Formerly a near-perennial top ten finisher, Greece has seen its Eurovision fortunes flag recently. It hasn’t come within a sniff of the upper reaches of the scoreboard since 2013, and in two of the last three contests it has faced the indignity of non-qualification. But change is afoot.
According to the Greek outlet Ethnos, pop is back! And Katerine Duska is potentially the woman charged with restoring the Mediterranean nation’s pride at the contest.
The report is based on a TV appearance by journalist Yiannis Poulopoulos. He claims that broadcaster ERT is on the verge of selecting up-and-coming singer songwriter Katerine Duska. Signed to Minos EMI — whose stable also includes the Georgian-Greek Cypriot Eurovision 2019 singer Tamta — she’ll be tasked with bringing a poppier, more European sound to Israel. The lyrics will apparently be in a foreign language, presumably English.
The TV network is expected to make a final decision imminently.
Who is Katerine Duska?
Born in Montreal, Canada, Katerine Duska currently resides in Athens. Her 2016 debut album Embodiment won over critics with the lead track “Fire Away” featuring prominently in a Nescafe Canada ad campaign.
Her official Facebook profile compares the chanteuse’s style to the “dark sonic timbres” of Lykke Li and Jessie Ware”, while her “trademark soulful rasp” harkens back to the late Amy Winehouse.
In a Q&A with Cyprus Mail, Duska reveals that her favourite movies are the Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, Before Midnight trilogy. Living, Loving and Learning by Leo Buscaglia is the best book she ever read. She enjoys listening to Irish crooner James Vincent McMorrow and Blue fan Lorde. When asked to share a joke, Duska quips:
-Knock knock.
-Who’s there?
-To.
-To who?
-To whom.
What do you think? Would Katerine Duska be a good choice for Greece? Can she replicate the success of Kalomira — the last Greek popstrel to come from across the pond? Let us know in the comments below.
Let me tell you something: Katerina is not as well known here in Greece as you may thing. However, I watched some videos and she has a very beautiful soulful voice. It really depends on the song though. Hope we do well this time.
Anybody who likes good music will approve of this choice.
Anybody who thinks Eurovision is all about dumb gimmicks will not…
Great artist for Greece
So you heard Katerine’s voice…and you think that Greece wont make the final somehow?
Unless we agree that it’s not longer a SINGING competition. Katerina is a FANTASTIC artist/song writer with a beautiful and unique voice.
There is no reason why she wouldn’t make the final
I’d be here for something experimental à la Skeletons. Quality over quantity (of points)!
Great choice from my country Greece, it seems to have been confirmed! After five years, I can see that we are finally heading in the right direction!
amazing voice, and look , i love her songs. This year will be a lot of fierce females but i think Katerine wil also be fierce, but not in the eleni hair flip way, she will stand out to the other eleniesque singers. She has an amzing deep voice, not a typical female voice, love it.
Semi-related note: three more acts have joined Eurovizijos Atranka, one of which features 2009 representative Sasha Song. If he, the lady from Urban Symphony, and Andrea Demirovic all compete, they’ll join the rare Ten Years Later club (which I believe also includes Anabel Conde, Elina Konstantoupolou, and Alex Panayi, who were all backing singers in 2005; Gigliola Cinquetti, who came back in 1974 after winning in 1964; and probably a bunch of others I forgot. Shout-out as well to Jean-Claude Pascal, who I believe is the sole member of the Twenty Years Later club).
Shout-out as well to Elisabeth Andreassen, who competed in 1985 but returned in ‘94 and ‘96 – nine years and eleven years! Her winning song’s composer, Rolf Lovland, did return to write the second Norwegian winner ten years after the first.
Her voice is the weaker version of Amy. I don’t have high hopes.
……
its not a singing contest its a song contest xD
Sounds interesting. It would be the kind of risky choice I wish more countries would make. Though I wouldn’t blame Greece if they decide to play safer after the last results. I imagine the pressure on their delegation is high at the moment.
Great choice if the rumours are true!
She is fantástic, hope for a good song too
Oh, yeah, some Supernova finalists have released the final version of their songs. Are you sleeping on that, Wiwibloggs?
Everyone’s sleeping on that, and rightfully so.
Exactly.
Greece’s problem isn’t that they don’t send pop songs. It’s just that the songs weren’t good enough. Oneiro mou mostly struggled because it was in the harder semi
Apparently she’s as good as confirmed! Welcome to the Eurovision family!
