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The Eurovision: An IrishCentral guide

Singing Irish turkeys, Israeli transexuals, and Finnish heavy metal - the Eurovison must surely be the weirdest song contest in the world

By
CONN CORRIGAN,
IrishCentral.Com Staff Writer

Published Tuesday, May 12, 2009, 11:35 AM
Updated Thursday, July 23, 2009, 5:47 PM

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Ireland's Johnny Logan, back when the country used to actually win the Eurovision

Photo gallery of Eurovision stars: Click here

It’s difficult to know where to start in explaining the Eurovision song contest to the uninitiated.

So let’s begin with the basics: It’s an annual European-wide song contest that has been in existence for over half a century, and it takes place this week in Moscow.

A bizarre mixture of kitsch and camp, it counts among its previous winners an Israeli transsexual (Dana International, 1996) and a Finnish heavy metal band (Lordi, 2006).

Some of its losers have been even more bizarre – a singing puppet called Dustin the Turkey made Ireland the laughing stock of Europe in 2008, with his song, “Irlande Douze Point”, a kind of insider Irish joke that no one beyond the northside of Dublin found funny.

And let’s move on to two familiar reference points: Abba and Riverdance.

Most bands, when they win the contest, fade into well-deserved obscurity. (Who remembers Denmark’s Olsen Brothers who won in 2000 with “Fly on the Wings of Love”?)

But there are a few exceptions – Abba, who won the competition in 1974 with "Waterloo," being a good example.

The Eurovision, among its many other crimes, is also responsible for inflicting Riverdance on the world: it was during the interval of the 1996 competition that the Irish dancing sensation first appeared, and it instantly became a hit.

Perhaps a more heinous crime was kick-starting Celine Dion’s career. She won in 1988 with a song called “Ne Partez Pas Sans Moi” for Switzerland.

If you are American, the chances are you haven’t heard of this competition so here then is an attempt at an explantion: the Irish Central guide to the Eurovision.

It’s a pretty big deal

Ok, so musically, it’s not really a big deal, because most of the music is bland, banal middle-of-the road nonsense.

But in terms of popularity, it is a big deal:  the contest has been broadcast every year since it begin in 1956 – back then seven countries competed; today there are forty-two countries in the competition. (Which include the arguably not-so European countries, Turkey and Israel.)

It’s also one of the most watched television events in the word. Up to 600 million people worldwide have turned out to see the Eurovision, which has also been broadcast in non-participating countries Australia, New Zealand, Korea, the U.S., Canada, Hong Kong and India. 

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