Eurovision 2008

An event which once used to unite Europe now seems to divide it.
 

A few days ago we could all see another spectacular final of the Eurovision Song Contest and as it usually happens after the show, there were voices of disappointment, outrage and complaint. There are some who say the winning song didn’t deserve to win and that it happened only because of the, so called, ‘neighbourly voting’. It must be true to a certain extent as most of the highest points were given to Russia by its neighbour countries which long ago created the USSR. But giving points to neighbouring countries has been part of Eurovision for a very long time: Cyprus and Greece almost always exchanging douze points, the Scandinavian countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland) voting for one another and Ireland and the UK doing the same. It can be said, that this kind of behaviour has been almost an icon of the contest and people treated it indulgently. The situation has, however, changed as more and more Eastern European countries started joining. Last year’s winner, Serbia, won the contest because of, as many claim, votes from countries of former Yugoslavia which had voted for the song. And again, this is only partly true, for even if only Western Europeans had been allowed to cast their vote, Serbia would have still won. This year’s winner, Dima Bilan from Russia, came first due to the high number of votes from Russia’s neighbours but also from other countries without a big Russian diaspora.
Maybe Eurovision has become too much about politics and too little about music, but on the other hand, the example of Finland shows that when there is a strong favourite in Europe, even politics won’t stop it from winning. And I’m afraid this year there was none and political voting might have determined the winner.
What saddens me most is that there were many good songs which weren’t lucky enough to go through the semi finals or which finished up outside the top ten.
My favourites included (in no particular order):
Portugal – Senhora do Mar
Romania - Pe-o Margine De Lume
Serbia - Oro
Israel – Ke'ilo kan
San Marino – Complice
Switzerland – Era Stupendo
The last two (both sung in Italian) were never to appear in the final.
In my opinion, the two entries which shared the last place (Poland and the UK) didn't deserve it at all. Those positions should have been taken by France and Spain as songs from these two 'great' contestants were an utter disgrace.
 
Let’s hope that the EBU will come up with a solution to the supposed problem of political/block voting before other countries start fallowing Austria’s steps and withdraw from the contest.
For now, all what’s left is to congratulate Russia their victory and to hope that next year we will see another wonderful show which the rest of the world can only envy us :-)