Fans want to preserve diversity of languages

Archive

by Edwin van Gorp April 7, 2004 1:08 pm 161 views

A group of fans of the Eurovision Song Contest started a petition to show their displeasure to broadcasters, songwriters and/or singers that change the language of their Eurovision song, after it has been chosen to compete in the international final. Everybody is invited to sign the petition, which will be handed over to all singers, songwriters and representatives of broadcasting companies present in Istanbul.

The spokesman of the fans, Max Mannola, explains the purpose of the petition: “The purpose of the petition is not to have the language rule back, nor any kind of anti-democracy. On the contrary, in the petition we request to honour the choice of people, if they have chosen a song in the national language. We request that it would be kept in that language instead of being changed into English.”.

The text of the petition is as follows: Dear Singer/Songwriter/Lyricist/ Representative of Broadcasting Company/ Other person involved in Eurovision Song Contest,

Before 1999, the Eurovision Song Contest was a happening, in which every TV viewer and radio listener could enjoy to hear songs in a rich variety of languages. In the recent years, this has not been possible any more, because the majority of songs are in English and many languages have not been heard at all in ESC songs since 1998.

Therefore, we want to make a request to all participating broadcasters and artists (for the future years after 2004): please keep your selected ESC songs in their original language, if it is one of the national languages of your country! Do not change the singing language into English, but please present your song to all Europe in your national language!

It would be a pleasure for many millions of TV viewers around Europe, as they are interested to hear music in other languages than English. It would also help your song to stand out from the mass of songs in English. Believe us, there is a huge TV viewer demand for songs in different national languages!

Please notice that the majority of the top-3 and top-8 placements in ESC 2003 were sung in other languages than English: Belgium (2nd), Russia (3rd), Austria (6th), Poland (7th), Spain (8th). This demonstrates that good songs can do well in any language.

The petition will be translated in many languages before it will be handed over to the singers, songwriters and representatives of broadcasting companies present in Istanbul. If you want your name under the petition, click here and sign it.

Esctoday.com is not connected to the organisation of this petition, neither we have an opinion about it!

Related posts