Eurovision at 60: The "Conchita Effect" and this year's key tensions
Yes, Eurovision is a song competition — but it's also the soundtrack for a complicated continent, says scholar Karen Fricker.
Eurovision 2015 will kick off with special vigour tonight as the wildly popular song competition marks its 60th anniversary.
In the lead up to this year's contest, theatre scholar Karen Fricker joins Shad to discuss the latest controversies and geopolitical tensions that seep in every time. She also comments on "the Conchita effect" spurred by last year's gender-bending winner, Conchita Wurst; why a non-European nation, Australia, was allowed to enter; and why contestants from Armenia and Finland are particularly interesting this year.
WEB EXTRA | Watch song entries from three countries to watch in 2015: Armenia, Finland and Australia.