Introduction

Cyprus always wanted to win the Eurovision Song Contest, but three times the 5th place was the highest result they could achieve. This year there has been an internal selection by the Cypriot broadcaster CyBC:  the 37 years old singer Despina Olympiou. The song has officially been presented in February and it’s called “An Me Thimase” (If You Remember Me). 

Despina was born in Limassol in 1975 and studied the piano and music theory at the Trinity College in London. 1993 she moved to Athens and made a lot of music with different singers and gave concerts. She has released her first album in 2000 and later on a ballad called “Vale Mousiki”, which has been written by Michalis Hatzigiannis, who also participated for Cyprus in 1998 with “Genesis” (11th place). He is one of the most well known musicians nowadays from Cyprus; he also appeared at the opening ceremony in Athens 2006. Michalis has composed many songs for Olympiou as well. 

The song “An Me Thimase” is a very emotional ballad, probably will also be sung in Greek language. No wonder that the CyBC has chosen this hopeful candidate with this gorgeous ballad. With an impressing stage performance and a bit of luck, this song will also please all over Europe.

History

Participations: 31

Debut: 1981

Biggest success: 3x 5th place 1981 “Mono I Agapi” by Anna Vishy, 1997 “Mana Mou” by Chara and Andreas Konstantinou, 2004 “Stronger Every Minute” by Lisa Andreas, 2x 6th place, 1x 7th place, 3x 9th place

Since the first Cypriot entry had its debut in 1981 “Monika” by Island (6th rank), Cyprus has showed an enormous musical diversification. There has been pop, folk, dance and ballads in the 31-years ESC-history. And one thing has always accompanied all Cypriot entries and that is the warm-hearted Mediterranean mentality and soul. The best rank was #5 and that happened three times: “Mono I Agapi” by Anna Vissi in 1982, “Mana Mou” by Chara & Andreas Konstantinou in 1997 and “Stronger Every Minute” by Lisa Andreas in 2004. Unfortunately, Cyprus could never win the ESC. Since the Semi Finals have been introduced Cyprus only passed it four times out of nine. Even with the classical 12-points-help from Greece, a qualification is not always granted. And regarding the semi finals, Greece is mostly set in the other semi final to avoid vote exchanges.