21:07 CET: I thought I might blog the EuroVision song contest (ESC) in semi-real time. It’s starting just now in Riga, Latvia, and it is already descending into pre-scripted multilingual hell. A sure sign of the interest Swedes are showing the festival is how the other Swedish TV channels have capitulated for the night. Populist Channel 5, whose demographic is a natural match for ESC, is showing Waterworld.
21:15 CET: The Icelandic and Austrians have just performed, and I have to say that the Swedish entry is beginning to look very promising all of a sudden.
21:39 CET: Stockholm is now at its best. Three weeks ago, the trees were still bare, but today the parks and gardens were bursting with green. Perhaps the timing with the ESC was on purpose, but Stockholm had a festival of outdoor music today, with most public places given over to performances of some kind, some so close together you could listen to two at once. There were marching bands, choirs, folk singers, jazz bands, rock groups; even the Hare Krishnas went for a chant around the block.
21:46 CET: The weather for it was perfect, and Stockholmers were out in force. There were perhaps even more performers than audience members, which led to an interesting (to me) question: What is the root cause of this Swedish love for performing? Foreigners at the very least are aware of ABBA, that summit of the Swedish pop pyramid, but there is so much more lurking beneath them. There is an exhibitionist streak in Sweden: They invented the first reality television show, for example. Survivor is the US adaptation of Robinson. Caroline from Vesalius College helped to produce the very first Robinson, while Anna’s Magnus is in Malaysia as we speak keeping score for Robinson 2003.
Then there is the obsession with Swedish Big Brother. But the most popular show here is undoubtedly Fame Factory, where aspiring singer songwriters and boy/girl band wannabees compete on TV for household ubiquity (in Sweden)The German group just actually sang “Let’s get happy and let’s be gay” with absolutely no notion of any double entendre.. In the US, you will know this concept as American Idol. But it’s been going strong here for years.
21:50 CET: Tatu is playing. The Russian lesbian duo has been blogged here before. They are the Russian entry for the ESC (I thought only amateurs were allowed, but what do I know?). A popular paper here today blared “Shlager favoriter vill visa brösten” (ESC favorites want to bare their breasts [at the festival]) and apparently the Swedish TV had a crisis meeting in order to decide what to do in case they did. The world is safe — They’ve just finished and they did not.
22:04 CET: Time to articulate a pet peeve: All pretence of these perfomances being live has been dropped. There are no bands, the singers mouth the words; the only thing plausibly authentic is the choreography. Then why does everyone insist on holding a microphone? Are they a performer’s security blanket? Or are we meant to engage in the willing suspension of disbeliefPerhaps I am wrong — the Norwegian has just belted out some fantastic false notes.?
22:26 CET: Back to ferreting out the roots of Sweden’s penchant for the performance: I think there is a clue in the ease with which the US adopts Swedish pop-cultural ideas (and vice versa). Both societies have a devout religious tradition, one in which the church plays/played a central social role. Seeing the older generation perform in Stockholm today, unselfconsciously, it seemed to me that the church performance would be a natural breeding ground for Sweden’s tradition of talent. In the US, of course, many singers graduate from church performances.
That’s my theory. Eurof, what’s yours?
22:34 CET: The Belgians are coming! The Belgians are coming! And their song so far is excellent, but why is it sung in Sami (Lap)? Or is it Native American? Ooh, and bagpipes too. And an accordion. So multinational. Actually, I suspect the only way the Flemish and the French managed to agree on a group was to have the lyrics be completely unintelligible. But clearly this is much too good to be here. I fully expect them to be completely unappreciatedUPDATE: It’s Celtic, apparently, but sung by real Belgians..
22:46 CET: Sweden’s Fame (of Fame Factory) just did their act, and I have to say, they can more than hold their among tonight’s competition, though as I write this they are sounding awfully similar to the Slovenian act, which is going last. Perhaps that would be a better way to hold future ESCs: Just like those car races where all the cars are the same and the only difference is the driving talent, perhaps everybody could all sing the same song. They all sound similar enough, really.
22:53 CET: I just tried to vote for the Belgians from Sweden, and I was told I should try again later. Favorites besides Belgium: UK, Sweden, Romania, Slovenia, Ireland. Worst: Austria and Germany. By a mile. But also Turkey; what were they thinking, ululating in English? Didn’t work for me.
23:00 CET: Successfully voted for the Belgians. It’s the first time I’ve voted for anything, I think. Certainly not ever in a Belgian general election. The only time I lived there during an election I was in Luxembourg absailing for the weekend.
