The international music competition called Eurovision, the rules and conditions of which we will describe below, is the largest competition, which over the past few years has turned into a long-awaited show. Each time, the participants and the voting results surprise the audience, and no one knows how the project will end next year.
Eurovision - the history of Australia's appearance there
The Eurovision project as an International Song Contest was organized for the very first time in the mid-fifties of the last century in Switzerland. At that time, it became an alternative version of a similar event held in Italy, the San Remo festival (still held by Italians, but not so regularly).
The organizers decided to invite only representatives of those countries that are members of the European Broadcasting Union to participate in it. In this regard, it is wrong to call the project exclusively European, since among the participants there are also musicians from Israel, Egypt, Cyprus and other countries that are not geographically part of Europe (for example, Australia).
Why does Australia participate in Eurovision? The decision that a representative from this state, which is neither part of Europe nor a member of the European Broadcasting Union, will participate in the competition was made in February 2015. The reason for this exclusion was two factors:
- First, the competition itself is hugely popular among Australian viewers, as noted by Mark Abeid, director of SBS;
- Secondly, 2015 marked the 60th anniversary of the Eurovision Song Contest, and the invitation from distant Australia became a kind of holiday surprise for the whole world.
In the same year, Australia was represented in the competition by a charming singer named Guy Sebastian, who reached the final without participating in the preliminary stages of the competition with the song Tonight Again ("Tonight Again").
Eurovision Rules
Despite the fact that the Eurovision Song Contest has existed for several decades, the rules for its holding have changed only a few times throughout history. The extreme changes were related to the principles of choosing the best song.
To date, the key rules of the international music competition are as follows:
- The participating country is represented by one singer who prepared a single song;
- The performance is carried out live, the timing allotted for the performance is no more than four minutes;
- The entry can only be shown to listeners from September of the previous year;
- The age of the participants in the competition is from sixteen years old, younger singers can perform in the framework of a similar project for children - “ Junior Eurovision»;
- Absolutely any singer can be a representative of a participating country, regardless of nationality and even citizenship (spectators often have questions about why, for example, a Ukrainian performed from Russia or vice versa);
- The order of performances is determined by a draw;
- Regarding the show itself: no more than 6 people can be on the stage during the performance of the participant, it is forbidden to use animals.
- Audience voting starts from the first moments of the first performance and ends fifteen minutes after the last one.
Since the end of the 2000s, in addition to the vote of the audience, the vote of a professional jury has been involved in the formation of the results. The purpose of such an innovation is to avoid the "neighbourly" principle, according to which friendly countries usually voted for each other. The group of professionals is formed as follows: five people from each country represent such fields of activity as composing, writing lyrics, music production, DJing on radio, and artistic art. Together they make up the final rating of the songs.
Points are added up and lined up in order. The country with the most points is the winner. She, in turn, gets the opportunity to hold a new competition in her country. The singer, on the other hand, receives a contract with the European Broadcasting Union and undertakes to participate in all events organized by him.
Since about fifty countries participate in Eurovision every year, in each of which the most worthy representative must be chosen, the competition is divided into several stages. Semi-finals are organized for all countries except the host and the so-called "big five". Those countries that took places from 1 to 10 in the previous stage participate in the final. The total number of participants represented in the final is 26. Of these, twenty are the leaders of the semi-finals, five are members of the Big Five and one is from the host country.
Audience voting at Eurovision
Voting by the audience became possible only in 1997, when the organizers decided to conduct a kind of experiment, giving the audience the right to choose a favorite. Prior to that, only members of the professional jury were competent. Since 1998, the voting format has been paid SMS and phone calls, with the national jury acting as a "safety net" in case of a technical failure.
Each country that sent its participant to Eurovision has the right to vote. As a result, all received votes cast for a particular song are counted. Points are distributed as follows:
- 12 points - to the performance that received the largest number of audience votes;
- 10 - second in recognition;
- 8 - third and further up to one point.
