The Eurovision organizers had good purpose: to unite the disparate countries of Europe after the Second World War in a single musical impulse. In 1956, the first competition was held, and the location was chosen as well as possible: the action took place in Lugano, a southern city in Switzerland, distinguished by its diplomacy. The victory was also won by the representative of this country - Liz Assia with the song Refrain. Since this year, the show has never been cancelled.

Eurovision rules

Participants are required to have live sound (the recording can only contain accompaniment), an original three-minute composition and no more than 6 people on stage at the same time. You can sing in any language. Participants must be over 16 years old: for minor musicians, Junior Eurovision was founded in 2003 (participants children's competition 2006, the Tolmachev sisters represented Russia at the adult competition in 2014).

The show airs on live, and after that SMS voting begins, allowing you to choose the best performers. Depending on the number of voters, participants receive from 12 to 1 points from each country (or do not receive any points if they are not voted for). And six years ago, music experts joined the audience: five professionals from each country also vote for their favorite songs.

Sometimes countries receive the same number of points - in this case, the number of 10 and 12 point assessments is taken into account. By the way, in 1969, when this rule had not yet been taken into account, four countries were declared winners: France, Spain, the Netherlands and Great Britain. The other participants didn’t like this much, so now the jury is choosing their favorite more carefully.

Eurovision countries

Only countries that are members of the European Broadcasting Union can participate in Eurovision (hence the name of the competition), that is, it is not geography that is important, but the channel that will broadcast the show live. For many applicants, this regulation becomes a serious obstacle: Kazakhstan, which submitted an application to join the EMU, was never approved by the organizers of the competition.

The organizers of Eurovision do not generally advocate much for new participants, but this does not interrupt the appetite of many countries dreaming of participating in the competition. Compared to 1956, the number of performers has increased 9 times: instead of 7 countries, 39 are now competing. By the way, Australia will take the stage this year. The green continent will be represented for the first time in history by singer Guy Sebastian. The only “but”: if Australia wins, they have not yet been allowed to host Eurovision.

But there are those who are never denied participation: these are the countries of the so-called “Big Five”, which includes Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. These states never hesitate for qualifying performances and always automatically find themselves in the finals.

Eurovision refusals

Eurovision is an expensive pleasure, so the most common reason for country refusals is economic. In second place is politics, which every now and then interferes with the competition. For example, Armenia refused to send its musicians to Baku in 2012 due to strained relations with Azerbaijan, and Morocco did not appear at the competition for a long time due to conflicts with Israel.

There are also those who do not want to go to the show, accusing the judges of bias. The most dissatisfied country was the Czech Republic: since 2009, the state has stubbornly avoided Eurovision (over three years of participation, the Czechs scored a total of only 10 points), and only this year they decided to try their hand again.

This year, Türkiye, which has accumulated complaints, said “no.” Muslims are angry about bearded Conchita Wurst's victory last year and Finnish Krista Siegfrids' lesbian kiss with her backing singer, which was caught on camera during the semi-finals in 2013.

Famous Eurovision participants

Many performers believe that Eurovision is a stepping stone to global popularity. In fact, the competition may give a few seconds of fame, but few people give the chance to become truly famous. There are also pleasant exceptions. For example, in 1974 Swedish group ABBA, at that moment little known even within their native country, won first place with the song Waterloo. This victory instantly brought success to the group all over the world: 8 singles of the group, one after another, firmly settled at the top of the British charts, and in the USA, three of the quartet’s albums went gold and one went platinum. By the way, the hit Waterloo in 2005, thanks to a vote of viewers from 31 countries, was recognized as the best Eurovision song in history.

Celine Dion was already a star in Canada and France by the time of the competition. The victory in 1988 with the song Ne partez pas sans moi (the singer represented Switzerland) expanded her geography: Dion’s records began to be sold in Asia, Australia and most European countries, and made her think about recording singles on English language. A similar story happened with the Spaniard Julio Iglesias, who in 1994 reached fourth place with the song Gwendolyne, and then learned to sing in Portuguese, French and Italian and made a name for himself in Europe.

