29 Apr 2009
Viva La Vision
The
place of the Eurovision Song Contest in the gay calendar is unique.
Derided by many, missed by few it arguably does more for European unity
in three hours each May than the EU has done in 50 years. It has also
perhaps been the vehicle for one or two important flash points in the
history of the LGBT movement throughout the continent. It is, as a
former Icelandic contestant once put it “like gay Christmas in Spring”.
A heady cocktail of camp, bizarre, ethnic, dramatic, sublime and
ridiculous the show came from humble beginnings to be both the world's
longest running television show and most viewed non sporting event.
Began
in 1956 in Lugano, Switzerland as one off light entertainment programme
to test the European Broadcasting Union's fledgling international
broadcast network and continued as an attempt to counter the
overwhelming tide of American culture that had poured into western
Europe since the end of World War II it wasn't long before the mix of
pageantry and camp pop attracted a gay following and the first gay
artist at the final was Belgium's (suitably closeted, it was the 50s)
Bob Benny in 1959.
The
history of the contest is positively littered with gay icons and
performers. Iceland's Paul Oscar suggestive performance and
choreography in the Point in Dublin in 1997 was described as perverse
by some and interesting by others. The judges that year where less than
impressed and Iceland finished 20th. Oscar went on to write
last year's Icelandic entry which, as the title may suggest (“This is
My Life”) also easily doubles as a Nordic pride anthem.
Contrary
to popular opinion, drag was not always that prevalent at Eurovision.
Indeed the first drag queen did not feature till the Norwegian entry of
1986, which is probably more memorable for the ambivalent lyric “My
greatest pleasure was to touch you, My biggest stupidity was to feel
you up". In recent years drag seems to have become more of a mainstay
of the contest. The Ukraine's Verka Seduchka and Denmark's DQ in 2007
being two of note. In 2002 moves in Slovenia to disqualify the drag
group “Sestre” from going to the final in Estonia where chastised by
the European Union. The ex Yugoslav republic was told that it should
respect its minority's rights if it wanted membership of the EU.
Against this massive pressure efforts to disqualify the group melted
away.
Arguably
the biggest European Gay Icons of the post war period emerged from the
1974 contest. ABBA, Sweden's first winner, arguably also did much
towards the development of a distinctly European sound in pop music in
the 1970s which was one of the original aims of Eurovision. Their
victory unequivocally and permanently set a place for the contest in
gay culture. The band which went on to eclipse Volvo as Sweden's chief
earner of foreign currency in the 80's were not, however, favourite to
win the 1974 contest in Brighton. The United Kingdom was represented by
the already successful Olivia Newton John and Italy had sent one of
their foremost female singers, Gigliola Cinquetti. Despite this ABBA,
went on to be one of the few winners who led the voting from start to
finish. In a time of three day weeks, oil crises and unemployment the
up tempo, mostly positive clean cut Scandinavian lyrics were an
overnight sensation and the contest catapulted them out of Sweden to
global acclaim. ABBA radically changed the template for winning the
contest being both the first band to win and starting a trend of
copycat acts with varying success.
In
1998, the first year where the result of the contest was, for the most
part, decided by public phone voting the results shocked Europe. A
transsexual, who, despite being on the margins of a conflict stricken
society on the margins of Europe, won the contest for Israel. Dana
International was already a well known and outspoken figure in Israel
before the contest having clocked up several hits in the charts and
controversially being named Israel's best female artist in 1994. The
narrowness of her victory, however, perhaps served to outline varying
degrees of tolerance to trans issues in Europe at the time. There were
high scores for Israel from the more progressive states such as
Belgium, France and Spain. Ominously, however four former communist
countries gave the song a flat zero and Dana scored an average of just
under 5 points with the participating former communist states at the
time. The song Diva, was a minor hit in Europe going top twenty in ten
countries including number one in Spain and Israel and sold a total of
400,000 copies worldwide. Dana today remains a prominent political
activist and popular singer in her own country.
