Orchestra: Yay Or Nay Eurovision Returning To The Old Fashioned Way?

“Music is feelings” or so they may say… But what exactly are “feelings” anyway?

The truth is even with Salvador’s music definition, interpretation can be wide. Whilst he may have frowned at Netta’s chicken noises, you can’t deny the sentiment that if music really is about conjuring “feelings” then things such as genre, instruments and mass appeal, really should not matter.

When we look at Eurovision over the years we can see this all in action! Artists have chosen to have songs featuring the sounds of every (often traditional) instrument under the sun! Failing that why not scrap the instruments completely?

If that’s still not your style, why not mix up those vocals? The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has experimented over the years with numerous vocal rules. Auto-tune is largely a big no-no at the contest but this hasn’t stopped rules being constructed to allow for the odd distorted vocal e.g. in 2000s winner Fly On The Wings Of Love. Vocal looping may not be fully allowed (not that this harmed Netta) but the EBU have been open to experimenting with distorted vocals and in 2021 went as far as to allow for backing vocals to be pre-recorded.

I’m fully aware this is (supposedly) a one year implementation but knowing the EBUs history with one-offs it could well be here to stay. The removal of the orchestra, the return of the juries, the participation of Australia – all one-offs… Until they weren’t.

But These Are Good Things

I for one, would argue that permanent rule changes can be positive for the contest. As a biologist one thing should be clear to me after all, adaptation is necessary for survival! In other blog posts I have argued strongly in favour of the juries and the influence they have had on the contest. So why would the removal of the orchestra to allow for more modern genres of music be a bad thing? The short answer is it isn’t, the long answer is a bit more complex.

“If I could choose” (🇮🇪 1967)

Modernisation is good. Choice is equally as important. Why should instrumentation efforts revolve around a niche genre of songs after all, especially when the modern fan base of the contest are young and orchestration is more of a rare novelty in the pop music of this era? Well for me it’s not about the orchestra per say (though I must confess I’m listening to orchestral music as I write this)! The biggest disappointment when comparing Eurovision of today with that of Eurovision of yore is the lack of any sort of live instrumentation.

Permanent Records

It’s always exciting when a new record comes out! And by that I mean both of the vinyl and top achievement varieties. There is good reason why Sandra Kim has to remain the youngest Eurovision winner. I don’t think having 13 year olds at Eurovision is helpful either for the children of for the contest (and besides that’s what the junior contest is for) and for that very reason Sandra’s record will remain. But other records should be possible to beat. I remember the sheer excitement of watching Salvador’s points add up and then finding out he would indeed have broken Rybak’s highest score record. Yet with live instrumentation banned we will never get to see a more recent winner framed around instrumentation than Nocturne. Love Symphony which represented Slovenia tried to recapture the same je ne said quoi of strings with limited lyrical content but it didn’t come close to winning. In fact it didn’t even qualify. Now obviously you can judge them on various other aspects but to me, the stand out reason was the magic of a live string performance just isn’t there with playback.

Live music is special and I think performers should have the choice on whether or not they wish to incorporate it. I believe Nocturne was originally a 100% instrumental piece and whilst the lyrics, melody and excellent vocal performance added to the song – the instruments were pivotal to it’s success.

One of the main comments with the new pre-recorded backing was to promote choice. You can still have live backing vocals, you just don’t need to… Why isn’t it the case with instruments. Sure, time has moved on and not enough delegations would necessarily use the orchestra to make it viable but if they want to play their own harp, why decline it?

Logistics, logistics, logistics… Sure it’s one extra microphone but Eurovision is one of the biggest TV productions. If any show is worth putting on another stagehand or having an additional soundcheck surely it’s Eurovision. The cost would be low for the high viewership generated by the show. And in the same way it was worth trying out removing the orchestra, why not try out the odd live ukulele and see if people like it?

And im pretty convinced they include live instruments in some interval acts anyway, so why not just do that work for a couple of entries as well?

Whilst pre-recorded backing vocals go against the spirit of a singing/song contest in the same way an instrumental only nocturne does (and I hope they are not allowed longer than necessary) adding live instrumentation would only add to the song further in the same way allowing props on stage helps people connect with the songs. It’s time to refresh the rules EBU! But will you do it, probably not!

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