11th hour Eurovision drama
Mar. 19th, 2005 07:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jawnbcThe actual Eurovision (ESC) broadcast is an event unto itself: the good, the bad, the bizarre, the political. You’ll laugh, cry and hurl. Over 3 hours.
But the backstories are often even more interesting. Monday, is the deadline by each of the 40 participants (who paid a deposit effectively in December) must submit their entry and their performer(s). After Monday they can tweak things a bit, but can’t substitute songs or singers--unless something freaky happens. Like in 2002 when it turns out the Lithuania entry broke the rules (see below) . . . but they got to send a substitute (it finished last). That same year Portugal withdrew, and at the last minute Latvia was asked if they wanted to send someone. They did, and Marie N won with “I wonna”.
This year’s gossip:
A mere 72 hours out, Lebanon has withdrawn from the 2005 contest, which would’ve been its first entry. Lebanese law forbids TV broadcasting any “favourable” broadcasts about Israel. When Lebanon was a passive participant they could just delete the Israeli performance. But with a song entered it’s either show it all or drop out. They dropped out. What a shame--a great song too!
Belarus’ wacky Angelica Agurbash has decided that the song that was selected by the Belarussian public is too bizarre after all. After ‘hoing herself to a couple of songwriters who’ve done well in the past, she’s picked Love me tonight by the guys who wrote Shake It for Greece in 2004. I liked the bizarre one better...even if it gave children nightmares.
Meanwhile, things are getting ugly in Serbia & Montenegro. Both Serbia and Montenegro hosted a semi-final, from which four songs went to the combined S & M final. Serbia picked their most popular female vocalist, singing a song written by the guy who took S & M to 2nd place in last year’s ESC with Lane Moje. Montenegro chose its most popular boy-band, singing a not-too-subtlely nationalist dirge. The deal was that S wouldn’t give their song radio airplay, since it was selected 2 weeks before M’s--an agreement not honoured. How did M get even? Their jury members gave null points to the Serbian songs. thus the M boyz won. Serbia has filed a complaint with the European Broadcast Union.
Adn for those curious here are some of the basic rules for eligiblity. If a country wants to send an entry:
-they have to be public broadcaster (non-profit), since there’s only 1 possible advertising break (during the voting)
-they have to be a member of the European Broadcasting Union (which doesn’t necessarily mean being in the EU, or even continental Europe). Israel, Morocco, Libya, Lebanon, and Algeria are all members
-they must be an active participant, meaning they show the ESC live (SBS in Australia is “passive” participant and thus ineligible to send an entry)
-the song must be 3:00 minutes long (a bit over is OK, but not more than 10 seconds).
-singing during the broadcast must be live--no pre-recorded vocals, including backup singers (though not all singers must be on-stage)
-no more than 6 people on stage (so you can’t bring an adorable choir of 6 year-olds, or 25 back up dancers)
-all persons on stage must be 16 years or older by 31 December 2004 (thank those who sent 11 year-olds for this rule)
-no overtly political messages (lyrical or visual). This year Ukraine’s selected one of the rap anthems from the Orange Revolution. To avoid disqualification they’ve re-written them. Still a pretty kewl choice though.
-no “offensive” performances. In 2003, Alf Poier from Austria was almost disqualifed because he kept “Michael Jacksoning” his crouch while rapping about animal rights (he finished 7th).
-countries now must hold a televote (phone &/or SMS), unless they can substantiate that their country’s infrastructure cannot support one
There aren’t any general ESC rules about:
-nationality of performers
-nationality of songwriters
-language of song (at one time a country could only submit songs in one of their official languages. That was a good rule)
Which is why Luxembourg won 5 times with singers from France & Greece; Switzerland with a Canadian (Céline!); the UK with an American, blah blah blah. This year Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia, Germany, Andorra, Monaco, Switzerland, Greece, Turkey, Belarus, Netherlands and Bosnia are either sending a foreign singer or using a foreign-penned song.
