Eurovision is one of the largest music competitions in the world, which is held every year and attracts the best performers from the member countries of the European Broadcasting Union. In this regard, as a spectator of the project, you will be able to see the bewitching performances of representatives not only of European states, but also of countries such as Israel and Egypt. According to the rules, only one singer can perform from each country, and the winner is determined by the results of voting by viewers from all over the world.
History of Eurovision
The very first Eurovision Song Contest was organized in Switzerland in the mid-fifties of the last century. The reason for its holding was the desire to create a project similar to a major Italian festival called "San Remo". The main goal, according to Marcel Besson, was the opportunity to unite in the work of the nation, scattered in the post-war period.
Despite the fact that the festival is still held in Italy, Eurovision is still far ahead of it and has become the most popular and anticipated event of the year. Today, friends, relatives and even companies of people who do not know each other, the total number of which is more than one hundred million, gather together to watch the performances of the participants and vote for the favorite.
Before each Eurovision Song Contest, participants who wish to become finalists of the project go through a qualifying round, which determines the list of countries participating this year. The indisputable participants each time are the four founding countries - Germany, Great Britain, Spain and France, which are united under the name "Big Four EBU".
If we talk about the winners of the Eurovision Song Contest, then the UK is the luckiest country. Despite the fact that Ireland took the first places more often than her (seven to five), however, in terms of the number of second places, this country is the leader, since it has fifteen such victories on its account. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the UK often had to become the venue for the competition, as France refused this advantage.
Viewers often wonder why, for example, an American singer (Katrina Leskanish with the Cambridge band Waves or Ozzy Gina J.) is representing England or a performer from Greece is representing Duxerburg? The fact is that absolutely any person can be a representative from a particular country, regardless of nationality and even citizenship.
Interesting facts from the history of Eurovision
In the entire history of the competition, the most unexpected performers became leaders, and our country accelerated only by the middle of the 2000s. We decided to make a selection of the most interesting moments for you.
- The victory at the very first competition went to the Swiss singer Lis Assia for the song Refrain.
- Since 1959, composers cannot be members of the professional jury.
- In 1960, the Eurovision Song Contest was shown live for the first time, however, only in Finland.
- 1988 is a landmark year for Celine Dion. Now everyone knows her, but then it was a high point for an unknown girl.
- The winner in 1986 was a Belgian singer who was only thirteen years old. Throughout the history of Eurovision, both eleven- and twelve-year-old singers have taken part in the competition. Today this is impossible, since the age limit is 16 years old, and for younger talents there is their own, Junior Eurovision.
- The rule that participants are required to perform a song in the language of their country was introduced in 1966.
- In Spain's winning song La La La (1968), this same word is repeated 138 times.
- After taking first place by 4 countries at once (1969), it was decided to adjust the rules: if several leading countries score the same number of points, performers from them again perform their number, and the decision is made by the jury.
- Philip Kirkorov, who represented our country in 1995, took only seventeenth place, and the next year Russia did not take part in the project at all.
- is not the first freak of its kind in Eurovision history. In 2007, she almost became the winner (the image created by the artist from Ukraine Andrey Danilko), who eventually took an honorable second place. And almost ten years before that, an Israeli performer named Dana International (1998) surprised the audience with her transsexuality.
- The year 2000 is Russia's first notable achievement. Alsou took second place. The next successful representative was the TaTu group, which took third place.
The best Eurovision songs ever
To understand what kind of music Europe loves, a music service called Deezer created a ranking of the show's winningest hits.
- Euphoria and singer from Sweden (2012).
- Only Teardrops from Denmark (2013).
- Unforgettable Conchita Wurst with Rise Like A Phoenix (2014).
- Also very resonant hard rock band Lordi and the song Hard Rock Hallelujah from Finland (2006).
- Performance of two musicians - from Ireland and Norway - under the name Secret Garden with the song Nocturne (1995).
- Johnny Logan from Ireland and his composition Hold Me Now (1987).
- Abba Waterloo (Sweden) with a hit called Hold me now (1974).
- Song Satellite German Lena Mayer-Landrut (2010).
- Gina G and Ooh Aah…Just a Little Bit from UK (1996).
- Finally, the charming Italian Toto Cutugno with the song Insieme (1990).