For the group Brainstorm, which took third place in 2000 (these, by the way, were the first performers to perform in the competition from Latvia), Eurovision, if it didn’t open up the whole planet, allowed them to successfully tour Scandinavia and consolidate their success in Eastern Europe, the Baltics and Russia.

It also happened the other way around: when well-known performers took part in a music competition, but they never achieved leadership in the competition. Thus, Tatu, despite encouraging forecasts, took only third place, the British Blue became 11th, and Patricia Kaas was eighth.

Eurovision scandals

People like to criticize Eurovision: the first places were probably bought, the lyrics are unoriginal, and countries vote not for the composition, but for their neighbors. Even the texts, behavior and appearance of some participants in the competition become the cause of conflicts.

In 1973, fans of the Israeli singer Ilanit were seriously worried about the singer’s life. On the eve of the competition, the singer received threats from Islamic radicals who did not hide the impending attack. Nevertheless, the performer went on stage, having previously donned a bulletproof vest. Fortunately, nothing dangerous to her life happened.

In 2007, a scandal arose around a Ukrainian participant, singer Verka Serduchka (aka Andrey Danilko), in whose song the words “Russia, good bye” were heard. The culprit of the story herself explained that the text contains the phrase Lasha Tumbai, translated from Mongolian as “whipped cream.” Be that as it may, Verka’s performance turned out to be prophetic: relations with Russia have deteriorated sharply, and now the singer is a rare bird in our area.

And the Spaniard Daniel Dijes was “lucky” to be the victim of the hooligan in the red cap, Jimmy Jump, who usually breaks into football matches to make the audience laugh and get into the frame. In 2010, Jimmy chose Eurovision as the venue and snuck onto the stage during Daniel's performance. Jimmy showed off in front of the cameras for a full 15 seconds until the shocked security began to act. Dihes (who didn't lose his cool during Jump's antics) was allowed to sing again.

Non-standard participants in the show - representatives of sexual minorities or alternative musical genres - also attract attention. Several times such musicians managed to win, which angered many spectators, but did not cancel their victory. In 1998 it was transgender Dana International from Israel; in 2006, hard rockers Lordi caused a wave of irritation, and last year the bone of contention was Thomas Neuwirth, who appeared on stage in the image of a woman with a beard, Conchita Wurst.

Eurovision is a pop song competition held by the countries of the European Broadcasting Union. One representative from each member country of the union takes part in the competition. To participate you must submit an application. A live broadcast is used to demonstrate the completion of the competition. A representative of one country (or a team), participating in the competition, can perform one pop composition, which lasts no more than 3 minutes. According to the terms of the competition, no more than six artists can be on stage at the same time. The song that becomes the most popular is determined by voting, in which television viewers and a jury from all countries participating in the semi-finals and finals participate.

The first competition took place in 1956. Since then it has been held every year. It is the most popular (non-sporting) event in the world. The audience that the competition gathers is 600 million viewers. Eurovision, in addition to the member countries of the union, is shown in a number of countries around the world and the CIS, which are located outside the borders of Europe. 2000 was the first year when the singing competition began to be shown on the Internet. In 2006, there were 74 thousand online viewers.

Participation in the Eurovision Song Contest provides big influence to the fame of the artists. The world learned about the legendary ABBA (1974) and Celine Dion (1988) thanks to the competition.

Rules. Basic provisions of Eurovision

Throughout the history of this song competition, the rules of participation have changed several times. Today's rules say that the participating country must select the performer in any way. The sound at the competition is live, the song is performed once. The sequence of performances is determined by drawing lots. After the performance last participant, voting takes place within 15 minutes. You cannot vote for a representative of your own country. In parallel with television viewers, a professional jury takes part in voting. The votes are summed up and the total score is displayed, which the participant receives.

Requirements for a song at Eurovision

The song must be new. The performance must be live. You are only allowed to use accompaniment recording. The language in which the song is written can be any.

Requirements for Eurovision participants

The participant must be at least 16 years old and of any nationality. The country's representative at the competition may not even be its citizen. Appearance the participant must be decent. A contract is concluded with the winner, under the terms of which he undertakes to attend all events held by the broadcasting union.

National Eurovision selections

There can only be one song per country. Only in 1956 two songs took part in the competition. Songs in countries are chosen by voting.

