The Executive Producer of Eurovision 2020 Sietse Bakker and Creative Advisor Cornald Maas have revealed on Dutch talkshow M that fourteen broadcasters have stated their willingness to broadcast Europe Shine A Light on May 16.
After the cancellation of Eurovision 2020, Dutch broadcasters AVROTROS, NOS and NPO sought to find an alternative show that could unite a continent currently fighting the Covid-19 pandemic on every front. It was answering the call from so many to create an alternative show to honour this year’s entries. Previously Thomas Schreiber, the head of delegation for German broadcaster ARD, revealed that the EBU was working on such a show.
We learned more earlier this week when the EBU announced the broadcast of Europe Shine A Light. The organising broadcasters of Eurovision 2020 plan to show an excerpt of each of the 41 entries with a video message, while also trying to involve former Eurovision participants. The acts will also be encouraged to say something about the situation in their home country.
Bakker and Maas explained that this show is still being put together and that they are busy trying to get as many parties involved as possible.
Singing Italians led to Europe Shine A Light
Prior to the cancellation of Eurovision, Italians in lockdown sang their country’s Eurovision entry “Fai rumore” by Diodato from their balconies as a way of supporting each other during these isolating times.
Maas said that he saw the video and it struck a chord inside him:
“At that time, I was already at home, working on my documentary and I was already feeling nervous about the possibility of cancellation. This made me emotional because it shows the power of social media. At the same time I was also thinking. Sietse and I had already been contacted about this, how beautiful it would be… Eurovision was founded in 1956 with the idea of uniting post-war Europe through music. In corona times, every country is mostly busy with its own policies, with its own battle, with its own worries, its own deaths… And especially through Eurovision, whether you are from Bulgaria, Croatia or the Netherlands, you might be able to create something through music, which can be a great alternative.”
"Het @songfestival is ooit opgericht in 1956 vanuit het idee in het naoorlogse Europa: landen verbinden met muziek", dat kunnen wij ook in #coronatijd dacht @cornaldm. #ditisM pic.twitter.com/7mp44MT1Ll
— KRO-NCRV talkshow (@KRONCRVtalkshow) April 1, 2020
Although Eurovision 2020 was supposed to be held in Rotterdam, Europe Shine A Light will primarily be coordinated in Hilversum, where the broadcasters are all based. However, the show will still be hosted by Edsilia Rombley, Chantal Janzen and Jan Smit, with Nikkie de Jager featuring as the online host.
What do you want to see at Eurovision: Europe Shine A Light? Let us know in the comments down below!
Can we get our licence money back? Or in any way no pay for this snore feast?
Not fans? Does being a fan mean being a sheep that applaus and supports each decision EBU takes, no matter how lame it is? A sheep such as yourself?
Greece and Cyprus points exchange tradition is going to remain intact. <3
this is gonna be so boring i swear, they might as well not do anything
Boring?? When they are trying to make the best of a bad situation.. Ingrate
Can somebody tell how this program works? i mean will every contestants perform its entry live in their home or how can i imagine that ?
we’ll hear the 2020 songs a bit, but the group performance is via skype channels, all of them in home isolation it kinda can work, we saw here few days back with dutch celebs singing a special song in this covid-19 crisis also them from home isolation
it is making the best of a bad year
As I said yesterday don’t expect the BBC in the UK to sign up. On their entertainment pages when Eurovision host city was announced and then more recently the cancellation of Eurovision it was reported with the hour. NOT ONE MENTION OF THIS PROGRAMME ANYWHERE. So glad it will be shown online
This is fine. I honestly think it sounds great. I get it, yet again, that we’re all disappointed the contest isn’t happening, but I think some fans are being very unreasonable. This sounds like it’ll be a lot of fun, and while we’re all cooped up, it’s the best we can do. We’ll never get 2020 the exact way it was planned, but I wish fans could be more flexible. Not just here, but in general.
Fun? yes, tremendously fun watching 2020 singers singing hits of yesteryear while talking about how corona has affected them. because that is exactly what people has been asking for,,
OK, maybe not all fun, but it’s important. People criticize Eurovision often for ignoring what’s going on in the world in favor pretending problems don’t exist (and yeah, escapism has its place, but maybe it doesn’t reflect everything going on in Europe). Here, it’s using the world as a way to reinforce hope. People are coming together, and the best sides of human nature are showing everywhere you look.
Such a irony we fans want it to be about music and they want to speak about society. It’s the opposite of normal
yes but we all know why ESC was cancelled. We know what corona has been doing. We read that all the time. Do we really need to be reminded of it?
so dissapointed. their not even gona bother to show the whole song. i would never miss esc but i doubt ill watch
Imagine working for the song a year straight and sadly eurovision gets cancelled,but even tho EBU has all the rights to showcase the whole song and atleast give everyone the publicity they deserved INSTEAD they are giving us the freakin EXCERPTS. Its like throwing a bone to a toothless dog and call it a day. ITS SO DISRESPECTFUL FOR ALL DELEGATIONS.
It’s still being out together.
It still wont be entire songs though
Or just show the 2020 songs and skip the rest? You don’t honour 2020 songs by snippets, you do it by actually showing them. It should be about the 2020 songs, nothing else. We don’t want cover versions of songs or stories about corona. But I guess EBU thinks people want that..
You mean to tell me people will watch a show about corona stories and how each country has been affected? Because we sure don’t have enough of that. Is that entertainment or punishment?
Or watch a show where former contestants who had their time takes the spot away from the 2020 artists? If it was for the fans then EBU would have let it been about 2020 instead of anything else but that. The 2020 artist would rather probably have hoped their songs to be heard rather than sitting telling about corona and singing other songs
No one needs more covers and no one needs more corona sh** in our lives, europe is already tired of this . Who wants to turn on tv at may 16 not just to enjoy good music but instead to go though all the depressing stuff once more? I hope every delegation has enough integrity to not be part of this. Rolling 41 song for 2 hours straight is not A WASTE OF TIME ,if u call yourself and eurovision fan how u even dare to say that. If people want to talk when ok,give it another 30min. No one… Read more »
And who is forcing you to watch all of it? Of course its gonna get boring since u heard all of them plenty of time. They say they want to honour all the participants but its quite clear its gonna be political and depressing. I found this disqusting
No one asked u to reply to my comment at first place,so dont start what u cant finish.
I think I skip it entirely and worst part is I dont even feel sad about it. A cover show? No thanks. I can see the Originals on Youtube
Why are they only doing excerpts from the songs? I find it a little disrespectful not to play the whole song.
Because the ordinary viewer don’t want to see 41 songs after each other
Many people would, many people who wanted their country song to be performed. And who do you think would watch 2020 artists singing covers and talking about corona?
The ordinary viewer is not gonna see eurovision this year. No one is forcing u to stay through the whole show. They say they want to honour the participants but clearly all they want is to get political with the virus.
SRF announced earlier today that all the Swiss channels (SRF, RTS, RSI) will air the special in Switzerland
Who are the 14 broadcasters who have confirmed their intended participation????
I know Spain, France, the Netherlands and Finland aee confirmed
Germany will send it too.
Ukraine too.
Do you work for EBU by any chance?
He is clearly working for someone 😀 its quite obvious since he cant stop defending this show while eurofans are pissed af