The history of Eurovision has been going on for 59 years. This was the reason for entering Eurovision in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest-running song contest. How was the contest created, what are the rules for participating in it, and what does it give its winners?
Eurovision Song Contest History
By name, one can guess that the initiators of the contest were the countries of the European Union that were members of the European Broadcasting Union. For the first time, the idea of the competition was more or less clearly voiced in the 50s. Marcel Besancon, who at that time was the director of Swiss television. His initiative was supported by all participants of the EMU - this is how the history of Eurovision began.
In May 1956, the first concert was to be held in Switzerland. The first Eurovision was modest enough: one performer from 7 European powers gathered in the main hall of the Kursaal small theater. Participants could submit 2 songs at once. The winner was chosen by the jury, not the audience. This was the only competition in which such rules acted.
The results of the voting were announced very quickly: the presenters announced the winners, and the number of points scored by other participants in the competition remained secret.
The first triumph of the famous contest was the Swiss performer Liz Assia with the song “Refrain”.
Eurovision: requirements for participants and songs
The history of Eurovision has since evolved by leaps and bounds. In 1957, 10 countries 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.
Given the annual experience of the contest, 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 a number, including dance and backing vocals.
The songs must be completely new and before the qualifying round at Eurovision not to appear on the air and not be posted on the Internet. Previously, there was also a rule that a competitive song should be performed by a representative from a country exclusively in the state language. But since 1999, each participant can sing a song in any language they wish.
Finalists of Eurovision get a big bargaining chip in their hands for the development of their career. 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 only to those states that are located in Europe. The history of Eurovision has shown that they show remarkable attention to the competition in all countries of the world, so the creators of the competition decided not to be limited to geography.
Today, all countries that are members of the European Broadcasting Union can participate in the competition. It is this rule that allows countries such as Australia, Azerbaijan, Armenia or Israel to participate in the competition, which are not even remotely related to European territories.
In total, for the entire existence of the contest 51 countries participated in it. Some countries do not send their representatives to the event all the time, and from time to time miss the competition, justifying it with economic or political reasons.
Finalists of Eurovision may soon make room and accept new entrants from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan and other Asian countries.
Soviet Union and Eurovision
As you know, between the culture of the West and the Soviet Union for a long time there was an “iron” curtain. 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 the time of Gorbachev perestroika, the initiative of Georgy Veselov that “it would be possible to send a Soviet artist to the European competition” was not supported. Presumably this lucky could be Valery Leontiev. However, the Communist Party rejected this proposal, believing that such a turn of events would be too radical.
Eurovision and the countries of the Soviet Union after the 90s
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, its former 15 member countries turned their eyes to Europe one after another. Only Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan have still not made it to live Eurovision, 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 artists as Masha Katz, Alsu, Dima Bilan, the Buranovskiye Grannyi group, Polina Gagarina, Tatu and another group of Max Fadeev visited the competition - "Serebro". The most enchanting performance was the number of Dima Bilan's “Believe”, which brought Russian victory in 2008. The successful performances of Philip Kirkorov, Alla Pugacheva, “Mumiy Troll”, “Prime Ministerminstra” and Yulia Savicheva were successful.
In 2001, Estonia won the competition, in 2002 the Latvian won first place, in 2005 Eurovision moved to Kiev, and in 2011 the duet Ell & Nikki from Azerbaijan won.
Eurovision Records
There are also records that were set at the Eurovision Song Contest. The history of victories of the state of Ireland just ranks first in this record table, as the Irish returned home with victory 7 times; 3 out of seven victories were won one after another in 1992, 1993 and 1994.
Following the Irish, Sweden, which won 6 times in the competition, firmly established itself on the podium of the champions. Spain, which last time was a triumph in the distant 1969, did not win the longest competition.
Ukraine won the quickest of all at Eurovision: representatives from the country began to participate only in 2003, and already in 2004 Ruslana was in first place in the competition table.
Portugal has never won a competition, despite its many attempts. The record number of points received in 2009, a participant from Norway - Alexander Rybak.
And the youngest participant who won Eurovision at 13 was Belgian Sandra Kim.
Criticism of the competition
For some time now, the competition has been very fiercely criticized by not only the participating countries (for example, Italy has boycotted the competition for 14 years), but also by music figures and television viewers.
For example, many Eurovision participants are faced with the fact that at the competition they seem to evaluate not their performing skills, but the policies pursued by their state. Moreover, good grades made in a “neighborly” manner often amaze the audience of the Eurovision Song Contest. Voting has become so predictable that any clever person can predict with an accuracy of one point which country will put the number of points to whom.
However, voting is not the only reason to laugh at the Eurovision Song Contest. The overall level of performers who refuse to show their own personality and are trying hard to copy the winner of the previous year has fallen very noticeably. For example, with the naked eye, one could notice that after the show of Ruslana with drums in 2004, in 2005, only the lazy did not stretch any ethno-drums onto the stage and did not dress up in skin. Surprisingly, after the victory of Conchita Wurst, everyone did not go on stage with beards.
Overwhelming Career Winners: Frida Bokkara
Nevertheless, performers from all countries are keen to get into the contest, because Eurovision participants (if the performance is successful) have obvious advantages in building a future career. However, not everyone can correctly take advantage of the given chance.
Frida Bokkara 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, Bokkara even came on tour in the USSR.
In the Soviet Union bought more than a million records of the singer. The performer even released two songs in Russian - “White Light” and the famous “Tenderness”, the music of which was written by Alexandra Pakhmutova, and the verses 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 Song Contest united and rejected the song “Ring” of the young Swedish band. In retaliation, the band recorded a song in several languages, launched it on the air of such countries as the Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, Belgium and even South Africa, and topped the foreign charts.
In 1974, the group still wins Eurovision with the song “Waterloo”. And since then it has been practically impossible to stop her: on the charts of the whole world, including the USA, the Swedish team took leading places. Even in the Soviet Union, in which foreign artists did not really complain, ABBA was a completely legal group, the record of which could be safely bought in the store. Soon, documentary films about the members of the collective, which during their lifetime became a legend, began to appear on the screens one after another.
The songs "ABBA" are still played on radio stations around the globe.
Toto Cutugno
Over time, not only the competition became extremely popular, but also various Eurovision ratings and 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 a star of the 80s. Toto Cutugno is also a talented songwriter and collaborated with pop stars such as Ricchi e Poveri, Adriano Celentano, Delilah and Joe Dassin.
Kutuno 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 unchanging guest of the retro concerts organized by Autoradio. They collect a full house and broadcast on the central television channels of Russia.
Celine Dion
There is another world star who once won the contest, which the Eurovision story can only be proud of. Winners, as mentioned earlier, did not always know how to correctly use the given chance. But Celine Dion, who triumphantly won first place in 1988, was able to build a successful career even after the hype around her victory abated.
After Eurovision, Celine switched from French songs to English, signed several successful contracts and in the early 90s achieved world fame and recognition.
Dion is still 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 the tours. The doctor diagnosed that Dion is not able to use his ligaments correctly. As a result, the singer underwent a course of treatment, and then re-studied singing with a famous American teacher.
In 2004, she even managed to get the World Music Awards as the best-selling 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”.