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Gunther Ooms from Songfestival.be joins Ewan Spence for another chat over coffee. Gunther runs the ever-popular ESC250 that asks the Song Contest community to vote for their ten best Eurovision songs, then presents the Top 250 songs on December the 31st each year. Why does Loreen keep topping the charts, what was the impact of Eurovision Again, and what’s next for Songfestival’s other community vote, The Barbara Dex Award for the most notable outfit?
Eurovision Coffee Podcast: Behind The Scenes At ESC250
Ewan Spence sits down with Gunther Ooms, organiser of the ESC250, to talk about the most recent results, why Loreen keeps winning, and what’s next for the team at songfestival.be.
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Interesting podcast.
In countries like Germany,Italy, Spain and France(4 of the big 5 , and I am sure there are other countries doing the same) all TV programs and films are dubbed. A local actor will take over an English(or any other language)speaking actor and will carry his voice through the TV program/film(usually the same voice actor/actress wil do all the roles of a certain actor/actress).
In these countries exposure to English is limited. In the 50’s-70’s, most singers didn’t feel comfortable or didn’t see the point singing in English. I wouldn’t be surprise if their local succes was all they had or wanted and the need to reach an internationaal success wasn’t their main goal. It explains why in the 50’s and 60’s, even when the language rule didn’t exist, singers were singing in their own English.
On a side note- it doesn’t explain why countries where English programs are presented with subtitles never sung in English during the same periode.
As Ewan pointed out, language is part of a culture. In some countries it is even more apparent than others. France, Italy, Spain(I think) and Portugal(until their 2021’s effort) almost always send entries in their own language(although sometimes they have some English lyrics inserted). They do this even now, while they also can send an entry in English. They do this as I think there is a pride in the cultural legacy of their language.
Abolishing the language rule in 1999 was part of the development of that time. Internet was already available for few years. Although still in its child steps, you could already have some access to English content. In the course of the years access to English content has been increased. Citizen of France, Germany Italy and Spain, especially young ones, have access to English content, with a click of a mouse. In additions in cities like Berlin and Paris you can watch films in the cinema in their original language with subtitles along side dubbed films to their language. In short the young generation have more exposure to English than previous generation had.
And if someone want to have a a musical carrier around the globe, the assumption is that English is the best way to do it.
This was also the assumption regarding TV series. You want to succeed, have a TV serie in English.
But in the last 4-5 years there is shift in that perception. It started with the Scandinavian detective series, which were very successful despite not being in English and continue with Netflix series which find success although are spoken in Korean/Hebrew/French/Turkish. It proves that a good serie transcend the language barrier, just like the fact that the 2021’s contest had 4 non-English songs in its top 5.
I started watching Eurovision in the 70’s and as Ewan said, I also could easily connected to a song without understanding what the singer was singing about. That mix of languages was one of the reasons I enjoy the contest so much. For me a language is like music. When I move to The Netherlands and wanted to learn Dutch, one of the ways of learning was going to a Dutch gay bar and sing out loud, phonetic, the Dutch songs, which I never understood. Once I got the rhythm of the language, it was easier for me to get the rest.Needles to say that these days I am almost fluent in Dutch and can have a long conversation in that language.
Whenever I hear a non-English song during Eurovision , it makes me smile, even if the song itself is not to my taste.
Do I miss the different languages at Eurovision? -yes, without hesitation..
Do I think a language rule can hold ground today?-not really. The world has changed and anyone should sing in any language he wish to, but please make sure you sing in a language you feel comfortable with. If you don’t feel comfortable with English, sing in your own language. You will be more relaxed and comes out much more authentic.
P.s.
Sorry for the length of the comment and apologies if it is a bit incoherent. I had a lot to say and some of the things I wanted to say were left out