Opa (song) explained

Opa
Cover:AlkaiosOpa.jpg
Border:yes
Type:single
Artist:Giorgos Alkaios
Genre:Laïko
Length:3:02
Label:Friends Music Factory
Producer:Giorgos Alkaios
Misc:
Embed:yes
Song: "Opa"
Year:2010
Country:Greece
Artist:Giorgos Alkaios
Languages:Greek, English
Composer:Giorgos Alkaios
Lyricist:Giannis Antoniou & Friends
Place:8th
Points:140
Place Semi:2nd
Points Semi:133
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"Opa" (Greek, Modern (1453-);: ΏΠΑ!, in Greek, Modern (1453-); pronounced as /ˈopa/) is a song recorded by Greek singer Giorgos Alkaios. The song was written by Giorgos Alkaios himself, Giannis Antoniou, Dimitris Hortarias, Manos Hortarias, Dionisis Shinas, Tolis Sxoinas, Kassiani Karagioule and Stavros Apostolou. It is best known as the Greek entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 2010, held in Oslo.[1] [2]

The song was released by broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT) on 26 February 2010 along with the other candidate songs from the national final,[3] while a digital download was released on 12 March 2010 in association with Universal Music Greece.[4]

Background and composition

Alkaios had originally written the music to the song about two years prior, with no intention of submitting it for the Eurovision Song Contest at the time.[5] After lyricist Giannis Antoniou heard the music a year later, he and asked Alkaios to write lyrics for it. In the process, other musicians and employees from Friends Music Factory including Dionisis Shinas, Kassiani Kargiule, Dimitris Hortarias, Stavros Apostolou, Tolis Schinas, and Manos Hortarias amongst others, wrote and contributed half of the lyrics for the song.[6] Upon completion, good friend and musician Dionisis Shinas along with Giannis Antoniou urged Alkaios to submit the song to broadcaster ERT to take part in the national final.[7] Originally only intending to be the composer of the song, Alkaios agreed to submit the song, and Schinas hand delivered the song to ERT's offices. Later, it was decided that Alkaios would perform the song on stage along with "friends".

The entry marks the first Greek Eurovision entry since 1998 to be sung entirely in Greek. "Opa" is a Greek interjection used to express joy or high spirits, especially when dancing.[8] According to Alkaios, 'Opa' is a happy word and just what people need in a time of trouble. The song is all about leaving the past behind and starting all over again. In a world shaken by the 2008 economic circumstances, Alkaios believes people just needed to say 'Opa' and move on.[9] Pertaining to the tie of 'Opa' in the song with the current economic situation in the world, Alkaios stated:

Music video and promotion

Due to economic difficulties that the national Greek television (ERT) was facing, the broadcaster was only willing to use the national final performance as the official music video for the song which was released on 19 March 2010.[10] Although ERT released a music video for the song from the live performance, Alkaios financed the production of another music video which was directed by Sherif Francis.[11] The music video was shot in Milos.

Eurovision Song Contest

See main article: Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2010.

Ellinikós Telikós 2010

Seven acts competed on 12 March 2010 in the Greek National Final.[12] The song was performed fourth in the final by Alkaios along with "Friends", which consisted of musicians Gogua Iakovos, Evgenios Buli, Petros Zlatkos and Anastasios Kanaridis who acted as backing vocalists and backing dancers, along with Lazos Ioannidis who plays the lyre during the song's break.[13]

At the end of voting, "Opa" was revealed as the winner.

+ style="font-size: bigger;" DrawArtist Song Place[14]
1Christos Hatzinasios"Illusion"-
2Sunny Baltzi & Second Skin"Game of Life"-
3Manos Pyrovolakis feat. Eleni Foureira"Kivotos tou Noe" (Noah's ark)2
4Giorgos Alkaios & Friends"Opa"1
5Yorgos Karadimos"Polemao" (I'm fighting)3
6Melisses"O Kinezos" (Chinese)-
7Émigré"Touch me Deep Inside"-

In Oslo

Greece competed 13th in the second half of the first semi-final of the contest on 25 May in Oslo, Norway.[15] [16] The performance in the contest differed from the one in the national final.[17] Alkaios passed the first semi-final, coming in 2nd place, behind Belgium,[18] and went on to perform in the final on 29 May 2010. In the end, Greece came 8th,[19] with 141 points, while for most of the duration of the voting, Greece was in the top 3 (and even came 1st for a while). It was the highest placing non-English song of the contest. "Opa" was the most popular song for the jury in the United Kingdom, being awarded the full 12 points. Following Eurovision, "Opa" was formally adopted by Bournemouth University in the UK as their fieldwork anthem on the excavation programme throughout June and July 2010.[20]

Track listing

  1. "Opa"  - 3:02

Release history

RegionDateLabelFormat
GreeceFriends Music FactoryAirplay
Cyprus
GreeceUniversal Music, Friends Music FactoryDigital download
Cyprus

Charts

Chart (2010)Peak
position
Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart[21] 37
Finnish Singles Chart[22] 20
Greek Digital Singles Chart[23] [24] 4
UK Singles Chart[25] 110

Cover versions

The Israeli Mizrahi singer Omer Adam released a version of this song in the Hebrew language in October 2010 called "Hopa".[26] The song is also a track from his debut album, Names Mimeh.

