22 मई, 2006 - Published 12:26 GMT

Finnish heavy metal act win Eurovision

The Eurovision Song Contest has never seen or heard anything quite like this before.

But the Finnish band Lordi stormed through their set, demolishing their opponents and the bland reputation of the contest in one fell swoop: and when the votes of viewers and listeners from around Europe and beyond were finally counted up, Lordi had won an easy victory. Even the band leader himself, Mr Lordi, seemed stunned by what they'd achieved:

Mr Lordi:
"We feel great, think about it, this is weird, this is strange this is interesting. You know think about it, we're a rock band and we just won the pop song contest. That is weird and also Finland won which is kind of nice."

This was indeed a big victory for Finland, which first entered the contest more than forty years ago, but until now had always come away empty-handed. For the other twenty-three finalists, bitter disappointment, especially for the UK entry, rap singer Daz Sampson. He thought he'd also brought something different to the contest. But he paled into insignificance compared to Lordi.

Richard Galpin, BBC, Athens

stormed through
उत्साह के साथ बजाना

their set
उनका संगीत प्रदर्शन

demolishing their opponents
अन्य गायकों को पीछे छोड़ना

the bland reputation of the contest
प्रतियोगिता की छवि है कि संगीत अच्छा नहीं होता

in one fell swoop
एक पल में ही

stunned
हैरान रह जाना

empty-handed
ख़ाली हाथ, बिना कोई पुरस्कार लिए

bitter disappointment
निराशा महसूस करना

paled into insignificance
ऐसा देखा गया जैसे कोई महत्व न हो