 2008 Russo-Georgian War.[5] Following the introduction of semi-finals, Georgia has, to this point, failed to qualify to the final on only two occasions. In 2016, Georgia qualified to the final where the country placed 20th with the song "Midnight Gold" performed by Nika Kocharov & Young Georgian Lolitaz.

The Georgian national broadcaster, Georgian Public Broadcaster (GPB), broadcasts the event within Georgia and organises the selection process for the nation's entry. GPB confirmed their intentions to participate at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest on 3 October 2016.[6] Georgia has selected their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest both through national finals and internal selections in the past. In 2013 and 2014, GPB opted to internally select the Georgian entry, in 2015, the Georgian entry was selected via a national final, and in 2016, the artist was internally selected while the song was chosen in a national final. For their 2017 participation, the entry was selected through a national final.

Before Eurovision

National final

On 4 November 2016, GPB announced that a national final would be held to select Georgia's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017.

Competing entries

GPB announced that a public song submission would be opened from 7 November 2016 until 7 December 2016.[7] 28 entries were received by the submission deadline, which were revealed to the public on 11 December 2016.[8][9] Three entries later withdrew from the competition.

Final

The final took place on 20 January 2017 at the Philharmonic Hall in Tbilisi, hosted by Nodiko Tatishvili and Liza Tsiklauri.[10] The winner, "Keep the Faith" performed by Tako Gachechiladze, was determined by the combination of votes of an international jury and a public SMS vote. Each jury member had an equal stake in the final result and the public vote had a weighting equal to the votes of a single jury.[11] The international jury consisted of Tali Eshkoli, Ralf Reinink, Sacha Jean-Baptiste and Borislav Milanov.

Final - 20 January 2017
Draw Artist Song (English translation) Composer(s) Jury Televote Total Place
1 Giorgi Chikovani "Make It Right" Giorgi Chikovani 76 3 79 7
2 Brandon Stone, Eteri Beriashvili & Vahtang "Heyo Song" Brandon Stone 43 4 47 18
3 Rati Durglishvili "Why" Rati Durglishvili 32 13 45 21
4 Andria Gvelesiani "Revolutionise" Giorgi Laghidze 58 12 70 10
5 Alisa Danelia "We Are Eternity" Alisa Danelia 47 1 48 17
6 Nutsa Buzaladze "White Horses Run" Andy Vitolo, John King 89 18 107 2
7 Maliibu "We Live Once" Malibu Tugushi 95 10 105 3
8 EOS "Urban Signs" Giorgi Kochoradze, Gedevan Levlishvili 16 7 23 25
9 Dima Kobeshavidze "Scream" Dima Kobeshavidze 53 2 55 14
10 Trio Mandili "Me da shen" (You and me) Vadim Estreman, Rostislav Maslovich 60 5 65 12
11 Tako Gachechiladze "Keep the Faith" Anri Jokhadze, Tamara Gachechiladze 98 24 122 1
12 Nino Basharuli "Lileo" Nino Basharuli 52 20 72 9
13 Elene Mikiashvili "Fighter" Ylva Persson, Linda Persson, Will Taylor 44 11 55 14
14 Misha Sulukhia "Magic" Misha Sulukhia 49 14 63 13
15 Mariko Lezhava "Light It Up" Bithard, DJ Avol Waves 66 16 82 6
16 The Mins "Crime" Zviad Mghebrishvili 83 22 105 3
17 Sparkle "On the Top" Aleko Berdzenishvili 54 23 77 8
18 Tornike Kipiani & Giorgi Bolotashvili "You Are My Sunshine" Tornike Kipiani 26 9 35 23
19 Temo Sajaia "All the Same" Temo Sajaia 48 6 54 16
20 Sabina Chantouria "Stranger" Sabina Chantouria 39 8 47 18
21 Mariam Chachkhiani "Fly" Joni Titirashvili 68 15 83 5
22 Asea Sool "Nature" Asea Sool 25 21 46 20
23 Nanuka Giorgobiani "Let the Sunshine In" Edisher Lomadze 17 17 34 24
24 Oto Nemsadze & Group Limbo "Dear God" Beso Nemsadze 45 25 70 10
25 Davit Shanidze "Mtveris katsi" (Man of dust) Davit Shanidze 17 19 36 22

Promotion

Tamara Gachechiladze made several appearances across Europe to specifically promote "Keep the Faith" as the Georgian Eurovision entry. Between 3 and 6 April, Gachechiladze took part in promotional activities in Tel Aviv, Israel where she performed during the Israel Calling event held at the Ha'teatron venue.[12][13] On 8 April, she performed during the Eurovision in Concert event which was held at the Melkweg venue in Amsterdam, Netherlands and hosted by Cornald Maas and Selma Björnsdóttir.[14] On 15 April, Tamara Gachechiladze performed during the Eurovision Spain Pre-Party, which was held at the Sala La Riviera venue in Madrid, Spain.[15]

At Eurovision

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big 5" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot.[16] On 31 January 2017, a special allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Georgia was placed into the first semi-final, to be held on 9 May 2017, and was scheduled to perform in the first half of the show.[17]

Once all the competing songs for the 2017 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Georgia was set to perform in position 2, following the entry from Sweden and before the entry from Australia.[18]

Semi-final

Tamara Gachechiladze took part in technical rehearsals on 30 April and 4 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 8 and 9 May. This included the jury show on 8 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries.

At the end of the show, Georgia was not announced among the top 10 entries in the first semi-final and therefore failed to qualify to compete in the final. It was later revealed that Georgia placed eleventh in the semi-final, receiving a total of 99 points: 37 points from the televoting and 62 points from the juries.

