Söngvakeppnin (known from 1986–1989 as Söngvakeppni sjónvarpsstöðva and in 1981, 1983 and 1990–2012 as Söngvakeppni sjónvarpsins, literally "The Television's Song Contest") is an annual
music competition
A music competition is a public event designed to identify and award outstanding musical ensembles, soloists, composers, conductors and musicologists. Pop music competitions are music competitions which are held to find pop starlets.
Exampl ...
organised by
Iceland
Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...
ic public broadcaster
Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV). It determines the for the
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...
.
Format
The contest was first organised in 1981, although neither it nor its subsequent 1983 edition were used to determine any Eurovision Song Contest representatives until Iceland made its ESC debut
in 1986. Since then,
RÚV
Ríkisútvarpið (RÚV) (pronounced or ) ( en, 'The Icelandic National Broadcasting Service') is Iceland's national public-service broadcasting organization.
Operating from studios in the country's capital, Reykjavík, as well as regional cent ...
has used Söngvakeppni sjónvarpsins to select the Icelandic entry, but has also used an internal selection at times, between 1995 and 1999 and in 2004, 2005 and 2021.
Söngvakeppni sjónvarpsins has consisted of a multi-artist competition, with between 5 and 10 songs competing. Most contests in the past have been a one-night event, however since 2006 the contest has consisted of a number of semi-finals aired before a grand final.
It was known for RÚV to change the performers for Eurovision. This can be seen in 1986, when winner Pálmi Gunnarsson was joined by
Eiríkur Hauksson
Eiríkur Hauksson (born 4 July 1959, in Reykjavik) is an Icelandic heavy metal vocalist. He represented Iceland at Eurovision in 1986 and in 2007.
Career
Eiríkur's career as a vocalist began in earnest when the song "Sekur" he wrote and pe ...
and Helga Möller to form
ICY Icy commonly refers to conditions involving ice, a frozen state, usually referring to frozen water.
Icy or Icey may also refer to:
People
* Icy Spicy Leoncie, an Icelandic-Indian musician
Arts, entertainment, and media Music
* ICY (band), a vocal ...
for Eurovision. In 1994 RÚV were not happy with the winning song, and so enlisted
Frank McNamara to rearrange the entry and select a new singer.
Icelandic National Final 1994
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Songs in Söngvakeppni sjónvarpsins were once only allowed to be performed in Icelandic. However winning songs were normally translated into English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
for Eurovision. This rule was abolished in 2008, when English language songs were allowed to compete for the first time.
Winners
The first 33 winners of Söngvakeppnin have gone on to represent Iceland at the Eurovision Song Contest. Iceland has never won the contest (the only Nordic country never to do so), but they have come second twice: in 1999 (when an internal selection was used), losing to Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, and in 2009, when they lost to Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
.
2020 was the first time in history where the winner of the contest, in this case Daði og Gagnamagnið, did not advance to Eurovision, as the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. Instead, RÚV internally re-selected Daði og Gagnamagnið to represent the country at the Eurovision Song Contest 2021
The Eurovision Song Contest 2021 was the 65th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Rotterdam, Netherlands, following the country's win at the with the song " Arcade" by Duncan Laurence. The Netherlands was set to host the ...
, with the song also chosen internally.
The following table lists entries which finished fifth or higher at Eurovision:
See also
* Dansk Melodi Grand Prix
Dansk Melodi Grand Prix (), also known as Melodi Grand Prix or simply DMGP, is an annual music competition organised by the Danish public broadcaster Danmarks Radio (DR) since 1957, which determines the for the Eurovision Song Contest. The fe ...
* Melodifestivalen
Melodifestivalen (; literally "the Melody Festival") is an annual song competition organised by Swedish public broadcasters Sveriges Television (SVT) and Sveriges Radio (SR). It determines the country's representative for the Eurovision Song ...
* Melodi Grand Prix
Melodi Grand Prix (), commonly known as Grand Prix and MGP, sometimes as Norwegian Melodi Grand Prix ( no, Norsk Melodi Grand Prix), is an annual music competition organised by Norwegian public broadcaster Norsk Rikskringkasting (NRK). It det ...
* Uuden Musiikin Kilpailu
(; abbreviated UMK; en, italics=yes, Contest for New Music) is an annual music contest organised by the Finnish public broadcaster Yle. UMK began in 2012 as the new format for the Eurovision Song Contest, replacing the original Finnish Eurovi ...
* Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest
Iceland has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 34 times since its debut in , missing only two contests since then, in and , when prevented from competing due to finishing outside qualification places the preceding years. The country's ...
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Songvakeppnin
Eurovision Song Contest selection events
Iceland in the Eurovision Song Contest
Icelandic music
Annual events in Iceland