http://www.aliyewow.webs.com/

http://news.az/articles/society/37139

Photo by Sabine Balade

Though the Belarussian act was relegated, protesters just outside the gates to the Eurovision press centre took the opportunity to make their feelings known about the regime of president Alexander Lukashenko – and to ironically recycle the song’s title, “I love Belarus”, on their t-shirts.

„Eurovision as  a TV-Event“, May 12 9:30 – 11.30 AM,

Fachhochschule Düsseldorf:

Panelists:

Prof. Dr. Lars Rademacher (MHMK Munich)

Ivana Dragila (Magazine «Musikmarkt»)

Tim Frühling (Commentator ESC 2009)

Prof. Dr. Susanne Binas-Preisendörfer (University Oldenburg)

Bianca Shomburg (Participant ESC 1997)

Moderation:

Prof. Dr. Martin Lücke (MHMK Munich)

Dr. Irving Wolther («Doctor Eurovision»)

The moderators prepared 6 questions for the panelists:

1. Question: Is the Eurovision Song Contest a Music competition?

Rademacher said ESC is a competition between nations without being militaristic, Shomburg calls the event just „crazy“, Bina-Preisendörfer thinks ESC  is somthing „cultic games“ and compares it to antiquity. Wolther then raises the question, what the difference between ESC and other casting shows is. Bina-Preisendörfer emphasizes the „historic routine“ of the event and the function of rituals to filter information which in contemporary media societies seems to be especially necessary. Frühling says, that the music itself is secondary, which according to Bina-Preisendörfer is always the case for the genre of popular music where music is the medium for some other meaning – a screen of projection. Shomburg reminds us, that Eurovision first and foremost is a comeptition of composers, not performers, and Wolther agrees that the status of music at the comepttion is being perceived as ambivalent in a way. The German public broadcaster ARD, for instance, never really feels comfortable with Eurovision as a musical event, which brings Wolther to the question, whether the songs might simply be not good enough. Frühling agrees that in Germany the contest has a reputation of being „uncool“ and that there are many prejudices against Eurovision. Despite these prejudices, however, it was possible to establish „Lena“ as a brand in Germany and thus she also triggered a more general interest in the competition. Frühling brings up the larger question, why some countries have more of an interest in Eurovision – Malta, Greece – than others. One possible answer: For smaller countries like Malta it is almost impossible to succeed in other competitions like World Cup or Olympics, therefore they have a unproportionally high chance to do good at ESC. Finally Bina-Preisendörfer points out that one of the most exciting  things about Eurovision is the voting chart, which, according to her, with ist calculations and distinctions of winners and losers, visualizes the principle of capitalism as such like a bank statement.

2. Question: What is the position of the artist in the context of Eurovision as a „media-machinery“?

Shomburg who represented Germany in 1997 with the Ralph-Siegel-Song „Zeit“ recalls that Siegel decided upon every little detail, each movement and the costume, she didn’t have a say but was a complete product of Siegel, „I couldn’t be myself“ she says „I was in my early twenties and I was supposed to act as an old woman on stage!“. Rademacher asks why Lena, in distinction to last year, this year comes across as so „artificial“. Lena remains the topic of discussion: Frühling believes that Lena knew from the start who she was and what she wanted, she never was „natural“, she was „shaped“ by Raab but not „made“ by him. Bina-Preisendörfer claims that Lena is staging herself as a brand like her generation is trained to do by YouTube and social media. Shomburg adds, that from this perspective in difference to Lena she herself really was a pre-casting-show phenomenon. Bina-Preisendörfer differentiates, with respect to Lena, being a YouTube kid doesn’t mean you’re indifferent to the emotional impact of stardom, but rather growing up with new media means that one is raised with the idea of eventually having a break-through and becoming a star oneself.

3. Question: Is it still true that the interest of national broadcasters has priority over commercial interests at the ESC?

