Eurovision 2008 Songs Versions and Languages

Since 1998 when Israel won the contest with Dana International singing Diva in Hebrew, only Serbia won Eurovision with a song entirely performed in the country’s native language. With such trend, more and more countries are deciding to sing in English though it’s sometimes characterized as unpatriotic. In some cases, the lyrics are written and recorded in two different versions (usually English and national language) and/or as multi-language version.

This year, 22 of the 43 countries have decided to represent their songs in English. 6 entries will be a mixture of English and the countries’ national language: Armenian, Catalan (Andorra), Hungarian, Spanish, Hebrew and French.

Romanian song will be a mix of Romanian and Italian, Estonian a mix of Finnish, German and (something they think is) Serbo-Croatian and Belgian in an imaginary language.

16 contestants will perform in their national languages: Serbia, Albania, San Marino (Italian), Finland, Portugal, Montenegro, Slovenia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Turkey, Croatia, Cyprus (Greek) and Switzerland (Italian).

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Except the Netherlands, all countries have already released studio versions of their Eurovision 2008 entries.

Some of the songs have more than one version and bellow is a list of all the ESC 2008 recorded tracks with their old / new / alternative / live etc. versions.

Albania – Olta Boka – Zemrën e lamë peng
Andorra – Gisela – Casanova
Armenia- Sirusho – Qele Qele
Azerbaijan – Elnur Huseynov & Samir Javadzadeh – Day after day
Belarus – Ruslan Alehno – Hasta La Vista (New Version)
Belarus – Ruslan Alehno – Hasta La Vista (Old Version)
Belgium – Ishtar – O julissi na jalini
Bosnia & Herzegowina – Elvir Laković Laka – Pokušaj
Bosnia & Herzegowina – Elvir Laković Laka – Try (English Version)
Bulgaria – Deep Zone & Balthazar – DJ Take Me Away
Croatia – Kraljevi Ulice & 75 Cents – Romanca
Cyprus – Evdokia Kadi – Femme fatale (Eurovision Version)
Cyprus – Evdokia Kadi – Femme fatale (National Final Version)
Czech Republic – Tereza Kerndlova – Have some fun
Denmark – Simon Mathew – All night long
Estonia – Kreisiraadio – Leto svet
Finland – Teräsbetoni – Missä miehet ratsastaa
France – Sebastien Tellier – Divine
Georgia – Diana Gurtskaya – Peace will come
Germany – No Angels – Disappear
Greece – Kalomoira – Secret Combination (Eurovision Version)
Greece – Kalomoira – Secret Combination (National Final Version)
Hungary – Csezy – Candlelight
Hungary – Csezy – Szivveres (Candlelight Hungarian Version)
Iceland – Eurobandid – This is my life
Ireland – Dustin the turkey – Irelande douze points
Israel – Boaz Mauda – Ke’ilu kan (As if here)
Latvia – Pirates of the sea – Wolves of the sea
Lithuania – Jeronimas Milius – Nomads In the night
Macedonia – Tamara Todevska ft. Vrčak & Adrian – Let me love you (english version)
Macedonia – Tamara Todevska ft. Vrčak & Adrian – Vo ime na ljubovta
Malta – Morena – Vodka
Moldova – Geta Burlacu – A Century of Love
Montenegro – Stefan Filipović – Zauvijek volim te
Netherlands – Hind – Your heart belongs to me (live)
Netherlands – Hind – Your heart belongs to me (YT rip)
Norway – Maria Haukaas Storeng – Hold on be strong
Norway – Maria Haukaas Storeng – Hold on be strong (radiomix)
Poland – Isis Gee – For Life
Portugal – Vania Fernandes – Senhora do mar
Romania – Nico & Vlad Mirita – Pe-o margine de lume
Russia – Dima Bilan – Believe
San Marino – Miodio – Complice (Live Acoustic Version)
San Marino – Miodio – Complice (Studio Version)
Serbia – Jelena Tomašević – Oro (Serbian, Greek, Spanish, Russian and English Versions)
Slovenia – Rebeka Dremelj – Heavy Wheather (Eurovision Mix English Version)
Slovenia – Rebeka Dremelj – Vrag naj vzame (Eurovision Mix Karaoke)
Slovenia – Rebeka Dremelj – Vrag naj vzame (Eurovision Mix)
Slovenia – Rebeka Dremelj – Vrag naj vzame (Live NF)
Slovenia – Rebeka Dremelj – Vrag naj vzame (Original Mix)
Spain – Rodolfo Chikilicuatre – Baila el Chiki Chiki (Eurovision version)
Spain – Rodolfo Chikilicuatre – Baila el Chiki Chiki (Original)
Sweden – Charlotte Perelli – Hero (Live Melodifestivalen Semi)
Sweden – Charlotte Perrelli – Hero
Switzerland – Paolo Meneguzzi – Era stupendo
Turkey – Deli – Mor ve ötesi
Ukraine – Ani Lorak – Shady lady
United Kingdom – Andy Abraham – Even If

