I take it all back. The Eastern-Eurovision Song Contest has replaced the festival of music we all know and love(d).
Musical ability doesn't count when partisan vote-rigging takes precedent above all. Of the ten qualifiers, only Turkey (whose song I really didn't rate at all) is not an ex-socialist or Balkan representative.
Denmark, Israel, Andorra, Poland and the Netherlands deserved at least to qualify in place of the entries from FYR Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Slovenia and Georgia. The hall also seemed to agree, with a mass booing at the end followed by the quickest emptying of the venue I have ever seen. Normally there's a party afterwards, but the place just evacuated like a fire drill had been announced.
However, considering the rest of the qualifiers, Hungary was for me the most meaningful, Serbia the most deserving and Latvia the best potential. But still New European countries - what about the Old Europe, the founding members? Well Belgium's entry should have had a chance tonight but the cartel won out. France has a chirpy number which stands a chance of getting in the top ten. Germany is a hot favourite, the UK's ditty has no chance and Spain is just another mamma's boy in a vest. Ireland has a good folky number but a little too cliché. Sweden is again typical Scandi-pop and Finland obviously doesn't want to win twice in a row.
Tonight's article is intentionally short as I don't wish to waste my typing on the shocking results announcement I've just witnessed. But for the credibility of the contest, I hope the EBU changes the preliminary voting.
If you split the continent in four so the ex-Soviets, Balkans, Mediterraneans and Old Europeans all had to battle it out for places in the finals, plus reduce voting rights from the non-qualifiers, so their maximum was six points instead of twelve, we might get some more justified results. And they wouldn't be so friendly to each other then, would they? Or if it went back to juries with a 50-50 split with the public vote, we might get rid of some of the nonsensical cartels which have risen up. The Soviet Union has a lot to be responsible for - the amount of expat Russians in European countries means their votes will assure Russia of a top-five finish even if they sent the Cacophonic Barking Stray Dog Chorus of Magnitogorsk.
It's no fun any more - it's political and it's maybe time to dump a few countries. I mean, what's Armenia doing there, in the name of Terry Wogan's toupée? Only EU countries to participate maybe? Never, I'm afraid - not if marketing in Russia and the Balkans would suffer, God forbid.
At least if the best song wins on Saturday, we might have a chance of salvaging its reputation. My money's on Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia or Germany (although unlikely seeing as they don't have a load of expats spread all through Europe).
I'm off to put my Eurovision fan club membership card next to my gas cooker - if it all goes political on Saturday, it's getting roasted.
1 comment:
Well, firstly, excellent article on Eurovision (previous post). Secondly, I have no doubt that the cartels will show their ugly head again. It's always been the way that the Latin countries always vote for one another, the Baltic countries always do likewise, and the former soviet ones too.
Is it not about time that we had a jury of judges from the top 20 nations, each awarding points? So, for example, the 20 nations that get through to the finals get one judge each.They can then vote with 4 points each, with the potential total being 100 points.
Or am I being too sensible?
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