Tags
Australia, Dami Im, Eurovision, Eurovision 2016, Eurovision Song Contest, Guy Sebastian, Jessica Mauboy, SBS, Sound of Silence, Tonight Again
OK, now that the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest is officially over, perhaps you have been wondering how it is that Australia has been the undiscovered European musical powerhouse all these years? Sure, everyone knows about our actors: Chris Hemsworth, Liam Hemsworth, Hugh Jackman, Nicole Kidman, Naomi Watts, Cate Blanchett…and many more.
My introduction to the Eurovision Song Contest came in the mid-1970s as a kid in Hong Kong, learning to count in French and being fascinated by the French pronunciation of the names of participating countries. For those of you unfamiliar with this European phenomenon, the Eurovision Song Contest is an annual song competition which began in 1956 as a way of entertaining post-WWII Europe while it attempts to rebuild. In its inaugural competition, held in Switzerland, seven countries participated with two songs each. In 2016, sixty-one countries participated, including Australia.
So, back to the question of how and why Australia was able to join Eurovision. No, the Great Continental Drift did not shift Australia up from the Southern Hemisphere up north – at least I don’t think so, otherwise it would not have taken me more than twenty-four hours to fly to London from Sydney. According to the rules of the competition, eligibility is actually not defined by a country’s geographic location (e.g. Israel and Cyprus are not in the European continent either), but by its membership in the European Broadcasting Union (pay a fee, broadcast the show (or make it available) to at least 98% of your country’s household the previous year, and voila! You are now eligible.