Eurovision is one of the largest music competitions in the world, which is held every year and attracts participation best performers from member countries of the European Broadcasting Union. In this regard, as a viewer of the project, you will be able to see fascinating performances by representatives of not only European countries, but also countries such as Israel and Egypt. According to the rules, only one singer can perform from each country, and the winner is determined by the results of voting by viewers from all over the world.
History of Eurovision
The very first Eurovision Song Contest was organized in Switzerland in the mid-fifties of the last century. The reason for its holding was the desire to create a project similar to the large Italian festival called “San Remo”. The main goal, according to Marcel Besson, was the opportunity to unite in creativity nations that had been separated in the post-war period.
Despite the fact that the festival is still held in Italy, Eurovision is still significantly ahead of it and has become the most popular and anticipated event of the year. Today, friends, relatives and even groups of strangers, totaling more than one hundred million, gather together to watch the performances of the participants and vote for their favorite.
Before each Eurovision Song Contest, participants who wish to become finalists of the project undergo a qualifying round, based on the results of which the list of countries participating this year is determined. The undisputed participants each time are the four founding countries - Germany, Great Britain, Spain and France, which are united under the name “Big Four EMU”.
If we talk about Eurovision winners, then the luckiest country should be called Great Britain. Despite the fact that Ireland took first places more often (seven to five), this country is the leader in the number of second places, since it has fifteen such victories. This may be due to the fact that the UK often had to become the venue for the competition, as France refused this advantage.
Viewers often wonder why, for example, England represents American singer(Katrina Leskanish with the Cambridge group Waves or Ozzy Gina J.) or a performer from Greece from Duxerbourg? The fact is that absolutely anyone can be a representative from a particular country, regardless of nationality and even citizenship.
Interesting facts from the history of Eurovision
Throughout the history of the competition, the most unexpected performers have become leaders, and our country only gained momentum in the mid-2000s. We decided to make a selection of the most interesting moments for you.
- The victory at the very first competition went to the Swiss performer Lis Assia for the song Refrain.
- Since 1959, composers cannot be members of the professional jury.
- In 1960, Eurovision was shown for the first time in live, however, only in Finland.
- 1988 is a landmark year for Celine Dion. Everyone knows it now, but then it was finest hour for an unknown girl.
- The winner in 1986 was a singer from Belgium, who was only thirteen years old. Throughout the history of Eurovision, both eleven- and twelve-year-old singers have taken part in the competition. Today this is impossible, since the age limit is 16 years, and for younger talents there is their own Junior Eurovision.
- The rule that participants must perform a song in the language of their country was introduced in 1966.
- In Spain's winning song La La La (1968), this very word is repeated 138 times.
- After 4 countries took first place at once (1969), it was decided to adjust the rules: if several leading countries score the same number of points, their performers perform their routine again, and the decision is made by the jury.
- Philip Kirkorov, who represented our country in 1995, took only seventeenth place, and the following year Russia did not take part in the project at all.
- – not the first freak of this kind in the history of Eurovision. In 2007, she almost became the winner (an image created by the artist from Ukraine Andrey Danilko), who ultimately took an honorable second place. And almost ten years earlier, a performer from Israel named Dana International (1998) surprised viewers with her transsexuality.
- The year 2000 is Russia's first notable achievement. Alsou took second place. The next successful representative was the TaTu group, which took third place.
The best Eurovision songs ever
To understand what kind of music Europe loves, a music service called Deezer created a ranking of the best hits and winners of the show.
- Euphoria and a singer from Sweden (2012).
- Only Teardrops from Denmark (2013).
- Unforgettable Conchita Wurst with the composition Rise Like A Phoenix (2014).
- Also very resonant hard rock band Lordi and the song Hard Rock Hallelujah from Finland (2006).
- A performance by two musicians - from Ireland and Norway - called Secret Garden with the song Nocturne (1995).
- Johnny Logan from Ireland and his composition Hold Me Now (1987).
