We need to head back to 1990. This was a year where the Eurovision Song Contest was one of its most historically significant. Held in a soon-to-be defunct Yugoslavia, numerous entries had themes about peace, or the hope for coming together, as Europe’s borders were in the midst of rapid transition. Perhaps this was the inspiration for a new type of Eurovision Song Contest to be created?
Our story starts with a Danish Eurovision fan, Morten Boldt Hansen, and an idea. His idea was to find like-minded fans of the Eurovision Song Contest who shared an interest in not just enjoying songs, but writing them.
Nowadays one would scour the internet forums and create social media posts to embark on this quest. But back in the early 90’s the World Wide Web was in its infancy, and the sole social media for Eurovision fans was through the newly-created OGAE Network and the EuroSong News magazine. Morten simply left a letter in one edition of the magazine asking for anybody interested to get in touch, send me their songs, and I’ll make it into a competition.
And the Home Composed Song Contest has been going for 30 years since.
Cassette Tapes In The Post
The first edition of the Home Composed Song Contest took place in 1991, with a total of nine entries from five different entrants from five different countries; Israel, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and host country Denmark. It was far more logistically challenging than today’s edition. Songs were recorded on cassette tapes that had to be sent to the organiser, who then had to put all the competing songs together into one tape to make a show, send out again, and then wait for weeks and weeks until each competitor had posted a cassette back of their scores. One final cassette tape was then posted out to produce a voting results ‘show’.
The inaugural organiser Morten had written both of the competing Danish entries and managed to win with one of them, ‘A World in Peace’. At this point I would love to say that this track continued those themes from the 1990 Eurovision Song Contest, but the decision was made for this first edition to have solely instrumental tracks.
Cassette tapes of the songs and the voting of the 1996 Home Composed Song Contest (Photo: Martin Faulkner)
Neither can I say that ‘A World in Peace’ had rich, powerful movie soundtrack style orchestration to evoke those feelings. The music in those early days of the competition was very fitting of the term home composed, and the 1990 entries sound in 2021 like those demo tracks one may find on the Casio keyboards wheeled out for middle school music lessons. But that’s because many of them were recorded on such equipment, with composers creating percussion tracks and then laying over them with their own melodies.
The following year saw the Home Composed Song Contest again hosted by Morten from Denmark and one subtle rule change that allowed vocals on each track. Only the two British songs took this opportunity. In this pre-Nocturne era, the unwavering of these first songwriters to keep their entries in instrumental form may seem surprising, but much of the reasoning here could be explained by the extra difficulty vocal recording would take for amateur composers. Vocals require an extra difficulty in terms of finding a suitable volume balance and in this era the cost of a decent microphone would have been significantly more prohibitive than today.
However as the contest progressed the instrumental tracks became rarer as songs fell more into the fold as we know them today. The 1994 competition saw the debut of Martin Faulkner as one of the composers representing “United Kingdom North” (competition rules allow for more than one entry per country). Despite a sixth place finish out of ten with ‘Misery’, a track that is a very 90’s interpretation of what rock’n’roll kids at the time would sound like, Martin was about to start a journey that would make him the person who has the record number of participations in the Home Composed Song Contest, at the current time of writing at 40.
Of course the song sounded like teenagers thrashing guitars in their parent’s garage because that’s an accurate description of his band at the time, Jaded. Martin does possess some formal background in music, but that was limited to Grade 2 piano while a child, and then dropping out of music because it was “less interesting than my Amstrad computer”, as he explained to me in an interview.
Martin Faulkner, right, alongside the fellow members of his band Vulnerable, Ray Holt and Andrew Donaldson (Photo: homecomposed.net)
As a teenager metal music that grabbed his attention and he “fell into a like-minded crowd dressed in black and easy to find each other”. Of course, within this group there were plenty of people who wanted to play in a band, and those Grade 2 skills came in use on both synth and keyboards.
While Martin highest position in the competition was a 4th place in 2008, he does credit the Home Composed Song Contest for improving his music making over the years. Part of that is the pursuit to use newer and more accessible technology as the era of recording on cassettes fading as we moved into the 21st century, but also for the way he, and the bands he has played with, have “framed their music, especially in those songs that are more melodic”.
Defining What Is Home Composed
While Martin and many others have improved and the quality of home recordings gets easier, the competition that exists today is still strictly a competition for amateurs. That distinction is one that has always been a difficult battle for the organisers each year to fully control. An example goes back to 1997 and probably the most famous entrant in the history of the Home Composed Song Contest.
That year saw two songs take part from the Mediterranean island of Malta in their Home Composed debut. Both had a production that certainly gave a whiff of quality, but not enough to trigger anybody to suspect foul play at the time. However one of those two entries, ‘Ismaghni ftit habib’ was performed by none other than Chiara, who the next year everybody would of course know all about. The other entry ‘Will I Know’ by Alexander Schembri sounded like just the thing that could very easily be a cheese-filled Maltese Eurovision entry of the 90’s. Because it almost was, being an entrant in Malta’s Song For Europe competition in 1995. Both songs were included in the voting that year, finishing tantalisingly close to 1st place, but have been today removed from the official scoreboard.