It should be noted that each year of the event is associated with completely unexpected decisions and victories. Whether it depends on the unpredictable tastes of the listeners or on the desire of the performers themselves to make the most vivid impression possible, we do not know. But we look forward to continuing this musical story.
The history of Eurovision has been going on for 59 years. This was the reason for entering Eurovision into the Guinness Book of Records as the longest-running song contest. How was the competition created, what are the rules for participation in it, and what does it give its winners?
Eurovision: the history of the contest
By the name, one can guess that the initiators of the creation of the competition were the countries of the European Union, which were part of the For the first time, more or less clearly, the idea of the competition was voiced in the 50s. Marcel Besancon, who at that time was the director of Swiss Television. His initiative was supported by all the participants of the EBU - this is how the history of Eurovision began.
In May 1956, the first concert was to take place in Switzerland. The first Eurovision was quite modest: in the main hall of the small Kursaal theater, one performer from 7 European powers gathered. Participants could submit 2 songs at once at the competition. The winner was chosen by the jury, not the audience. It was the only competition that had such rules.
The first winner of the famous competition was the Swiss singer Liz Assia with the song "Refrain".
Eurovision: requirements for participants and songs
The history of Eurovision has since developed by leaps and bounds. In 1957, 10 countries already took part, and then the number of new participants only grew. The rules familiar to everyone began to be introduced: for example, for a song that should last no more than 3 minutes, or for exclusively “live performance” of their numbers by performers.
Taking into account the annual experience of the competition, its creators constantly improved the set of rules. For some time now, there has been such a requirement that no more than 6 people should be on stage during the performance of the number, including backup dancers and backing vocals.
The songs must be absolutely new and not appear on the air or be posted on the Internet before the qualifying round for Eurovision. Previously, there was also a rule that the contest song should be performed by a representative from the country exclusively in the state language. But since 1999, each participant can sing a song in any language they wish.
Eurovision finalists get a big trump card in their hands to develop their careers. Participation in the competition is a great chance to break into the music market of other countries and strengthen your position in the domestic show business.
Eurovision countries
Despite the fact that the competition is European, the number of participating countries is not limited to those states that are located on the territory of Europe. The history of Eurovision has shown that the competition is shown remarkable attention in all countries of the world, so the creators of the competition decided not to limit themselves to geography.
To date, all countries that are members of the European Broadcasting Union can participate in the competition. It is this rule that allows such countries as Australia, Azerbaijan, Armenia or Israel to participate in the competition, which do not even remotely belong to European territories.
In total, 51 countries have participated in the contest since its inception. Some countries do not send their representatives to the event all the time, but skip the competition from time to time, justifying this with economic or political reasons.
Eurovision finalists may soon make room and accept new participants from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan and other Asian countries.
As you know, there was an "iron" curtain between the culture of the West and the Soviet Union for a long time. Eurovision was no exception. The history of the competition does not recall the case that representatives from the Soviet Union participated in the event.
And even during Gorbachev's perestroika, the initiative of Georgy Veselov about the fact that "it would be possible to send a Soviet artist to a European competition" was not supported. Presumably this lucky man could be Valery Leontiev. However, the Communist Party rejected this proposal, believing that such a turn of events would be too radical.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, its former 15 member countries, one by one, set their sights on Europe. Only Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan have not yet made it to the live broadcasts of Eurovision, while the rest of the countries participate almost every year, and some of them are very successful.
Russia has regularly participated in Eurovision since 1994. During this time, such performers as Masha Katz, Alsu, Dima Bilan, the Buranovskiye Babushki team, Polina Gagarina, Tatu and another group of Max Fadeev - Silver. The most enchanting performance was Dima Bilan's number "Believe", which brought victory to Russia in 2008. Less successful were the performances of Philip Kirkorov, Alla Pugacheva, "Mumiy Troll", "Prime Minister" and Yulia Savicheva.
In 2001, Estonia won the contest, in 2002 a Latvian won first place, in 2005 Eurovision moved to Kiev, and in 2011 the duet Ell & Nikki from Azerbaijan became the winners.
Eurovision records
There are also records that were set at the Eurovision Song Contest. The Irish state's history of victories just ranks first in this record table, as the Irish have returned home with a victory 7 times; 3 of the seven victories were won one after another in 1992, 1993 and 1994.
