Eurovision anyone?

[The Young Pioneer]

..Or am I just clinging to my teenage years through an international version of American Idol? :D

I guess I just like the idea of cultures coming together and sharing music. I wish that it was a worldwide thing and not just Europe (I'd like to be able to vote :crying: ), but I suppose that'd take forever to get through 190+ entries. Plus, there may be behind-the-scenes politics to ESC that I don't know about...I'm just American after all. :lol:


Anyways, my fave this year is Serbia's, it's just so beautiful:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YLxmTIoHqco

If any comrades are keeping up with it, d'you have a favourite?

Edit: Pleeeease don't let this become an angry thread about kicking Azerbaijanis out of their homes to build the concert hall. Yeah, it sucks, they're doing as China did for the Olympics...But can we keep this thread rant-free and music-oriented? That'd be nice as hell...

[RedAnarchist]

I've watched quite a few of them before. The music is often cheesy, but it can be a fun thing to watch. I wouldn't give American Idol (or any of those kind of music programmes) such a compliment, though.

Actually, they had to change the voting system recently because everyone was voting for their neighbours and friends (Scandinavians voting for each other, Balkans voting for each other and so on), so politics does sometimes get involved.

[RedBaltico]

Well it's not allowed to sing political music in Eurovision, and I think it's good thing to listen to other European countries singing.

I personally also think that each continent could have something similar.


I'm just American after all

Do even Americans watch it? I thought they even never heard of it. :D

My favorite was Sweden from last years Eurovision 2011, they got 2nd place =]

[ed miliband]

honestly i find watching the points-giving the most interesting bit for some reason.

[Dzo Komunjara]

Well, i think eurovision is just a party for the europe kids. They just like the sound of the song, and they will send a lot of votes for their song. I always go for the not usual songs, so go MONTENEGRO.

I come from Montenegro, but i am not going to support the country, but the artist Rambo Amadeus, which is a big anti-nationalist and anti-fascist. And his song is really social and speaks about the whole european people and the condition in all Balkan countries that have the doubt to enter into the European Union Inc.

So if you like the Montenegro song, don't vote because it's all circus done by Rambo Amadeus also known as Rambo Amadeus Svjetski Mega Tzar.

Rambo Amadeus - Euro Neuro

[Bronco]

Yeah I love it, it's amazing, not in a "wow check out how talented these musicians are, this is such a credible competition" way but in a "it's so bad it's good" kind of way. Just don't take it seriously and it's great television

[Manic Impressive]

I love how some and I mean a small amount of people but mainly the media get really pissed off because the UK always does terrible. They spend a shit load of money sending the acts out on tour doing publicity campaigns for them and shit like that and still they get nil point. They get so pissed that they make them change the voting system to give them a better chance.
It's so funny laughing at the nationalism and people trying to work out why the rest of Europe hate us. :laugh:

That's what I love about Eurovision

[lombas]

Well, all we can say is that an East-European country will win.

Petty nationalism. Ridiculous.

[The Young Pioneer]

Do even Americans watch it? I thought they even never heard of it. :D

Haha no, no one in the US really has heard of it unless they just immigrated or something. A Finn introduced it to me in high school (she was watching it live online in class one day :D) and then I moved there for a while so I've kept up with it through the years.


I didn't know they'd changed things because every region voted for each other...though that makes sense...The Finns were always voting for Estonia... :thumbup1:

[Sam_b]

YES.

Listening to all the songs already. My favourite song this year is the Finnish entry, followed by Romania in second. Hopefully these two songs will be able to qualify.

The UK will be pleased with a top ten finish, I feel it's the best song since 2002 and Jessica Garlick, but being on first will have its drawbacks.

[Blake's Baby]

Sure, Eurovision everyone. What's American Idol? Is that the American version of Pop Idol?

[Aurora]

We've got Jedward again, eat your heart out europe :laugh:

[Blake's Baby]

I'm ever so sorry.

Is Ireland trying to lose again? (see, the Eurovision episode of 'Father Ted'...)

[ed miliband]

i love jedward, got some of their candy a while ago.

[Bronco]

I actually love Sweden's entry this year

t5qURKt4maw

Quite like Serbia and Hungary's as well, gutted Montenegro didn't make it through

JHnqF5PLP2w

[ColonelCossack]

Last year Moldova were epic. they looked like gnomes or sump'pm. Fucking Gnomes, man.

