Tuneless Euro-noise

The country will share Sarah McTernan’s disappointment following her failure to reach the final tonight of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Tel Aviv, Israel which, when we last checked, is not in Europe.

Sat, 18 May, 2019 - 01:00

The country will share

Another country not in Europe is Australia, and its entry, too, was unsuccessful.

Let us offer Sarah some consoling reflections.

Voting is shaped by age-old geopolitical sentiments. Balkan and Scandinavian juries vote as regional blocs; Francophone countries are unable to give their points to the UK; Greece and Cyprus give their votes to each other.

It’s an event that has little if anything to do with music, most of which barely qualifies as third-rate pop trivia and schmaltz. “Please don’t ask me to take it seriously,” said Terry Wogan.

Abba was a rare Eurovision gift.

Ours is the continent that gave the world Bach, Mozart, Jagger and Richards. Now it offers enduring classics of inanity as ‘Boom Bang-A-Bang’ and ‘La La La’. Ireland’s 2006 entry was Brian Kennedy’s ‘Every Song is a Cry for Love’.

In fact, almost all of the Eurovision songs are cries for help.