Cyprus 2015: interview with Panagiotis Koufogiannis

NICOSIA, CYPRUS – The team of oikotimes.com had the pleasure to interview one of the Cypriot national final participants and one of the favourites, Panagiotis Koufogiannis. Below you can read what he revealed to us along with his official video clip for his song for Cyprus 2015 titled “Without Your Love”, for which you can still vote in Cyprus via landline 900-318-03 or text 03 to 5511, as well as in our poll for Cyprus selection here.

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Can you tell us something about yourself?
Well, I’m Panagiotis and I come from Cyprus! I’m a singer/songwriter/producer, I graduated from Berklee college of Music in Boston, I worked in the USA for a couple of years and I recently returned back to Cyprus. Right now, I work as a music teacher and vocal coach in a music school in Nicosia.

What made you decide to compete in the Cypriot national selection?
Several reasons! First of all, it’s a great event and offers a huge exposure to local artists. I also believe that I’ve found the right song for the contest – “Without your love” is a song that suits my style and my character as an artist. I feel ready for this. Competing in the Cypriot selection for Eurovision will definitely be an experience, and I’m pretty sure that the whole thing is going to be fun too!

What kind of feedback did you get following your Eurochallange performance?
At the auditions/eurochallenge rounds, we got very positive feedback from the people who watched it. People liked the song. The feedback became much more positive though when we released the music video of our entry, with the final mix of “Without your love” – it’s where people managed to listen to our entry in its polished form.

Are you a Eurovision fan? Do you have a favorite song from the competition?
I do try to watch the contest every year. I was studying/working in the USA for a long time so I missed a few things, but generally I do enjoy watching the Eurovision Song Contest. As for my favorite song, I don’t know really… I think It’s “Fairytale” by Alexander Rybak and I also love “Mana mou” from Cyprus (smiles)

What are your future plans outside of Eurovision?
I recently moved back to Cyprus. I will see how things go over here and make my mind later on. For the moment, I’m focused on the Cypriot Final this Sunday.

If you were allowed to bring a lucky charm on stage during your performance what would that be?

My really good friend gave me a lucky clover card for the auditions and Eurochallenge rounds… I think this would be it!