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The dust settles
Western European press reaction
Bild Zeitung asks “Why are we even taking part any more?” and condemns the contest for its “weak songs, shameful exchange of points” and the fact that “we are paying”, referring to Germany’s status as one of the Big Four contributors to the show every year. After Roger’s disappointment – “I’d hoped for a top ten placing” he told journalists after the show – Bild lamented the fact that “it’s the same dilemma yet again” and suggests that Roger fell foul of Eastern European voting patterns.
Lack of support before and after contest
The UK press had been extremely critical of the national entry, a fact which angered members of the group who expected more support from home country. British cynicism was summed up by the bookmakers’ rush to slash the odds of another nil points year for the UK, and the entry encountered criticism on all sides. Former winner Cheryl Baker (UK 1981) slammed Flying the Flag (For You) as “not contemporary enough”, suggesting that “Big Brovaz would have had a good chance… and when it came down to the two, Cyndi should have won”. Speaking to British tabloid The Sun, Cheryl sums up what she thinks the UK is doing wrong at Eurovision: “entering” is her simple answer.
The Irish Times dismissed the Serbian entry as “whining” and also focuses on the Eastern European voting tendencies on its online new portal ireland.com.
Swiss tabloid Blick. already riled over the early exit of former favourite DJ Bobo – in only 20th place in the semifinal – explains “none of the countries of Western and Northern Europe have a chance. This, however, has little to do with the quality of the presentations.” The Austrian broadcaster ORF speaks of a “new Europe” on its news portal, but also suggests that in this region, the “is taken more seriously as a pop competition, while in the old guard countries it is still regarded as the Schlager Grand Prix”.
Ray of light
However, several outlets also express support for the winning song. ORF continues to call Serbia’s entry a “classy song”, whilst France’s Le Monde reports that “finally, a good song has won”.
Related polls
- POLAND: Your favourite song in the national final?
- ARMENIA: Your favourite song in the national final?
- The Netherlands decided: How much do you like Ik be verliefd (Sha la lie)?
- Cyprus decided: How much do you like Life looks better in spring?
- Iceland decided: How much do you like Je ne sais quoi?
- Denmark decided: How much do you like In a moment like this?
- Norway decided: How much do you like My heart is yours?
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I just can't understand that Germany came with a jazz song in 2007??They looked like they hoped out of the 50's or something(maybe not 50's,maybe the 40's or 30's,I don't know).They have to be a little more serious!Anyone agrees?
@andro
pfff i dont deny that but turkey is not there solely with immigrant votes! and believe me they are not enough even to make it to the top ten (turkey 13th in 2005, 11th in 2006 with 12s of immigrants! now what do u say?!?)
admit the fact that also westerners voted for kenan this time! uk scandivavia and even iceland voted for us this year from which we used to get 0 or very low points before! i repeat: turkey is the only country which MOST deserved its place among the tops without block or neighbor voting! pls get rid of your prejudice and be a little fair!
You know the voting in ESC 2003, when Sertab became #1. It was exciting until last country, Slovenia.
Here are Turkey's points in 2003:
Austria, Bosnia, Netherlands and Belgium 12
France, Romania, Germany, Norway, Slovenia and Croatia 10
Sweden, Cyprus and Portugal 8
Israel, Greece and UK 7
Malta 4
Iceland and Spain 3
Ukraine and Poland 2
Estonia, Latvia, Russia and Ireland 0 points (!)
Here are Belgium (Western Europe)'s points:
France, Poland and Spain 12
Ireland, Bosnia, Ukraine, Latvia and Netherlands 10
Romania, Estonia, Greece, Israel 8
Iceland and Turkey 7
Portugal and Germany 6
UK 5
Austria 4
Cyprus, Russia, Norway and Slovenia 3
Sweden, Croatia and Malta 0
Baltics and Russia has no point for Turkey!!!
Bosnia, Ukraine, Poland, Latvia, Estonia and Romania, high points for Belgium.
If there is a good song from Western, it is always voted. But it was until 2004. After ESC 2004 in Istanbul more Eastern countries, more points for each other. Let's see,
ESC 2004 winner Ukraine: Russia, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia 12 points. Belarus 10 (36 countries)
ESC 2005 winner Greece: Latvia, Estonia, Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania 0 (zero) point (39 countries)
ESC 2006 winner Finland: all slavic 12 points for Russia. (37 countries)
ESC 2007 winner Serbia: Bosnia, Macedonia, Croatia, Slovenia, Montenegro, Hungary, Switzerland and Austria 12 points. No points from Estonia, Lithuania like always. (42 countries)
In ESC 2003 there were 26 countries without semi-final. Turkey was lucky because if there would be Lithuania or Belarus or Finland or Armenia; we would be in Moscow.