- Abba Waterloo (Sweden) with a hit called Hold me now (1974).
- Song Satellite by German Lena Mayer-Landrut (2010).
- Gina G and Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit from the UK (1996).
- Finally, the charming Italian Toto Cutugno with the song Insieme (1990).
It should be noted that every year of the event is associated with completely unexpected decisions and victories. What does this depend on - on the unpredictable tastes of listeners or on the desire of the performers themselves to produce as much as possible? vivid impression, we don't know. But we look forward to the continuation of this musical story.
The history of Eurovision goes back 59 years. This became the reason for Eurovision being included in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest-running song competition. How was the competition created, what are the rules for participating in it, and what does it give to its winners?
Eurovision: history of the competition
From the name you can guess that the initiators of the creation of the competition were the countries of the European Union, which were part of the For the first time, the idea of the competition was more or less clearly voiced in the 50s. Marcel Besançon, who at that time was the director of Swiss television. His initiative was supported by all EBU participants - this is how the history of Eurovision began.
In May 1956, the first concert was to take place in Switzerland. The first Eurovision was held quite modestly: in the main hall small theater Kursaal brought together one performer from 7 European powers. Participants could submit 2 songs at once at the competition. The winner was chosen by the jury, not the audience. This was the only competition where such rules were in effect.
The first winner of the famous competition was the Swiss performer Lise Assia with the song “Refrain”.
Eurovision: requirements for participants and songs
The history of Eurovision has developed by leaps and bounds since then. In 1957, 10 countries already took part, and then the number of new participants only grew. The rules that were familiar to everyone began to be introduced: for example, for a song that should last no more than 3 minutes, or for exclusively “ live performance» of their performances by performers.
Taking into account the annual experience of holding the competition, its creators constantly improved the set of rules. For some time now there has been a requirement that no more than 6 people should be on stage during a performance, including backup dancers and backing vocals.
Songs must be completely new and not appear on air or posted on the Internet before the Eurovision qualifying round. Previously, there was also a rule that the competition song must be performed by a representative from the country exclusively on state language. But since 1999, each participant can sing a song in any language they wish.
Eurovision finalists get a big bargaining chip in their hands to develop their careers. Participation in the competition is an excellent chance to break into the music market of other countries and strengthen your position in the domestic show business.
Eurovision countries
Despite the fact that the competition is European, the number of participating countries is not limited only to those states that are located in Europe. The history of Eurovision has shown that the competition receives remarkable attention in all countries of the world, so the creators of the competition decided not to limit themselves to geography.
Currently, all countries that are members of the European Broadcasting Union can participate in the competition. It is this rule that allows countries such as Australia, Azerbaijan, Armenia or Israel, which do not even remotely belong to European territories, to participate in the competition.
In total, over the entire existence of the competition, 51 countries took part in it. Some countries do not send their representatives to the event all the time, but from time to time skip the competition, citing economic or political reasons.
The Eurovision finalists may soon make room and welcome new participants from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan and other Asian countries into their ranks.
As is known, between Western culture and Soviet Union The “iron” curtain stood for a long time. Eurovision was no exception. The history of the competition does not recall a case where representatives from the Soviet Union participated in the event.
And even during Gorbachev’s perestroika, Georgy Veselov’s initiative regarding the fact that “it would be possible to send Soviet artist for the European competition” was not supported. Presumably this lucky person could be Valery Leontyev. However, the Communist Party rejected this proposal, considering that such a turn of events would be too radical.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, its former 15 member states, one by one, turned their attention to Europe. Only Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan have not yet made it to the live broadcasts of Eurovision, while the rest of the countries participate almost every year, and some of them are very successful.
Russia has been regularly participating in Eurovision since 1994. During this time, such performers as Masha Katz, Alsou, Dima Bilan, the group “Buranovskie Babushki”, Polina Gagarina, “Tatu” and another group of Max Fadeev - "Serebro". The most enchanting performance was Dima Bilan's number "Believe", which brought victory to Russia in 2008. Less successful were the performances of Philip Kirkorov, Alla Pugacheva, Mumiy Troll, Prime Minister and Yulia Savicheva.
