24 replies to this topic

[Citius Altius Fortius]

After we hold in Istanbul 2004, Kiev 2005, Athens 2006, Helsinki 2007, Beograd 2008, Moscow 2009, Oslo 2010 and Düsseldorf 2011 a GB Eurovision Song Contest in each case we will do in addition a GB Eurovision Song Contest Sweepstake in Baku 2012 for the first time.


The EBU (European Broadcasting Union, the association of the European Broadcasting Companies) declared that 43 countries announced to take part at the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku.

For the first time 6 countries have already reached the final at May 26th: Azerbaijan (host) and the "Big Five": France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom - in the past it were only five countries.

The other finalists are selected in two semi-finals on May 22nd and May 24th.

I would like to know how many GB members are interested to take part in our sweepstake - the following 43 countries are waiting for you:

Albania
Armenia
Austria
Azerbaijan
Belarus
Belgium
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bulgaria
Croatia
Cyprus
Denmark
Estonia
Finland
France
Georgia
Germany
Greece
Hungary
Iceland
Ireland
Israel
Italy
Latvia
Lithuania
Malta
FYRO Macedonia
Moldova
Montenegro
Netherlands
Norway
Portugal
Romania
Russia
San Marino
Serbia
Slovakia
Slovenia
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland
Turkey
Ukraine
United Kingdom

* all countries in bold have won not less than once in the past

Four members have already announced their participation: Sir Rols, Scotguy, Lee and I

Please "enlist" here for the first GB Eurovision Song Contest Sweepstake

Edited by Citius Altius Fortius, 18 January 2012 - 06:44 PM.

[Soaring]

Sorry, never seen the show...

[Citius Altius Fortius]

Maybe I should add for our "non-European-GB-members" the Eurovision Song Contest is one of the largest TV-events in the wold and is hold since 1956 every year - all national TV-channels, which are member of the European Broadcasting Union, are allowed to take part.

Every country (TV-channel) sends a song to the contest - every country has the same number of votes (no matter how many inhabitants) - you are not allowed to give your own song a point...

The ESC has a huge tradition in Europe - you can get an impression of this tradition when you watch the intro to the ESC of 2010 - every little sphere stands for a memory of us (by the way the music at the beginning is the Eurovision Hymn (don't mix that up with the European Hymn)) - all the little spheres are heading to the hosting city of 2010: Oslo - last year Düsseldorf gave us memories - this year it is time for Baku:




This might be the most popular Eurovision Song Contest Song so far - ABBA with "Waterloo" in Brighton 1974:

Edited by Citius Altius Fortius, 18 January 2012 - 02:58 PM.

[Citius Altius Fortius]

Soaring, on 18 January 2012 - 01:40 PM, said:

Sorry, never seen the show...

Eurovision is very, very, very, very huge in Europe in Australia and South America - last years Eurovision Song Contest was watched by 114.5 million people around the world

The UK won in 1997 with Katrina & The Wave (Katrina is born in the USA):




Switzerland won in 1988 with Celine Dion from Canada:

Edited by Citius Altius Fortius, 18 January 2012 - 02:59 PM.

[Rols O'Bertilsson]

I'm in.

[baron-pierreIV]

I'll think about it.

Edited by baron-pierreIV, 18 January 2012 - 03:11 PM.

[Soaring]

How does each country decide who represents them?

[Citius Altius Fortius]

Soaring, on 18 January 2012 - 05:26 PM, said:

How does each country decide who represents them?

that is totally different - there is no common rule - every country can do it how it wants it - in Germany we have a TV show in which the TV-audience can vote for the singer and for the song - in the UK the song and the singer were selected by BBC internally last year and this year...

The selection of the German entry started last week on thursday - tomorrow will be the second show - the whole selection runs until feb 16th in Germany

My favourite of the first show was Roman Lob - he reached the next round

Edited by Citius Altius Fortius, 18 January 2012 - 06:23 PM.

[bgdrewsif]

Soaring, on 18 January 2012 - 01:40 PM, said:

Sorry, never seen the show...

I have heard of it before... but like you I have never seen it before... I would imaging that 95%+ of Americans are probably unaware this contest even exists...

[Citius Altius Fortius]

bgdrewsif, on 18 January 2012 - 06:20 PM, said:

I have heard of it before... but like you I have never seen it before... I would imaging that 95%+ of Americans are probably unaware this contest even exists...

The idea of the Eurovision Song Contest is quite "clever" - imagine every single US-state selects a song - then the songs were send to the contest - all states are allowed to give points (12 points the best, 10 points to the second best, 8 points to the 3rd best, 7 points, 6 points, 5 points, 4 points, 3 points, 2 points and 1 point for the 10th best, but you are not allowed to give your own song points - Maryland has the same number of votes like California - Texas gives no points to e.g. Louisiana every year, but always 12 points to Wyoming - you can imagine the gossip between the different states


The ranking/points of the different states is made by tele voting 50% and 50% by a state jury - now imagine a show which last 25 or 26 songs (the other 26 songs of the states were eliminated in two semi-finals) - which song would you send? Some countries send a pop song, some a fun song (the show is much more important) or a folksong - the whole show is like a Super Bowl combined with Olympic Games and song contest and a birthday party...