Eurovision faces overhaul after vote fiasco
CroRadio.net
Eurovision faces overhaul after vote fiasco
By Chris Hastings, Arts and Media Editor, Sunday Telegraph
Last Updated: 11:30pm BST 19/05/2007
Voting for the Eurovision Song Contest is set for an overhaul after
the man responsible for organising it admitted the current system is
failing.
The Serbian entry, Molitva, by Marija Serifovic, won this year
Marija Serifovic was awarded 12 points by five east European nations
After complaints from western European countries that their rivals are
working together to prevent them taking the title, the voting
procedure is set for a revamp, with the introduction of a second semi-
final under consideration.
Bjorn Erichsen, the director of Eurovision television, the
international broadcasting body responsible for the contest, said: "It
is likely that we will have new procedures in place by 2009."
The Serbian entry, Molitva, by Marija Serifovic, won this year's
contest in Finland earlier this month after being awarded the maximum
12 points by five fellow east European nations.
Entries from Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and Bulgaria made up the rest of
the top five while six of the bottom seven, including the United
Kingdom's Flying the Flag, by Scooch, were all from western Europe.
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Under the current system, the UK, Germany, France and Spain - the
countries that contribute the most money towards the running of the
event - and the 10 highest scorers from the previous year's final
receive automatic entry to the live contest, watched by about 600
million television viewers. The remaining 10 places go to the highest
scorers in a semi-final involving a further 28 nations.
It was intended to unite nations ravaged by the Second World War in an
appreciation of music but, 50 years on, the proposed new rules could
create two separate semi-finals in east and west Europe, forcing east
European countries to vote against each other and ensuring fewer of
them reached the final.
Mr Erichsen, who himself favours semi-finals to include nations from
across Europe, said the "musical iron curtain" proposal was put
forward by a number of unnamed west European nations.
"We have 21 eastern European nations in the contest," he said. "It is
impossible for countries to collude because the voting is open to
audiences and handled by a central body. East European voters who have
moved to different countries may be voting for the countries they left
behind ... there is nothing wrong with that.
"I would not want the musical equivalent of the iron curtain. I don't
think that is what the contest is about. Two semi-finals, each of
which takes in an equal number of countries from east, north, south
and west, is the best option."
A spokesman for the BBC said a review would be held of Britain's
performance in Finland. "We would like the UK to do better and will
examine reasons behind these poor performances," he said. "The level
of public debate will be considered both within the BBC and with the
European Broadcasting Union."
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the number of countries
competing in Eurovision has risen with the 42 nations now split evenly
between east and west. Since 2001, the contest has been won by
Estonia, Latvia, Turkey, Ukraine and Serbia. Only in 2005 and last
year, when Greece and then Finland triumphed, did the stranglehold of
the former Soviet bloc of recent years ease.
The United Kingdom has failed to make it into the top 10 since 2002,
yet has the highest cumulative points score and has won on five
occasions. Paul Gambaccini, the broadcaster, suggested the invasion of
Iraq rather than tactical voting was to blame, saying: "Our entries
started to suffer after the invasion and probably won't do well until
the boys come back."
CroRadio.net
Soni Malaj Speaks Out On Molitva Theft: "The songs have similarities!"
Soni Malaj finally breaks her silence on the biggest controversy of
the Eurovision Song Contest 2007. Accusations have been flying back
and forth that the winner of this year's Eurovision "Molitva"
performed by Marija Serifovic, is in fact a steal from an older
Albanian hit, "Ndarja" by Soni Malaj...winner of "Best Song" award in
Top Fest 3, in the year 2006.
Soni Malaj, in a live interview for Top Channel News, admits that
while watching the Serbian singer perform, she started noticing that
the song was similar to her ballad "Ndarja". The Albanian singer
claims that the beginning of the refrain is almost identical, the tune
and harmony of the song are the same, and the interpretation is very
similar.
This statement was backed by Maki, the composer of the song "Ndarja",
who says that while those similarities do exist, the melodic base is
different. However this matter will be investigated.
Soni says that the decision is now left to the hands of professional
musicians to decide the originality of "Molitva".
The newscast also mentions that the composer of "Molitva" is a
commonly heard name on the topic of "rip-off" versions originating
from neighboring countries.