The problem is too much countries. Western-Eastern semi finals can do, 12+12 but in final, only these 24 countries must vote each other like in 2003. If Latvia isn't in final, why they will vote for Belarus, Ukraine and Russia? This is unfair...These countries exist just to vote their neighbours. If one of them in Balkans or Baltics, that's enough to vote and make it number one, it is inevitable with this televoting and final system.
a supposition: If Andorra or Portugal had sent "Moltiva", would they have won the contest? Please, be sincere with yourself. If the answer is not, something go on wrong that have to be changed.
Eurovision cannot continue as it is - the voting problems are too big an issue to resolve. Some countries need to pull out - preferably the Big 4 and let others follow.
Morty - Gr. 1 (10 countries): Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, UK, Ireland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania.
LOL = you are joking right? The Norway/Sweden/Denmark/Finland block or the Finland/Estonia/Latvia/Lithunia bloc....... Ireland or the UK still wouldn't stand a chance. I won't even look at the other groups. LOL
Well, I wrote a posting before but it has not appeared, so I'll try to post something similar.
What I said before is that the neighbour voting has always existed at ESC. When I was a child my father was able to predict most of the votes from most of the countries based on vicinity or political affinity.
Anyway, what I wanted to point out is what a Spanish journalist said on TV last Saturday: ESC is not won by the song getting more points but by the song which becomes top in the lists in the biggest number of countries as possible.
Can you compare the success of "Waterloo", "Save your kisses for me", "Congratulations" or "Making your mind up" to the success of "Hard Rock Hallellujah"?
After many years of Eurovision we should be used to neighbouring votings. I still remember being a child and my father predicting the votes from each country because he knew thet things were like this in ESC.
Anyway, I should point out what a journalist on the Spanish TV said: Eurovision is not won by the song getting more points but by the songs becoming best seller after the festival.
Can you compare "Waterloo" or "Save your kisses for me" for example with "Rock Allelujah"? In how many countries became a hit this last song?
eurovision gypsy style
To those participating countries and especially those who are thinking of withdrawing from next year's esc, take note of the below paragraph that was extracted from this article:
"a good song with a great vocal performance can still win the Eurovision Song Contest".
To those participating countries and especially those who are thinking of withdrawing from next year's esc, take note of the below paragraph that was extracted from this article:
"a good song with a great vocal performance can still win the Eurovision Song Contest".
The current esc format should remain the same permanently. Countries must make the right choices when choosing entries to represent them at the esc. Like I said, they should select songs that the whole of Europe will like and vote for to lessen the amount of negative views. The choices should be strong candidates, easily the favourites, promising and capable of reaching the top 3-5. It would also help a lot to have an internal selection, sending a well-known singer with the ability to perform well on stage with a terrific song.
Contest remains in traditional territory
New Europe? Old friend!
Despite cynical cries from much of the Western press about the Eastern march of the contest, Serbia in fact makes up part of a faithful Eurovision stalwart from the early years of the contest - from 1961 until 1992, the country had a presence at the Eurovision Song Contest as part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
Serbia joins Switzerland as the only nation to win the Eurovision Song Contest on its debut attempt, the latter being a member of the club by default, since it won the very first contest in 1956. Serbia was present as Serbia and Montenegro in 2004 and 2005, represented by a Serbian artist in 2004, but only in 2007 did the country have the opportunity to participant as a new, independent nation.
However, Serbian music has been a feature of the contest since the very early years, as each part of the old alliance took its turn in representing Yugoslavia, such as Slovenia's 1975 contrubution Dan ljubezni and Croatia's foot-tapper of 1987, Ja sam za ples. As such, Serbia is not a new country, snatching victory away from older nations, but rather a continuation of a much older Eurovision participant in a new form, as are most of the Balkan states. Serbian songs of the past include Ne pali svetla u sumrak (1962), Halo, halo (1982), Moja generacija (1974) and Brazil (1991).
Yugoslavia won the contest in 1989 at the hands of Croatian band Riva; a year later, the contest was held in the Croatian regional capital Zagreb, soon to be the centre of an independent Croatia. As such, Marija's victory has an especially sweet taste for Serbians, who never really owned the only Yugoslavian victory at the Eurovision Song Contest.
Hero's welcome
With banners reading "Ave Marija!", proud Serbs gave the young singer a hero's welcome as she touched down after a victorious two weeks in the Finnish capital. In return, Marija told the gathered fans "I won for Serbia, I won for all of you!" to rapturous applause and cheering. From the balcony of the office of the Mayor of Belgrade, she sang her winning ballad Molitva while the crowd chanted Serbija! Serbija!
