It's bigger than the Oscars. It's where Riverdance debuted. It's the Eurovision Song Contest.
Before meeting Alan, I had never heard of the Eurovision Song Contest. But really, we all should know about it--it's an amazing production, and it's been running for 56 years. In brief:
- 43 countries participate across Europe (and parts of Asia)
- Each country chooses a song to represent their country at the competition
- Each song is sung in a HUGE televised production hosted by the previous year's winning country (think of the Oscars, then put the show in a converted football stadium that holds 37,000 people in the audience)
- All of Europe (and parts of Asia) telephone in their votes
- The popular votes are combined with jury votes from each country
- Then, each country "calls" in their jury votes via satellite--while the entire audience is biting their nails watching and waiting to see which country will win the competition and the right to host next year's show.
The entertainment while the votes are tallied can be the best part of the entire production. In 1994, the entertainment was Riverdance. And if you talk to anyone on the street in Ireland, they'll tell you that was a turning point for Ireland. Riverdance, infused with Irish pride and patriotism, put Ireland on the map in a way they hadn't been until then.
For the semi-final shows this year (there's were two semi-final shows on Tuesday and Thursday night, then the finals were on Saturday night), the performances were from an American drumline from North Carolina and the world champion breakdancing troupe from Germany (wayyyy awesome!)
I've put links below to You Tube videos of these things.
Here's the link for a clip that plays all the entries (4 minutes, 30 secconds):
The highlights link shows you how the BBC broadcast the final few moments of voting--with a clip of each song. If you take the time to watch it, you'll see the incredible variety of styles seen at the contest. Ireland's song is number 6. My other favorite, a crazy song by Moldova is number 15. The winner was Azerbaijan, number 19.
Jedward (John and Edward), Ireland's band
Here's a link to the drumline group:
oops--I couldn't find a video of it on You Tube. Bummer! It was great.
Here's a link to the breakdancing group (if you have to choose one to watch in its entirety, watch this!!!)
Here's a link to the original 1994 Riverdance performance:
It was amazing! I've heard about the Eurovision Song Contest before, but I had never seen it. It was fabulous! Just the lighting blew my mind away!
And to watch the voting in action was interesting, too. The juries didn't seem to vote for their favorite song--they seemed to vote for their geographical neighbors! (I should mention that it's against the rules to vote for your own country.) So Finland voted for Sweden, Germany voted for Romania, etc. That was so interesting!! I think I only noticed one country that really seemed to vote for their favorite songs, instead of political/geographical friends. One thing Alan and I both noticed was that whenever Greece received any votes, the audience jeered. Now, they did have an awful entry, but they are also causing a huge economic drain on the EU. The jeers could have been because of either of these reasons.
I voted for Finland, Russia, and Moldova (I wasn't limited in the number of my votes--only that I couldn't vote for Ireland). Moldova had the zaniest song. I loved it!
The band from Moldova
In the end, Ireland came in 8th. However, Australia likes to watch the show, too. They woke up on Sunday at 5am to watch the live coverage! Not only that, but they conduct their own voting. And in Australia, Ireland was declared the winner.
Seems right--all those Irish "criminals" voting for their people. :))
Bahhhh! With the exception of Sweden, Estonia, Germany, Australia, Slovenia, Iceland & Serbia....we live in a world of "modest" talent with lots of costume and special effects.
ReplyDeleteAnd why are so many bands singing in English, where is the hometown pride? Double Bah.