Following the Irish on the podium of record holders, Sweden has firmly established itself, which has won 6 times in the competition. Spain has not won the competition for the longest time, the last time it was victorious back in 1969.
Ukraine won Eurovision the fastest of all: representatives from the country began to participate only in 2003, and already in 2004 Ruslana was in first place in the competitive table.
Portugal has never won the competition, despite their many attempts. The record number of points was received in 2009 by a participant from Norway - Alexander Rybak.
And the youngest participant who won the Eurovision Song Contest at the age of 13 was the Belgian Sandra Kim.
Competition criticism
For some time now, the competition has been subject to very harsh criticism from not only the participating countries (for example, Italy boycotted the competition for 14 years), but also musical figures, as well as television viewers.
For example, many Eurovision participants are faced with the fact that the competition seems to evaluate not their performance skills, but the policy pursued by their state. Moreover, good ratings given “in a neighborly way” often greatly amuse the audience of the Eurovision Song Contest. Voting has become so predictable that any more or less intelligent person can predict, with an error of one point, which country will give how many points to whom.
However, at the Eurovision Song Contest, voting is not the only reason to laugh enough. The overall level of performers has dropped very noticeably, refusing to show their own individuality and strenuously trying to copy the winner of the previous year. For example, with the naked eye one could notice that after Ruslana's show with drums in 2004, in 2005 only the lazy did not pull out some ethnic drums onto the stage and did not dress up in leather. It is surprising that after the victory of Conchita Wurst, everyone did not come on stage with beards.
Winners with amazing careers: Frida Boccara
Nevertheless, performers from all countries strive to get into the competition, because Eurovision participants (if the performance is successful) have obvious advantages in building a future career. However, not everyone can properly take advantage of the opportunity.
Frida Boccara did not miss her chance. After she won the competition in 1969, her popularity remained at a high level for many years. The singer became the owner of two Gold and one Platinum disc. However, the popularity of the performer was at a high level even before the competition: in 1966, Boccara even came on tour to the USSR.
More than a million records of the singer were bought in the Soviet Union. The performer even released two songs in Russian - "White Light" and the famous "Tenderness", the music for which was written by Alexandra Pakhmutova, and the lyrics by Nikolai Dobronravov.
"ABBA"
The Eurovision Song Contest, whose history of victories is great, still did not see in its ranks a more legendary and popular group than ABBA. In 1973, the Eurovision Commission rallied and rejected the song "Ring" by a young Swedish band. In retaliation, the band members recorded the song in several languages, launched it on the radio in countries such as Holland, Sweden, Austria, Belgium and even South Africa, and topped the foreign charts.
In 1974, the group still wins the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Waterloo". And since then, it has been almost impossible to stop it: in the charts of the whole world, including the USA, the Swedish team took the leading places. Even in the Soviet Union, which did not really favor foreign artists, ABBA was a completely legal group, the record of which could be easily bought in a store. Soon, documentaries about the members of the band, who became a legend during their lifetime, began to appear on the screens one after another.
ABBA's songs are still playing on radio stations around the globe.
Toto Cutugno
Over time, not only the contest became extremely popular, but also various Eurovision ratings, the history of Eurovision. The winners of the song contest received more and more privileges on the world stage of musical show business.
Toto Cutugno took advantage of all of them completely and unconditionally, eventually becoming the star of the 80s. Toto Cutugno is also a talented songwriter and has collaborated with pop stars such as Ricchi e Poveri, Adriano Celentano, Dalida and Joe Dassin.
Cutugno was widely known not only in Europe, but also in the Soviet Union. Until now, everyone remembers his unconditional hit "L'italiano".
Today, Toto Cutugno is a constant and invariable guest of retro concerts organized by Avtoradio. They collect a full house and are broadcast on the central TV channels of Russia.
Celine Dion
There is another world star who once won the competition, which the history of Eurovision can only be proud of. The winners, as mentioned earlier, did not always know how to use the given chance correctly. But who triumphantly took first place in 1988, was able to build a successful career after the hype around her victory subsided.
After Eurovision, Celine switched from French songs to English-language ones, signed several successful contracts and already in the early 90s achieved world fame and recognition.
Until now, Dion is one of the highest paid performers in the world. The woman is famous for her vocal technique and powerful voice. Surprisingly, back in the late 80s, the performer had voice problems during one of her tours. The doctor diagnosed that Dion does not know how to properly use his ligaments. As a result, the singer underwent a course of treatment, and then re-learned to sing from a well-known American teacher.
