The alternative rockers are representing Turkey with their song, “We Could Be the Same,” in the second round of the semifinals for this year’s Eurovision Song Contest. Turkey is the 17th -- and last -- country performing in today’s semifinals.Ten of the 25 countries to run in Saturday’s Eurovision finals were determined Tuesday during the first round. Tuesday’s winners -- Hungary, Belgium, Belarus, Bosnia, Iceland, Moldova, Portugal, Russia, Serbia and Greece -- will be joined by the 10 winners of tonight’s semifinal on Saturday’s finals to make up the 25 countries in the running. Host country Norway and Eurovision founding members Germany, Spain, France and the United Kingdom automatically compete in the finals.
Tonight’s semifinal round will be aired live on state television in 25 countries across Europe, with some 150 million viewers expected to tune in. The broadcast starts at 10 p.m. in Turkey.
maNga members say they’ve had a less stressful week than expected in Oslo. Noting that they were the only rock act running this year in Eurovision, maNga vocalist and front man Ferman Akgül told reporters on Wednesday that they were received with enthusiasm in Oslo. “And this motivates us even more,” he told the Anatolia news agency.
However, Akgül added: “We are competing in the semifinal round that boasts the biggest number of favorites. Azerbaijan, Israel, Denmark and Sweden are pretty strong contenders.”
Akgül also noted that the new voting procedure, which begins the same time as the performance of the first song in the running, could pose a disadvantage for the group in tonight’s semifinals, because by the time they take to the stage viewers will have voted on the previous 16 songs already. “But we do believe we will get a good result,” Akgül said, adding they were calling for support from Turks living in Europe.
The five-piece maNga was formed in Ankara in 2001. Akgül is joined by Özgür Can Öney on drums, Yağmur Sarıgül on electric guitar, Cem Bahtiyar on bass guitar and Efe Yılmaz on turntable. The band was named the best European act at last year’s MTV Europe Music Awards. The 55th Eurovision song contest will be held on May 29 in Oslo, after last year’s winner, Alexander Rybak, brought the title to his country for the fourth time in the competition’s 54-year history.
