Jan Feddersen, the author of the book «Ein Lied kann eine Brücke sein» (A Song Can Be a Bridge), and a well-known Eurovision specialist in his interview with the newspaper Postimees said that the Eurovision Song Contest is an added value in our democratic society, it is like a fifth season.
How long have you been following the song contests? The first time I watched it was in 1961, in black-and white on our living room TV. I remember my father, who was a heavy smoker, being there, but I don’t remember where my mother was. At the end of the music programme the voting started. It was most impressive!
I have always been entranced by statistics, and enchanted by sports and music, you know. I particularly like rock music and heavy metal. Sports and music contests involve intrigue: nobody knows what to expect from the evening ahead. I’ll give you an example - the football World Cup will soon start. Experts predict the winner, it could be Argentina or Italy or France … Maybe. But none of them are guaranteed to win. Thanks to the voting system, similar mechanisms are also at work in the Eurovision song contest.
Why did you start writing books on the Eurovision song contests? Years ago the contest had a very bad reputation in Germany. But my opinion has always been different, as the show still attracts a lot more viewers than MTV or VIVA. These music channels are targeted at people much younger than you or I. Now I’ll tell you what the secret of the song contest is. You choose a song, other people do the same, no matter what their age or social background is, whether they are bankers, politicians or workers. However, if you are the composer of the song, as many people as possible must like it. This makes the song contest one of the most intricate sport/musical events in the world.
You describe the contest as a big event. Have you ever made predictions or wagers on the outcome? Let us imagine that we are playing table tennis. If you win, I respect you as the winner, and the other way round. This is always a matter of mutual respect. However, I always have the ambition to win, even though I never play for money. There has been a lot of discussion as to what role the Eurovision song contest plays in Europe today. Some consider it as only a huge TV-bonanza, others try to find connections with general culture or only pop culture.
It is a perfectly normal cultural event, a show that in our liberally minded democratic society is both important and unimportant at the same time. This is a society where the main issues are no longer either political discrimination or total poverty. I mean not like in, for instance, some African countries or Iraq. This is a society where anyone can focus on whatever they like without feeling frightened that it is unimportant. The Eurovision song contest can be considered a privilege for developed countries, which each can build their own little universe.
When you ask what is important about the contest, I am not able to answer. But I could ask you in return: what is important about Christmas? The song contest is like a fifth season, an additional value.
The Eurovision song contest is a fifth season?! Have you coined this saying? Completely. I always express only my own thoughts.
You have seen many song contests: their staging, their facilities and the backstage organisation involved. What comment would you make on this year’s effort? First and foremost people are nice and helpful. True, people here are not as temperamental as, for instance, in Italy. As I come from the protestant environment of north Germany, I feel I understand you well.
Päevaleht
A German journalist compares the Eurovision event to Christmas. Päevaleht
Archived Articles | 25 May 2002 | EWR
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