Russia plans “Eurovision alternative revival” after 2022 withdrawal

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Russia is planning to revive the “Intervision Song Contest” as an Eurovision alternative after their public broadcasters withdrew from the EBU.  In practice this means that if Russia would like to participate at the Eurovision Song Contest it would have to reapply to the EBU making a return in the near future less likely to happen.

According to the Director General of Channel One, the Russian broadcaster will organize the return of the music festival

“We propose that in the coming year we hold and hold every year an open music, or rather song, competition under the working title “Intervision”. This competition will not have any political restrictions or influences. This is a free platform on which all countries can present samples of their popular music.”

Intervision Song Contest

The Intervision Song Contest was organized during  the Cold War as an alternative to the Eurovision Song Contest.  The contest reunited countries that were part of the Soviet sphere of influence.  The Intervision Song Contest took place between 1965 to 1968 and 1977 to 1980.  In 2008 Russia attempted to revive the contest.  However, the Intervision Song Contest was once again discontinued after the 2008 edition.

During the Cold war countries within the Soviet Union’s sphere of influence such as Bulgaria, Finland or Poland participated at the Intervision Song Contest.  Moreover, the contest was open to countries outside Europe such as Cuba or Canada.

For the 2023 edition of Intervision, Russia is planning to invite BRIC nations and other countries wishing to participate.

Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest

Russia debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994.  The country participated every year in the contest with the exception of 1998, 1999 and 2017.  In 2008 Dima Bilan won the contest with the song “Believe”.  In 2022 the EBU withdraw their invitation to Russia as a consequence of the ongoing war against Ukraine.  This prompt Russian broadcasters to suspend their membership from the EBU.

Source: TASS

Will you watch the Intervision Song Contest 2024?  Do you think the new edition could become a Eurovision alternative?

Stay tuned at EurovisionFun for more news about Intervision and the Eurovision Song Contest 2024!

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Eurovision 2023: Russia will not be able to vote in the “Rest of the World” category!

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An interesting change coming to Eurovision 2023 is the introduction of the “Rest of the World” category, which means that people from non-participating countries will be able to vote for their favorites in this year’s contest. The votes received from all around the globe will be counted as the votes from a single country, which translates to a total of 58 points. There is slight advantage to the audience votes this year, because there will not be a “Rest of the World” category in Jury votes.

Eurovision 2023: Voting changes announced for the upcoming contest!

In today’s press conference, the executive supervisor of Eurovision, Martin Österdahl, mentioned that the “Rest of the World” category was inspired by Junior Eurovision that uses an Online vote since 2017.

I was taken aback that 182 countries voted in Junior Eurovision 2020 in Warsaw, and says something about Eurovision becoming a global phenomenon.

It was also confirmed that EBU will not publish the list of countries that will be eligible to vote using the “Rest of The World” platform. On the other hand, it was known that some countries will not be eligible to vote. One of these is Russia, because payment providers have suspended operations in the country.

Russia, as a result of the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war since February 2022, is expelled from the European Broadcasting Union(EBU), losing its rights to participate and broadcast the EBU programs, including Eurovision. The same might apply also to Belarus, that had its broadcaster expelled from the EBU in 2021 and can reapply for membership in 2024.

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Eurovision 2022: These are the 50 most-watched performances on YouTube!

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For yet another year, just some hours before the New Year, Eurovision TV reveales the 50 songs that got the most views throught the year, on the contest’s official YouTube channel.

On the list, there are 13 winning songs, while 23 more from the 40 songs that took part in Eurovision 2022.

Let’s see the songs that the TOP 50: Most watched in 2022 is consisted of:

50) 🇱🇻 Citi Zēni – “Eat Your Salad” – Latvia 2022 

49) 🇦🇿 Efendi – “Mata Hari” – Azerbaijan 2021

48) 🇫🇮 Blind Channel – “Dark Side” – Finland 2021

47) 🇦🇿 Nadir Rustamli – “Fade To Black” – Azerbaijan 2022

46) 🇬🇷 Helena Paparizou – “My Number One” – Greece 2005

45) 🇹🇷 Mor ve Ötesi – “Deli” – Turkey 2008

44) 🇫🇮 The Rasmus – “Jezebel” – Finland 2022

43) 🇷🇸 Marija Šerifović – “Molitva”– Serbia 2007

42) 🇩🇪 Lena – “Satellite” – Germany 2010

41) 🇸🇪 Måns Zelmerlöw – “Heroes”– Sweden 2015

40. 🇲🇩 Sunstroke Project & Olia Tira – “Run Away” – Moldova 2010

39) 🇮🇹 Mahmood – “Soldi” – Italy 2019

38) 🇬🇷 Amanda Georgiadi Tenfjord – “Die Together” – Greece 2022

37) 🇧🇪 Jérémie Makiese – “Miss You” – Belgium 2022 

36) 🇺🇦 Ruslana – “Wild Dances” – Ukraine  2004

35) 🇷🇺 Sergey Lazarev – “You Are The Only One” – Russia 2016

34) 🇦🇿 Aysel and Arash – “Always” – Azerbaijan 2009

33) 🇺🇦 Jamala – “1944” – Ukraine 2016

32) 🇷🇺 Manizha – “Russian Woman” – Russia 2021

31) 🇵🇹 MARO – “saudade, saudade” – Portugal 2022

30) 🇩🇪 Malik Harris – “Rockstars” – Germany 2022

29) 🇫🇷 Barbara Pravi – “Voilà” – France 2021

28) 🇵🇱 Ochman – “River” – Poland 2022

27) 🇫🇮 Lordi – “Hard Rock Hallelujah” – Finland 2006

26) 🇸🇪 Loreen – “Euphoria” – Sweden 2012

25) 🇨🇾 Eleni Foureira – “Fuego” – Cyprus 2018

24) 🇨🇾 Andromache – “Ela” – Cyprus 2022

23) 🇫🇷 Alvan & Ahez – “Fulenn” – France 2022

22) 🇹🇷 maNga – “We Could Be The Same” – Turkey 2010

21) 🇳🇱 Duncan Laurence – “Arcade” – Netherlands 2019

20) 🇸🇪 Cornelia Jakobs – “Hold Me Closer” – Sweden 2022

19) 🇺🇦 Verka Serduchka – “Dancing Lasha Tumbai” – Ukraine 2007

18) 🇹🇷 Hadise – “Düm Tek Tek” – Turkey 2009

17) 🇦🇹 LUM!X feat. Pia Maria – “Halo” – Austria 2022

16) 🇲🇩 Zdob şi Zdub & Advahov Brothers – “Trenulețul” – Moldova 2022

15) 🇳🇱 S10 – “De Diepte” – Netherlands 2022

14) 🇮🇹 Mahmood & BLANCO – “Brividi” – Italy 2022

13) 🇦🇱 Ronela Hajati –“Sekret” – Albania 2022

12) 🇮🇱 Netta – “TOY” – Israel 2018

11) 🇦🇲 Rosa Linn – “Snap” – Armenia 2022

10)🇷🇸 Konstrakta – ”In Corpore Sano” – Σερβία 2022

9)🇷🇴 WRS – ”Llámame” – Ρουμανία 2022

8)🇺🇦 Go_A – ”Shum” – Ουκρανία 2021

7)🇳🇴 Alexander Rybak – ”Fairytale” – Νορβηγία 2009

6) 🇮🇹 Måneskin – ”Zitti E Buoni’‘ – Ιταλία 2021

5) 🇳🇴 Subwoolfer – ”Give That Wolf A Banana” – Νορβηγία 2022

4)🇬🇧 Sam Ryder – ”SPACE MAN” – Ηνωμένο Βασίλειο 2022

3)🇷🇺 Little Big – ”Uno” – Ρωσία 2020

2)🇪🇸 Chanel – ”SloMo” – Ισπανία 2022

1)🇺🇦 Kalush Orchestra – ”Stefania” – Ουκρανία 2022

 

What do you think of the TOP 50, do you agree with the results? Write us in the comments below!

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Eurovision Song Contest!

Martin Österdahl: “The decision to exclude Russia from Eurovision was hard”!

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The executive supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest said the decision to exclude Russia in 2022 was “hard”.

In a recent interview, Martin Österdahl, the executive supervisor of Eurovision, said although the contest was not political it must always reflect the basic values of democracy.

Martin Österdahl made the comments whilst speaking to Abba’s Bjorn Ulvaeus, who was guest editing the flagship UK radio show, BBC’s Today program.

Asked if the decision to exclude Russia from the contest earlier this year was hard, Osterdahl replied:

“It was, and it still is. How Europe feels very much affects the contest. It is also that when you look back in time you see that the Eurovision Song Contest is like a log book of what has happened in Europe, what the trends have been in Europe,” he added. “But, also, what is the kind of mood and sentiment of Europe, and what is the social context of Europe at the time.”

Why was Russia excluded from Eurovision in 2022?

There was international outcry Russia invaded Ukraine in February this year, with the cultural arena becoming an expression for anti-Putin sentiment.

Performances of Russian art and by Russian artists were cancelled in Poland and the UK, with businesses withdrawing from the country and Russian products withdrawn from supermarket shelves in the west.

Amidst all this, a row brewed about Russia’s participation in the Eurovision Song Contest with neighbouring Finland the first to say they wouldn’t compete with Russia, while Sweden, the Netherlands and Norway all called for Russia to be excluded.

Eventually the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) did exclude Russia from the contest, with Russian national broadcasters suspending their memberships and the EBU preventing them from participating in future contests.