So, we now know Albania, Armenia, Cyprus, and Greece. Southeastern Europe/Eurasia is off to the races early.
Katerine Duska is an indie pop soulfull pop singer with the a neosoul element (her voice is a black music voice). The lead single from Embodiment is One In A Million the second is Won’t Leave Me the then Slow, Somebody and the final Fire Away. Her second release was the vinyl ep Embodiment Sessions. She is Greek from both of her parents. She comes from Preveza Greece and she was born and raised in Canada as an immigrant until she was 16 years old. She studied on the law school of the national university of Athens. In an interview… Read more »
Has noone here heard of the campaign to #BoycottEurovision2019
No. Cos it ain’t gonna happen.
It’s like she may be this year’s Kalomira while Srbuk is this year’s Sirusho. Let’s hope they will shine bright like these singers from 2008.
Nowadays esc is too serious. I need Moldova 2006, loca-boca-choca, costume changing, a bride, a surf board and a rapper on a scooter. The only thing that was missing was a giant golden elephant. Where is all the fun of the good old days?
Eurovision is finally getting more legit. I’ll take that over a million loca-bocas. The more legit it is, the more I can get my friends onboard and I don’t look so crazy. There’s always a place for the goofy stuff (wouldn’t be Eurovision without it) but I hate the idea that it has to be all camp, all the time. Keeps good musicians from competing.
There’s only one reason why big stars don’t compete:
they are from countries that will kill their career if they don’t do well (even win, because this is expected from them). Many countries do send their biggest stars, and they take the risk, because they will be fine anyway, they will still have a career in their country. Other countries (UK), if disappointed, will not want to hear about that singer anymore.
I’m surprised that I have only 4 downvotes. I expected 50 by now. Crazy done well is welcomed from my point of view. Haters will always hate, they hate Jamala too saying ”deportation summer hit”. When will esc be fun again? Stop trying to please everyone, this never works.
I will take Jamala and Salvador as the face of Eurovision over Silvia Night and Guildo Horn any day of the week.
(And lest you think I only like the serious stuff: Eastern European Funk and Shir Habatlanim are two of my all-time favorites).
Yes you are esc fan, but the others will hate it anyway. You are talking about what I’ve said : crazy done well. Nobody will start loving esc if it looks and sounds like a vigil. People will vote for whatever they like (Jamala, Salvador), but don’t thing that non-fans will suddenly start to be fans because of that.
Eurovision is much better now. All those silly entries of 00s destroyed contest’s reputation in Western European countries and they are slowly recovering now. Back then Eurovision was a thing only in Balkans and ex-Soviet countries. Now the contest is more diverse, it’s not just a pop music competition.
In the 00’s Lordi won. Were they pop? Western Europe always cared about Eurovision, but was just a sadness that the East changed the game, and West is not winning anymore.
“West is not winning anymore” !! Germany won in 2010 and have had 2 top 10s and a top 5 since then, Portugal won in 2017, Netherlands two top 10s since 2013, Spain 2 top 10s since 2012. Yes in the 00s the west were failing while the east were always winning but that’s changed so much since the 00s
A Canadian singer at the Eurovision Song Contest? Remember 1988? Celine-Dion-Vibes? Could it mean a victory for Greece 2019? Exciting! 😀
Or Rykka. Just saying.
I always think positive 😀
A Greek ESC fan page published an article saying that it is confirmed and will represent Greece at Tel Aviv! Rumoured has it she will write her own song, who knows we will see
She stays in the semi
If Greece can get Amy Winehouse to sing for them from beyond the grave, I’m sure they’ll qualify this time.
Not everybody can go to the grand final. Semifinals need its mosquitoes.
Greece used to be a powerhouse, now the secret combination is a mystery to them. Nobody is fun and playful anymore. Kalomira, save us from boring-police! Where is Turkey? They know how to do ESC.
Turkey is not same Turkey anymore. :/
The people are the same. And they want to have fun. Unfortunately some weirdos voted to close everything because they are mean, frustrated and want everybody to pay for their unhappiness.
Didn’t Minos EMI say they weren’t participating in Greece’s internal selection so they wouldn’t be competing against their own artist (Tamta)?
Rumors don’t always turn to be right… many Greek media were saying that minos emi and panic records won’t send any songs to ERT but the were also many other sources who were saying that both of them are gonna send songs….