Television broadcasting and Eurovision venue

All EBU member countries can broadcast the competition. Changing anything in the broadcast is prohibited.

The winner country of the previous competition is chosen as the venue for the competition. Most of the costs fall on the EMU. A few weeks after winning the competition, preparations begin for the next competition.

There have been cases of refusal to hold a competition. In 1972, Monaco refused to host the competition (there was no venue in the country). In 1974, Luxembourg refused because preparation required a lot of costs.

Most often, the singing competition took place in the UK. During the period from 1960 to 1988 - eight times.

Eurovision semi-final and final

These stages were introduced in 2004. Since 2001, the Big Four countries - Great Britain, France, Germany and Spain - have qualified for the finals regardless of the number of votes. In 2011, Italy joined them.

Eurovision voting

The voting system currently in place was first used in 1975. Each country awards points to the 10 countries it considers the best. The song that gets the most votes gets 12 points and then in descending order. Since 1998, following the example of five countries, all countries have introduced televoting for viewers. But the national jury still exists. Viewers vote using phone calls or SMS voting.

Announcement of Eurovision votes

The announcement of the results occurs in ascending order, ending with the highest score - 12. According to the latest rules, the queue for announcing the voting results is determined by drawing lots.

Equal number of points at Eurovision

There were cases during the competition when participants received the same number of votes. Then the winner was determined by the number of countries that voted for this participant, regardless of the scores. Based on the total number of “12” points that he received, as well as the total number of all ratings that the participant received.

If all these indicators coincide, then only then will several people be named winners.

Neighborhood voting at Eurovision

Viewers often cast their votes not for a specific participant, but for the country of which they are representatives. The organizers of the competition are trying to minimize this phenomenon, since it interferes with the main goal of the competition - stimulating the creation of original compositions.

History of Eurovision

The idea of ​​holding a competition arose in the 50s of the last century. It was approved by the EMU General Assembly, which was held in Rome in 1955. The official goal was to hold an annual festival of the Eurovision Song Contest, which would be broadcast throughout Europe and help identify talented and original songs in the popular music genre.

The first name of the competition is “Eurovision Grand Prix”, which took place in 1956 in Switzerland. As the number of participants increased, it was decided to eliminate countries that show the worst results.

Ireland has the largest number of victories - 7, followed by Sweden, Great Britain, France and Luxembourg with 5 each.

Style of music at Eurovision

The style of music is chosen by the performer. Restrictions are imposed only on texts in terms of prohibiting the use of obscene expressions, political appeals and insults. Many are trying to prepare a song that fits the format of the competition that has developed during its existence.

Almost regularly, performers in the style of rock, jazz, rap and blues began to participate in the competition. However, they practically do not achieve success.

Eurovision participating countries

The competition participants are countries that are members of the European Broadcasting Union. Several representatives of Asia are taking part: from Armenia, Israel and Cyprus, as well as countries located in both Europe and Asia: Turkey, Russia, Georgia, Azerbaijan.

Total number of countries that took part in the competition (in different time) - 51.

The unrealized idea of ​​the USSR participating in Eurovision

In the territory former USSR The competition has been broadcast since 1965. In 1987, the possibility of the USSR participating in the competition was considered. A proposal was made to send Valery Leontyev to the competition. But the idea was not supported by Gorbachev.

From the countries of the former Union, 10 states took part in the competition and representatives of Estonia in 2001, Latvia in 2002, Ukraine in 2004, Russia in 2008 and Azerbaijan in 2011 won. Over all the years, countries only failed to make it into the top three twice. In total, the countries of the former USSR received 15 prizes: 5 first, 5 second and 5 third.

During the period from 1994 to 2012, 8 failures occurred (according to economic reasons) from participation in the competition and 5 non-admissions from the countries of the former USSR. The main reasons for non-admission were legal and political. Lithuania refused to participate most often - 6 times. The main reason is financial problems. the most big number Russia has no permits - 3.

Eurovision records

In first place in terms of winnings is Ireland (7 wins, of which 3 in a row). At the beginning of the history of the competition, Eurovision countries won. The last decades have not brought victory to any of them.

