ABU Song Festivals

ABU Song Festivals


Logos used for the ABU TV Song Festival (top) and ABU Radio Song Festival (bottom).
Genre Song Festivals
Created by Marcel Bezençon
Production company(s) Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union
Distributor Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union
Release
Picture format 576i (SDTV) (2012-present)
1080i (HDTV) (2012-present)
Original release 14 October 2012 (2012-10-14) – present
External links
Official website www.abu.org.my

ABU Song Festivals are annual song competitions based on the Eurovision Song Contest. The format consists of two shows, a Radio Song Festival and TV Song Festival, organised by the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU).[1][2]

Participating countries which have full or additional full ABU membership are invited to submit a song to be performed in front of a live audience. The radio festival is a competitive show with a panel of judges determining the top-5 prize winners, and is broadcast via live radio. The television festival which is a non-competitive, musical gala presentation, is live recorded so that each of the national broadcasters may add subtitles in their native languages.[1][2]

History

Our Sound - The Asia-Pacific Song Contest

The logo of the previously named "Our Sound - The Asia-Pacific Song Contest"

In 2008, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) proposed a partnership with ABU on the establishment of an Asiavision Song Contest,[3] however these talks didn't produce any result, and in September 2008 it was announced that the Eurovision Song Contest format for Asian production had been sold to a private company from Singapore, Asiavision Pte. Ltd.[4] The original name intended for that event was Asiavision Song Contest, but it was later changed to Our Sound - The Asia-Pacific Song Contest following a request from the ABU, who uses the Asiavision name for their news exchange service.[3][5] Initially, the contest (which was supposed to be a two program live broadcast TV show with public voting) was set to premiere in 2009, but it was later rescheduled for March 2010 in Macao and then for November 2010 in Mumbai, at the end being postponed indefinitely "due to the ongoing issues between the organizers and EBU". As of now, it is still uncertain if there will ever be such a contest.[6]

In March 2016, it was announced that a deal had been signed between the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and the Australian broadcaster Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), which gave the channel the rights to create a version of the Eurovision Song Contest for countries in Asia to be able to compete in a contest similar to the European version.[7] The rules and format for the new contest are in the development stages between SBS and their production partner Blink TV. The inaugural contest which has yet to be given a name, will be held in Australia in 2017.[8] Further information was later released in May 2016 regarding the eligibility for the contest, which could see up to sixty-eight countries compete in the contest.[9] In July 2016 it was announced that four countries had either confirmed or expressed their interest in the inaugural contest, which has been given a preliminary name of Eurovision Asia Song Contest, including host nation Australia, China, Japan, and South Korea.[10]

Development

The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) had already run an international song contest for its members inspired by the Eurovision Song Contest in 1985 – 1987, called the ABU Popular Song Contest, with 14 countries of the Asia-Pacific region competing.[3] The show had a similar concept to the current radio song festival with winners being chosen by a professional jury. South Korea, New Zealand and Australia 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 and Finland.[3]

Shortly before launching the ABU Song Festival, the ABU had been considering the possibility to organize the ABU ASEAN TV Song Festival in Thailand.[3] Historically, ASEAN 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 Eurovision Song Contest following the cancellation of Our Sound. Kenny Kihyung Bae, chosen to the project manager, attended Eurovision Song Contest 2012 in Baku, Azerbaijan to learn more about the contest before putting it to work.[11][12]

In November 2011, the ABU announced that they would organize its own TV and Radio Song Festivals to take place in Seoul, the South Korean capital, in time with 49th General Assembly in October 2012.[13] The name Asiavision Song Contest was initially mentioned as a possibility, but they were later officially titled ABU TV Song Festival and ABU Radio Song Festival. According to the ABU, the deadline for participation applications for ABU TV Song Festival 2012 was 18 May 2012.[14][15]

Format

Andreas Gerlach, CEO of Asiavision Pte. Ltd, stated that "the format is highly suited to the Asia region and its people who love popular music and have a strong national pride. Asia today is all about competition, economically and politically. The Song Contest is a friendly competition between cultures. Like in Europe, the universal language of music will help to bring people closer together and nurture mutual understanding in the region."[16]

The contests are divided into two versions, ABU Radio Song Festival and ABU TV Song Festival. Twenty-six songs from sixteen nations competed at the Radio Song Festival, held in the South Korean capital, Seoul on 14 October 2012, while seven nations competed in the ABU TV Song Festival. Countries eligible to participate in both of the ABU Song Festivals must have full or additional full ABU or ASBU membership.[17]

