Coming up to date

Let us finish off our look at the Eurovision song contest, as we go to Stockholm in 2000 and their neighbours Denmark take the contest with The Olsen Brothers singing Fly On The Wings Of Love....



Now, a feature of the Eurovision contest has always been bloc voting - The Scandanavian countries vote for each other, Greece never voted for Turkey, and so on and so on. By the 2001 contest in Copenhagen the former Soviet Bloc countries were starting to take part, but bloc votign was not the reason Estonia won in 2001 - it's actually a good song....



The following year, however, things got a bit more... interesting, as the winner was the near neighbour Latvia with this number.



Why interesting? Because this was the best song that year by a country mile or ten...



2003, and we move to Latvia. By this point there were 26 countries taking part, with the votign taking half the program, and something had to change. It did the following year, but not before Turkey won with this Shakira-like number...



Istanbul - city of mystery, city of intrigue, and definitely not Constantinople, hosts the competition in 2004 and the title goes to a rousing number from the Ukraine. Was it the best song on the night, or was it the leather outfits? You decide...



By 2005, a semi-final was in place as up to 40 countries wanted to take part, but ALL countries could vote regardless of whether or not they made the final. As a result, the phenomena of block voting (or bloc voting) came into full play, but not just yet, as Greece pulled off a surprise win. Actually, given the song, not that surprising...



From then on, however, the contest started to look like a former Soviet bloc love-in. The contest in Athens in 2006 led to a win for the most unexpected country of all. To introduce this, remember that for some perverse reason Finland is the home of Death Metal, and they like a straneg type of music generally. Witness the glory of Hard Rock Hallelujah....



Yes, that won - so we go to Helsinki in 2007. Just across the Baltic Sea from Finland is, yes, you guessed it - Estonia and the other Soviet Bloc countries. Two semi-finals, and one contest later, the winner is not a former Soviet Bloc country!!

It's Serbia, only just allowed back into the contest with this song...



When in 2008 Russia wins, with what is a good entry, the bloc voting had got to the stage that Western countries were standing no chance. Only the UK, France, Spain, Germany and the host country are gauranteed entries, and many of the others were falling at the semi-final stage, with even Ireland not makign the final. Sir Terry Wogan, while commentating on the voting, essentially handed in his resignation, so disgusted was he with what was happening.

Thsi does not detract from the quality of the winner, however....



The 2009 voting system changed, with a combination of phone-in and jury votes, to try and reduce the bloc voting issue. As a result, the UK, which for the previosu few years had finished in the bottom of the table (and no points on one occassion) came fourth. The winner, however, was little Norway again with this fiddle and dance number.



A subtle return to Eurovision style of song, a catchy tune, and a deserving winner - maybe there is hope for the future of this contest after all....