EuroVision
It is that time of year again…. Eurovision time! Every year Europe holds a song contest where each country sends a representative (up to around 5 people) to perform & compete against all the other nations. Ireland starts preparing for the contest months before by holding an “American Idol” type contest. Entrees from all over the Republic audition on a nationally televised program where the public gets to call in and vote for their favorite contestant. The winner is then sent on to the Eurovision contest to represent Ireland. I really like the way the selection process takes place because we really get to see what the rest of Europe thinks of the Irish winner.
The contest itself is really funny to watch. Not every country has the same idea of what good music really is…. For example: you are likely to see yodeling, punk rockers, or some crazy German rock ’n roll. It is also funny to watch the voting. Each country has a series of points that they must award to other countries…. The catch is that the voting isn’t always based on musical talent or performance. It is so obviously biased that it really is laugh out loud funny. Ireland never votes for England (waaaaayy too much history there), Austria, Switzerland, and Germany all vote for each other, and most of the former USSR countries vote for each other.
I don’t know when the Eurovision contest began, but you would be surprised who has had their career kicked off by the contest. Ever heard of ABBA? Yep….. they were the United Kingdom’s representatives in 1974…. What about Celine Dion ? That is right…. She represented Switzerland in 1988. Well… the bad news is that Ireland did so poorly last year that their representative didn’t automatically qualify this year… and in the auditions for this year’s contest Ireland was disqualified… They just didn’t perform well enough…….. but….. we are still going to watch tonight!
The contest itself is really funny to watch. Not every country has the same idea of what good music really is…. For example: you are likely to see yodeling, punk rockers, or some crazy German rock ’n roll. It is also funny to watch the voting. Each country has a series of points that they must award to other countries…. The catch is that the voting isn’t always based on musical talent or performance. It is so obviously biased that it really is laugh out loud funny. Ireland never votes for England (waaaaayy too much history there), Austria, Switzerland, and Germany all vote for each other, and most of the former USSR countries vote for each other.
I don’t know when the Eurovision contest began, but you would be surprised who has had their career kicked off by the contest. Ever heard of ABBA? Yep….. they were the United Kingdom’s representatives in 1974…. What about Celine Dion ? That is right…. She represented Switzerland in 1988. Well… the bad news is that Ireland did so poorly last year that their representative didn’t automatically qualify this year… and in the auditions for this year’s contest Ireland was disqualified… They just didn’t perform well enough…….. but….. we are still going to watch tonight!
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