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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

Junior Eurovision 2023: The Irish representative has been decided!

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As Junior Eurovision 2023 draws ever closer, it’s Ireland’s turn to announce the artist who will represent the country next month in Nice.

Jessica McKean was crowned the winner of the Junior Eurovision Éire 2023 national final, which was broadcast last night, having earlier been filmed at the RTÉ studios in Dublin. The result was determined entirely by public vote, after each contestant was tasked to perform two songs, an irish-language cover of a popular song and a cover of a former Irish Eurovision entry.

The song that Jessica will perform in Nice will be specially written for her and is expected to be revealed at a later date.

Ireland managed to achieve their best result at Junior Eurovision last year, as Sophie Lennon finished in 4th place with the song “Solas”.

https://youtu.be/P4oMG2EKF8Q

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all news regarding our favorite contest!

Ireland: Deadline for submissions extended until 20 October!

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RTÉ, Ireland’s national broadcaster, has extended the deadline for submissions for Eurovision 2024 to 20 October.

Originally the deadline for submissions was to close this Friday 29 September. However, the submission window for those interested in representing Ireland at Eurovision 2024 has been extended to 20 October.

All other rules that apply to the selection remain the same:

  • Entries must not exceed three minutes.
  • Entries must not have been performed live or released before 1 September 2023.
  • Songwriters may only submit one song each.
  • Artists may not participate in the selection of another country.

All entries will be reviewed by a panel of music professionals and Eurovision fans selected by RTÉ. At a later date, performers may be invited to participate in a live audition at RTÉ’s studios in Dublin.

A shortlist of performers will be selected to appear in a televised national selection in early 2024. The exact format of the selection is yet to be confirmed. Submissions are only accepted via the RTÉ website here

Wild Youth represented Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 in Liverpool with the song “We Are One”. However, they failed to qualify for the grand final, finishing 12th out of 15 semi-finalists with a total of 10 points.

Source: eurovoix.com

Stay tuned to EurovisionFun for all the updates on our favourite contest!

Ireland: Cruachan submitted an entry for Eurovision 2024!

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RTÉ, Ireland’s national broadcaster, has confirmed its participation in Eurovision 2024 and will hold a national final selection process once again.

The submissions’ deadline is Friday 29th of September 2023. Artists and songwriters are invited to submit their songs on RTE‘s website with the Irish broadcaster emphasizing that is searching for experienced artists.

In fact, we may have the first contender for the Irish representation in Eurovision 2024. Cruachan, a well known Irish metal-folk band, has expressed its interest for Eurovision. They also tried their luck in 2023 but were not selected in the final lineup. Cruachan informed us via its social media that it has already submitted an entry into consideration for Eurovision 2024. Specifically:

We’ve submitted our entry for consideration to represent Ireland in Eurovision 2024. When we made the submission last year we said its time for Ireland to stop sending pop music and take a chance on something different. Another pop song was sent and again did not make the final. We believe Ireland’s greatest strength is our traditional music, and traditional music has always been Cruachan’s greatest strength.
Our submission, Talamh, is as true a Cruachan song as there could ever be. This was in the early stages to appear on the next album but we decided we would take it, shorten it, and use it for Eurovision. We love Eurovision and would be honoured to represent our country there. Hopefully we at least get to the televised final and the public can then make the ultimate decision.
#cruachanforeurovision

In an newer post, they also mentioned that “Talamh“, their submitted entry, will be dilingual. The verses are in English and the chorus in Gaelic.

Who are Cruachan?

Dublin-based Cruachan is an Irish folk metal band that has been performing since the 1990s. They are acknowledged as one of the folk metal genre’s pioneers. Cruachan’s brand of folk metal is known as Celtic metal because of its emphasis on Celtic music and the incorporation of Celtic mythology in its lyrics. The Irish archaeological site of Rathcroghan, sometimes known as Cruachan, inspired the band’s name.

Cruachan’s proposal seems like a return to the roots of Irish music tradition, something that Ireland has long left in the past. Will Irish and Celtic music prove to be game-changing for the so-called “Queen of Eurovision“?

Stay tuned on EurovisionFun for all news!

