The band members said they were “only happy to be able to proceed” with their bid to win Europe’s biggest song contest.maNga, formed by Ferman Akgül on vocals, Özgür Can Öney on drums, Yağmur Sarıgül on electric guitar, Cem Bahtiyar on bass guitar and Efe Yılmaz on turntable, is representing Turkey with the song “We Could Be the Same” in the 55th Eurovision finals to be held in the Norwegian capital of Oslo. The band will take to the stage as the 14th act, following the Georgian entry, in tonight’s show, which will be broadcast live across the continent to millions of viewers.
Amid news reports this week regarding Eurovision “scaling down its ambitions due to the harsh new economic reality” with a reduced budget, maNga front man Akgül told the Anatolia news agency that as a band, they admired Norway’s “professionally designed, punctual and fully operational” staging of the contest. “We are now entirely in the Eurovision mood,” Akgül said.
Besides a budget that shrank by a quarter in 2010, four countries dropped out of Eurovision due to funding woes, Reuters reported Thursday. The Czech Republic, Montenegro and Andorra have dropped out of the competition altogether, while Hungary decided not to send a contestant but will still air the show, Reuters said.
The other nine countries that qualified for tonight’s finals from Thursday’s 17 semifinalists were Georgia, Ukraine, Greek Cyprus, Israel, Ireland, Azerbaijan, Romania, Armenia and Denmark.
The 55th Eurovision Song Contest is being held 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. The Eurovision Song Contest boasts a television audience estimated at around 100 million people each year.