Meanwhile, no statement has been released from Eurovision officials as
of yet. The internet community has been buzzing over this controversy
while they await an answer.
This is not the first time Serbia is being accused of song theft. In
Eurovision 2004, there were allegations concerning the Serbian
representative Zejlko Joksimovic and his song "Lane Moje". Azerbaijani
composer Alihana Samedov claimed that Serbia's entry was a rip-pff of
his instrumental song "Sen Gelmez Oldun".
soni malaj marija serifovic maki ndarja molitva albania serbia
macedonia top fest 3 channel eurovision 2007 shqip
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Comment: The Uncrowned Queen of Serbia
16 05 2007
Image 605
Ex-Yugoslav block and flash of Lesbian chic key factors in securing
Eurovision glory for Serb artist.
By Tim Judah in Belgrade and Podgorica
When Marija Serifovic returned to Serbia after her victory at the
Eurovision Song Contest she was greeted by thousands of adoring fans
as she appeared on the balcony of Belgrade's town hall. It was a
fitting location as Serifovic is now the uncrowned Queen of Serbia and
the town hall is the country's former royal palace.
It is not surprising that Serifovic should be so popular. After all,
for many in Europe, the Serbian name has for a very long time been
associated with words like "Srebrenica". Thus, if "Serifovic", not to
mention Serbia's now world beating tennis players, means that that era
is passing, then Serbs have good reason to feel happy.
What was the secret of Serifovic's success? A careful analysis of how
to win at Eurovision reveals that several ingredients are necessary.
The first and most obvious of these is the need for a block vote. The
main ones are the ex-Yugoslav block, the ex-Soviet block and the
Scandinavians.
There are also some sub-blocks. These include the Orthodox countries
and then there is the two member Iberian block and the Hellenic block
of Greece and Cyprus.
This year, true to form, the ex-Yugoslav block acted in absolute
perfect harmony, in stark contrast to the way these countries, then
republics, acted when they lived together in one state.
Notwithstanding the bloody history of the 1990s, every single former
Yugoslav republic delivered a full 12 points to Serbia.
Without a block, as Britain and France have found to their cost in
recent years, victory is almost impossible, now that all of Europe is
included, as was not the case in earlier Cold War decades.
The second ingredient is a diaspora vote. In years past, this has
delivered, say, Turkish votes for Turkey from Germany or Jewish votes
around the continent for Israel.
Thanks to the large and motivated ex-Yugoslav diaspora, the current
telephone voting system now guarantees large numbers of votes for any
ex-Yugoslav song and this year was no exception, as full points for
Serifovic from Switzerland and Austria showed.
This has led to calls of a reform of the voting system. In the wake of
Britain coming 23rd out of 24 countries in this year's final, Tim
Moore, who has written a book on the contest, suggested, in a BBC
interview, a return, "to a jury system and not to have telephone
voting because it's not a poll on the songs any more - it's very
political, and more like a poll on how many aunties you happen to have
in Montenegro".
The third ingredient for success is the song. A block vote and a
diaspora alone are simply not enough. Serifovic's ballad was powerful
and catchy.
But, even those three ingredients are not enough. Last year, Hari Mata
Hari from Bosnia only managed to come third despite having all of
these elements and despite the fact that Serbia and Montenegro, then
one country, did not participate, thus automatically shifting large
numbers of ex-Yugoslav votes to Bosnia by default.
What is needed to clinch victory is one other element, which can
secure votes from across Europe. This was shown very clearly last year
when Lordi, the Finnish group, won by appealing to Heavy Metal fans,
(and maybe Satanists,) from Lisbon to Vladivostok.
This year Serifovic's clinch factor appears obvious. Her particular
styling, which appeared to borrow from Lesbian-chic iconography - her
masculine dress and hair-style, and being surrounded by super-feminine
backing singers, is certain to have guaranteed Gay and Lesbian votes
across Europe.
This is being little discussed in any serious way in usually
homophobic Serbia, which is simply grateful for success, however it
came.
Serifovic herself has repeatedly declined to discuss her private life
and her sexuality.
In the meantime, a Balkan Eurovision War has now broken out on the
internet, with Albanians claiming that Serifovic's song was
plagiarised from an Albanian singer called Soni Malaj. In 2004, there
were also accusations that the entry from Serbia and Montenegro was
plagiarised, although then from an Azeri song.
