The finals of "Eurostar" were concluded and the winner was Apostolos Psihramis, but at Istanbul, were Esc 2004 will be held, he will not be going alone. Our country will be represented by Sakis Rouvas.

The pop star gave a positive response to NET proposal, because one of the songs that the composer Nikos Terzis has written was especially appealing to him. We are talking about the song "Shake it", for which Fokas Evagelinos has already created an appropriate choreography. Sakis reservations have to do with the young winner of the "Eurostar" competition; the pop star doesn't want to do him an injustice.

According to inside info thought, A. Psihramis has already voiced his uneasiness about representing Greece on his own, and in case Sakis agrees, he is happy to stay in the background and just do the vocals (he probably thought of the ridicule he would have to endure if he came last!). He claimed he was very satisfied because he is already preparing his first personal album and has signed a contract with "MINOS EMI", just like the other two finalist of the "Eurostar" competition.

If Sakis Rouvas says the final "Yes" (and that is the hope of all the officials of NET who are afraid of another disaster in Esc otherwise), a special TV program will be aired (probably on Friday 19/3/2004) where Sakis will be officially announced as Greece representative and "Shake it" will be performed in public for the first time. Meaning that this time the public won't get to choose the song like before, because this song is cut and tailored for Sakis. Maybe that is the best choice, but the whole situation raises certain questions.

Why did NET organized the "Eurostar" competition if in the end they intended to give the representation of Greece to Sakis? The whole competition was created for nothing. The audience won't even choose the song. And why spend all that time and money anyway? As the rumours went before the "Eurostar" competition the people responsible for Esc in Greece had already investigated the possibility of an already known artist representing Greece and came up with nothing. So they went on with the other option and organized "Eurostar", but judging from their readiness to accept Sakis, even they didn't believe in their plan.

Translator's notes:

Let me give you a little more info on this matter. On 2002 and 2003 we were represented by two very well known Greek artists: Mando and Michalis Rakintzis. We end up on 17th place both of the times. Both of the poor unfortunates were buried by the media afterwards. After those fiascos no singer wanted to represent Greece unless he or she was suicidal! So the officials came up with "Eurostar". Eurostar was a competition organized by NET (National Greek Television, in free translation) with the single purpose of discovering a new talent that would represent Greece in Esc. The competition was completed but the winner, although very talented, was not a star. So one of the committee that elected the poor scapegoat, who happened to be a close friend of Sakis, realized we were going to be ridiculed again. So he begged Sakis to rescue us. And he did. So all the criticism emanating from this article is directed at NET for their sloppiness, not Sakis.