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History
Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) is one of the truly remarkable European television programs transmitted live via the Eurovision satellite network. Some 100 million viewers in Europe and throughout the world watch the program.
Idea
ESC is rich in tradition and heritage, dating back to 1956. Inspired by the popular Italian San Remo Festival, the ESC idea was born during a meeting of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) in Monaco in 1955, and adopted in Rome shortly after. The brainchild of the brilliant idea was Marcel Baison, French representative of the EBU. The contest would be to help foster European unity after the Cold War and to test the limits of live television broadcast technology.
The first competition was held on May 24 in the city of Lugano, Switzerland in 1956, (headquarters of the EBU is in Geneva, Switzerland) Seven countries – Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Luxemburg and Italy participated in the contest. Over the years as the contest progressed, other countries were added. The contest has grown and expanded, and after the fall of the USSR, the number of countries eligible to compete skyrocketed. The participation level rose to pass 40 nations at the end of the 20th century.
Famous Winners
The winner of the 1956 Eurovision Contest became Lys Assia (Switzerland) with her song “Refrain.” Some participants of Eurovision have led successful careers in their home countries but very few were able to go on to great fame as a result of their participation in the contest. In fact, in the history of the competition, ABBA (Sweden) with song “Waterloo” won the 1974 competition, Celine Dion (Switzerland) with her song “Ne partez pas sans moi” won the Eurovision 1988, Toto Cutugno (Italy) with the song “Insieme” won the 1990 contest, etc. have ever attained international success.
Contest Rules
At first, organizers of the competition instituted a rule that countries could only submit entries in their national language. However, in recent years, the language rule has been relaxed and countries are now free to choose which language to sing in.
The main rule of ESC is that the country, which wins the competition, wins the right to host it the following year.
The success of Dima Bilan in Eurovision 2008 brought the 54-year-old history of the contest to Russia’s capital of Moscow.
Last year - "Stephane & 3G “with the play on words song “Put In Disco” were selected the Georgian entry to the ESC through Georgia’s national competition. The song caused some controversy as it can be perceived to contain political references to former Russian President and present PM Vladimir Putin in the lyrics.
EBU has offered GPB- 1st Channel to re-write the lyrics of the entry song or either to select another entry song for the contest.
Georgia has announced withdrawal from ESC 2009.
Alexander Rybak won the 54th Eurovision Song Contest in Moscow, performing for Norway with Fairytale. The Eurovision Song Contest 2010 will be hold in Oslo, Norway.
Host Cites
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