It’s that time of the year again! Many participants all over Europe, are preparing to participate in the most awaited contest of the year – the Eurovision Song Contest. This year marks the 64th anniversary of the contest and is set to be hosted in Tel Aviv, Israel.
The contest is set to commence on the 14th May 2019, followed by the second Semi-Final on the 16th May. The Grand-Final will then take place on the 18th May 2019, where the participants chosen in both Semi-Finals, get to compete against each other.
Last year’s winner was Netta Barzilai representing Israel, with the song ‘Toy’. The message behind the song is about female empowerment and social justice. Netta explains the reason why she clucks like a chicken. She does this to resemble the voice of a coward and to pass on the message that people who do not treat you with respect need to back off. During her performance on stage, Netta was accompanied by her backing vocalists, mimicking chicken moves and also had two blocks of shelves filled with 112 Maneki-nekos, the popular Asian beckoning cats often used as lucky charms.
When did it all start?
The Eurovision Song Contest was inspired from the Italian’s Sanremo music festival. The idea of the contest was put forth by Mr. Marcel Bezencon who at the time worked for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The first ever contest to take place was on the 24th May 1956, in Lugano, Switzerland. In total, seven countries participated. Since then, the number of participants kept growing, and today the total number of countries participating can go up to forty-three countries. The majority of the countries participating form part of Europe, however, there are some other participant countries which are from other continents.
Participants need to adhere to a set of rules to be considered eligible contestants. Each country cannot exceed more than six people on stage, and the song duration cannot be longer than three minutes.
Some interesting facts you didn’t know about Eurovision
- Groups were initially banned from taking part in the contest, and only solo artists were allowed to participate. This rule was eventually abolished in the 1970s.
- The song containing the least amount of lyrics was submitted by Norway in 1995 called ‘Nocturne’. This contained a total number of twenty-four words and it was the winning song of the Eurovision Song Contest that year.
- Ireland holds the record for the highest number of wins, having won the contest seven times.
- In 1969, the Eurovision Song Contest ended up with four winners all getting the same amount of votes. Unfortunately, the Eurovision Song Contest did not have rules in place to cater for situations of a tie.
- The entry with the most languages used was “It’s just a game”, submitted by Norway in 1973. The song was performed in two main languages being English and French, however contained some lyrics in Spanish, Italian, Dutch, German, Irish, Serbo-Croatian, Hebrew, Finnish, Swedish and Norwegian.
- United Kingdom was the only country which gave no points to the winning song Waterloo, sung by the famous ABBA group in 1974.
Malta’s entry for 2019!
This year’s entry for Malta, will be represented by eighteen-year-old Michela Pace. She was crowned the first-ever X Factor winner for Malta. Michela will be representing Malta with the song ‘Chameleon’. The song has been well received overseas, and has already been viewed by over four million people on YouTube. Music critics and experienced journalists have provided positive feedback on the song, and Wiwibloggs have also commented that the song is vibrant and full of quality.
Michela will be representing Malta in the second Semi-Final of the 16th May.
Michela, on behalf of Business or Pleasure, we wish you the best of luck for this once in a lifetime experience!
