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Written by
Steve Holyer
Published
4/Dec 2006 at 12:22
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Special
EuroBlog Round-up (4 December)
It's going to be the biggest Eurovision Song Contest ever, and that's not just hyperbole. It's a fact. Svante Stockselius said so. And then, fans around the Internet reacted this week to the news that forty-three different countries will be eligible to compete in the Eurovision Song Contest this year. Also interest in the National finals heats up with announcements from Malta and Sweden, and everyone pauses to think of their True fantasy.
TRUE FANTASIES
The Finnish broadcaster YLE, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and T.E.A.M. who hold the commercial rights for the contest announced the theme for the next contest will be "True fantasy". The Eurovision slash fiction community are sure to love this theme and work it into any number of titles. If you don't know what slash fiction is, you can look it up on Wikipedia here. Yes Eurovision slash is out there. Euroblogger has seen it. And Euroblogger is not passing any judgments; what you what to fantasize about Mihai Trăistariu, Dima Bilan and Anžej Dežan on the privacy of your own computer is your own business. But don't look for any links here - at least not two days after the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. This is arguably a family oriented blog after all.
The Finnish broadcaster YLE, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and T.E.A.M. who hold the commercial rights for the contest announced the theme for the next contest will be "True fantasy". The Eurovision slash fiction community are sure to love this theme and work it into any number of titles. If you don't know what slash fiction is, you can look it up on Wikipedia here. Yes Eurovision slash is out there. Euroblogger has seen it. And Euroblogger is not passing any judgments; what you what to fantasize about Mihai Trăistariu, Dima Bilan and Anžej Dežan on the privacy of your own computer is your own business. But don't look for any links here - at least not two days after the Junior Eurovision Song Contest. This is arguably a family oriented blog after all.
Everyone has their own brand of fantasy of course. The Schlagger boys are more than mildly obsessed with Shirley Clamp (as seen presumably in the picture to the right); Shirley has tried to represent Sweden three times in the Contest but has never quite managed to win the Swedish national selection. The boys see the theme as a personal message and sign (here): "Oh My God! If you rearrange the letters in 'TRUE FANTASY', and take away the T, U, F and add another S, H, I, L, C, O, M, I, G, B, C, K ... You get 'SHIRLEY'S COMING BACK'!!!"
WHEN WILL THE VOTING END?
There were quite a few reactions to EBU's announcement from Svante Stockselious that a whopping total of forty-three countries will have the opportunity to enter the contest in 2007. The author behind the Eurovision Temple writes, "I personally don't mind [allowing] ANY country that is an EBU member to participate. I don't even mind if the voting lasts too long..." (here)
But Chris at World of Eurovision raises some concerns and wonders just how long the voting will go on: "[T]he bloc-voting will probably be more prominent than ever with all of the debut or returning six countries likely to add greatly to eastern voting, and the voting procedure itself will probably end sometime near the start of the 2008 contest."" (here).
There were quite a few reactions to EBU's announcement from Svante Stockselious that a whopping total of forty-three countries will have the opportunity to enter the contest in 2007. The author behind the Eurovision Temple writes, "I personally don't mind [allowing] ANY country that is an EBU member to participate. I don't even mind if the voting lasts too long..." (here)
But Chris at World of Eurovision raises some concerns and wonders just how long the voting will go on: "[T]he bloc-voting will probably be more prominent than ever with all of the debut or returning six countries likely to add greatly to eastern voting, and the voting procedure itself will probably end sometime near the start of the 2008 contest."" (here).
Chris is demanding a change in the Eurovision voting procedures while esctoday.com reader Zohar Rashit is proposing to eliminate the semi-final altogether and use a juried audio pre-slection as in 1996. (details here) The Eurovision Temple would also like to see a change to the organization of the contest, "[F]rom an organizationl aspect I do agree that the EBU should think it through in the future, to maybe set a number of participants for each year, which will be a rule and which won't be broken all the time." Though EuroBlogger is not exactly sure what conspiracy the temple is referring to by saying, "It is obvious that there are some other interests here that are not exactly about music and great fun even at the ESC. Don't like that at all, but unfortunately that happens all the time and everywhere."
Is Mr. Stockselius pondering changes, or wondering if 29 semi-finalists could be too many? Chris at World of Eurovision thinks he might be - if this picture (copyright Aftonbladet) is any indication. Of course Svante may have just stumbled onto some of that Eurovision slash fiction, and he just can't get that disturbing true fantasy of ******/**** **** out of his head.
Is Mr. Stockselius pondering changes, or wondering if 29 semi-finalists could be too many? Chris at World of Eurovision thinks he might be - if this picture (copyright Aftonbladet) is any indication. Of course Svante may have just stumbled onto some of that Eurovision slash fiction, and he just can't get that disturbing true fantasy of ******/**** **** out of his head.