The beginning of the 21st century brought victory to countries that had never before won such a prestigious competition. The list of winning countries is growing new country Every year. Finland won for the first time after 45 years of participation. Ukraine became the winner in the second year after the start of participation in the competition, Russia became the first after 12 years of participation.
The country that has gone the longest without winning the competition is Portugal. She has been participating in the competition since 1964. In 1996, the representative of this country took 6th place and since then this has been the best result.

Popularity of Eurovision in the Yandex search engine

As you can see, the query “Eurovision” is quite popular in the Russian-language segment of the Internet of the Yandex search engine:
- 290,796 queries in the Yandex search engine per month,
- 2,149 mentions of Eurovision in the media and on the websites of news agencies Yandex.News.

Along with the Eurovision query, Yandex users search for:
Eurovision 2012 - 120282 requests in Yandex per month
Junior Eurovision - 84398
Junior Eurovision 2012 - 59059
Eurovision 2013 - 39604
Eurovision song - 35753
Eurovision songs - 35752
Eurovision winners - 29132
Eurovision 2012 winner - 18090
Eurovision Russia - 16971
Eurovision download - 16035

Eurovision is one of the largest music competitions in the world, which is held every year and attracts the best performers from member countries of the European Broadcasting Union. In this regard, as a viewer of the project, you will be able to see fascinating performances by representatives of not only European countries, but also countries such as Israel and Egypt. According to the rules, only one singer can perform from each country, and the winner is determined by the results of voting by viewers from all over the world.

History of Eurovision

The very first Eurovision Song Contest was organized in Switzerland in the mid-fifties of the last century. The reason for its holding was the desire to create a project similar to the large Italian festival called “San Remo”. The main goal, according to Marcel Besson, there was an opportunity to unite in creativity nations that were separated in the post-war period.

Despite the fact that the festival is still held in Italy, Eurovision is still significantly ahead of it and has become the most popular and anticipated event of the year. Today, friends, relatives and even groups of strangers, numbering more than one hundred million, gather together to watch the performances of the participants and vote for their favorite.

Before each Eurovision Song Contest, participants who wish to become finalists of the project undergo a qualifying round, based on the results of which the list of countries participating this year is determined. The undisputed participants each time are the four founding countries - Germany, Great Britain, Spain and France, which are united under the name “Big Four EMU”.

If we talk about Eurovision winners, then the luckiest country should be called Great Britain. Despite the fact that Ireland took first places more often (seven to five), this country is the leader in the number of second places, since it has fifteen such victories. This may be due to the fact that the UK often had to become the venue for the competition, as France refused this advantage.

Viewers often wonder why, for example, England represents American singer(Katrina Leskanish with the Cambridge group Waves or Ozzy Gina J.) or a performer from Greece from Duxerbourg? The fact is that absolutely anyone can be a representative from a particular country, regardless of nationality and even citizenship.

Interesting facts from the history of Eurovision

Throughout the history of the competition, the most unexpected performers have become leaders, and our country only gained momentum in the mid-2000s. We decided to make a selection of the most interesting moments for you.

• The victory at the very first competition went to the Swiss performer Lis Assia for the song Refrain.
• Since 1959, composers cannot be members of the professional jury.
• In 1960, Eurovision was shown live for the first time, although only in Finland.
• 1988 is a landmark year for Celine Dion. Everyone knows her now, but then it was finest hour for an unknown girl.
• The winner in 1986 was a singer from Belgium, who was only thirteen years old. Throughout the history of Eurovision, both eleven- and twelve-year-old singers have taken part in the competition. Today this is impossible, since the age limit is 16 years, and for younger talents there is their own Junior Eurovision.
• The rule that participants must perform a song in the language of their country was introduced in 1966.
• In the Spanish victory song La La La (1968), this very word is repeated 138 times.
• After 4 countries took first place at once (1969), it was decided to adjust the rules: if several leading countries score the same number of points, their performers perform their routine again, and the decision is made by the jury.
• Philip Kirkorov, who represented our country in 1995, took only seventeenth place, and the following year Russia did not take part in the project at all.
• Conchita Wurst is not the first freak of this kind in Eurovision history. In 2007, the winner almost became Verka Serduchka (the image created by the artist from Ukraine Andrei Danilko), who ultimately took an honorable second place. And almost ten years earlier, a performer from Israel named Dana International (1998) surprised viewers with her transsexuality.
• The year 2000 is Russia's first notable achievement. Alsou took second place. The next successful representative was the TaTu group, which took third place.

