Eurovision and Australia
Eurovision and Australia

Author: Chris Hay

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2019-07-25

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 3030200582

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This book investigates Australia’s relationship with the Eurovision Song Contest over time and place, from its first screening on SBS in 1983 to Australia's inaugural national selection in 2019. Beginning with an overview of Australia’s Eurovision history, the contributions explore the contest’s role in Australian political participation and international relations; its significance for Australia’s diverse communities, including migrants and the LGBTQIA+ community; racialised and gendered representations of Australianness; changing ideas of liveness in watching the event; and a reflection on teaching Australia’s first undergraduate course dedicated to the Eurovision Song Contest. The collection brings together a group of scholar-fans from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives — including history, politics, cultural studies, performance studies, and musicology — to explore Australia’s transition from observer to participant in the first thirty-six years of its love affair with the Eurovision Song Contest.

Understanding the Eurovision Song Contest in Multicultural Australia
Understanding the Eurovision Song Contest in Multicultural Australia

Author: Jessica Carniel

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-11-02

Total Pages: 124

ISBN-13: 303002315X

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This book presents the first in-depth study of the Eurovision Song Contest from an Australian perspective. Using a cultural studies approach, the study draws together fan interviews and surveys with media and textual analysis of the contest itself. In doing so, it begins to answer the question of why the European song contest appeals to viewers in Australia. It explores and challenges the dominant narrative that links Eurovision fandom to post-WWII European migration, arguing that this Eurocentric narrative presents a limited view of how contemporary Australian multicultural society operates in the context of globalized culture. It concludes with a consideration of the future of the Eurovision Song Contest as Australia enters into the ‘Asian century’.

Eurovisions: Identity and the International Politics of the Eurovision Song Contest since 1956
Eurovisions: Identity and the International Politics of the Eurovision Song Contest since 1956

Author: Julie Kalman

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2019-11-19

Total Pages: 251

ISBN-13: 981139427X

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This book uses the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC), as an analytical entry point to understand and illuminate post-War Europe and the drive to create an identity that can legitimise the European project in its broadest sense. The ESC presents an idealised vision of Europe, and this has long existed in a strained relationship with reality. While the trajectory of post-war European integration is a high-profile topic, we believe that the ESC offers a unique and innovative way to think about the role of culture in the history of post-War European integration and tensions between the ideal and reality of European unity. Through the series of case studies that make up the chapters in this book, analysis brings these interlinked tensions to light, exploring the roles of culture and identity, alongside and a productive conversation with the political and economic projects of post-war European integration.

Postwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest
Postwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest

Author: Dean Vuletic

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2018-01-25

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 147427627X

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Postwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest examines how the Eurovision Song Contest has reflected and become intertwined with the history of postwar Europe from a political perspective. Established in 1956, the Eurovision Song Contest is the world's largest popular music event and one of the most popular television programmes in Europe, currently attracting a global audience of around 200 million people. Eurovision is often mocked as cultural kitsch because of its over-the-top performances and frivolous song lyrics. Yet there is no cultural medium that connects Europeans more than popular music, the development of which has always been tied to cultural, economic, political, social and technological change – making Eurovision the ideal tool to explain the history of Europe in the last sixty years. This book uses Eurovision as a vehicle to address topics ranging from the Cold War, liberal democracy and communism to nationalism, European integration, economic prosperity and human rights. It analyses these subjects through their cultural, political and social relationships with Eurovision entries as expressed through lyrics and music, as well as by examining public debates that have accompanied the selection of the entries and the organisation of the contest itself. Postwar Europe and the Eurovision Song Contest also considers how states have used Eurovision to define their identities in a European context, be it to assert their national distinctiveness, highlight political issues or affirm their Europeanism or Euroscepticism in the context of European integration. Based on original sources, including hitherto unpublished archival documents from international broadcasting organisations, this is a novel historical study of interest to anyone keen to know more about the postwar history of Europe and its cultural history in particular.

Three Minutes of Eternity
Three Minutes of Eternity

Author: Alon Amir

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2018-01-11

Total Pages: 414

ISBN-13: 9781981875962

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Get a look at the behind-the-scenes secrets of Eurovision stars! This is a pop-reality book that unveils the seedy high jinks and backstage shenanigans at the Eurovision Song Contest through the eyes of an active participant. It also glimpses into the political intrigue in Israel surrounding the competition, corruption, romance, and off-camera. Imagine being sent to a scary country next door to terrorists! Yanai Tannenbaum, Head of Press for the Israeli delegation to the Eurovision song contest, is asked to work at a competition in Baku, Azerbaijan, a Muslim country having an open border with Iran. He and singer, Yarden Oz, undergo a long and winding journey to represent their country in the competition. Glamour, alcohol, sequins, and 15 security guards to protect you against kidnapping or death! Once in Baku, they are, of course, drawn into romance and alcohol binging. They succeed, in their unique and vulgar way, to enchant those around them. What they did not count on - among the glamour, sequins, and gimmicks - is having to be guarded against kidnapping by 15 special agents and knowing that they could die at any moment! Scroll up now to get your copy of Three Minutes of Eternity!

