Song For Ukraine, Ukraine For a Song

Michael Hedges April 4, 2005

Ukraine President Viktor Yushenko drops visa requirements for Eurovision Song Contest visitors and contestants. Ukraine rap artist Greenjolly drops a few words. Go To Follow Up & Comments

From May 1st through September 1st EU and Swiss citizens will be allowed visa-free entry to Ukraine, according to the decree announced last week (March 31st) by President Yushenko. The temporary lifting of visa requirements was offered to European Broadcasting Union (EBU) officials to “provide appropriate logistical support in the framework of the Eurovision Song Contest,” according to the announcement from Yushenko’s office quoted by an EBU press release. Yushenko hinted at dropping visa requirements earlier in the month during a meeting on European integration with German Foreign Affairs Minister Joshka Fisher.

The EBU – the association of European public broadcasters – coordinates and, largely, directs the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) as a major contribution to Eurovision’s light entertainment programming. The first was held in Lugano, Switzerland and broadcast to ten countries. Istanbul hosted the 2004 ECS, which drew audience shares over 40% in the UK, Germany and Spain, even 27% in France. World-wide audience is only estimated, certainly over 100 million and likely over 150 million. The audience grows each year. Ukraine is host for the 50th Eurovision Song Contest. The two events, May 19th and 21st, will be broadcast live in 39 countries from Kiev.

Expansion, though, is proving difficult. Lebanon’s Télé-Liban dropped out officially March 18th , taking with it Lebanese entrant “Quand tout e’enfuit” to be performed by Aline Lahoud, after the EBU reminded the broadcaster of a hard and fast rule about broadcasting the entire event, no edits allowed. Télé-Liban had “edited” from its official ESC website mention of Israel from a list of participants. Tunisia was invited to participate in 1978 but declined because Israel was on the program. Morocco participated in 1980, because Israel did not, but finished nearly last and never came back. France, Germany, the UK and Spain are automatically included in each years contest. All others must, well, compete. Ireland – not a surprise – has won most often.

With the Eurovision Song Contest – at least – the EBU judiciously avoids any political controversy. The Ukrainian entrant – “Together We Are Many” (Razon Nas Bagato) to be performed by rap artist Greenjolly – referred to recent political events and explicitly mentioned the name of President Yushenko. Owing to EBU rules about political orientation, Greenjolly agreed to rework the title and the lyrics. According to korespondent.net, Greenjolly will perform the verses in English and Ukrainian, with the title line in Ukrainian, Polish, German, French, Spanish, Russian and Czech.

Even the selection of Greenjolly was controversial in Ukraine. Four of the five artists pre-selected had songs with ties to the “Orange Revolution.” Greenjolly won the tele-voting, beating Ani Lorak’s non-political “Another Little Shot.”  Ukrainian Records Manager Andrei Dahnovski said “Greenjolly is the only chance for Ukraine to get some good result at Eurovision 2005 and show something to Europe.”

Any sort of contest provides ample fodder for study and the Eurovision Song Contest’s five decades of data – and its television presence – has excited social researchers.  Lille University professor Philippe Le Guern called it a “landmark in the collective memory associated to television history.” British social scientist found that being 13th in the contest order is, well, unlucky, unless it’s Belgium where 13 is a lucky number.

Ukraine Rappers Greenjolly

Le Guern studied 1972 to 1992 ESC results and found in the voting patterns three blocs: Western (the UK, Ireland, France, Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg), Northern (Scandinavia plus Germany) and Mediterranean (Turkey, Italy, Spain, Greece and the former Yugoslavia). Blocs tend to vote together. The Western bloc tends to win. With ten new EU member states added since Le Guern’s study, not to forget Latvia which won in 2002 and virtually all of the old Soviet Bloc now EBU members, Ukraine could be the centerpiece of a new Eastern bloc.

The songs themselves have been studied for clues about directions in European pop culture. The trend for ESC winners as well as participants, according to Professor Le Guern, is toward “obvious homogeneity of content and melodies,” meaning bland international pop. Also, non-English and non-French songs do not win. Ukraine rap act Greenjolly effectively breaks the pattern, though they will perform in both Ukrainian and English.  

Rap? Eurovision? Be still, Terry Wogan! 

The Eurovision Song Contest is less about the songs – expect more agonized reviews from every country except the winners – or the way countries vote – expect more agonized pontifications from BBC talk-show hosts. It is only marginally about the contestants. Very few retain much star power. Not even the music industry gets excited, in part, as the late BBC music host John Peel once observed, because “it is impossible to fix the result.” It is about the television.

And television in Ukraine has also provided EBU with a few headaches. NTU, the State television broadcaster, was a bastion of support for Ukraine’s last president and the chosen successor who did not succeed in last November’s election, the one called the “Orange Revolution.” NTU was charged with providing all technical support for the broadcast, including rehabilitation of the Sports Palace, which needed air-conditioning, toilets and space for 2000 journalists, not to forget 40 tons of television, lighting and sound equipment. A budget was set last October for €4 million. Things must not have been going well because on February 8th President Yushenko formed a new committee to take over the project, with no members from NTU. On February 16th, NTU President Oleksandr Savenko’s resignation was accepted by President Yushenko. The same day the new committee met, set a task list and raised the budget to €15 million.

NTU – like most public broadcasters in Eastern Europe - is not known for rolling in money. And times of turmoil are not generally good for raising funds. Fortunately for Ukraine, NTU and EBU sponsors have arrived. The first was Nemiroff Ukrainian Vodka company, which pledged €1 million as an international sponsor. Mobile phone operator Kyivstar and electronic company Samsung also came on board as sponsors. Voting for the song content winners has rapidly moved to telephone and SMS polls, which Kyivstar agreed to provide.

ftm Follow Up & Comments

Just in Case You Missed the Last 50 Eurovision Song Contests... - June 16, 2005

A total of 14 songs have been selected to take part in Congratulations, the special ESC 50th anniversary TV show organized on behalf of the EBU by Danmarks Radio (DR) in Copenhagen on Saturday 22 October 2005.