Full Version: Eurovision Song Contest
Okay, apart from moif, many of you may never even have heard of the Eurovision Song Contest. This is an annual televised competition sponsored by the European Broadcast Union and, in Europe, the viewership figures are huge. Trust me, this thing is almost as big as the World Cup.
Each member country of the EBU submits one entry (which must be composed by a citizen of that country, though the performers can be from anywhere) which is usually selected through an inexplicably popular National Song Contest. All the finalists (currently twenty-six of them) compete in an interminable extravaganza into which the host country pours about half of its annual broadcasting budget. Each participating country casts twelve votes for other competitors (from one point through twelve points) and the winning country hosts the next year's festival. The songs tend to be extraordinarily MOR, leaning toward bubble gum: ABBA, for example, made their international mark by winning in 1974 with "Waterloo". Other luminous alumni have included Cliff Richard, Lulu, and Olivia Newton-John. Occasionally a bit of talent slips through - Plastic Bertrand, for example, and Celine Dion have both appeared as contestants and the 1994 Contest gave birth to Riverdance - as the interval act.
As most of the judges are involved in the media, there have been frequent accusations of a political component to the competition. There are seldom votes exchanged between Greece and Turkey, for example, or Bosnia and Croatia - and the rivalry between Ireland and the United Kingdom is near legendary. When the UK won the contest in 1997 (setting a total points record), many saw this as a celebration of the Labour Party and the end of the Thatcher era rather than a vote of confidence in the dubious "hit" by Katrina & the Waves, "Love Shine a Light".
This year's competition, held last night, was interesting for a couple of reasons. First, the winner was Turkey. Second - and more astonishing - the United Kingdom received no points whatsoever. Not one country cast a single vote for the British entry. Only once before in the forty-odd year history of the Eurovision Song Contest has a country come away with null points (Norway in 1997 - and their entry was pretty dire).
The UK almost always comes in in the top ten and has won the competition five times and placed fifteen times. Only Ireland, with seven wins, has done better.
Should this tell us anything about the overall climate in Europe regarding our coalition partner - especially in light of Turkey's win?
Each member country of the EBU submits one entry (which must be composed by a citizen of that country, though the performers can be from anywhere) which is usually selected through an inexplicably popular National Song Contest. All the finalists (currently twenty-six of them) compete in an interminable extravaganza into which the host country pours about half of its annual broadcasting budget. Each participating country casts twelve votes for other competitors (from one point through twelve points) and the winning country hosts the next year's festival. The songs tend to be extraordinarily MOR, leaning toward bubble gum: ABBA, for example, made their international mark by winning in 1974 with "Waterloo". Other luminous alumni have included Cliff Richard, Lulu, and Olivia Newton-John. Occasionally a bit of talent slips through - Plastic Bertrand, for example, and Celine Dion have both appeared as contestants and the 1994 Contest gave birth to Riverdance - as the interval act.
As most of the judges are involved in the media, there have been frequent accusations of a political component to the competition. There are seldom votes exchanged between Greece and Turkey, for example, or Bosnia and Croatia - and the rivalry between Ireland and the United Kingdom is near legendary. When the UK won the contest in 1997 (setting a total points record), many saw this as a celebration of the Labour Party and the end of the Thatcher era rather than a vote of confidence in the dubious "hit" by Katrina & the Waves, "Love Shine a Light".
This year's competition, held last night, was interesting for a couple of reasons. First, the winner was Turkey. Second - and more astonishing - the United Kingdom received no points whatsoever. Not one country cast a single vote for the British entry. Only once before in the forty-odd year history of the Eurovision Song Contest has a country come away with null points (Norway in 1997 - and their entry was pretty dire).
The UK almost always comes in in the top ten and has won the competition five times and placed fifteen times. Only Ireland, with seven wins, has done better.
Should this tell us anything about the overall climate in Europe regarding our coalition partner - especially in light of Turkey's win?
Wow. Interesting. Yes, I think it is a neon sign indicating the overall European climate.
I asked my girl friend the exact same thing last night, but the truth is, we just don't know.ALL Eurovision songs are bad. Really bad, thats almost the whole point...
but the British song was not any worse than any of the others so one has to assume that people just didn't care to vote for England.Wertz
These days most of the votes are cast by telephone poll...
QUOTE(moif @ May 25 2003, 06:55 PM)
These days most of the votes are cast by telephone poll...
Ah - okay. I've been out of the Eurovision viewing area for about five years. Now that you mention it, though, I recall talk of switching over to telephone polling around the time I was leaving Ireland. Hmmn, might this imply more of the public climate, then, than the media climate? That might be even more worrying...
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