EBU bans Russia from Eurovision 2022!

 

Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra went on to win in Turin, Italy. However, next year’s contest will be hosted in the city of Liverpool after it was judged too dangerous to hold the event in Ukraine.

“When we say that we are not political, what we always should stand up for are the basic and ultimate values of democracy. Everyone is right to be who they are,” Osterdahl continued. This will be a Eurovision Song Contest that really shows the values that we talk about – solidarity, reaching out, uniting through music.”

What do you think about Russia’s exclusion now, many months after the decision? Write us in the comments below!

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Eurovision Song Contest!

Source: euronews.com

Russian pop star Alla Pugacheva condemns war against Ukraine!

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Russian pop star Alla Pugacheva has condemned once again the war her country launched against Ukraine.  The 73 old singer enjoys the status of pop legend in her country since her stage debut in the Soviet Union in the 1970s.

In February 24, Pugacheva condemned the war for the first time on an Instagram post where she wrote:

“I cannot describe what I am feeling right now. How is this all possible? There is no justification for war! No to war!”

Soon after that, Pugacheva and her husband, Maxim Galkin decided to move to Israel with their children.  She returned to Russia in August according to a Russian fashion designer.  It is unclear if she remains in her home country in the present.

However, Pugacheva decided to speak out once more after her husband was designated a foreign agent.  Pugacheva’s husband, a comedian and TV presenter had also condemned the war against Ukraine.  According to the Russian law organizations and individuals that receive funding from abroad can be declared foreign agents. The term carries a strong pejorative sense and implies additional government scrutiny.

In response to this decision from the Russian Ministry of Justice, Pugacheva took social media to respond.  In her message she asked to be named a ‘foreign agent’ like her husband.  She further said her country had “illusory dreams” in Ukraine.  Pugacheva said her husband wished for an end to the death of Russian soldiers, who were “dying for illusory aims that make our country a pariah.”

Alla Pugacheva is also known among Eurovision fans for representing Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest 1997.

Source: CNN, Euronews

“OGAE Russia allegedly supports actions of their government!”

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OGAE Russia has allegedly published an article that makes reference to the Ukraine-Russia war.  Although the article is from February 26 when the war had started, OGAE Ukraine brought it back into the public eye.

As we previously informed, OGAE Ukraine asked OGAE International to disqualify Russia from its annual OGAE Song Contest.  However, the request from OGAE Ukraine has received mixed responses.  There are people who agree to support this petition to show support to Ukraine.  On the other hand, there are fans that consider such a ban would be a “punishment” against Russian artists and fans.  It must be highlighted that OGAE is a fans only organization with no connections to the government of the country.

OGAE Russia publication

 

OGAE Russia published the message above on their website which is still available in this link.  In the last message OGAE Russia is apparently giving a contradictory message stating they are an apolitical organization but at the same time supporting the war.  The sentence roughly translates:

OGAE Russia considers it necessary to express its apolitical position on what is happening in support of the actions of our country. 

OGAE Ukraine has condemned this message.  In a recent publication on Instagram, OGAE Ukraine points out that “this means NOT the support for broadcasters’ decisions, NOT the support for artists, but the support for the actions of their country specifically.  Additionally, they mention that in their statement, OGAE Russia used the picture of a house in Ukraine hit by a Russan missile.

According to OGAE Ukraine, their condemnation also extends to one of the chosen Russian contestants. Vladimir Presniakov has  supposedly expressed his support for the war and took part in a concert in support of the Russian invasion.

 

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for more updates in this and other eurovision related news!

 

The most successful Eurovision countries in the 20s!

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Eurovision is heading to the third decade of the 21st century and it has clearly changed not only in comparison with the past, but also with the recent years. In this article we investigate how countries scored during the first 2 years of the 20s, as well as their average score.

As you can see below, we cannot identify a group of 5-6 performing performing always well, as it used to happen the last years. Only a few countries are consistently doing well, despite the fact that the scores studied are only of the last 2 years. Tougher competition, the success of the contest on social media (TikTok had a business partnership with the contest this year featuring exclusive clips of the first rehearsals on the platform), as well as the high interest by record labels are only some of the reasons why it is harder to perform consistently well, since entries are of higher lever than the past.