So that the already lengthy event does not stretch all night, the presenters announce aloud only the participants who have scored the maximum number of points - from 8 to 12, the rest can be tracked on the interactive scoreboard.
You can also become the one who will decide the fate of the country you like at Eurovision by deciding to vote for your favorite. Today, this can be done by sending an SMS or making a phone call.
The choice of the language of performance is free and is carried out by the participating TV companies, and the maximum duration of the artist's performance on stage must be 3 minutes. A song from each country is performed once and in a live voice (music can be recorded on a phonogram, which should not contain vocals or imitation).
According to modern rules, contestants must be over 16 years old at the time of the competition, and a group of performers from one country can be represented by a maximum of six participants. A singer can only perform for one country in a given year. Animals are not allowed on the stage.
The semi-finals are traditionally held on Tuesday and Thursday, and the final of the competition is held on Saturday. The competition is attended by 46 countries - active members of the European Broadcasting Union (European Broadcasting Union). 26 active EBU participants are represented in the final.
After all the songs are performed, the audience votes for the song that they liked the most - except for the performance of the representatives of their country. All votes are counted and summed up, then each country transmits the results via satellite.
The best ten songs according to the voting results receive points: for the first place - twelve points, for the second - ten points, from the third to the tenth - from eight to one point in descending order. The winner is the country whose performance scored the most points. She gets the right to host the competition next year.
By the way, the host state of Eurovision should develop its own slogan and symbol, which will be added to the main logo. The main rule: they must reflect the spirit of the competition and the national characteristics of a particular country.
The rules of the Eurovision music contest have changed several times during its existence. In the first competition, which took place back in 1956, seven countries participated, each of which represented two songs. Later, it was decided to perform one song and the next year to remove from the competition the countries that showed the worst results.
Since the beginning of the history of Eurovision, the winners have been determined by the National Jury, but in 1997 the gradual introduction of televoting by the audience began, and in 2003 the audience's sympathy became the determining factor. In 2004, the competition was divided into a semi-final and a final - so all interested countries could take part and "show themselves".
In September 2008, changes were made to the rules for summing up the results of the competition, as the spectator voting system of 2004-2008 caused a huge amount of criticism. Starting again, not only the audience began to evaluate, but also a professional jury.
The jury consists of five members, including the chairman. Each of its representatives must appoint an understudy in case they are unable to attend the event. Jury members must not be employees of the participating broadcasters, but must be from one of the musical professions - presenter, performer, composer, lyricist or music producer. None of them can be involved in the production and performance of the songs of the contest participants. The names of the jury members cannot be revealed until the final.
Jury votes are used in the semi-final and final scoring and are decisive if two or more songs receive the same number of TV viewer votes.
In September 2007, a decision was made: only the host country of the contest and the countries representing the "Big Four" (Great Britain, Germany, France, Spain) automatically qualify for the Eurovision final - a year later, with Italy returning to the contest after a 13-year absence, The Big Four has become the Big Five. Also in 2007, the tradition of transferring the Eurovision symbol was established. Belgrade accepted the rights of the host city from Helsinki: the Serbian capital was awarded the iconic Helsinki Insignia, which subsequently began to be transferred to each next Eurovision host. The symbol is made in the form of a key with the inscription Eurovision Song Contest Host City, on which all the years of the competition and all the host cities are engraved.
The organizers of the Eurovision Song Contest 2010 have made changes to the SMS voting procedure. You could vote for your favorite performer during the entire competition. Voting began with the beginning of the first song and ended 15 minutes after the performance of the final song. The organizers of the competition considered this order more logical. This innovation also made it possible to avoid overloading telephone lines, calls to which were previously available only during the last 15 minutes of the final show.
The winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 will be determined by a 50/50 vote by a professional jury and viewers. The same principle will apply in the semi-finals. The European Broadcasting Union has decided that at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 the voting of the viewers will take place after the end of the performance of all performers.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources
Song Contest Eurovision(Eurovision) is a song contest that has been held annually for over 50 years. Although part of the name of the contest is "Euro" among the participants there are representatives of countries that are outside Europe, because the contest is held within the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
Purpose of the Eurovision Song Contest
The main idea was to hold an entertaining event that inspires and promotes the cultural unity of Europe. An example of such a program was the San Remo Music Festival, which is still held in Italy to this day. It was this festival that was taken as a basis more than 50 years ago, and has become one of the most anticipated and prestigious events in the musical life of Europe. The popularity of the competition around the world has grown so much that every year more than 100 million viewers follow this event.
Each participating country Eurovision represents one participant with one composition. The winner of the contest is determined by the vote of viewers and a jury from each participating country. The first music competition was held in Switzerland in 1956. Seven countries participated in the first competition. Each participant presented 2 songs, and this was the first and last time. The following year, they adopted a rule that has survived to this day: participants can submit only one song. Each participant must submit only a new song (the composition must not be in commercial rotation until the September preceding the competition). The winner of the first Eurovision became Switzerland. Liz Assia won the contest with the song "Refrain".
First rules and first winners
More and more people wanted to take part in the competition. Simultaneous listening to the performances of all participants has become 
difficult. Therefore, firstly, it was decided to remove from the competition the countries that were in last place in the previous year. Secondly, since the airtime of the final of the contest is limited, since 2004 Eurovision there was a semi-final, giving everyone the opportunity to participate in the competition. After the semi-final, only 10 participating countries go to the final, of which five countries (the founders and main sponsors of the competition) - Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Italy, France - have the right to put their performers directly into the final part of the competition.
For many decades, Eurovision remained mainly Western European due to the closed borders of the USSR, but after the fall of the communist regimes, it became truly pan-European, expanding and uniting, as it was planned back in 1956, the cultural borders of Europe.
Around the competition Eurovision disagreements regularly arise regarding the quality of the song material, the original purpose of the event, methods of voting for the winners, excessive politicization - but some scandal turns into good PR both in the press and on the Internet, only increasing interest in the contest.
Ireland was the most successful participating country with 7 wins, the UK in second place although the English were runners-up 15 times, France and Luxembourg with 5 wins. The youngest winner Eurovision was 13-year-old Sandra Kim from Belgium, who won the competition in 1986. Under the new rules, contestants must be over 16 years of age. Therefore, the youngest winner of the 21st century was 23-year-old Elena Paparizou from Greece, and 23-year-old Norwegian of Belarusian origin Alexander Rybak, and the oldest was 38-year-old Sertab Erener from Turkey.
Theme song played before and after song contest broadcasts Eurovision(and other Eurovision broadcasts) is a prelude to Te Deum by Marc Antoine Charpentier.
It should be noted that participants representing a certain country do not necessarily have to have the citizenship of that country. For example, Katrina Leskanish was born in America and performed with the Waves from Cambridge. Another example was Ozzy Gina J., who represented Great Britain at the competition. A Greek in 1963 and a Belgian in 1988 played for Luxembourg. And the victory of Switzerland in 1988 was brought by a Canadian singer. And it should be noted that it was the victory in this competition that turned the unknown singer into a real star.
Conditions for the Eurovision Song Contest
Held annually in mid-May in the country that won the competition the previous year. Symbol Eurovision is the word 
"Eurovision" with a heart instead of the letter "v", inside which is the flag of the country that hosted the competition and won the previous year. Who will represent the country in the competition is chosen by the TV company that has broadcast rights Eurovision, and also a vote of viewers or both options can be held at the same time.
Countries that were in the Top 10 in the previous competition by points scored automatically advance to the final of the competition (without selection in the semi-finals). The competition also has certain rules for participants: it is forbidden to use a phonogram, the duration of the performance should not exceed three minutes. Group performances have been allowed since 1970, but there can be no more than 6 people on stage (including backing vocalists and backup dancers). Winner Eurovision signs a contract with commitments to speak and attend events planned by the European Broadcasting Union.