The best Eurovision songs ever

To understand what kind of music Europe loves, a music service called Deezer created a ranking of the best hits and winners of the show.

1. Euphoria and Swedish singer Lorin Zineb Noka Tagliaoui (2012).
2. Only Teardrops by Emily De Forest from Denmark (2013).
3. Unforgettable Conchita Wurst with the composition Rise Like A Phoenix (2014).
4. Also very resonant hard rock band Lordi and the song Hard Rock Hallelujah from Finland (2006).
5. A performance by two musicians - from Ireland and Norway - called Secret Garden with the song Nocturne (1995).
6. Johnny Logan from Ireland and his composition Hold Me Now (1987).
7. Abba Waterloo (Sweden) with a hit called Hold me now (1974).
8. Song Satellite by German Lena Mayer-Landrut (2010).
9. Gina G and Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit from the UK (1996).
10. Finally, the charming Italian Toto Cutugno with the song Insieme (1990).

It should be noted that every year of the event is associated with completely unexpected decisions and victories. We don’t know whether this depends on the unpredictable tastes of listeners or on the desire of the performers themselves to make the most vivid impression possible. But we look forward to the continuation of this musical story.

Russia can turn away from Europe as much as it wants with her cheeses and liberal values, but this does not apply to the large-scale pseudo-musical competition “Eurovision”. In 2015, Polina Gagarina, a veteran of music competitions and winner of the second Star Factory, was sent to the anniversary competition. Although Eurovision today can hardly boast of a truly interesting musical program, few remain on the sidelines. During the competition, everyone, from Russia to Iceland, is literally seized with a fever, comparable only to large sports championships. The final will take place tomorrow - in anticipation of it, we’ll figure out why everyone is still crazy about Eurovision and what’s really behind this competition.

Dasha Tatarkova

Where did Eurovision come from?

It was invented after the Second World War in order to unite nations experiencing the results of a tragic event and concentrate on the joys of peacetime. Eurovision was held for the first time in 1956 according to the idea of ​​the European Broadcasting Union. The festival in San Remo was taken as an example. The competition was held in the company's homeland, Switzerland, 7 countries participated, and the organizing country won.

Since then, the Eurovision Song Contest has become one of the oldest and largest television programs in the world: more than 100 million people have already watched it this year, and at its peak the audience of the program reached 600 million viewers. The ideological mission of the organizers - to unite nations - has been fulfilled: the main unity in which the participating countries merge is aggressive rivalry, especially noticeable today, when any sneeze of the participants is immediately spread throughout the Internet.

Eurovision today is a spectacular show, somewhere at the intersection of Cirque du Soleil and reality competitions like The Voice. This is not yet a Lady Gaga concert, but it seems that everything is heading towards that. Of course, this was not always the case: at first the competition was very simple, the participants simply went on stage to the microphone and performed very modest and calm numbers by today’s standards; in the end we're talking about about the fifties. Since then, the intensity of the performances has been increasing.

Although for Eurovision it was as if neither rock and roll, nor punk, nor other musical revolutions existed, it absorbed innovations in non-conflict pop music with pleasure. The effectiveness of what was happening on stage changed along with the volume, until eventually the formats familiar to us today were established. Note that the manner of singing in English also did not come immediately, but eventually globalization took its toll.

How to get to Eurovision?

The name is misleading: it seems as if membership in the competition is guaranteed only to countries that are members of the European Union. In fact, this is not so: the competition involves different countries, not geographically tied to Europe. Applications are submitted by TV channels that are members of the European Broadcasting Union, which created the competition. Each country, or rather a television company, can nominate only one participant, having previously conducted its selection at home in a format convenient for it.

Thus, the composition of participants changes from year to year, depending on who decides to apply. However, some members, for example the Vatican, have never taken advantage of such an opportunity, which is a pity - a representative of the Pope would do well to shake up the whole event. Today, Eurovision participants are mainly artists who are familiar with music competitions first-hand, or those who have passed the local selection based on a principle similar to the main competition. This is exactly why winners or participants of reality talent shows like our “Star Factory” often go to represent the country.

