Congrats to Turkey!
-article- Michael LYONS writes;
RIGA, Latvia - Turkey won the 48th annual Eurovision song contest early
Sunday morning, beating the much-favored Russian duo Tatu. AP Photo
Sertab Erener sang "Every Way That I Can" to carry the country to its
first victory in the annual contest that boasts equal doses glitz and
kitsch.
The country's previous best was in 1997 when it finished third with
Erener representing it then, too.
Callers from 26 countries cast their ballots by telephone to decide the
winner of the contest, which featured performers from 26 countries
singing a diverse range of pop songs.
More than 150 million were estimated to have watched the three-hour show
and thousands more logged on to the Internet to see it via streaming
video.
A native of Istanbul, Erener is one of Turkey's most popular female
singers with records sales of more than 4 million.
Created in 1956 by the Geneva-based European Broadcasting Union, or EBU,
Eurovision has become one of Europe's most popular annual music events
and the biggest pop music pageant of its kind in the world.
Few winners, except for Swedish supergroup ABBA in 1974 and Canadian
chanteuse Celine Dion (news), who represented Switzerland in 1988, have
been propelled to international fame and fortune.
Oddsmakers had picked Tatu, two chart-topping Russian teenagers known
for their flirtations with lesbianism, to win this year's contest.
Yulia Volkova and Lena Katina, 18-year-olds whose passionate kisses
while performing have garnered plenty of headlines worldwide, hinted
they plan to shake up the event when they sing "Don't Believe, Don't
Fear, Don't Ask," but the performance was free of any scandal.
The second ex-Soviet bloc country to host the contest after Estonia last
year, Latvia won the right to host the event when 22-year-old law
student Maria Naumova won last year.
With Erener's win, Turkey will host next year's Eurovision contest.
links:
homepage of eurovision*: [url]http://www.eurovision.tv[/url]
homepage of Sertab Erener*: [url]http://www.sertab.net[/url]
chat channel of eurovision**: #eurovision - undernet
* official
** not official, enjoyable