In the 1950s, at the dawn of the television age, all the broadcasting companies in the world that existed at that moment had almost no connection with each other. This is how Eurovision appeared - a TV network that united companies from European countries, establishing the European Broadcasting Union - EBU. And already in the mid-50s, the idea arose to create a general competition for cultural rapprochement. Marcel Betzenon, director general of Swiss television, at one of the meetings proposed his own version of the competition, the purpose of which is to choose the best song from the Old World. The competition was based on the already existing Sanremo Music Festival which took place in Italy.
The name "Eurovision" was first mentioned in relation to the EBC in November 1951. The competition itself was first called the "Eurovision Grand Prix". However, later the competition and the Union itself became absolute synonyms, although the latter still exists. Today it has 66 members covering 79 countries. Among the Russian media, the EBU includes Channel One, the Rossiya TV channel and the Mayak radio station.
The first Eurovision Song Contest took place in 1956 in the Swiss city of Lugano. Italy, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Germany took part in the competition, two performers from each country performed. The first winner was Lis Assia from Switzerland. Every year the number of countries wishing to take part in the song contest increased, and then new rules were introduced. Those countries that showed the worst results in the current year were excluded from the competition for the next year.
The rules of the game are simple: the performer with the most points wins, and the winner's country hosts the next contest. Sometimes a country, for some reason, may refuse to host Eurovision in its area, and then the competition is transferred to another place.
In 1969, it so happened that four countries took the first place at once: the Netherlands, France, Great Britain and Spain. To decide which country would get the honor of hosting the next competition on its territory, lots had to be drawn. According to its results, Eurovision was held in Amsterdam.
Over time, various restrictions began to be introduced into the rules. Since 1957, there has been a requirement that the song should not last more than three minutes, and since 1960 the competition has been shown on television live. After the case of four winners, the rules were changed so that if several countries have the same number of points, they perform again and a new vote is taken.
1989 for Eurovision was remembered by two young participants at once: 11-year-old Natalie Pak from France and 12-year-old Gili Nathanel, who played for Israel. After that, an age limit was introduced: participants must be over 15 years old.
Russia has been participating in the competition since 1994. The country was represented at the first competition for our country by the singer Maria Katz, who won the national competition of Russia. performed under the pseudonym Judith with the song "Eternal Wanderer" and took ninth place with 70 points. Her result remained the best for Russia for the next six years.
Eurovision is a peaceful contest, however, scandals and funny cases sometimes occur here. And often it is connected with political problems. For example, in 2009, a group from Georgia was going to perform the song “We Don't Wanna Put In” at the competition. The title of the song was intentionally consonant with the name of the then Prime Minister of Russia -. Such a composition was chosen as a sign of Georgia's protest against the armed conflict with Russia , which arose in August 2008. Due to complaints from Russia, the organizers of the competition set the condition that the Georgian group could only perform with a different song.As a result, the country refused to participate in 2009, when the competition was held in the Russian Federation.
Sometimes awkward situations at the competition turn out to be just a joke.
In 2010, during a performance by a Spanish singer, a man came on stage and began to make faces along with the circus performers who were part of the act. A few seconds later, security came on stage, and the man jumped into the hall. Later it turned out that it was the Spanish prankster Jimmy Jump, who often runs out onto football fields during matches.
In 2017, at the Eurovision final, when the contest was held in Kyiv, in the middle of the performance of the Ukrainian singer Jamala, a man with the Australian flag on his shoulders ran onto the stage. He then turned his back on the stage and dropped his pants, exposing his ass. It was the Ukrainian prankster Vitaliy Sedyuk, who has already "pranked" many celebrities in a similar way. However, this drawing cost about 8.5 thousand hryvnia fine.
