This is the perfect time to introduce my friends The Eurovision Song Contest
Actually it’s one of the worst times ever, what with them refusing to ban the fascist apartheid regime and several countries boycotting it in response.
Even IF you don’t care enough to boycott it yourself, you’re bound to get a diminished show with 5 countries missing and the rest walking on egg shells not to get thrown out for angering the apartheid delegation.
The national finals and national selections will still be good fun, and if you vote in those, your money only goes to that national broadcaster and not to the corrupt EBU. I did recommend the many decades of previous contests, and I’m not going to tell other people to boycott the big show with me. It’s up to them.
I don’t know that there will be more eggshell walking than usual. The rules against politics have always been up for interpretation. There are always artists and delegations getting in trouble for flying e.g. Palestinian flags or anti-russian statements (at least until Russia was excluded from the contest). If we cancelled every international event in which a shitty country participates, we couldn’t have any at all.
I made my choice for this year, but I still enjoy the music.
The most interesting thing is who different countries vote for. There are whole university departments dedicated to studying this. The music itself is very meh. It’s specific type of music that doesn’t really reflect any differences between the countries. Interesting entries happen but most of it just sounds the same.
I disagree entirely my friend, though there are trends just like in popular music in general.
You might enjoy skipping the ballads and the “pop girlies”, and focus on the Ethobops. They have more obvious roots in the country’s musical traditions, and they’re all interesting, and often quite good.
Here’s the Eurovangelists’ (Eurovision podcast) ethnobops playlist:
Rozalén sounds cool, thanks for the tip. She has apparently indicated she’d be interested in participating in Eurovision, RTVE, the national broadcaster, usually does an internal selection (as opposed to a public competition), so there aren’t many Spanish artists who have had the opportunity to go to ESC if they wanted to.
As far as I know Spain now selects artist from one of TV talent shows like Idol or The Voice. They used to let people vote but this happened: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfeCIvOxXBo After that the artist is selected by some jury. Established artists like Rosalen don’t go to Eurovision since many years.
Baila el Chiki Chiki got 16th out of 25, which isn’t terrible. It’s a joke song, and there’s a long history of them at Eurovision. They occasionally do well, though not usually.
Did last year’s swedish song count as a joke song? It’s not very serious but it came in 4th. Third was very much a joke song, by an apparently well known Estonian artist Tommy Cash.
I dunno if we can make too many definitive statements. There are some biggish artists, some new ones without a single released song. Some dumb songs do well, some great songs do poorly.
Oh, I just remembered two of my favorite Spanish music videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n76yRU9y32I&list=RDn76yRU9y32I&start_radio=1 - this is from a TV show where they travel around Spain, visit different cities and record songs with local artists. Everything about it great, the artists, the places, the versions of the songs…
This is the perfect time to introduce my friends The Eurovision Song Contest !eurovision@lemmy.world and the Lemmy version !Lemmyvision@feddit.org !
Every year I hear a bunch of songs from other countries than my own, many in different languages. It’s pretty awesome.
I’m boycotting the finals of the ESC this year for political reasons, but that’s my decision. There are 60+ years of entries to watch or listen to!
Lemmy know if you want recommendations.
Actually it’s one of the worst times ever, what with them refusing to ban the fascist apartheid regime and several countries boycotting it in response.
Even IF you don’t care enough to boycott it yourself, you’re bound to get a diminished show with 5 countries missing and the rest walking on egg shells not to get thrown out for angering the apartheid delegation.
The national finals and national selections will still be good fun, and if you vote in those, your money only goes to that national broadcaster and not to the corrupt EBU. I did recommend the many decades of previous contests, and I’m not going to tell other people to boycott the big show with me. It’s up to them.
I don’t know that there will be more eggshell walking than usual. The rules against politics have always been up for interpretation. There are always artists and delegations getting in trouble for flying e.g. Palestinian flags or anti-russian statements (at least until Russia was excluded from the contest). If we cancelled every international event in which a shitty country participates, we couldn’t have any at all.