Lets see in detail the average score of the countries during this decade:

Country        2022   2021    Average

  1. Ukraine           1          5             3
  2. Italy                 6          1            3,5
  3. Greece             8         10            9
  4. Sweden           4         14             9
  5. Russia             –           9             9
  6. Switzerland    17        3             10
  7. Moldova          7        13            10
  8. Serbia              5         15            10
  9. Portugal          9         12           10.5
  10. Lithuania       14         8             11
  11. France            24         2             13
  12. Spain               3         24           13.5
  13. Iceland          23          4            13.5
  14. Finland          21          6            13.5
  15. United Kingdom 2     26           14
  16. Norway           10         18            14
  17. The Netherlands 11     23          17
  18. Azerbaijan     16          20            18
  19. Belgium          19         19             19
  20. Armenia         20          –              20
  21. Malta               35          7             21
  22. Estonia           13         31             22
  23. Poland            12         33            22.5
  24. Cyprus            29         16            22.5
  25. Romania        18          28            23
  26. Israel              30          17           23.5
  27. Albania          28          21           24.5
  28. Australia        15          34           24.5
  29. Bulgaria         38          11           24.5
  30. Germany        25          25            25
  31. Croatia           26          27           26.5
  32. St. Marino     33          22           27.5
  33. Czech Republic 22     36             29
  34. Denmark        31         29             30
  35. North Macedonia 27 35             31
  36. Austria           36         30             33
  37. Ireland           34         37            35.5
  38. Latvia             32         39            35.5
  39. Slovenia         40        32              36
  40. Montenegro   37         –                37
  41. Georgia           39       38             38.5

As you can see in the table above, there are very few countries where the average of their positions in these two years is below 10. This proves how difficult it has become to be in the top ten. It is even more difficult to have continuous results within top 10, since only three countries have achieved this, Ukraine, Italy and Greece!

It is evident that Italy and Ukraine are the two powerhouses of the competition for this decade (so far). Sweden remains high on the list, but far from the first place it was in the last decade. Greece is recovering dynamically since it is in third place, when in the previous decade it was out of the 20s. Cyprus gets lower scores year by year, unfortunately making us believe that 2018 was just a coincidence and is currently in 24th place!

Regardless of personal taste and opinions, the numbers speak themselves and is clear that Ukraine, Italy and Greece are doing great during this decade. The new strategy of the management of ERT to chose the artist and the song internally, is proven to be successful, after years of bad results and 2 NQ (2016,2018).

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun because the journey to Eurovision 2023 has already begun!

Little Big Leaves Russia Over War In Ukraine

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The popular Russian punk-rave band Little Big says it has decided to leave the country over Moscow’s ongoing, unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

The group issued an anti-war video clip called Generation Cancellation on June 24 to announce that it had rebased in Los Angeles, California.

“We condemn actions of the Russian government, and Russia’s military propaganda is so disgusting for us that we decided to leave everything behind and flee the country,” the group’s leader, Ilya Prusikin, known under the nickname Ilyich, said in a statement.

The members of the group added in the statement that they “adore their country, but absolutely oppose the war in Ukraine.”

Little Big was established in Russia’s second-largest city, St. Petersburg, in 2013. The band was scheduled to represent Russia at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2020.

However, because of the coronavirus pandemic the contest was cancelled. The group didn’t take part in Eurovision in 2021, saying another artist should be given the chance to represent Russia.

Stay tuned at Eurovisionfun for all the updates!

Russia: EBU formally suspends Russian broadcasters!

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This week, the European Broadcasting Union officially suspended its Russian broadcasters from the organization.

RTR , Channel One and Radio Dom Ostankino have now been excluded from the European Broadcasting Union, following a unanimous decision by the Executive Committee earlier this week. The confirmation of the decision was sent to all EBU member broadcasters with a statement reading:

On behalf of the Executive Committee, I would like to inform you of the decision taken by the Council on three Russian members of the EBU (RTR, Channel One and Radio Dom Ostankino) at its meeting yesterday. Based on the measures taken by the Executive Council at its last meeting on April 7, when it launched the suspension procedure, the Council unanimously decided to immediately suspend the three Russian members of the EBU indefinitely, which the Executive Board will review regularly.

The EBU  has banned  Russia from participating in Eurovision 2022, following calls from several broadcasters to do so, following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. All Russian state media that were members of the EBU (VGTRK, Channel One and Radiodom Ostankino) announced their withdrawal from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) in response to Russia’s removal from Eurovision 2022.

Channel One has been a member of the EBU since 1995, VGTRK since 1993 and Radio Dom Ostankino since 1996. Their departure from the EBU would mean that they would no longer be able to compete in Eurovision or access content such as sports events, news and music programs.

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the news!

Source: Eurovoix

Eurovision 2022: See the results of the third day of Press Poll!

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As we informed you in our article, Press Poll 2022 has begun. After all countries have had their three technical rehearsals, it is now time for the accredited to vote for the countries that will advance to the two semifinals, as well as the country that believes she will be the winner of the 66th Eurovision Song Contest.

Below are the results of the semifinals and finals of today’s 11/5 at 21:00:
First Semifinal

Second Semifinal

Grand Final

In the vote for the winner, UK leads, Greece is second, and Spain is third! Greece is ranked first among the accredited journalists here in Turin.

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Source: Ogae International