Nights of Gandhara

Nights of Gandhara (Arabic: لَيَالِي من غانذارا, Layālī min Gāndhāra) is a music competition organised by the Gandhari public broadcaster Radio and Television of Gandhara (RTG). It determines the country's representatives for the Outernatia Song Contest and the Internatia Song Contest, and has been staged almost every edition since the Outernatia Song Contest 3. The competition is among the most popular television programmes in Gandhara, and it is also broadcast on radio and the Internet. Nights of Gandhara has been used to select entries for the Internatia Second Chance Contest as well.

The festival has produced a winner and three top-five placings for Gandhara at the Outernatia Song Contest, as well as two winners for Gandhara at the Internatia Second Chance Contest.

Hosting

Almost all editions of Nights of Gandhara were held at the Minna Theater in Rhea. Only the seventh and eighth edition were held at the International Convention Center in Manas.

The plan is to rotate the hosting of the competition between cities throughout Gandhara in the future. It might even be possible to host an edition in a different country. The idea behind it is to draw more attention for the contest nationwide and on an international level.

Edition	Location	Venue
1st–6th 9th–15th	Rhea	Minna Theater
7th–8th	Manas	International Convention Center

Voting

Points are given by juries from different countries. Since the start of the contest, one voting system has been used. Each jury awards 12, 10, and 8 points to their top three songs. The jury from Gandhara only votes when less than six international juries are present to give their votes.

Since the ninth edition, the tie-break rules of the Internatia Song Contest are followed.^[1] This means that in case of a tie a count will be made of the numbers of countries who awarded points to each of the tied songs, and the one who received points from the most countries will be placed above the other song(s). If two or more songs are still tied, the sets of maximum points (12 points) each song received will be counted. If there is still a tie, the numbers of 10-point scores awarded are compared, and then the numbers of 8-point scores, all the way down the list. In the unlikely event that there is still a tie between two or more songs, the song that performed earliest in the running order will be placed above the other tied songs.

Winners

Edition	Artist	Language	Title	Host	Contest	Place	Points	Semi	Points
1st	Carole Samaha	Arabic	"Sahranine" (سهرانين)	Rita Hayek	OSC 3	4	75	No semi-finals
2nd	Amal Maher	Arabic	"A'raf Mneen" (أعرف منين)	Marcel Ghanem	OSC 4	6	52
3rd	Mohamed Hamaki	Arabic	"Haga Mestakhabeya" (حاجة مستخبية)	Rima Maktabi	OSC 5	10	48
4th	Fady Harb	Arabic	"Shu Baki" (شو باكي)	Nadine Hani	OSC 6	12	34
5th	Myriam Fares	Arabic	"Aman" (آمان)	Nadine Njeim	OSC 7	1	80
6th	Ragheb Alama	Arabic	"Betfell" (بتفل)	Yara Khoury Mikhael	OSC 8	10	45
7th	Samira Said	Arabic	"Mazal" (مازال)	Myriam Fares & Neshan	OSC 9	16	35
8th	Sandy	Arabic	"Roho Ololo" (روحو قولوله)	Marcel Ghanem	OSC 10	15	47
9th	Sherine	Arabic	"Hatrooh" (هتروح)	George Kordahi	OSC 11	21	35
10th	Yasmine Ammari	Arabic	"Nkhaf Nabghik" (نخاف نبغيك)	Rima Maktabi	OSC 12	27	22
11th	Zaed Naes	Arabic	"Shattiet" (شتيت)	Taim Hasan	OSC 13	Failed to qualify		16	23
12th	Shiraz	Arabic	"Amout Wansak" (اموت وانساك)	Mona Abou Hamze	OSC 14	22	43	No semi-finals
13th	Mähri Pirgulyýewa	Turkmen	"Aýterek Günterek"	Fares Karam	OSC 15	4	104	16	37
14th	Gülyaru	Uyghur	"Shirinjan"	Myriam Fares	OSC 16	Failed to qualify		10	33
15th	Funda Arar	Turkish	"Yoksun"	Mona Abou Hamze	ISC 43	25	82	1	94

International juries

International juries from twenty-nine different countries voted in Nights of Gandhara. A Gandhari jury always voted, but these votes were only used if less than six international juries participated, which happened on seven occasions. The Lettucian jury voted in every edition.

Country	Total	Editions
Lettuce	15	1st–15th
Dulcet Ebullience	11	3rd–4th, 10th, 12th, 14th
Porielana	8	1st–8th, 7th–10th, 12th, 15th
Gandhara	7	4th–6th, 8th–9th, 11th, 13th
Lost Islands	6	4th–9th
Kimmystan	5	9th, 12th–15th
Raingate	5	11th–15th
V	4	7th, 10th, 11th–12th
Republica Libera	3	10th, 13th–14th
Saint Eva & Lepland	3	1st, 8th, 15th
Evergreen Lands	2	1st–2nd
Aonach		1st–2nd
Irdminia		1st, 3rd
Tikata		1st, 4th
Sunetti		3rd, 7th
Folkloria		14th–15th
Jhe Freeh		14th–15th
Auspikitan	1	1st
Almarania		1st
Anselmsuusonia		2nd
Amsteris		2nd
Kaeros Islands		3rd
Noxus		7th
Grolskira		7th
Easterosia		9th
RC Laranjeiras		10th
Victoria		10th
Darkria		10th
Nicolas' Neighbour		13th
Bitland		14th