[Permanent Revolutionary]

If those Russian grannies don't win, something is wrong :D

[Goblin]

Norway is gonna kick your asses!
QdHnenxPPnc

[Permanent Revolutionary]

The song is good.... But that buzzer in the backround is horrible.

[Bronco]

A quality performance from the Hump tonight

[The Young Pioneer]

I've heard Sweden is predicted to win, but the grannies seem to have massive support as well. It'd be pretty cool if Russia won, I'd like to be able to attend Eurovision at least once in my life and as I'll be in Russia around Eurovision time next year...

Those grannies, though. They're cute and talented, I just don't think for ESC. I still really like Serbia's.

[Goblin]

Last place for Norway lol

[RedAnarchist]

I wanted the Russian grannies to win, but Sweden won it for the fifth time by a huge amount. The voting as usual was predictable, but it's always fun to watch.

[Bronco]

Last place for Norway lol

You kept us off the bottom :thumbup1:

The bloody Irish, we give them 10 and they repay us with 4

[crazyirish93]

we never wanted ure votes i was cheering for us to come last but Norway had to steal that from us ;)

[Sam_b]

The voting as usual was predictable

No, it really wasn't. Given we knew the Romania-Moldova and Greece-Cyprus voting patterns, but was Sweden, who gave 12 points to Cyprus, while shunning the Scandinavian countries 'predictable'? Not really. Neither was the UK going for Loreen over Jedward. The split 50/50 system now in force has been a great leveller in the contest, and means strong songs are now winning.

Final is now confirmed for 18th May, so I will hopefully be getting my flights for the next contest in a couple of months.

[Dennis the 'Bloody Peasant']

The UK keeps failing to get the point of this silly contest. The votes aren't just for songs, they are based on politics, geography and historical conflicts / loyalties. Few of the countries have any loyalty or ties to UK, plus our song was shit even by contest standards. Also it's not even about European music..Israel and Iceland can compete and vote...I mean, huh?
Still, it is fun to see some of the entrants...wish more were in their native tongue rather than englsh (translations are really interesting and it just sounds better).
Final point, think there is an over-reliance on just repeated vowel sounds in the choruses..just saying.

[Bronco]

The UK keeps failing to get the point of this silly contest. The votes aren't just for songs, they are based on politics, geography and historical conflicts / loyalties. Few of the countries have any loyalty or ties to UK, plus our song was shit even by contest standards. Also it's not even about European music..Israel and Iceland can compete and vote...I mean, huh?
Still, it is fun to see some of the entrants...wish more were in their native tongue rather than englsh (translations are really interesting and it just sounds better).
Final point, think there is an over-reliance on just repeated vowel sounds in the choruses..just saying.

That's not really true though, people overstate the political and geographical element, obviously countries like those in the balkans can always rely on their neighbours for a few points but it's not enough to win and generally the winning song is actually the best one, and also the one which is normally the bookies favourite (as Loreen was)

The truth is that we normally do badly because we don't take it seriously and don't send a good act (although the Hump being on first also didn't help), a couple years ago we actually did put a lot of effort in and came 5th, it is easily possible to do well with a good entrant

[Dennis the 'Bloody Peasant']

That's not really true though, people overstate the political and geographical element, obviously countries like those in the balkans can always rely on their neighbours for a few points but it's not enough to win and generally the winning song is actually the best one, and also the one which is normally the bookies favourite (as Loreen was)

The truth is that we normally do badly because we don't take it seriously and don't send a good act (although the Hump being on first also didn't help), a couple years ago we actually did put a lot of effort in and came 5th, it is easily possible to do well with a good entrant

When you put it like that, fair enough.

[Blake's Baby]

Look, the whole 'countries vote for their neighbours' thing... yeah, Britain regularly gives high votes for Ireland (check the averages over the last 30 years if you don't believe me)... and why is that?

It couldn't be that - shock horror - closely-neighbouring countries who speak the same or similar languages and have large populations in the other country (or vice versa) tend to have more cultural and specifically artistic ties than countries a long way away? Of course the UK and Ireland vote for each other (most of the time) - they practically share a recording and entertainment industry. For more than 30 years the commentators on the UK coverage of the contest have been from the Republic, and loads of bands that came through the music scene in Britain are from Ireland (North or South). There are millions of people of Irish origin in the UK. Britain and Ireland share a huge amount of their musical idioms, as well as a common language. Of course there are cultural connections.