Russia can turn away from Europe as much as it wants with its cheeses and liberal values, but this does not apply to the large-scale pseudo-musical Eurovision Song Contest. In 2015, a veteran of musical competitions and the winner of the second "Star Factory" Polina Gagarina was sent to the anniversary competition. Although Eurovision today can hardly boast of a really interesting musical program, few stand aside. At the time of the competition, everyone, from Russia to Iceland, is literally covered by a fever, comparable only to large sports championships. The final will be held tomorrow - on the eve of it, we understand why everyone is still crazy about Eurovision and what is really behind this contest.
Dasha Tatarkova
Where did Eurovision come from?
It was invented after the Second World War to rally nations that are experiencing the results of a tragic event, and to concentrate on the joys of peacetime. The first time Eurovision was held in 1956 as planned by the European Broadcasting Union. The festival in San Remo was taken as a model. The competition was held in the homeland of the company, in Switzerland, 7 countries participated, and the host country won.
Since then, the Eurovision Song Contest has become one of the oldest and largest TV shows in the world, with more than 100 million viewers this year, and at its peak, the program reached 600 million viewers. The ideological mission of the organizers - to unite the nations - has been fulfilled: the main unity in which the participating countries merge is aggressive rivalry, which is especially noticeable today, when any sneeze of participants is immediately spread all over the Internet.
Eurovision today is a spectacular show, somewhere at the junction of Cirque du Soleil and reality contests like The Voice. It's not a Lady Gaga concert yet, but it looks like it's getting there. Of course, this was not always the case: at first the competition was very simple, the participants simply went on stage to the microphone and performed very modest and calm numbers by today's standards; After all, we are talking about the fifties. Since then, the intensity of performances has been on the rise.
Although for Eurovision it seemed that neither rock and roll, nor punk, nor other musical revolutions existed, it absorbed innovations in non-conflict pop music with pleasure. The effect of what was happening on the stage changed along with the volume, until eventually the formats familiar today were established. Note that the manner of singing in English did not come immediately either, but in the end globalization took its toll.
How to get to Eurovision?
The name is misleading: it seems that membership in the competition is provided only to countries that are members of the European Union. In fact, this is not the case: different countries participate in the competition, geographically not tied to Europe. Applications are submitted by TV channels that are members of the European Broadcasting Union, which came up with the competition. Each country, or rather a broadcaster, can nominate only one participant, having previously held its own selection at home in a format convenient for it.
So, the list of participants changes from year to year, depending on who decides to apply. However, some members, such as the Vatican, have never used this opportunity, which is a pity - the representative of the Pope would have shaken up the whole event. Today, Eurovision participants are mainly artists who are familiar with music competitions firsthand, or those who have passed the local selection on a principle similar to the main competition. This is exactly why winners or participants in reality talent shows like our Star Factory often go to represent the country.
After the broadcasters have selected their representatives and the song, the semi-finals begin. They were invented quite recently (the first round appeared in 2004, and the second - in 2008), since the number of participants has increased significantly. In previous years, potential contestants for the next year have been weeded out based on current Eurovision scores and fulfillment of requirements like broadcasting the show, so the semi-finals now give more countries a shot at the top. In addition to the applicants fighting for the opportunity to go to the final, Eurovision has its own elite, for which this right is assigned from the very beginning. Since 2000, these have been the "big four": the UK, Germany, France and Spain. Italy joined them in 2010, and Australia as an exception in 2015. Plus, a place in the final is always reserved for the winning country of the previous year.
Why is there such bad music at Eurovision?
The songs of the participants are always 100% radio hits. Now, from year to year, they are betting either on a peppy pop melody, or on a soulful ballad, or on local exoticism, at least in the eyes of other countries. Eurovision loves to boast that it was it that gave impetus to the worldwide fame of Celine Dion, ABBA and Julio Iglesias. However, in a crowded music market, becoming a global pop star simply by winning a competition is harder every year. Much more memorable are those who try to break the paradigm of plastic songs performed by young and pretty people.
