A new week brings a new ESC Insight newsletter as always looking at the best news and views from across the Eurovision hemisphere. Make sure that you can read the full version of the Newsletter straight on this link to keep up to date.
Our Newsletter Editor Ben Robertson has been at Eurovision PreParty Riga this week and summates his highlights of the festival in the latest edition of the newsletter. As well as that we have news from the Wiener Stadthalle and the updates from the rest of the Eurovision world. In our weekly column Robertson’s Reflection this week Ben discusses his friend Charles Testard who has been studying the Eurovision Song Contest in detail as part of his Masters thesis.
Charles is back in Stockholm with a vengeance as he completes his studies in International Relations at the Institute of Political Studies of Strasbourg. He told me that he’d be coming over to Stockholm for a week over the Easter period to do some interviews for his thesis and it was about Eurovision. I didn’t quite realise the significance of this until I picked him up off the train late on Monday night to go through his itinerary. Early the next morning he revealed the need to wake up early for a meeting with Martin Österdahl, Executive Producer of the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö before he trotted across to hold a two-hour meeting with Mr. Melodifestivalen himself Christer Björkman (it wouldn’t be an ESC Insight newsletter without mentioning him now would it?). Furthermore Charles has met with political figures, journalists and campaigners in the quest for answers through an intense week through my own Easter break.
Charles’ thesis studies the importance of the Eurovision Song Contest in Western European intergovernmental relations and the use of the Song Contest as a soft power weapon. To this he is looking to see the strength of evidence that countries use Eurovision as a tool of influence in their relationships with other nations. Starting with Malmö is a excellent concept and we’ve been discussing together the importance of the Swedish Smörgåsbord interval act. The gay kisses, daddies looking after children and references to many a pop song are examples of messages Sweden wanted to send to the rest of Europe about why their political model was so successful.
Do you want to get the full ESC Insight newsletter delivered straight into your inbox? If you do just follow this link to make your dreams come true and become one of our near 400 subscribers today. This week’s edition is available right here.