It’s Called Eurovision. So Why Is Australia Part of It?

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A mix of whimsical costumes, heartwarming folk ballads and an ode to the great American writer, Edgar Allan Poe, can only mean that Eurovision, the biggest, biggest and most eccentric song competition in the world, will once again grace the screens.

The event usually contains a political element, and this has become more evident this year, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine imminent. Eurovision is usually held in the country of the previous year’s winner, but Liverpool, England, hosted the competition for last year’s winner, Ukraine. Liverpool have incorporated symbols and tributes to Ukraine in their celebrations, including a memorial park. This year’s Ukrainian entry, pop group Tvorchi, performed a song they said was inspired by the bravery of their country’s soldiers.

Australia’s entry, West Australian progressive synth-metal band Voyager, has made it to the finals, much to the delight of fans who either slept too much or woke up too late to watch it live, at 5am local time. (Weird fact: Voyager’s lead singer is an immigration lawyer who was interviewed last year during tennis star Novak Djokovic’s fight to enter the country while not vaccinated against Covid for the Australian Open.) Voyager has many achievements, as this is the last year Australia is guaranteed to compete in Eurovision .

While Australia isn’t the only non-European country to compete at Eurovision – Israel made its debut in 1973 – it’s certainly the farthest. Since Australia started participating in 2015, fans and commentators have been wondering: Are countries on the other side of the world participating in what is considered a European song contest?

The reasons include Australia’s migration history; the role that SBS, which broadcasts Eurovision, plays in national culture; and the push by Eurovision to tap into new global markets, said Jess Carniel, senior lecturer at the University of Southern Queensland and Eurovision expert.

Australia’s invitation to participate in 2015 was intended as a one-off, in recognition of how popular the contest is in Australia, said Dr. Carniel. “At the time, Australia was probably one of the biggest non-European audiences,” he said.

SBS, a government-funded broadcaster that caters to multicultural and multilingual communities, has broadcast Eurovision in Australia since 1983, and the show first became popular among European migrant communities who moved to Australia after World War II, he said. Interest in the competition is also growing among migrants from non-European backgrounds who have discovered it while watching the channel, he said.

Later, interest in the competition expanded. In the 1990s, it became a cult hit among young people who tuned in to the channel – which branded itself as “cool” and “cosmopolitan” – for foreign films and television shows. And the popularity of the contest snowballed from there.

Another part of the reason for Australia’s involvement is that “we represent a truly Western broadcaster in the middle of the Asia Pacific,” as Eurovision forces entry into new markets, including Asia Pacific, said Dr. Carniel.

In 2016, after Australia participated in the competition for the second time, SBS announced that they had acquired the rights to develop an Asian version of Eurovision. When the contest was developed, SBS was given, in 2018, a five-year guarantee that Australia would compete at Eurovision – a guarantee that expired after this year’s event (the 2020 contest was canceled due to the pandemic).

But creating a new regional song competition is proving more difficult than when Eurovision began in 1956. SBS announced in 2021 that plans for an Asian contest were scrapped – although a spin-off competition in the United States was held as a stand-alone event. year.

Through it all, the audience remains strong here. And overseas, fans are gradually accepting Australia’s participation in European competitions, said Dr. Carniel. “The big part is that we’ve taken it very seriously – we’ve worked hard to deliver high-quality artists that we’re proud of,” he said.

That helps portray Australia as a “young, dynamic, innovative, creative nation, and that’s an important image we need to project,” he said.

The variety of contestants Australia sends – including artists with migrant and Indigenous backgrounds – “challenges some of the stereotypical images that Australians may have as blonde, blue-eyed, Anglo,” she added.

Although it is unclear whether Australia will continue to participate after this year, Dr. Carniel expected.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for many Australian artists,” he said. “And it’s not like Eurovision is going to disappear from our screens.”

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