Cyprus | Meet Tamta From Cyprus

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 Cyprus who will be represented by Tamta.

Who Is Tamta?

Tamta Goduadze was born on the 10th January 1981. The singer is 38 years old. The artist was born, and raised in Georgia, and is best known for being a singer in Georgia, Cyprus, and Greece. In her twenties both Tamta, and her daughter emigrated to Greece, where she resided in Athens. She would follow her mother, and younger brother who would move there, years earlier.

2003 was when her career as a singer started. She was advised to enter Greece's 'Super Idol' where Tamta made it all the way to the final. She would become runner up to Stavros Konstantinou. She would later duet with him a year later, with the song "Eisai To Allo Mou Miso". Her stint on the reality show also attracted the bosses of Minos EMI who signed the artist up. The performer would release her first album "Tamta" in 2006, which would be followed up by "Agapise Me" in 2007, with her third, "Tharros I Alitheia" dropping in 2010. The singer has also taken to the stage where she would perform the role of 'Mimi' at the Greek version of RENT, and last year played the part of Sally Bowles in 'Cabaret'. Her television roles have seen her become a judge, and mentor on "X Factor" and "Project Runway" on several occasions. Tamta is no stranger to Eurovision either, having placed third in the Greek national final in 2007. The year 2010 would see her rumoured for Greece again, but her request was denied by the Greek broadcaster. Last year, the artist was the first to be asked to sing, "Fuego" for Cyprus. However, due to a busy scheduling pattern, she was not able to do so, and the song went to Eleni Foureira instead. The rest they say is history.

Her career has seen the release of three albums, and a prolific set of singles that have seen over 32 singles attributed to her. Both "Replay" and "With Love" from 2007 have been Tamta's most successful placing at number 2.

Check Out Tamta's Eurovision Entry, "Replay" Here:

How Was Tamta Chosen?

Although it was widely known that the singer had been approached a year before. There would be no guarantee that the broadcaster CyBC would ask again. Regardless of this, rumours started to circulate at the end of 2018 that indeed suggested that she had been approached. It was on the 21st December 2018 that it was officially announced, and confirmed. The official song was released over three months later when it was presented on the newscast of RIK on the 5th of March 2019.

Check Out Andy Reacts To Tamta Below:

Cyprus At The Eurovision Song Contest

Cyprus first debuted at the Eurovision Song Contest all the way back in 1981 when Island would sing, "Monika", placing 6th scoring 69 points. It was certainly a good start indeed. A year later would see Cyprus make the top five for the first time when Anna Vissi would sing, "Mono i Agapi", scoring 85 points. The singer would later represent Greece on home soil in 2006. Since then the country has appeared at the contest no less than 35 times. This year will mark Cyprus' 36th appearance at the contest. It was 1988, 2001, and 2014 that the country had opted not to participate at the contest. Their worst ever result would come in 1986 when Elpida's, "Tora zo" placed last scoring only four points. Since the introduction of the semi finals back in 2004, the country has qualified for the final, a respectable 8 times, failing to do so on 6 occasions. The country has achieved the top ten spot 10 times, with four of them being in the top 5.

Last year Cyrpus was represented by Eleni Foureira who would sing, "Fuego". She would give Cyprus its best ever result, and nearly achieved its first win. Eleni would come second behind Israel, and score 436 points.

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 Tamta a very big "καλή τύχη".