Ireland: RTÉ unveils the cost of participating in Eurovision 2023!

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RTÉ, Ireland’s public broadcaster, has revealed the cost of the country’s participation in Eurovision for the last four contests, namely from 2019 to 2023.

Through the website Irish Mirror, the public broadcaster revealed that they paid €340,000 for the participation of Wild Youth in Liverpool, which includes €58,129 for the staging and €105,099 for the participation fee to EBU. This was the country’s highest cost in four years.

Below you can see Ireland’s cost of participating, from 2019 to 2023:

  • 2023 – €340,000 including participation fee 105.099€
  • 2022 – €315,161 – including participation fee 92,588€
  • 2021 – €330,000 – including participation fee 88,100€
  • 2019 – €336,000

As we can see from the figures, after the exclusion of Russia and Belarus from the EBU, the cost of participation has increased for all other participating broadcasters. Ireland’s participation fee has increased by €16,999 from 2021, an increase of 19.3%.

RTÉ has already announced that it will be competing in Eurovision 2024. Submissions are open for anyone wishing to represent Ireland at Eurovision 2024, as in early 2024, a shortlist of artists will perform their songs on television, from which the winner will be the representative of the country in the contest.

Wild Youth represented Ireland at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023.  Sadly, they did not qualify to the Grand Final.  Ireland has not qualified to the Grand Final since 2018

Source: Irish Mirror

Stay tuned at EurovisionFun for all the latest news about Ireland and the Eurovision Song Contest 2024!

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Ireland: Niamh Kavanagh will be the Irish spokesperson for Eurovision 2023!

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Niamh Kavanagh will be the spokesperson of Ireland during the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023.

The spokesperson of Ireland for this year will be the one and only winner of Eurovision Song Contest 1993, with her song “In Your Eyes”. Niamh Kavanagh, was one of the contest’s winners, during the golden ages of Ireland, and then represented the country again in 2010. Tomorrow night, Niamh will return once again, in order to announce the Twelve Points of the Irish jury.

As of now, the foloowing spokespersons have been confirmed for Eurovision 2023 in Liverpool:
  • Albania– Andri Xhahu
  • Austria– Philipp Hansa
  • Azerbaijan– Narmin Salmanova
  • Cyprus– Loukas Hamatsos
  • Estonia – Ragnar Klavan
  • Finland– Bess
  • Greece – Fotis Sergoulopoulos
  • Ireland – Niamh Kavanagh
  • Israel – Ilanit
  • Italy – Kaze
  • Latvia– Jānis Pētersons
  • Netherlands– S10
  • Poland– Ida Nowakowska
  • Portugal – Maro
  • Romania– Eda Marcus
  • San Marino – John Kennedy O’Connor
  • Spain – Ruth Lorenzo
  • Sweden– Farah Abadi
  • Switzerland– Chiara Dubey
  • Ukraine– Zlata Ognevich
  • United Kingdom– Catherine Tate

Follow us on all social media, so you do not miss a moment of what is going on in Liverpool:

Stay tuned at EurovisionFun for all the latest news regarding the Eurovision Song Contest!

Ireland: Wild Youth cut ties with their creative director over ‘transphobic’ tweets!

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With just two weeks to go until Eurovision Ireland’s act Wild Youth have decided to stop working with their creative director.

The termination of the relationship between Wild Youth and Ian Banham came after screen grabs, said to have been taken from his account, began circulating on Twitter with what could be considered offensive messaging. The tweets allegedly referred to transgender women as men.

In a statement posted on Twitter the band wrote: ‘Wild Youth is a band that stands for unity and kindness. Our song represents our beliefs as a band. We have cut all ties with Ian Banham and will not have him on or near our team or Eurovision journey. We are so sorry for anyone offended by his comments.

Ian Banham

This comes after Eurovision Discord, who usually remain anonymous and share news from the music competition, publicly condemned the appointment.

According to Ian’s website he has worked with Lily Allen, Kylie Minogue, Katya Jones, Cheryl and Westlife. He also works as a choreographer and creative on Dancing With The Stars in Ireland.

Ireland will perform at the first semi-final on May 9.

