Thursday, June 6, 2013

The Eurovision Song Contest – more than just music

Hey, my dear readers!

"I have to tell you something, it's been on my mind ..."
Well, I am totally into the Eurovision Song Contest!

I thought I could start this post by quoting from the lyrics of one of my favorite songs of this year's Song Contest. The song is called Something by Andrius Pojavis who sang for Lithuania.

Emmelie de Forest performing "Only Teardrops"

Representing the countries

The Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) is something I watch every year. To me it is very special because I like to see how the hosting country presents itself and it is also interesting to see how the singers represent their country. It might be some kind of stereotype, but there are always songs from which you can actually tell which country it is. Of course, this builds up stereotypes, which is why I won't give you any examples for this. People might argue about the quality of the songs performed. Yes, there always are bad performances; some, however are actually seeking for not being taken serious or try to bring across a message in a rather unconventional way. Then you may never forget those countries who are actually taking the ESC quite serious. They send the best singers they can offer and spend huge amounts of money for the stage show. Taking all this together, makes it well worth watching this special event.

Political aspects

In a way the ESC is also an occasion to show political opinions or express social criticism. For the first one there is to mention the liberal view this year's hosting country, Sweden, showed. In interval act (http://youtu.be/1J8hiN9K4ko) the country demonstrated its tolerance towards diversity in people, especially by showing that same-sex marriage is legal and tolerated in Sweden. In other political aspects the ESC might not be able to bring change, but  can at least raise awareness for serious problems or social evils. A very good example for this is Azerbaijan, last year's hosting country. Azerbaijan is, due to it's oil resources, a very rich country and spent a valuable amount of money on the ESC or rather on architecture. For example, the Baku Chrystal Hall was built and the completion of the Flame Towers was given a spotlight and the video postcards, which were played during the show, showed all the beauty Azerbaijan has to offer and they were extraordinarily inviting to visit this country. (The ESC made me actually aware of this country and I can tell that I'd really like to visit Azerbaijan soon.) However, behind this façade numerous issues found addressing in foreign media: people got deported in order to bring about building projects, journalists weren't be issued visas or got in serious trouble, activists and bloggers got imprisoned and so on. In numbers Azerbaijan is ranked "Not Free" and scored 79 out of 100 in Freedom House's annual Freedom of the Press survey.

The fun part

Nevertheless, we shouldn't forget that the ESC is also an event which brings people together and is very entertaining. Sweden took it very serious, in order to make it a very special event, and managed to not forget about the fun. The presenter, Petra Mede, did a really good job. She brought fun into the show and her accent was so adorable. Her dresses, designed by Jean Paul Gaultier, made quite an impression. Additionally, many lavish interval acts were performed and the sketches depicting the ESC's history were quite informative. The funniest person, however, was Lynda Woodruff. In some humorous sketches this hilarious character made me burst out laughing:

  1. Lynda Woodruff in Jukkasjärvi – http://youtu.be/53fKKF3NF6w
  2. Lynda Woodruff (2nd Semifinal) – http://youtu.be/voQrmiYIlww
  3. Lynda Woodruff in Stockholm – http://youtu.be/rLSoCEHQAqU


Here are some of my favorite acts of this year's Song Contest:



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