Confession: I haven’t posted since… maybe October? Yes, I’ve been holding out on ACR readers for awhile now, but I hope that the tale I’m about to tell—one of euro(trash) pop music, fierce nationalism, and homosexual-dominated democracy—will merit your forgiveness.
The annual Eurovision Song Contest doesn’t get much attention in the blogosphere. For our blogging friends “on the continent”, Eurovision (self-described as “Europe’s favourite TV show”) is terribly mainstream. For those of us in the New World, well… Euro-what? While it’s a pity we’ve been missing out on adorably accented ballads and sneak peeks at summer hits for 54 years now, I’m here to alert the social scientists in the house that there’s a whole lot more to Eurovision than meets the eye (or ear).
Eurovision is every hypocrisy of the EU rolled into one (campy) pop spectacle. (Afterall, Eurovision is to thank for launching gay icons such as Abba to stardom in 1974 and, oddly enough, Céline Dion 12 years later. “Statistically,” a friend explained, “the gays vote.”) It’s also the clearest sign that the European project is not (as some would claim in light of the Greek credit crisis, rampant xenophobia and rising unemployment) doomed, but rather, destined to thrive. Here’s how it works: Every EU member and candidate country selects one song to represent it. The people of Europe tele-vote but they aren’t allowed to vote for their own country. At the same time, in character with EU bureaucracy, 50% of votes are decided by “professional juries” in each country. Some lucky songs make it to the finals where, for one night only, the top artists will perform live in front of an audience of millions of enraptured fans… but only one country will emerge victorious—and validated.
The winners aren’t always apparent (this, for example, won in 2006), and sometimes songs and singers that don’t win big, end up topping the charts (think “Volare”) anyway. The winning countries seem to fluctuate greatly from year to year. Unlike other functions of the EU, with Eurovision countries like Azerbaijan have just as much chance of being heard as say, this year’s winner, economic giant Germany. Indeed, the losers seem much more entrenched. England consistently comes in last place despite its rich pop-rock tradition. Some Eurovision fans have even accused the UK of self-sabotage as strategic mockery of the event (a touch reminiscent of Britain’s general stance on the Union?), and performances like this lend weight to their claims. Despite England’s lackluster performances and “bad attitude,” the majority of songs are in English (another EU hypocrisy), the only real exceptions being from France or Spain, nations defensive of official languages they perceive of as under threat from the “monoculture”. The one time France did follow suit and chose Sébastien Tellier to sing “Divine” in English, the resulting uproar caused them to faire demi-tour in 2009. However, it still wasn’t enough to improve the chances of a country that hasn’t won since 1977.
The Eurovision Song Contest is not alone in its capacity to bring people together through apolitical, albeit nationalistic, competition. Just look at the Olympics or World Cup. But in the Youtube/iTunes era, Eurovision is just the type of event able to bring Europe’s youth together, on their own terms. (Mostly) free from bureaucratic lags (remember the not-so-transparent “professional juries”?), and political posturing, Eurovision is an alternative vision of the EU dream.
Of course, you don’t need all of this socio-political background to enjoy Lena’s chart-topping “Satellite”. Fans here in Istanbul (who are especially invested in the contest this year now that Turkey’s rock group Manga came in Second Place) are obsessed with the tune. And if neither are your style, there are 27 more songs to sample!
posted by kenyon