A member from the audience tells us, that apparently the cost for Eurovision in Düsseldorf was about 20 mio Euros of which the city of Düsseldorf paid 7,8 Mio and the NDR/ARD, the public German broadcaster, 12,1 Mio. Included in this are the 2,1 Mio fort he construction of a mobile footbal stadion for the local soccer club „Fortuna Düsseldorf“ since their home-stadion, the arena, was blocked for ESC already several weeks prior to the event. He explains again, that Berlin was decided against as a location for ESC since the event would have been too expensive for the city, which is a much more poor Bundesland (regional state) than Nordrhine-Westphalia, the state of Düsseldorf, for instance and their local public braodcaster, WDR. Given the federal system of the German broadcasting system thus only the larger local stations like WDR or NDR would be economically able to host the ESC. Frühling reminds us, that apparently the German broadcasting system is the largest, worldwide. Still, there are complains about the costs in Germany, since a consiousness of „representation“ for Eurovision is lacking. Dragila agrees that also the German music industry has no interest in the competition. In comparison: around 4000 entries are being composed for the Swedish national pre-selection „Melodienfestival“ alone. A turkish guy from the audience gives as an example fort he strong Turkish interest in Eurovision that the Turkish superstar Tarkan was offered millions just to represent Turkey at Eurovision. This leads to a discussion of the distinction between „low“ and „high“ culture in Germany, where money is being spent for the opera festival in Bayreuth but not so easily for Eurovision, Rademacher says as an academic sometimes you are still being dismissed for doing Eurovision research.

4. Question: The EBU doesn’t allow for political content at the ESC. But can Eurovision really be an unpolitical event?

Shomburg says that even before we had a discussion about bloc-voting, cultural proximities between countries always matterd in Eurovision. Frühling believes that Turkey and other countries that have been quite successful in the past couple of years use Eurovision as a showcase to prove: look we are also part of Europe! Wolther remarks that the discourse on bloc-voting itself is politically motivated. Frühling thinks one shouldn’t emphasize the issue of bloc-voting too much: neighboring countries are voting for each other, that’s all there is to it. The question came up, if bloc- or neighboring-voting decides about winning eurovision, how was it possible for Lena to win last year? Frühling claims, that usually German entrys are either super-serious or pure carnival and there is not much in between. From this perspective Lena with her „Björk-like-character“ was a bit of a surprise. Also, with her a younger generation became attracted to Eurovision.

5. Question: How did the German self-perception changed after Nicole’s victory and how did it change after Lena?

There was not so much of a discussion here. The question is whether a political shift is taking place, also with Lena’s victory and whether popular music will have more support in Germany in the future.

6. Question: Can Eurovision be an instrument to produce an European consciousness?

Rademacher sees music optimistically as a „paneuropean language“. Binas-Preisendörfer thinks that Europe cannot be culturally pinned down to one common idea, also, Eurovision is about the voyeurism, to look at the different, exotic, or oriental. European identity in this context exists only negatively as the negation of a national identity. This is also being reflected in the formula quite often applied at Eurovision, namely, to negotiate national folklore with global pop.

It has also been discussed in which ways national broadcasters should promote Eurovision more as a European event and not just as a national task, isn’t that part of their responsibility? It has been pointed out that the Europeaness of the event is also being performed on the internet. Binas-Preisendörfer finally points out that one shouldn’t overload Eurovision with too many expectations.

In the meantime, “it’s the final countdown”…

1.            Finland

2.            Bosnia & Herzegovina

3.            Denmark

4.            Lithuania

5.            Hungary

6.            Ireland

7.            Sweden

8.            Estonia

9.            Greece

10.            Russia

11.            France

12.            Italy

13.            Switzerland

14.            United Kingdom

15.            Moldova

16.            Germany

17.            Romania

18.            Austria

19.            Azerbaijan

20.            Slovenia

21.            Iceland

22.            Spain

23.            Ukraine

24.            Serbia

25.            Georgia

And how was it on television?  We hear there were some technical problems with the commentators losing their feed. In fact as I type there is an EBU press conference to discuss what is a major technical cock-up. Heads will roll!

For ERN members in the press centre our attention will turn to the first full dress rehearsal of the second semi-final this afternoon.

Karen has had another interview with Jedward. As their Eurovision campaign gathers pace they are now second favourite with oddschecker.com.  Will we be in Dublin next year?

More later…

01. Poland

She’s got energy, and a good voice, but it all seems a bit busy on stage.

02. Norway

At the start of the ESC2011 season this was the favourite. Back when it was cold and snowy this little piece of sunshine seemed even more appealing.  Stella looked confident on stage today, and it really is a feel-good track.  She’s also the daughter of Eurovison royalty: Joelle Ursall represented France in 1990 – one of my all time faves, but can Stella do as well as her Mum?

