EuroVisionary.com - Everything you need to know about the Eurovision Song Contest - We welcome the 2009 Contest in Moscow
Even before all songs are known the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest has already marked itself as being the contest with most of the so-called joke songs, novelty acts, gimmicks entries or whatever people choose to call them. We all talk about them and they seem to split fans in two: those who think the contest is taken too seriously and that these songs are a refreshment and the other half who are deeply concerned that these songs are killing the Eurovision Song Contest that they love so much.
Can, and should, the EBU perhaps try to prevent songs like this from participating or are they indeed what saves the contest from being too serious and boring?
In the junior contest there is a rule on how much bare skin the participants are allowed to show, but currently there is no such rule in place for the Eurovision Song Contest. That could in theory allow a completely naked singer on stage!
Can and should the EBU perhaps try to prevent that from happening by simply making a similar rule as that in the junior contest or should it be allowed because the entrant thinks that that would fit with the song he/she is singing?
The same singer cannot compete for two different countries in the same year, but there is no similar rule about songwriters. Until last year not many thought that that was even a possibility and therefore Swedish songwriter Thomas G:Son was able to represent both Norway and Spain in the same contest. And indeed he was not the first to pull of that feat, both Ralph Siegel and Bernd Meinunger have had two entries compete in the one contest.
Can, and should, the EBU draft a rule to stop that from happening again or is it fair enough that a songwriter can increase his chances of winning by doubling up? And is it a conflict of interest if the host is also among the songwriters?
Last year three times Eurovision winner, Johnny Logan, described the Eurovision Song Contest as a karaoke contest. It sounded a bit harsh to many, but with no musical instruments allowed to be used on stage he is actually right. Sometimes we see funny examples of bands on stage trying to make it look as if they are playing live. Some manage better than others.
Can and should the EBU introduce a rule stating that instruments are not allowed to appear on stage as they won't be used for real or should we allow the live music and change it back to being a proper music contest and not just karaoke competition?
In the past the EBU has been known for adding rules, as things appeared which they did not want to. An example of that is the age rule that was introduced after countries selecting participants being only 10 and 11 years old!
Last year it was mentioned in a preview show that FYR Macedonia would qualify no matter if they participated with six sheep’s on stage! It might have been said as a joke, but with countries doing weirder and weirder things in an attempt to get attention it would just be a matter of a short time before animals on stage becomes more real, like in the case of Dustin the Turkey – and indeed a new rule for this year’s contest is that no living animals are allowed on stage. The EBU managed to catch that before it happened as a country in its national final used animals on stage.
What would you like the EBU to do when it comes to the Eurovision Song Contest you love so much or do they already have so many rules that it might be time to let go of some of them in order to allow more artistic freedom?
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I like the joke and gimic songs- they add a comic break during the contest and also get younger children interest. Ireland had to enter a gimic act this year because unlike other countries, as an island nation we cant depend on our neighbours votes! We have to have something memorible and different.
Which brings me round to the block voting- Its the one thing I hate! It makes the scoring so predictible! Id love the jury system to be put in place- at least its fair.
I like the fact that theres a diverse range of languages- if they were all in English it would get tiresome.
Not that I have anything against young female solo airtists but is it just me or are they everywhere?? Personally, a few more bands wouldn't go amiss. Maybe these female enteries are the reason for the inapproiate clothes contraversory? Trying to out-sex each other maybe?
So thats my tirade over.
Speaking of Croatia 2007
Is it ever OK to go ass to mouth?
Interesting point
Interesting point you're making there, Clevernickname. I don't think there's anything in the rules which explicitly forbids that. Even though Section 4, point 9 states that the performance nor the song should bring the contest in disrepute. Going ass to mouth could be explained as that.
But it all depends on how it's bright. Surely, when somebody is lifted up from the floor high enough the beforementioned ass and mouth are doomed to meet at a certain point.
I would, however, like to see more more things explicitly mentioned in the rules to give EBU some more strength when they actually want to forbid certain things but can't actually do that.
I guess it must be quite hard, balancing the rules when at the same time artistic freedom must be ensured and the contest has to be protected.
When it comes to changes I would like to see made, well - the thing about the fake musicians has already been mentioned so let me second that. Either let music be played on stage, or stop pretending.
Something else that could be interesting is to just get rid of that Draw for the running order. Let people who know about good television decide at what starting position and among which songs it should be televised. And have enough proper breaks in between so people can loosen up their tension at those times, instead of during the songs nicknamed "Europe's Toiletbreak" by many fans.
It was better before....
