Song Contest in Malmö:

No favorite, protests & Germans threatened with disaster

Finnish Song Contest participants Teemu Keisteri (left) and Henri Piispanen from Windows95man.(Bild: Vesa Moilanen / Lehtikuva / picturedesk.com)

For the fans, it should be a cheerfully shrill party - but once again the world situation is depressing the mood at the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC). 

When the artists from 37 countries compete for the European singing crown in Malmö in just over a month's time, there could be protests on the sidelines against Israel's actions in Gaza.

Musically, it looks as if the ESC final on May 11 will be one of the most exciting in recent years.

Incidentally, the two men are Teemu Keisteri and Henri Piispanen from the group Windows95man, who are competing for Finland.(Bild: Vesa Moilanen / Lehtikuva / picturedesk.com)

No favorite
In the betting shops, the favorites have been changing recently. The Swiss singer Nemo is currently in the lead with his song "Code". It tells the story of a singer who says he feels neither male nor female and classifies himself as non-binary. Croatian singer Baby Lasagna follows in the betting shops with the over-the-top "Rim Tim Dagi Tin".

The song tells the story of young Croatians who leave their country en masse in search of a better life. However, there is still a lot of movement among the bookmakers, who have been unerring in predicting the winner in recent years - the Ukrainian duo alyona alyona & Jerry Heil, who were long considered the favorites, have now slipped away with "Teresa & Maria".

Watch and listen to the Finnish entry:

Disaster looms for Germany
Austria enters the second semi-final on May 9 with starting number 6. For pop singer Kaleen and her song "We Will Rave", it's all about making it to the grand final. All ESC shows can be seen live on ORF 1 from 21:00.

Another disaster seems to be in the offing for Germany. Singer Isaak was the clear winner at the preliminary round in February with his "Always on the Run", the 29-year-old with a strong voice won over the jury and audience. Since then, however, the song has been in danger of becoming a flop - like almost all German ESC entries in recent years. This can already be seen in the German singles charts, where Isaak didn't even make it into the top 100. Isaak also flies under the radar internationally.

This is the Austrian contribution that Kaleen wants to be successful with:

And here is the German entry:

Fear of protests
While artists in all countries are now in the hot phase of preparing for the world's most highly regarded music competition, the police in Sweden have been preparing for some time.

There are concerns that Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip will overshadow the ESC. "This is the first time since the war in Gaza that Israel has taken part in an international event," political scientist Anders Persson from Linnaeus University in Växjö told the AFP news agency. Persson expects protests.

ESC should be apolitical
There is already a call for a boycott of Israel's participation, and several demonstrations - including pro-Israeli ones - have been registered in Malmö during the ESC. Ulf Nilsson, head of security for the city of Malmö, listed the various security risks: "We have the conflict between Israel and Hamas, the war in Ukraine that has hit Sweden, a greater risk of hybrid warfare, there are cyber attacks."

The self-image of the ESC, which has been held since 1956, is that it is an apolitical music competition. The fans want fire fountains and wind machines, flashy outfits and rousing songs - but at least on the streets of Malmö, the tense global political situation will also be on display.