Song Contest Eurovision(Eurovision) is a song contest that has been held annually for over 50 years. Although part of the name of the contest is "Euro" among the participants there are representatives of countries that are outside Europe, because the contest is held within the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
The main idea was to hold an entertaining event that inspires and promotes the cultural unity of Europe. An example of such a program was the San Remo Music Festival, which is still held in Italy to this day. It was this festival that was taken as a basis more than 50 years ago, and has become one of the most anticipated and prestigious events in the musical life of Europe. The popularity of the competition around the world has grown so much that every year more than 100 million viewers follow this event.
Each participating country Eurovision represents one participant with one composition. The winner of the contest is determined by the vote of viewers and a jury from each participating country. The first music competition was held in Switzerland in 1956. Seven countries participated in the first competition. Each participant presented 2 songs, and this was the first and last time. The following year, they adopted a rule that has survived to this day: participants can submit only one song. Each participant must submit only a new song (the composition must not be in commercial rotation until the September preceding the competition). The winner of the first Eurovision became Switzerland. Liz Assia won the contest with the song "Refrain".
More and more people wanted to take part in the competition. Simultaneous listening to the performances of all participants has become 
difficult. Therefore, firstly, it was decided to remove from the competition the countries that were in last place in the previous year. Secondly, since the airtime of the final of the contest is limited, since 2004 Eurovision there was a semi-final, giving everyone the opportunity to participate in the competition. After the semi-final, only 10 participating countries go to the final, of which five countries (the founders and main sponsors of the competition) - Great Britain, Germany, Spain, Italy, France - have the right to put their performers directly into the final part of the competition.
For many decades, Eurovision remained mainly Western European due to the closed borders of the USSR, but after the fall of the communist regimes, it became truly pan-European, expanding and uniting, as it was planned back in 1956, the cultural borders of Europe.
Around the competition Eurovision disagreements regularly arise regarding the quality of the song material, the original purpose of the event, methods of voting for the winners, excessive politicization - but some scandal turns into good PR both in the press and on the Internet, only increasing interest in the contest.
Ireland was the most successful participating country with 7 wins, the UK in second place although the English were runners-up 15 times, France and Luxembourg with 5 wins. The youngest winner Eurovision was 13-year-old Sandra Kim from Belgium, who won the competition in 1986. Under the new rules, contestants must be over 16 years of age. Therefore, the youngest winner of the 21st century was 23-year-old Elena Paparizou from Greece, and 23-year-old Norwegian of Belarusian origin Alexander Rybak, and the oldest was 38-year-old Sertab Erener from Turkey.
Theme song played before and after song contest broadcasts Eurovision(and other Eurovision broadcasts) is a prelude to Te Deum by Marc Antoine Charpentier.
It should be noted that participants representing a certain country do not necessarily have to have the citizenship of that country. For example, Katrina Leskanish was born in America and performed with the Waves from Cambridge. Another example was Ozzy Gina J., who represented Great Britain at the competition. A Greek in 1963 and a Belgian in 1988 played for Luxembourg. And the victory of Switzerland in 1988 was brought by a Canadian singer. And it should be noted that it was the victory in this competition that turned the unknown singer into a real star.
Held annually in mid-May in the country that won the competition the previous year. Symbol Eurovision is the word 
"Eurovision" with a heart instead of the letter "v", inside which is the flag of the country that hosted the competition and won the previous year. Who will represent the country in the competition is chosen by the TV company that has broadcast rights Eurovision, and also a vote of viewers or both options can be held at the same time.
Countries that were in the Top 10 in the previous competition by points scored automatically advance to the final of the competition (without selection in the semi-finals). The competition also has certain rules for participants: it is forbidden to use a phonogram, the duration of the performance should not exceed three minutes. Group performances have been allowed since 1970, but there can be no more than 6 people on stage (including backing vocalists and backup dancers). Winner Eurovision signs a contract with commitments to speak and attend events planned by the European Broadcasting Union.
