Victory Eludes Greece’s Marina Satti at 2024 Eurovision

Greece’s Marina Satti secured eleventh place at the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday night in Malmö, Sweden.

Satti’s song, ‘Zari’, was awarded 85 points by public voters and 41 points by the Eurovision judges for a total of 126 points. The Greek singer’s vocal performance was accompanied by lively choreography and dancing, filmed in a single continuous shot.

This year’s winner was Switzerland, represented by Nemo with the song ‘The Code’. Nemo won with a total of 591 points. In second place was Croatia’s Baby Lasagna with 547 points and in third place, was Ukraine’s Teresa and Maria with 453 points.

Meanwhile, Cyprus secured the number 15 spot in the competition with 78 points, with Australian-born singer Silia Kapsis performing the song ‘Liar’.

Greece at the 2024 Eurovision

Satti’s approach to her performance was to emphasize a continuous take with a music video that tells a compelling story. She aimed to showcase Greek values through her presence on the Eurovision stage.

Prior to the competition, several submissions were sent her way and after lots of consideration, she finally decided to take ‘Zari’ to Malmö, Sweden. The Eurovision song is a mixture of urban rhythms and ethnic sounds from Greece, as well as other parts of the globe, and it marked the first time since 2018 that Greece was represented by a song sung in the Greek language.

Controversies at this year’s competition

The Eurovision is no stranger to controversy. Despite the fun atmosphere and focus on bringing Europeans together through music, there are at the very least certain political undertones that tend to reappear every year during the contest.

This year, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza, Israel’s participation in the contest attracted the ire of some activists. Leading up to the event advocates supporting Palestine had tried without success to convince artists involved to boycott the contest.

On Thursday, approximately 5,000 protesters congregated at Malmö’s Stortorget square. They waved Palestinian flags, wore black-and-white keffiyeh scarves, and held up banners with the slogan “Boycott Israel”.

Satti was herself drawn into the ongoing Israel controversy when, during a press conference earlier in the week, she continually yawned and pretended to fall asleep as Eden Golan, the representative of Israel, was speaking to the press.

Some accused her of disrespect whereas others claimed she was making a political statement against the Israeli war in Gaza.

“I didn’t intend to offend anyone,” Satti later stated in a social media post. “I think that in all these days that we have been here, day after day, the entire Greek mission has brought only positive energy to the community and joy wherever and whenever we went.”