Few people remember just the pop songs that won in different years, but the heavy metal Lordi, which Finland unexpectedly put forward, Conchita Wurst, because of which the whole of Europe quarreled, or the slightly ridiculous but charming "Buranovskiye Babushki" are still remembered. 2015 is no exception in this regard. This time, Finland is once again trying to push the limits of the tight competition - from them went the punk band Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät, whose members were diagnosed with developmental delays, and the representative of Poland, Monika Kuszynska, will be the first to perform at the competition in a wheelchair.
How is the voting going?
Votes are distributed in half between the audience and the jury. Each country chooses 10 favorite numbers, and then points are distributed depending on the popularity of the track in each country, from 12 to zero. The method of voting changed over time, at first it was decided exclusively by the jury, then it was only the choice of the audience. Since 2009, a mixed system has been established: both the audience and a special jury of professionals from each country influence the outcome of the competition. To vote, today it is not necessary to call or send SMS - just download the official Eurovision application. The counting of votes takes place during the out-of-competition final presentation of the host country. This year the closing song will be performed by Conchita Wurst.
No matter how hard the founders of Eurovision try to avoid favoritism, since audience votes began to turn into numbers, it has become obvious that everyone is voting primarily from geopolitical sympathies. Neighbors vote for their neighbors and are deeply offended if someone violates this order. Here even their own memes appeared - remember at least the guy with the saxophone, whose performance at Eurovision was turned in a 10 hour video. Great Britain, which performs very weakly from year to year, is looked rather condescendingly despite the victories in the distant past, and Russia is treated with apprehension at all. The Tolmachev sisters, who spoke last year, were booed in the light of the country's internal politics, which thundered all over the world.
Why did Australia become Europe?
In 2015, the competition takes place in Vienna, as last year's winner was Conchita Wurst, who represented Austria. Eurovision 2015 is the 60th in a row, and in honor of the anniversary, the organizers wanted to make some spectacular gesture - they decided to invite Australia to participate, where the show has been popular for many years. The SBS broadcaster, representing the country at the 2015 contest, has been broadcasting Eurovision for more than thirty years.
Despite the time difference, Australians will vote on an equal footing with everyone else. The choice of a local lucky winner for the competition is quite natural. The Australian jury, following the unspoken tradition of modern times, decided that it would be best to entrust such a responsible task to the winner of the first Australian Idol, Guy Sebastian. What will happen if Australia wins is not clear. Since it participates as an exception, the country will not be able to bring the competition home, although, perhaps, Australia simply does not count on winning. Contest officials have however stated that if Australia emerges as the winner, then its broadcaster SBS would have to select a European country for the next contest, but whether Australia would then still be a participant has yet to be decided.
What is the essence of the competition, if not in music?
The Eurovision Song Contest is anything but a musical event: behind a plastic facade, it combines several diverse phenomena, only hiding behind music as a form of existence. Yet for ordinary Europeans, this is the only vote that, for all its obvious political overtones, remains exciting and fun. Moreover, other elections may envy its transparency. Countries vote for their neighbors and friends, who are closer rather than farther away, so that the process of allocating points on the fingers explains the distribution of political likes in Europe and the surrounding area.
Eurovision has become a litmus test not only for political ideas, but also for some average taste. Not all countries send someone more or less famous in their homeland to the contest, but the radio-friendly tracks in their mass tell about what kind of pop music, according to the producers of TV channels, is the most profitable and will definitely appeal to them in their homeland. It is more difficult to judge other countries, but if you remember who Russia sent, everything falls into place: "Buranovskiye Babushki" and Dima Bilan equally tell a lot about the preferences of our compatriots.