03. Albania

She’s channeling American singer Pink, but it’s all a bit pitchy.

04. Armenia

Amongst some of the worst lyrics in the Contest, “Boom Boom” reminds me a bit of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Shakalaka Baby” from Bombay Dreams. Armenia have a good track record in recent years, so this should go through.

05. Turkey

Turkey have settled on a formula – and this is pretty much a re-boot of their entry last year, which finished in second place. This is a certainty to make it to the final, but the staging – as you will see – is an academic paper in itself!

06. Serbia

Great vibe, and visually the staging is stunning – it especially looks good on television.  What sometimes doesn’t translate on the Eurovision stage is a performance that is overwhelmingly styled to be retro – which this is. Great energy and a great voice, but I’m on the fence if it will go through.

07. Russia

Now my first dilemma of the Contest this year. Alex Sparrow and Swedish singer Eric Saade seem to be busting the same moves. The choreography of both is the same, so it they both make it to the final they might just cancel each other out.  Good performance today, and I met him yesterday so I might be a bit biased!

08. Switzerland

Fab performance of this today – although she does seem to be playing dress-up, as she looks like she’s wearing her mum’s old frock. Smooth vibe and great vocals – I really hope this gets through.  Best thing Switzerland have sent to ESC in years.

09. Georgia

The most rock-oriented song that Georgia have since their debut a few years back. Again, this track feels like it’s going to be cancelled out by Turkey.  That said, she did a great vocal today – but I’m just not sure we needed the MC-ing.

10. Finland

OMG – the staging of this is the best of the day. Simple song, well sung, great hook – you’ll all be able to sing along with you ‘da-da-dums’ by the end of the song. There are times when simplicity at Eurovision speaks volumes, and this is a fab example. If I was a betting man…

11. Malta

Taxi for Malta…

12. San Marino

Having over-indulged on the hospitality (free wine) of the San Marino delegation on Sunday night it was a slightly slow start to Monday morning! Senit played a blinder last night, but today she seemed a little jaded. I love the song, but I’ll be pleasantly surprised if Senit makes it through, because I think she’s on the knife edge.

13. Croatia

Well – it’s all going on here. Daria has: (i) Stephie Graff’s nose, (ii) Norah Batty’s tights, and (iii) it looks like Daria has been joined by the girls from the typing pool on backing vocals!  This song was originally supposed to be called “Break A Leg”, but the they had to change it. Will they be celebrating?

14. Iceland

Following the death of Sjonni Brink in January, his friends decided that they would form a group to perform his song, and they made it through the Icelandic selection to give us the most poignant story of the Contest.  As Karen said today at the dress rehearsal, the lyrics make it even more poignant. I was quite emotional as I watched his friends represent his memory. I hope you are equally entertained and moved by a lovely performance – it would be fitting for it to make it through in Sjonni’s memory.

15. Hungary

One of the hot faves – there’s just something not connecting on stage.  The track uses powerful backing vocals – a bit like on the Pet shop Boys “Go West” – but on stage, using only six performers, it’s hard to recreate that. She’s a fan favourite – but is that enough?

16. Portugal

Flight straight back to Lisbon, please…

17. Lithuania

Portugal did well to qualify for the final last year with a ballad like this song.  I quite like it – we don’t really have any other ‘diva ballads’ in this semi-fianl, so perhaps it’ll stand out. Not sure it’ll go through – I’m on the fence…

18. Azerbaijan

These two (Ell and Nikki) are working it like the rent is due tomorrow around the press centre. It’s a great song. Pity that Nikki can’t hold a note – although her looks will probably compensate?  He looks like he should be presenting Blue Peter, but has a cracking voice. If I was a betting man I’d but some Euro on this. Surely going through?

19. Greece

OMG – Greece have lost the Eurovision plot. This all too earnest, isn’t it?  I know my Euro-pal Rachel Rolfe will love it, but for the first time in years I think that Greece will not qualify for the final?

So, when you see the semi-final tonight, see what you think.

It’s getting busier here – and with the dress rehearsal for the first semi-final due to start within the hour it will be good to see the first run through before tomorrow night.  Paul Jordan has gone off to interview Blue, so he will miss it. No doubt he will report back later!