Performers from 10 countries – Moldova, Azerbaijan, Greece, Sweden, Portugal, Poland, Armenia, Australia, Cyprus, and Belgium – won the Eurovision Song Contest’s first semi-final on May 9 and will compete in the grand final on May 13.
Here’s a recap of the winning singers.
The first semi-final saw 18 participants. The ones who failed to get enough votes of the jury and the TV audience were from Georgia, Albania, Montenegro, Finland, Iceland, Czech Republic, Slovenia, and Latvia.
The winners were selected in a 50/50 vote of the jury and the TV audience. While the TV audience voted after the televised semi-final performance, the jury cast their votes based on the dress rehearsal a day before.
Here are the winners of the first semi-final of the 2017 Eurovision:
| Moldova | Sunstroke Project |
| Azerbaijan | Dihaj |
| Greece | Demy |
| Sweden | Robin Bengtsson |
| Portugal | Salvador Sobral |
| Poland | Kasia Mos |
| Armenia | Artsvik |
| Australia | Isaiah |
| Belgium | Blanche |
| Cyprus | Hovig |
The second semi-final is scheduled for May 11. It will see participants from Serbia, Austria, Macedonia, Malta, Romania, Netherlands, Hungary, Denmark, Ireland, San Marino, Croatia, Norway, Switzerland, Belarus, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Estonia, and Israel.
There are six countries that skipped the semi-finals and moved straight to the final: Ukraine as the winner of the last year’s Eurovision, and the so-called “Big Five,” which includes Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the UK. These five countries co-founded the Eurovision Song Contest in 1956, and they pay the biggest contributions to the European Broadcasting Union.
Ukrainian pop singer Monatik opened the show.
Crimean Tatar singer Jamala, who took first place for Ukraine at the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm, Sweden, also performed two songs during the first semi-final.
