Alexander Rybak sang on Thursday evening and Norway made the final of the Eurovision Song Contest, to be held in Lisbon on Saturday.
Rybak had written this year’s Norwegian contribution, “That’s How You Write A Song”, himself. He won with “Fairytale” in 2009.
The others moving forward to the final are Serbia, Moldova, Hungary,Ukraine, Sweden, Australia, Denmark, Slovenia, and the Netherlands.
Sang Anniversary
As a curiosity, the program leaders in the semifinal might mention that Rybak gave the performance of song number 1,500 in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest.
The Norwegian artist has not talked to the media in the past few days,and according to NRK’s press contacts, he has wanted to have full focus on the semifinal broadcast. He has struggled a bit with his fitness this season, but during the heats to the semifinal he had still delivered good performances.
Equalling records
This year’s competition is organised in Lisbon after Portuguese singer,Salvador Sobral, took the country to the top last year with the song “Amar pelos dois”. This year, 43 countries participated, which equalled the 2008 and 2011 records.
The first semifinal went off on Tuesday. Of the Nordic countries, Iceland went out while Finland continued. The others who went to the finals were Austria, Estonia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Albania, Ireland,Cyprus and Israel, the latter two being among the big favourites among the bookmakers. After the first round in Lisbon, Norway was also high among the favourites.
“The five majors” in the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), France,Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, joined the organising country to the final. The two semifinals in Altice Arena were held on the banks of the river Tajo.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
