The RTE Needs To Stop Discriminating Against New Irish Talents In Eurosong

To:  RTE

This petition is written in sympathy with the hundreds of songwriters whose songs were overlooked for a place in the final 6 of Eurosong 2009, and in particular - “Róisín Dubh” by Lamph (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvvBPr4nIvo). Some excellent songs have been rejected this year. (Some of which can be seen on YouTube.)
We are of the belief that since at least 2003, RTE have not been 100% transparent and equitable in the Eurosong song selection process.

The main problem with recent song selections has been that RTE seems to have very little faith in the songwriters of Ireland, particularly the little known writers who do not move in the Dublin / showbiz circles.

If you agree with this, then simply scroll down and sign the petition immediately!!!
If you are still not convinced, read on…



…Let us take the Lamph’s unsuccessful 2009 submission “Róisín Dubh” as an example here. This song has a certain wow factor. It’s celtic yet modern. It has an up-to-date theme about the aftershocks of the Irish celtic tiger, and it contains some of our native tongue. It has received rave reviews from youtube members, fellow eurosong musicians, and most tellingly here’s what some hardcore Eurovision fans think:-

“I have to say that I prefer this song to most of the ones selected
for ESC so far this year and to most of the Irish entries of the last
twenty or more years.”

“it's EXACTLY the
sort of thing Ireland should be entering these days.”

“I think it would be an excellent,
contemporary choice for Ireland: quite a departure from last year.”

“I think both the slow and fast
sections are really beautfully written. It instantly catchy and it stay
with you. In fact I've listened to it around 5 times in a row now and
it sounds good every time. I would be proud to support this in Moscow
and I haven't said that about an Irish entry in a long while.”

(source:- http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/eurovision_general/)



However, in spite of the wave of positive feeling from Joe Public, here is a brief synopsis of RTE’s relationship with this potential ESC-winning song:-

1. It was rejected by RTE in 2007. (Ireland finished last at ESC for the first time ever in that year.)

2. It was rejected by RTE in 2008. (Ireland’s choice, Dustin, came 3rd from last in a semi where 10 of 19 qualified. This is now officially Ireland’s worst performance at Eurovision EVER!)

3. Lamph enter “Róisín Dubh for a 3rd and final time in 2009, this time with a highly impressive package to compliment it. RTE reject it again!!!


Sadly, RTE have taken to the practise of overlooking quality songs, and instead are overly concerned with finding clever “strategies” and “quick fixes” to try and win the Eurovision again. Here are some examples of that:-

2003:- Louis Walsh and RTE tried to convince the public that a Johnny Logan ballad was what Ireland had to send to ESC. So they put effort into a getting a high profile Brian McFadden penned song ”A better plan” for Simon Casey to perform. This was clearly RTE’s choice to go to ESC. However, they had made the mistake of picking a very catchy rival song… (“We’ve got the world tonight”) and Mickey Joe went on to score a respectable 11th.

2004:- RTE were still convinced that a Johnny Logan rip-off was the way to go. So they repeated the Brian McFadden experiment. This time as there were no other decent songs in the selection… RTE got their way and sent Chris Doran to a 7 point and 2nd from last place euroshame.

2005:- RTE changed their mind, and decided that the best strategy would be to send something that had a good “stageshow”. But unfortunately throwing the kitchen sink at Donna & Joe’s entry did not end in qualification from the semi.

2006 and 2007:- In both of these years, the songs shortlisted for the national final were of a terrible quality. The trend shown in choosing the songwriters is that RTE seemed to favour impressive Irish names, or foreign writers. The most embarrassing moment was when it was revealed that Jimmy MacCarthy’s submitted song had been a cast-off song he’d written years earlier, but had never used… till eurosong. That speaks volumes! Some of the lesser known songwriters send their very best songs in.

2008:- In 2008 there was a national final comprising 6 acts. These six acts seemed to have been chosen more as part of a strategy than on the merit of the songs. The line-up included:-
2 songs written by foreign musicians. (One trying to land Scandi votes, and the other -Balkan.)
A poor quality novelty song. (This is the one that RTE pushed in 2008.)
One song by the artist who secured 2nd place for Ireland in 1997.

2009:- I know very little about this so far. But the likelihood is that the songs will feature an even mix of foreign writers and Irish writers who have an “impressive” track record / pedigree… As to whether these songs will be better than the ones available on YouTube remains to be seen, but somehow, I doubt it!!!

There are rumours this year that RTE has commissioned at least one of the songs. This is not the first time that a rumour like this has circulated. In 2005, it was widely rumoured / leaked that Ronán Johnston had been instructed to commission a song for the “You’re a star” final.

Obviously, if there’s any truth in these rumours at all… it is a highly disrespectful way to treat the musicians of this Country. Could we have just a little transparency please? It is supposed to be an open and equitable song search. In Lithuania and Sweden thy commission songs all the time... but it is widely publicised, as opposed to being done with a wink and a nod behind closed doors.

Either way… RTE’s recent apparent obsession with trying to control / shape the type of entry Ireland sends is a huge mistake. The Irish public know a good song when they hear it, and if the panel would simply select the best songs from the 300 submissions received, then Ireland would see an end to their recent run of abysmal ESC results. (It's not rocket science!)

Our plea to RTE is to allow more songs into the Eurosong final 2010. Use a system of semi-finals, or some kind of online facility to whittle down the entries.

That way, you will be able to offer the public a better choice. You are currently receiving some quality entries from little-known Irish artists. LET THESE BE SHOWCASED!!! By doing so, you could easily be the ones to break the *next* Jimmy MacCarthy or Phil Coulter.

The risk you run... is that if these quality songs continue to go unrewarded, you will receive fewer and fewer submissions, and there will come a day when you do not have the luxury of being able to reject quality songs, because they simply won’t be submitted anymore!

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The The RTE Needs To Stop Discriminating Against New Irish Talents In Eurosong Petition to RTE was created by and written by Paul Power (pintfin@gmail.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.