Sami Music, Eurovision and Slow TV

Elin and The Woods - NOT the Norway Eurovision entry

Yes, it's Eurovision time again! Something we love on The Slow TV Blog is Eurovision and Slow TV. Slow TV can last for ages and I'm sure some must feel Eurovision goes on for a very long time, too.

I got rather excited by a track in advance of last year's contest which fitted the Slow TV ethos perfectly, and Norway's entry last year, which starts very promisingly but, if I may be so bold, really got the idea of editing pace and slowness in music very wrong.

Norway recently had a very long Slow TV broadcast of reindeer migration, which was guided by a Sami family of reindeer herders. Sami identity, heritage and culture were celebrated by the Slow TV broadcast which played exclusively Sami music, besides times of just the ambient background sounds of the epic journey.

The woods!! Photo by Jenny Østgård #elinandthewoods #firststepinfaith #mgp17 #nrkmgp

A post shared by Elin & The Woods (@elinandthewoods) on Apr 20, 2017 at 10:53am PDT

Now, Norway nearly had a Sami Eurovision entry, Elin and The Woods with First Step in Faith - which I thought during the selection process would have been the perfect partner for being promoted during the Slow TV broadcast, knowing the reindeer migration would finish a couple weeks before the Eurovision Song Contest. Some previous Eurovision winners have had extensive media coverage before going on to win... 

The sight of a woman with horns while singing, for the most part, a joik, would have perhaps given the entry that different look and sound, which (if, and that's a big rhetorical if, the political block-voting can be out-gamed) could have given Norway a distinct edge in the contest. Looking down the comments on the YouTube video of it for Melodi Grand Prix, I'm not alone in thinking that.

Elin and The Woods have a new single out today (10th May), to follow them on Spotify, go here.

New single coming up! 10th of may! A tribute to Elin's homeland Sápmi (Land where the Sami people live). We love it! photo by Heidi Nilima Monsen 😍 #sápmi #singlerealease #cover #electrojoik

A post shared by Elin & The Woods (@elinandthewoods) on May 3, 2017 at 10:44am PDT

It wasn't the first time Sami music had featured in Norwegian Slow TV - a Sami choir (Samisk sanggruppe / Sámi lavlunjoavku) also featured in Slow TV in 2014 during the 3 day sing through of the entire Norwegian hymn book, Salmeboka Minutt for Minutt, their performances can be seen here.

Music from Reinflytting Minutt for Minutt - Reindeer Migration Minute by Minute can be explored through playlists such as here and also here.

The video of Elin and The Woods performing First Step in Faith on the Melodi Grand Prix in Norway - the Eurovision selection process.

I've previously touched on Sami culture on The Slow TV Blog, on Sami National Day, 6th February - more on that here.

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Why did Norway do so badly in Eurovision 2016?

One for the Melodi Grand Prix in Norway, perhaps (Norway's Eurovision song selection body)! Why did Norway do so badly in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2016? Clues from Slow TV? These are clips from the Facebook Live file from my Slow TV themed show on RedShift Radio, Slow Down, Thursdays 8pm in the UK. Tracks referred to:

The Eurovision Song Contest - A Song for Slow TV?

Watching the first semi final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 I was delighted to hear a song which could well be a song for Slow TV. Writing this blog post has caused me to think over Slowness in media, Norway and Eurovision.

Back in 2014, The Common Linnets' song "Calm After the Storm" got my vote - a stand out acoustic country music song - and many others must have felt similar as it came second, behind Conchita Wurst.

Well, this year The Netherlands is back with another fine acoustic number - which on the basis of this first semi final stands out because of that. With a title and chorus of "Slow Down" and a meaning of using a decelerating technique to solve a problem, well, its link to one of the dynamics of Slow Television and Slowness becomes clear.

Relax, take it easy and allow a more organic pace of being enable the way forward to be found.

Eurovision in some respects could be thought of as a form of Slow TV in that it's a long live televised event, but only in that way. If you keep in mind the editing pace - how quickly it's cut between different camera angles - it absolutely is not Slow TV. It is also meticulously planned in camera angles, lighting, stage effects - and everything apart from the voting is worked out in advance.

Now, Norway has a winning formula with NRK's Slow TV - perhaps for a future year someone ought to write a Slow TV song for their Eurovision entry? Norway has so far won three times. The upbeat Eurovision pop of La Det Swinge from Bobbysocks in 1985, Alexander Rybak in 2009 with Fairytale - a little slower - but not as slow as their 1995 winner.

Nocturne from Secret Garden won in 1995. It surely must be the slowest Eurovision winner? Also notable about it, is that it is almost entirely instrumental. Have a look and listen to the below clip; the whole pace of the piece is dreamy - very much at home within the Enya and Clannad school of music. So, you could argue Norway has an antecedent for Slowness in the Eurovision Song Contest.

Remarkably noticeable is the pace of the camera changes, the near static performance of the group and compare the lighting and stage effects with the contest's stimulation-fest of today. You don't have to keep up with the editing - it's relaxed and calming.

Like Slow TV in the mainstream media landscape of today is noticeable with its calmness, Nocturne stands out hugely in the history of Eurovision for its feel. With music writers like Stargate, or A-ha - or someone like Kari Bremnes (not that far from the feel of Nocturne), there are ample world-quality established names who could use Slow TV to inform a Eurovision Song Contest entry. Just a thought.

So, this year, it's The Netherlands to bring something slower to a contest you either love, or love to hate. I don't know which song will get my vote in the end (I loved Armenia and Austria's entries - and haven't heard the other 20 entries yet) - but for the sake of Slowness, this blog celebrates 'Slow Down'. Good luck, Douwe Bob!

Related content: What was so right with Russia's War and Peace Slow TV?

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