Russia Win Eurovision 2008

Serbia hosts the event

On 24 May, Belgrade and the nation of Serbia played host to the 53rd Eurovision Song Contest. The show, which is about the costumes and the novelty of performance rather than just the singing, was watched by more than 100 million viewers in Europe -- and in places as far away as New Zealand

Serbia’s other big musical event this summer is their annual Exit festival – an array of electronic and rock talent which is a far cry from the kitsch competition that is Eurovision. Judging from the excitement of crowds watching and the money ploughed into the spectacle, however, the latter is no worse received.

Other highlights included a suitably surreal team of dancing pirates, a pretty Swedish girl in a sparkly dress and Sebastian Telier’s attempt to blow-up a balloon whilst singing. Unfortunately, the latter did not live up to either the gossip that had preceded the performance because if it’s English words or Telier’s musical credentials as a former producer of Air and Daft Punk.

The UK entry

The English effort was about as memorable as Danni Minogue and only scraped into the final as a result of the huge amount of money the UK pours into the European Broadcasting Union.

A far cry from the glory days with Bucks Fizz whipping off Velcro-secured skirts, Andy Abraham’s poor performance on the score board incited outrage in veteran presenter Terry Wogan.

Wogan railed against the evils of ‘tactical’ voting as many of the Eastern European countries sided with each other. But surely we will some consensus of opinion as those with similar cultures vote for their favourite entries? And is it really that surprising that a nation will enjoy their neighbours’ song?

Political voting?

The criticism of so-called political voting began in 2003 when brother-sister duo Jemini ended up with the ultimate embarrassment of ‘nil points.’ Wogan was quick to cite the Iraq War - and the UK’s unpopular participation – as the cause, rather than the poor song quality or even their inability to sing on the note or the beat.

The much-loved radio and TV presenter believes the scores have gotten so predictable that he in fact foresaw the winner of this year’s performance.

Landing at London's Heathrow airport as he returned, he told waiting reporters: "I think the British music industry and the BBC really have to look at this and see how they can avoid this yearly debacle. At the very beginning of the year I said Russia would win for political reasons and they did… The voting used to be about the songs -- now it's about national prejudices."

The winning entry did indeed hail from Russia and, while many of the votes hailed from countries nearby, the performance was lifted by the enjoyable gimmick of an ice-skater dancing around the lead singer. A tiny circle of bright white ice is something the Eurovision stage has never seen before – and surely is on a par with Bucks Fizz and their skirts for novelty value?

Perhaps instead of complaining, Wogan should put his lengthy knowledge of the show and past entries to use and create an English act worth voting for. And perhaps the UK should start spending as much time and effort polishing creating one as the other countries who enter.

For example, Andy Abrahams was a man who lost the X-Factor. If UK fans of the popular show failed to vote him number one in comparison to other pop star hopefuls in a year that was rather dry when it came to talent (see Shane Ward’s lack of success in comparison to last year’s winner Leona Lewis), why should we believe he could win over a whole continent of viewers that are looking for something unusual? An X-Factor, if you will.

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Brit supporters fly the flag

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