It's nearly time for Eurovision - music, politics, both?

May 17, 2012 4:58pm CST
Eurovision - that time of year when that cheesy Euro-pop comes back on to our television screens for a whole evening. The UK usually come right near the bottom, nations like Turkey/Israel/Sweden often near the top. Azerbaijan shouldn't have it this year, their entry last year was by no means the best and others deserved it more I think. However, that aside, will you watch it? Do you watch it for the entertainment or because you want to see how Europe votes? A lot of people in the UK snub Eurovision , accusing other nations of voting politically. Do you think that happens? Or that it's just an excuse, or coincidence that some countries support some rather than others? Obviously some countries have strong, often cultural, ties - take the UK and Ireland for instance, a lot of shared history. Is it worth the money? Do we really need the contest? Does the contest still bring Europeans together, despite our different values, traditions and cultures? Does it have more or less importance now than it used to?
1 person likes this
2 responses
@lakantar (1573)
• Greece
17 May 12
What's worst though in Eurovision is that there is barely a decent song every year (I'm not talking about good songs cause I think that this happens only once in a decade in this contest) About politics I guess you are right and being in Greece I always see Greece voting Cyprus, Albania, Turkey, Bulgaria, generally people that we are close as a nation, people that live in Greece in big numbers. I was always curious though about WHO would charge his/her phone with an extra 1-2-3 euro per sms to just vote for this? :P If it happens to be with friends at home I'll probably watch it since it usually gets funny since there are always weird(in a funny way)-clothed artists, some silly dance choreographs etc etc :)
@ajk111 (2495)
17 May 12
i used to enjoy it because of Terry Wogans very dry commentry. since he retired it kind of bores me. far to political. it always was with the nordics voting for each other and cyprus, greece and turkey. since we took part in the gulf war we have plummeted in the voting. and with the introduction of the russian sattalite state who vote for each other the chance of a western eurpoean winner seems pretty slim. i will watch it as it has a strange morbid facination for me and the thought of watching an elderly englebert humperdink has a confusing allure but i predict another eastern european winner.