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eurovision song concert anti semetic
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Heinrich
May 21, 2013, 3:12:29 PM5/21/13
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A Romanian opera singer dressed like Dracula and wailing falsetto. Dancers
in a Perspex boxes and drummers dosed in baby oil. Moustachioed Greeks
dancing and singing about the joys of free alcohol. A Russian plea for world
peace in three minutes with a key change.
In case you missed it, that was the Eurovision Song Contest, Europe’s annual
festival of music, costumes, and lights that at once unites, divides, and
simply baffles the continent. And the winner wasn’t half bad this year.
Denmark’s Emmilie de Forest sang “Only Teardrops,” a steady tune with a
smattering of drums and Celtic pipes, and won 281 points, including the
maximum points from eight countries, beating out Azerbaijan and the Ukraine
respectively.
Absent once more from the spectacle was Israel. Since Harel Skaat placed
14th in the 2010 final with “Milim” (“Words”), Israel has failed to make it
out of the semi-finals on three successive occasions. This year, Israel
entered the talented if unknown reality show winner Moran Mazor, and her
ballad “Rak bishvilo” (“Only for him”) fell flat in the semi-final,
finishing 14th out of 17 acts.
For its size, Israel has a very strong record in Eurovision. Since it first
entered in 1973, Israel has won on three occasions – including back-to-back
in 1978 and 1979 with “A-Ba-Ni-Bi” and “Hallelujah” – and has come second
twice and third once. This is more remarkable given Israel hasn’t even
submitted an entry every year, missing the contest when it has fallen on the
memorial days Yom HaShoah or Yom Hazikaron.
However, following Dana International’s triumph in 1998 – when,
incidentally, she became the first transgendered artist to win the contest –
Israel’s record in Eurovision has been patchy at best. Shiri Maimon’s 4th
place finish in 2005 was the highpoint in an era that has seen Israel miss
out on the final five times. When Israel has qualified for the final, it has
finished in the bottom half more often than not, including 23rd out of 24 in
2006, scoring just 4 points.
It would be easy to suggest that Israel has been the victim of dramatic
changes made to Eurovision’s format in the last twenty years. Since 1993,
the number of participants has increased considerably, with the introduction
of nations from eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. This, combined
with the replacement of national juries with mass televoting, has beget
entrenched regional voting blocs: Scandinavia; Greece and Cyprus; the former
Yugoslavia; and the CIS nations. Countries like Israel, the United Kingdom,
and Ireland who were once successful (and now are decidedly not) all point
to this as the source of their downfall.
But speaking to The Forward, Gil Laufer, an editor for ESC Today, suggested
that to argue Israel’s lack of success is attributable to some reflexive
dislike amongst the voting public is too simplistic an explanation. After
all, when Israel has submitted decent songs like Maimon’s “HaSheket SheNish’ar”
(“The Silence That Remains”), they’ve been rewarded. “It’s common to say
here that ‘everyone is anti-Semitic’ and that everyone hates Israel. But we
have managed to show that when we deserve a good place, we get it. When the
crowd was shouting ‘Israel, Israel’ before announcing the last finalist of
the second semi-final this year, I don’t think that it’s because they hate
Israel.”
Laufer also doesn’t believe Israel has suffered from other major rule
changes, including the decision in 1999 to allow artists to sing in
languages other than the national tongue. Since then, all the winners bar
one (Serbia in 2007) have been performed in English, while the Israel
Broadcasting Authority maintains a rule which stipulates that at least half
of its nominated song must be sung in Hebrew. Laufer supports this rule,
arguing that as Hebrew is “a beautiful language, if the song comes across in
the right way, it can only help Israel. Many fans appreciate Israel as a
country which doesn’t send trashy pop music every year.”
Thus if Israel’s recent failure isn’t attributable to external factors, the
problem is internal. Israel has no clear or consistent way of selecting its
Eurovision entry. Since 1998, “Israel has had five internal selections, six
national finals for an internally chosen singer and five open national
finals. There is something different every year, and the juries and the
committees who are responsible for selecting the song are mostly
old-fashioned and choose something that might be good for their ears but not
for Europe.”
This contrasts dramatically with this year’s host nation, Sweden, which is
famous for its grand Melodifestivalen. This annual music competition is
consistently one of the most-watched shows on Sweden television, and both
the public and music industry professionals have a hand in the selection
their Eurovision entrant. Since 1998 when Israel last won, Sweden has
finished in the top five on no less than seven occasions, including two
victories, and has only missed out on the final once.
In Israel, meanwhile, Laufer observes that “much of the public don’t care
about Eurovision. With all the commercial channels around, people hardly
watch IBA unless there is a special sports event on. Many people say that
our time in Eurovision is over and we should quit, and famous Israeli
artists refuse to take part in the contest or in the national finals. In
this year’s selection, all artists were refugees of reality shows or other
unknown people. The Israeli entries are not played on the radio, and less
than 100,000 households watch the competition every year.”
“Only when Eurovision is taken seriously, like in Sweden or Denmark,” Laufer
concludes, will Israel “get back on track and (at least) make it to the
final again.”
in a Perspex boxes and drummers dosed in baby oil. Moustachioed Greeks
dancing and singing about the joys of free alcohol. A Russian plea for world
peace in three minutes with a key change.
In case you missed it, that was the Eurovision Song Contest, Europe’s annual
festival of music, costumes, and lights that at once unites, divides, and
simply baffles the continent. And the winner wasn’t half bad this year.
