Greece achieved one if its best results in the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday when the group Koza Mostra, featuring Agathonas, came in sixth with their Balkan pop-tinged number Alcohol Is Free. There was also success for two Greeks who were involved with the second-placed entry from Azerbaijan.
Performing 21st out of 26 countries, the Greek group picked up the top mark of 12 points from Cyprus and San Marino, as well as 10 points from Albania and Russia. The United Kingdom awarded Greece 8 points.
Rumours were running rife all week that Greece was hoping not to win the contect as they couldn’t afford to host the contest next year due to the crisis.
The final was reportedly watched by 85 percent of TV viewers in Greece, where the Eurovision Song Contest traditionally grabs the public’s attention.
Koza Mostra’s austerity-inspired number, with Iakovidis playing the baglamas (a smaller version of the bouzouki), gathered 152 points in total and was Greece’s seventh-best showing in the competition since the country first took part in 1974.
Denmark’s Emmelie de Forest won the contest, which was watched by an international TV audience of around 125 million, clinching the coveted crown of euro-pop with a folksy ballad backed by a wall of fire, flutes and drums.
The barefoot 20-year-old blonde stole the show as predicted by bookmakers with Only Teardrops in a final that saw 26 countries battle it out in the southern Swedish city of Malmo.