In 2001, Estonia won the competition, in 2002 a Latvian won first place, in 2005 Eurovision moved to Kyiv, and in 2011 the winners were the duet “Ell & Nikki” from Azerbaijan.
Eurovision records
There are also records that were set at the Eurovision Song Contest. The State of Ireland's history of victories ranks first in this record table, as the Irish have returned home victorious 7 times; 3 victories out of 7 were achieved one after another in 1992, 1993 and 1994.
Following the Irish, Sweden firmly established itself on the record holder podium, having won the competition 6 times. Spain has gone the longest time without winning the competition; the last time it was victorious was back in 1969.
Ukraine won the Eurovision Song Contest the fastest: representatives from the country began to participate only in 2003, and already in 2004 Ruslana was in first place in the competition table.
Portugal has never won the competition, despite its many attempts. A participant from Norway, Alexander Rybak, received a record number of points in 2009.
And the youngest participant to win Eurovision at the age of 13 was Belgian Sandra Kim.
Criticism of the competition
For some time now, the competition has been subject to very harsh criticism from not only the participating countries (for example, Italy boycotted the competition for 14 years), but also musical figures, as well as television viewers.
For example, many Eurovision participants are faced with the fact that the competition seems to evaluate not their performing skills, but the policies pursued by their state. Moreover, good ratings given in a “neighborhood” manner often greatly amuse the viewers of the Eurovision Song Contest. Voting has become so predictable that any even more or less savvy person can predict, with an error of one point, which country will give whom how many points.
However, at the Eurovision Song Contest, voting is not the only reason to have a good laugh. The overall level of performers has dropped very noticeably, as they refuse to show their own individuality and are strenuously trying to copy the winner of the previous year. For example, with the naked eye one could notice that after Ruslana’s show with drums in 2004, in 2005 only the lazy did not pull some ethno-drums onto the stage and dress up in leather. It's surprising that after Conchita Wurst's victory, everyone didn't go on stage with beards.
Winners with amazing careers: Frida Boccara
Nevertheless, performers from all countries strive to get into the competition, because Eurovision participants (if the performance is successful) have obvious advantages in building a future career. However, not everyone can take advantage of the given chance correctly.
Frida Boccara did not miss her chance. After she won the competition in 1969, her popularity throughout many years kept at a high level. The singer became the owner of two Gold and one Platinum discs. However, the singer’s popularity was at a high level even before the competition: in 1966, Boccara even went on tour to the USSR.
More than a million of the singer’s records were bought in the Soviet Union. The performer even released two songs in Russian - “ White light"and the famous "Tenderness", the music for which was written by Alexandra Pakhmutova, and the lyrics by Nikolai Dobronravov.
ABBA
The Eurovision Song Contest, which has a great history of victories, has never seen a more legendary and popular group than ABBA. In 1973, the Eurovision Commission unanimously rejected the song “Ring” by a young Swedish group. In retaliation, the group members recorded the song in several languages, launched it on the radio in countries such as Holland, Sweden, Austria, Belgium and even South Africa, and topped the foreign charts.
In 1974, the group still wins Eurovision with the song “Waterloo”. And since then it was almost impossible to stop her: the Swedish team occupied leading places in the charts around the world, including the USA. Even in the Soviet Union, which did not really favor foreign artists, ABBA was a completely legal group, whose record could easily be bought in a store. Soon, one after another began to appear on the screens. documentaries about the members of the team who became legends during their lifetime.
ABBA songs are still played on radio stations around the globe.
Toto Cutugno
Over time, not only the competition, but also various Eurovision ratings and the history of Eurovision have become extremely popular. The winners of the song competition received more and more privileges on the world stage of music show business.
