Songs from Sweden

Last night Charlotte Perrelli won the competition to represent Sweden at the Eurovision song contest. It is difficult to convey how seriously this event (“Melodifestivalen”) is taken in Sweden. There were over 3400 entries for the event: this in a country of 9 million. There are four heats (semi-finals) and a repechage (“andra chansen” or “second chance”). Ten entries contest a grand final held at Globen in Stockholm. The complicated voting system to select the winner depends on the results of eleven regional juries which are combined with results from a telephone poll.

There were no fewer than 2.410.200 telephone votes last night. The winner receives a trophy representing a songbird, which is presented by the previous year’s winner – or is meant to be: last year winners the Ark inadvertently swept past Carola Häggkvist who was trying to give them the trophy.

Charlotte won the competition in 1999 when she was still called Nilsson, and so knows her way around the event.