21:13 CET: Oh, no, it seems like they no longer announce “nul points!” This was my favorite part — the squirming and the public humiliation of the losers. To answer your question Eurof, there has definitely been favoritism, but since the voting is by the public, it is interesting to see changing attitudes over time: For example, the Turks just gave the Greeks 4 points, which they are SO undeserving of.
23:20 CET: Wow, Belgium is in the running. I don’t know if I can handle this. And our natural allies have yet to vote. And the Bosnians want to vote twice. I love how this is a little microcosm for Europe. Much more effective than the euro for building a civilizational identity. And much more inclusive, with 26 countries being allowed to playHere are all the songs for you to listen to and make up your own mind, in case you missed the show..
23:31 CET: Belgium is fading, and still has to vote. But the big embarrassment is the Latvians not managing to get a single point yet, together with the British. They weren’t that bad, were they? Or is this payback for euroscepticism?
23:41 CET: If Belgium doesn’t win, it would be truly wonderful for Turkey to win. They need to be in the EU as soon as possible, and if the ESC is one thing, it is a popularity contest that eurocrats would do well to listen to. Russia’s Tatu should not win: too much chance of an organized fan base calling in and skewing the results.
23:42 CET: Belgium in the lead again. But they have yet to vote. Typical scenario for the Belgians: losing by giving the Turks the lead when they vote. Watch for it.
23:53 CET: Belgium voting. They’ve built up enough of a lead to widthstand giving 12 points to the Turks and still be ahead. It will depend an small differences in scores from the Estonians, Slovenians, Romania and Sweden. Belgium just gave 12 points to Turkey. How galant of us!
23:59 CET: And nul points to the Belgians from the Swedes. My vote was clearly wasted. It’s all up to the Slovenians now. The Belgians have a 5 point lead. I really would not be used to us winning…
00:05 CET: And Turkey wins!! Belgium second. Russia third. The Slovenians gave the Belgians only 3 points. Definitely the best possible political result. Though I still think the Belgian song was the best. I might even consider listening to it again on a normal day. I obviously missed something with the Turkish song.
In the final analysis, Belgium may well have lost the contest as a direct result of the general elections held there last weekend. The main shocker was the gains made by the anti-immigrant Flemish nationalist party, which got nearly 20% of the overall vote (and much, much higher tallies in Antwerp). Giving Turkey 12 points was a way for Belgians to atone for this political embarrassment, and a way to show solidarity with our many Turkish immigrants. It may have cost us the win by a few points.
TUrkey, Bosnia and Croatia have it for me so far. The latter are on right now. I was actively INSULTED by the Austrians. How dare they not take it seriously? The ESC has now reached meta-cheesy status, where doing it kitsch just shows you don’t have a very developed sense of humour. The Austrians probably have signs in their offices saying “you don’t have to be mad to work here, but it helps!”
Ohmigaad, Germany are BRILLIANT. “Let’s get Happy and Let’s be Friends”.
That’s top 3.
Tatu was good, too, i thought. Stefan, who are your favourites so far? I think Tatu NOT whomping their tits out will count in their favour, and it was a good song. Then again, it was always an empty threat; they’re not bountifully blessed in the Bristol City department. Grampa is visiting, and was disappointed there wasn’t a bit more lezza action, also, he added, he doesn’t understand the words.
Latvia is very strong. Sound song, great stage act. Stefan, I don’t think they are all miming. Tatu wasn’t. Certainly the Poles, who had a mare, would have played back a much better take were it recorded.
The Belgians are on now: are they in fact Irish? Is this Belgian folk music?
my theory is: i have never thought about the permeability of the barrier blocking US-Swedish idea sharing. Americans probably like swedes because they are blonde and good looking, and want to shag them.
really, the swedo-centric aspects of your blogging are off-putting for those of us outside the land of sjurstrumming.
The songs are over and I am favouring Germany, Russia, Croatia, Latvia, Bosnia and potentially the Swedes– though i found their entry a bit lacklustre, they have presence. I believe the winner will (should?) come from this group. However, we as a family are voting for Greece. Were I pushed, I would say the Russians will win it.
Question: is voting primarily political/national in character (e.g. Greece will vote for Cyprus and vice versa), or does the best song really win?
Stefan, the Belgian entry was just off the wall; a flemish Clannad. They won’t win, however, because there was an accordion in the band.
Belgium IN THE LEAD? Malta voting.
Told you about Greece and Cyprus. But that they voted 8 for Turkey tells me peace is possible.
It’s a 3 horse race. Still fancy Russia. Turkey would be good too. Belgium. . . words fail me. Musically very good, but what was it for a stage act?
Stefan, nul points for the UK is a slap in the face for Tony Blair a cause de la war
Turkey. It’s Turkey. What a contest!! This is one of the best Eurovisions ever.
