Hungary: Joci Pápai to Fly the flag in Kyiv!

Hungary’s national final A Dal has now come to a conclusion, after weeks of heats and semi-finals. IN A Dal this year, 30 acts were chosen for the live shows, and as the weeks went by, acts were eliminated until the final, where there were a total of 8 acts.

As in the heats and semi-finals, the results were influenced by both televoters and the jury, which consisted of:

• Adrienn Zsédenyi Zséda (award-winning singer)

• Miklós Both (award-winning composer/guitarist/singer)

• Károly Frenreisz (founder of the legendary LGT and Skorpió, a legend of Hungarian rock music)

• Ferenc Molnár Caramel (award-winning singer)

How the national final worked is that the jury voted directly after the songs. Each member chose their top 4 songs, and these four acts would move into a second round of voting.

Here are the 8 competitors of the final:

• Gigi Radics – See It Through

• Joci Pápai – Origo

• Gina Kanizsa – Fall Like Rain

• Soulwave – Kalandor

• Zävodi + Olivér Berkes – #háttérzaj

• Leander Kills – Élet

• Gabi Tóth – Hosszú idők

• Kállay Saunders Band – 17

The top four acts which continued into the second round were:

• Gigi Radics – See It Through

• Joci Pápai – Origo

• Gina Kanizsa – Fall Like Rain

• Zävodi + Olivér Berkes – #háttérzaj

Out of these four, Joci Pápai was announced as the winner with his song Origo. Joci Pápai is 35 years old and comes from Tata in Hungary. He made his debut back in 2005, where he was part of the show Megasztár. Although he did not win the show, he continued to pursue his music dream. The following year he released the song Ne nézz így rám, and since then has had several hits solo, and with the rapper Majka.

Listen to Hungary’s Eurovision entry here: