The 67th Eurovision Song Contest will take place in Liverpool from May 9-13. The competition, as the rules say, is creative, but in recent years it has a purely political background (and since the start of the special military operation in Ukraine, no one doubts this). This year, of course, the Russian Federation will not fight for victory on the Liverpool stage. It is possible that Russians will be completely deprived of the opportunity to watch the show.
Meal’n’Real
Last week, the Roskomnadzor press service announced that it is ready to block the resources that will broadcast Eurovision 2023. This will happen if the propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations is noticed during the competition.
Russian law prohibits the promotion of non-traditional sexual relations in the media and on the Internet. For the dissemination of these materials, the law provides for the restriction of access to information resources, as well as administrative responsibility under Art. 6.21 Administrative Code of the Russian Federation
— called back to the department.
But it seems that the competition will not cause the old excitement among the Russians anyway. Residents of the country are accustomed to the fact that Russia is not allowed to participate in the song contest with enviable regularity. They got used to it and spat. Well, we don’t have our own music competitions, do we?
And it all started in 1998, when Tatyana Ovsienko could not come to Eurovision in Birmingham from the Russian Federation. The reason for this is the unsatisfactory result of last year (Alla Pugacheva took 15th place). In 1999, the country was suspended from participation for refusing to broadcast Eurovision 1998 in protest at its non-admission to the competition.
The Russian Federation was able to return to the European stage after a two-year break, in 2000. And the victory of the Russian performer Dima Bilan was won only in 2008. Thus, Eurovision 2009 came to Moscow.
Another “absenteeism” of Russia was staged in 2017. The country at the competition, which was held in Kiev, was to be represented by Yulia Samoilova. But just a month and a half before the final, it became known that the SBU singer was banned from entering Ukrainian territory for three years due to the fact that she performed at a concert in Crimea in 2015.
The organizers tried to save face from the competition. After bombastic phrases that Eurovision has been an event away from politics for decades, Channel One (the organizer of the Russian side’s participation) received a unique offer. It was necessary to transmit the performance of Yulia Samoilova from a satellite or replace her with a representative who would be allowed to enter Ukraine for the duration of the competition. The national broadcaster rejected those options. Eurovision was again held without the participation of Russia.
In 2020 the competition was canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic, and in 2022 the participation of the Russian Federation became completely impossible due to the start of a special military operation. True, especially because of this, no one was upset. The magic of competition has ceased to operate…
money, money, money
After the country’s withdrawal from the competition, Russia’s withdrawal from the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) followed. This decision cost the Europeans about 500,000 euros, which our country paid as a contribution as a participant. It is clear that simply taking and cutting the competitive budget by such an impressive amount will not work.
Then the Old World broadcasters made an unprecedented decision – the resulting “hole” in the budget was suspended for all who remained. Montenegro, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Andorra, Monaco, Slovakia and Luxembourg immediately refused to participate in the competition. The final list of participants in 2023 did not include Kazakhstan, whose representatives have been dreaming of the competition for several years. In Liechtenstein, they have openly stated that “they are no longer seeking to apply for EBU membership, and therefore rule out contest debuts.” Thus, the additional financial burden fell on the shoulders of the remaining participants. It can be assumed that at this rate, the number of countries ready to fight for victory in the creative competition will become less and less every year.
Alas, even in the musical field, Europe pursues a short-sighted policy. The pop song contest, first held in 1956, which has managed to become one of the most popular non-sporting events in the world, so ingloriously “dies”. But the initial stated goal of Eurovision was the cultural unification of European states.
We are of the same blood
Since the advent of Eurovision, all States are not placed in the same conditions. There is the so-called Big Five, which includes five participating countries (Great Britain, Italy, France, Germany, Spain) of the Eurovision Song Contest, making the greatest financial contribution to the development of the European Broadcasting Union . The members of the “Big Five” automatically enter the final of the competition, regardless of their previous result, their place in the semi-finals, etc. However, performers in these states don’t have to win so often.
This is explained not so much by the lack of vocal abilities, but by the commitment of the competition itself. At Eurovision for many years, the winner is the one who must win. For example, Ukraine. For the 17 times the country takes part in the competition, Ukrainian artists have become winners three times: in 2004, 2016 and 2022. Other trips to the competition also brought quite good results.
A talent forge? Unexpected management decisions? The best choreographers, composers, poets? Everything is much easier. Apparently, in Europe, they just want to show once again that they will support Ukraine in everything, always and everywhere. Therefore, we can assume that the country will show a high result again in the competition in 2023. Of course, it will be funny if the Ukrainian performer regains the top spot. Wait and watch. There is not long to wait.
Author: Alexander Sizarov
