History of "Eurovision". Eurovision Song Contest

The history of "Eurovision" counts for 59 years now. This was the reason for the inclusion of the "Eurovision" in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest-running song contest. How was the contest created, what are the rules for participating in it and what does it give to its winners?

Eurovision Song Contest: Contest History

By name, you can guess that the initiators of the competition were the countries of the European Union, which were part of the European Broadcasting Union. For the first time the idea of the contest was more or less clear in the 50's. Marcel Besancon, who at that time was the director of the Swiss television. His initiative was supported by all the participants of the EBU - the story of "Eurovision" began.

In May 1956 the first concert was to take place in Switzerland. The first "Eurovision" was modest enough: in the main hall of the small theater Kursaal gathered one performer from 7 European powers. Participants could submit 2 songs at once. The winner was chosen by the jury, not by the audience. This was the only contest in which such rules operated.

The announcement of the voting results passed very quickly: the leading ones named the winners, and the number of points scored by other contestants remained secret.

The first triumphant of the famous contest was the Swiss singer Liz Assia with the song "Refrain".

Eurovision: requirements for participants and songs

The history of "Eurovision" has since developed by leaps and bounds. In 1957, participation was already taken by 10 countries, then the number of new participants only increased. Began to introduce the usual rules for everyone: for example, a song that should last no more than 3 minutes, or exclusively "live performance" of their numbers by performers.

Considering the annual experience of the contest, its creators constantly improved the set of rules. For some time, there is such a requirement that on the stage during the performance of the number should be no more than 6 people, including dancers and backing vocals.

Songs must be absolutely new and before the qualifying round on "Eurovision" do not appear on the air and not be posted on the Internet. Previously, it was also the rule that the contest song should be performed by a representative from the country exclusively in the state language. But since 1999, every participant can sing a song in any language that he wishes.

The finalists of "Eurovision" get a big trump card in their hands for the development of their career. Participation in the competition is an excellent chance to break out into the music market of other countries and strengthen its position in the domestic show business.

Countries of Eurovision

Despite the fact that the competition is European, the number of participating countries is not limited to only those states that are located in Europe. The history of "Eurovision" showed that the contest is shown with remarkable attention in all countries of the world, therefore the creators of the contest decided not to limit themselves to geography.

To participate in the competition to date, all countries that are members of the European Broadcasting Union can. It is this rule that allows countries such as Australia, Azerbaijan, Armenia or Israel to participate in the contest, which are not even remotely related to European territories.

In total, 51 countries took part in it during the whole period of the contest's existence. Some countries do not send their representatives to the event permanently, and from time to time skip the competition, justifying it with economic or political reasons.

The finalists of Eurovision will soon be able to make room for and accept new members from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan and other Asian countries.

The Soviet Union and "Eurovision"

As you know, for a long time there was an "iron" curtain between the culture of the West and the Soviet Union. And Eurovision was not an exception. The history of the contest does not recall the event that representatives from the Soviet Union participated in the event.

And even in the days of Gorbachev's perestroika Georgy Veselov's initiative on the idea that "it would be possible to send a Soviet artist to a European contest" was not supported. Presumably, this lucky person could become Valery Leontiev. However, the Communist Party rejected this proposal, believing that such a turn of events would be too radical.

Eurovision and the Soviet Union after the 1990s

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, its former 15 member countries, one after another, directed their views to Europe. Only Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan have not made it to live on Eurovision yet, the rest of the countries participate almost every year, and some of them are very successful.

Russia regularly participates in Eurovision since 1994. During this time, such performers as Masha Katz, Alsou, Dima Bilan, Buranovski Granny's staff, Polina Gagarina, Tatu and another group of Max Fadeev, "Serebro". The most enchanting performance was the number of Dima Bilan "Believe", which brought the victory of Russia in 2008. I was successful with performances by Philip Kirkorov, Alla Pugacheva, Mumiy Troll, Premier Minstra and Yulia Savicheva.

In 2001, Estonia won the competition, in 2002 the first place was won by the Latvian, in 2005, "Eurovision" moved to Kiev, and in 2011 the winners were the duo "Ell & Nikki" from Azerbaijan.

Eurovision records

There are also their own records, which were set at the Eurovision Song Contest. The history of the victories of the state of Ireland is just ranked first in this record table, as the Irish returned home 7 times with a victory; 3 victories of seven were won one after another in 1992, 1993 and 1994.

Following the Irish on the pedestal of the record holders Sweden firmly consolidated, which won 6 times in the contest. Longest did not win the contest Spain, which was last triumphant in the distant 1969.