Source: Metro

Ireland: The entries of Eurosong 2023 have been revealed!

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Ireland’s public broadcaster, RTÉ, has announced the six artists who will take part in Eurosong 2023, the country’s national final, that will determine the representative of Ireland in Eurovision 2023 in Liverpool.

Six artists in Eurosong 2023

This morning through RTÉ Radio 1’s morning show, presenter Ryan Tubridy announced the six shortlisted acts who will compete for the Eurovision 2023 ticket, and their six songs were also revealed.

The six artists and their songs that will compete in Eurosong 2023 are:

  1. ADGY – “Too Good For Your Love“
  2. CONNOLLY – “Midnight Summer Night“
  3. K Muni x ND – “Down in the Rain“
  4. Leila Jane – “Wild“
  5. Public Image Limited – “Hawaii“
  6. Wild Youth – “We Are One“

You can listen to all the songs here.

Format

Eurosong 2023 is due to take place on 3 February. Unlike last year, there will be no Irish jury. Instead, an international jury and the vote of the TV audience will be used to decide the winning song. Six songs will take part in the selection, which will be presented through the Late Late Show.

In 2022, Brooke represented the country with the song “That’s Rich” but failed to qualify for the Grand Final finishing at the 15th place in the second Semi-Final with 47 points.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq2AJrWm04s

Stay tuned to Eurovisionfun for all the developments regarding Ireland’s participation in Eurovision 2023, in Liverpool!

Source: RTÉ

Ireland: More information about Eurosong 2023!

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The songs that are going to compete in the Irish national final for Eurovision 2023, are now in the process of being selected.

The Irish Eurosong 2023, the country’s new national final, is now being organized by RTÉ, the  Irish public broadcaster. A jury panel has now listened to all the songs submitted and is going to pick the songs that will compete in the national final, the next days. Many artists have announced themselves that they have submitted their songs for the national final and they have gotten further information on whether they have been selected or not.

Cruachan, for example, are a metal folk band from Dublin that has been in the music scene since the beginning of the 1990s and they were among the favourites to take part in Eurosong 2023. In an Instagram post, they announced that they had a word with Michael Kealy, the Head of Music and Entertainment of RTÉ, who informed them that the juries liked their songs but unfortunatelly was not one of the six songs that qualified for the final. Their song, however, is going to be published around the time of the next contest.

We remind you that Eurosong 2023, the national final of Ireland for Eurovision Song Contest 2023, is most likely going to take place in February 3.

The previous winner of the Irish Eurosong and Ireland’s representative in Eurovision 2022 was Brooke with the song “That’s Rich“, who didn’t manage to qualify for the final, ending up in 15th place of the second semi-final:

Stay tuned on Eurovisionfun for all the news regarding the Irish participation at the Eurovision Song Contest 2023, in Liverpool!RTÉ

Louis Walsh speaks on Eurovision and RTE plans for next year!

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Former UK X-Factor judge and music manager Louis Walsh spoke to Sunday World and was asked about Ireland in Eurovision. The former manager of Eurovision winners Linda Martin and Johnny Logan revealed that if there is a good song and artist, he would be involved with RTE and Eurovision while he hinted about a new approach of the broadcaster for next year.

When asked about Ireland in the contest he answered:

“I think Ireland has to forget about the past and how we did in the past and just get a great song. We need a great song and a great singer, and the performance is key. It wasn’t cool for a lot of people to do Eurovision in the past, but I think the Italian group, Måneskin, changed all that after they won. They’re now a hugely successful worldwide act thanks to Eurovision. (…) England hadn’t done well in recent years, but they sent a great song and a great singer to the Eurovision this year and they nearly won, and that’s what we have to do”

He revealed a new head of entertainment for RTE is appointed, already planning “something great”.

“So the power is there if you’ve got the right song and the right artist. We cannot be sending amateurs. RTE has a new head of entertainment and music called Alan Tyler and I know that he’s got plans for it. Both him and Michael Kealy [executive producer] are bound to come up with something great. They are already talking about it.”

Do you think Ireland can return to the Grand Final next year? Tell us in the comments!

Source: Sunday World