The ABU Radio Song Festival is a biennial non-competitive gala that showcases songs or instrumentals by musicians across

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

, organised by the

Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU or APBU), formed in 1964, is a non-profit, professional association of broadcasting organisations. It currently has over 287 members in 57 countries and regions, reaching a potential audience of about 3 bil ...

(ABU), and is based on 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 ...

. The format consists of a non-televised semi-final and grand final which is broadcast. Participating countries which have full or additional full ABU membership are invited to submit a

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetitio ...

from an act that is unsigned to any record label. These entries are listened to by a panel of jury members, who select fifteen to proceed towards the radio festival final, were another panel of judges determining the top-5 prize winners. The grand final may be broadcast live via radio and television, or as a delayed live recorded broadcast for national broadcasters who may wish to add

subtitles Subtitles and captions are lines of dialogue or other text displayed at the bottom of the screen in films, television programs, video games or other visual media. They can be transcriptions of the screenplay, translations of it, or informati ...

in their native languages.

Development

The

(ABU) had already run an international song contest for its members inspired by the

in 1985 – 1987, called the ''ABU Popular Song Contest'', with 14 countries of the Asia-Pacific region competing. The show had a similar concept to the current radio song festival with winners being chosen by a professional jury.

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

celebrated victories in this competition. In 1989 – 1991 ABU co-produced the ''ABU Golden Kite World Song Festival'' in Malaysia with participation of Asia-Pacific countries, as well as

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...

and

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

. Shortly before launching the ABU Song Festival, the ABU had been considering the possibility to organize the ''ABU ASEAN TV Song Festival'' in Thailand. Historically,

ASEAN ASEAN ( , ), officially the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, is a political and economic union of 10 member states in Southeast Asia, which promotes intergovernmental cooperation and facilitates economic, political, security, militar ...

song contests had been organized in periods between 1981 and 1997, however since 2011 the ASEAN Festival had been organized between local Radio stations as ''Bintang Radio ASEAN''. The ABU outlined a plan about a "television song festival" based on the style of the

following the cancellation of ''Our Sound''. Kenny Kihyung Bae, chosen to the project manager, attended

Eurovision Song Contest 2012 The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was the 57th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, following the country's victory at the with the song " Running Scared" by the duo Ell & Nikki. It was the first time Azerb ...

Baku, Azerbaijan Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world an ...

to learn more about the contest before putting it to work. In November 2011, the ABU announced that they would organize its own TV and Radio Song Festivals to take place in

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

, the South Korean capital, in time with 49th General Assembly in October 2012. The name ''Asiavision Song Contest'' was initially mentioned as a possibility, but they were later officially titled ''

ABU TV Song Festival The ABU TV Song Festival is an annual non-competitive gala that showcases songs or instrumentals by musicians across Asia, organised by the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU). Participating countries which have full or additional full ABU mem ...

'' and ''ABU Radio Song Festival''. According to the ABU, the deadline for participation applications for ABU TV Song Festival 2012 was 18 May 2012.

Format

The ABU Radio Song Festival is a concert performance for musicians, who are not under contract with any

label A label (as distinct from signage) is a piece of paper, plastic film, cloth, metal, or other material affixed to a container or product, on which is written or printed information or symbols about the product or item. Information printed dir ...

. The ABU recommends its members to introduce participating musicians and their songs on radio.abu.org.my
ABU Radio Song Festival
Every participant is chosen by one national radio broadcaster. A jury represented by ABU members chooses 15 finalists from 26 submissions. The finalists perform during the general assembly of the ABU. Another jury awards the best artists.abu2012seoul.com

Participation

Participation in the contest is open to members of the

. ;Table key

Hosting

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

ABU Radio Song Festival website
{{ABU Radio Song Festival Song contests Music festivals established in 2012 de:ABU Song Festivals#ABU Radio Song Festival es:Festivales de la Canción de la UAR#Festival Radiofónico de la Canción de la UAR fr:Festivals ABU de la chanson#Festival Radio ABU de la chanson ru:Азиатско-Тихоокеанские фестивали песни#Азиатско-Тихоокеанский радиофестиваль песни szl:Festy pjosynki ABU#Fest radyjny pjosynki ABU