Lopez Blogs

Interesting Facts about Eurovision Song Contest

In the 1980 Eurovision contest, Belgium was plotting to lose - that's right! It seems that they were after the coveted "Wooden Spoon." The group, called the Telex, entered their song aptly named Euro-Vision - a cheerful bleepy number whose lyrics were intentionally bland and dire. Even when they were trying to lose - they couldn't! Portugal awarded them 10 points!

We prefer to believe that politics and music don't mix. But it does stick its nose where it doesn't belong. Case in point was the 2009 Eurovision, where a young fan, Rovshan Nasirli, residing in the Azerbaijani capital Baku, was summoned to the country’s National Security Ministry. He was interrogated and asked to explain why he had voted for Armenia. They resorted to psychological intimidation and harassment and after forcing him to write his explanation on a piece of paper, they let him go.  The infamous song in question was sung by the Armenian duo Inga and Anush, entitled "Jan-Jan.” Er, were the lyrics in secret code or something?

Michael Flatley, of the famous Riverdance Dance ensemble got his start at the 1994 Eurovision in Dublin. He and partner Jean Butler debuted as the intermission act and it became a wild success. Two years later he developed a full-length show based on the original seven minute performance.








Every day until May 8 I will be posting a music video of each one of the semi-finalists of the Eurovision Song Contest. On May 9, I will post the last three (my top favorites). Enjoy the videos!