In 2004, she even managed to win the World Music Awards as the best-selling female singer of all time. The most famous song in the singer's repertoire is still the hit "My heart will go on" from the movie "Titanic".
TASS-DOSIER /Pavel Duryagin/. "Eurovision" (Eurovision) is an international pop song contest, held since 1956 among the member countries of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU; established in 1950). Eurovision is one of the most popular non-sports television events in the world, with an annual audience of about 180 million viewers.
The idea of the competition appeared in 1955 at a meeting of the EBU committee in Monaco. The music festival in San Remo (Italy) was taken as a model. The first contest, originally called the "Eurovision Grand Prix" (it has received its modern name since 1968) was held on May 24, 1956 in Lugano (Switzerland). Seven countries participated in it, each representing two songs. The first winner of the contest was the Swiss singer Liz Assia.
Since 1957, one representative from each of the EBU member countries has been participating in the competition. Russian performers have been participating in Eurovision since 1994. Throughout the history of the competition, 52 countries have taken part in it, including some non-European states (Israel, Morocco, etc.).
Eurovision format
The format of the competition has changed many times. Currently, there is a rule that 26 countries participate in the final: the countries of the "big five" (the main sponsors of the competition are the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy), the hosts of the competition, as well as 10 winners from two semi-finals. In 2015, an exception was made: Australia became the 27th participant in the final (participating in the competition for the first time).
Australia has been participating in the competition since 2015. In that year, in connection with the 60th anniversary of the contest, the EBU decided to expand the geographical scope of Eurovision by agreeing on the participation of Australian performers in the contest with the broadcaster SBS (an associate member of the EBU). This company has previously broadcast Eurovision in Australia for over 30 years. The representative of this country, Guy Sebastian, received in 2015 the right to participate directly in the final without going through the semi-final stage.
Each country can be represented by a soloist or musical group of no more than 6 people, age - not younger than 16 years. Citizenship and nationality of the participants does not matter. So, in 1988, Canadian singer Celine Dion brought victory to Switzerland. A song in any language with a duration of no more than 3 minutes is performed by the artist live. Musical accompaniment may sound in the form of a phonogram. The composition must be first publicly performed no earlier than September 1 of the year preceding the competition. The national selection of Eurovision participants is carried out by local broadcasters - members of the EBU.
In 2016, significant changes were made to the voting rules. If in previous years the results of the audience voting and the jury's scores were presented as a single result, one half of which was the jury's scores, and the other half was the audience's scores, now judges and fans will evaluate the performers separately. According to the new rules, the jury's scores will be announced in the final show first (from 1 to 12 points, with the exception of 9 and 11, which will indicate the gap between the second and third places), and then the result of the audience voting (through the official application, as well as through phone or SMS), starting from the most recent place. The total results will reveal the best performer.
The winner of Eurovision is awarded a prize in the form of a crystal microphone. The next competition is held in one of the cities of the winning country.
Who pays for the competition
The cost of holding the competition is covered by the organizational budget of the host country, sponsorship income, as well as entrance fees of EBU members. For example, according to press reports, in 2015 the entry fee from Spain (one of the main sponsors) amounted to 356,000 euros. EBU members repeatedly refused to participate in Eurovision for financial reasons. So, in 2015, Ukraine, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovakia and a number of other countries did not take part in the competition. At the same time, countries that have not nominated their nominees still have the right to vote in choosing the winners.
Who has won the most
The largest number of victories at Eurovision - seven - were won by representatives of Ireland (including three in a row in 1992-1994). They are followed by performers from Sweden, who were recognized as the best six times. Luxembourg, France and the United Kingdom have each won five times. Russia has one victory on its account: in 2008 in Belgrade (Serbia) the competition was won by Dima Bilan. For 60 years, more than 1.4 thousand songs have been performed at Eurovision. Most often won songs performed in English (30 times), in second place was French (14 wins), in third place were Dutch and Hebrew (3 wins each).
Eurovision in Moscow
In 2009, after the victory of Dima Bilan, Russia for the first time became the venue for the Eurovision Song Contest. The final took place on May 16 in Moscow at the Olimpiysky sports complex. It was hosted by Ivan Urgant and Alsou. The victory was won by a Norwegian of Belarusian origin Alexander Rybak with the song Fairytale (eng. "Fairy Tale").