Some well-known names to Eurovision fans have dabbled their toes in as songwriters through Home Composed early into their career. Jonas Gladnikoff, songwriter of six Irish songs in the Eurovision Song Contest and Junior Eurovision Song Contest, finished 12th in the 2002 edition of the show. Sara De Blue was second in the 2011 competition, and took part in both Austrian and Sammarinese selections as a singer and has had some success as a singer/songwriter in the last decade. Martin Faulkner also names OneVoice, the duo of Swedish twins Ylva and Linda Persson, as probably the contest’s biggest ever winners, who since their victory in 2009 have worked on songs competing in numerous National Finals, with top three finishes in selections from Iceland to Romania to Belarus.
However a problem the modern contest always battles is where that limit on amateur and home composed ultimately is in today’s world. Today is an era of music that has evolved through cassettes to CDs and eventually being able to mix your tracks on your computer – meaning high quality music can still be made without the need of fancy studios. The most obvious example to this is how Icelandic cult hero Daði Freyr won the hearts of many with songs that not only he can write at home, he can perform live from his kitchen flawlessly.
These blurred lines means that the emphasis of today’s contestants is more than just being ‘home composed’. The 2011 edition for example saw two songs being disqualified because they were available to buy online, breaking the then rules on professionalism. The current rules define professionalism more loosely as being a “full-time music industry professional” and so still allowing composers to make money from their music. Defining such a rule, as it has been in for example the history of the Olympics Games, has and is always a challenge and delicate balance. In any case, the 2021 edition of the Home Composed Song Contest sees songwriters from a wide spectrum, from those with prior experience writing, producing and performing their music to those who see songwriting as never anything more than a hobby.
Winning When You Don’t Expect It
The person behind the hosting of this year’s Home Composed Song Contest, which has now lost its semi-association with OGAE after internet forums replaced fan clubs for communication, is Andy Brook. Like most of the host’s in the contest’s history, he had first refusal on the right to steer the ship for this 30th edition of the competition by winning it’s 29th with ‘The Cuckold Song (Should Have Done The Same As You)’, which hides a message of relationship betrayal underneath the classic workings of a three minute pop song.
And while for many the Home Composed Song Contest is a way to replicate the genres and styles of the Eurovision Song Contest, far more of the entries are of the singer-songwriter variety, with a rawness not just to production but also to the lyrics. While Andy describes his songs as “generally sarcastic and often about ex-boyfriends”, he notes that the song variety is often more diverse than Eurovision and also more full of “angst” in their lyrics. Songwriting can be, after all, a medium to tell the stories closest to one’s soul.
Victory in last year’s competition was Andy’s second in 13 Home Composed Song Contest entries, staying with it even after finishing nineteenth on his first attempt. And despite a successful run of top 5 finishes in each of his previous five entries, claims that he did not expect to win last year. While one of the most successful entrants in the competition’s history, it’s little surprise that once upon a time Andy did work in the music industry. However that wasn’t in songwriting or production, but instead as a pianist for different pubs and restaurants.
“The venue would hire me, the place would be full, and then they thought they wouldn’t need me anymore”, Andy explains. “It was very boring after a while, and I decided that I didn’t want to ruin my love of music by doing it for a living.”
When I spoke to Andy he told me that one of the reasons his second victory in particular is so personally valued was that he was also the vocalist on the track. Those vocals in recent years have been brushed up by taking his own singing lessons, and it has taken five years of grafting to get to the level where he has the talent to win. That said, Andy is clear to articulate that a dazzling voice isn’t essential for the competition.
“I think it isn’t all down to production. The people judging the songs, the fellow songwriters, know a good song when they hear it, and I for one definitely give allowances to those who have production that isn’t very good – even if their voice isn’t very good. That will get my vote.”
Preparing for the 30th Edition
While writing songs within the confines of your bedroom may be one of the activities least affected by the pandemic, there’s no doubt that the pandemic’s impact on this year’s competition can be felt. But for the better. One of the new implementations for this year’s show will be a live final on Saturday 23rd October, broadcasting through YouTube, with a live green room on Zoom for all involved to actually get the chance to meet everyone who has created the masterpieces.
The drive for initiatives like the above is not just to have a good time with the fellow competitors beyond modern day penpals, it’s also to open up the competition even further. Part of the goal of Andy as this year’s host is to ensure the competition is diverse, from across the world of Eurovision fans and away from the male domination that songwriting has as an industry. Ultimately, while the competition and hosting of it is fun, the key aim is to give songwriters, who are also Eurovision fans, recognition for the music that they make.
And there is still time for others to get involved. The deadline for song submissions is the 19th September. Even if you are not a songwriter-in-the-making, a public vote will also be a part of the final mix, alongside some guest juries and all the contestants themselves. That public vote will take place from the 20th September until the 10th October, so there will be plenty of time to do the math before the live reveal.
The Home Composed Song Contest is now a regular feature on the Autumn calendar of the Eurovision fan community. And long may it remain so. These months of shortening days need new music to brighten them, and what better than to find music written by fellow members of our community.
If you wish to find out more about the Home Composed Song Contest, please visit the official website. There is also a separate website for the 2021 edition and if you did want to enter you can find the entry form through this link.
Martin Faulkner is also the person behind the Home Composed wiki site, where most of the previous entry’s can still be listened to.
The Home Composed Song Contest community uses Facebook as their main social media to spread each other’s music.