Greece will be represented by the Pontiac hip hop band Argo – formerly known as Europond – in the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest, with a song about refugees in a decision causing controversy.
State TV ERT, traditionally responsible for picking the Eurovision song every year, has decided this year to bypass the usual contest procedure and offer the entry to Argo, a hip hop band from Pontos (from where many Greek refugees arrived in the country after the 1922 war with Turkey).
The Thessaloniki-based hip hop group has not yet decided upon the song that will be performed by Christina Lachana, Maria Venetikidou, Vladimiros Sofianidis, Kostas Topouzis, Ilias Kesidis en Alekos Papadopoulos in Stockholm.
Christina Lachana is the lead singer of the group. In the recent past this formation from Thessaloniki performed under the stage name Europond – a word play about Europe and Pontos.
Clear political decision
The official Eurovision fan club in Greece has announced that hip hop group Europond has been selected to represent Greece in the 61st Eurovision contest, which is scheduled to take place on the 10th, 12th and 14th of May in Stockholm.
Additionally, ERT has decided to “order” the song’s theme, limiting the band’s composition to the issue of refugees – a clear political decision based on current affairs, given that the refugee crisis is a major issue concerning the country’s current position in the EU. It is even rumored that the song might be sung in the Pontiac dialect.
Upbeat, hope-filled song
ERT president Dionysis Tsaknis has expressed his opposition to gimmicky pop song. He told journalists in an informal briefing that Greece will participate with an upbeat, hope-filled song that will refer to the financial and refugee crisis in Greece. Mr. Tsaknis also noted that he opposed Greece entering this year’s Eurovision competition.
Greece has won the Eurovision Song Contest once, in 2005, and has qualified to every Grand Final since the current system was introduced. Last year Maria Elena Kyriakou represented Greece with the song One Last Breath.
Further details are due to be released soon.
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