ABU Radio Song Festival

The ABU Radio Song Festival is a competition for musicians, who are not under contract with any label. The ABU recommends its members to introduce participating musicians and their songs on radio.[18] 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.[18][19]

Year Date Host country Host city Venue Participants
2012 11 October 2012  South Korea[1] Seoul KBS Hall 13
2014 23 May 2014  Sri Lanka[20] Colombo Stein Studios 12
2015 29 May 2015  Myanmar[21] Yangon National Theatre of Yangon 10
2016 26 April 2016  China[22] Beijing China National Radio Auditorium 14
2017 TBA[Note 1]

ABU TV Song Festival

The ABU TV Song Festival is a concert performance for professional musicians, who according to the organiser are well known in their country of origin. The event is not meant to be competitive. The festival will be recorded and is meant to be broadcast by participating ABU members first. Non-participating ABU members and non-ABU member broadcasters will be allowed to broadcast the festival for a fee at a later stage.[24][25][26] Every musician will be selected by a national broadcaster being member of the ABU. The participants perform during the general assembly of the ABU.[19][24]

At a press conference held on 18 July 2013 it was announced that Indonesia were submitting a bid to host the ABU TV Song Festival 2015.[27] In recent editions, the TV Festival has been held in the host city of the ABU General Assembly, with Istanbul, Turkey being the host to such assembly in 2015. If the bid were to be successful it would be the first time that the TV Festival would have been taken place away from the host country of the General Assembly.[28]

However, it was announced in August 2014 that Indonesia were making plans to host the ABU TV Song Festival 2016 instead.[29] Turkey's début at the 2014 Festival had led to speculation that they were hosting the 2015 festival alongside the ABU General Assembly, which took place in Istanbul.[30] It was further confirmed in October 2014 that Turkey were indeed the hosts of the 2015 festival, which took place in Istanbul on 28 October 2015.[31] Indonesia's hosting of the festival will take place on 22 October 2016, in Bali.[32]

Year Date Host country Host city Venue Participants
2012 14 October 2012  South Korea[2] Seoul KBS Hall 11
2013 26 October 2013  Vietnam[33] Hanoi Hanoi Opera House 15
2014 25 October 2014  Macau[34] Macau Sands Theatre 12
2015 28 October 2015  Turkey[31] Istanbul Istanbul Congress Center 12
2016 22 October 2016  Indonesia[32] Bali Bali Nusa Dua Convention Centre 14
2017 1 November 2017  China[35] Chengdu TBA TBA

ABU International Dance Festival

The ABU International Dance Festival will be a new event organised by the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, with the début festival scheduled to take place in Hyderabad, India. The date was originally scheduled to take place in November 2016,[36] But was later postponed and is now scheduled to take place on 12 to 15 January 2017.[37] The festival was proposed by Prasar Bharati to be a contest.[22]

Year Date Host country Host city Venue Participants
2017 15 January 2017[37]  India Hyderabad Shilpakala Vedika 17
2018 January 2018 TBD TBD TBD 1

Eurovision Asia Song Contest

The Eurovision Asia Song Contest, originally entitled the ABU Cup TV Song Contest and the ABU Asia-Pacific Song Contest will be a new competitive international song contest organised by the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union, with the debut festival originally scheduled to take place in 2017.[38] On 20 October 2016, it was confirmed that China would be the host for the inaugural contest.[39] However on May 2017, it was announced that three cities (Singapore, Hong Kong, and Sydney) had placed bids with the interesting in hosting the inaugural contest which has been rescheduled to take place sometime in 2018 due to difficulties in organisation and political issues.[40]

Year Date Host country Host city Venue Participants
2018 July 2018  Singapore Singapore TBA TBA

