Eurovision 2008: Portugal

Tuomo writes: We've come to the last semi-finalist, Portugal!

For the longest time, ESC victory for the geographical outliers of Europe, Norway, Greece, Finland, Iceland, and Portugal, remained elusive until Norway broke the mold in 1985… then Greece in 2001… then Finland in 2006. This leaves Iceland and Portugal as the last western European countries that still have to dream of an ESC victory. Iceland came in pretty close to that dream in 1999 placing 2nd when That Bitch Whose Name Is Not to Be Said Aloud took home the award. Portugal, however, has placed only 6th as its closest to winning (1996) so Portugal needs to work hard to win. Or make it to the Top 5 – which, incidentally, Finland hadn’t made it to until winning in 2006! :-)

In 2008, Portugal is represented by Vânia Fernandes and Senhora do mar:

Here or

Again for fear of the wrath, this time of a certain Lusitanophile, I’ll just say that Vânia’s performance will probably “grow on me" … and that Portugal needs to continue to work hard… or geto ver the fact that Fado, as heart-twistingly fascinating as it is, does not quite work on teh ESC arena:-)