Eurovision as a television moment
Dec. 6th, 2005 10:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jawnbcAm watching my Congratulations DVD again. There's 4 discs, but I keep coming back to the 4th--and most recent one. And I finally figured out one of the reasons.
For many years the Eurovision-by-numbers approach was a heartbreaking ballad, sung by a youngish woman. Good song + good singer + the "aw" factor= winner. But with the mid 90s the Contest and high-end television production began to converge...creating uniquely TV moments.
1995 was the watershed year that changed everything. Many expected Spain to win; after all Vuelve conmigo is a great ballad, Annabel Conde is a great singer (OK she's a bit of a howler), and while a lot of folks might try to shag her, she also has that cute kid sister thang working.
Unfortunately for Spain, team Norway used the Wild Card principle (something totally out of left field--well executed). In fact Nocturne had only 28 words, making it the least song-like of all Eurovision winners. But what a production! Five musicians positioned across a spartan stage, each under a spotlight. Whomever's featured in a given moment (violinist, vocalist, tin whistler, keyboardist) gets the full focus as the others fade into the background. Sometimes from the first 30 seconds of a song you can tell if it has a prayer in hell of winning: with Nocturne you were captivated by all 3 minutes.
How'd they do it? They choreographed and staged the whole thing, from start to finish, shot by shot. Nothing in the rules about not bringing your own shot list for the director. And after Norway's romp to victory in 1996 you might have expected everyone to do it in 1996.
Nope. Only one did.
But why not do it? Well $$ is part of it. So too is technical capability. If your country's public broadcaster doesn't do this sort of high end entertainment production, it's kinda of impossible to do it.
As for 1996, despite having already won--and hosted--Eurovision 3 times in the 90s, Ireland showed up in Oslo gunning for bear. With The Voice Eimear Quinn and her ilk took what Secret Garden did up one more notch--by infusing elements of indigenous Irish culture into the song and performance. This was totally a TV moment.
In 1997 the UK won with simply the best song--but there was not TV moment among the other artists, though Iceland's Paul Oskar tried to create one (songs about suicide just don't win Eurovision dude). But Dana International's Diva in 98, the Olsen Brothers' Fly on the Wings of Love in 2000, Tanel Padar and Dave Benton and 2 XL's Everybody in 2001 all were set up shot-by-shot. And won. However in 2002 I felt we slid into the realm of gimmick. Marie Naumova is clearly talented, but I Wanna was a mediocre song--the cross-undressing is why she won. But it was a weak year.
Thank gawd for Sertab! I suspect she and her creative team studied the previous decade's winner and tried to work everything into her 3 minutes. The song, Every Way That I Can was great, she's an amazing singer, and the performance used a sense of play in homage to traditional Turkish culture--sort of. Most people didn't know that the song is about concubines competing for their master's attention.
Last year a few countries tried it again (Israel comes to mind) but Greece nailed it. On the night I had very mixed feelings about; after seeing her do it again on the 50th anniversary show, she convinced me.
Though I still think Chiara (Malta) should've won. Best song, best performance. And I think it's totally awesome that the folks at the EBU chose Angel as the final track on both the DVD and CD box sets.
For many years the Eurovision-by-numbers approach was a heartbreaking ballad, sung by a youngish woman. Good song + good singer + the "aw" factor= winner. But with the mid 90s the Contest and high-end television production began to converge...creating uniquely TV moments.
1995 was the watershed year that changed everything. Many expected Spain to win; after all Vuelve conmigo is a great ballad, Annabel Conde is a great singer (OK she's a bit of a howler), and while a lot of folks might try to shag her, she also has that cute kid sister thang working.
Unfortunately for Spain, team Norway used the Wild Card principle (something totally out of left field--well executed). In fact Nocturne had only 28 words, making it the least song-like of all Eurovision winners. But what a production! Five musicians positioned across a spartan stage, each under a spotlight. Whomever's featured in a given moment (violinist, vocalist, tin whistler, keyboardist) gets the full focus as the others fade into the background. Sometimes from the first 30 seconds of a song you can tell if it has a prayer in hell of winning: with Nocturne you were captivated by all 3 minutes.
How'd they do it? They choreographed and staged the whole thing, from start to finish, shot by shot. Nothing in the rules about not bringing your own shot list for the director. And after Norway's romp to victory in 1996 you might have expected everyone to do it in 1996.
Nope. Only one did.
But why not do it? Well $$ is part of it. So too is technical capability. If your country's public broadcaster doesn't do this sort of high end entertainment production, it's kinda of impossible to do it.
As for 1996, despite having already won--and hosted--Eurovision 3 times in the 90s, Ireland showed up in Oslo gunning for bear. With The Voice Eimear Quinn and her ilk took what Secret Garden did up one more notch--by infusing elements of indigenous Irish culture into the song and performance. This was totally a TV moment.
In 1997 the UK won with simply the best song--but there was not TV moment among the other artists, though Iceland's Paul Oskar tried to create one (songs about suicide just don't win Eurovision dude). But Dana International's Diva in 98, the Olsen Brothers' Fly on the Wings of Love in 2000, Tanel Padar and Dave Benton and 2 XL's Everybody in 2001 all were set up shot-by-shot. And won. However in 2002 I felt we slid into the realm of gimmick. Marie Naumova is clearly talented, but I Wanna was a mediocre song--the cross-undressing is why she won. But it was a weak year.
Thank gawd for Sertab! I suspect she and her creative team studied the previous decade's winner and tried to work everything into her 3 minutes. The song, Every Way That I Can was great, she's an amazing singer, and the performance used a sense of play in homage to traditional Turkish culture--sort of. Most people didn't know that the song is about concubines competing for their master's attention.
Last year a few countries tried it again (Israel comes to mind) but Greece nailed it. On the night I had very mixed feelings about; after seeing her do it again on the 50th anniversary show, she convinced me.
Though I still think Chiara (Malta) should've won. Best song, best performance. And I think it's totally awesome that the folks at the EBU chose Angel as the final track on both the DVD and CD box sets.
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no subject
Date: 2005-12-07 07:17 am (UTC)Elena Paparizou's yet to convince me with that particular song -- I'd have much prefered to see Malta win (as much as I prefer Israel's song this year as well as Shiri's SF performance, Chiara performed better on finals night, and with just one person on stage). Don't get me wrong, I've seen performances by Paparizou that I've loved, and songs that she's done both solo and as part of Antique that I've adored -- but I just can't see it with "My Number One", be it during the finals or at Congratulations.
(BTW : Completely envious still of your DVD set there ^_^)
no subject
Date: 2005-12-07 10:45 am (UTC)I'm in the middle of a short paper on the subject of Song vs. Spectacle in the Eurovision Song Contest, which I will probably post on my journal in the New Year.
Is the Congratulations DVD worth getting?
Only six months until ESC!!!
no subject
Date: 2005-12-07 05:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-07 07:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-08 05:15 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-10 05:04 am (UTC)the next morning i called the operator to find out who had won because the paper hadn't arrived on the ferry yet. i thought dana international was faaaabulous. can't wait to attend the jawn school of eurovision.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-10 05:38 am (UTC)the next morning i called the operator to find out who had won because the paper hadn't arrived on the ferry yet. i thought dana international was faaaabulous. can't wait to attend the jawn school of eurovision.
no subject
Date: 2005-12-08 09:56 am (UTC)