Greek Media Release Potential National Final Acts

Greek broadcaster ERT this year announced that they are planning a full scale national final to select their entry for Lisbon, this will be the first time since 2015 they will be doing so after selected Argo internally in 2016 and selecting Demy internally in 2017 despite holding a national selection for her three songs for her to sing. However Greek media has let it the slip the alleged five acts which have advanced and are in contention to represent Greece in the forthcoming contest.

ERT have chose a different route for the national final format however, they announced that the broadcaster had approached record labels within Greece to submit artists and entries to their selection, therefore limiting and hand picking their options to a degree, in the 18 names surfaced across 13 different record labels, despite not all the names of the acts and song titles being officially released, one act which stood out amogst fans was X Factor Greece 2016 act Stereo Soul, who many have expressed to participate in Eurovision and were rumoured to be competing against Demy for the 2017 spot before Demy was announced as the act outright, they finished third on the fourth season of X Factor Greece.

Despite the five acts which will be brought forward being confirmed, before the acts are allowed to participate in the national final, the records labels the artists are signed to - The Spicy Effect, Spider Music (who have two songs in the final five) Records On Top and Panik Records respectively, must confrim to ERT that the record company are able to cover all costs and finance the Greek entry in Lisbon, this includes staging, pre-parties, music video, everything and anything must be covered by the record company and not the broadcaster.

If all acts are able to be funded by the records labels and ERT are sufficiently assured that they can, the national final is expected to look as follows:

Areti Ketime - "Min ksehnas ton ilio (Do Not Forget The Sun)

Chorostailites - "Apo tin Thraki eos tin Kriti (From Thrace To Crete)

Duo Fina - "Idio Tempo (Same Tempo)

Gianna Terzi - To Oneiro Mou (My Dream)

Tony Vlahos - Baila Jazz (Dance Jazz)

The date for the Greek national final has yet to be confirmed, but is expected to be taking place some time within the month of February, ERT have said they are also looking for a entry with a distinct ethnic and Greek sounds and instrumentation, and has also confirmed the winning entry will also be solely performed in Greek, this will be the first time they have performed solely in Greek since 1998, in 2010 the entry "OPA" was also in Greek but did contain one phrase and line in English also. the entry will be selected solely on televote from the Greek public.