I made my choice for this year, but I still enjoy the music.
Lemmyvision song contest? Then that means it’s time to link Feddit UK’s original submission, the Northern Boys with the phenomenal Sexy Train:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=4VXKhJfRQ7k&list=RD4VXKhJfRQ7k&start_radio=1&pp=ygUYbm9ydGhlcm4gYm95cyBzZXh5IHRyYWluoAcB
I saw that last year on Lemmyvision! It’s on regular rotation, along with T-Pain.
The most interesting thing is who different countries vote for. There are whole university departments dedicated to studying this. The music itself is very meh. It’s specific type of music that doesn’t really reflect any differences between the countries. Interesting entries happen but most of it just sounds the same.
I disagree entirely my friend, though there are trends just like in popular music in general.
You might enjoy skipping the ballads and the “pop girlies”, and focus on the Ethobops. They have more obvious roots in the country’s musical traditions, and they’re all interesting, and often quite good.
Here’s the Eurovangelists’ (Eurovision podcast) ethnobops playlist:
https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2XgmR5xfepPxChKq6H5xYL
From that playlist, I recommend in particular:
Spain - Blanca Paloma - EAEA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGnEoSypBhE
Moldova - Zdob si Zdob - Treneltul https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9RJQPZsj8E
Ukraine - Kalush Orchestra - Stefania https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UiEGVYOruLk
I still disagree. If you skip pop girlies you’re skipping most of it. Yes, the rest can sometimes be interesting but it’s still bland version of what each country has to offer. Blanca Paloma is ok but check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ayrDdxs48wQ&list=PL0VTLQWtqr3_4bYYgDK7cii6ixuzJVGNy&index=1 or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtFRcJpzEwA&list=RDOtFRcJpzEwA&start_radio=1
From Ukraine for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsNKSbTNd5I&list=RDhsNKSbTNd5I&start_radio=1 is so much more interesting. I think it was different 20-30 years ago but countries no longer send their best to Eurovision.
Rozalén sounds cool, thanks for the tip. She has apparently indicated she’d be interested in participating in Eurovision, RTVE, the national broadcaster, usually does an internal selection (as opposed to a public competition), so there aren’t many Spanish artists who have had the opportunity to go to ESC if they wanted to.
As far as I know Spain now selects artist from one of TV talent shows like Idol or The Voice. They used to let people vote but this happened: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfeCIvOxXBo After that the artist is selected by some jury. Established artists like Rosalen don’t go to Eurovision since many years.
Their history with selection processes is fun reading for an ESC head.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain_in_the_Eurovision_Song_Contest#Selection_process
Baila el Chiki Chiki got 16th out of 25, which isn’t terrible. It’s a joke song, and there’s a long history of them at Eurovision. They occasionally do well, though not usually.
2022 - Norway - Subwolfer - Give that Wolf a Banana https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O_AvUlCQ_Cc comes to mind.
Did last year’s swedish song count as a joke song? It’s not very serious but it came in 4th. Third was very much a joke song, by an apparently well known Estonian artist Tommy Cash.
2025 - Sweden - KAJ - Bada Bada Bastu https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WK3HOMhAeQY
2025 - Estonia - Tommy Cash - Espresso Macchiato https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5MS_Fczs_98
I dunno if we can make too many definitive statements. There are some biggish artists, some new ones without a single released song. Some dumb songs do well, some great songs do poorly.
I watched the entire final once and most of it was very forgettable. I like Iceland’s entry https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSMhu-PrLME but I don’t remember anything else.
Oh, I just remembered two of my favorite Spanish music videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n76yRU9y32I&list=RDn76yRU9y32I&start_radio=1 - this is from a TV show where they travel around Spain, visit different cities and record songs with local artists. Everything about it great, the artists, the places, the versions of the songs…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW6L_lTrIFg&list=RDSW6L_lTrIFg&start_radio=1 - one of the best NPR tiny desk concerts ever
If you liked Rosalen you should like those.
I’ll check these out, thanks for the recommendations!