Eurovision arrives in Oslo, Norway

This weekend Oslo played host to the gooey pop contest known as Eurovision. Eurovision is a continent-wide event drawing  Eurovision arrives in Osloviewers together for what is essentially the Olympic version of American Idol. Each nation has a contest who sings, dances and gyrates on stage in hopes of receiving votes from citizens in other countries. The winner of the Eurovision song contest then hosts the event the following year. I had the pleasure of learning about Eurovision way back in 2006 in Norway with reker and Mack beer and again in Spain while I watched Chiki Chiki fall flat to the international audience.

Last year Norway won as the young Alexander Rybak fiddled his way into first place. Two weeks ago, I randomly walked by Alexander Rybak in Oslo who was all smiles and ready to hand off the crown to the newest Eurovision winner. The following week, Oslo was filled with audience members and contestants wearing the “Share the moment” tag around their neck speaking in a variety of languages and taking in the sites of Oslo. My friend Daniel Andersson gives a little intro to Alexander Rybak and Eurovision:

I had a chance to interview a group of these dedicated Eurovision fans who were attending their 3rd consecutive Eurovision. They were from Israel and had hopes of finishing in the top 5 with their emotional, heartfelt song sung by Harel Skaat, the runner-up in Israel’s Idol (they finished 14th and didn’t even get their map on tv, while Germany took home the crown with their annoying song “Satellite”). They helped explain this phenomena with me and why Israel is in the EUROvision song contest before providing me with their version of Israel’s song “Milim” (“Words”). Check it out:

Posted on June 2nd, 2010 in Norway, Travel