World Song Contest

The 22nd edition of the World Song Contest started in December 2006 to end with the first winner of 2007. 43 songs competed to have that honour. And once again, they came from each continents. So once again, semi finals were organised to have a final with 30 participants. From the 26 songs that qualified, Argentina survived thanks to F.Y.R. of Macedonia disqualification but managed to reach the 14th position in the final. That's how the results of the semi finals can seem weird. The United Kingdom won their heat but failed to reach the top 20, finishing at the 23rd position in the final.

4 countries were directly qualified for the final after WSC .21. What could appear as a disadvantage wasn't as they all reached the top 10. It was also time for some players and countries to make their big premiere. Canada and Germany were among them, but it's Venezuela's first top 10 position which probably was noticed by most of the players. If Nelly Furtado succeeded in her task for Canada, Eurovision winner Ruslana didn't, as she finished 28th for Ukraine. An unusual fact for an ESC related artist, and more for a winner of that contest.

If we consider America's as onehuge continent, then only Asia still have to win the contest. Africa was often forgotten by the players, and it was only on rare occasions that someone played for a country from that continent. Algeria made its debut in the previous edition, and finished 2nd. It was only to do better in the next edition. Algeria easily won with a difference of 50 points. The winning song, "Henna", performed by Cheb Khaled and Cameron Cartio, became the first African song to win the contest.

Khaled, born Khaled Hadj Brahim, is an Algerian raï singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Oran. He was born on 29 February 1960 in Sidi-El-Houri, Algeria. He began recording in his early teens under the name Cheb Khaled (Arabic for "Young Khaled") and has become probably the most internationally famous Algerian singer. His popularity has earned him the unofficial title "King of Raï".

Cameron Cartio, also known as Cameron, is a singer/musician/songwriter. Cameron was born in Tehran, Iran. When Cartio was eight years old, his family left Tehran to spend a year in Barcelona, after which they moved to Malmö (in southern Sweden). Cartio and his family ended up in Rosengård. He moved to Sweden in 1987. He made his debut in Melodifestivalen 2005 with his song Roma. The song was written in a language he made himself.

Official websites:

http://khaled-lesite.artistes.universalmusic.fr/ 

http://www.cameroncartio.com/