ArmInfo. This year Armenia will not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest. This is stated in the message of the Public Television of Armenia.
At the same time, it is emphasized that such a decision was made after comprehensive discussions and negotiations.
"The events that have taken place, lack of time and other objective circumstances are incompatible with the proper representation of Armenia in the song contest," the statement of the Public Television says. Recall that the 65th anniversary Eurovision 2020, which was to be held in the Netherlands after the victory of the country's representative Duncan Lawrence with the song <Arcade> at the 2019 competition held in Tel Aviv, Israel was canceled due to the COVID pandemic -19. This was the first time the competition was canceled in its entire history.
Recall that in the mid-1950s, the members of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) were "fired up" with the idea of creating a spectacular entertainment program that would contribute to the cultural unification of post-war Europe. In January 1950, the CEO of Swiss Television, Marcel Besancon, proposed an international song competition to determine the best song in Europe. His idea was approved at the General Assembly of the EMU in Rome on October 19, 1955. The music festival in San Remo (Italy) was taken as a model.
The officially stated goal of the competition was: The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual festival that is broadcasted across Europe and was created to <to promote the emergence of talented and original songs in the genre of pop music through competition between by authors and singers and by comparing their work internationally>. In fact, the show was simply meant to help increase the popularity of television in the 1950s.
The competition, originally known as the "Eurovision Grand Prix", was first held in the city of Lugano (Switzerland) on May 24, 1956. Seven countries participated, each of which presented 2 songs. This was the only time that one country presented more than one song. The competition was won by the host country represented by Liz Assia with the song <Refrain>.
Over time, the number of people wishing to take part in the competition constantly grew, and their simultaneous performance became impossible. Then it was decided to remove from the competition held next year, the countries that showed the worst results. In 2004, the competition was divided into a semi- final and a final, so that all interested countries could participate in the competition. Since 2008, 2 semi- finals have been held.