EUROVISION UNITES EUROPE

The annual musical contest united the continent during an era of the Covid-19 crisis

This was no contest. Shut down by the coronavirus crisis, Europe’s annual musical spectacular that pits countries against one another instead sought to unite them Saturday (yesterday early morning in the UAE).

The Eurovision Song Contest whose final was scheduled for Saturday night was cancelled amid restrictions aimed at reining in the global pandemic.

So rather than judging songs from 41 artists from Albania to the United Kingdom and having countries allocate points to elect a winner, organisers created a two-hour show called Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light’that was broadcast in more than 40 countries.

Underscoring the effects of the coronavirus, the show opened with a montage of videos of the deserted streets of European cities before cutting to an almost empty studio in the Netherlands. It was a stark contrast to the frenetic scenes of flag-waving, screaming fans that form the backdrop for normal Eurovision finales.

Part of the Ahoy convention center in the port city of Rotterdam that was to have hosted the contest was transformed earlier this year into a makeshift care center to ease strain on regular hospitals treating Covid-19 patients.

At the end of the show, it was announced that Ahoy and Rotterdam will host the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest.

Saturday’s show featured appearances by past favourites as well as the artists that were to have taken part in this year’s competition jointly performing 1997’s winning song, Love Shine a Light.

From humble beginnings in 1956, the contest has become a vector of camp and kitsch with almost 200 million viewers tuning in for the finale. Johnny Logan of Ireland, who won twice as a singer and once as a writer, opened Saturday’s show with a performance of his 1980 winning song, What’s Another Year, accompanied by Eurovision fans on screens like a Zoom meeting and the three Dutch presenters of the show. Organisers called it “a huge Eurovision choir.”

One of Sweden’s brightest musical stars, Bjorn Ulvaeus of Abba, paid tribute to the contest that catapulted him and the band to global fame after their song Waterloo won in 1974. “It still remains one of the most genuinely joyous events of the TV year and it’s so disarmingly European,” he said in a recorded video message.

In this May 21, 2006 file photo, Lordi celebrate after their won in Eurovision final at the Indoor Olympic stadium in Athens.

In this April 6, 1974 file photo, members of Swedish group ABBA and close associates celebrate the victory of their song ‘Waterloo’ in the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton, England.

Photos by AP Winner of the 2019 Eurovision Song Contest Duncan Laurence performs during the Eurovision’s Europe Shine A Light remote television show, in Netherlands.

In this Sunday May 10, 1998 file photo, singer Dana International celebrates her victory.

Host Chantal Janzen presents the Eurovision’s Europe Shine A Light remote television show.

Host Jan Smit presents the Eurovision’s Europe Shine A Light remote television show.

Artists are shown on screens during the Eurovision’s Europe Shine A Light remote television show, in Hilversum, Netherlands.

In this May 1, 1988 file photo, 20-year-old Montreal native Celine Dion poses with her Eurovision Song Contest trophy in Dublin, Ireland.

Online host Nikkie Tutorials presents the Eurovision’s Europe Shine A Light remote television show.

In this Saturday Oct 22, 2005 file photo, Johnny Logan from Ireland performs.

Diodato from Italy performed his song Fai Rumore in the Arena di Verona.