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Romania: EBU still in talks with TVR regarding the country’s participation in Malmö!

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A month ago, EBU revealed the list of the participating countries for Eurovision 2024.

Romania was not included in the list, while it was highlighted by the EBU that a decision regarding Romania’s participation had not been taken yet. In fact, EBU granted the Romanian broadcaster with an extension on early December, while the country’s fate at Eurovision still remains unknown.

Romania’s participation in Eurovision 2024 still remains under discussion, as TVR confirmed through Eurovoix. Specifically, TVR is awaiting the approval of the 2024 state budget, which includes funding for Romania‘s public broadcaster. Any information regarding the deadline given to TVR has not yet been disclosed.

Romania’s representative in Eurovision 2023, was Theodor Andrei, with his song “D.G.T. (Off and On)” which did not make it to the Final, ending up dead last in the semi-final with nul points.

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all the news!

Source: eurovoix.com

Ιreland: RTÉ is asked to boycott Eurovision 2024 because of Israel’s involvement!

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Following the reveal of the participants’ list in Eurovision 2024, several backlash was made regarding Israel’s participation regardless the ongoing war. Along with the petition on Association of Composers and Lyricists of Iceland asking RUV to boycott the contest, RTÉ, the Irish national broadcaster, has also received a petition to withdraw from the contest too.

In fact, RTÉ has received approximately 465 emails calling to “immediately withdraw support and participation in the contest next year, if Israel is permitted to compete”.

According to this petition, in case Ireland participates in the contest alongside with Israel, it means that the nation supports the atrocities currently being carried out by Israel in Palestine.

Moreover, the protestors also state that Israel’s participation is a tool used by the country’s government in order to portray itself as a modern, liberal, forward-thinking state, despite the years of occupation and violence against Palestine.

It is also noted that the protestors are aware that Ireland’s boycott will not bring the end of the atrocities but it will serve as a symbol of solidarity with the Palestinian people, calling the nation to use its voice as to condemn the actions of the Israeli government. Thus, it is similar to the message of solidarity sent by Europe to Ukraine in 2022 during the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The petition of the Association of Composers and Lyricists of Iceland to RÚV

A few days ago the Association of Composers and Lyricists of Iceland opposed the country’s participation in Eurovision 2024 unless Israel is disqualified. Via their petition they stated the following:

The board of FTT, an association of composers and lyricists, calls on RÚV not to participate in Eurovision in 2024 unless Israel is denied participation in the competition on the same grounds as Russia in the last competition. We all have a duty to take a stand against war and the killing of civilians and innocent children. We always have the choice not to put our name to such things, whether we are individuals or state institutions. We owe it to the nations that act with military force to not share with them in an event that is always characterized by joy and optimism.

The reaction of RTÉ and EBU

RTÉ takes into account the petition and the protests but it does not seem that neither RTÉ nor any other EBU member will take action, boycotting the contest. Specifically, an RTÉ’s spokesperson mentions:

RTÉ has always approached the event in the spirit in which it was founded – which is a non-political contest designed to unite audiences and bring people together through a shared love of music and entertainment.

and

RTÉ is not aware of any participating Public Service Broadcaster who is planning to boycott the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest.

Furthermore, EBU responds to the protestors stating that the Union itself serves as an alliance of public service media organizations and hence the Eurovision Song Contest is a competition for broadcasters – not governments.

Regarding Israel’s participation in Eurovision 2024 EBU, via a spokesperson, claims that:

We are a member-led organisation. The governing bodies of the European Broadcasting Union represent the membership.

These bodies have reviewed the participants list and agreed that the Israeli public broadcaster KAN meets all the competition rules and can participate in the Contest next year in Malmö, Sweden, alongside 36 other broadcasters.

Protests against Israel’s participation in Eurovision 2024 are growing in Europe, though this is not the first time. When Tel Aviv hosted the contest in 2019, there were numerous petitions circulated throughout Europe in order to boycott the event, but none were successful.

 

What do you think? Will any of EBU members decide to boycott the 68th Eurovision Song Contest? Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all news!

Source: The Journal

Eurovision 2024: The theme art of the 68th Eurovision Song Contest!