The nul points for the UK is a shock. There’s going to be a lot of national soul searching after this.
Hi Stefan! I couldn’t believe I was actually watching the show yesterday to begin with (Tom fell asleep straight away); even greater my surprise when Belgium seemed to be going for the gold! The BBC announced the song with the following words: ‘oh no, here come the Belgians. This a very silly song, really’ A bit later they had to change their tune when the U.K didn’t get any votes at all! Immediately they consoled themselves that it had nothing to do with the quality of ‘bye bye baby’ (yeugh!) but that they were simply suffering from a post-Iraqi-war syndrome. (?) That there was a lot of political voting going on. Pay back time. And that maybe, next year, ‘they would have to think long and hard about what Europe really likes and why Europe doesn’t like the U.K.’… Those words of wisdom might not be lost on Tony Blair and his mates, I think…
Salut, en tot één van de dagen he…
Regarding Eurof’s comment:
“really, the swedo-centric aspects of your blogging are off-putting for those of us outside the land of sjurstrumming.”
While my bias is obvious (I’m Swedish) I don’t think Eurof is right. I don’t see how your blog could be any more “off-putting” to non-Swedes, than, say, Antipixel is “off-putting” to non-Japanese or Dive Into Mark is “off-putting” to non-developers.
I think you should keep it up, your “international” perspective of Sweden makes your blog one of the most interesting blogs on Sweden to read, if not the most interesting one.
Also, Eurof: it’s “surströmming”, and we’re the “land of the midnight sun”, not the “land of surströmming”. Hmpft!
Dear Tomas, yes, I accept your points, and apologise for seeming anti-Sweden — really, I’m a big fan. I should have said “off-putting for those of us outside the land of the midnight sun who knew Stefan when he didn’t have anything to do with Sweden”. Also, I definitely accept that Stefan’s isn’t the most interesting blog in Sweden.
However, I think that I made a pretty good stab at spelling surströmming, and when you consider that both Norway and Finland can claim landmass further north than Sweden (therefore have more midnight sun for longer) and as far as I know DON’T eat rotten herring a lot, I also think you may want to have a littel think about whether “land of suströmming” shouldn’t be the way Sweden describes itself to foreigners in the brochures.
Eurof: You have a bit of a point there, however, Finland is already the “land of a thousand lakes” (or something to that effect). As for Norway, I don’t know, maybe they’re the “land of the silly language” or “land of thousand fjords”, or something or other. Either way, we’re the “land of the midnight sun” and we’re sticking with it.
I’ve never tasted surströmming, I can’t force myself to get close enough to it, the stench is awful… Everybody who has keep telling me that it doesn’t taste the way it smells. I’m sceptical.
Stefan
I exhorted you earlier to celebrate and note the Eurovision event- you have not disappointed. Nor have you Eurof.
Thank you.
KKKKKKKK
I can’t believe Austria was lost on you and Eurof. Belgium couldn’t even decide to sing in Esperanto and Latvia was absolutely terrible.
Sorry, but if performers start ridiculing the Eurovision Song Contest, then there is nothing left for the audience to do. That is a clear line for me, and anybody who crosses it deserves contempt.
Some more thoughts: The Austrians clearly sent a song that cannot win to the ESC, on purpose. I wonder if this is symbolic of deeper misgivings about the EU.
All the songs are about finding love, but the British one, Bye Bye Baby, is about losing love, or at least leaving it. Yet more EU ambivalence? Maybe this is why it lost?
Did all of you saddos really watch this? I was tempted, for a moment, to think Eurof was making it up convincingly.
Don’t sneer, it’s all we have connecting us as Europeans (and here I exclude you, you parvenu American) other than football, which European girls don’t like. I’ve watched the Oscars with you; it’s the same sort of thing. Your get extremely excited about your silly American elections (le juge de Nebraska dit: al Gore, nul points) and you can argue that the voting is a lot fairer in the Eurovision — you can’t have your brother rig the vote of say, Latvia.
Hm…. i think polish song is good too, other too….i think win the best:)is so many good songs there is really proud to be there:)
by the way ….I WISH ALL THE FOR ALL:)
interesing.. i think not all of this songs was only about love,was about life.too….example.irish song”we’ve got the world tonight” or polish song”keine greizen-żadnych granic” it was about peace and freedom,about one great world, possitive song, or german song”let’s get happy”it’s good to do something like eurovision.BECAUSE ppl can heard music from the all europe…:)
In this year EUROVISION will be in TURKEY,IN NEXT YEAR i don’t know ,i hope it will be diffrent country maybe germany or spair or something of that country’s….:) but i will see in this eurovision……..
so good luck!
SPAIN SORRY:)HEHE, too fast write this word:)