But the backstories are often even more interesting. Monday, is the deadline by each of the 40 participants (who paid a deposit effectively in December) must submit their entry and their performer(s). After Monday they can tweak things a bit, but can’t substitute songs or singers--unless something freaky happens. Like in 2002 when it turns out the Lithuania entry broke the rules (see below) . . . but they got to send a substitute (it finished last). That same year Portugal withdrew, and at the last minute Latvia was asked if they wanted to send someone. They did, and Marie N won with “I wonna”.
This year’s gossip:
A mere 72 hours out, Lebanon has withdrawn from the 2005 contest, which would’ve been its first entry. Lebanese law forbids TV broadcasting any “favourable” broadcasts about Israel. When Lebanon was a passive participant they could just delete the Israeli performance. But with a song entered it’s either show it all or drop out. They dropped out. What a shame--a great song too!
Belarus’ wacky Angelica Agurbash has decided that the song that was selected by the Belarussian public is too bizarre after all. After ‘hoing herself to a couple of songwriters who’ve done well in the past, she’s picked Love me tonight by the guys who wrote Shake It for Greece in 2004. I liked the bizarre one better...even if it gave children nightmares.
Meanwhile, things are getting ugly in Serbia & Montenegro. Both Serbia and Montenegro hosted a semi-final, from which four songs went to the combined S & M final. Serbia picked their most popular female vocalist, singing a song written by the guy who took S & M to 2nd place in last year’s ESC with Lane Moje. Montenegro chose its most popular boy-band, singing a not-too-subtlely nationalist dirge. The deal was that S wouldn’t give their song radio airplay, since it was selected 2 weeks before M’s--an agreement not honoured. How did M get even? Their jury members gave null points to the Serbian songs. thus the M boyz won. Serbia has filed a complaint with the European Broadcast Union.
Adn for those curious here are some of the basic rules for eligiblity. If a country wants to send an entry:
-they have to be public broadcaster (non-profit), since there’s only 1 possible advertising break (during the voting)
-they have to be a member of the European Broadcasting Union (which doesn’t necessarily mean being in the EU, or even continental Europe). Israel, Morocco, Libya, Lebanon, and Algeria are all members
-they must be an active participant, meaning they show the ESC live (SBS in Australia is “passive” participant and thus ineligible to send an entry)
-the song must be 3:00 minutes long (a bit over is OK, but not more than 10 seconds).
-singing during the broadcast must be live--no pre-recorded vocals, including backup singers (though not all singers must be on-stage)
-no more than 6 people on stage (so you can’t bring an adorable choir of 6 year-olds, or 25 back up dancers)
-all persons on stage must be 16 years or older by 31 December 2004 (thank those who sent 11 year-olds for this rule)
-no overtly political messages (lyrical or visual). This year Ukraine’s selected one of the rap anthems from the Orange Revolution. To avoid disqualification they’ve re-written them. Still a pretty kewl choice though.
-no “offensive” performances. In 2003, Alf Poier from Austria was almost disqualifed because he kept “Michael Jacksoning” his crouch while rapping about animal rights (he finished 7th).
-countries now must hold a televote (phone &/or SMS), unless they can substantiate that their country’s infrastructure cannot support one
There aren’t any general ESC rules about:
-nationality of performers
-nationality of songwriters
-language of song (at one time a country could only submit songs in one of their official languages. That was a good rule)
Which is why Luxembourg won 5 times with singers from France & Greece; Switzerland with a Canadian (Céline!); the UK with an American, blah blah blah. This year Finland, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia, Germany, Andorra, Monaco, Switzerland, Greece, Turkey, Belarus, Netherlands and Bosnia are either sending a foreign singer or using a foreign-penned song.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-03-19 10:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-19 03:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-20 12:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-23 03:06 am (UTC)I missed it since I was away, but now that I'm back ...
Date: 2005-03-26 07:14 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-03-26 10:18 pm (UTC)Um, can I borrow this LJ entry for a little newsletter that I send out to my friends for Eurovision updates? Very well written.
no subject
Date: 2005-03-29 01:02 am (UTC)And thanks!
(sorry for delay in responding....was camping)
no subject
Date: 2005-03-29 11:19 am (UTC)Hope you had a good time camping too.