Europe comes alive to the sound of "music" - Eurovision style

The European parliamentary elections are just over three weeks away, but Saturday sees a much more important "political" event taking place throughout the continent, and probably one which will have a higher participation level.

Yes it's the Eurovision Song contest - the annual "musical" jamboree (heavy on the inverted commas) which many music aficionados dread but the viewing public seems to love.

This year it'll be coming from Moscow as Russia won the competition last time around and with it the honours to play host.

More than 100 million viewers across Europe are expected to tune in to watch as performers from the 25 countries that have made it through to the final, take to the stage and - ahem - "sing".

For those of you unfamiliar with Eurovision, here's a little bit of background.

It all started innocently enough way back in the 1950s - 1956 to be precise - in Switzerland, when just seven countries entered.

But since then, under the auspices of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which came up with the idea of an international song contest in the first place, it has....well mushroomed would be putting it mildly.

So much so that when Dima Bilan won last year for Russia with "Believe" he had to face competition from songs representing 37 other countries in the semi-finals before making it through to the final.

That has been the pattern ever since 2004 as the number of countries clamouring to compete has grown, and the EBU has been forced to split the contest into semi-final and final stages.

Only the so-called "Big Four" - Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and France - gain automatic qualification to the final round - no matter how poorly they might have done in the previous year's competition, because they're the biggest financial contributors to the EBU and without them the production costs to mount to contest would be prohibitive.

The country with the winning song (the voting procedure is cumbersome and protracted) then goes on to host the following year's contest.

Hence when Bilan chirped his way to victory in Belgrade last year, Russia was assured of organising this year's Songfest

Few would insist that it's a platform for culture of any sort. Indeed the annual knees-up is generally considered to be a celebration of the very worst that each nation has to offer musically and it comes in for a fair amount of ridicule.

And recent trends have shown that the whole contest has turned into something of a farce with political and more importantly geographical blocs forming to ensure the “right” country wins.

Voting has always been a very longwinded and complicated process, but this year promises to be a little different as an apparently important change has been made.

The procedure has been altered so that alongside viewers each country will also have a jury made up of "professionals" whose votes will be merged with those of the general public.

Eurovision costs the proverbial arm and a leg to organise, hence the Big Four are so important to its continued success, and for once a couple of them at least, seem to be serious about trying to win.

France and the United Kingdom have both had pretty dismal records in recent years.

The heydays of the 1960s and 70s when the UK regularly finished in the top five, are long gone.

Its last winner was back in 1997 (Katrina and The Waves with "Love Shine A Light") and in the past six years has done no better than 16th place - actually finishing last or last but one on two occasions.

France hasn't fared much better and has placed only as high as 15th in the same six years, twice finishing in 22nd spot and once in 23rd.

In fact you have to go all the way back to 1977 for the last French winner (Marie Myriam with "L'oiseau Et L'enfant").

But for Moscow, both countries are sending in the big guns.

The French entry, "Et s'il fallait le faire" will be sung by Patricia Kaas. It's a track lifted from her latest album "Kabaret".

And it's a clever choice because Kaas has not only been a star in France and throughout much of Europe since the 1980s. She has also had a number of hits in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union and has great name recognition.

The United Kingdom has also pulled up its socks in an effort to win, by having its song penned specifically for Eurovision by none other than the internationally renowned composer, Andrew Lloyd Webber and American Grammy Award-winning lyricist Diane Warren.

Will the tactics of either country pay off tomorrow evening?

Well you'll just have to tune in to find out.

But for the record here's a list of the countries that have made it through to the final and the order in which they'll be appearing.

And for those of you unlucky enough not to be able to see the whole thing live, simply click on the country of your choice to hear the entry.

Enjoy!

1. Lithuania
2. Israel
3. France
4. Sweden
5. Croatia
6. Portugal
7. Iceland
8. Greece
9. Armenia
10. Russia
11. Azerbaijan
12. Bosnia and Herzegovina
13. Moldova
14. Malta
15. Estonia
16. Denmark
17. Germany
18. Turkey
19. Albania
20. Norway
21. Ukraine
22. Romania
23. United Kingdom
24. Finland
25. Spain