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In the 1950s, at the dawn of the television age, all the broadcasting companies in the world that existed at that moment had almost no connection with each other. This is how Eurovision appeared - a TV network that united companies from European countries, establishing the European Broadcasting Union - EBU. And already in the mid-50s, the idea arose to create a general competition for cultural rapprochement. Marcel Betzenon, director general of Swiss television, at one of the meetings proposed his own version of the competition, the purpose of which is to choose the best song from the Old World. The competition was based on the already existing Sanremo Music Festival which took place in Italy.
The name "Eurovision" was first mentioned in relation to the EBC in November 1951. The competition itself was first called the "Eurovision Grand Prix". However, later the competition and the Union itself became absolute synonyms, although the latter still exists. Today it has 66 members covering 79 countries. Among the Russian media, the EBU includes Channel One, the Rossiya TV channel and the Mayak radio station.
The first Eurovision Song Contest took place in 1956 in the Swiss city of Lugano. Italy, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Germany took part in the competition, two performers from each country performed. The first winner was Lis Assia from Switzerland. Every year the number of countries wishing to take part in the song contest increased, and then new rules were introduced. Those countries that showed the worst results in the current year were excluded from the competition for the next year.
The rules of the game are simple: the performer with the most points wins, and the winner's country hosts the next contest. Sometimes a country, for some reason, may refuse to host Eurovision in its area, and then the competition is transferred to another place.
In 1969, it so happened that four countries took the first place at once: the Netherlands, France, Great Britain and Spain. To decide which country would get the honor of hosting the next competition on its territory, lots had to be drawn. According to its results, Eurovision was held in Amsterdam.
Over time, various restrictions began to be introduced into the rules. Since 1957, there has been a requirement that the song should not last more than three minutes, and since 1960 the competition has been shown on television live. After the case of four winners, the rules were changed so that if several countries have the same number of points, they perform again and a new vote is taken.
1989 for Eurovision was remembered by two young participants at once: 11-year-old Natalie Pak from France and 12-year-old Gili Nathanel, who played for Israel. After that, an age limit was introduced: participants must be over 15 years old.
Russia has been participating in the competition since 1994. The country was represented at the first competition for our country by the singer Maria Katz, who won the national competition of Russia. performed under the pseudonym Judith with the song "Eternal Wanderer" and took ninth place with 70 points. Her result remained the best for Russia for the next six years.
Eurovision is a peaceful contest, however, scandals and funny cases sometimes occur here. And often it is connected with political problems. For example, in 2009, a group from Georgia was going to perform the song “We Don't Wanna Put In” at the competition. The title of the song was intentionally consonant with the name of the then Prime Minister of Russia -. Such a composition was chosen as a sign of Georgia's protest against the armed conflict with Russia , which arose in August 2008. Due to complaints from Russia, the organizers of the competition set the condition that the Georgian group could only perform with a different song.As a result, the country refused to participate in 2009, when the competition was held in the Russian Federation.
Sometimes awkward situations at the competition turn out to be just a joke.
In 2010, during a performance by a Spanish singer, a man came on stage and began to make faces along with the circus performers who were part of the act. A few seconds later, security came on stage, and the man jumped into the hall. Later it turned out that it was the Spanish prankster Jimmy Jump, who often runs out onto football fields during matches.
In 2017, at the Eurovision final, when the contest was held in Kyiv, in the middle of the performance of the Ukrainian singer Jamala, a man with the Australian flag on his shoulders ran onto the stage. He then turned his back on the stage and dropped his pants, exposing his ass. It was the Ukrainian prankster Vitaliy Sedyuk, who has already "pranked" many celebrities in a similar way. However, this drawing cost about 8.5 thousand hryvnia fine.
Eurovision was held in 1957 in the city of Lugano in Switzerland. It was attended by 7 European countries: Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland and West Germany. Denmark, Austria and Great Britain were also going to take part in it, but for technical reasons they were excluded because they did not apply in time.