After the TV companies have selected their representatives and the song, the semi-finals begin. They were invented quite recently (the first circle appeared in 2004, and the second in 2008), since the number of participants has increased significantly. In previous years, potential competitors for next year were eliminated depending on the current scores at Eurovision and fulfillment of requirements such as broadcasting the program, so the semi-finals now give where more countries are trying to break through to the top. In addition to the contenders fighting for the opportunity to reach the final, Eurovision has its own elite, to whom this right was initially assigned. Since 2000, these have been the “big four”: Great Britain, Germany, France and Spain. In 2010, Italy joined them, and in 2015, Australia also joined as an exception. Plus, a place in the final is always reserved for the winning country of the previous year.

Why is the music at Eurovision so bad?

The songs of the participants are always one hundred percent radio hits. Nowadays, from year to year, they bet either on a cheerful pop melody, or on a soulful ballad, or on local exotica, at least in the eyes of other countries. Eurovision likes to boast that it gave rise to the worldwide fame of Celine Dion, ABBA and Julio Iglesias. However, in a crowded music market, becoming a global pop star simply because of winning a competition is becoming more and more difficult every year. Those who try to break the paradigm of plastic songs performed by young and attractive people are much more memorable.

Few people remember just the pop songs that won in different years, but the heavy metal Lordi, which Finland unexpectedly put up, Conchita Wurst, over whom the whole of Europe quarreled, or the slightly ridiculous but charming “Buranovsky Grandmothers” are still remembered. 2015 is no exception in this sense. This time Finland is again trying to push the boundaries of the tight competition - they sent the punk band Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät, whose participants were diagnosed with developmental delays, and the representative of Poland Monika Kuszynska will be the first to perform at the competition in a wheelchair.

How does voting work?

The votes are divided in half between the audience and the jury. Each country chooses 10 favorite numbers, and then points are distributed depending on the popularity of the track in each country, from 12 to zero. The method of voting has changed over time, at first it was decided solely by the jury, then it was only the audience's choice. Since 2009, a mixed system has been established: both spectators and a special jury of professionals from each country influence the outcome of the competition. To vote today, you don’t have to call or send an SMS - just download the official Eurovision app. The counting of votes takes place during the out-of-competition final presentation of the organizing country. This year the closing song will be performed by Conchita Wurst.

No matter how much the founders of Eurovision tried to avoid favoritism, since the audience's sympathies began to be converted into numbers, it has become obvious that everyone votes primarily based on geopolitical sympathies. Neighbors vote for neighbors and are deeply offended if someone violates this order. It even has its own memes - just remember the guy with the saxophone, whose performance at Eurovision was turned into into a 10 hour video. Great Britain, which performs very poorly from year to year, is viewed rather condescendingly, despite victories in the distant past, and Russia is treated with caution. The Tolmachev sisters, who performed last year, were booed in public domestic policy country that made waves throughout the world.

Why did Australia become Europe?

In 2015, the competition is being held in Vienna, since last year’s winner was Conchita Wurst, representing Austria. Eurovision 2015 is the 60th, and in honor of the anniversary, the organizers wanted to make some spectacular gesture - they decided to invite Australia to participate, where the show has been popular for many years. The SBS television company, which represented the country at the competition in 2015, has been broadcasting Eurovision for more than thirty years.

Despite the time difference, Australians will vote on equal terms with everyone else. The choice of a local lucky winner for the competition is quite natural. The Australian jury, in accordance with the unspoken tradition of modern times, decided that it was best to entrust such an important task to the winner of the first Australian “Idol” - Guy Sebastian. However, what will happen if Australia wins is not clear. Since it is participating as an exception, the country will not be able to bring the competition home, although, perhaps, Australia simply does not count on winning. Pageant officials have however stated that if Australia emerges as the winner, its broadcaster SBS will have to choose a European country for the next competition, but whether Australia will then still be a participant has not yet been decided.

What is the essence of the competition if not the music?