Recognition has come not only from the people, but also from the highest levels of office in Serbia, with messages of congratulations pouring in from digitaries such as the president Boris Tadic. Tadic said that Marija's victory had "bought a great joy to all of Serbia", a joy which impelled the Serbian parliament to take a break from debating after the votes came in on Saturday evening, in order to send their best wishes to the singer.
Richard West-Soley
washingtonpost.com
@Raul DA Please check that...
Serbia voted for:
Portugal and Denmark in the 2007
Finland, Ireland, Lithuania and Sweden in 2006
Norway and Israel in 2005
It is true that major votes are given to neighbors but people do look outside the box sometimes.
Not in case of Spain or UK as the songs they send are dreadful but Portugal... Portugal is whole different story :-)
LISBON 2009
Probably
Portugal will start a new contest with all countries than have portuguese as oficial language: Brazil, Portugal, Angola, Cape Verde, Moçambique, etc... etc...
Spain will do the same: festival OTI (only countries than have spanish as oficial language...)
Considering my posts keep drowning in other comments, I'm gonna try again... 
Instead of dividing Europe into 2 East/West semifinals, I think using 5 or 6 districts or regions would be better, and I've made up an example on how 5 groups could be (this includes countries that might appear for the first time, according to Wikipedia):
Gr. 1 (10 countries): Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, UK, Ireland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania.
Gr. 2 (10 countries): Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria
Gr. 3 (10 countries): Germany, Austria, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Malta
Gr. 4 (10 countries): Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Andorra, Portugal, Monaco, Tunisia, Morocco
Gr. 5 (13 countries): Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Albania, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon
So what is the point of all this? Well, 5 countries go to the final from each semi final group (except group 5, who gets 6 countries). And in the 26 country final, all countries can vote, but a country can't vote for a country that was in the same semi final group. This way the votes will be spread everywhere, and hopefully more fairly.
There will still be some controversial points tho, as Germany would still give their 12 to Turkey, and Spain would give points to Bulgaria and Romania, and so on, but I don't think it's possible to get rid of all those votes, but at least this system would get rid of Scandinavian, ex-Sovjet and ex-Yugoslavian neighbor votes, and maybe the contest would survive, without shutting out countries...
Some people say that west countries have sent bad songs this year, but the fact is countries like Spain, Andorra or Portugal have NEVER received one single point from Lithuania, Slovakia, Ukraine, Serbia-Montenegro, Moldova or Bulgaria.
Is this going to change from now? No, sure. It will become worst if possible.
That means that no matter what song they send, NEVER will win if the things do not change, everyone knows.
If automatic participation of big4 was removed, west Europe would pay an east-eurovision contest without participating.
Hope that next year, the western countries who lost out at this year's esc send much better songs with stronger performances and fantastic singers. They will score higher that way.
Good luck!
Austria, Ireland and some other country will withdraw...how can anyone blame them? I still wonder why Portugal and France partecipate since in these countrie the interest towards ESC is very low. I hope that many western countries will withdraw especially the big4...
even better achievment considering it was an appauling song
It's just struck me that the greatest achievement in this year's Contest was by Andorra in the Semi-final. No diaspora whatsoever, few if any neighbourly votes, and a western European country - and yet it almost qualified for the Final, coming twelfth. Great achievement in the circumstances, Andorra, good luck for next year (like the rest of us, you're going to need it).
ive sais many times that diaspora voting is a sbig a problem as neighbour voting , its simply unfair, i mean imagine a world cup final between england and germany , would they allow the match to be refereed by a german or englishman?? of course not. same principal
What Tommi Huhta shows is that Andorra and Portugal has been unfairly thrown because the west voting system.
Tell it to them
Tommi Huhta
Well all the countries you put in the western block are full of Turks, which is why you have Turkey in second place. I think you won't find any non-Turks in any of those countries who thought that song was second best. If there is someone who isn't Turkish who thought it was superb, I'd like to meet them.
So now that you've seen that it wasn't the Eastern neighbour voting that gave you bad results, you blame the Immigrants, which cannot be counted. You are really the mesters of blaming somebody else, master crybabies! Conglatulations!
You'd need harder science than I've got to estimate the diaspora effect. And you cannot do anything about it.
Anyvay I don't think it would have significantly changed the results. 5 to 20 diaspora points for Turkey is my totally unscientific estimate.
Oh, I was reminded that Yugoslavia never belongerd to the Warsaw Pack, which is thue. Anyway they belonged to ... eh, Yugoslavia or something :-)
@androgynecolog
stop linking turkey's success with immigrant votes. we don't belong to any blocks and even do not benefit from neighbor votes so an average of 10 points from 4-5 countries out of 41(!)can not even balance our points with those of eastern block countries, it's NOTHING compared to them!!! so, turkey is the only country that most deserved its place among the tops without the massive block and neighbor voting!!!
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