"Eurovision" -2016
The final of the 61st Eurovision Song Contest will take place on May 14, 2016 in Stockholm. It was planned that representatives of 43 states would take part in the musical competition, but on April 22 it was announced that the singer from Romania, Ovidiu Anton, would not perform at Eurovision due to the debt of the country's public television to the organizers of the project. Thus, the number of participants was reduced to 42.
Last year's winner Mons Selmerlev and Petra Mede were chosen as hosts. Russia will be represented by Sergey Lazarev with the song You Are the Only One.
On May 10, the first semi-final of the competition took place. According to its results, the Russian Sergey Lazarev, as well as performers from Austria, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Hungary, Cyprus, Malta, the Netherlands, Croatia and the Czech Republic reached the final. On May 12, ten more finalists were determined in the second semi-final - representatives of Australia (this non-European country continues its participation in the competition after its debut last year), Belgium, Bulgaria, Georgia, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Serbia and Ukraine.
Representatives of these 20 states, as well as musicians from Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Italy, France and Sweden will take part in the final.
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.
For more than a decade, spears have been breaking on the Eurovision pop song contest, traditionally held in May since the distant 1956. This competition really raises many questions that have no answers. Let's try to get a little into the Eurovision kitchen and figure out what's what.
origins
The song contest originated at a time when the concept of "song" was clear and defined. Singers popular in their own country took the stage and, accompanied by a symphony orchestra, sang their uncomplicated songs. The winner of the first Eurovision Song Contest, held in Lugano, Switzerland, was the Swiss Liz Assia. At the dawn of the competition, no one saw any political or any other underlying reason in this, and the second competition, without any scandals and intrigues, was held the following year in Germany, in Frankfurt am Main.
The creation of the song contest was supposed to unite Europe, restored after the devastating war, and to promote the popularization of television, which was then only at the very beginning of its development. The task was successful: the live broadcast of the Eurovision final is still the most popular non-sports TV show in the world, and it is watched not only in the countries participating in the competition, but all over the world, from the States to Australia.
present tense
The 2000s marked a new stage in the history of Eurovision. The rules and standards of performance changed, countries began to take part in the competition, which, in the minds of an ordinary European, have nothing to do with Europe (to be more precise, with the European Union). Numerous complaints from viewers to the leadership of the competition called into question its continued existence. However, the Eurovision cause is still alive and winning. On one Saturday in May, at least 100 million viewers gather at the TV screens, and in the best years this figure was 600 million. With the development of the Internet and the broadcast of the competition on the network, more than 70 thousand more web surfers who are not indifferent to pop music and its variations have added to the viewers.
Rules
There is no single set of rules that would have been fixed in 1956 and not changed throughout the entire time. Separate recommendations, for example, the duration of the song no more than 3 minutes, have been preserved, however, most of the rules of the competition have changed over time and have nothing to do with the distant competition of 1956, in which only 7 countries of old Europe took part. By 2004, the number of countries wishing to simultaneously take part in Eurovision exceeded 40 (the main requirement for a country is participation in the European Broadcasting Union, which many television companies consider joining as a matter of honor). The leadership of Eurovision made a strong-willed decision to introduce a semi-final system, which was broadcast on Thursday, and subsequently even two, spaced on Tuesday and Thursday. This is how Euroweek came to be, starting and ending on two consecutive Saturdays in May. Without participating in the semi-finals, the Big Five (the founding countries of Eurovision: Germany, Great Britain, France, Spain and Italy, surprisingly, Switzerland, where the format was invented, is not on this list) and a representative of the host country traditionally go to the Saturday final. The remaining 20 participants are selected by a collective vote of the jury and the audience in each country.
Contestants
European music is unique: artists who are famous in their countries are not known anywhere outside their homeland. Therefore, there is no need to wait for superstars at Eurovision, with rare exceptions. In 1974, the competition was won by the Swedish group ABBA, already at the zenith of world fame by that time. The victory of Canadian citizen Celine Dion, who represented Switzerland in 1988, gave a powerful impetus to the development of the world career of the singer. This is where the good examples end. Super-popular in the 1990s, Patricia Kaas could not rise above 8th place, and the Blue group, which has collaboration with Sir Elton John himself and millions of broken girlish (and not only) hearts, did not enter the top ten at all, stuck in 2011 at 11th place . There were also more tragic stories: Dana Int., whose star lit up after winning the Eurovision Song Contest with the mega-thriller “Diva”, in 2011 could not even reach the final, which put an end to her future career outside of Israel.
