ESC History Podcast – The story of Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest is not one of dominating glory. Just two victories in more than half a century of trying. But it is an engrossing tale. It’s in part about a nation’s cultural redemption The first ESC was 11 years & 16 days after the end of the european war. The other part of the story is about the battle for the soul of German popular culture. For years modernity went head to head with the sweet & highly sentimental schlager style.Along the way there are some remarkable songs, indeed the very first is a jaw dropper. And there’s a winning song which attracts derision and a couple of failures that have cult followings.
Join Hikaru Freeman & Andy Bell as they traverse the history of Germany in Eurovision from 1956 to 2011.
You can hear more from Andrew Bell on The Full Catastrophe, Saturdays at 10am GMT on JOY 94.9.
More from Hikaru Freeman on WorldWideWave, Wednesdays at 12noon GMT on JOY 94.9.
Related articles
- Eurovision History Chat: Yugoslavia (eurovisiontimes.wordpress.com)
[...] Eurovision History Chat with Bell and Freeman: Germany (eurovisiontimes.wordpress.com) [...]
[...] Eurovision History Chat with Bell and Freeman: Germany (eurovisiontimes.wordpress.com) Advertisement GA_googleAddAttr("AdOpt", "1"); GA_googleAddAttr("Origin", "other"); GA_googleAddAttr("theme_bg", "f3f3f3"); GA_googleAddAttr("theme_text", "888888"); GA_googleAddAttr("theme_link", "b91313"); GA_googleAddAttr("theme_border", "d2d2d2"); GA_googleAddAttr("theme_url", "b91313"); GA_googleAddAttr("LangId", "1"); GA_googleAddAttr("Autotag", "music"); GA_googleAddAttr("Autotag", "entertainment"); GA_googleAddAttr("Autotag", "technology"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "media"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "personal"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "eurovision"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "fullcatastrophe"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "hikaru"); GA_googleAddAttr("Tag", "joy94-9"); GA_googleFillSlot("wpcom_below_post"); Share this:EmailTwitterFacebookPrintDiggLike this:LikeBe the first to like this post. Leave a Comment by hikarufreeman on 30 January, 2012 • Permalink Posted in Media, Personal Tagged Eurovision, fullcatastrophe, Hikaru, JOY94.9 [...]
I agree with most things they say … but why do they make every German title sound like a military order?
Thanks for that hilarious podcast! Still, being German, I’d like to add a few points which may help to understand the significance of the resp. song.
“Diese Welt” (1971) was the first and, as far as I know, only song dealing with environmental problems in ESC history. When we sent “Dschingis Khan” to Israel in 1979, many feared that a German song about a violent invader would not fare all too well, considering our recent past. However, it proved to be highly popular – there is even a Yiddish version by Mordechai ben David (comparable to “Le’Chaim in “Fiddler on the Roof”).
The impact of “Ein bisschen Frieden” (“A little Peace”, 1982) can only be understood considering the widespread fear of a nuclear holocaust made possible by the deployment of medium-range missiles on both sides of the system border. This led to a huge peace movement all over Europe and, on a non-political level, to the big success of all versions of the song (German, English, Dutch, French, Danish and even Russian and Polish). Don’t forget the fact that Nicole sang the song in German, English, French and Dutch in her winner performance – the audience was raving!!!
Speaking of raving: Thanks for doing that about Freddy and Joy – both were highly contemporary in their own time. Joy did an English version of her song (“Bridge of Love”) which is highly recommendable. Having been a singer with the American forces, her English is pitch perfect.