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Greece sends Giorgos Alkaios & Friends to Eurovision. Montebello. Edward. March 13, 2010. ESCToday. 24 March 2010. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20100316075855/http://esctoday.com/news/read/15371. 16 March 2010.
  2. Web site: Giorgos Alkaios & Friends will wave the Greek flag in Oslo. Escudero. Victor. 12 March 2010. EBU. 24 March 2010. 3 April 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160403012751/http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news?id=10443&_t=Giorgos+Alkaios+%26+Friends+will+wave+the+Greek+flag+in+Oslo. live.
  3. Web site: Greece: Final songs online ahead of schedule. Floras. Stella. 26 February 2010. ESCToday. March 25, 2010. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20100503155959/http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/15221. 3 May 2010.
  4. Web site: Opa - Single by Giorgos Alkaios & Friends. iTunes. 28 January 2010. 17 March 2015. 6 November 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20121106173853/https://itunes.apple.com/gr/album/opa-single/id361811520. live.
  5. Web site: Greece: Alkaios says Opa is a happy word. Floras. Stella. 13 March 2010. ESCToday. 24 March 2010. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20100316075916/http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/15376. 16 March 2010.
  6. Web site: "Who is Who" George Alkaios & Friends Contest. Staff. 15 March 2010. ERT. 24 March 2010. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20100614052836/http://eurovision.ert.gr/en/eurovision-song-contest-2010/contest/00418-who-is-who-george-alkaios-friends. 14 June 2010.
  7. Web site: Eurovision 2010 – Ο Γ. Αλκαίος μιλάει στο Music Corner!. Zervas. Pavlo. 26 January 2010. Musiccorner.gr. 25 March 2010. 29 January 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100129105247/http://www.musiccorner.gr/?p=603. live.
  8. Babiniotis, Dictionary of Modern Greek
  9. Web site: Greece: The Alkaios and Emigre interviews. Vranis. Michalis. March 11, 2010. ESCToday. 24 March 2010. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20100314062840/http://esctoday.com/news/read/15354. 14 March 2010.
  10. Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Web site: George Alkaios & Friends - OPA (official video) . YouTube.
  11. Web site: Ο Γιώργος Αλκαίος πληρώνει για το clip του. Staff. 20 March 2010. MAD TV. el. 25 March 2010. 3 October 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20121003014006/http://www.mad.tv/section/news/43492/eurovision/. live.
  12. Web site: Tonight: National final in Greece. Klier. Marcus. 12 March 2010. ESCToday. March 24, 2010. 15 March 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100315151416/http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/15359. dead.
  13. Web site: Giorgos Alkaios eyes Eurovision win. Neophytou. Tony. March 10, 2010. London Greek Radio. March 25, 2010.
  14. Web site: 60,000 votes cast; three songs tied. Kaziri. Ghassan Al. March 15, 2010. Oikotimes.com. March 24, 2010. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20100325141845/http://www.oikotimes.com/v2/index.php?file=articles&id=7707. March 25, 2010.
  15. Web site: Greece Appears 13th on the ESC Stage News . Staff . 23 March 2010 . . 24 March 2010 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20100419194049/http://eurovision.ert.gr/en/eurovision-song-contest-2010/news/00419-simera-i-klirosi-gia-ti-seira-emfanisis . April 19, 2010 .
  16. Web site: Semi final allocation for Oslo determined. Klier. Marcus. 7 February 2010. ESC Today. 24 March 2010. 10 February 2010. https://web.archive.org/web/20100210034203/http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/15042. live.
  17. Web site: http://www.mad.tv/section/news/43433/eurovision/. el:Ο Γιώργος Αλκαίος ετοιμάζει εκπλήξεις. Staff. 18 March 2010. MAD TV. el. 25 March 2010. 3 October 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20121003012005/http://www.mad.tv/section/news/43433/eurovision/. live.
  18. Web site: Stories. 29 May 2010. 14 July 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140714113122/http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news?id=18323. live.
  19. Web site: Stories. 30 May 2010. 6 February 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20170206192942/http://www.eurovision.tv/page/news?id=18063&_t=GERMANY+WINS,+SEE+FULL+RESULTS!. live.
  20. Web site: Durotriges Research Page and Dig Diary | Centre for Archaeology, Anthropology & Heritage | Bournemouth University . 10 August 2010 . 9 December 2010 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101209222054/http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/caah/landscapeandtownscapearchaeology/durotriges-research-page-and-dig-diary.html . dead .
  21. Web site: Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart . . 7 April 2022 . 23 February 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220223004906/https://www.ultratop.be/nl/song/a7125/Giorgos-Alkeos-%26-Friends-Opa-%5B2010%5D . live .
  22. Web site: Finnish Singles Chart . 5 June 2010 . 30 January 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160130170840/http://www.finnishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Giorgos+Alkeos+&+Friends&titel=Opa+%5B2010%5D&cat=s . live .
  23. Web site: Billboard Greek Digital Singles Chart . 7 April 2022 . 10 May 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120510170634/http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/ . live .
  24. http://greekcharts.com/forum.asp?todo=viewthread&id=31926 Greek Digital Singles Chart
  25. Web site: UK Singles Chart . 10 June 2010 . 5 March 2012 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120305000220/http://zobbel.de/cluk/100612cluk.txt . live .
  26. Web site: Omer Adam - Hopa . . 18 December 2014 . 30 January 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160130170840/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ymFkXFZh4s . live .

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