{"id":127006,"date":"2021-05-20T11:40:54","date_gmt":"2021-05-20T09:40:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=127006"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:25:38","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:25:38","slug":"the-eurovision-can-be-studied-from-three-hundred-different-angles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2021\/05\/20\/the-eurovision-can-be-studied-from-three-hundred-different-angles\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018The Eurovision can be studied from three hundred different angles\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Academics who conduct research on the Eurovision Song Contest not only exist, but there are actually quite a few of them. Some forty of them were supposed to come to EUR last year to attend a conference inspired by the contest. That event was cancelled, so media expert Simone Driessen organised an online \u2018salon event\u2019 last Monday, where some of the academics convened after all to discuss the contest.<\/p>\n

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Just picture it \u2013 prominent international academics having a serious conversation on The Toppers, the Dutch super group of campy male singers who initially found fame as soloists. \u201cA colleague of mine thought the group had been formed purely to participate in the Eurovision, but no, they sell out stadiums!\u201d On Monday evening, some 25 academics (mostly foreign) attended an informal Zoom meeting to discuss the Eurovision Song Contest. The event was organised by EUR-affiliated media expert Simone Driessen. \u201cIt was modelled on conferences held in the USA, where they establish salon events, in the classical sense of the word: a place where you can have a good conversation about something. It\u2019s a convenient format in which people can easily take part, without really having to prepare anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Political controversy<\/h2>

The first event held in the Eurovision salon was an interview with Dean Vuletic, a self-declared authority when it comes to Eurovision science, as well as the author of a book entitled Postwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest<\/em>. Among other things, he debunked the myth that the festival is not a political event and provided a few examples from the contest\u2019s early years, such as a Dutch song on pious and faithful girls and a Jewish singer representing West Germany.<\/p>\n

Vuletic also touched on interesting political trends related to the contest, such as increasingly strict rules regarding political statements, which are banned. In Vuletic\u2019s opinion, this ban is related to commercialisation. As far as that is concerned, he feels that Hungary\u2019s withdrawal in 2019 was not a coincidence. It was in line with Prime Minister Viktor Orban\u2019s anti-European (and rather homophobic) attitude. On the other hand, he told the attendees, the media also like to pour fuel on the fire of small protests; they clearly love any political controversy surrounding the Eurovision. He provided an example: the right-wing protests staged in Austria when the famous drag queen Conchita Wurst won the contest. \u201cThat was not representative of Austria at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Plenty to conduct research on<\/h2>\n\t
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\n\t\t\u2018Schlager songs sound very good in Dutch and German\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

The rest of the salon was dedicated to a wide variety of subjects: identity (even songs without a cultural identity tell us about a country\u2019s identity), singing in one\u2019s own language (a good thing if you want to be successful after the contest), protest actions and censorship (they have been around since 1964), Eastern European voting blocs (you Western European countries and media are obsessed with them) and Great Britain\u2019s notorious failure to do well in the contest (\u201cWe don\u2019t hate you guys \u2013 you just need to send better songs\u201d). The Netherlands, too, was discussed in passing: \u201cSchlager songs sound very good in Dutch and German\u201d and \u201cThe success \u2018Arcade\u2019 (Duncan Laurence\u2019s 2019 winning song \u2013 ed.) had in the US is rather remarkable for a Eurovision Song Contest winner and is due to the rise of streaming services and social media.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other words, there is plenty to discuss and conduct research on, when it comes to the Eurovision Song Contest. As soon as it was announced that Rotterdam was to host the contest, Driessen and a few of her colleagues came up with the idea of organising a conference dedicated to the event. \u201cWe have a lot of music scientists, so we thought this was a brilliant reason to hold a conference on the Eurovision, music and fandom. We made a conscious decision to include a lot of subjects, also because the contest\u2019s theme is \u2018open up\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

Popular subject: the political dimension<\/h2>

They soon discovered that the number of academics who study the song contest exceeded their expectations. \u201cHonestly, the contest can be studied from three hundred different angles. That\u2019s why we included subjects such as identity and politics. The political dimension is a popular subject. Question to be answered: What does the Eurovision mean to Europe? For instance, people will analyse the role played by a country like Ukraine. Those are exciting things.\u201d Other subjects being researched include the voting system and the influence of social media. \u201cA really niche subject that I personally find very interesting is research on songs \u2013 people who compare the violin section of Norway\u2019s winning song with a Portuguese song, trying to determine how they inspired each other, in terms of melody or pitch.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than sixty researchers applied to attend the original conference, some forty of whom were invited to come to Rotterdam. \u201cThey would have come from all over the world, from all the Eurovision countries, except Australia. We put an immense amount of effort into it, so we were incredibly disappointed when it had to be cancelled due to the pandemic. On the other hand, we completely understood.\u201d Because the researchers were very busy making the switch to online teaching, they did not have enough time to turn the conference into an online conference.<\/p>\n

Small taste of the real thing<\/h2>

A year later, Driessen decided to host the event that replaced the original conference completely online. \u201cIt\u2019s a far cry from what we had in mind. Our two- or three-day conference was reduced to a ninety-minute meeting. This fitted better into people\u2019s schedules, and everyone had a chance to say \u2018hi\u2019 to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Driessen was happy with the turn-out. \u201cMost of all, I\u2019m glad that the people who joined us still represent a wide variety of countries. It\u2019s great that we were able to do the same in a different format. It was a nice, small taste of the song contest week.\u201d<\/p>\n

So what will she herself be focusing on during the event? \u201cThe fans, and what the fan experience is like during the pandemic. I\u2019m very curious to see what the reduced number of fans looks like on TV, and whether we will be able to savour the regular exuberance and vibe of the Eurovision party \u2013 because it is<\/em> a party \u2013 during the pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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De redactie<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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