From each participating country, two performers performed with their songs. The organizers considered it desirable that each of the participants be selected by a strict jury - the spectators of the competition from each of the countries. There were practically no restrictions on songs, performances, the number of props and participants in the act, although they were not supposed to last more than three and a half minutes. The order of the performance of the countries was determined by a draw, but which of the songs to perform first was decided by the participants themselves. The first winner was Switzerland, represented by singer Lis Assia with the song "Refrain".
In the first Eurovision and until 1997, it was determined by a qualified jury selected in each country. Juries by the rules also do not have the right for their own country. Since 1997, the jury has been abolished, and is held online. The jury was elected even then, it voted, but the scores given by the jury were given to the artists only in conditions that did not allow the population to vote. However, since 2009, their scores are again taken into account when setting the total points.
Every year, without participating in the semi-final, a representative of the winning country, as well as the countries of the "big five" - France, Great Britain, Germany, Spain and Italy, can take part in the competition. The rest of the participants, before performing on the stage of the Eurovision itself, must win the hearts of the audience in the semi-finals. Now about 40 countries participate in Eurovision every year.
Russia participated in the contest already 18 times by 2014, the best result was achieved by the performer Dima Bilan, who brought Eurovision to Russia in 2009. The Eurovision Song Contest held in Russia has become one of the most expensive and grandiose contests in history. It was during Eurovision in Moscow that new records were set for the number of points scored by the winner and the number of people who voted for the performers.
The organizers of Eurovision had a good goal: to merge the countries of Europe that were scattered after the Second World War in a single musical impulse. In 1956, the first competition was held, and the place was chosen in the best possible way: the action took place in Lugano, the southern city of Switzerland, distinguished by its diplomacy. The victory was also received by the representative of this country - Liz Assia with the song Refrain. The show has never been canceled since this year.
The participants are required to have a live sound (there can only be accompaniment in the recording), an original three-minute composition and no more than 6 people simultaneously on stage. You can sing in any language. Participants must be over 16 years old: since 2003, the Junior Eurovision Song Contest has been founded for underage musicians (participants in the 2006 children's competition, the Tolmacheva sisters, represented Russia at the adult competition in 2014).
The show is broadcast live, and after that, SMS voting begins, allowing you to choose the best performers. Depending on the number of voters, participants receive from 12 to 1 point from each of the countries (or do not receive a single point if they are not voted for). And six years ago, music experts joined the audience: five professionals from each country also vote for their favorite songs.
Sometimes countries receive the same number of points - in this case, the number of 10 and 12 points is taken into account. By the way, in 1969, when this rule had not yet been taken into account, four countries were declared winners at once: France, Spain, the Netherlands and Great Britain. The rest of the participants did not like it much, so now the jury is choosing the favorite more carefully.
Only countries that are members of the European Broadcasting Union (hence the name of the competition) can participate in Eurovision, that is, it is not the geography that matters, but the channel that will broadcast the show live. For many who wish, this regulation becomes a serious obstacle: Kazakhstan, which applied for membership in the EBU, was not approved by the organizers of the competition.
The Eurovision organizers do not advocate for new participants at all, but this does not interrupt the appetite of many countries dreaming of participating in the contest. Compared to 1956, the number of performers has increased 9 times: instead of 7 states, 39 are now competing. By the way, Australia will enter the stage this year. The green continent will be presented for the first time in history by singer Guy Sebastian. The only "but": in the event of Australia's victory, they have not yet been allowed to host Eurovision at home.
But there are those who are never denied participation: these are the countries of the so-called "Big Five", which includes the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. These states never tremble for qualifying performances and always automatically find themselves in the final.
"Eurovision" is an expensive pleasure, so the most common reason for countries' refusals is economic. In second place is politics, which intervenes in the competition every now and then. For example, Armenia refused to send its musicians to Baku in 2012 due to strained relations with Azerbaijan, and Morocco was not shown at the competition for a long time due to conflicts with Israel.
There are those who do not want to go to the show, accusing the judges of bias. The Czech Republic turned out to be the most dissatisfied country: since 2009, the state stubbornly avoided Eurovision (in three years of participation, the Czechs scored only 10 points in total), and only this year decided to try their hand again.
