Late last week Argo — Greece’s Eurovision 2016 act — slayed their first live performance of “Utopian Land“, drawing a lot of positive comments and making plenty of Eurofans rethink their rankings.
Now, with momentum firmly on their side, Christina, Maria, Konstantinos, Vladimiros, Alekos and Ilias have taken the time to chat with wiwibloggs about their Eurovision 2016 participation.Â
Your song “Utopian Land” is one of the few self-written songs this year. What’s the message behind it and was it difficult to write?
We write our own music, which is a combination of modern and traditional sounds, and the last 10 years. Our inspiration comes from real life, from our daily life and experiences. When our producer asked us to write a song we did the same thing. Focusing on our experiences and on issues that concern us — that’s how we wrote “Utopian Land”. We believe that all together and individually, we can achieve something great and this is the message we want to convey.
What does representing your country in such a big contest mean to you? What are your expectations and goals?
We feel honoured to be representing Greece at the biggest music contest of the world. We are very excited and we are working hard for the best result on stage. Of course our first goal is to pass from the first semi final to the final! We honestly believe that we will achieve it!
Do you believe that if a Greek National Final had taken place this year you could have won with “Utopian Land”?
We strongly believe in our song and our song’s message. We believe that the diversity in our music and the combination of modern and traditional elements will surprise the audience and they will vote for it. So, yes. If we had a Greek National Final we believe that our song would make the difference.
The studio version of “Utopian Land” received mixed reviews, but you’ve certainly won people over with the live performance. How do you deal with bad comments?
We respect everyone’s opinion. We know that not everyone can like our song and we respect that. Besides, it is often the case for a song to be low on wagering before the Eurovision Song Contest and before the performance on stage and then everything reverses. We are not afraid of the negative comments.
Whose idea was the new group name? And what does “Argo” stand for?
We began our collaboration as a band 10 years ago as “Europond” and we are still working together now under the new name of our band “Argo”. We chose our new name Argo because in this way we see the journey we are about to make. Like Argonauts, our journey starts with the final destination of Stockholm in order to win the “Golden Fleece”, which in this case is nothing but a professional presentation of our song in the 61st Eurovision Song Contest.
Do you have a message for your fans at wiwibloggs? Any advice on how they could find their “Utopian Land”?
Thank you for your support. See you all in Stockholm and enjoy your Eurovision 2016! And don’t forget that if we all come together great things are possible to happen!
So what do you think? Will Argo achieve their goal and win the ticket to the final? Let us know below…
@Charles — “spoil brat be sorry for me”-Greek approach to Eurovision
What are you talking about?
Nobody in Greece is expecting this song to do well, neither is anyone going around begging for votes. At best, they’re just hopeful it will be presentable.
They may not be afraid of all the negative reviews and opinions about their entry … but they sure should be ashamed of the messy demo they decided to throw at us for no reason … I presume then that they should be prepared to not qualify and the “spoil brat be sorry for me”-Greek approach to Eurovision finds here its end. And thank God for that …
Real@Winner
Well with your attack in the song dont gain something…you dont like this…to the most of people like…dont say something!
If you bleed with this with other worse voices what will you do??(because esc have worst voices than these)
oohh and you have to use of it because you will listen to them twice live!! In 10 and in 14 of May!!
WHAT? Momentum? Mesmerising? Have we watched the same video? I had to close the browser because it scratched my ears and they are bleeding now. I am so jealous of deaf people. Lucky them, don’t have to hear this mess.
The music seems ethnic and alright…. The rest is just 50 shades of a mess. 1.5/10
I really hope they won’t take the final spot from Czech Republic.
Even though they have the dreaded 2nd place, and are in a very strong final, I can imagine this qualifying at this point. Greece is Greece, and has support like Cyprus and a lot of the Balkans. Their strength is staging, so that’s all their probably rely on. Maybe they will qualify, but I really hope not because they’ll probs take out Gabriela. Sad emoji insert here
Greece will qualify. No question.
@boyan08
Yes…of course this is better than Austria!!And of course they will pass!!
Vote for Greece
Greece qualify pls!I love the song.This is better than Austria!
With no doubt Greece deserve the final…
Vote for Greece
@light star — chill!
This is Eurovision, not the Royal Opera. The stars of the “skyladika” are what will end up going to Eurovision. Haris Alexiou has better things to do.
No chance this time, Greece.
They look so stupidly unprofessional. It’s a million more worse than Geneology. They will end up like Turkey’s YĂĽksek Sadakat.
In case they don’t, I’ll hate everything related Eurovision. Semi-final 1 is already strong, and in case this s*it qualifies instead of Iceland or Croatia, I’d cry.
Well at least they know about the haters. And maybe they’ll sound better in Stockholm. I hope the dancing doesn’t affect their singing that much.
Totally different and unique for this year’s ESC. Greece will definitely stand out, but I’m not sure that it’ll have the support to qualify. It’ll be tough for them. I wish them well. x
the live performance is better? O_O Oh myGod! They are off-tune all the time! It’s awful!
The only thing I like a lot is the instrumental music, especially the percussion and lyre which are live in the video. But this is the only part of the performance that can not be replicated in Stockholm!
They slayed at their live performance? Do you have ears? The girls sound as lifeless and bored in the live as in the record, plus their voices don’t blend together at all. The rapper on the other hand sounds way too shouty and agressive, made even worse by the fact that he looks enormous. Very unpleasant feeling for the average viewer at home who will not even understand what he is saying – even most greek speakers don’t. I am amazed because all the greek commenters on YouTube are going on about how bad they sound live, while foreign fan… Read more »
@mad-professor — the live performance will be choreographed, and we are told it will replicate a traditional Pontic dance.
Also, only 5 of the 6 band members will be on the stage. The 6th person will be a professional dancer that has worked with Helena Paparizou and others.
That live performance is worse – they spend 3 minutes standing there, apart from the woman in white. If that happens in Stockholm, they definitely won’t qualify.
I have a feeling they are right. Alcohol is Free got some awful reviews, yet landed in 6th (which, in my opinion, they rightfully deserved).
They seem like really nice people.
I LOVE the fact that they are amateur musicians, and each of them has a real day job. For example, I hear one of the ladies is a hair dresser. Next year Greece can send one of their huge celebrities (like Tamta or Kostas Martakis), but it’s nice to do something different for a change.
I also like the fact that they are of different ages. The girl with long hair looks very young (no more than 30 years old),but one of the men said he was 52.
I don’t know why there is so much negativity against this song. I quite like the melody and the singing. Good luck, Argo! 🙂
The live performance of the song is certainly much better than the studio version! It is higher in my top now.
I know they won’t qualify even if they deserved it :c people can’t understand that this is a real good song from Greece
Yeah they won’t qualify
I like their confidence! Good luck!