There is truly nothing quite like the Eurovision Song Contest. \u00a0For those of you reading this outside Europe, a brief bit of context: it’s a contest in which countries from across a very broadly defined Europe each enter a song, and then there’s a Europe-wide phone vote (combined with scores from national judges) to determine a winner. \u00a0Long regarded in the west as a piece of amusing kitsch, the contest is taken rather more seriously by the newer entrants from the east. \u00a0The result is a baffling mixture of legitimate pop, sentimental ballads about love and\/or global unity, odd novelty records, inexplicable misfires, and genuinely interesting curios that would never get an international audience anywhere else.<\/p>\n
The show is hosted each year by the winner of the previous contest, a prize widely regarded as something of a curse, since it costs a fortune even with the contribution from the big five. \u00a0Consequently, there was some relief when Sweden won last year, since they can actually afford to host it. \u00a0Even so, the wise Scandinavians have tried to rein things in a bit this year, sending the show to Malmo rather than Stockholm, and dialling back the crazy displays of excess that have characterised some recent years. \u00a0(When the Russians hosted, they claimed to have one third of the world’s LCD televisions on the stage, or something insane like that.)<\/p>\n
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Restraint is a relative concept in the Eurovision Song Contest, though; we’re still talking about a stadium with a capacity of 11,000. \u00a0But you’ll note that the truly insane staging was less in evidence this year.<\/p>\n
Britain, of course, continues to cost on its automatic bye to the finals, which we get for contributing heavily to the budget. \u00a0(France, Spain, Germany and Italy are in the same boat, but most of them try harder.) \u00a0This year we sent in a Bonnie Tyler album track. \u00a0It isn’t worth my time including here. \u00a0It enters the UK singles chart this week at number 99, on the strength of a week’s sales. \u00a0By comparison, the winner made number 93, which one suspects was largely due to a few hours’ sales on Saturday night – it’s currently inside the top 20 on iTunes.<\/p>\n
We won’t be going through all 26 finalists here, let alone the 13 unsuccessful semi-finalists – life’s too short – but for those of you missed the show, here are some of the more noteworthy entrants.<\/p>\n
Denmark – Emmelie De Forest, “Only Teardrops”<\/strong><\/p>\n