Eurovision Season

With the first part of this years semi-finals over, and 16 acts already through to the final, the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 is truly underway. For me, the Eurovision is like an unwritten tradition of mine. Every May, it's fun to sit and watch the competition and then wasting all my call credit on texting in. 

But for those who aren't European, what is the Eurovision?
The Eurovision Song Contest is an international TV song competition and is the longest-running annual song contest of this scale. The Eurovision Song Contest is primarily held between countries that are in the European Broadcasting Union and has been going on for the last 60 years (Since 1956).
The basis behind the Song Contest is for each participating country to create, submit and perform an original song that is then put to the public vote, with the catch that you can't vote for your own country. The show has gone on for the last 60 years and has become the one of the most watched non-sporting event in the world with annual figures between 100 and 600 million internationally. It has also been shown in countries that don't even participate i.e US and China. 
One of the recent changes that made Eurovision history was the addition of

Australia as a participating country even though it wasn't a member of the EBU. To date, Ireland holds the most wins (7), has a 3 in a row streak and has won 4 times in 5 years (Ain't that great!).
The great thing about the Eurovision is that is creates a platform for international music creativity and gives artists a platform they may never have had before. Shows other countries music in other languages, different styles of music, cultures and demonstrates the diversity in the European Broadcasting Union. Some of the most popular winners to have successful careers after the contest would be: ABBA (Swedish Winners in 1974), Bucks Fizz (UK Winners in 1981) and Celine Dion (Swiss Winner in 1988).
How important is the Eurovision Song Contest?
I believe the Eurovision is a really important, if not a key staple of the reason the European Union exists, the reason why positive international relations is

important and is possibly the way forward for the world to be accepting of different customs and cultures. In terms of economy, I think it is probably one of the most important events for tourism as it brings huge crowds to a country. Take a country like Serbia who won in 2007 and hosted in 2008. That year, 43 countries participated and that means supporters from each country came along to Belgrade to watch and support their act. The Kombank Arena in Belgrade holds 18,300 approx. people coming to Belgrade, staying, eating, drinking, shopping, sight-seeing. The Eurovision doesn't just bring people together but also helps the economy of a country, boosts the the artist's profile and keeps a sense of bringing people together. 
Since 2002, the host broadcasters comes up with the slogan of their hosted Eurovision and from there, the theme and visuals are designed. These slogans, I think, detail what the Eurovision is about, for example:

• 2002 (Tallinn, Estonia)- "A Modern Fairytale"
• 2004 (Istanbul, Turkey)- "Under the Same Sky"
• 2010 (Oslo, Norway)- "Share the Moment"
• 2013 (Malmo, Sweden)- "We Are One"
• 2015 (Vienna, Austria)- "Building Bridges"

These slogans create a sense of coming together and show the initiative of the Eurovision and it's commitment to having people share the moment, build

bridges and becomes on under the same sky! It's always lovely to see on TV that people holding different flags cheering and enjoying making friends.

If you haven't checked out the Eurovision Song Contest 2016, the second semi-final is on Thursday (Ireland performs) and the final is on Saturday where the next host and the winner of this years contest will be crowned!

To watch and find out more, check out: http://www.eurovision.tv

-

What has been your favorite year of the Eurovision? If you've ever been, what was your experience? Favorite act you ever had? 

Leave a comment below!

-

Read, Comment, Share and Enjoy!