Toto Cutugno took advantage of all of them completely and unconditionally, eventually becoming a star of the 80s. Toto Cutugno is also a talented songwriter and has collaborated with such pop stars as Ricchi e Poveri, Adriano Celentano, Dalida and Joe Dassin.
Cutugno was widely known not only in Europe, but also in the Soviet Union. Everyone still remembers his unconditional hit “L’italiano”.
These days, Toto Cutugno is a regular and constant guest of retro concerts organized by Avtoradio. They attract a full house and are broadcast on central Russian television channels.
Celine Dion
There's another one world star, which once won the competition, something the history of Eurovision can only be proud of. The winners, as mentioned earlier, did not always know how to correctly use the given chance. But who triumphantly took first place in 1988, was able to build a successful career even after the hype surrounding her victory subsided.
After Eurovision, Celine switched from French songs to English ones, signed several successful contracts and already achieved world fame and recognition in the early 90s.
Until now, Dion is one of the highest paid performers in the world. The woman is famous for her vocal technique and powerful voice. Surprisingly, back in the late 80s, the performer developed voice problems during one of her tours. The doctor diagnosed that Dion does not know how to properly use his ligaments. As a result, the singer underwent a course of treatment, and then re-learned singing from a famous American teacher.
In 2004, she even managed to win the World Music Awards as the best-selling female singer of all time. Most famous song The singer’s repertoire still includes the hit “My heart will go on” from the film “Titanic”.
General provisions- No more than 45 countries - active members of the European Broadcasting Union - take part in the competition.
- Participation in the final of the competition is guaranteed to 5 countries: the organizing country and the founding countries of the competition - Germany, Spain, France and Great Britain.
- All participating countries hold their own national qualifying competitions. The rules for their conduct are established by the television company participating in Eurovision at its own discretion. At the same time, it is necessary to ensure proper transparency of the process.
- No more than 40 countries can take part in the semi-finals of the competition. The organizing committee of the competition determines by drawing lots how these countries will be divided into two semi-finals.
- 25 countries take part in the finals of the competition.
- The order of performance in all concerts is determined by drawing lots. From each semi-final, 10 countries will advance to the final of the competition.
Song and performance requirements
- The song entered into the competition (lyrics and music) must not be released or publicly performed before October 1 of the year preceding the competition.
- The maximum length of a song should be 3 minutes.
- During each performance, up to 6 people at least 16 years old have the right to be on stage.
- Animals are prohibited from being allowed on stage.
- The choice of execution language is free.
- All artists must perform the song live, accompanied by a backing track.
- The lyrics and performance should not create a negative reputation for the competition.
- Songs containing political statements or advertising, swearing or obscene language are not allowed in the competition.
- Artists are not allowed to represent more than one country at Eurovision in a given year.
Sanctions
A song may be disqualified for the following reasons:
- If an artist, a member of a delegation or a representative does not comply with the requirements of the television company of the organizer or the executive director of the EBU and may, through their actions, interfere with the holding or broadcast of the show.
- If the artist’s performance differs from what was planned and shown at the dress rehearsals and thereby interferes with the organization or presentation of the show.
- If participants (TV company or artist) try to violate the rules of the competition at any stage of its preparation or conduct or plan to violate them during the show itself.
The decision on disqualification is made by the organizing committee of the competition on the recommendation of the EBU executive director.
A television company participating in the competition may be subject to sanctions, including exclusion from participation in subsequent shows, in case of violation of the rules or withdrawal of an application after December 14 of the year preceding the competition. Such a sanction cannot be imposed for more than 3 years.
- In the final and semi-finals of Eurovision 2010, voting will be carried out among television viewers and a professional jury of 5 people. TV viewers and the jury will each have 50% weight in determining the results of the competition.
- The top ten of the total voting in each of the semi-finals will advance to the final of the competition.
- During the semi-finals and final of Eurovision 2010 in Oslo, voting will be open from the start of the first song and will continue for another 15 minutes after the end of the last song.
- You are not allowed to vote for your own country of residence.
- In the event of a technical or other failure in televoting, only the results of the national jury's vote will be taken into account.
