Hungary | Meet Joci Pápai From Hungary

This year will mark the 64th Eurovision Song Contest. The contest will be held in Tel Aviv, Israel, and will see 41 countries compete for the honour of being Europe's best. There will be two semi finals taking place on Tuesday 14th May, and Thursday 16th May. Ten artists from each will progress to the final that will be held on Saturday 18th May 2019. A grand total of twenty six countries will compete to be Netta's successor at the competition. With just a short time until this event, Eurovoxx will bring you a series of meet the artist articles, that will introduce you to each country that will be participating. Today's instalment comes from Hungary who will be represented by Joci Pápai.

Who Is Joci Pápai?

The singer József "Joci" Pápai was born on the 22nd September 1981, and is 37 years old. He is most famous for being a singer, rapper and guitarist in his native Hungary. He is of Romani descent, and this is showcased proudly through his music. The singer credits his family for his fame, and introducing him to the world of music. It is his father though that has influenced him the most, as he was the leader of a gypsy orchestra. Joci himself is very talented as musician, and has been able to play the guitar since the age of four. Along with his older bother, they would both write music together from a very young age. In interviews, Pápai has stated that it was the music of the 1960's, 1970's, rock, pop and RnB have been his greatest influences.

The talented singer first rose to fame in 2005 where he was a contestant on the show Megasztár. Although he was eliminated in the initial rounds, he did catch the eye of many, and certainly was remembered by the Hungarian public. A year later, in 2006 he would collaborate with the rapper Majka with the song "Nélküled and Nekem ez jár", In 2010 he would produce the album, "Vigaszdíj", the song "Ne nézz így rám" from that album would successfully chart at number 2 in Hungary. He would release a further 6 singles, all placing in the top 10.

He is also a veteran at the Eurovision Song contest, having represented his home nation back in 2017. He won the countries national final, "A Dal 2017", with the song, "Origo" that charted at number 2 in Hungary, and made it to the top 100 in Sweden, and Switzerland. At the contest itself, he came a very respectable 8th place, scoring 200 points. He will now be representing Hungary again, can he make the top five this time?

Check Out Joci Pápai's Eurovision Entry, "Az én Apám" Below:

How Was Joci Pápai Chosen?

Once again, the national broadcaster for Hungary had decided to hold a national final. Again, they used "A Dal 2019" to determine which artist should represent them in Tel Aviv. There were three heats, that saw six artist from each proceed to the semi finals. Joci Pápai performed on the third heat that took place on the 2nd of February. He would come joint first with the artist Bogi Nagy scoring 41 points. There were then two semi finals, that saw five artist from each progress to the final. Joci sang in the second semi on the 16th February, where he won it scoring 45 points. The final was held on the 23rd February 2019, where he won scoring 26 points, four more than the second place rivals, "Acoustic Planet".

Check Out Andy Reacts To "Az én Apám" Below:

Hungary At The Eurovision Song Contest

Hungary first debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994 when Friderika Bayer would come fourth scoring 122 points with the song "Kinek mondjam el vétkeimet?". The country has been at sixteen contest, with this year marking their 17th appearance. They failed to qualify for the preliminaries twice in 1993, and 1996, but were to come back in 1997 when V.I.P would sing, "Miért kell, hogy elmenj?" placing 12th scoring 39 points. The nation would take a six year break from 1999, and would see them come back in an up-tempo style when NOX's "Forogj, világ!" would come twelfth, scoring 97 points. They would pull out of the competition on a further two occasions in 2006, and 2010. Their worst performance in a final came in 2012 when Compacto Disco came 24th with 19 points. Whilst 2008 saw Csézy come last in her semi final, only scoring 6 points. In 16 appearances they have made 14 finals, and since the introduction of the semi finals, they have qualified for all but two of them in 2008, and 2009. Hungary's best result was 4th in 1994, and they have only made the top ten on four occasions, whilst they have made the top five once.

Since they first appeared in 1994, Hungary have awarded most of their points in the finals to Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Azerbaijan and Norway. Whilst the country has received most of its points from Serbia, Romania, Finland, Croatia, and Poland.

Last year Hungary were represented by AWS with the song, "Viszlát nyár". The hard rock group came 21st scoring only 93 points, Can Joci do better this year?

Do you like the song? Will it qualify? Please tell us what you think in the comments below. The whole team at Eurovoxx would like to wish Tulia a very big "Sok Szerencsét".