Shake the dust off your harness and oil the leather whip because Iceland has confirmed its participation for Eurovision 2020.
On Friday state broadcaster RÚV announced that the island in the north will be a part of next year’s Eurovision Song Contest via Söngvakeppnin’s official Facebook page. While at it they announced the opening for song submissions and the dates of Söngvakeppnin 2020.
Frábærar fréttir, við erum formlega búin að staðfesta þáttöku í Eurovision söngvakeppninni sem haldin verður í…
Posted by Söngvakeppnin on Friday, September 13, 2019
Iceland’s participation for Eurovision 2020 has been the subject of great speculation due the Hatari’s infamous Palestinian flag incident during the announcement of Iceland’s televotes last May. The EBU released a statement the day after, suggesting that Iceland’s broadcaster might be sanctioned because of the incident. In early June RÚV reported that the EBU would ponder possible sanctions…but no further details emerged.
It wasn’t until the very last day of August that some news about EBU’s ruling was reported by RÚV. According to Rúnar Freyr Gíslason, Söngvakeppnin’s program manager, Iceland being banned from entering Eurovision 2020 was never a possibility but RÚV and the EBU were in the midst of negotiations regarding a possible fine that the Icelandic national broadcaster might have to pay. As from today we are still waiting for a confirmation whether or not EBU will indeed employ some kind of monetary sanctions.
Söngvakeppnin 2020 to take place in February with the same format as in 2019
The dates for Söngvakeppnin 2020 have also been confirmed. Like last year, the national final will consist of two semifinals that will take place in Háskólabíó, and a grand final taking place in Laugardalshöll. The first semifinal takes place on February 8 and the second semifinal a week later, on February 15. And just like for Söngvakeppnin 2019 we will have to wait two weeks for the grand final, as that takes place on February 29.
The song submission period opened at noon on September 13 and will close at midnight on October 17. Hopeful songwriters have little over a month to submit their tunes with the hope of becoming Hatari’s successor. RÚV has decided to keep the format of song selection that was introduced for the 2019 edition. Along with the usual submission portal, Iceland’s national broadcaster has decided to hire a few experienced and popular Icelandic songwriters to compose some of the songs that will be in this year’s contest.
Since 2016 RÚV has invited one or more artists with strong relations to Eurovision to perform in the final. There will be no change in that department this year as RÚV plans to treat the audience with at least one non-Icelandic Eurovision artist as an interval act. Among the past guests are the newlywed Måns Zelmerlöw, Loreen and 2018’s second place act Eleni Foureira.
Are you excited for Söngvakeppnin 2020? What type of songs would you like to hear? Tell us in the comments below.
Can they send Svala again
There are two sides to consider here in my opinion . Israel has or pretty tough too so to make peace is to consider both sides of the story but , it was not during the actual performance that they made a statement so I guess there will be no disqualifation
no iceland no eurovision
OMG, THAT photograph still lightens up my life everytime i see it rofl xD
From Hatari 2019 it can only be down hill. But hopefully they will show up as intervall act <3
they came 10th so it can go uphill
Well…..it’s going to be VERY hard for them to top this year’s song next year.
Even if the act they choose is quality, I feel like it still may be a letdown because it’s probably going to be safer.
That’s true. But how could an entry play unsafer than “Hatrid mun sigra”? 😀 At least the Icelandic audience showed loud and clear they’re open to send alternative things to Eurovision. Now it’s on RÚV’s court to provide some interesting options.
Hopefully it will be something as cool as Hatari. 🙂 Can’t wait!
Surprise, surprise, the EBU have not expelled Iceland. There will be no fine either. That’s because they did nothing wrong. It was all just pompous and hypocritical blustering and everyone knows their message was appropriate anyway. Go Hatari! Let’s hope Iceland send another interesting and thought-provoking act.
Yasss, next year burn a stash of car tires on stage to protest global warming with greta thunberg as backing vocal. Lets goo
But please, next year only with artists who know how to act at least a little politely 😉
I don’t remember anything unpolite in what they did..
And I don’t know how you mean by “they”? It was meant in general, of course 😉
Why would you write it specifically unser Hatari’s article then? 😉
Palestina dont excict do many countries say. Many countries dont even think Israel excist. Mostly arab countries. So its a lot of drama in this case
Hatari had the BALLS to speak up. We NEED people like them
You know what would have been “balls”?standing up for gayrights on palestinian land. If you say something against israel most people will agree with you nowadays in western europe even though most people don’t know a single thing about the situation
Frisian, look up their work with Bashar Murad
they filmed it in the Israeli controlled part of Judea and Samaria. I wonder why that’s the case… Furthermore the message of the song is about the palestinian suffering so kinda more of the same.
Yeah, sure, sanction Iceland. The devils of the contest. Unlike your angels Azerbaijan. They really should have made a second banner ridiculing the EBU.
They won’t sanction them. As they didn’t with Armenia or any other country.
Azerbaijan had to give them their lunch money of 2000-3000 euros or something like that, if I remember correctly. For an actual crime, whereas Iceland did nothing wrong. Ridiculous. The EBU shouldn’t sanction Iceland with more than a cent, given Azerbaijan’s “punishment”.
Why would Azerbaijan get sanctioned though? They have never been. It was Armenia who got fined in 2016 because of the disputed region’s flag. I think you’re mixing them up. :p
I was referring to Azerbaijan’s sim card scandal. Were they never fined for it?
It was never proved that it actually happened. Could be another media hoax. Azerbaijan was like Sweden of 2008-2013 years, so they got a lot of backlash from the fandom back then.
If Azerbaijan should be punished, so should be Armenia, Belarus or whoever.
Why? Did Armenia buy votes as well? That is much graver than waving a flag.
Look, I don’t try to elaborate on who is more guilty or whatever! I don’t say that Azerbaijan is the innocent child here, but if there should be a punishment for any country than it should be for all those that commited a crime. Iveta knew exactly that it was forbidden to wave that flag, yet she did. When being asked about the reason why she did so, she said that it was for “peace”. There could be proof that Azerbaijan bought votes in 2013, but does that mean that they did so in 2012, 2011 or whatever year as… Read more »
I think Chingiz should have finished even higher and Aisel should have qualified, so no, that wasn’t me. And the 2014 to 2017 results were no punishment, they were adequate placings. Except for 2016, which was way too high for that piece of s…
12th place in 2015 was actually very good, but for me, both Warrior and Hour of the Wolf deserved better than Beauty Never Lies. 17th place for Miracle was high. The song itself wasn’t sh*t, but it didn’t come across in the live version.
Dihaj’s 14th place was never justifiable. Should have at least placed 10th.
I would also say that either Dilara or Samra should have stayed in the final, instead of Aisel, but again, the 2018 Semi Final was a very tough one, so…
I think you’re just overthinking it lol. Dihaj’s staging was just ridiculous. There was no way she would end up in Top 10 with the whole idea. The staging should be edgier, darker and not circus-like.
Azerbaijan is getting what they deserve. Their entries are not as good as used to be. This year they had their best entry since 2013 and they got a Top 10 result.
Will they be back to sending safe songs again? Hopefully not!
Greta is already preparing herself
They don’t hearing her call