Türkiye said no this year, with a backlog of complaints. Muslims are unhappy with the victory of the bearded Conchita Wurst last year and Finnish Krista Siegfrids' lesbian kiss with her backing vocalist, which was captured by cameras during the semi-finals in 2013.
Many performers believe that Eurovision is a stepping stone to world popularity. In fact, the competition, even if it gives a few seconds of fame, gives few people a chance to become truly famous. There are also pleasant exceptions. For example, in 1974, the Swedish group ABBA, at that moment unfamiliar even within their native country, won first place with the song Waterloo. This victory instantly brought the team success all over the world: 8 singles of the group, one after another, firmly established themselves at the top of the British charts, and in the USA, three albums of the quartet became gold and one platinum. By the way, the Waterloo hit in 2005, thanks to the vote of viewers from 31 countries, was recognized as the best Eurovision song in history.
Celine Dion was already a star in Canada and France by the time of the competition. The victory in 1988 with the song Ne partez pas sans moi (the singer represented Switzerland) expanded her geography: Dion's records began to be sold in Asia, Australia and most European countries, and made her think about recording singles in English. Approximately the same story happened with the Spaniard Julio Iglesias, who in 1994 reached fourth place with the song Gwendolyne, and then learned to sing in Portuguese, French and Italian and made himself known in Europe.
The Brainstorm group, which took third place in 2000 (by the way, these were the first performers who performed in the competition from Latvia), Eurovision, if not opened the whole planet, but allowed them to successfully tour Scandinavia and consolidate their success in Eastern Europe, the Baltic states and Russia.
It also happened vice versa: when performers with a name took part in a music competition, but did not achieve leadership in the competition. So, Tatu, despite encouraging forecasts, took only third place, the British Blue became 11th, and Patricia Kaas - eighth.
They like to criticize Eurovision: the first places are probably bought, the lyrics are unoriginal, and the countries vote not for the composition, but for their neighbors. Even the texts, behavior and appearance of some contestants become the cause of conflicts.
In 1973, fans of the Israeli singer Ilanit were seriously worried about the life of the singer. On the eve of the contest, the singer received threats from Islamic radicals who made no secret of the impending attack. Nevertheless, the performer took the stage, having previously put on a bulletproof vest. Fortunately, nothing dangerous for her life did not happen.
In 2007, a scandal arose around the Ukrainian participant - the singer Verka Serdyuchka (aka Andrey Danilko), in whose song the words "Russia, goodbye" were heard. The culprit of the story herself explained that the text contains the phrase Lasha Tumbai, which means “whipped cream” in Mongolian. Be that as it may, Verka's performance turned out to be prophetic: relations with Russia deteriorated sharply, and now the singer is a rare bird in our area.
And the Spaniard Daniel Dihes was “lucky” to be the victim of a bully in a red cap Jimmy Jump, who usually breaks into football matches to make the audience laugh and get into the frame. In 2010, Jimmy chose Eurovision as the venue and snuck onto the stage during Daniel's performance. Jimmy flaunted in front of the cameras for a full 15 seconds, until the shocked guards began to act. Dihes (who hadn't lost his temper during Jump's antics) was allowed to sing one more time.
Non-standard participants of the show, representatives of sexual minorities or alternative musical genres, also attract attention to themselves. Several times such musicians managed to win, which angered many spectators, but did not cancel their victory. In 1998, it was transgender Dana International from Israel; in 2006, hard rockers Lordi caused a wave of irritation, and last year Thomas Neuwirth became a bone of contention, who appeared on stage in the form of a woman with a beard Conchita Wurst.
The history of Eurovision has been going on for 59 years. This was the reason for entering Eurovision into the Guinness Book of Records as the longest-running song contest. How was the competition created, what are the rules for participation in it, and what does it give its winners?
