"Senhora do mar" ("Lady of the sea (Dark waters)") is a song performed by Portuguese

Portuguese people

The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....

 singer Vânia Fernandes

Vânia Fernandes

Vânia Fernandes is a Portuguese singer from Funchal, Madeira .Known for her powerful stage presence, as well as her prominent and versatile voice, Fernandes has participated in several singing contests and performed in public in both her home island of Madeira and on the mainland of Portugal since...

, which was chosen to represent Portugal

Portugal

Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...

 at the Eurovision Song Contest 2008

Eurovision Song Contest 2008

The Eurovision Song Contest 2008 was the 53rd edition of the Contest. It was hosted in Belgrade, Serbia after Marija Šerifović won the 2007 Contest in Helsinki, Finland. This year was the first contest to have two semi-finals which were held on 20 and 22 May, and the final held on 24 May 2008...

 in Belgrade

Belgrade

Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...

, Serbia

Serbia

Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...

. It was voted the winner of the 2008 edition of Festival da Canção, the national selection final, after receiving a total of 17,650 votes (35%), more than the double of votes received by the runner-up.

The song was composed by Andrej Babić

Andrej Babic

Andrej Babić is a Croatian songwriter who has written many Eurovision songs since 2003. He is one of the few songwriters who has written for four countries, having written entries for Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and Portugal....

, who also wrote Croatia

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

's entry in 2003

Eurovision Song Contest 2003

The Eurovision Song Contest 2003 was the forty-eighth Eurovision Song Contest, held at the Skonto Hall in Riga, Latvia on 24 May 2003. The hosts were Marie N and Renārs Kaupers. Sertab Erener, the Turkish entrant, won the contest with "Everyway That I Can", scoring 167 points. The winning...

, "Više nisam tvoja

Više nisam tvoja

"Više nisam tvoja" was the Croatian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2003, performed bilingually in Croatian and English by Claudia Beni although there is not a bilingual version on record...

" by Claudia Beni

Claudia Beni

Claudia Beni is a pop music singer from Croatia.At the time when she first participated in Dora, the national finals for the Eurovision Song Contest, Claudia was only 12, but she was already an experienced band singer having performed all over Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and...

; Bosnia & Herzegovina's in 2005

Eurovision Song Contest 2005

The Eurovision Song Contest 2005 was the 50th Eurovision Song Contest, which was held at the Palace of Sports, Kiev, Ukraine. The winner was Greece's My Number One, written by Christos Dantis and Natalia Germanou and performed by Swedish-born Greek singer Elena Paparizou, who scored 230 points,...

, "Call Me

Call Me (Feminnem song)

"Call Me" was the Bosnian and Herzegovinian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 2005, performed in English by Feminnem.As Bosnia-Herzegovina had pre-qualified for the final, the song was performed twenty-first in the final...

" by Feminnem

Feminnem

Feminnem is a girl group from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina composed of three members, Neda Parmać, Nika Antolos, and Pamela Ramljak. They have represented both countries at the Eurovision Song Contest; Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2005 and Croatia in 2010....

, and Slovenia

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

's in 2007

Eurovision Song Contest 2007

The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the 52nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It was won by first-time appearance as an independent country Serbia and was held at the Hartwall Areena in Helsinki, Finland from 10 May to 12 May. The host broadcaster was YLE.Finland earned the right to host...

, "Cvet z juga

Cvet z juga

"Cvet z juga" is a "popera" song by Alenka Gotar, and represented Slovenia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. The song is about a girl who bids farewell to her boyfriend and gives him a white flower as a reminder.On the night of the semi-final, the song performed twenty-fifth, following...

" by Alenka Gotar

Alenka Gotar

Alenka Gotar is a Slovene soprano singer, born in Rodica pri Domžalah in 1977. With the song “Cvet z juga” , she represented Slovenia in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 in Helsinki, Finland...

.
An English version of the song, called "Lady of the Sea", as well as the song's instrumental and an official remix by DJ Rui da Silva

Rui da Silva

Rui da Silva is a Portuguese producer and DJ, whose single "Touch Me" topped the UK Singles Chart in 2001.At the time, he was the only Portuguese musician to have a UK hit, and hence was the first to score a UK number one.-Career:...

, were created and provided as part of the song's pre-contest promotion. A new version in Portuguese and Serbian

Serbian language

Serbian is a form of Serbo-Croatian, a South Slavic language, spoken by Serbs in Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia and neighbouring countries....

 languages, featuring Beauty Queens

Beauty Queens

Beauty Queens are a Serbian girlband, formed in Helsinki, Finland, in May 2007, after Marija Šerifović's victory in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. The girls sang the backing vocals, and became very popular. They also reached third place at Beovizija 2008....

, the backing singers of Marija Šerifović

Marija Šerifovic

Marija Šerifović is a singer from Serbia. She won the Eurovision Song Contest 2007 with the song "Molitva". Šerifović was born in Kragujevac, Socialist Republic of Serbia, Yugoslavia and is the daughter of Verica Šerifović, also a notable singer...

 at the Eurovision Song Contest 2007

Eurovision Song Contest 2007

The Eurovision Song Contest 2007 was the 52nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It was won by first-time appearance as an independent country Serbia and was held at the Hartwall Areena in Helsinki, Finland from 10 May to 12 May. The host broadcaster was YLE.Finland earned the right to host...

, was also made just before the contest. Vânia Fernandes

Vânia Fernandes

Vânia Fernandes is a Portuguese singer from Funchal, Madeira .Known for her powerful stage presence, as well as her prominent and versatile voice, Fernandes has participated in several singing contests and performed in public in both her home island of Madeira and on the mainland of Portugal since...

 and the Beauty Queens also recorded new versions of "Molitva

Molitva

"Molitva" is a song by Serbian singer Marija Šerifović. It was the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. It was Serbia's Eurovision debut as an independent nation; the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro having dissolved in June 2006...

" and "Zavet", the song that the Serbian group entered in Beovizija 2008

Beovizija 2008

Beovizija 2008 was the 6th Beovizija music festival. The semi-finals were to be held on February 19, 2008 while the finals were to be held a day later. However due to unilateral declaration of independence of its southern province Kosovo, the festival was delayed until March 9 when the semi-finals...

 and came third in the competition.

A music video promoting the Portuguese isle of Madeira

Madeira

Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...

 featured Vânia in a studio recording the song along with promotional shots of the island.

Vânia and her backing group performed last (19th) in the contest's second semi-final, on May 22, 2008, and qualified to the final with a 2nd place (120 points), only behind Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

's Ani Lorak

Ani Lorak

Karolina Miroslavivna Kuiek, , popularly known as Ani Lorak , born 27 September 1978, Kitsman, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union, is a famous Ukrainian pop singer, songwriter, actress, entrepreneur, and former UN Goodwill Ambassador...

 and "Shady Lady

Shady Lady

"Shady Lady" was the Ukrainian entry for the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest. It was sung by Ani Lorak, composed by Philipp Kirkorov and written by Karen Kavaleryan. However, in Greece, around the time of the Contest, there were many rumors stating that popular composer Dimitris Kontopoulos had...

". In the final, "Senhora do Mar" was the 13th song to be performed and finish in 13th, as well, with 69 points, becoming Portugal's most successful Eurovision entry since 1998.

This song, along with Norway's "Hold On Be Strong", Sweden's "Hero", Ukraine's "Shady Lady" and Switzerland's "Era Stupendo" continually fare well in post-contest fan-based scoreboards.