There are just under eight weeks left until this year’s Eurovision Song Contest kicks off in Malmö. There, 37 countries will gather for the 68th time for a week filled with music, good atmosphere and folk festivals.
But will it actually be a folk festival this year?
Marcus and Martinus historical
Israel being allowed to participate in this year’s Eurovision has sent a wave of protest across Europe, and in many countries the competition is met with large demonstrations and threats of boycotts.
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The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has always said that it is out of the question to ban the country, as Russia was in 2022.
Ahead of all the Melodi Grand Prix semi-finals, and the final in Trondheim, protesters had turned up outside the audience entrance. One protester even managed to get in and interrupt the first dolphin show.
– I don’t think I can remember a year where there has been more noise than this year, says Johan Patrick Bredesen in Eurovision Norway.
Photo: Martin Fjellanger/Eurovision Norway
DIFFICULT: Anders Tangen believes it is a difficult issue. Photo: Krisitn Aafløy Opdan.
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Eurovision enthusiast Anders Tangen finds it difficult to compare with previous years, but also notices that there is a lot of noise around this year’s competition.
– Much is probably due to the fact that social media and the internet are more clearly present now than in previous controversies. But it feels more extensive internationally this year, says Tangen. Photo: Kristin Aafløy Opdan
The national finals have also been met with protests in our neighboring countries.
Pictured here is an advertising sign in the host city of Malmö, which was vandalized when Israel’s contribution got the green light from the EBU just over a week ago.
Photo: Johan Nilsson/TT/NTB
FORNEBU OSLO 20100529. Melodi Grand Prix / Eurovision Song Contest Hera Björk from Iceland performs the song Je Ne Sais Quoi during the final of the Eurovision Song Contest in Telenor Arena. Björk in a red dress. Photo: Cornelius Poppe / NTB
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Iceland is among the countries that early threatened to withdraw if Israel was allowed to participate.
Photo: Cornelius Poppe/NTB
Recently it became clear that Iceland’s representative, Hera Björk, wanted to participate anyway. Here from 2010, when she represented the country in the final in Oslo.
Windows95man and song “No Rules”, Finnish entry to the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 celebrates after the UMK24 final, the Finnish Eurovision national selection, in Tampere, Finland, on February 10, 2024. LEHTIKUVA / ANTTI AIMO-KOIVISTO – FINLAND OUT. NO THIRD PARTY SALES. Lehtikuva/via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS – THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO THIRD PARTY SALES. NOT FOR USE BY REUTERS THIRD PARTY DISTRIBUTORS. FINLAND OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN FINLAND.
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The Finnish representatives, the group Windows95man, expressed before the victory that they considered withdrawing if they won.
They have subsequently decided to participate in Malmö anyway.
Photo: LEHTIKUVA / ANTTI AIMO-KOIVISTO/NTB
Oslo 20240105. Riddle with the song “Ulveham” is ready for this year’s edition of Melodi Grand Prix. The MGP participants will be presented by NRK at Marienlyst in Oslo on Friday. Text and melody: Sveinung Eklo Sundli, Ronny Graff Janssen, Marit Jensen Lillebuen, Gunnhild Sundli, Magnus Børmark and Jon Even SchärerPhoto: Heiko Junge / NTB
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Norway’s Eurovision hope, Gåte, has also been honest that they find Israel’s participation difficult, and that they had to make an assessment as to whether they should go or not.
Photo: Heiko Junge/NTB
– We agree within the band that we find it very problematic if Israel is to participate as the situation is now, the band has previously stated to NRK.
Johan Patrick Bredesen, in Eurovision Norway, points out that the competition is clearly marked by the war, and the noise it causes – especially considering that it is “only” March.
– Having said that, there is often “noise” in the context of Eurovision, but as a rule it concerns national finals where there are problems, or that songs are almost copied from previous entries. This year there has clearly been an extra lot of noise, and perhaps about more serious things than other years.
Oslo 20240105. Demonstration outside NRK against Israel’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest. Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB
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Entertainment editor at NRK, Charlo Halvorsen, says that NRK is naturally looking forward to the Eurovision final in Malmö – and that they are crossing their fingers for a Norwegian victory, but believe that the situation in the Middle East and Israel will affect this year’s final.
Oslo 20230309. Trude Drevland, acting director of the Marienlystdivision Charlo Halvorsen and head of broadcasting at NRK Vibeke Fürst Haugen and leader Snorre Valen during the meeting of the Broadcasting Council on the Sophie Elise case on Thursday. Photo: Ole Berg-Rusten / NTB
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– It is very understandable with a strong commitment when one of the participating countries is party to an ongoing war. It is difficult to say what kind of consequences it will have for the final in advance, Halvorsen tells Dagbladet.
Anders Tangen highlights previous controversies in the competition. Among other things, when Ukraine was to organize the folk festival in Kyiv in 2017.
– Russia sent an artist who had performed in occupied Crimea and was refused participation. The noise was probably more evident in the countries in question.
– Very problematic
He also highlights when Eurovision was held in Tel Aviv in 2019. Then the show was met with protests.
Bredesen hopes the competition itself will not be affected, but says it is difficult to predict.
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– We have seen in the past that political events have helped to influence the competition. What I think is most likely is that we might see Israel get fewer points than they would initially get.
Tangen fears that the result will be affected by everything that happens outside the show.
Accused of hiding Palestine comments
– That there is a vote in both sympathy and antipathy towards Israel. But since you can’t downvote, enough supporters around the world can mobilize strongly for Israel. While those who want to protest against Israel must distribute their votes among all the others.
There was drama right to the end during the final of Eurovision where Sweden and Loreen went on to win. Video: BBC/Eurovision
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– The picture becomes even more complicated, I think, because Israel has such a good song that stands out. If it wins, many people will be able to interpret it as a political victory, while I think there are good reasons to claim that it would be a musical victory as well. We must be able to separate song and country here, says Tangen further.
Bredesen refers to the activity in social media, and the resistance the competition encounters there. He thinks it could affect the viewership.
ILLUSTRATION OF THE SCENE OF THE YEAR: EBU
– There are many who say they will boycott this year’s Eurovision if the EBU does not throw Israel out of the competition.
If they camemore to boycott the final or not is impossible to say. But Eurovision is so big and so popular that I don’t think there will be so many boycotts that it will be a complete crisis for the broadcasters.
Photo: Martin Fjellanger/Eurovision Norway
– I see some calling for a boycott, but something tells me that it is from groups that had not looked at it anyway.
Then we should not completely ignore the fact that all the interest and “noise” creates curiosity among viewers as well.
Tangen believes that many people are pushing hard to find out how this will turn out in the end.
Although the EBU has always welcomed Israel in this year’s edition, the road to participation in May has been tortuous for the country. For a long time it seemed that the country was going to be disqualified as a result of the song the country wanted to broadcast being too political.
One of Eurovision’s most important rules, and not least a requirement to be able to participate, is that the songs must not have a political agenda.
These changes were made
Israel wanted to participate with the song “October Rain”, which many believed was a clear reference to Hamas’ attack on 7 October. Israel’s broadcaster, KAN, was initially on the back foot and refused to make the necessary changes to the text.
They nevertheless agreed to change the content, and “October Rain” has now become “Hurricane”.
Who wins in the end – and not least whether it will be a folk festival characterized by “noise” – we will get the answer on 11 May.
Tags: Eurovision Song Contest characterized noise demonstrations
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