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The theme art of the 68th Eurovision Song Contest has just been revealed. Following EBU’s announcement it is now revealed that “The Eurovision Lights” will serve as the theme art for the contest held in Malmö.

https://youtu.be/tBzQQHJpLS8

This visual identity for Eurovision 2024 was created by combining the northern lights and the harmonic rhythm of sound equalizers. ‘The Eurovision Lights’ is a concept based on simple linear gradients, inspired by the vertical lines that pervade both the northern lights and sound equalizers, and was designed to be a versatile identity that can be adapted based on need and device.

The Deputy Executive Producer of the Eurovision Song Contest 2024, namely Christel Tholse Willers, mentions that:

We are so proud to present an identity that is designed to be flexible and useful both on and off screen. It is inspired by the magnificent ‘northern lights’, the beauty and mystery of which has been transformed into ‘The Eurovision Lights’. It is a captivating and beautiful mix of the Eurovision Song Contest’s sparkling brand colours that will not only be seen across the three live shows but also in exciting variations in different contexts across the event’s digital platforms and gives a Eurovision feel in Malmö’s urban spaces.

Johan Bello from design agency Uncut, the creator of the artwork mentions:

The identity is not just a logo but a story in itself, with the northern lights as the basis and the Eurovision Song Contest’s [brand] colour palette as the driving force. This union of elements creates a dynamic and versatile palette that will open up for creative use in different ways.

Sidney Lim, who was also involved in the design, added:

Our goal is to use clean, simple gradients as basic building blocks to create a Eurovision identity that is bright, modern and forward-looking.

The 68th Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Malmö, Sweden during 7-11 of May 2024, following Loreen’s second win in Liverpool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BE2Fj0W4jP4

What do you think of this year’s theme art? Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all news!

Source: eurovision.tv

EBU: Israel’s public broadcaster complies with the rules of Eurovision 2024!

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In a public statement to the Belgian newspaper HLN, the EBU comments on its announcement regarding the list of 37 competing countries in Eurovision 2024, with the inclusion of Israel in this list.

The announcement of the list with the 37 competing nations of the 68th Eurovision Song Contest by EBU a few days ago, was a matter of controversy on the social media, since a part of the eurofans considered that Israel should have been disqualified from the upcoming contest.

In fact, there were not a few who compared the case of Russia with that of Israel, accusing the EBU of having double standards in similar cases.

Responding to a relevant question from the Belgian newspaper HLN, the EBU comments that the list of countries that are going to compete in Eurovision 2024 has been approved by the relevant bodies of the association, while regarding Israel it replies that its participation is given, since its public television fully comlies with the competition regulations.

“The EBU’s governing bodies […] reviewed the list of participants and decided that the Israeli public broadcaster complies with all competition rules”

The EBU’s decision is reasonable at this time. It is worth reminding that the case of Russia and Belarus’ disualification are two completely different cases. Russia’s public television was expelled by the EBU due to its use by the Russian government as a propaganda tool in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, violating its territorial integrity. As far as Belarus is conserned, a temporary exclusion from the competition and from the EBU for three years was decided, as a penalty for the attempt of the country’s public television to politicize Eurovision 2021, by sending an entry with clear political lyrics.

The case of Israel has nothing to do with the above, since the war conflict did not start with its own fault on the one hand and on the other hand its war response came as a result of the terrorist attack by Hamas on October 7th.

Since the question around Israel’s inclusion in the upcoming contest was solved, the only thing pending now is whether Romania will manage to be present in Malmö, in May, raising the number of the participating countries to 38.

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the updates around the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest!

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Κosovo: RTK present at the EBU’s General Assembly!

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Kosovo continues to take steps toward a future Eurovision representation. RTK, Kosovo’s national broadcaster, has been lobbying for years to become a full EBU member, allowing the country to participate in EBU events under its own name.

Furthermore, it appears that the EBU is now more open to the idea, as RTK was able to attend the EBU’s General Assembly in Geneva last week. The aforementioned invitation shows that the EBU does not have a negative attitude toward Kosovo, despite the latter’s lack of full membership.

https://twitter.com/esckosovo/status/1732704633007616110?s=12&t=XPSOHH5hrngdRLhmFDTFHg

The challenges that Kosovo is facing

The presence of RTK at the EBU’s General Assembly does not necessarily imply that Kosovo is on its way to becoming an EBU member, as there are several obstacles to overcome. Initially, Kosovo is not a member of the International Television Union or the United Nations. The latter is thought to be the most difficult obstacle, as a possible Kosovar participation would spark massive controversy among the other participants and could result in mass withdrawals. As a result, the EBU should consider all the relevant factors before approving Kosovo.

