Austria in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005
was represented by Global Kryner with the song "Y así" in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, held in Kiev, Ukraine. "Y así" is an Austrian folk tune with yodeling, sung in English and Spanish. The song was written by Christof Spörk and composed by Christof Spörk and Edi Köhldorfer.
Global Kryner is an Austrian folk group consisting of Sabine Stieger on vocals, Karl Rossmann on trumpet, Christof Spörk on clarinet, Anton Sauprügl on accordion, Edi Köhldorfer on guitar and Sebastian Fuchsberger on trombone. Global Kryner had introduced themselves in August 2004 by playing a midnight gig at the Munich Lustspielhaus before a curious audience of just 100 people. In 2004, their first album made it into the Austrian top 40.
Before Eurovision
Song.Null.Fünf
Song.Null.Fünf was the national final that selected Austria's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2005. The competition took place on 25 February 2005 at the ORF studios in Vienna, hosted by Mirjam Weichselbraun and Christian Clerici.Format
Six acts competed with two candidate songs each in the competition where the winner was selected by regional televoting and mobile phone voting. Every one of the nine federal states of Austria had an equal stake in the final result. A tenth set of votes were the results of the mobile phone voting, which had a weighting equal to the votes of a single voting state.Competing entries
In order to select the five competing acts, ORF enlisted a jury panel of music professionals. Each of the five acts would produce two songs for the national final. The five artists selected to compete in the national final were revealed on 5 January 2005. Among the competing artists, Alf Poier previously represented Austria back in 2003 where he ended up in sixth position with "Weil der Mensch zählt".| Artist | Song | Songwriter |
| Alf Poier | "Hotel, Hotel" | Alf Poier |
| Alf Poier | "Good Old Europe Is Dying" | Alf Poier |
| Global Kryner | "Y así" | Christof Spörk, Edi Köhldorfer |
| Global Kryner | "Dreaming" | Christof Spörk, Edi Köhldorfer |
| Jade Davis | "Just Like That" | Frank Lebel, Bob Gutdeutsch |
| Jade Davis | "Perfect World" | Helmut Schartlmüller, Hubertus Hohenlohe |
| Marque | "Who You Are" | Marcus Nigsch |
| Marque | "In The Universe" | Marcus Nigsch, Mary Susan Applegate |
| Mystic Alpin | "Back Home" | Alfred Jaklitsch |
| Mystic Alpin | "One World" | Alfred Jaklitsch |
Final
The final took place on 25 February 2005. Ten songs competed and regional televoting and mobile phone voting selected "Y así" performed by Global Kryner as the winner.Controversy
This pre-selection was very controversial for being unfair due to the regional televoting and mobile phone voting system. When the results were eventually published, mobile phone votings had more voters than any federal state else, but gave just as many points as the voters from e.g. Vorarlberg did. Actual winner Alf Poier was annoyed about this way of unfairness.At Eurovision
Because Austria placed 21st at the 2004 contest, Global.Kryner were forced to compete in the Eurovision semi-final. They performed first preceding Lithuania and came 21st with 30 points. Therefore, Austria will have to compete in the semi-final again in ESC 2006.The spokesperson who revealed Austria's votes for other countries was Dodo Roscic, an ORF host who had been the Austrian spokesperson since the 1999 contest.