Eesti Laul
| Eesti Laul (The Estonian Song) |
|
|---|---|
| Genre | Pop music, etc. |
| Location(s) | Estonia |
| Years active | 2009–present |
| Founded by | Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR) |
| Website | |
| ERR official site | |
Eesti Laul (English: 'Estonian Song' or 'The Song of Estonia') is an annual music competition organised by Estonian public broadcaster Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR). It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song Contest, and has been staged every year since 2009. The contest was introduced in 2009, replacing the former Eurolaul festival, used since Estonia's first participation in Eurovision in 1993. Since its introduction, the competition has been one of the most popular television programmes in Estonia; it is also broadcast on radio and the Internet. In 2012, the semifinals averaged 199 thousand viewers, and over an estimated 296 thousand people in Estonia watched the final. The contest was introduced by ERR, the organisers of the contest, with a different philosophy on the contest used previously. Eesti Laul was introduced to produce an Estonian contest, with Estonian musical tastes being presented to a European audience. The contest is also an open one, with all information of the songs being revealed in the selection process.
The festival has produced three top-ten placings for Estonia at the contest. The winner of the Eesti Laul has been chosen by televoting and panels of jurors since its inception. The competition makes a considerable impact on music charts in Estonia and neighbouring countries.
The introduction of semifinals in 2011 raised the potential number of contestants from ten to twenty. The festival is very well known for its alternative rock and electro-pop songs which make the contest more diverse than other Eurovision national finals, so it is sometimes referred to as Alternative Melodifestivalen by the media and the Eurovision fans. The introduction of a grand final hosted in Saku Suurhall has attracted substantial tourism to the city.
Most of rules are dictated by those of the Eurovision Song Contest. However, regulations have been introduced by the Estonian broadcaster. The competition's official rules are released by ERR early in preparation for each year's Eest Laul, to ensure any changes are noted by songwriters and performers.
There is a limit of six people on stage for each performance. All vocals had to be completely live; human voices are not allowed on backing tracks. Entries usually are not publicly broadcast until the songsare previewed on television. Until 2017, competing songs were only permitted if they were written by all-Estonian team. Since 2017, foreign collaborations were allowed as long as 50% of the song authors were Estonians. Artists and songwriters were allowed to submit up to three songs each with an exception to this rule for songwriters who participated in songwriting camps organised by the Estonian Song Academy.
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Wikipedia