Festivali i Këngës në RTK

Regardless its inability to participate at the Eurovision Song Contest, Kosovo has just held its first “national selection”, Festivali i Këngës në RTK. The festival is similar to the Albanian version of Festivali i Këngës, and would give the right to its winner to represent the country at the contest just as if it was allowed to participate. FiK në RTK can be considered as a source of leverage for its participation in Eurovision. La Fazani’s song “Oj Kosova” was the first to win the festival in Pristina.

https://youtu.be/JOgcsrU2KE8

Kosovo has also participated in the Eurovision Young Dancers at 2011 and has also been represented at time by its artists on behalf of other countries. For example, the Albanian representatives at Eurovision 2023, namely Albina and Familja Kelmendi were of Kosovar origin.

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all news!

Romania: TVR received extra time from the EBU to pay the participation fee!

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The EBU published then list of participating countries, taking part in Eurovision 2024 and even though Romania was abscent, it was mentioned that discussions are still underway, regarding their participation. More information was given away earlier today, on what really happened on Romania’s participation, and if that is possible. Read more

Eurovision 2024: The rules of Eurovision 2024 are released! | The ratio between juries and televoting is still not specified!

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EBU has released through the official Eurovision website the rules of the 2024 contest to be held in Malmö, Sweden.

What needs to be pointed out is that the National Juries and the National Audiences will be combined according to a ration which will be decided later. More specifically the rules specify:

“In the Final; the points of the National Audiences and of the National Juries shall be combined according to a ratio which is determined by the EBU, subject to the Reference Group approval, to calculate the official result of the Final.

For example, if the ratio is 50-50, the points of the National Jury carry the same weight as the points of the National Audiences”

As it seems there are also still no plans to introduce the use of Auto-Tune in the contest and use of such or lipsyncing are explicitly prohibited. The pre-recorded backing vocals are still allowed in this year’s contest too.

Do you think that there will be a later announcement for a change in the ratio of combined voting, by EBU? Let us know in the comments section below!

Source: EBU

The Eurovision participation fee is going up for another year!

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In an interview with Eirevision, Michael Kealy, the head of the Irish delegation for the Eurovision Song Contest, disclosed that the participation fee will rise for another year.

To be eligible to compete in the competition, the national broadcasters must pay a fee annually. This amount varies between countries primarily as a result of differences in population but also due to economic factors. According to the announcement made during the September meeting of the participating countries’ heads of delegation in Berlin, this cost is expected to increase once more this year.

The EBU cites the competition’s “not economically viable” condition as the cause of this increase. The aforementioned matter emerged subsequent to Belarus and Russia’s disqualifications from the EBU. Russia was one of the countries that contributed the most financially to the contest due to its big population and robust economy. Therefore, the other participating countries should now pay this amount.

This expense accounts for one-third of the funding that Ireland’s public television broadcaster has available for the competition, as the leader of the Irish delegation stated. This sum climbed to €105,099 in 2023 from €92,588 in 2022. This amount was €180,000 for Romania in 2023 and €347,697 for Spain in the same year.

Stay tuned on EurovisionFun to stay up to date on all the latest news about the world’s largest music competition!

Source: Eirevision Podcast

Junior Eurovision: Ticket sale starts today!

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Exactly one month from now, the 21st Junior Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Nice, France. After Lissandro’s win with “Oh Maman!” in Yerevan, France Télévisions is hosting the contest in Palais Nikaïa.

Excluding Ireland, 15 out of 16 competing songs are already out and the public televisions decided to commence the ticket selling for the contest.

The tickets for the Grand Final, started selling today at 12:00 CET, directly from the website of Palais Nikaïa, and they cost 15€ seated and 20€ standing (including taxes)

The official website of the contest, strongly suggests that you only buy tickets from the authorised seller.

The 21st Junior Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Nice, France, on the 26th of November, following Lissandro’s win last year in Yerevan.

What do you think of the Armenian entry for Junior Eurovision 2023? Write us in the comments below!

Source: junioreurovision.tv

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2023, in France!

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Kosovo: EBU is positive on RTK’s Festivali i Këngës!

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The Director of the first Festivali i Këngës in Kosovo, has stated that they have received a positive response from the EBU, regarding their music festival. Read more