JOY Eurovision

10 Apr 2012

Musings – After the deluge

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moQq-qfYUU4]

And then there was silence.

Well, it is quieter at least.

From the turn of the year news of the contenders for ESC 2012 came in something of a musical downpour with the occasional freak storm thrown in.

A flurry of transparent national selections and opaque internal decisions has come and gone.

Which is probably all right by us !

Hikaru & I have a radio show to get shipshape, before the contest cranks up again next month.

So while we are going about our business thousands of kilometres away from ESC central in Melbourne, what are the people at the coal face doing ?

There must be some singers dreaming long & hard about THIS being THEIR moment to vault to global fame.

While others will be bemoaning the material they have to warble in Baku & fretting about the career move.

And there must be composers who really think they’ve “cracked it” with the song, but are longing for a different performer.

As for the various broadcasters, some may well be terrified at the prospect of possibly winning the damn thing.

In Athens, Dublin and Lisbon there will be fingers crossed for all the wrong reasons.

“Please, please – don’t let us win!!”

And what about the realm of the fans ?

There are only so many times you can click on a clip, read a blogpost or read about EBU officials expressing confidence that all will be beer & skittles come late May in Baku.

All around the place it is time to pause & ponder, before ploughing on.

Snap judgments on songs & singers need to be re-assessed.

Indeed, some “cast in stone” reactions may require the work of a pneumatic drill to make them a little more reasonable.

And it may also be time to step back a bit.

But not too far.

As part of JoyEurovision’s mission statement to keep the good stuff coming, here is something to sate the deepest of ESC desires at this time of transition.

It can be used when required and is sure to hit the spot.

It’s the very first contest in 1956.

The recording is just the audio, but it is a remarkable historic document nonetheless – the Dead Sea Scrolls of Eurovision.

Who would have thought and hour and twenty minutes at the Teatro Kursaal, Lugano would have started such a phenomenon.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_3ngNeXoAQ]