The Eurovision Song Contest was recently held in Stockholm, Sweden to showcase the European (and not so European) artists competing for victory.
The contest is not only about choosing the best song. All songs represent their countries, and so everyone watching supports their own country. The contest is serious, and every year it comes with lots of incidents between members. Last year for example, Armenia was asked to alter the lyrics of their song as it was directed against Turkey. Turkey refuses to call the massacre of Armenians a genocide, and the Armenian song was titled as “Don’t Deny”. Also Crimean votes counted they were Ukraine’s, instead of Russia’s.
Eurovision does not allow for political or racist lyrics, but artist are great at hiding those messages within the lines.
The history of Europe goes back thousands of years, and lots of disputes are still in the air.
Most recently, Australia was invited for the 2015 contest to celebrate its 60th anniversary. The country was then re-invited for the 2016 contest, which was criticized by lots of people. Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade released in its annual report that 200m people watched their performance and its a great tool for public diplomacy, also generated 60m Australian Dollars of income for the country.
All participating states try to boost their image via the show, and some try to use it to shame others. Nevertheless, Eurovision is a very political song contest, and in an ideal world it would be about the songs…
Bibliography:
https://pdgc2013b.wordpress.com/2014/05/12/eurovision-song-contest-cultural-diplomacy/
USC Public Diplomacy – https://uscpublicdiplomacy.org/tags/eurovision
Public Diplomacy and Global Communication 2015d 