A Song for Europe
A Song for Europe

Author: Ivan Raykoff

Publisher: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 9780754658795

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The world's largest and longest-running song competition, the Eurovision Song Contest is a significant and extremely popular media event throughout the continent and abroad. Here, an international group of scholars from a variety of disciplines, explore how the contest sheds light on issues of European politics, national and European identity, race, gender and sexuality, and the aesthetics of camp. Eurovision is sometimes regarded as a low-brow camp spectacle of little aesthetic or intellectual value. The essays in this collection often contradict this assumption, demonstrating that the contest has actually been a significant force and forecaster for social, cultural and political transformations in postwar Europe.

The Eurovision Song Contest as a Cultural Phenomenon
The Eurovision Song Contest as a Cultural Phenomenon

Author: Adam Dubin

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2022-07-08

Total Pages: 207

ISBN-13: 1000614972

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Drawing from the wealth of academic literature about the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) written over the last two decades, this book consolidates and recognizes the ESC's relevance in academia by analysing its contribution to different fields of study. The book brings together leading ESC scholars from across disciplines and from across the globe to reflect on the intersection between their academic fields of study and the ESC by answering the question: what has the ESC contributed to academia? The book also draws from fields rarely associated with the ESC, such as Law, Business and Research Methodologies, to demonstrate the contest's broad utility in research, pedagogy and in practice. Given its interdisciplinary approach, this volume will be of interest to scholars and students working in cultural, media, and music studies, as well as those interested in the intersections between these areas and politics, law, education, pedagogy, and history.

The Complete & Independent Guide to the Eurovision Song Contest 2016
The Complete & Independent Guide to the Eurovision Song Contest 2016

Author: Simon Barclay

Publisher: Lulu.com

Published: 2016-07-17

Total Pages: 314

ISBN-13: 1326738518

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Jamala won the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest for Ukraine with her emotional performance of "1944", in a thrilling final in Stockholm. Australia were runners-up in only their second Contest and would have won if the traditional points system had still been used. The 2016 Edition of the Complete & Independent Guide is the 9th edition of this book and as usual it's packed with details of every Contest since 1956 along with plenty of new analysis, over 313 pages, 30 more than last year. The new points system was a big change this year and its effects are covered in detail in the book, with plenty of analysis of how the statistics under the new system compare to the previous one. The book looks at the national qualification competitions for 2016 and also has an in-depth section on the entire voting history of each country, along with new sections on geographical voting and how to predict winners.

Faking It
Faking It

Author: Toby Walsh

Publisher: The History Press

Published: 2023-11-02

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 1803994606

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‘Refreshingly clear-eyed ... Faking It is an insightful and intelligent book that’s a must for those looking for facts about AI hype.’ – Books+Publishing ‘AI will be as big a game-changer as the smart phone and the personal computer – or bigger! This book will help you navigate the revolution.’ – Dr Karl Kruszelnicki Artificial intelligence is, as the name suggests, artificial and fundamentally different to human intelligence. Yet often the goal of AI is to fake human intelligence. This deceit has been there from the very beginning. We’ve been trying to fake it since Alan Turing answered the question ‘Can machines think?’ by proposing that machines pretend to be humans. Now we are starting to build AI that truly deceives us. Powerful AIs such as ChatGPT can convince us they are intelligent and blur the distinction between what is real and what is simulated. In reality, they lack true understanding, sentience and common sense. But this doesn’t mean they can’t change the world. Can AI systems ever be creative? Can they be moral? What can we do to ensure they are not harmful? In this fun and fascinating book, Professor Toby Walsh explores all the ways AI fakes it, and what this means for humanity – now and in the future.

Another Song for Europe
Another Song for Europe

Author: Ivan Raykoff

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-11-29

Total Pages: 297

ISBN-13: 1000245667

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The Eurovision Song Contest is famous for its camp spectacles and political intrigues, but what about its actual music? With more than 1,500 songs in over 50 languages and a wide range of musical styles since it began in 1956, Eurovision features the most musically and linguistically diverse song repertoire in history. Listening closely to its classic fan favorites but also to songs that scored low because they were too different or too far ahead of their time, this book delves into the musical tastes and cultural values the contest engages through its international reach and popular appeal. Chapters discuss the iconic fanfare that introduces the broadcast, the supposed formulas for composing successful contest entries, how composers balance aspects of sameness and difference in their songs, and the tension between national genres of European popular music and musical trends beyond the nation’s borders, especially the American influences on a show that is supposed to celebrate an idealized pan-European identity. The book also explores how audiences interact with the contest through musicking experiences that bring people together to celebrate its sounds and spectacles. What can seem like a silly song-and-dance show offers valuable insights into the bonds between popular music and cosmopolitan values for its many followers around the world. From dance parties to flashmobs, parodies to plagiarisms, and orchestras to artificial intelligence, Another Song for Europe will be of particular interest to Eurovision fans, critics, and scholars of popular music, popular culture, ethnomusicology, and European studies.