It's what made the contest special as a (now)multi-continental music festival competition that spanned so many countries and cultures. Obviously people will be biased towards using English since that gains you points so I think that the pre '98 rule of the native language song was a rather good one.

I'm just looking at my favourite countries' selection for each year since '98 and NOT a single song has been in it's own language since the lifting of the rule:

Denmark, Sweden,
Norway (exception of one time). This is twelve years must I remind you. Some of you aren't even that old.

This rule also forces at least some of the song writers to be from that country which I think is important. I know a lot of you disagree with me because you don't care about actual cultural identity, just cheesy europop music you can understand. I was looking at the song writers for many of this year's entries and A LOT of them were Swedish or Norwegian. Go figure. The eastern european/middle eastern country will just buy some pop song from a famous Swedish song writer since Scandinavians are famous for making catchy pop songs (some with substance, most of what you guys like, probably not).

I'm probably the only person with this view here but I'm not a big fan of how liking American or British music means you must despise your native tongue in your own music.

let the freakazoid bashing begin?

It doesn't mean that people only care about cheesy europop songs if they're against the language rule. Most people who are against a ban in using other languages than your mother tongue, are only looking in that direction simply because it gives every artist a right and a freedom in choosing what languages they want to use. It gives also the countries more options when they create lyrics, wether they want to create multilingual songs etc. (i.e. La Voix).

All that is well and good, but It goes back to the unfair advantage a song in a language that is spoken universally will have. A song in French will do better than a song in Latvian, A song in English will do better than a song in Albanian. Of course there are exceptions to this where great songs in other languages will excel and do better because the language works with it, but not every song will be created equal, and of course under the current rules they still have the choice to submit such a song.

Yet again the American is coming in and dictating what he thinks should happen in a European contest, with a few snide remarks to establish his superiority over these poor Europeans who don't appreciate their own culture like he does.

Though I'd like to hear more songs in their languages, I think it should be up to the performer and only the performer. No pressure from anyone else. If they want to do native, english, mulitlingual, it's their choice.

One rule that should be changed though is the one that says broadcasters get to decide what language. Finland for example is doing that for 2010. YLE will have the final say in what language a song will performed in. :/

"I know a lot of you disagree with me because you don't care about actual cultural identity, just cheesy europop music you can understand." "The eastern european/middle eastern country will just buy some pop song from a famous Swedish song writer since Scandinavians are famous for making catchy pop songs (some with substance, most of what you guys like, probably not)."

Hmmm are you a psychic or what? Do you know the reasons why people do things? Why do you keep acting like you know everyone's taste? Do you know everyone's taste around here?

"let the Freakazoid bashing begin?" Well with that tone you used when you were being 'psychic' and the fact that you show up once in a while only to be negative and expecting conflict in this forum I'm sure you'll get some (and deservedly).

If only it was up to the performer. Eurovision is a financial (and political) thing which means the management decides.

Bad French songs will do poorly and bad English songs will do poorly. There are only two nations in Europe that use English as an official language (at least in Eurovision) and well, UK has came in last place a lot.

It's the attitude like what you just put out there that re-enforces a lot of language superiority in people's mind. A cultural festival as powerful and widely seen as Eurovision really gives perhaps the ONLY chance for a non-English pop song to be heard all over western Europe.

I was hoping that the only Norwegian here would maybe stick up for me since I mention my love for that country so much... You make it sound as if I want the language ban to be applied to the entire music industry. Um, no. While you might think that it allows an artist to have 'artistic freedom,' that's rarely the case in Eurovision.

Most of the time you have extremely constructed and big bux foreign songs only "sang" by a local artist. That's annoying to me.

Three, you're forgetting Malta.

It's still a choice though. Don't get me wrong, I'm pro countries singing in their own languages. Randajad was one of my absolute favourites last year and It would not have worked in English, but that is the song that Estonians chose. This year they chose a song in English. And even though it did badly that is what they chose. I understand you like songs in other languages better, but heaps of people prefer them in English or a language they can access better. Particularly since so many artists aren't necessarily trying to promote their countries culture, but get themselves known abroad.

Plus look at Finland and UK's pre 1998 histories. FInland have sent many good songs, but never did well, UK was constantly in the top 5 and you can't say all of them deserved that. Proof enough that there is bias.

Yep, that's pretty much what it comes down to. I guess I'm a bit more pushy about this than anyone here and certainly more than anyone who lives in Denmark, Norway, Germany, or Sweden because I really like those languages and it makes me sad that those people don't want their language exposed.

Holland made my day though... ich bin verliebt.

@ Freakazoid

Don't take it personally, I really appreciate that you seem to love Norway and Scandinavia a lot It's just that since people have so many preferences when it comes to languages, I think many people find it the most fair that the countries/artists are given their local freedom to choose what they think fits best for their achievements and goals in the contest.

*Ik Ben Verliefd

"and certainly more than anyone who lives in Denmark, Norway, Germany, or Sweden because I really like those languages and it makes me sad that those people don't want their language exposed." Wow, you know whole populations of entire nations. How do you do it?

But seriously, I can kinda see why you stress foreign language music, but you might want to tone it down a bit and stop saying things that make it seem like you read the minds of every citizen. Some people would love to hear more national languages in their country's music industry, some people don't care. It's never going to be 100%.

The problem with this rule would be that, once again, the songs in English would have an unfair advantage just like they did in the old days (I'm old enough to remember)
If Eurovision was just a festival and not a contest, I would support such a rule..but as things are right now I consider it unfair that one country (2 if we count Ireland, too..ok 3 if we also count Malta) would compete in a language that most people understand and it represents a huge percentage of the 'popular' music worldwide.
Now if the rules of eurovision changed and everyone could take turns to host the contest, it would make a difference I suppose. But that will never happen.

And Mina has hit the nail on the head. It's a musical contest, not a cultural festival. There are plenty of little cultural festivals around, if Eurovision is not what you want it to be, go follow those.

And in a note to Mina since I never see you on the chat. Love your sexy Greek soap opera videos! Keep it up!

I don't think The UK had an unfair advantage in the old days. They sent the type of songs that were popular at the time LOL, I also remember

But I don't want the language rule back.

Stockholm and Mina, out of curiosity what was the first Eurovision that you girls saw?

The 1956 edition propably.

TO BE HONEST, I quite like the fact everybody can sing in whatever language they want. For several reasons ...

a) I don't care much for lyrics, but it does mean the songs can be understood by many more people.
b) It frees up who can represent who, i.e Jon Lilygreen wouldn't have been able to represent Cyprus this year if they had to sing in Greek.
c) It contributes to the popularity of the contest. Face it, if a song is in English it is more likely to chart internationally after Eurovision, which therefore generates interest in the contest. Eurovision is essentially a commercial venture now, and culture etc take a backseat which if it wants to remain popular, is how it needs to be, really. (Basically, lets not pretend it's some kind of cultural event because quite frankly, it's not)

Thank you! My next video will be from an American series but the one after is from a Greek one again

I don't remember exactly but the first one I remember in details is '85.

Anette, 20 years straight in the top 10..sorry, but no country can send songs that were popular at the time for 20 years straight. It's obvious that there was another reason, too, for those good results.