By the name, one can guess that the initiators of the creation of the competition were the countries of the European Union, which were part of the For the first time, more or less clearly, the idea of the competition was voiced in the 50s. Marcel Besancon, who at that time was the director of Swiss Television. His initiative was supported by all the participants of the EBU - this is how the history of Eurovision began.
In May 1956, the first concert was to take place in Switzerland. The first Eurovision was quite modest: in the main hall of the small Kursaal theater, one performer from 7 European powers gathered. Participants could submit 2 songs at once at the competition. The winner was chosen by the jury, not the audience. It was the only competition that had such rules.
The first winner of the famous competition was the Swiss singer Liz Assia with the song "Refrain".
The history of Eurovision has since developed by leaps and bounds. In 1957, 10 countries already took part, and then the number of new participants only grew. The rules familiar to everyone began to be introduced: for example, for a song that should last no more than 3 minutes, or for exclusively “live performance” of their numbers by performers.
Taking into account the annual experience of the competition, its creators constantly improved the set of rules. For some time now, there has been such a requirement that no more than 6 people should be on stage during the performance of the number, including backup dancers and backing vocals.
The songs must be absolutely new and not appear on the air or be posted on the Internet before the qualifying round for Eurovision. Previously, there was also a rule that the contest song should be performed by a representative from the country exclusively in the state language. But since 1999, each participant can sing a song in any language they wish.
Eurovision finalists get a big trump card in their hands to develop their careers. Participation in the competition is a great chance to break into the music market of other countries and strengthen your position in the domestic show business.
Despite the fact that the competition is European, the number of participating countries is not limited to those states that are located on the territory of Europe. The history of Eurovision has shown that the competition is shown remarkable attention in all countries of the world, so the creators of the competition decided not to limit themselves to geography.
To date, all countries that are members of the European Broadcasting Union can participate in the competition. It is this rule that allows such countries as Australia, Azerbaijan, Armenia or Israel to participate in the competition, which do not even remotely belong to European territories.
In total, 51 countries have participated in the contest since its inception. Some countries do not send their representatives to the event all the time, but skip the competition from time to time, justifying this with economic or political reasons.
Eurovision finalists may soon make room and accept new participants from Algeria, Egypt, Jordan and other Asian countries.
As you know, there was an "iron" curtain between the culture of the West and the Soviet Union for a long time. Eurovision was no exception. The history of the competition does not recall the case that representatives from the Soviet Union participated in the event.
And even during Gorbachev's perestroika, the initiative of Georgy Veselov about the fact that "it would be possible to send a Soviet artist to a European competition" was not supported. Presumably this lucky man could be Valery Leontiev. However, the Communist Party rejected this proposal, believing that such a turn of events would be too radical.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, its former 15 member countries, one by one, set their sights on Europe. Only Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan have not yet made it to the live broadcasts of Eurovision, while the rest of the countries participate almost every year, and some of them are very successful.
Russia has regularly participated in Eurovision since 1994. During this time, such performers as Masha Katz, Alsu, Dima Bilan, the Buranovskiye Babushki team, Polina Gagarina, Tatu and another group of Max Fadeev - Silver. The most enchanting performance was Dima Bilan's number "Believe", which brought victory to Russia in 2008. Less successful were the performances of Philip Kirkorov, Alla Pugacheva, "Mumiy Troll", "Prime Minister" and Yulia Savicheva.
In 2001, Estonia won the contest, in 2002 a Latvian won first place, in 2005 Eurovision moved to Kiev, and in 2011 the duet Ell & Nikki from Azerbaijan became the winners.
There are also records that were set at the Eurovision Song Contest. The Irish state's history of victories just ranks first in this record table, as the Irish have returned home with a victory 7 times; 3 of the seven victories were won one after another in 1992, 1993 and 1994.
Following the Irish, Sweden has firmly established itself on the podium of champions, which has won 6 times in the competition. Spain has not won the competition for the longest time, the last time it was victorious back in 1969.
Ukraine won Eurovision the fastest of all: representatives from the country began to participate only in 2003, and already in 2004 Ruslana was in first place in the competitive table.