Like i use to say to myself.... It was better before, but before what, maybe when EBU said bye bye to the orchestra, when the televoting has appeared, when so many countries wanted to take part, when the first semi has come, when some horribles and stupids songs started to make a lot of points?... maybe it was better before so..., too much changes in these lasts few years for my opinion or maybe too fast, it is good or bad, will too many innovations drive our dear contest into a complete desaster or renew it...? only future knows, and Serbia will give us some answers... I hope.
The ESC is going down a slippery slope!
There are so many rule changes that need to be made that it's not even funny. I would be more of a traditionalist, I want the orchestra back for a start, if an entry decides no to use it then that's fine, but it should be mandatory for the host broadcaster to provide one, it they can't afford it then they shouldn't be hosting in the first place.
While the Eurovision was conceived to unite Europe that's no longer it's aim and there should be a much smaller cap on the number of countries participating. I think greed is what is driving the modern contest, televoting only stays in place because it bring in so much revenue, the contest is getting longer and longer which fills the host city's coffer more than ever before. Thousands of people pour in to spend spend spend for over two weeks now. A system like that which was used by the new participating in 1993, 'Preselection for Millstreet'. We could have three of these held earlier in the year, around the end of March maybe. one for the north, in which Scandinavian countries and non Mediterranean western nations like Germany, Switzerland and the Belgium. The other two semis could be for the eastern countries and the southern countries. This would then facilitate a Eurovision final reminiscent of the contests before the semis came into being. A final with about 27 countries would be ideal, 9 entries from each semi final. This would also share the hosting responsibility which would create more interest in Western nations where a contest and the media circus that it creates would do it's reputation no end of good.
The language rule is another one that needs to be reverted. Serbia has shown that you don't need English to win. The contest is supposed to facilitate people in the participating countries to hear musical styles from other countries. What good is it if all the entries are in English, we now have a contest where there is the possibility that only one half of one entry will be sung in French, that is absolutely ludicrous. Only about 10-15 of the entries this year will have no English lyrics. 15 out of 43, that is a damning number. A language is part of a country's heritage, we cannot discard them simply to win a contest.
The scrapping of the jury system was, in my opinion, the biggest disaster to ever hit the contest. Televoting has left the contest open to manipulation. There is now the case that in western countries immigrant communities have a disproportionate effect on the televote of a country because of the apathy that western viewers hold for the contest. Anyone that refutes this would do well to look at Ireland's televotes from the last few years. We have consistently awarded Poland and Lithuania higher points than most other countries. We give Poland 12 points even though they fail to get through to the final. Are the Irish public hearing qualities in these entries that other countries are failing to hear or is it simply because 10% of Ireland's population are now immigrants and that POLISH and LITHUANIAN immigrants form the highest number in that field. This is too much of a coincidence and is the most damning evidence against the benefits of televoting. Irish viewers have become so disenchanted with the contest that they are now watching only to laugh and no to vote. This may be better this year because our entrant is Dustin and interest will be high.
I really do fear for the future of this contest, it is a very uncertain time for it. I think that the EBU and the national broadcaster are, largely, ignoring the problem. I remember reading an article about the future of the contest and thinking that it was just scaremongering, I no longer take that outlook!
New rules?
In a way I do not like most of this so called gimmicks or joke songs. But I do think that EBU shouldn't make new rules to keep those songs away from the contest. Because: Who will decide what a joke song is? Some people think that the belgian entry from Ishtar is a joke song others don't. Some say that the pirates from Latvia are a gimmick, in my opinion it is just very cheap pop and not funny at all. But as we all have different tasts it is not really easy to say if it is a serious entry or not. So, who will decide it???
One rule I could think about being good is, that all vocal performers have to be visiabel on stage. So, no backing singers "behind the scenes" and no puppet player singing in a box :-)
I liked the time when there was a live orchestra. It made the whole event a little bit more serious I think. But with more than 40 countries participating I don't know if the rehearsals would be easy to manage. I mean the orchestra has to study 43 completely new songs for just one (or with the semis: two) nights. Hmmm, I am not a musician so I don't know if this would be easy to handel.
I think if a composer is allowed to enter the contest for more than one country, a singer should be able to do the same. But it could be a risk for not reaching many points if a singer starts for more than one country because televoters could be confused and the votes might be splitted.
A change I would really appreciate is to have the juries back. Not completly but I really love the idea of having a 50/50 voting system. And pleeeeeeeease: voting in the final just the qualified countries. And therefor, of course, get rid of this stupid Big4 rule!!!