Determination of the winner
The winner of the competition is the song that scores greatest number points at the end of voting.
In the event of a tie for last place in the semi-final qualifying for the final, or for first place in the final, the winner is the song that receives points from the most countries. If this number is also the same, then the winner is the country with the most 12-point marks. If this number is the same, then 10 point scores are considered, etc.
If in the semi-final the above procedure was unable to determine the finalist, then the right to advance to the final will be given to the country that competed earlier (in order) in this semi-final.
In the final, if this procedure does not help determine the winner, both songs are declared winners of the competition.
For decades now, the Eurovision Song Contest, traditionally held in May since the distant 1956, has been breaking spears. This competition really raises many questions to which there are no answers. Let's try to get a little into the Eurovision kitchen and figure out what's what.
Origins
The song competition arose at a time when the concept of “song” was clear and defined. Popular singers in their country took to the stage, accompanied by symphony orchestra sang their simple songs. The winner of the first Eurovision, held in Lugano, Switzerland, was the Swiss woman Lise Assia. At the dawn of the competition, no one saw any political or any other motive in this, and the second competition, without any scandals or intrigues, was held the following year in Germany, in Frankfurt am Main.
The creation of the song competition was supposed to unite Europe, restored after the devastating war, and to promote the popularization of television, which was then only at the very beginning of its development. The task was a success: the live broadcast of the Eurovision final is still the most popular non-sports television program in the whole world, and it is watched not only in the countries taking part in the competition, but all over the world, from the States to Australia.
Present tense
The 2000s marked new stage in the history of Eurovision. The rules and performance standards changed; countries began to take part in the competition, which in the minds of an ordinary European have nothing to do with Europe (to be more precise, with the European Union). Numerous complaints from viewers against the management of the competition called into question its continued existence. However, the Eurovision cause is still alive and victorious. On one Saturday in May, at least 100 million viewers gather on television screens, and on best years this figure was 600 million. With the development of the Internet and the broadcast of the competition online, more than 70 thousand more web surfers, who are partial to pop music and its variations, were added to the television audience.
Rules
There is no single set of rules that was fixed in 1956 and has not changed throughout the entire period. Some recommendations, for example, the duration of a song no more than 3 minutes, remain, however most the rules of the competition have changed over time and have nothing in common with the distant competition of 1956, in which only 7 countries took part old Europe, does not have. By 2004, the number of countries wishing to simultaneously take part in Eurovision exceeded 40 (the main requirement for a country is participation in the European Broadcasting Union, which many television companies consider it a matter of honor to join). The Eurovision leadership made a strong-willed decision to introduce a system of semi-finals, which were broadcast on Thursday, and subsequently even two, spaced on Tuesday and Thursday. This is how “Euroweek” turned out, starting and ending on two consecutive Saturdays in May. Without participating in the semi-finals, the participants of the Big Five (the founding countries of Eurovision: Germany, Great Britain, France, Spain and Italy; surprisingly, Switzerland, where the format was invented, is not on this list) and a representative of the host country traditionally advance to Saturday's final. The remaining 20 participants are selected by a collective vote of the jury and viewers in each country.
Contestants
European music is unique: artists who are famous in their own countries are not known anywhere outside their homeland. Therefore, there is no need to expect superstars at Eurovision, with rare exceptions. In 1974, the competition was won by the Swedish group ABBA, which by that time was already at the zenith of world fame. The victory of Canadian citizen Celine Dion, who represented Switzerland in 1988, gave a powerful impetus to the development of the singer’s global career. On this vivid examples are ending. Patricia Kaas, super popular in the 1990s, could not rise above 8th place, and the group Blue, whose credits include collaboration with Sir Elton John himself and millions of broken girls’ (and other) hearts, did not enter the top ten at all, stuck in 11th place in 2011 . There were more tragic stories: Dana Int., whose star lit up after winning Eurovision with the mega-action film “Diva”, in 2011 could not even make it to the final, which put an end to her future career outside of Israel.
