Before Marina Satti and the rest of the Greek delegation travel to Malmö, the Greek singer spoke to the press about her participation and upcoming performance at Eurovision 2024.
In just a few days, Greece’s Eurovision 2024 representative, Marina Satti, will travel to Malmö to begin her rehearsals but before she will travel, she spoke to various Greek press on her participation in the 68th Eurovision Song Contest.
At the moment I don’t feel anxious, but it might be different there. We are still in the rehearsal stage. There are many things to do and this is the main thing on my mind right now.
While there was momentous hype to the release of Satti’s Eurovision song “ZARI”, there were mixed reactions on the Greek entry itself – however this has not phased the Greek singer.
It’s good that everyone has their opinion. This is also the meaning of freedom of expression. This whole story shows that the song has managed to communicate, even if some people don’t like it. It is not possible to satisfy everyone. The fact that we are familiar with the individual genres of music, but not so much as a combination, may explain the different reactions.
From the moment she was chosen as Greece’s representative for Eurovision 2024, Satti knew she wanted to incorporate traditionality and Greek culture in her song. While wanting to showcase Greek culture, Marina Satti also wanted to represent the “new and modern Greece”.
From the beginning I wanted Greek verse, Greek influence. This is what I want to achieve on stage, we come from Greece, we bring something traditional but we can also be modern and competitive… Initially, the team is made up of young people and their opinion shows what the youth of today likes and dislikes. Of course, you cannot capture 100% of Greek culture in a song or a video. In Greece there is a huge musical variety.
The music video for “ZARI” showcases various landmarks of Athens and plays humorously on stereotypes foreigners have of Greece. The idea of the video concept came from Satti herself when she pitched the phrase “Welcome to Greece” when she was chosen as Greece’s representative for Eurovision 2024.
Regarding the stage performance for Marina Satti, 4 other dancers will join her –  Huso Cetintas, Vassilis Karagiannis, Yasin AO and Irini Damianidou. Mecnun Giaser will choreograph the performance, while Fokas Evangelinos is the Greek artistic stage director.
Giaser revealed new details on what we can expect from Satti’s choreography on stage:
The choreography is quite diverse. There is the ethnic element, which the song also represents. At the same time, it is something very fresh and new… We cannot tell you if there will be Greek elements, but what we will tell you is that the movement highlights the music.
Marina Satti was internally selected by the Greek broadcaster, ERT, to represent Greece at the 68th Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö, with her song “ZARI”. You can find out more about Marina Satti here. Greece will compete in the first half of the second semi-final, performing third, on May 9.
Image Source: Marina Satti | Source: Ethnos.gr
Greece debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 when they were represented by Marinella and the song “Krasi, thalassa kai t’agori mou” which finished in 11th place with 7 points. Three years later Greece earned their first top 5 finish with Paschalis, Marianna, Robert, and Bessy who finished in 5th place with “Mathima solfege”. In 2001 Greece achieved their first top 3 result with Antique and the song “I Would Die For You”. The song became a European hit and charted across the continent. In 2005 Helena Paparizou returned to the Eurovision stage as a solo artist and brought Greece their first, and to date only, victory. Her song “My Number One” won with 230 points, beating runners-up Malta by 38 points.
