This year, Israel’s participation led to the withdrawal of several European countries against the backdrop of the war in Gaza. In 2022, it was the exclusion of Russia, after the invasion of Ukraine, which left its mark. During the Cold War, the absence of Eastern Bloc countries already illustrated the division of the continent.
In their time, the participation of Franco’s Spain and Salazar’s Portugal sparked protests. Greece withdrew in 1975 in a context of tensions linked to Turkey’s invasion of Cyprus the previous year. During the 2012 edition, organized in Baku, it was Armenia which skipped the event, citing security reasons in a context of strong tensions with Azerbaijan.
With one constant: the denunciation of neighborhood votes having, today as yesterday, more to do with diplomacy than with music.
A celebration uniting Europe
The gradual expansion of the competition, however, served as a catalyst for European integration, according to Paul Jordan of the University of Glasgow.
“Estonia used it to build an image of itself as a European country and not as a former Soviet Republic from 2001 and 2002, followed by Ukraine” who affirmed his opposition to Moscow, he explains.
Selon Galina Miazhevich, from Cardiff University, Eurovision “was an important exercise to plant a flag in the European space and say: this is who we are.”
A successful bet according to her, because there is no longer the same as before.”two distinct blocks trying to talk to each other”but a circulation of influences with “lots of bilingual songs.”
A societal forum
As early as 1961, Jean-Claude Pascal won with “We the Lovers”, a song evoking a forbidden love, later interpreted as an allusion to homosexuality.
The competition then became a scene of ever more explicit affirmation, notably with the victory of transgender singer Dana International for Israel in 1998.
In 2015, Finland sent Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät, a punk group made up of musicians with mental disabilities. In 2021, the artist Jeangu Macrooy, of Surinamese origin, evokes the theme of slavery, racism and colonial heritage.
The same year, the Russian Manizha defended a song about the pressures suffered by women and female emancipation, which aroused controversy in her country.
A tube factory
But Eurovision is first and foremost a singing competition. And since the Swedish group ABBA achieved worldwide fame after its victory in 1974, participating in it holds the promise of making a career.
Canadian singer Céline Dion made herself known outside the French-speaking world by winning the competition for Switzerland in 1988. And in 2021, the Italian group Maneskin saw its career take off well beyond the European scene.
Since the advent of social networks, it is increasingly less necessary to win to conquer a very large audience. The Armenian Rosa Linn, 20th in 2022, saw her song “Snap” go viral on Instagram and TikTok, then establishing itself in the international rankings.
Eurovision has also contributed to structuring and internationalizing the music industry in countries like Sweden, promoting the emergence of complete professional sectors.
A common good
“Even those who don’t like Eurovision are interested enough to have an opinion on the subject“, notes Paul Jordan, who speaks of a “référence culturelle partagée”.
“10 points”, “12 points” : the endless countdown at the end of the show is according to him “a childhood memory for everyone: we grew up with this show and there is a form of nostalgia”.
The inexhaustible Eurovision archive generates millions of views on YouTube, with performances that have become ingrained in popular culture, for better and for worse.
“Not cool” in the 80s and 90s, the show was then considered kitsch in the West, with the entry of Eastern countries in the 2000s, explains Paul Jordan.
Until in 2014, the highly publicized victory of the bearded drag queen Conchita Wurst for Austria saw the “show spectacular“win the “respect”d’après l’expert.