The Eurovision Song Contest is anything but a musical event: behind the plastic facade it combines several diverse phenomena, only hiding behind music as a form of existence. At the same time, for ordinary Europeans this is the only vote that, despite all its obvious political overtones, remains exciting and fun. Moreover, other elections may envy his transparency. Countries vote for their neighbors and friends, who are often closer rather than further away, so that the finger-pointing process explains the distribution of political likes in and around Europe.

“Eurovision” has become a litmus test not only for political ideas, but also for a certain average taste. Not all countries send someone more or less famous in their homeland to the competition, but most radio-friendly tracks talk about what kind of pop music, in the opinion of TV channel producers, is most profitable and will definitely attract attention in their homeland. It is more difficult to judge other countries, but if you remember who Russia sent away, everything falls into place: “Buranovskie Grandmothers” and Dima Bilan talk equally a lot about the preferences of our compatriots.

“Eurovision” has become a competition in a cube: it combines popular reality shows like “Idol”, “The Voice”, “Star Factory”, dance battles and even beauty contests. Titles songs about love, peace and unity - like the lines of answers from contestants fighting for a sparkling tiara. It’s just like in “Miss Congeniality”: the participants dream of “world peace.” The competitiveness of what is happening makes Eurovision something of a sport for everyone. The language of music is universal: to watch it, you don’t need to understand the rules, and to cheer, you don’t need to know the teams or the results of previous selections. It's simple: one country, one participant and a sea of ​​emotions.

Behind all this, the music itself fades into the background. The song lasts three minutes and no more, there is a maximum of six people on stage. The fact that songs and not something else are competing is rather nominal, especially today, when the performance itself plays no less a role. Just remember Alexander Rybak from Norway, who was inspired largely by the fact that he played the violin while gymnasts jumped around him. The diversity of world music exists separately from Eurovision. Here, year after year, they present dance tracks that go straight to the Turkish disco, or power ballads, a kind of pure technical soul for white people.

This is very easy-to-understand music that can be easily broken down into its components: here’s the beat, here’s the verse, here’s the bridge; the singer hits pure notes, the stronger the voice, the better. Producers treat creating a hit as a matter of honor, in which there is no room for experimentation: the track must hit all the proven pain points, and nothing else. Perhaps this is precisely why, of the solo performers, 28 victories belong to women, and only 7 to men. An impressive ballad just typical of women's repertoire.

When did Russia participate and who represented it?

For political and ideological reasons, at the time the competition appeared, the USSR did not even think about sending anyone to sing for the country. During Gorbachev's reforms, in 1987, the USSR Minister of Education proposed sending Valery Leontyev to Eurovision - to establish contact with the Western capitalist world, but no one supported him. Not all countries of the former Soviet Union received a place in the competition as easily as Russia did after the collapse of the Union. Many are still refused participation due to political and economic considerations, fearing that the applicant TV channel will not be able to adequately fund the event on its part.

For the first time, Russia was represented at Eurovision by singer Maria Katz under the pseudonym Judith. After her from us to the competition went a variety of participants: at first they tried to rely on local figures like Alla Pugacheva and Philip Kirkorov, but their performances turned out to be among the most disastrous Russian numbers. Since then, Russia has had several refusals to participate, and then several shock hits. Alsou earned second place, Tatu - third. Before winning, Dima Bilan came close to second place in 2006; in 2012, “Buranovskie Babushki” ended up there. The “Silver” group became a prize-winner in 2007, finishing in third place.

Russia's overall score, considering its recent participation and even one victory, is very good. In the overall ranking we are in 16th place, second only to the oldest participants in the competition. Russia has become a Eurovision winner six times, taking one of the first three places; Dima Bilan brought the competition to his homeland once - in 2008. It is indicative how the political climate within a country influences who is chosen to represent the entertainment industry. In very recent 2009, Russia was represented by Anastasia Prikhodko, who sang in Russian and Ukrainian - unfortunately, such friendship of peoples is now difficult to imagine on the stage of the official TV channel. But if last year they sent the extremely positive Tolmachev sisters, this time they decided to loosen their grip a little. Polina Gagarina allows herself to take a selfie with Conchita Wurst and, despite the rather mediocre song, she does not lose her charisma and gives her all on stage.

Who made it to the finals and who can win?