While there are some similarities between the Serifovic song and that
of Soni Malaj, which is normal for a region which shares musical
tastes, the charge seems far-fetched. Nevertheless, it has,
unsurprisingly, been picked up gratefully by the Albanian media in
Kosovo, whose Albanian population, do not, for obvious reasons, fit
into the ex-Yugoslav block voting pattern.
Now, vicious attacks are being traded by Serbs and Albanians over the
song on YouTube, while the more interesting angle to the Serifovic's
victory seems to have been largely, but not entirely ignored.
Another relevant factor which has been noted in the Balkans but not
discussed in any scientific fashion, because there is no way to do
that, is the award of 12 points to Serifovic from Finland, which seems
out of character. Watching the show in Podgorica, Montenegro's
capital, commentator Igor Milosevic, joked "the biggest loser is
Ahtisaari since the Finns are helping Serbia win while he is helping
it lose".
He was referring to former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari, the
author of the current UN plan to give Kosovo, technically part of
Serbia, its independence.
Meanwhile, Serbia will soon have to begin planning the 2008 contest.
If, by that stage Kosovo is indeed independent, some here have already
begun speculating on the impact of votes coming from Pristina -
"Hello, Belgrade, congratulations on a great show! Here are the
results of the Kosovar vote....."
Whether Kosovo votes next year or not remains to be seen but one thing
is certain. For the foreseeable future, Kosovo will not vote as part
of the ex-Yugoslav block but will create its own new sub-block with
Albania. As it is Kosovo Albanian bands have, ever since the Kosovo
war in 1999, had to trek down to Tirana to try and represent Albania.
However, much to their disgust, they have always found that, when push
came to shove, Albanian Albanians have always preferred a homegrown
group. "Yet another reason why we need independence," grumble
disconsolate Kosovars.
Tim Judah, a leading Balkan commentator, is the author of The Serbs:
History, Myth and the Destruction of Yugoslavia, and Kosovo: War and
Revenge. Balkan Insight is BIRN's online publication.
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Denmark: newspaper claims Serbian song is copy of an Albanian one
Fotis Konstantopoulos reporting
source: Ekstra Bladet - photo: oikotimes.com resources
Few hours before the 52nd Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final serval
websites among them oikotimes.com received dozens of e-mails claiming
that there is a problem with the Serbian entry in the Eurovision Song
Contest. We tried to contact the European Broadcasting Union on the
issue but the contact was impossible due to the contest and also the
accusations were made through e-mails and youtube.com videos.
Today Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet reports that the Serbian entry
Molitva is not an original song as the EBU rules instruct. The song is
a copy, the newspaper claims from an Albanian song, released in 2006
under the title Ndarja performed by Soni Malaj. The newspaper also
presents a comparison video of the Serbian and Albanian song. You can
watch the video by clicking above. In any case the alleged song from
Albanian seems to have been performed in public.
So far there is no confirmation of the validity of the video by any
official source nor an official answer or reaction by RTS and the
European Broadcasting Union. Often winning songs are accused for
plagiarism. In 1995 the Norwegian winning song was also accused but
the final decision was that the song was not a plagiarism. It could be
true but it could also be an attempt to demine the Serbian entry. In
any case we urge you to read this story in caution.
read the newspaper article in Danish here (external link)
http://ekstrabladet.dk/flash/musik/article298570.ece
watch the comparison video on Youtube.com (external link)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn0WAvFh9GQ
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EUROSONG WINNER IS COPY OF SONI'S SONG "NDARJA"
London, 14 May 2007 (Kosovapress) Time 16:38
Serbia's victory celebrations in this year's Eurovision Song Contest
have been marred by claims the track is a copy of another song
"Ndarja" of the Albanian singer Soni Malaj, wrote the British daily
"The Sun".
Critics reckon Molitva (Prayer), performed by Marija Serifovic, is a
rip-off of an old Albanian track published last year.
One man who has posted a video comparing the two songs side- by- side
online told "I knew this Albanian song long ago. It won a popular song
competition called Top Fest that is organized in Albania yearly.
"As soon as I heard Serbia's song I realized it was plagiarized. I am
not aware if they did it intentionally or not but the similarity was
obvious," he said.
Thus far there were made no official reaction regarding this fact from
official sources such as the European Broadcasting Union.
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