oikotimes.org, Greece
June 2 2006

Armenia: Andre in press conference stated that not only the diaspora
voted for his entry

Fotis Konstantopoulos reporting from Athens (Greece)
source: armeniadiaspora.com – photo: armeniadiaspora.com

Armenia’s first participation in the Eurovision-2006 song contest
registered great success, whereas there were countries that have
participated in this contest for several dozens of times but have no
success. Singer Andre who represented Armenia at the contest declared
this at the May 31 press conference. Armenia took the 8th place as a
result of voting of viewers of 38 countries and this means that a
representative of Armenia receives an opportunity to perform in the
final without taking part in the semi-final in the next,
Eurovision-2007 festival. Andre is sure that not only the Armenian
Diaspora, but also foreigners have voted for Armenia as they liked
the song.

According to Andre, his performance in semi-final had some
shortcomings that were caused by sound directors. The singer said
that almost participants of all countries had technical problems,
which was normally accepted by them. “We treated this contest very
seriously, whereas for other countries this was a common TV show,” he
emphasized. According to Andre, even the videoing was not done in
accordance with the requirements of the producers of
country-participants. Andre also mentioned that singers with strong
voices, such as representatives of Cyprus and Belgium, took part in
the Eurovision-2006, but they did not pass even to the final: “As a
result, Finland won, which, as the organizers estimated, had come to
Athens for mocking the Eurovision.”