The Eurovision Song Contest 2004, was the 49th Contest and it was held in the Abdi İpekçi Arena in Istanbul, Turkey. This was the first occasion in which the contest was held in Turkey after they had won the competition in 2003 with Sertab Erener singing "Everyway That I Can". The hosting national broadcaster of the contest was Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT).
Ukrainian singer Ruslana Lyzhychko won the contest with "Wild Dances". It is notable that this was only Ukraine's second participation in the contest. This was also the third year in a row in which the contest was won by a woman, performing a song composed at least partially by herself (being the previous two Marie N and Sertab Erener, which co-wrote their winning songs for the 2002 and 2003 contests). 2nd Place went to Serbia & Montenegro in their debut entry, 3rd to Greece, 4th to Turkey, 5th to Cyprus and Sweden and 7th to Albania.
To accommodate the increasing number of countries who wished to participate, a semi-final was introduced. For the second consecutive year, no returning acts were present - only the sixth time (including 1956) in the history of the contest that this happened and it was the first time this had happened in two consecutive years.
Read more about Eurovision Song Contest 2004: Hosts, Firsts, Participating Countries, Problems, Marcel Bezençon Awards, Commentators, Spokespersons
Famous quotes containing the words song and/or contest:
“A song is no song unless the circumstance is free and fine. If a singer sing from a sense of duty or from seeing no way to escape, I had rather have none. Those only can sleep who do not care to sleep; and those only write or speak best who do not too much respect the writing or the speaking.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“By his mere quiet power, on the minds of the now contestants, He could have either saved or destroyed the Union without a human contest. Yet the contest began. And having begun He could give the final victory to either side any day. Yet the contest proceeds.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)