“So Disarmingly European”. Eurovision Song Contest and the European Identity

Abstract

Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) is a major television music event, among the longest-running of world television (1956): a contest between different nations explicitly conceived as a “European” event. This contribution describes its birth starting from the new international order emerging at the end of the Second World War, thanks to European Broadcasting Union (EBU), an organization of different national media networks. ESC currently outlines much more than European territory, including countries ranging from Russia to Australia. It is a well-known brand but full of contradictions, with values not always positively judged (the image of ESC over time has often been that of a kitsch, retro and camp show). The present contribution illustrates the qualities of a constantly changing cultural media laboratory, as a mirror of European identity contradictions. Several times the national representativeness of artists due to ethnic reasons has been questioned, as here described particularly in relation to the Italian singer Mahmood. ESC has remained a staple and it has so far managed to survive and even increase its success in terms of audience. For those reasons, investigating its “European” nature, it is a highly studied object, in the most diverse national contexts, for its paradoxical features too.