It is already March and Eurovision is basically around the corner. Depending on your country of origin, you can be a fan, a hater. Or maybe you are just totally unaware of what we are talking about as you do not know what it is. It is ok, Stay! Take a seat and let’s learn about a sort of new side of the Icelandic culture. Welcome to Iceland Eurovision Song Contest.
What is Eurovision, you may be asking yourself. Well, it is a long tradition among European countries and it is actually an international song contest. I guess karaoke just fell short on this side of the world…Every country just submits their original song and entry to compete against other European countries. It is the longest-running annual international TV song competition, from its first contest in 1956 to our modern days.
Whichever country wins that year, will become a host of the event for the next competition. The winner is chosen by both the votes of a professional jury and the votes of the Europeans. No one can vote for their own country if you are within its borders. This means that anyone who is currently in Iceland will not be able to see the voting line number for Iceland.
For our international readers that are not from Europe, you might never have heard about it. But it is actually a huge event with about 200-500 million of viewers in just one night. Many famous bands or singers such ABBA or Celine Dion have competed in this event.
In the recent years, even some non-European countries decided to join in and have fun! Among them you can find Australia, Canadá or Israel. Not all of them are still in nowadays but you can still check their entries online. So maybe in the future your own country can join as well, who knows! But what about the role of Iceland Eurovision Song Contest?
Iceland has been a contestant since 1986. Our best position in the ranking is two second-place finishes. The first one was Selma who run for Iceland Eurovision Song contest in 1999 and then, Yohanna in 2009. Both songs were in English. For those who are not Eurovision experts, you can actually sing in your national language or mother tongue. Most of Iceland’s past entries, were in Icelandic but the current tendency is to sing in English.
For this upcoming Iceland Eurovision Song Contest, held in Lisbon Portugal, our representative will be Ari Ólafsson. His song “Our Choice” is a pop ballad mixed with his powerful voice. Ari Ólafsson is just 19 years old and he comes from Reykjavik.
Iceland’s Role in the Eurovision Song Contest
If you want to tune in and see Iceland Eurovision song contest entry this year, then keep in mind that semifinals are held on the 8th and 10th of May. And the grand final is held on the 12th of May. Will we be able to see Iceland back in the grand final? The die is cast.