Scandals
Not a single competition takes place without scandals. The story of the group t.A.T.u, which stormed Eurovision at a time when their songs were at the top of the British hit parade - the main indicator of the popularity of a particular artist, caused a particular stir. An open secret is the fact that according to the voting results, 2 pseudo-lesbians who sang in Russian became first, but due to technical forgery and due to the reluctance to give Eurovision to Russia, they became only third. Numerous legal proceedings between the group's producer and Eurovision bosses came to nothing, Eurovision went to Turkey, but there is urban legend, that somewhere far away, in Konstantin Lvovich Ernst’s safe, there is a letter of apology from Svante Stokeselius himself, the main producer of the competition. Nevertheless, Eurovision took place in Russia, but several years later, and it was brought by Dima Bilan, far from the most original artist in our country.
Geopolitics
The main reproach against the Eurovision producers is the inability to overcome a geopolitical problem: neighbors vote for neighbors. For example, a Norwegian song consistently receives 12 points from its neighbors Finland and Sweden, the Balkan countries vote for each other, Georgia traditionally ignores the performances of Russians, and the Azerbaijani jury protests against Armenian artists and vice versa. The result is not a vote for a song, but pan-European fraternization, which only politically independent countries can overcome, and then in rare cases. In many ways, voting determines the country's foreign policy. Dima Bilan was second in his first run only because Russia did not support the deployment of troops to Afghanistan and ended up being an outsider in the political arena of Europe. The trend began to decline after the victory of the same Bilan - the representative of Norway, Alexander Rybak, won at Eurovision in Russia, the German Lena Mayer-Landrut won in Norway, and what happened in Germany generally shook up the stagnant world of Eurovision: the song contest was won by a duet Eli and Nikki are from Azerbaijan, which many Europeans cannot even find on a map.
Gays and housewives
Traditionally, it is believed that Eurovision is watched only by gays and housewives who have nothing better to do. However, the numbers show that this is not at all the case. Eurovision is popular among all classes European population, it’s just that not everyone admits it because of the dubious content of the competition. Gays are considered the main fans of Eurovision for the most banal reasons: Euroweek is an extra opportunity to express themselves to the world by holding various kinds of events and parades. In addition, at Eurovision the main rule of most gays is observed: “beautiful-expensive-rich.” The spectacle is truly luxurious, and gays always like it.
Significant Achievements
There are none and they are unlikely to exist. Performing at Eurovision and even winning it is not a guarantee of European popularity. The Eurovision winner does not receive global recognition. He is simply giving his country a chance to show off the technical capabilities of television. Therefore, superstars are not eager to take part in the competition. Secondary artists most often participate in national selections, but despite this, the victory is given to a popular artist or group. From a musical point of view, the competition is nothing interesting; it is worth watching only because of the impressive video sequence. The songs performed are death for a true music lover.
Russia has been taking part in Eurovision since 1994, and our only counted victory is for Dima Bilan in Serbia with the song “Believe me,” allegedly produced by Timbaland. Twice representatives of Russia took second place, twice – third, in other years – from 9 to 17 places, but always reached the finals. Worst result showed Philip Kirkorov, who took 17th place with the song “Lullaby for the Volcano” in 1995. However, after this fiasco, Kirkorov “fell ill” with Eurovision, almost every year he produces one of the participants (Ani Lorak, under his leadership, even reached an honorable second place), regularly covers songs performed at the competition, and occasionally records duets with participants “ Eurovision".
Of the former republics of the USSR, Ukraine, Latvia and Estonia have already hosted Eurovision, and now Azerbaijan. Belarus, Moldova, Lithuania and Armenia remain uncovered.
According to legend, the idea to send a participant from the USSR belonged to Mikhail Gorbachev back in the stagnant 80s. A specific candidate was considered - Valery Leontyev. However, something didn’t work out; Valery Leontyev didn’t go anywhere and doesn’t want to remember it.
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