References

  1. 1 2 3 "ABU Radio Song Festival 2012". Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 "ABU Song Festival 2012". Korean Broadcasting System. Archived from the original on 18 February 2013. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Mikheev, Andy (16 August 2012). "Participants - ABU TV and Radio Song Festivals 2012". escKaz.com. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  4. ↑ "Eurovision Song Contest goes to Asia". European Broadcasting Union. 18 September 2008. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
  5. ↑ "Our Sound – The Asia-Pacific Song Contest defies economic slump" (PDF). asiavision.tv. 4 March 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 24, 2012. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
  6. ↑ Mikheev, Andy (16 August 2012). "Our Sound - The Asia-Pacific Song Contest". ESCKAZ.com. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  7. ↑ Granger, Anthony (21 March 2016). "Asia: SBS to create Eurovision Song Contest in Asia". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  8. ↑ Jordan, Paul (21 March 2016). "Eurovision Song Contest concept to be developed in Asia!". eurovision.tv. European Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
  9. ↑ Granger, Anthony (7 May 2016). "Asiavision 12 countries the aim for the first contest". eurovoix-world.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  10. ↑ Granger, Anthony (11 July 2016). "Eurovision Asia up to 20 countries can compete". eurovoix-world.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 3 September 2016.
  11. ↑ "ABU to launch 'Asiavision Song Contest'?". European Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 20 April 2012. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  12. ↑ "Asiavision contest to begin next year". News.AZ. 10 November 2011. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  13. ↑ "ABU to launch 'Asiavision Song Contest'". EBU. 8 November 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  14. ↑ Hamzah, Hanizah. "ABU TV Song Festival". Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 20 September 2012. Retrieved 4 October 2012.
  15. ↑ "ABU to launch 'Asiavision Song Contest'". EBU. 8 November 2011. Retrieved 9 June 2012.
  16. ↑ Bakker, Sietse (2008-09-18). "Asiavision Song Congtest announced for mid-2009". Eurovision.tv (EBU). Retrieved 2008-09-18.
  17. ↑ Kenny, Luke (7 November 2011). "Korea to host ABU radio and TV song festivals". radioandmucis.com. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  18. 1 2 abu.org.my: ABU Radio Song Festival Archived September 30, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
  19. 1 2 abu2012seoul.com: Program at a Glance Archived December 30, 2012, at the Wayback Machine.
  20. ↑ "ABU gets leaders’ backing for increased activities". ABU. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  21. ↑ "ABU Radio Song Festival 2015". ABU. Archived from the original on 4 December 2014. Retrieved 9 November 2014.
  22. 1 2 "China National Radio will be hosting the 2016 RAC & RSF in Beijing". ABU News Q2. Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union. Retrieved 30 June 2015.
  23. ↑ "2017 RadioAsia Conference". ABU News (Vol. 35 - Q4 2016). Asia Pacific Broadcasting Union. December 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2016.
  24. 1 2 abu.org.my: 1st ABU TV Song Festival - General Guidelines (PDF-Datei)
  25. ↑ abu2012seoul.com: ABU TV Song Festival: About The Festival
  26. ↑ abu.org.my: ABU TV Song Festival available for broadcast, 14. September 2012
  27. ↑ Granger, Anthony (19 July 2013). "Indonesia bid for the 2015 ATSF". Eurovoix.com. Retrieved 7 October 2013.
  28. ↑ Mikheev, Andy (18 July 2013). "Indonesia bid for ABU TV Song Festival 2015". esckaz.com. Retrieved 7 October 2013. At the conference it has been announced that Indonesia is bidding for organization of ABU TV Song Festival in 2015 with "low cost, high impact" motto, while 2014 event will take place in Macau, China. If successful, that will mean that in 2015 event will be separated from ABU General Assembly which will take place in Istanbul.
  29. ↑ Granger, Anthony (31 August 2014). "Indonesia: Plans To Host ABU TV Song Festival 2016". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  30. ↑ Granger, Anthony (1 September 2014). "ABU TV Song Festival 2014: 12 countries confirmed so far". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 1 September 2014. Turkish participation in this years contest also could show that Turkey will be hosting the contest in 2015 alongside the ABU General Meeting.
  31. 1 2 Granger, Anthony (20 October 2014). "ABU TV Song Festival 2015: Turkey To Host". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
  32. 1 2 Granger, Anthony (24 March 2016). "Indonesia ABU TV Song Festival 2016 to be held October 22 in Bali". eurovoix-world.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
  33. ↑ "ABU 50th General Assembly and Associated Meetings". ABU. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
  34. ↑ "3rd ABU TV Song Festival scheduled to take place in Macao 2014". escKaz.com. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
  35. ↑ http://www.abu.org.my/Event_Calendar-@-Programme_Calendar_2017.aspx
  36. ↑ Granger, Anthony (25 April 2015). "ATSF’15: India & Arab States To Debut". eurovoix.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
  37. 1 2 Granger, Anthony (8 June 2016). "India launches ABU International Dance Festival selection.". eurovoix-world.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 8 June 2016.
  38. ↑ Granger, Anthony (26 October 2015). "Asia: ABU TV Cup Song Contest To Be Held In 2017". eurovoix-world.com. Eurovoix-world. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
  39. ↑ Granger, Anthony (20 October 2016). "China to host first ABU Asia-Pacific Song Contest in 2017". eurovoix-world.com. Eurovoix. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
  40. ↑ "Three cities interested in hosting Eurovision Asia". eurovoix-world.com. Eurovoix. 19 May 2017. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
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