19 thoughts on “Eurovision 2008 Songs Versions and Languages

  1. Good afternoon! I have noticed a mistake. Our country – Belarus, on the Eurovision then represented not ” Ruslan Alehnov “, and ” Ruslan Alehno “. Thanks =)

  2. I loved a lot of songs but most i liked Turkey and I voted for it. i am from Macedonia but i liked Turkey.
    Other good songs were:
    -Finland
    -Switzerland
    – Russia
    – Albania
    – Iceland

  3. Heyyy
    I writing from Serbia,andd my comment for this eurovision,is…many amazigggg songs,like Norway-Hold on be storng,or Ukraine – Ana Lorek,i think name is Shady Lady,Greece – Secret combination…and Serian song is not bad!
    but,Spain,and BIH songs are horrible,dissatisfied..
    a lot kisses from serbiaa!
    ~anett~

  4. Hello everybody!!!!We are writing from Serbia.We think that this years eurovision song contest is absolutely amazing,there are plenty of good songs like : Latvia,Azerbaijan,Greece,Armenia…
    But our favorite is the beautiful voice from Israel.
    We hope that you’re enjoying in this contest and that the next year will be more countries, more good songs and more fun!!!
    Ofcourse we will win again soon and it’s going to be better than this year… 😉

    Kissses from Serbia xxx

  5. enkela- unë mendoj që unë do të votoj për olta nga suedi lol
    (I hope I said that correctly)
    well I think you have a good song but I doubt it can be the winner even though I personally think it maybe could be.

  6. Pingback: ESC 2008
  7. ^maybe they are of slavic origin but living in sweden?
    those could be swedish names but if so they would be spelled with j instead of y

  8. katya i maya
    Rather doubtful that Katya and Maya are the Swedish names and the Swedes use the Slavic conjuction “i”.

  9. cao nina, naravno da ce te (bar) “neko” razumeti!
    Hvala na komentaru! I… slazem se! Narocito sam razocarana sa BIH izborom.. steta!

  10. cao…ne znam da li ce me neko razumeti ali sta da se radi….ja sam iz srbije…pozdrav za sve…veliki….inace moji favoriti ove godine su norveska i svedska…jelenina pesma je takodje dobra…i iskreno ima neverovatne vokalne mogucnosti…mozda cak i najbolje…tj. najbolja je od svih pevacica na ovogodisnjoj evrovizije….ali imam i veliku zamerku za bosnu i hercegvinu i spaniju…mislim da li su oni hetli da ispadnu najsmesniji ili sta…molim vas ubuduce ako vec hocete da se blamirate nadjite drugi nacin…valjda bi ova evrovizija trebala da bude nesto sasvim suprotno od toga…..da se vidi koje su pesme najbolje…i danasnji ucsnici cast izuzecima nisu ni priblizno nekadasnjim…..nadam se da ce se svi ugledati na mariju..jelenu…sharllotu…mariu…jer ipak svi treb asda zapamte da predstavljaju svoju zemlju…a ne neke svoje budalastine i ideje…ja sam malo oduzila…..takjo da vidimo se…,veliki pozdrac za sve ….pozz

  11. we arw from sweden….and we are big funs of marija serifovic….and we are shure that jelena’s song is the best this year…jelena is pretty girl…with amazing vocal posibility..serbia big kiss for you…from us…..see you…

  12. OMG sorry Mike! lol
    Registration wasn’t enabled :S
    I was wondering where were you 😀
    You will see the registration button now 😀

  13. Hey admin! That’s again me – Mike ESC from Poland. I have question – how I can register on your forum (I can’t find the registration link). HELP ME !!! 🙁 🙁 🙁

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