Basel, Switzerland - The 69th Eurovision Song Contest began on Tuesday, with sauna-loving Swedish entries Kaj taking a spot in the finals, and five countries returned home after two semi-finals of the flooding music event.
Performers from 15 countries fought against thousands of fans in front of thousands of fans in Basel, Switzerland in Saturday's final, and the result was determined by the audience's votes.
The betting market favorite kaj is a three-person Swedish Finnish performing “Bara Bada Bastu”, an ode to attract steam and heat, with a title roughly translated to “Just Sauna”, accompanied by dancers, accompanied by a dance party wearing lumberjacks and towels.
Joining Kaj in the final is another favorite of odds maker, the odds are 21-year-old Dutch singer Claude with a affectionate, Parisian-style ballad "C'est La Vie". Claude hopes to win for his country after Dutch 2024 player Joost Kein was kicked off Eurovision due to a backstage dispute.
Others voted for the final, including the Iceland Brothers Duo Vaeb, one of which raps about boating, "Róa", Norwegian singer Kyle Alessandro's "Lighter" and two Uber-Italian songs not from Italy: DJ Gabry Ponte, with Estbeat the tutta l'atalia representing coffeatia and height of compaiat''''
Ukraine, Portugal, Poland and Albania also entered the finals. Azerbaijan, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus and Slovenia were eliminated.
Music fans in Europe and beyond have already traveled to the northern Swiss city of Basel, which hosts the European TV network as Swiss singer Nemo won the competition in Sweden last year.
Chanteuse Celine Dion, Canada won Switzerland’s Eurovision before becoming a big star and sent a video message that was aired before some rival performances last year, playing her 1988-winning song “Ne Partez Pas sans Moi.”
The audience also celebrated Swiss inventions with comic songs sung by hosts Hazel Brugger and Sandra Studer, including Swiss Army Knife, Muesli, Processed Cheese and Eurovision, and was first performed in Lugano in 1956.
Tuesday's showdown and Thursday's second semifinal will narrow the field of 37 countries to 26, as they will compete on Saturday's Grand Finals. Twenty finalists will be decided by the audience vote, while six countries will automatically compete in the finals: hosts, Switzerland and the "big five" who pay the highest fees for the competition - France, Germany, Italy, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom
Part of Eurovision was to promote the unification of the continent of Scars in World War II, with its motto "Unite by Music". But despite the efforts of organizers to stop political efforts, the political sector is often clouded. Officials said more than 1,000 police officers were on duty in Basel this week, and organizers were looking to protest Israeli participation as the country fought against Hamas in Gaza.
Anti-Semitism demonstrations are also planned on Thursday, with Israeli singer Yuval Raphael performing in the second semifinal.
Raphael, a survivor of Hamas militants on October 7, 2023, attacked 1,200 people in southern Israel. The health ministry in the region said more than 52,800 people were killed in Gaza during Israel's retaliatory offensive.
The European Broadcasting Alliance, which organized Eurovision Networks, intensified the competition's code of conduct, calling on participants to respect Eurovision's "universality, diversity, equality and inclusion" and its political neutrality.
After last year’s controversial ban, spectators will be allowed to wave the Palestinian flag in the St. Jacob County Arena in Basil. However, participants can only wave their own flags on stage or in other camera areas. Some delegations protested that effectively banned LGBTQ+ Pride Flags, which had a huge gay follower.
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Legal reports from London.
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An earlier version of the story mistakenly pointed out that the first Eurovision contest was in Lucerne. That was in Lugano.