ישראל, דוז פואה? When it comes to Eurovision, Israel certainly hasn’t been on a roll recently. But for now, let’s go back to 1973 – the year the Middle Eastern country made its debut in the contest. Having been picked by the Israeli broadcaster, the singer Ilanit (with her song Ey Sham) had the honour of being the first Israeli representative …
The Eurovision entries that broke the mould
The views expressed in this editorial are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of ESC United, its editorial board, its readers, or any other person, entity, or organization. Ask the average person what kind of music they hear at Eurovision and they would probably all give you the same answer. “Cheesy pop”, …
Is Eurovision too expensive?
The views expressed in this editorial are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of ESC United, its editorial board, its readers, or any other person, entity, or organization. Eurovision is expensive. The contest this year cost about €30 million to host. Malmo cost a modest €12 million. According to the New York …
Czech Republic: Eurovision’s enigma
The content of this editorial does not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of ESC United, its editorial board or its readers. No sooner had the end credits finished for the contest in Copenhagen before fans begun speculation on what the next year would bring and, as is tradition, many have turned to possible rumours of returning or debuting countries …
Russia wants to start its own version of Eurovision
Needless to say but not everyone in the world is thrilled with a victory of a bearded woman, especially not in Russia. Austria who won the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 with the bearded Drag Queen Conchita Wurst and her anthem “Rise like a Phoenix” on Saturday upset several Russian Lawmakers. The socially conservative politicians are eager to break away from …
The Big Five Rule: Helpful or Not?
The content of this editorial does not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of ESC United, its editorial board or its readers. The idea of the Big Five (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK) is controversial. Since 2000, these countries have automatically qualified for the finals because they are the EBU’s biggest contributors. I don’t know exactly what portion …
Politics, Culture, and Eurovision: A look at Ukraine
The content of this editorial does not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of ESC United, its editorial board or its readers. I’m not an expert, in any sense of the word, on Ukraine. But I want to discuss Ukraine’s voting patterns and representation in Eurovision in light of the current protests, which highlight the East-West divide of the Ukrainian …
EBU’s Response to Cheating Allegations: Is it Enough?
The content of this editorial does not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of ESC United, its editorial board or its readers. The EBU recently discussed the issue of cheating and as one of our writers has already reported, there was a lot of buzz around the internet about it. The EBU said it thoroughly investigated the allegations but couldn’t …
EBU Cheating Prevention – The Internet reacts
The content of this editorial does not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of ESC United, its editorial board or its readers. A couple of days ago the European Broadcasting Union announced that they would tighten measures to ensure voting integrity. I am not going to repeat everything that has been said so feel free to read more HERE as well …
Is Eurovision Culturally and Politically Irrelevant? (No, of course not)
The content of this editorial does not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of ESC United, its editorial board or its readers. Last week I discussed why I thought many Balkan countries were not participating in Eurovision this year. I recently saw an interview with Srđa Trifković, a Serbian-American writer, about Eurovision on RT.com (you can read excerpts or watch …