This year's semi-finals included 33 countries. After the selections, 20 winners will compete for the title of winner, as well as 5 sponsoring countries, Germany, Italy, Spain, Great Britain, France, as well as Australia, plus the host country - Austria. The final finalists were revealed tonight after the second semi-final. The countries also received serial numbers of performances: Polina Gagarina will sing third from the end.

The Russian singer's chances are rated as one of the highest in the competition. Around Eurovision, as around any competition, there has long been a huge betting industry and a pool of bookers offers similar estimates of the likely outcome. So far, according to one estimate, Gagarin is in second place, losing the championship to Sweden; according to another, our chances of winning are still less, somewhere around 10 to 1, after Estonia, Sweden and Australia.

In the 1950s, at the dawn of the television age, all the television and radio companies in the world at that time had almost no connection with each other. This is how Eurovision appeared - a TV network that united companies from European countries, establishing the European Broadcasting Union - EBU. And already in the mid-50s, the idea arose to create a common competition for cultural rapprochement. Marcel Becenon, CEO Swiss television, at one of the meetings he proposed his own version of a competition, the purpose of which is to choose the best song of the Old World. The competition was based on an already existing music festival in San Remo, which took place in Italy.

The name "Eurovision" was first mentioned in relation to the EBC in November 1951. The competition itself was first called the “Eurovision Grand Prix”. However, later the competition and the Union itself became absolute synonyms, although the latter still exists. Today it has 66 members covering 79 countries. Among the Russian media in the EBU are Channel One, the Rossiya TV channel and the Mayak radio station.

The first Eurovision took place in 1956 in the Swiss city of Lugano. Italy, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Germany took part in the competition, with two performers from each country. The first winner was Lis Assia from Switzerland. Every year the number of countries wishing to take part in the song competition increased, and then new rules were introduced. Those countries that showed worst results this year.

The rules of the game are simple: the performer who scores greatest number points, and the winning country hosts the next competition. Sometimes a country, for some reason, may refuse to host Eurovision in its area, and then the competition is moved to another place.

In 1969, it so happened that four countries took first place: the Netherlands, France, Great Britain and Spain. To decide which country would have the honor of hosting the next competition on its territory, a draw had to be held. As a result, Eurovision was held in Amsterdam.

Over time, various restrictions began to be introduced into the rules. Since 1957, there has been a requirement that a song should not last more than three minutes, and since 1960, the competition has been shown live on television. After the case of four winners, the rules were changed so that if several countries get the same number of points, they perform again and a new vote is held.

The year 1989 for Eurovision was remembered for two young participants: 11-year-old Natalie Park from France and 12-year-old Gili Nathanel, who competed for Israel. After this, an age restriction was introduced: participants must be over 15 years old.

Russia has been taking part in the competition since 1994. The country was represented at the first competition for our country by singer Maria Katz, who won the Russian national competition. performed under the pseudonym Judith with the song “Eternal Wanderer” and took ninth place, scoring 70 points. Her result remained the best for Russia for the next six years.

Eurovision is a peaceful competition, but sometimes scandals and funny incidents occur here too. And often this is due to political problems. For example, in 2009, a group from Georgia was going to perform the song “We Don"t Wanna Put In” at the competition. The name of the song was deliberately consonant with the surname of the then Prime Minister of Russia -. This composition was chosen as a sign of Georgia’s protest against the armed conflict with Russia , which arose in August 2008. Due to complaints from Russia, the organizers of the competition stipulated that the Georgian group could only perform with a different song.As a result, the country refused to participate in 2009, when the competition was held in the Russian Federation.

Sometimes awkward situations at a competition turn out to be just a joke.

In 2010, during a performance by a Spanish singer, a man came on stage and began making faces along with the circus performers who were part of the act. A few seconds later, security came on stage and the man jumped into the audience. It later turned out that it was the Spanish prankster Jimmy Jump, who often runs out onto football fields during matches.

In 2017, at the Eurovision final, when the competition was held in Kyiv, in the middle of the performance Ukrainian singer Jamal, a man ran onto the stage with an Australian flag on his shoulders. Then he turned his back to the stage and pulled down his pants, exposing his butt. It was Ukrainian pranker Vitaly Sedyuk, who had already “pranked” many celebrities in a similar way. However, this prank cost about 8.5 thousand hryvnia in fine.