Ukraine won the fastest of all at Eurovision: representatives from the country started to participate only in 2003, and already in 2004 Ruslana was on the first place in the contest table.

Portugal has never won the competition, despite its many attempts. A record number of points was received in 2009 by a participant from Norway - Alexander Rybak.

And the youngest participant, who won the Eurovision at age 13, was the Belgian Sandra Kim.

Criticism of the contest

For some time now, the contest has been very harshly criticized not only by the participating countries (for example, Italy has boycotted the competition for 14 years), but also music figures as well as TV viewers.

For example, many participants of Eurovision are faced with the fact that at the contest they are not judged not by their performing skills, but by the policy pursued by their state. Moreover, good ratings, put "neighborly", often pretty entertain the spectators of the Eurovision Song Contest. Voting has become so predictable that anyone with a little bit of intelligence can, with an error of one point, foresee which country to whom to put the scores.

However, at the Eurovision Song Contest, voting is not the only reason to laugh a lot. The general level of performers has fallen very noticeably, they refuse to show their own individuality and are trying hard to copy the winner of the previous year. For example, with the naked eye it was possible to notice that after the Ruslana show with drums in 2004, in 2005 only the lazy did not put on the stage any ethno-drums and did not dress up in the skin. Surprisingly, after the victory of Conchita Wurst on the scene, everyone did not come out with beards.

Winners who made a stunning career: Frida Bokkara

Nevertheless, performers from all countries are eager to enter the competition, because the participants of Eurovision (in the event that the performance is successful) have obvious advantages in building a further career. However, not everyone can use the given chance correctly.

Frida Bokkara did not miss her chance. After she won the competition in 1969, her popularity for many years kept at a high level. The singer became the owner of two Golden and one Platinum disc. However, the performer's popularity was at a high level even before the competition: in 1966 Bokkara even came on tour in the USSR.

In the Soviet Union bought more than a million records of the singer. The singer even released two songs in Russian - "White Light" and the famous "Tenderness", music by which was written by Alexander Pakhmutova, and poems by Nikolai Dobronravov.

"ABBA"

The Eurovision Song Contest, whose history of victories is great, still did not see in its ranks a more legendary and popular band than ABBA. In 1973, the Eurovision commission closed and rejected the song "Ring" of the young Swedish collective. In retaliation, the group members recorded a song in several languages, and launched it into radio airs of countries such as Holland, Sweden, Austria, Belgium and even South Africa, and headed the foreign charts.

In 1974 the band still wins Eurovision with the song "Waterloo". And since then it was almost impossible to stop it: in the charts of the whole world, including the USA, the Swedish team occupied the leading positions. Even in the Soviet Union, where foreign artists did not really like it, ABBA was quite a legal group, the record of which could be bought in the shop. Shortly on the screens one by one began to appear documentary films about the members of the collective, who even during their lifetime became a legend.

The songs of ABBA are still circling on radio stations around the globe.

Toto Cutugno

Over time, not only the contest, but also various ratings of "Eurovision", the history of "Eurovision" became extremely popular. The winners of the song contest received more and more privileges on the world stage of the music show business.

Toto Cutugno used all of them completely and unconditionally, becoming eventually a star of the 80's. Toto Cutugno is also a talented songwriter and has collaborated with pop stars such as Ricchi e Poveri, Adriano Celentano, Dalida and Joe Dassin.

Kutunyo was widely known not only in Europe, but also in the Soviet Union. Until now, everyone remembers his unconditional hit "L'italiano".

Nowadays Toto Cutugno is a constant and invariable guest of retro concerts organized by Avtoradio. They collect a full house and are broadcast on the central television channels of Russia.

Celine Dion

There is another world star that once won the contest, which can only be proud of the history of "Eurovision". The winners, as mentioned earlier, did not always know how to use the given chance correctly. But Celine Dion, who triumphed in first place in 1988, was able to build a successful career after the hype surrounding her victory subsided.

After "Eurovision" Selin moved from French songs to English-speaking ones, signed several successful contracts and already in the early 90s achieved world fame and recognition.

Until now, Dion is one of the highest paid performers in the world. The woman is famous for her vocal technique and powerful voice. Surprisingly, even in the late 80's, the performer had voice problems during one of the tours. The doctor diagnosed, according to which Dion does not know how to correctly use his ligaments. As a result, the singer went through a course of treatment, and then re-trained singing from a famous American teacher.

In 2004 she even managed to get the World Music Awards as the best-selling singer of all time. The most famous song in the repertoire of the singer is still the hit "My heart will go on" from the film "Titanic".