Eurovision Song Contest: Serbia Wins, And Good Singing Too!
Filed under: TV — Malcolm Owen @ 11:52 pm
So, yet again, European television has been hijacked by a long-running international singing competition. The “Eurovision Song Contest” is a yearly event (sometimes noted as a cheese-fest, thanks to the usual quality of the singing/performances) where every country taking part sends a band to sing for 3 minutes, in a desperate attempt to garner the most votes from the other competing nations. Here’s the short version of events:
- This year it was hosted in Finland, since last year Lordi won, and the victors host the following year. Usually the set is done in the cheapest possible way. This year? Large arena, huge video screens, fantastic set. Heck, even the opening sequence was damn good for a TV show, with special effects of Lord of the Rings proportions. They should be congratulated for making such a mammoth effort.
- There were so many entries taking part, that there was a semi final for those countries without a good Eurovision track record to qualify for the main event. Many Western countries that usually took part missed out through this process.
- Some of the acts were surprisingly good. For example, Germany’s swing, Finland’s goth and Sweden’s glam rock. A vast amount of musical styles and ability were displayed. You then have people like the Ukraine, whom fielded a dance track fronted by a drag queen separated at birth from a glitter ball. It’s beyond belief that they got selected to represent their country, because there wasn’t much singing, more random gyrations and counting out loud. And they came second.
- The UK’s entry, Scooch’s “Flying the Flag”, was extremely cheesy, and based on the usual level of singing it actually had a chance. Double Entendres apleanty. It was in second last place, partly due to…
- …The Voting. For many years, there’s been “Blocks” of voting, and people have noticed patterns as to how each country votes. Despite some countries using juries to decide what points go which direction, others rely on a 15 minute public vote via the good old telephone. Although it’s not been proven, there still does appear to be political voting in play. The rise in finalist entries from Eastern Europe led to a surprising amount of shared voting in that general area, letting Serbia win, with other nearby countries running fairly close to them.
- So, next year. Serbia. Their entry may not seem that great in my, or my family’s opinion, but it should make the event next year interesting.