Now... what about (let's say) the UK and Azerbaijan?

No common language; no real common musical idioms; no large British or Irish population in Azerbaijan, not a huge Azeribaijani community in the UK; little understanding of each other's culture, I'd argue... so probably, probably, they're not really going to like each others' songs. Though the Azerbaijanis may, for instance, like the Turkish entry because it's probably more familiar.

Balkan countries tend to vote for other Balkan countries; they tend to also share some degree of language and musical culture. Scandinavian countries tend to vote for other Scandinavian countries; they also coincidently share language and musical culture (except Finland, and even then there's a significant Swedish minority). And thus it goes on. Countries vote more for their neighbours because of cultural reasons.

What pisses the UK off these days is that since 1990 dozens of small states have been created in Eastern and Central Europe, and thus our votes are worth less than they once were. We're in a much bigger pond and we don't see why anyone should listen to small fish like Slovenia and Macedonia. If England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales (not to mention Cornwall and Yorkshire) were given individual votes I think the chorus of disapproval from the UK would rapidly dry up.

[seventeethdecember2016]

Bah! It is just another agitation of Nationalism.

[Manic Impressive]

I'd just like to point out how senseless and nationalistic all this "WE" talk is. :lol:

[Igor]

Bah! It is just another agitation of Nationalism.

If your revolution hates the Eurovision, I'd counter-revolutionize the shit out of it.

Anyway, I was rooting for Turkey because theirs was really the most catchy but I'm pretty glad for Loreen winning. It was one of my favourite songs this year, and everytime a ballad doesn't win I'm sort of happy anyways.

Also lol @ everyone whining about "political" voting. The contest has over 40 countries, winning the competition requires a bit more than just getting your neighbours' votes. And I hate the term political voting so much. Balkans are a somewhat unified language area, for example, with lots of shared artists. When you know the artist already and understand the language they're singing in, is it any fucking wonder you might vote for them, too? But yeah no let's chalk it up to politics or something. :rolleyes: What about sending in actually good entries that provide a good match for all that anyways? UK surely hasn't done this for years yet the British media is whining all about how Europe hates them.

Anyway, this was overall pretty good run and I'm kind of waiting for next year already. And am jellous as fuck for Sam_b who's actually going there. It's even so close next time around, but I don't think there's going to be any way for me to plausibly finance that. *sigh* life of a student is great and fun

[MotherCossack]

I actually love Sweden's entry this year

t5qURKt4maw

Quite like Serbia and Hungary's as well, gutted Montenegro didn't make it through

JHnqF5PLP2w

MONTENEGRO WERE TO DIE FOR.......
Now that is what I call Music!!!!!!

Just tell me..... WHO CHOSE......
ageingflirt
humpingstick to represent this fair and pleasant land?

What drugs do you need to make him look like a winner?

[Igor]

What drugs do you need to make him look like a winner?

My money's on PCP.

[seventeethdecember2016]

If your revolution hates the Eurovision, I'd counter-revolutionize the shit out of it.
No, in my Revolution it would be called International-Workers'-Song-Contest. The main teams are the Red team, the Red team with a 5 point star, the Red team with a hammer and sickle, the Red team with a map of the world, the Crimson team, and finally the Red team with a combination of the a 5 point star and the Hammer and Sickle.

Go Crimson!

[Sam_b]

also the one which is normally the bookies favourite (as Loreen was)

I can think of three contests - 2009, 2010 and 2012 when the bookies have come through. Usually they haven't a clue. I made a not too insignificant amount of money last year on an Azeri victory.

[ComradeOm]

Balkan countries tend to vote for other Balkan countries; they tend to also share some degree of language and musical culture. Scandinavian countries tend to vote for other Scandinavian countries; they also coincidently share language and musical culture (except Finland, and even then there's a significant Swedish minority). And thus it goes on. Countries vote more for their neighbours because of cultural reasonsPersonally I think that any event that gets the Balkan countries cooperating and being nice to each other is most certainly a Good Thing