The Ostlands Musikk Fest is an annual music competition and awards show produced by Ostlands Nationalsk Lahetkaste (ONL) and TV7. The Fest was created in 1981 as a way to highlight the talent and the culture from the country. In 1988, the Fest introduced the Awards section to recognize national artists for their work and relevance in the industry. The winner of the main competition gets the chance to represent the country in the next year's Eurovision Song Contest.
After its first edition in 1981, it has been the most popular music-related television show in Ostland ever since, and has produced two Eurovision winners and 15 top-five placements.
History[]
Amsterdam 2020 cancellation and internal selection[]
Due to the cancellation of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2020, and the consequent selection of Authority Of Theft by the ONL to represent Ostland in 2021, the awards became the main atraction of the 2021 ceremony. During that year, Lorie Thorgessen was awarded with the contest's trophy and was announced as the winner, as every year, but without the right to represent Ostland in the 2021 Eurovision contest.
This was specified in the contest's obligation and everyone who participated had to agree prior to being confirmed as a contestant. Thorgessen, instead of country's representative, served as Ostland's spokeperson during the Grand Final and was featured in most shows and programs related to Eurovision 2021 by the Ostlandic broadcasters.
This has been the only time in the contest's history where the winner of the year did not represent the country.
Location[]
The first Musikk Fest was originally going to be held at Glanns Stadium, in Nordostat, with a capacity of 12,560. However, the venue sold out fastly and ONL decided to switch to the Frihetstadion, the second largest football stadium in the country, repeating the sales success with the new available tickets. The festival was held there ever since until the introduction of Group's Phase, which meant the broadcasting of 3, later 5 episodes (four elimination phases and one Grand Final) instead of a single event.
During the year group's phase wase introduced, 1998, TV7 and ONL held the elimination shows at their own studios located in the cities of Timsgroen and Hanso respectively.
Dates[]
The contest is held in 5 different dates during the second week of February. The specific days where the contest is going to be held depend on the year. Since 2014, the Ostlandic delegation to Eurovision does not have final decission on the dates of the contest since TV7 holds the rights of organizating the contest since it is also an awards show.
Participation[]
1982 - 1997[]
Applications for Musikk Fest were done personally at ONL headquarters in Nordostat, where the artist signed the first obligation, which consisted mainly in not releasing or performing the song until the chain sent a response, if it was selected or not to advance in the contest. If the artist could not assist personally, it could also be sent through express mail.
Before the introduction of the groups' phase, participants were selected internally and performed a very basic performance with very small, or no production or staging at all, featuring only the artists and, in some cases, dancers, as long as they were brought by the artist, not the broadcaster. These preliminary performances were recorded but remained undisclosed until the launch of Ostmusikk website in 2007, which included this as extra content for those who signed up.
After this, the delegation shortlisted the best 8 performers, who were the confirmed artists to perform during the Grand Final.
1998 - present[]
Since the introduction of Groups' Phase, there is a fase between auditions and the Grand Final. Auditions work exactly as always: held at the ONL's headquarters on specific dates, with the difference that now an amount of 32 artists were selected instead of 12. They are divided into 4 diffrent and randomized groups, and then finally scheduled to perform in the four different preliminary shows. The groups are named as the first four letters of the alphabet: A, B, C and D.
During the preliminary shows, the eight entries are performed in a random running order. After all contestants have performed, the juries of the different regions start giving their points and the audience can start voting as well. The votes to be given to the entries are 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 points, which means that all songs receive points except one. After all the juries have voted, and Special acts have performed, the televoting closes and data starts being retrieved. The results of the televote are revealed minutes after.
The 2 songs with the highest combined points among the 8 total qualify to the Grand Final. However, the two songs below the 2 finalists, the 3th and 4th place, are selected for the Song of the Moment category of the awards given during the Grand Final.
New Application system (2012 - present)[]
Due to advances in technology and the expansion of the internet, ONL now has an online platform in their corporate website that allows artists and record companies to apply for audition consideration. Previously, they would advertise via mail, the same way you could apply. Now, this has been eliminated in order to reduce costs and streamline the process.
Voting system[]
The current voting system introduced in 2003 is a positional voting system, similar to that used at the Eurovision Song Contest. The voting is made up of two segments, in the first of which juries announce their votes; in the second segment, the televoting result is announced.
The total value of votes has been 2 x 430 points since 2023, which means that tele-votes and juries have an equal 50/50 weighing in the final result.
A jury or a group of juries represent each of the 20 counties and territories of the country, and other 2 International juries represent their own countries, for a total of 22 juries. International juries were introduced in 2007 as ONL established new cooperation plans with many other broadcasters as Russia 1, RTVE, Suspilne and SVT. Their votes are counted as any other jury from Ostlandic counties.
Winners[]
| Year | Song | Artist(s) | Points | Language | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jury | Televote | Total | ||||
| 2011 | "Tears of Angels" | Greta Wilberg | 139 | 87 | 226 | English, Ostlandic |
| 2012 | "Hjertesprikkere" (Heartbreaker) | Kadir Halversson | 224 | 214 | 438 | Ostlandic[1] |
| 2013 | "Blysdag" | Jostin Seth | 90 | 138 | 228 | Ostlandic |
| 2014 | "Fly Easy" | Dave Ochnarr | 129 | 101 | 230 | English |
| 2015 | "Everyday Life" | Anna Maria Hovstat | 123 | 128 | 251 | English, Ostlandic |
| 2016 | "This One For Love" | Ada Karlsdotter | 103 | 92 | 195 | English |
| 2017 | "Bruteforce" | Raknarr | 124 | 246 | 370 | English, Ostlandic |
| 2018 | "D.O.W.N." | AntonT | 63 | 223 | 286 | English |
| 2019 | "Ahöy, gud dag" | Mäne Alstrong | 87 | 135 | 222 | Low Ostlandic |
| 2020 | "Criminals of Love" | Authority of Theft | 149 | 177 | 326 | English, Ostlandic |
| 2021 | "Biterfölse" | Lorie Thorgessen | 181 | 153 | 334 | Ostlandic |
| 2022 | "Body and Soul" | Alessa | 182 | 204 | 386 | English, Ostlandic, Latin |
| 2023 | "Don't Give Up" | Marks Fostervall | 162 | 195 | 357 | English, Ostlandic |
| 2024 | "Speedbrake" | Jones Skoggard | 104 | 224 | 328 | English |
| 2025 | "How You Get The Girl" | Lorenzo Frazier | 178 | 183 | 361 | English |
Awards[]
Known as the Ostmusikk Awards, have their own distinctive trophy which consist of the statuette of a woman with a long dress, lifting a 4-pointed star with her hands. They were introduced in 1988 as a way to recognize Ostlandic artists for their work and contribution to the culture of the country and world. The awards do not have their separate space during the ceremony, as they are being revealed between and after the performances of the contestants.
Special acts[]
- Main article: Special acts of the Musikk Fest
The series has also featured multiple Special acts, most of them being special guests. These acts usually start before or after the participants have performed. Multiple internationally recognized-acts interval have performed as interval act in the 43 years of existence of the contest, such as ABBA, Charli XCX, Enrique Iglesias, Lady Gaga, Loreen, Rihanna, Rolv, Super Junior, Usher, among other featured artists in Europe.
References[]
- ↑ The Ostlandic version of the song won Musikk Fest 2012. However, Wilhemson decided to perform the English version at Eurovision.