On Saturday, March 2, took place the second semifinal of Festival da Cançao 2024. This year is the 60th anniversary of the first edition of the Portuguese song festival. Although it has not took place every year since then, to celebrate this event, very well-known interpreters in Portugal has been involved this year in the two semifinals and the Gran Final, mainly as hosts.
The second semifinal started with Catarina Furtado, welcoming the audience to the show. After that we had the privilege of watching a short interview with one of the great ladies of Portuguese Song, who represented the country twice at the ESC (1965 and 1969), Simone de Oliveira.
Jorge Gabriel, Sónia Araujo, Rui Drumon, Helena Coelho, Jorge Fernando, Isaura, Sofia Morais, Adelaide Ferreira, Rita Guerra and Isabel Campelo were introducing the ten candidates of this semifinal and Inês Lopez Gonçalves was the woman in charge in the Green Room, helping them to relax. The jury consisted of Gisela João, Benjamim, Lia Pereira, Miguel Esteves Cardoso, Lura, Pedro Oliveira and Mimicat.
As in the first semifinal, ten entries competed and six of them advanced to the final. Here you are the contendants and songs:
Buba Espinho with ‘O Farol’
Cristina Clara with ‘Primavera’
Leo Middea with ‘Doce Mistério’
FILIPA with ‘You Can’t Hide’
João Couto with ‘Quarto para um’
Huca with ‘Pé de Choro’
No Maka feat. Ana Maria with ‘Aceitar’
Maria João with ‘Dia’
Rita Onofre with ‘Criatura’
Silk Nobre with ‘Change’
After some performances and several intervies, the voting occurred in two rounds.The first one, a 50/50 combination of votes from the jury and a public televote, determined the first five qualifiers: Buba Espinho, No Maka feat. Ana Maria, Leo Middea, Silk Nobre and Cristina Clara. The second round of only televoting determined the sixth and final qualifier: Rita Onofre.
And, this way, was completed the contendants list for the Grand Final, which took place a week later, the 9th of March, 2024.
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