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Portal:Eurovision |
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Culture · Geography · Health · History · Mathematics · Natural sciences · Philosophy · Religion · Society · Technology The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held between active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), in which participating countries each submit a song to be performed on live television; then proceed to cast votes for the other countries' songs, in order to find the most popular song in the competition. Each country participates via one of their national EBU-member television stations, whose task it is to select a singer and a song to go forward to represent the country in the international competition. The Contest has been broadcast every year since its inauguration in 1956, and is one of the longest-running television programmes in the world. It is also the world's biggest song contest in terms of audience figures, which in recent years have been quoted as anything between 100 million and 600 million internationally. It has been broadcast around the globe — beyond Europe — to such countries as Australia, Canada, Egypt, Jordan, Hong Kong, India, Korea, New Zealand and the USA; even though these countries do not participate. Since the year 2000, the Contest has also been broadcast over the Internet; with more than 74,000 people in almost 140 countries having watched the 2006 edition online. The Contest is historically known for being mainly a bastion of formulaic, orchestrated pop music. However it has produced a vast, diverse array of songs, including such musical genres as Arabic, Balkan, Dance, Folk, Greek, Latin, Metal, Nordic, Pop-rap and Rock.
Melodifestivalen is an annual music competition organised by Sveriges Television and Sveriges Radio to determine the song and artist that will represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest. It has been staged under various formats almost every year since the first public competition in 1959. The competition is a considerably popular live television and radio event—it is the most popular television programme in Sweden, a title it has held since 2000, at times eclipsing even Eurovision itself. In 2007, an estimated four million people—almost 44% of Sweden's population—watched the final, while the semifinals averaged around 3.1 million viewers. The winner is chosen by a number of regional juries and a national televote. Until 2001 the competition was normally limited to between eight and twelve songs, but since the introduction of semifinals in 2002 that number has risen to thirty-two. The event is often seen as being dominated by light orchestrated pop songs, known locally as schlager music—so much so that it is sometimes referred to as Schlagerfestivalen by the Swedish media—but other styles of music such as rap, reggae and glam rock have made an appearance since the competition's expansion.
Photo credit: Indrek Galetin DJ BoBo performing "Vampires Are Alive" for Switzerland at the semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. BoBo, the bookmakers' favourite to win the Contest, failed to qualify for the final.
...that the 1974 Carnation Revolution in Portugal began when their entry E depois do adeus was broadcast on Portuguese radio? ...that the original concept for the Contest was based on the Italian Sanremo Music Festival? ...that the United Kingdom has finished second in the Contest fifteen times? ...that Lys Assia, winner of the first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956, also represented Switzerland at the Contest in 1957 and 1958? ...that in 2008, 43 countries took part at the event (new entries were San Marino and Azerbaijan)? 1956 · 1957 · 1958 · 1959 · 1960 · 1961 · 1962 · 1963 · 1964 · 1965 Junior Eurovision Song Contest National selections:Expand: Izhar Cohen · The KMG's · Niamh Kavanagh · Jill Johnson · Amina Annabi · Henri Dès |