Every year, Europe has an event called the Eurovision Song Contest, whereby active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union compete against each other to see who has the best song. It has had many years of history (since 1956), and many current/past famous artistes had become famous because of this. Examples include Johnny Logan (who won twice for Ireland with his song "What's Another Year" and "Hold Me Now"), Abba (who won for Sweden with their "Waterloo" song) and Celine Dion (who won for Switzerland).
Denmark's most recent win was in 2000 (funny enough, that was the year when I watched the Eurovision for the very 1st time, and quite by accident too), and the year after, Denmark almost won again (we came in 2nd, and almost became a host country winner).
Over the years, as more countries join in (especially from Eastern Europe), the rules had to be changed, both for selecting qualifying countries into the final, and also to keep the final from becoming too long to watch... . The winner is still decided by a voting system, whereby all country members vote for their favourites via sms (except their own country), and points are awarded from 1-12. The more added points a country gets from the other countries, the better.
Sadly enough, there is a major flaw in this method of deciding the winner. It has somewhat become a very political "game", whereby Eastern European countries give the highest points to each other (especially to Russia), and Nordic countries also tend to do the same amongst each other (Iceland always gives Denmark 12 points, or vice-versa). However, since there are more Eastern European countries than "the rest", it has become a pretty much "1-sided" competition.
And then, let's not forget, we also have a lot of Eastern Europeans living in Western Europe, so again, Ukrainians will obviously vote for Ukraine, whether the song was good or not, and Turkish people in Germany will vote for Turkey, again, whether the song was good or not.
I have therefore decided that this year will be the last time I will watch the Eurovision Song Contest. Until they change the voting system, that is. I mean, I have no interest to watch something whereby politics will decide the best song anyway. It has become so predictable, that the contest itself is now a big joke.
Anyway, I felt that Denmark's entry this year was good, even though Denmark was placed at number 15 (out of 25). Simon Mathew, who represented Denmark, did a pretty good job (he's ½ Indian, ½ Danish btw...so cheers to his Indian ½!!!), and the song IS catchy... . Maybe not a Eurovision winner, but it certainly had the potential to be one. Should have been at least in the top 10 in my opinion... . But ok, maybe I'm also a bit/very biased because his brother serves at my church, and he and his 2 sisters are sometimes there too ;o).
Well...here is the Danish entry for you:
Simon Mathew - "ALL NIGHT LONG"
And the Russian winner (that I think would be MUCH better if it was done in Russian since his accent when singing in English is a bit funny. Good song though, I'll grant you that. Sounds a bit "oriental-style", I think):
Dima Bilan - "BELIEVE"
Btw, it must have been very cold for him to be barefooted on the ice towards the end! Didn't notice that until now... .
