A Song for Europe
Volume 1 | Issue 7 - Theory
Article by Stephen Woodward. Edited by Claire Stratton. Additional Research by Faye Hunter.
The end of May will see the eyes of Europe turn to an indoor football stadium in Norway. This is not due to Stabaek FC having made it to the latter rounds of the European cup; Oslo has the honour of being this year’s host of the Eurovision Song Contest. The final of the 55th contest will take place at the Telenor Arena on the 29th May where 39 countries will vote for a winner out of 25 hopeful acts.
The Eurovision song contest was born out of a desire to experiment with live transmission over a wide area in the era before satellite television. This led in 1950 to the creation of the European Broadcasting Union. The EBU is responsible for the distribution of many international televised events across Europe; everything from the Olympics, the FIFA World Cup final through to the Vienna New Years day concert. It decided in 1954 to hold an annual song contest in addition to a, later aborted, variety show which would not only increase European cooperation, but also increase the popularity of television entertainment. The song contest, which was modelled around the San Remo music festival, was initially held in 1956 in Lugano, Switzerland. The inaugural winner was Lys Assia representing the Netherlands with the song ‘Refrain’. Back at the first contest there was no prize (not even so much as a medal) for the winning entry, furthermore countries presented two songs by separate singers, which were then marked by a jury. The jury consisted of a male and female member of each participating broadcasting agency watching a small television in couples, as that was thought best to recreate the family experience of the viewers at home.
The Song Contest has changed manifestly in format since that first night in 1956. There have been various restrictions on language at the contests, originally there was nothing prohibiting entrants to sing in any language of their choice, however between 1966 and 1972 and then again from 1978 up until 1998 entrants were required to sing in one of the official languages of the countries they were representing. 1998 also saw the first instance of participating countries being urged to use televoting to allow the people of Europe to decide the winner for themselves. This has arguably led to claims that voting has become less focussed on the musical merits of the act and more down to international relations. Hell will freeze over the year Greece does not award Cyprus a mutual douze points.
But supposed block voting does not seem to provide geographical consistency in choosing a winner. The last five winners have been Norway, Russia, Serbia, Finland and Greece. I’ll concede that ‘neighbour voting’ may now seem to favour Slavic, ex-USSR or Scandinavian countries. However that’s not anywhere near the same level of regional dominance Ireland and the UK enjoyed throughout the early 1990’s, taking eleven first and second place finishes between them. Ireland alone managed to win the contest four times in that period, clocking up three back to back wins from 1992 in the process.
Claims of politicised voting may have come to the fore in recent years, but the contest has been forever dogged by voting scandal. Last year allegations emerged that General Franco had encouraged representatives of the Spanish broadcaster in 1968 to bribe their foreign colleagues to ensure a Spanish victory. Franco had thought a Spanish victory coupled with the opportunity to host the contest the following year would bolster his regime’s popularity. A few back-handers resulted in a win for Spanish Massiel and ‘La, La, La’, denying Cliff Richard and his song, ‘Congratulations’ a win by one point.
However the 1969 Madrid-hosted Eurovision Song Contest was not exactly the media triumph Franco had desired, with Austria refusing to send a representative to a country run by a dictator. The 1969 contest (also notable for its stage set being designed by Salvador Dali!) resulted in 4 different countries being declared winner, following the unexpected event of a tie. Bribery and unexpected events aside, the emergent winner is usually the most deserving. After all, the televotes of some 125 million Europeans surely can’t be considered wrong?
True, to western ears the sound of Marija Šerifović’s 2007 Serbian winner, ‘Molitva’ may have sounded like the cries of a dying seal. But that year’s winner was a song with a message. ‘Molitva’ translating from Serbian as ‘prayer’, the song carried a clear message of hope for peace after years of strife for the newly emergent Balkan nations. This is what Eurovision over the years has been truly about. It is a grand and manifest symbol of European unity, nations coming together for a night of silliness and song. It’s also a chance for Europeans everywhere to share their culture and stars who otherwise wouldn’t make an impact on foreign markets. One needs only to think of the renowned winners of the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest ABBA to realise the enormous potential that Eurovision has had to craft careers and make legends. It is this enduring ability of Eurovision to make dreams come true, to evoke national pride and to bring together the many nations of Europe that ensures its enduring popularity. The recognition of such strong popularity of Eurovision and its capability of uniting the region is evidenced by recent attempts to emulate it. This year will witness the first ever Asia-Pacific Song Contest a direct copy of the EBU’s.
The 29th May will see a new song for Europe decided. Another chapter of Eurovision history will be carved as once more Europe unites in a night of shameless extravagancy and song. Long may it continue, for the Eurovision Song Contest is exactly what Modern Europe needs; a night where Europeans can come together to not only celebrate European technological achievement and European unity but also to share musical culture. Daft as it is, the Eurovision Song Contest should be a night where one feels proud to be European, even if it does mean listening to Ukrainian drag artists singing about Mongolian milkshake!