Portugal has never won the competition, despite their many attempts. The record number of points was received in 2009 by a participant from Norway - Alexander Rybak.
And the youngest participant who won the Eurovision Song Contest at the age of 13 was the Belgian Sandra Kim.
For some time now, the competition has been subject to very harsh criticism from not only the participating countries (for example, Italy boycotted the competition for 14 years), but also musical figures, as well as television viewers.
For example, many Eurovision participants are faced with the fact that the competition seems to evaluate not their performance skills, but the policy pursued by their state. Moreover, good ratings given “in a neighborly way” often greatly amuse the audience of the Eurovision Song Contest. Voting has become so predictable that any more or less intelligent person can predict, with an error of one point, which country will give how many points to whom.
However, at the Eurovision Song Contest, voting is not the only reason to laugh enough. The overall level of performers has dropped very noticeably, refusing to show their own individuality and strenuously trying to copy the winner of the previous year. For example, with the naked eye one could notice that after Ruslana's show with drums in 2004, in 2005 only the lazy did not pull out some ethnic drums onto the stage and did not dress up in leather. It is surprising that after the victory of Conchita Wurst, everyone did not come on stage with beards.
Nevertheless, performers from all countries strive to get into the competition, because Eurovision participants (if the performance is successful) have obvious advantages in building a future career. However, not everyone can properly take advantage of the opportunity.
Frida Boccara did not miss her chance. After she won the competition in 1969, her popularity remained at a high level for many years. The singer became the owner of two Gold and one Platinum disc. However, the popularity of the performer was at a high level even before the competition: in 1966, Boccara even came on tour to the USSR.
More than a million records of the singer were bought in the Soviet Union. The performer even released two songs in Russian - "White Light" and the famous "Tenderness", the music for which was written by Alexandra Pakhmutova, and the lyrics by Nikolai Dobronravov.
The Eurovision Song Contest, whose history of victories is great, still did not see in its ranks a more legendary and popular group than ABBA. In 1973, the Eurovision Commission rallied and rejected the song "Ring" by a young Swedish band. In retaliation, the band members recorded the song in several languages, launched it on the radio in countries such as Holland, Sweden, Austria, Belgium and even South Africa, and topped the foreign charts.
In 1974, the group still wins the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Waterloo". And since then, it has been almost impossible to stop it: in the charts of the whole world, including the USA, the Swedish team took the leading places. Even in the Soviet Union, which did not really favor foreign artists, ABBA was a completely legal group, the record of which could be easily bought in a store. Soon, documentaries about the members of the band, who became a legend during their lifetime, began to appear on the screens one after another.
ABBA's songs are still playing on radio stations around the globe.
Over time, not only the contest became extremely popular, but also various Eurovision ratings, the history of Eurovision. The winners of the song contest received more and more privileges on the world stage of musical show business.
Toto Cutugno took advantage of all of them completely and unconditionally, eventually becoming the star of the 80s. Toto Cutugno is also a talented songwriter and has collaborated with pop stars such as Ricchi e Poveri, Adriano Celentano, Dalida and Joe Dassin.
Cutugno was widely known not only in Europe, but also in the Soviet Union. Until now, everyone remembers his unconditional hit "L'italiano".
Today, 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 TV channels of Russia.
There is another world star who once won the competition, which the history of Eurovision can only be proud of. The winners, as mentioned earlier, did not always know how to use the given chance correctly. But who triumphantly took first place in 1988, was able to build a successful career after the hype around her victory subsided.
After Eurovision, Celine switched from French songs to English-language ones, signed several successful contracts, and already in the early 90s she 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, back in the late 80s, the performer had voice problems during one of her tours. The doctor diagnosed that Dion does not know how to properly use his ligaments. As a result, the singer underwent a course of treatment, and then re-learned to sing from a well-known American teacher.
In 2004, she even managed to win the World Music Awards as the best-selling female singer of all time. The most famous song in the singer's repertoire is still the hit "My heart will go on" from the movie "Titanic".