Voting

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Georgia and awarded by Georgia in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest, and the breakdown of the jury voting and televoting conducted during the two shows:[19][20]

Points awarded to Georgia
Points awarded to Georgia (Semi-final 1)
Televote
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point
Jury
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

Points awarded by Georgia

Split voting results

The following five members will comprise the Georgian jury: [21]

  • Maia Baratashvili – Chairperson – singer, musician
  • Medea Kavtaradze – vocal coach
  • Mirian Kukulashvili – musical producer
  • Gvantsa Kilasonia – TV producer
  • Mamuka Begashvili – composer, sound engineer
Split voting results from Georgia (Semi-final 1)
Draw Country Jury Televote
M. Kavtaradze M. Kukulashvili M. Baratashvili G. Kilasonia M. Begashvili Average Rank Points Rank Points
01  Sweden 6 5 12 2 7 3 8 7 4
02  Georgia
03  Australia 12 9 3 9 3 5 6 12
04  Albania 17 17 15 14 17 17 16
05  Belgium 16 3 14 8 15 13 6 5
06  Montenegro 11 15 16 3 16 14 14
07  Finland 15 6 13 11 5 11 11
08  Azerbaijan 4 1 2 6 2 2 10 1 12
09  Portugal 1 4 1 1 1 1 12 3 8
10  Greece 13 7 17 16 8 15 9 2
11  Poland 10 8 10 17 10 12 8 3
12  Moldova 5 14 9 12 6 8 3 5 6
13  Iceland 9 10 8 7 12 9 2 10 1
14  Czech Republic 14 12 7 5 11 10 1 17
15  Cyprus 7 2 5 13 9 6 5 4 7
16  Armenia 3 11 4 10 4 4 7 2 10
17  Slovenia 2 13 6 4 14 7 4 13
18  Latvia 8 16 11 15 13 16 15
Split voting results from Georgia (final)
Draw Country Jury Televote
M. Kavtaradze M. Kukulashvili M. Baratashvili G. Kilasonia M. Begashvili Average Rank Points Rank Points
01  Israel 23 26 23 16 17 25 11
02  Poland 6 22 22 9 22 18 20
03  Belarus 20 25 24 25 8 23 5 6
04  Austria 10 7 12 8 9 6 5 22
05  Armenia 8 13 13 11 13 8 3 2 10
06  Netherlands 11 9 10 15 16 10 1 19
07  Moldova 7 23 18 19 10 16 12
08  Hungary 13 16 20 5 26 17 23
09  Italy 3 17 11 4 24 9 2 6 5
10  Denmark 14 10 8 14 19 12 25
11  Portugal 1 3 1 1 1 1 12 3 8
12  Azerbaijan 2 2 2 3 6 2 10 1 12
13  Croatia 12 8 16 13 20 14 17
14  Australia 15 18 17 17 3 15 26
15  Greece 17 11 25 18 23 21 15
16  Spain 19 24 26 26 21 26 24
17  Norway 16 1 6 6 2 4 7 21
18  United Kingdom 24 20 9 20 18 19 16
19  Cyprus 5 6 19 7 14 7 4 9 2
20  Romania 21 21 15 24 11 20 18
21  Germany 22 5 5 21 12 13 14
22  Ukraine 25 15 21 22 15 22 7 4
23  Belgium 26 14 14 23 25 24 13
24  Sweden 4 4 3 2 5 3 8 10 1
25  Bulgaria 9 12 4 12 4 5 6 4 7
26  France 18 19 7 10 7 11 8 3

References
  1. "Tamara Gachechiladze". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  2. "Georgia Country Profile". EBU. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  3. Bakker, Sietse (10 March 2009). "Georgian song lyrics do not comply with Rules". Eurovision.tv. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  4. Jonze, Tim (11 March 2009). "Eurovision 2009: Georgia pulls out of contest over 'Putin song'". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  5. "Putin jibe picked for Eurovision". BBC News. 19 February 2009. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  6. "Georgia: Eurovision 2017 participation confirmed". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. 3 October 2016. Retrieved 24 December 2016.
  7. Granger, Anthony (4 November 2016). "Georgia: Call for Eurovision 2017 entries". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix.
  8. Granger, Anthony (24 December 2016). "Georgia: 27 artists apply to compete in Eurovision 2017". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix.
  9. Granger, Anthony (11 December 2016). "Georgia: Sabina Chantouria makes it 28 hopefuls". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix.
  10. Granger, Anthony (19 December 2016). "Georgia: Selects for Eurovision 2017 on January 20". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix.
  11. "2017". Eurovision Georgia. Georgia Public Broadcaster. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
  12. Kavaler, Ron (22 March 2017). "ISRAEL CALLING! EUROVISION PROMO EVENT SET FOR APRIL 3 TO 6". wiwibloggs.com. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  13. Laufer, Gil (5 April 2017). "Tonight: Israel Calling 2017 to be held with 28 participating countries". esctoday.com. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  14. Jordan, Paul (29 March 2017). "Eurovision in Concert sets a new record with 33 acts". European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  15. Fuster, Luis (1 April 2017). "MADRID CALLING! 19 ACTS WILL TAKE PART IN EUROVISION SPAIN PRE-PARTY". wiwibloggs.com. Retrieved 30 April 2017.
  16. Jordan, Paul (25 January 2017). "Semi-Final Allocation draw to take place in Kyiv". eurovision.tv. Retrieved 25 January 2017.
  17. Jordan, Paul (31 January 2017). "Results of the Semi-Final Allocation Draw". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  18. Jordan, Paul (31 March 2017). "Semi-Final running order for Eurovision 2017 revealed". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  19. "Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 First Semi-Final". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  20. "Georgia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 Grand Final". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 14 May 2017.
  21. Jordan, Paul (29 April 2017). "Who will be the expert jurors for Eurovision 2017?". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
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