SELECTION FEVER
Toni Sant the founder Malta Media was pondering the Song for Europe circuit in Malta in some detail last week (here). Toni notes that when Malta announced the shortlist of songs for its national selection they announced the singers but not the lyricist and composers. He asks, "Does this mark a move away from the age old tradition of this whole shenanigan being a song contest? Has someone finally managed to convince whoever had the power to resist this change that in many cases it's the singer who makes the song a winner? Can you imagine Abba singing 'Hard rock hallelujah'? Or how about Chiara singing 'Waterloo'?"
Toni Sant the founder Malta Media was pondering the Song for Europe circuit in Malta in some detail last week (here). Toni notes that when Malta announced the shortlist of songs for its national selection they announced the singers but not the lyricist and composers. He asks, "Does this mark a move away from the age old tradition of this whole shenanigan being a song contest? Has someone finally managed to convince whoever had the power to resist this change that in many cases it's the singer who makes the song a winner? Can you imagine Abba singing 'Hard rock hallelujah'? Or how about Chiara singing 'Waterloo'?"
He also alludes to the idea that the national selection is nearly as important in some markets as the Contest final itself. Toni hopes to see Tarcisio Barbara, Konrad Pule and Gianni & Friends make the Maltese final because if they do he claims, "we should get a better batch of songs on the next MaltaSong CD release".
Of course the interest in Sweden's national selection goes far beyond Sweden's border. Chris at World of Eurovision writes "A lot of Eurovision fans attend this event from all over, including a memorable moment when an Irish flag was seen flying during S-Club-7-like Alcazar’s performance in the 2003 Melodifestivalen Final. This was blamed by some fans as being the reason why Alcazar were not chosen, although nothing’s been proved." Still, he claimed after the twenty-eight participants for Melodifestivalen 2007 were announced last week, "It doesn’t matter anyway, as half of Alcazar are having another go at representing Sweden this year. As are a lot of former Swedish Eurovision and Melodifestivalen stars."
Everyone is excited in one way or another about Anna Book, Nanne Gronvall, drag queens After Dark and the blokes from Alcazar. Chris is hard on Andreas Lundstedt reminding, "[He] is no stranger to Melodidfestivalen, trying to compete as a soloist twice in the 90s, and twice as a member of Alcazar in the 00s. He failed every time (loser). He did, however, represent Switzerland last year as part of Six4One, a group comprising of six singers from six nations to grab as many points as possible. They grabbed 30, none of which came from Sweden funnily enough. Maybe people just don’t like him." Chris also is hard on the other Alcazar boy Magnus Carlsson saying "This will be his seventh attempt to represent Sweden in eight years and, unlike Nanne, he’s never got through. Like Andreas Lundstedt, I fear that no-one likes him."
The Schlager boys are only disappointed that Andreas and Magnus aren't in the same Melodifestivalen heat. " Never mind Nanne, Jessica and Anna - it'll be Magnus vs. Andreas that'll be the battle of the schlager queens!" Keep the faith in Shirley Clamp boys. She might still get a chance to make it to the top. The Melodifestivalen wildcards haven't been given out yet.
The Schlager boys are only disappointed that Andreas and Magnus aren't in the same Melodifestivalen heat. " Never mind Nanne, Jessica and Anna - it'll be Magnus vs. Andreas that'll be the battle of the schlager queens!" Keep the faith in Shirley Clamp boys. She might still get a chance to make it to the top. The Melodifestivalen wildcards haven't been given out yet.
Read Toni Sant's take on the Malta selection here. The World of Eurovision discusses the interesting names of Melodifestivalen 2007 here; the Schlager boys take their turn here. And, the Eurovision Temple makes a very impressive round-up of the selections in Poland, Slovenia, Malta, Albania, Sweden, Ireland, and Finland here.
Related polls
- Jury vote, do you agree?
- Jury vote only in the final or in the semis as well?
- What mixture of televote and jury vote do you think is the best?
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Mon 4 Dec 2006 18:58:23
IM JUST GONNA SAY IT LIKE THIS.. NEXT YEAR EUROVISION SONG CONTEST WILL BE HELD IN FINLAND THAT SCANDINAVIA.. a and 2 other esc has been held in scandinavia since 2000, stockholm and copenhagen.
SCANDINAVIA RULEZ THIS CONTEST!
Mon 4 Dec 2006 18:56:07
DRUSUS ATLEAST WE HAVE FAMOUS SINGERS IN OUR NATIONAL CONTEST AND NOT ONLY SHIT FORM EASTERN EUROPE..
There are no interesting names at the MF....alsways the same singers and composers ! Björkman will make his good friend Nanne win the MF anyway.
Hope Serbia will make top 5 in ESC 2007 !!!
Mon 4 Dec 2006 14:14:39
I THINK SWEDEN WILL WIN EUROVISION 2007..
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