Greece

Secret Combination Kalomira

Since the introduction of the wildcard system in the draw for the running order, all bar one of the lucky countries have elected to start in the second half of the draw, and generally as close to the opening of voting as possible. The rush on these spots is understandable: of late, the last part of the contest has produced more qualifiers, better results and more winners. When Greece was given the chance to pick their position in the first semi-final it was therefore no surprise to see them plumping for #19. However, the wisdom of choosing to go last is largely received; the record for the semi-finals is completely hit and miss, with two songs making it through and two falling by the wayside. What's more, the two that have made it through - given the tendency of qualifiers to dominate the top half of the scoreboard come the final - have then bombed, be it modestly or rather spectacularly. When you look at it, if you pay any heed to such things, you start to wonder what the Head of Delegation was thinking.

Kalomira and her orthodox Greek entry are also up against it in terms of their circle of friends having been reduced to a slightly misshapen hemisphere by the distribution of countries between the two semi-finals. With only a handful of major sponsors left in their competition, as well as a number who traditionally show little or no support, Greece qualifying for the final is not the foregone conclusion some might think it is. Secret Combination does fit the mould of the kind of song and performance that should appeal to a televoting audience - the aforementioned attractive young lady singing an upbeat song in English with a slick dance routine - but in a semi-final where she will not be alone in trying to win the audience over with such a routine, Kalomira will probably have to take it that one step further to secure the votes she needs to see Greece through to their eighth consecutive final.

The thing is, I'm not sure she has what it takes to produce anything other than a merely competent display of singing in tune and not messing up the choreography. While she hasn't put a foot wrong (literally and vocally) in any live version I have seen or heard to date, her range is clearly restricted, and there is something reedy about her voice that suggests the slightest pressure would see it snap. The conundrum is that although she may need to crank it up a notch on the night, she really oughtn't to try lest her limitations are exposed; and if she doesn't, all we'll be left with is a workaday presentation of a fairly average pop song.

Not that there's a lot wrong with either, mind you, and the fact that Kalomira is so easy on the eye obviously works in her favour. There's just a tangible sense about the whole thing having been done before, many times, several of them better, and in the context of the first semi-final there is little about Secret Combination that marks it out as being particularly stronger than the other entries. Since it is not necessarily any weaker either, the Greek delegation will simply have to hope that something about the performance grabs people's attention and holds it for the short space of time until the telephone lines are opened. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see them in the final, in spite of my reservations, but if the audience has already decided which similarly uncomplicated song to vote for by the time this one takes to the stage and they fail to make it through, they might question whether choosing to wait until everyone else has had their three minutes in the spotlight before turning it on themselves was such a clever move.