Eurovision has become a competition in a cube: it combines popular reality shows like Idol, The Voice, Star Factory, dance battles and even beauty contests. Titles songs about love, peace and unity - like lines of answers from contestants fighting for a sparkling tiara. It's like in "Miss Congeniality": the participants dream of "peace in the world." The competitiveness of what is happening makes Eurovision something like a sport for everyone. The language of music is universal: to watch it, you don't need to understand the rules, and to cheer you don't need to know the teams or the results of previous preselections. It's simple: one country, one participant and a sea of experiences.
Behind all this, the music itself fades into the background. The song lasts three minutes and no more, with a maximum of six people on stage. The fact that the songs are competing and not something else is rather nominal, especially today, when the performance itself plays no less a role. Recall, for example, Alexander Rybak from Norway, who took in many respects because he played the violin, and gymnasts jumped around him. The diversity of world music exists separately from Eurovision. Here, year after year, they present dance tracks that go straight to the Turkish disco, or power ballads, a kind of pure technical soul for whites.
This is very easy to understand music, which is easy to decompose into its components: here is the beat, here is the verse, here is the bridge; the singer takes clean notes, the stronger the voice, the better. The producers treat the creation of a hit as a matter of honor, in which there is no room for experimentation: the track must hit all the proven pain points, and nothing else. Perhaps that is exactly why of the solo performers 28 victories belong to women, and only 7 - to men. An impressive ballad is just a typical female repertoire.
When did Russia participate and who represented it?
For political and ideological reasons, at the time of the appearance of the competition, the USSR did not even think about sending someone to sing for the country. During the Gorbachev reforms, in 1987, the Minister of Education of the USSR proposed to send Valery Leontiev to Eurovision - to establish contact with the Western capitalist world, but no one supported him. Not all countries of the former Soviet Union were as easy to get a place in the competition as Russia after the collapse of the Union. Many are still denied participation due to political and economic considerations, fearing that the applicant TV channel will not be able to adequately finance the event on their part.
For the first time, Russia was represented at Eurovision by singer Maria Katz under the pseudonym Judith. After her from us to the competition traveled very different participants: at first they tried to bet on local figures like Alla Pugacheva and Philip Kirkorov, but their performances turned out to be one of the most disastrous Russian numbers in the overall score. Since then, Russia has had several rejections and then several hit hits. Alsou earned the second place, "Tatu" - the third. Before winning, Dima Bilan crept up to second place in 2006; in 2012, Buranovskiye Babushki were also there. The group "Silver" became a prize-winner in 2007, taking third place.
The overall score for Russia, given its recent participation and even one victory, is very good. In the overall ranking, we are in 16th place, second only to the oldest participants in the competition. Russia won the Eurovision Song Contest six times, taking one of the first three places; once Dima Bilan brought the contest home - in 2008. It is significant how the political climate within a country influences who is chosen to represent the entertainment industry. In the very near 2009, Russia was represented by Anastasia Prikhodko, who sang in Russian and Ukrainian - unfortunately, it is now difficult to imagine such a friendship of peoples on the stage of an official TV channel. But if last year the extremely positive Tolmachev sisters were sent, this time they decided to loosen their grip a little. Polina Gagarina allows herself to take selfies with Conchita Wurst and, despite the rather mediocre song, does not lose her charisma and gives her best on stage.
Who reached the final and who can win?
33 countries participated in this year's semi-finals. After the qualifiers, 20 winners will compete, as well as 5 sponsoring countries, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK, France, and Australia, plus the host country, Austria. The final finalists have become known tonight after the second semi-final. The countries also received serial numbers of performances: Polina Gagarina will sing third from the end.
The chances of the Russian singer are estimated as one of the highest in the competition. There has long been a huge betting industry around Eurovision, like around any competition, and the pool of bookers offers similar estimates of the likely outcome. So far, according to one of the estimates, Gagarin is in second place, losing the championship to Sweden, according to another, our chances of winning are still less, somewhere in the region of 10 to 1, after Estonia, Sweden and Australia.
