It's showtime: A top 10 finish tonight will see Ireland into Saturday's Eurovision final
IT'S DOWN to the wire for the turkey. Fan polls, betting sites, and Eurovision experts alike remain divided about whether Irlande Douze Points, Ireland's entry, will be among the 10 acts that qualifies tonight for the final of the 53rd Eurovision Song Contest.
Dustin the Turkey and his five backup singers and dancers will be the 12th of 19 acts to perform tonight in the 14,000-seat Belgrade Arena. This is the first Eurovision competition to include two semi-finals, to accommodate a record 43 songs. The second semi-final is on Thursday, with the final on Saturday evening.
Bookmakers William Hill and Paddy Power rate Irlande Douze Pointsas safely within tonight's 10 qualifiers, but the song came 12th in a poll of media and fans at the press centre yesterday.
According to Barry Viniker, managing director of the largest independent Eurovision website, www.esctoday.com, the song's unusual, humorous quality may be a disadvantage: " Irlande Douze Pointshas all the potential to qualify and do well. But the problem for Ireland is normally there are only one or two songs that children will vote for and this year there are several."
Latvia, Spain, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Estonia have quirky novelty entries; Ireland will be directly competing against the latter two tonight.
Dustin confessed to The Irish Timesthat he was "bricking it": "As everyone knows I'm a plucky bird and I really do want to win this thing. Not for me but for the kiddies of Ireland, who deserve to be represented by an icon on the world stage. Turkey ár lá."
Eurovision's first puppet performer has generated enormous media interest. His press conferences were among the best attended, and foreign media outlets have trailed the Irish delegation in hopes of unmasking the performer. The performer who plays Dustin was forced to interrupt a live TV broadcast and jump a fence to avoid a camera crew intent on revealing his act's workings.
Among Dustin's strongest competition is Dima Bilan, (the "Russian Justin Timberlake"), who sings the impassioned ballad Believe Mewhile being circled by a graceful roller blader.
William Hill and Paddy Power tip him to win the contest overall. Other strong contenders singing tonight are Sirushu from Armenia with the catchy Qele Qele; Greece's Kalomira, whose Secret Combinationmixes Greek instrumentation with a sexed-up Christina Aguilera-like sound; and Laka from Bosnia- Herzegovina singing Pokusaj, whose visuals include knitting brides and a singer hanging out washing.