Another year and another Eurovision has gone by.  It’s been two years since I was first introduced to this European contest and it still holds fond memories.  My flatmate Llama was obsessed with it (as well as Any Dream Will Do) and insisted that we have a little party in her room to watch.  And so, we gathered our blankets and pillows, brought tons of snacks, and sat down to watch the finalists perform their songs for their respective countries.  Some of the performances were very cheesy, some were cheery, and some were angsty.  All in all it was a great time though, just us friends enjoying it together, happily munching away all the while.  What more could you ask for?

This year, as with last, the contest has flown by me and I didn’t get a chance to watch it.  I feel like it’s one of those things you can only really enjoy with people who understand what it is.  Much like watching the Super Bowl with my British classmates is just not the same.  You don’t get into the right mindset, complete with random silly traditions.  And thus, I’ve never felt compelled to watch it again, though I do make a note of when it happens.  The year that I watched, Serbia won, though my favorite song was the angsty one I alluded to earlier, submitted by Finland.  Greece had a perky one that is quite fun to listen to and Britain had a super cheesy one that was also quite naughty.

Each year, whichever country wins traditionally hosts the next year’s event, so judging by this year’s Moscow location, Russia must have won in 2008.  It’s quite cool how this event unites so many countries, yet at the same time, it is laced with politics.  Another flatmate of mine, Activist, said he loves to watch Eurovision just to see how political relationships between countries are, since the voting largely reflects that (each country casts their vote, only restricted from voting for themselves, so you can imagine the types of alliances that can come of this).  There have been a lot of changes to how the voting mechanism works, from jury voting to public voting to some sort of hybrid in between.  I don’t know if they can ever settle on something that everyone agrees on, but every year the competition goes on.

In a sense, Eurovision was the original “Idol” type show, except it was more for country pride and international interaction than personal advancement.  However, there have been some notables to come from the contest over the years, including ABBA and Celine Dion.  And of course, contestants don’t vote amongst themselves, but are at the mercy of their country when it comes to these smaller scale (in the sense of individuals against each other rather than countries – the audience reach certainly isn’t small) shows.  Think of it as a European musical Olympics of sorts.

If I ever am back in England during this time of year, I’ll make sure I find some old friends and catch the upcoming Eurovision broadcast.  Until then, I’ll think back on those lovely days in my flat, having slumber parties and pigging out as we enjoyed each other’s company.  Ah, those were the days.