Denmark’s Emmilie de Forest sang “Only Teardrops,” a steady tune with a
smattering of drums and Celtic pipes, and won 281 points, including the
maximum points from eight countries, beating out Azerbaijan and the Ukraine
respectively.
Absent once more from the spectacle was Israel. Since Harel Skaat placed
14th in the 2010 final with “Milim” (“Words”), Israel has failed to make it
out of the semi-finals on three successive occasions. This year, Israel
entered the talented if unknown reality show winner Moran Mazor, and her
ballad “Rak bishvilo” (“Only for him”) fell flat in the semi-final,
finishing 14th out of 17 acts.
For its size, Israel has a very strong record in Eurovision. Since it first
entered in 1973, Israel has won on three occasions – including back-to-back
in 1978 and 1979 with “A-Ba-Ni-Bi” and “Hallelujah” – and has come second
twice and third once. This is more remarkable given Israel hasn’t even
submitted an entry every year, missing the contest when it has fallen on the
memorial days Yom HaShoah or Yom Hazikaron.
However, following Dana International’s triumph in 1998 – when,
incidentally, she became the first transgendered artist to win the contest –
Israel’s record in Eurovision has been patchy at best. Shiri Maimon’s 4th
place finish in 2005 was the highpoint in an era that has seen Israel miss
out on the final five times. When Israel has qualified for the final, it has
finished in the bottom half more often than not, including 23rd out of 24 in
2006, scoring just 4 points.
It would be easy to suggest that Israel has been the victim of dramatic
changes made to Eurovision’s format in the last twenty years. Since 1993,
the number of participants has increased considerably, with the introduction
of nations from eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. This, combined
with the replacement of national juries with mass televoting, has beget
entrenched regional voting blocs: Scandinavia; Greece and Cyprus; the former
Yugoslavia; and the CIS nations. Countries like Israel, the United Kingdom,
and Ireland who were once successful (and now are decidedly not) all point
to this as the source of their downfall.
But speaking to The Forward, Gil Laufer, an editor for ESC Today, suggested
that to argue Israel’s lack of success is attributable to some reflexive
dislike amongst the voting public is too simplistic an explanation. After
all, when Israel has submitted decent songs like Maimon’s “HaSheket SheNish’ar”
(“The Silence That Remains”), they’ve been rewarded. “It’s common to say
here that ‘everyone is anti-Semitic’ and that everyone hates Israel. But we
have managed to show that when we deserve a good place, we get it. When the
crowd was shouting ‘Israel, Israel’ before announcing the last finalist of
the second semi-final this year, I don’t think that it’s because they hate
Israel.”
Laufer also doesn’t believe Israel has suffered from other major rule
changes, including the decision in 1999 to allow artists to sing in
languages other than the national tongue. Since then, all the winners bar
one (Serbia in 2007) have been performed in English, while the Israel
Broadcasting Authority maintains a rule which stipulates that at least half
of its nominated song must be sung in Hebrew. Laufer supports this rule,
arguing that as Hebrew is “a beautiful language, if the song comes across in
the right way, it can only help Israel. Many fans appreciate Israel as a
country which doesn’t send trashy pop music every year.”
Thus if Israel’s recent failure isn’t attributable to external factors, the
problem is internal. Israel has no clear or consistent way of selecting its
Eurovision entry. Since 1998, “Israel has had five internal selections, six
national finals for an internally chosen singer and five open national
finals. There is something different every year, and the juries and the
committees who are responsible for selecting the song are mostly
old-fashioned and choose something that might be good for their ears but not
for Europe.”
This contrasts dramatically with this year’s host nation, Sweden, which is
famous for its grand Melodifestivalen. This annual music competition is
consistently one of the most-watched shows on Sweden television, and both
the public and music industry professionals have a hand in the selection
their Eurovision entrant. Since 1998 when Israel last won, Sweden has
finished in the top five on no less than seven occasions, including two
victories, and has only missed out on the final once.
In Israel, meanwhile, Laufer observes that “much of the public don’t care
about Eurovision. With all the commercial channels around, people hardly
watch IBA unless there is a special sports event on. Many people say that
our time in Eurovision is over and we should quit, and famous Israeli
artists refuse to take part in the contest or in the national finals. In
this year’s selection, all artists were refugees of reality shows or other
unknown people. The Israeli entries are not played on the radio, and less
than 100,000 households watch the competition every year.”
“Only when Eurovision is taken seriously, like in Sweden or Denmark,” Laufer
concludes, will Israel “get back on track and (at least) make it to the
final again.”
Message has been deleted
The Peeler
May 21, 2013, 3:44:18 PM5/21/13
to
On Tue, 21 May 2013 21:28:22 +0200, The Rectu, the resident,
psychopath of sci and scj, FAKING his time zone, again and
IMPERSONATING his master, The Peeler, wrote:
>On Tue, 21 May 2013 21:12:29 +0200, the Dutch pig wrote:
>
><snip the Dutch pig's usual inane copy & paste troll>
>
>"song concert"??? "semitic"??? Get me euthanized, I'm just a brain dead Grik Nazi pig!
You betcha, psycho! LOL3
psychopath of sci and scj, FAKING his time zone, again and
IMPERSONATING his master, The Peeler, wrote:
>On Tue, 21 May 2013 21:12:29 +0200, the Dutch pig wrote:
>
><snip the Dutch pig's usual inane copy & paste troll>
>
>"song concert"??? "semitic"??? Get me euthanized, I'm just a brain dead Grik Nazi pig!
You betcha, psycho! LOL3
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