I was surprised to read this week one erstwhile
commentator state that the Eurovision
Song Contest has evolved; I’m not sure on what premise they base this
observation. As far as I can see it is still as safe, staid and homogenised as
the monarchy. The only thing that intrigues me is that it still has the ability
to attract such a huge viewing audience in days when there are so many
alternative sources of entertainment.
I grew up during a period when the competition was still in
its infancy. I was never a fan of the music but since when has the competition
ever been about the music. Perhaps part of the success stemmed from the naive
belief that anything foreign was seen to be exotic, and I question whether it
would ever have attracted such interest were it not for the fact that there
were only two television channels in
this country at the time.
It is surprising just how little has changed over the years,
albeit that there are more countries than ever taking part. The show’s presenters still have that pained
expression of ‘what the heck do I do next’ and ‘how can I be spontaneously
witty in 20 different languages’. There is still a lot of chiffon, dry ice,
pyrotechnics and enough makeup to keep Boots stocked for a week. By and large
the songs still follow the same formulaic pattern of plinky-plink catchy or
folksy ballads. Then there is the proud
procession of musical arrangers / conductors who queue up for their 15 minutes
of fame with optimistic (smug) grins before the annual farce of political point
scoring that is supposed to produce a worthy winner.
If one was to be kind you would have to say that the judging
is about the only thing in the competition that has evolved, mainly due to
changes in the political climate and the expansion to include more countries.
These days it is little more than an opportunity for allies to exchange favours
no matter what quality the performance, or settle old scores with enemies that
have lasted for centuries.
Each year seems to throw up one or two oddities where some brave country tries to step away from convention by entering
a gimmick rather than a song. In the
past we have had mime artists, jugglers, punks, dancers, groups of old ladies and a band that looked
like they had come straight from the set of a ‘Mad Max’ movie. This
year we are to be treated to a bearded lady from Austria and a boy band on
a trampoline from Greece.
Maybe it is a sign of age that I quite liked the unpredictability
of the early years, the fact that it was
in black and white with cameras a fair old distance from the stage and the
uncertainty of telecommunication links. I can’t say that I am a great fan of modern
camera techniques and I don’t really want to see an artist’s nasal hair in high
definition on my TV screen.
I remember back in
the 70s and 80s when contestants needed to release versions of their entry in
several languages in order to benefit from international sales following the
competition. Nowadays a great number of the entries choose to perform their
songs in English, which seems to be the lingua franca. This I feel is a pity
because I quite liked it when there were so many other languages to listen to.
Part of the appeal to me was not understanding the language and having to create my own words to the song based
purely on intonation and facial expressions. I would have loved to have seen
the ‘’Finnish’ entry win with what I took to be
a durgy ode to a lettuce or the ‘Turkish’ duo whose ‘ballad of their
lost dog’ would have received my vote.
As far as I can see the greatest evolution in the 60 years
of this competition has been the level of hype. Though this may increase year
on year sadly the quality of the entertainment has not improved significantly and I for one
will be reaching for a good book and giving the TV a wide berth tonight.
