Max Goes to Istanbul

Max, as the young man from the southwestern state of Baden-Württemberg is called, barely made it into Friday night's show after his song "Can't Wait Until Tonight," a soul-full, quiet instrumental number, stormed the charts and qualified him to compete.

A complete newcomer to the show business, he'd been picked as the winner of a song contest on "tv total," a late night comedy-cum-talk show hosted by Stefan Raab, who himself represented Germany in the campy Eurovision competition in 2000.

Unlike his rivals in this year's competition, who put on glitzy performances at a Berlin concert hall, Max offered little more than his voice, wearing jeans and a dark sweater and sitting on a bar stool on stage. Before the show, Max had said he really didn't expect to win, adding that he plans to take his high school exams in four weeks.

TV viewers, who chose the winner via telephone or cell phone text messages, overwhelmingly approved of Max's low-key performance. In the end, more than 92 percent picked him over a techno band called Scooter.

The no-frills concept already helped Germany win the contest once (and only once) before: In 1982, a young woman called Nicole delivered Europe's victorious song sitting on a chair and playing a white guitar. The title? "A Little Peace."