(Newswire.net — December 5, 2016) — The 60th annual Eurosong contest is over. About 200 million people watched on TV on Saturday as 27 finalists, the most any Eurosong event had seen, battled for the prestigious award that is not just about the music, but about a national pride as well. Approximately 10,000 people followed the contest live in Vienna’s mammoth Stadthalle, with 25,000 others crowding the main public viewing venue in front of Vienna’s City Hall.
The winner for 2015 is Swedish singer Mans Zelmerlow with a piece titled “Hero”. Musicians agree that the song itself, though remarkably well performed, is not that good, but carries a strong message. Combined with stunning special effects and original performance, it won the hearts of millions across the world.
The voting system was no different this 60th anniversary year, in spite of some familliar results that, once again, raise question about the validity of it. Same neighboring countries repedeatly honor each other with the highest amount of points – Serbia and Montenegro exchanged the maximum allowed twelve points among themselves, Baltic countries give maximum points to each other as well. Greece and Cyprus every year give each other 12 points, with this year being no exception.
Fans of Eurovision can vote in the official Eurovision app by text or by phone, and voters can’t vote for the country they are voting from. However, there is always the question of huge amount of diaspora’s ‘vox populi’.
Macedonians didn’t bother to vote much because their representative didn’t get into the finals, however, huge population of Albanians in FRY Macedonia gave 12 points to Albania, which, to be fair, had an excellent song and performance combo.
It is not uncommon for a wining song to lack musical quality while sending a powerful message – Austria won the right for hosting the 2015 Eurovision song contest when a bearded pop recording artist and drag queen with extraordinary voice, Conchita Wurst, brought home the trophy with his Rise Like A Phoenix from Copenhagen the year before. The wining song from Copenhagen was indeed great, but was it really the best?
Similarly, as a way of regular Eurosong sensibility, after Finland’s heavy metal band Lordi’s won the Eurovision Song Contest in 2006, Serbia won the 2007 contest when a gay rights activist Marija Šerifović sang ‘Molitva’ (Prayer) in Helsinki.
Beside the obvious agendas, there are also hidden political messages being sent by the way of Eurovision Song Contest voting. Those who understand geo-political issues in EU can tell the ‘good buddies’ apart from such countries who have tense political relations, as well as those who send the apologies versus those who prefer to remain neutral, just by observing the voting. While Germany awarded Russia with 12 points maximum, some Eastern Europe countries didn’t pass a single vote. Russian representative came in second place, after all, but there are decision makers who simply wouldn’t allow Europe to turn toward Moscow.
It would appear that, while the songs on a top 10 list are always truly remarkable, it takes much more than a great song to win the Eurovision Song Contest.