Another
marginal contestant broke a lot of taboos in 2007. The fact that
conservative and orthodox Serbia had chosen a gypsy lesbian as a
representative was progress in itself. Many thought it unlikely that a
terribly unglamorous ballad in Serbo-croat from what was arguably, in
the context of the previous twenty years of Balkan history, the most
politically hated nation in Europe since Nazi Germany could be
triumphant. But of course, Eurovision has been called many things but
predictable isn't one of them. Maria Serifovic had a hefty victory
winning over the Eastern vote but also taking 12s from countries as far
away as Finland and Switzerland.
It
is refreshing to reflect on the two winners mentioned above. They both
would both have been thought of as having been at a great disadvantage
due to their sexual minority status. Yet, they were both victorious -
perhaps for the same reason ABBA or any other winner takes the crown –
they put on the best show and gave the best performance. More
significantly, as these winners were chosen by the viewers it can be
thought of as a form of equality from below rather than being imposed
from above by a bureaucracy as it often is with other European
Institutions.
This
year, LGBT rights shall be to the fore at the contest in Russia. The
mayors of both Moscow and St. Petersburg both expressed their distaste
at the idea of their cities hosting several thousand predominantly gay
euro fanatics. At Prime Minister Putin's intervention it was decided
that Moscow would play host. Apparently pink euro are just as good as
anyone else's in these hard times. Russian gay activists for their part
are seeing it as a golden opportunity. They have moved Moscow Pride to
the weekend of the contest's final and renamed it Slavic pride in hopes
that they can include groups from all over Eastern Europe. The city of
Moscow has never officially sanctioned a pride event and the rights of
the Russian Federation's LGBT community remain legally ambiguous, yet
with the eyes of the world upon them it is hoped that progress can be
made.
The
personality of the contest; brash, bold and outrageous and prone to
reinvention and mass derision perhaps mirrors the personality of many
in the LGBT community which is possibly subconsciously all part of the
appeal. That, along with the sheer camp value and the unrivalled
uniqueness of the event. Despite the relative failures of other spin
offs of the show such as the Junior Eurovision and the now defunct
“Intervision” (a Warsaw pact rip off often won by the Soviet Union)
other efforts at mimicking the show's success such as “Asiavision” and
an NBC franchise that shall pit the states of the US against one
another are both due to come online in the next few years. Whether or
not they can be as entertaining without the cultural schizophrenia that
we have here in Europe remains to be seen.
This
festival of kitsch and glamour once derided by a French minister of
culture as “a monument to drivel” has taken an interesting place in the
hearts of LGBT Europeans. Loved by some and appreciated on an ironic
level by others the Eurovision also functions as a fertile opportunity
for fund raising. In recent years for example, fans in Austria have
used the night of the final as a chance to raise money for aids
charitys. The 2009 event in Moscow will bare witness to the interesting
spectacle of both the old Russian bear seeking to re-assert it's place
on the world stage and the Russian gay community attempting to fully
come out of it's shell. Let the games begin.
Tips for the top
FINLAND Waldo's People – Lose Control
If a stereotypical eurodance number is what Europe wants this is the one.
FRANCE Patricia Kaas – Et s'il fallait le faire
Not a typical Eurovision song, but an artist as experienced as Kaas can't be ruled out.
SPAIN Soraya – La Noche es Para mi
This is the kind of up-tempo Mediterranean pop that often does well.
UNITED KINGDOM Jade Ewen – My Time
Will Andrew Lloyd Webber song writing do as well in Moscow as it does on the West end?
PORTUGAL Flor-de-lis – Todas as ruas do amor
A folksy guitar based ballad.
NORWAY Alexander Rybank - Fairytale
The bookies favourite at the time of going to press.
SWITZERLAND Lovebugs – The Highest Hieghts
Easy listening soft Swiss rock.
SWEDEN Malena Ernman – La Voix
An eyecatching popera song in French and English.
ESTONIA Urban Symphony - Randajad
A haunting ballad that may get the Eastern vote.
IRELAND Sinéad Mulvey & Black Daisy – Et Cetera
Probably RTÉ's best effort in years (not that that's saying much).