Scandals
Not a single competition passes without scandals. The story of the group t.A.T.u, which stormed Eurovision at a time when their songs were at the top of the British hit parade - the main indicator of the popularity of a particular artist, made a special noise. An open secret is the fact that, according to the results of voting, 2 pseudo-lesbians who sang in Russian became the first, but due to technical forgery and due to their unwillingness to give Eurovision to Russia, they became only the third. Numerous lawsuits between the producer of the group and the bosses of Eurovision did not lead to anything, Eurovision left for Turkey, but there is an urban legend that somewhere far away, in a safe with Konstantin Lvovich Ernst, there is a letter of apology from Svante Stockselius himself, chief producer of the competition. Nevertheless, Eurovision took place in Russia, but a few years later, and it was brought by Dima Bilan, far from being the most original artist in our country.
Geopolitics
The main reproach to the producers of Eurovision is the impossibility of overcoming the problem of a geopolitical nature: neighbors vote for neighbors. For example, a Norwegian song consistently gets 12 points from its neighbors Finland and Sweden, the Balkan countries vote for each other, Georgia traditionally ignores the performances of Russians, and the Azerbaijani jury protests against Armenian artists and vice versa. The result is not a vote for a song, but an all-European fraternization, which can only be overcome by politically independent countries, and even then in rare cases. In many ways, the vote is also determined by the country's foreign policy. Dima Bilan, in his first run, turned out to be second only because Russia did not support the entry of troops into Afghanistan and, as a result, turned out to be an outsider in the political arena of Europe. The trend began to decline after the victory of the same Bilan - the representative of Norway Alexander Rybak won Eurovision in Russia, the German Lena Meyer-Landrut won in Norway, and what happened in Germany generally stirred up the stagnant world of Eurovision: the duet won the song contest Eli and Nikki are from Azerbaijan, which many Europeans cannot even find on the map.
Gays and housewives
It is traditionally believed that only gays and housewives who have nothing to do watch Eurovision. However, the figures show that this is not the case at all. Eurovision is popular among all segments of the European population, just not everyone admits it because of the questionable content of the contest. Gays are considered the main fans of Eurovision for the most banal reasons: Euroweek is an extra opportunity to express yourself to the world by holding various kinds of actions and parades. In addition, the main rule of the majority of gays is respected at Eurovision: “beautiful-expensive-rich”. The spectacle is really luxurious, and gays always like it.
Significant Achievements
There aren't any, and they probably won't be. Performing at Eurovision and even winning it is not a guarantee of European popularity. The winner of Eurovision does not receive world recognition. He simply gives his country a chance to show the technical possibilities of television. Therefore, superstars do not aspire to take part in the competition. Secondary artists most often participate in national selections, but despite this, the victory is given to a popular artist or group. From a musical point of view, the competition does not present anything interesting, it is worth watching only because of the impressive video sequence. The songs performed are death for a real music lover.
Russia has been taking part in Eurovision since 1994, on our account the only credited victory is Dima Bilan in Serbia with the song “Believe me”, allegedly produced by Timbaland. Twice the representatives of Russia took second place, twice - third, in other years - from 9 to 17 places, but always reached the final. The worst result was shown by Philip Kirkorov, who took 17th place with the song "Lullaby for the Volcano" in 1995. However, after this fiasco, Kirkorov "fell ill" with Eurovision, almost every year he produces one of the participants (Ani Lorak, under his leadership, even reached an honorable second place), regularly re-sings the songs that sounded at the contest, and occasionally records duets with the participants " Eurovision".
Of the former Soviet republics, Eurovision has already been hosted by Ukraine, Latvia and Estonia, and now Azerbaijan. Belarus, Moldova, Lithuania and Armenia remain uncovered.
According to legend, the idea to send a participant from the USSR belonged to Mikhail Gorbachev back in the stagnant 80s. A specific candidate was considered - Valery Leontiev. However, something did not work out, Valery Leontiev did not go anywhere and does not want to remember this.
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